17-10-2013, 08:35 AM
I was thinking about adding some weapons that would increase skirmishers usefunlness for a team, beyond doubling infantry in slashing or archers/crossbowmen in shooting. The idea is to give skirmishers a secondary throwing weapon, that would be designed to either support other players (other than doing dmg that is) or used only in a very specific situation. You couldn't stack those weapons like regular throwables, think more of a second support item. That also mean that you couldnt just refill them and have to sacrifice one 4 availble weapon slots. Here are some examples:
1. Bolas
First some pictures so you can see what i'm talking about:
https://www.google.pl/search?q=medieval+...l&tbm=isch
And some wiki to read, if you want to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolas
Basically i'm talking about throwing weapon with a solid knock-down ability (say 90 %), and large hitbox (easy to aim) that would do next to no damage (like 1 blunt) and come in limited numbers (5 or 8).
Imagine a situation where:
a) a teammate is running away from an enemy but he isn't fast enough to outrun him. You could just kill the mob if he is some poor peasant with a frying pan, but what if he's an entranced berserk?
b) where a whole team is running past some tough mobs and there simply isn't enough time to kill them off as more are chasing us.
You could use bolas and either buy enough time for that poor fella from ex. a) or team from ex. b)
2. Shield destroyer
There are some enemies that comes with a really sturdy shields like fatsods or juggs. What if you could throw a weapon that would destroy their shields in 1 or 2 hits so slashers/other ranged could kill them faster? That weapon would do little damage in general, but have multiplied bonus agains shields.
Here are some pictures of how such a weapon could looks like:
http://www.google.pl/imgres?start=145&cl...=109&ty=51
3. Smoke bomb
Similar to what Royal Torturer has. Again - very low damage, woefully inaccurate, rather limited numbers and area stun effect. Think about ewhen someone kills that last bot in the very wrong moment. Skirmishers instantly set off to slow down incoming waves to buy enough time so rest of the team can build/improve a barricade.
4. Weapon with short to medium range and high angle of lob
Except for some situations where you simply want to lob projectile over wall/building/etc. there are two more uses where this weapon could come handy:
a) bot got stuck behind a wall where it's impossible or very hard to kill him (like sometimes happen on kings reach)
b) bot was spawned partially underground and can't be hit by other means. I recall three such cases - two on swadian bay and one on swadian town. With no way to finish the wave people just left the server. Some good "lobba" could just do the job and get the game back on track.
5. Boomerang
I hope you guys don't really think that hunting or war boomerangs return to thrower
I'm thinking about a weapon that could be used from behind some corner. You could change the side of an angle with alternative fire button: default setting would be a right-to-left angle and alternative a left-to-right angle.
6. Ad-hoc barricade
Something went really wrong and your team needs some barricades right now, even if only provisional. You could deploy stakes, buy throwing or placing them, but they would only stand 1-3 hits until broken and you could only pack 5 of them.
7. Nets
Similar to 1. or 3. this weapon would just slow one enemy down for a period of time instead of knocking him down - so he can still shoot or attack.
In general i tend to believe that skirmisher should be more of what it really was: a fast moving, fast thinking support troop that relies more on his cunning than armor, with his main function in slowing down the incoming enemies or picking the more dangerous off before they can do harm.
I wish i could show you models of weapons i've mentioned, but i simply have no clue how to make them. I'm not sure if all those feature could be implemented in game. I'm also not mentioning stats as i don't think i have enough experience to balance them properly.
1. Bolas
First some pictures so you can see what i'm talking about:
https://www.google.pl/search?q=medieval+...l&tbm=isch
And some wiki to read, if you want to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolas
Basically i'm talking about throwing weapon with a solid knock-down ability (say 90 %), and large hitbox (easy to aim) that would do next to no damage (like 1 blunt) and come in limited numbers (5 or 8).
Imagine a situation where:
a) a teammate is running away from an enemy but he isn't fast enough to outrun him. You could just kill the mob if he is some poor peasant with a frying pan, but what if he's an entranced berserk?
b) where a whole team is running past some tough mobs and there simply isn't enough time to kill them off as more are chasing us.
You could use bolas and either buy enough time for that poor fella from ex. a) or team from ex. b)
2. Shield destroyer
There are some enemies that comes with a really sturdy shields like fatsods or juggs. What if you could throw a weapon that would destroy their shields in 1 or 2 hits so slashers/other ranged could kill them faster? That weapon would do little damage in general, but have multiplied bonus agains shields.
Here are some pictures of how such a weapon could looks like:
http://www.google.pl/imgres?start=145&cl...=109&ty=51
3. Smoke bomb
Similar to what Royal Torturer has. Again - very low damage, woefully inaccurate, rather limited numbers and area stun effect. Think about ewhen someone kills that last bot in the very wrong moment. Skirmishers instantly set off to slow down incoming waves to buy enough time so rest of the team can build/improve a barricade.
4. Weapon with short to medium range and high angle of lob
Except for some situations where you simply want to lob projectile over wall/building/etc. there are two more uses where this weapon could come handy:
a) bot got stuck behind a wall where it's impossible or very hard to kill him (like sometimes happen on kings reach)
b) bot was spawned partially underground and can't be hit by other means. I recall three such cases - two on swadian bay and one on swadian town. With no way to finish the wave people just left the server. Some good "lobba" could just do the job and get the game back on track.
5. Boomerang
I hope you guys don't really think that hunting or war boomerangs return to thrower
I'm thinking about a weapon that could be used from behind some corner. You could change the side of an angle with alternative fire button: default setting would be a right-to-left angle and alternative a left-to-right angle.6. Ad-hoc barricade
Something went really wrong and your team needs some barricades right now, even if only provisional. You could deploy stakes, buy throwing or placing them, but they would only stand 1-3 hits until broken and you could only pack 5 of them.
7. Nets
Similar to 1. or 3. this weapon would just slow one enemy down for a period of time instead of knocking him down - so he can still shoot or attack.
In general i tend to believe that skirmisher should be more of what it really was: a fast moving, fast thinking support troop that relies more on his cunning than armor, with his main function in slowing down the incoming enemies or picking the more dangerous off before they can do harm.
I wish i could show you models of weapons i've mentioned, but i simply have no clue how to make them. I'm not sure if all those feature could be implemented in game. I'm also not mentioning stats as i don't think i have enough experience to balance them properly.