Pikeman Archive
Thread: Wishlist
Yes, we need more weapons, and I hate the look of the lance.
I don't understand what the benefit would be to mounted combat. I have a mount, but it's so hard to manouver that I wouldn't dream of doing any combat while on it. Would being on a mount give any sort of bonus? Why wouldn't you just get off of it? I don't care about this at all, and I wouldn't feel bad if it weren't even considered, but I might not have the whole picture either. Other than for flavor, this seems like a pointless issue.
I would prefer to not have a pikeman version of TKA meditation, just because that's such a defining tool of the TKA. If instead we could "ready for charge" to boost our defense for a short time, and the power and accuracy of our next attack, I think that would not only make more sense, but it wouldn't seem like we were just ripping off a TKA ability.
What I want is a niche.
I don't want to just be a fighter with a different weapon, I want to be something special. As I see it, the focus of the pikemen should be:
- Longer reach - 10 or 12m even, allowing us to hold back in a fight and toss our weapons in between other group members who are taking the hits, allowing us to spend our HAM on specials like MAD.
- Group Defense - special moves focusing on keeping the enemy from damaging the group, either with a better and more frequent knockdown, or by inflicting more restrictive states on the enemy. Disarm is a fantastic idea, as well as the "Pin" idea (I assume we'd hold down the enemy while others attack it, sacrificing our own ability to do damage during that time? This could also be a great way to protect doctors or just handle adds). Raphayl's suggestion on a group defense thanks to polearms being used is a great idea, along these lines. I would also like the ability to *rarely* cripple a target with a leg hit, forcing them to kneeling through the rest of the fight. Maybe a 5% chance, even at Master.
- High Damage - This is a completely moot aspect of the profession if we don't have accuracy too. I don't mind slow attacks at all, as long as they hit. As it is, if I'm using one of the better weapons, I could literally go the whole fight without hitting once. A Fencer standing next to me might even have the same chance to hit as I do, but he gets more opportunities to try. If fights don't last very long, a pikeman, because he doesn't get as many chances to hit, could easily do less than a third the damage as any other melee profession.
- Accuracy - Pikemen should have some of the best accuracy in the game. Even make the attacks slower, that's not so hindering. As long as there's a very good chance that all that HAM we're spending on specials isn't just pissing in the wind.
- Counter Attacks or Deflection - With the longer reach, pikemen should be able to get in an "attack of opportunity" when someone comes into melee range with the pikeman.
- Special combinations - If pikemen are built to use their specials often, then there should be some bonuses to using specials in combination with each other. Like, the "pin" move that's been suggested would rarely work unless you used it after a knockdown, or if you did a Leg Hit and an Action Hit immediately afterward, the Action Hit would process much faster.
I also see Pikemen having some weaknesses along with these changes:
- Slower attacks - Currently the metal staff is really the only really slow weapon we use. I find that my Lance does just fine on speed; not the kind of speed a fencer has, but I'm not a fencer, am I? As long as we're getting slow attacks to offset the high damage output, we need to have a very high chance to hit, so that at Master, your chance to miss is about 3%.
- Higher HAM costs - Well, okay, just about the same as the current HAM costs, because they are already fairly high. But, if the focus of the pikeman is to be a melee fighter that tries to avoid getting hit at all, then we should be able to afford to wear weaker armor and spend our HAM by using specials rather than soaking up damage. (Note: In order for this to be viable, Mind costs on specials needs to be lowered a bit.)
- Area Attacks - These are an ability that we have, but they shouldn't be seen as a profession-defining move, because if the pikeman is more of a damage-dealer than a damage-taker, area moves will only change the focus of the enemies to the pikeman. Area moves should be more used as finishing moves, or last-ditch moves rather than as a focus of the profession, when fighting in a group.
- Pikemen need tanks - They need to have people standing in front of them, taking the hits. Sure, a pikeman could wear lots of armor, but he'd never use a special and wouldn't be as useful to the group that way.
With these changes, someone fighting against a pikeman would think, "Oh crap, this is going to hurt a lot! I better go all-out and see if I can use speed against him." While the pikeman would think, "I'll keep him at bay and use my reach, hopefully I can cripple his attacks before his weapon and my specials kill me."
Just want to throw in a quick one before I go back and read through the pages:
I hit things with the handle of my lance. It looks stupid and other people make fun of it. Either change the shape of the lance, remove the lance and give us a different weapon, or change the fighting movements when using a lance. Please!
I think you guys should get a Shin Smash that makes the enemy run at half speed for 10 seconds or so. Also carbineers get an area leg shot, why doesn't Pikeman get anarea leg hit?
AntillesWing wrote:
I'd also like to see more than just generic names for our moves. I find it kind of odd I can use shots that actually have names, then switch over the my corbantis character, and use something called polerarmhit1. For heavens sake....even the lowest of ranged moves aren't that generic.
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master pikeman
migz0r wrote:
at the moment a teras kasi artist can attack a pikeman at 15m+ and we cant hit the tka unless we're 5m?
_____________________________ Force Pike always puts me in mind of a long metal shaft with a light-sabre style blade that comes out one end. It's probably just the word Force that does it. I found a description of a Force Pike and was disappointed it wasn't like that. :,(
Mounted Combat. Very good, very unique, especially if a charge increases damage significantly.
Pikemen are the orginal cannon fodder. In fact, Pikeman saw their greatest use as a troop before cannon's were ever invented. They were known as Phalanx. Phalanx carried 20 ft long poles with a point, and marched in block formation with all the poles lowered creating an impenitrable wall of spikes. Opposing Phalanx would then marched at each other. Momment of impact was known as "shokk" hence the word shock troops. A 20ft pole was, as you can probably imagine, an unwieldy weapon. Flanking maneouvres by cavalry were effective, since it was hard for a block of men with 20ft poles to do an about-face in any great hurry. Cavalry would, if they were smart, retreat after the charge and wait to strike again, since once the phalanx had turned, they were in trouble. Heh, it just occured to me that many people would like to see Pikeman playing both sides in this little tactic, foot-soldier and cavalry. 
Anyway, the only relevant bit of that was they were the main part of an army. I was thinking of reduced death penalties for Master Pikeman making them the quickest at getting straight back into combat, thus representing a larger force than is actually present. They could also have a bonus to healing that makes stims used on them more effecient, again attempting to create an illusion of numerousness, by letting the Pikeman last longer. Dare I suggest an automatic restoration to full health on death, between each cloning. I.e. they get killed they get straight back up again. This is a silly idea, and overpowering.
Sal.
Ok, my first post!
Uhhm... this is a thought doubt its going to happen doubt anyone will like it but here it goes...
Howabout somethin like a polevault? On account of 8 foot weapon would probably be able to launch you somewhere if you ran with it and stuck it in the ground and prayed for the best... of course it would probably slow you down alot for your next attack but it would be helpful in a PVP battle where if you are chasing a long range guy around you could jump at him (that would be surprising...) and knock him down or stun him or somethin...
Yah... I dunno... just a thought...
Glaurung on Sunrunner ("Pole(arm)"Dancer)
Dancer: 1-2-1-1
Entertainer: 0-0-4-4
Brawler: 2-0-0-3