Weapon efficiency

[Tulfutzian]

I am very curious if a certain type of weapon would make your character more efficient in a given situation.

 Is a halebard or voulge handler able to dismount a rider? Does he have penalties when faced with a swordsman?

 Different types of weapons appeared through history because they became necessary, not because they looked \"cool\". The halebard is heavy, almost useless in close quarters but stunningly deadly against riders. The three edged knife is pretty unbalanced compared with the usual dagger, but it inflicts piercing wounds that do not close. With a light sword you can not parry heavy attacks, you have to dodge, but you are also quicker and more accurate.

 I am no expert in weaponery but still...i think your weapon of choice should have different attack/defense numbers depending on your opponent\'s weapon.

[PlaneWalker]

I would assume that those penalty will be inherent in the combat system... but yes, there should be efficient problems.

But instead of making a table for them, it could be included in stats.

Each weapons could have several stats, and also an effective range within which the weapon operates at maximum efficiency.

The weight of the weapon could also be factor in.  The heavier the weight would translate to better chance and breaking through enemy defense, but the enemy would have easier time dodging it.

[Tulfutzian]

I know every weapon will have it\'s characteristics, like attack speed, damage, durability, etcaetera. What I meant was that the tactics and manoevers a sword handler uses against another swordsman should be different by the ones he uses against a spearman, for example.

  Back in my student days I picked up a fencing class (never got really good at it, though). One day, my teacher, who was a former stunt coordinator and quite a jokerman said he had a demonstration for us. He gave one of my collegues (one of the best fencers)an epee, then he took for himself a chair leg. Really. And he won the duell. Why? Fencing is a complicated art that relies on momentum, balance and agility. My collegue could not block or parry the club attacks (he tried and got himself some nasty bruises) because the weapon was too strong. All he could do was to dodge continously and as a result he was constantly losing the neccesary positioning to perform an attack. He gave up after 5 minutes.

  Of course, a more experienced fencer would have found solutions, but my point is a good swordsman may have more problems duelling a bad axe fighter then fighting another good swordsman.

[PlaneWalker]

Actually I believe that would be handled by weapon statistics.

Take your example, and let sword be a standard base weapon (all stat has modifier of 0)

An axe would have a much higher attack, that mean if a sword man block it, the axe could break through the defense.
However, sword has higher dodge rate, so swordman can dodge axes.

A club versus a rapier... considering a chair leg is shorter, I say the fencer should\'ve use the range advantage.  Unless their movement is restricted.

I would like to see rapier versus a katana (total ownage).

[Tulfutzian]

Ok, so there could be, maybe, four base classes of weaponry:

  1. Light - epee, rapier, dagger, stiletto, etc
  2. Medium - one handed swords and axes, clubs, etc
  3. Heavy - two handers, maces,flails, etc
  4. Very Heavy - Voulge, Halebard, Falchion, etc

  Now, consider three types of defensive moves: dodge, parry and block.
 
  A Light Weapon should not be able to block Med, Heavy and Very Heavy, should not be able to parry Heavy and Very Heavy and could use only dodge against all types of weapons.
  In a confrontation between a rapier fencer and a flail handler, the light fighter would only have the option to dodge, and that would give him a higher recovery time (it\'s only logical, considering he will not be able to stand his ground and lose more time in order to get in position for attacking). That would minimize his starting advantage of speed. The flail fighter will be able to block or parry, and maybe he could have a penalty to dodge (becouse of his heavier gear). The Block and Parry moves could have bonuses, like a succesufull Block could shatter the opponent\'s weapon and a succesfull Parry would be followed by a quicker counter to catch him off guard.

  Also, the lenght of a weapon is often an impediment, rather then an advantage. Imagine a halebardier duelling a dagger fighter .

  I think that a system that implements these pros and cons along with weapon specializations will make the game more party oriented and the battles more tactical.

  Oh...the Katana would be Medium or Heavy? As I remember from my classes it\'s handled with both hands.

[zinder]

Halebard versus dagger is a bad example. The halebard fighter has the advantage as long as he restraints himself from \"mighty blows\".  Since the halebard can pock, cut like an axe and pull, the dagger needs to go the long way around and the halebard can limit the movement. A better example is a spear(only pock) or a pike(with over 4 meter really to long).

Since AFAIK the katana is onehanded, it would go in your medium class. AFAIK it has a two-handed hold for balancing and better control. There is the no-dachi as a two-handed version of the katana. IIRC it has a 30% till 50% longer blade than a katana. Also it looks like you could place three hands on the handle.

[Tulfutzian]

Actually, the halebard is a very heavy and unbalanced weapon. In real life battles a halebardier was easy prey for light pedestrian soldiers. The weapon was invented as a counter to heavy armoured riders. If you look at the weapon you will see that the axe part of the halebard forms a hook with the superior part of the handle. The halebardier would grab the rider with it and throw him on the ground, then kill him with a dagger. The axe was not that effective, perhaps only to wound the horses.

 Anyway....off topic...