Ischaldirh wrote
I have several points to make really quick.
Point 1) This is IVAN, not Dwarf Fortress or Real World Medieval Combat Simulator 2020. Some concessions to "what the system supports" and "what is cool" should be made. If I want to be able to (theoretically) swing two halberds around, don't you dare try and stop me..
You should, I agree it can even be done even realistically if you are really strong, skilled, and dexterous. It's just that halberds just too good for dual-wielding as they are now, it might even be the weapon itself that's the problem.
Ischaldirh wrote
Point 2) Blocking an attack with a mace and blocking an attack with a sword are basically the same. The difference is that swords are generally longer and better balanced, which makes them easier to move around. Recall that in-game, the block formula is affected by weapon accuracy..
Swords are bottom-heavy where hammer and maces are top-heavy. This makes swords feel much lighter and faster for their weight compared to top-heavy weapons, which feel heavier than their weight; It's basically a leaver work for you vs against you, this is why hammer and maces are so powerful. Because all that mass that's moving faster at the end where the hit "should" connect. Plus, swords have crossguards, unlike other weapons that tend not to have one.
Ischaldirh wrote
Point 3) As envisioned by the original devs, the three (main) combat styles each had their own purposes. Two-handed weapons pack a lot of punch, but are slow and inaccurate. They are excellent for crushing through blocks, but are ineffective against fast, agile enemies. Sword-and-board gives you a lot of blocking potential and respectable offensive power. They are great for dealing with many weak attacks, such as you might deal with when fighting a fast, agile character. Dual wielding gives you many weak attacks that come rapidly - great for overwhelming the limited blocking capacity of a two-handed weapon, less effective against the greater blocking power of a shield. They were supposed to play a sort of rock-paper-scissors. Dual wielding came to prominence mainly because of the power of Saal'Thul, the relative paucity of powerful two-handed weapons (beyond Mjolak), and the ineffectiveness of "tank builds". Whether dual wielding is STILL the dominant playstyle, I don't know..
I not a fan of the rocks paper scissors style, but I do agree that those are the prominent styles of play. High heath still seems to be an ineffective style of play.
Ischaldirh wrote
Point 4) Fighting with two weapons is not the same speed as fighting with one, whether in one hand or in two. What I mean to say is that the amount of time it takes you to complete one attack cycle when using two weapons is not equal to the amount of time it takes you to complete one cycle with one weapon. It's slower. Maybe not half as fast (I don't know the equation) but it is slower..
Oh, thank goodness! That sounds like that could be enough to be balanced. Forgive my lack of knowledge of the code.
Ischaldirh wrote
Point 6) I'm going to make a new thread for discussion of "swords akimbo" discussion. You can find it
here.
Where did point 5 go? ;p