Pikeman Archive

now that would make an awsoem attack, A polevault jump to Lance in the head WOOT!

Ok, so I’ve been playing since it was released and I’m almost to a master Pole Arm I’ve been reading these boards and some good suggestions (you guys rock, btw). Quick thanks to Q-3PO’s post for a correspondents for information gathering…so to put it to good use, I’ve come up with some suggestion for discussion before the pikemen/women can send something official to the devs (or whoever).

Just a quick note: since I’m not a pikeman yet, and since I haven’t done any PvP, some of my suggestions maybe pre-mature.

1. Targeting HAMs.
I think it would be worthwhile if somehow all our attacks could target separate HAM statistics (not just one attack per stat). I know we have leg attack, but it’s really kind of lame to Carbine a creature from far away and then run up and fill the queue with leg attack specials only. And it doesn’t look very cool doing one attack. It’s a good strategy, but it’s also a boring strategy to execute after many hours.

It seems to me a master pikeman would intend all of his attacks and their damage to certain points on the body (Legs, body, mind), instead of it being random results. Plus, visually it would be more realistic fighting with more twirling, thrust, jabs and other motions. As it is now, I just stick to one or two basic attacks and I get board of my bad-ass character doing the same thing.

I think in solo / small groups it would help out a lot. My best friend is a rifle sharpshooter, and it sucks that we’re so inefficient on killing things simply by choosing professions that don’t work well together in targeting. I know some profession pairings work better than other, but having some that don’t pair at all is kind of a drag.

2. Defensive / guarding techniques.
It might be a good idea to also guard certain HAM stats. Perhaps it could be entwined with stances (since most melee weapons could also be used for blocking or parrying (sp?)). But if we’re getting real low on a certain stat, it would help a lot to set a defensive stance that would lessen the damage to that part (and maybe take more damages in other stats). I think this would be a good strategy for PvP, instead of each player filling up their queue with single attacks to one area, and people would manage their queue better.

I think idea’s 1 and 2 could be easily implemented with all types of melee combat, not just pike/polemen.

3. Queue
I like the queue, it’s an awesome idea, but too many people (or maybe just me) wail away with one type of attack. I know people switch it up with a knock down and then continue wholoping, but I think it can be used more effectively. If more offensive and defensive strategies were implement, then PvP would be more involving and their pay attention to their attacker and set the queue accordingly. That would be better than people filling up their queue to do the most powerful attacks and then leaving the matter to weapons stats and speed (and in the process go grab a coke and return with a victory). I think this variation would give more leeway and balance to duels. It would be possible to have a slightly weaker melee guy beat a slightly better melee guy by putting more thought on how to execute the queue.

4. Weapons locking.
This one is kinda silly, but I thought I would throw it in here. You know when lightsabers lock and the opponents share the menacing glances. I think it would be a welcome addition to melee combat if sometime weapons lock (if the throw an attack at the same time). Maybe there can be a maneuver to use it to your advantage (comparing unarmed skills for a kick) or something. It’s kinda silly, but it can happen in real life, but its purpose in the game would have to worked on.

5. Melee versus running marksmen
Someone talked about how annoying it was when this happened in a fight. They talked about modifying melee combat skills to be superior. I disagree, running from a melee fight is indeed a tactic (I would do it, if it was the other way around)… but it can be annoying. To try and combat that, maybe there can be a tackle maneuver. Or tripping. Tossing a weapon to knockdown an opponent would work, but as penalty to us, we should lose a turn to retrieve a weapon since there’s no reciprocal maneuver for marksmen. Let’s keep thinking about this one.

6. Pole vaulting.
We should be able to Pole vault with our Pikes! Yeah! Heh, just kidding. Maybe it would work to knock marksmen down through. Hmm.

let me know what you think. we can discussed base on subject number, and feel free to add more as well.
laters,
mike