.com.unity Forums - Purely Hypothetical: Weapon Length

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- - Purely Hypothetical: Weapon Length (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=18361)

Purely Hypothetical: Weapon Length

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Not that I'm implying anything. The Lord of the Hunt leaves nothing to the imagination.

Y'know.

I'm just saying.

Either way, let me start by pointing out that these suggestions would completely destroy the present balance of power in Dom II, and that MODding them in without compromising game balance would necessitate a total reworking of pretty much all the combat related variables in the game.
Nonetheless, food for thought, and straightforward enough:

Wouldn't it be more realistic and just a tiny, almost negligible iota cooler if particularly long weapons could be used to strike at enemies which aren't adjacent to the attacker? There'd be an attack skill penalty involved if there are any friendly units between the attacker and the target, particularly if they are one size larger than the attacker or target(Whichever is smallest). The penalty would be doubled if the units between attacker and target are hostile, and striking over the shoulder of a unit two sizes larger than either attacker or target would be impossible(Except maybe if the attacker/units between attacker and target are ethereal. Phase stick!).
Furthermore, to put the conspicuously absent "Ohdearmethere'sarowofstickswithpointybitsontheend sinmyhorseike" back in "pike", repel attempts would be made not only by the targeted unit, but by any units within weapon range not presently engaged in melee(That is, the front rank would be too busy watching their own hides to repel anyone but their own attacker, but the rear ranks would be free to poke away).
Thattaway, lance armed knights would still definitely get one hit in with said doom phallus, but would be aereated the moment they closed in for a sword/hoof/hadoken combo. Speaking of which, how come knights get to use their own morale when resisting repel, instead of spazzed out battlehorsie morale? Now THAT'D give serpent cataphracts an advantage. Silly lizards just barrel right into certain death, not a shred of self preservation. To say nothing of undead horses suffused with horsie evil. Also, something should be done about the repel damage cap. But I digress.
Either way, both the repeller(Repellant? Repulsive party?) and the attacker/defendant/client should get a defense skill/attack skill penalty if attacked/made to repel more than once per round, a penalty which should probably carry over to the repellants' ordinary attacks and the defenders' defense vs. ordinary attacks. Cruel, but fair. Such is war.
Of course, counterbalancing this is the fact that long weapons are pretty much useless in close quarters, without a dozen fellow sticksmen behind you. Attacks and repel attempts made at a shorter range than the weapon's length should suffer a significant penalty, though not quite as significant as trying to strike at a target at just the right range, over an enemy's shoulder. Which might also give said shoulder-bearer a repel attempt of his own, to complicate things further. Long weapons' defense skill penalties should be much less forgiving than they are at present, with the fact that a stickman in formation effectively gets three or four free repels compensating for the fact that he's essentially menacing the opposition with a knife on a four meter stick. Alternately, ever seen a Jotun try to get at a Hoburg between its legs with a Jotun axe? This is not a metaphor.

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And that's that, I suppose. Totally impractical for anything but a total overhaul MOD, which would be kind of silly, Dom II being as near-perfect as it is. Of course, Dom III will be entirely wishlist and feedback suggestion-based, with KO and JO pretty much running errands for the forum Users, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
On the plus side, I now have a few minutes less free time. And a burning desire to give Games Workshop some free publicity and start work on the copyrightariffic SkavenMOD.