Few things to add, and I'm not to sure about these, but...
- Different ranged weapons have different optimal ranges. Primitive and shortbows are better at close range, i.e. 10 tiles ish. Where as hunting bows are better at 15, and longbows are better at 20 or so. Not sure where the northern bow is good at. Crossbows seem to be better between a range of 5 to 15 tiles, although you will probably only get 1 shot off at most. Crossbows are more accurate than regular bows, given an equal level of mastery. I beleive fine quality added to either the ranged weapon or the ammunition adds +1 impact (additional damage), and masterwork quality adds +1 impact and 10% to your ranged skill. I don't know if multiple bonuses stack, and if they do, how they would stack.
- Throwing weapons, basically Javelins, Northern Spears, and Throwing Axes all seem to have an optimal tile range of 4 - 8 tiles or so. Same rules for quality here apply to ammunition.
- I don't know what range is optimal for rocks, but it's better than stones, and weapons that probably aren't supposed to be thrown like swords.
- Anything in the path between you and your target is an obstacle. This includes animals leashed to you. You can't shoot over your small leashed dog. You can shoot over the fence, or the shutters in a building however.
- Weather you are still at range or in melee combat, it's important to use "F3" to look at what your opponent is wearing and wielding. Shooting or swinging at a part that has metalic armour is a bad idea, unless you have no better choice. Regardless of what weapon you are using, it's often better to attack parts of the body that have inadequate protection as hit's to those areas will do more damage. While all clothing provides some protection, the armor to watch out for is fur, leather, lamellar(?), chainmail, and then iron plate. If fur types get added to NPC gear, bear fur armor protects more than leather, unless I'm mistaken. Fur also seems to protect more in general due to blocking more blunt, but that's just from my personal experience.
- Shooting at somebody wielding a shield is often a bad idea, especially if they are wielding it at CENTER, because this protects that person from ranged attacks that would hit anywhere from neck to knees, which is usually where your shots will end up. HIGH protects the head, at the expense of leaving the lower body exposed.
- Different weapons are better for combat than others due to their attack bonuses. In particular, weapons in the spear class are usually better for attacking than most other weapons, with the exception of the Northern Spear, Javelin, and Small Trident, as those are worse for direct melee combat than normal, and the Battleaxe, Battle-sword, Bastard-sword, and Maul due to having either an attack bonus of 4 or 5. All of the weapons with good attack bonuses are two handed and suffer from penalties when the other hand is not free. Of these, the Bastard-Sword and Trident only suffer a 10% penalty, and the Battle-Axe only suffers a 15% penalty when paired with a shield.
- No weapon is good at blocking. The Trident, and the two staves (the regular craftable staff and the hard staff) are okay at blocking attacks. Every other weapon is bad for blocking attacks and you probably shouldn't bother. If you are going to block attacks, you want a Roundshield, as it has the best blocking properties, and is relitively cheap to replace which is important because blocking weapons will put wear on your equipment, as is currently the only thing to put wear and tear on your weapons and shields from what I can see. Also, no weapon can block arrows or other projectiles, only shields can do this. The reason you block is to try to disarm your opponent. If you don't have good shield skill (if you are using a roundshield) or good spear skill (using staves or trident), than this is a bad idea, as you will probably take several hits before you disarm your opponent and they often have a backup weapon anyway. You also arn't doing any damage to them directly while blocking their weapons. Animals are already disarmed in the traditional sense and cannot be made less dangers by merely blocking them. However if you have invested points into shield and are using one to block, they are an okay reaction to an attack if you pair that with some offensive action on your part.
- Reactions don't use stamina. Counter attacking with a decent weapon means you get to strike without expending energy. Waiting a turn and then counter-attacking with a weapon that has a better attack bonus is a way to recover energy during combat. The obvious drawback here is that the combat is taking place on your opponents terms however, and while they are fatiguing themselves don't count on running down their energy this way if that is your goal. This often works in your flavor if your opponent has a bad weapon verses your good weapon, like a spear verses a knife or an axe.
- Skill counts for a lot when it comes to weapon usage, and in particular this is why masterwork weapons are often better than the raw numbers might suggest. By the numbers, a Kaumolais Spear should be the best weapon in the game before factoring in the need for a shield, but you will probably never find a masterwork version unless your character gets lucky and starts with one. The Kaumolaiset are a very poor people, and rarely have anything for sale, let alone high end weapons. The Driikiläiset on the other hand tend to be very well off, so they often have more masterworks than anybody else. Finding a masterwork sword is doable, and with persistence, a masterwork battleaxe. Also, fighting with a weapon that you have no (or bad) skill in will put you at a significant disadvantage, regardless of the attack and defence values of the weapons and involved.
- There is no way to predict the skill of your opponent has with the weapon they are using. However there are parameters that NPC skills will spawn within. However Njerpez warriors are notable for having good swordsmanship, so Njerpez with swords are far more dangerous than Njerpez without swords. Very few people are bad with spear as well, so units with spears are also very dangerous. Not many people know how to use a shield effectively, but Njerpez have no penalty in them, so again, beware of units with shields.
- Most weapons deal damage based on your characters strength stat. Arrows shot from a bow, and most weapons thrown or swung deal damage based on your strength. Knives and arrows shot from crossbows and heavy crossbows are an exception to this and deal damage with a formula that excludes the effects of your strength attribute. High strength characters should avoid using these weapons, while really low strength characters should use them more. Low strength characters should only do what is needed to escape combat however, as crossbows take to long to use more than once, and knives are really bad for combat in general. In theory, attacking sleeping units, or attacking from behind would be the application for knives. In practice units will wake up no matter how good your stealth is, and units should only flee from you or be unconscious if you've made them do so (as in, you will most likely be wielding a better weapon anyway...).
- Bonuses from sneak attacks only come from the unit being unconscious or facing away from you. Being hidden is not enough. The attack dialogue is obvious when this happen as it's considered a deathblow and the game will tell you this explicitly and offer you a choice option on where to strike that will guarantee a hit.
- Don't bother punching anything. Unarmed attacks have no attack or defence bonuses, and deal damage as though the weapon does 0 blunt + a small bonus amount. Unarmed attacks can often be completely negated by regular clothing, and are strength dependant to boot. You will also do more damage to the hide of an animal if you take it down with unarmed attacks as it will take more injuries from your attacks than from any other weapon. Unarmed attacks go into their own separate skill. Kicking doesn't even give you a better chance to attack someones legs. The only good thing about unarmed combat is that it's oddly satisfying to kick a fox that you captured in your paw-board trap, as revenge for stealing your fish. Am I the only one?
- Blows to the arm are likely to cause your opponent to drop their weapon. Blows to the leg are likely to knock them down. Damage to their legs will also hamper their movement speed, which helps you out maneuver them. You also have a big advantage over opponents who can't keep up with you. In particular, characters with a higher speed stat will do better than characters with a low speed stat as you will often be able to keep your opponent at a distance prevent them from attacking you directly. Sometimes, you can kill your opponent from a distance without them ever getting the opportunity to attack you even once. This isn't as big of an advantage if they have arrows and a bow however.
- Hostile NPC's will pickup rocks and stones along their way to attacking you as well as other weapons dropped along the way. The wont encumber themselves to the point of not being able to move, and they are usually good about not wasting too much time doing this, but this is another reason being faster than your opponent is a huge advantage, as they will keep picking up garbage along their way to you.
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Question about Combat and Accuracy
Topic: Question about Combat and Accuracy (Read 16631 times)