New Weapon - Handaxe

  • Boneheart1237
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    WOAH, WHAT'S A MEDIEVAL HANDAXE DOING IN MY COLONIAL PIRATE GAME??? I bet you're thinking, and hold on, I promise it's not just a sword clone.

    The Handaxe would fill a role no other Armory weapon is capable of: Ship Damage. While it can be used as a weak melee weapon for basic self-defense with its light attacks, performing a heavy attack on a portion of the ship that can be damaged will cause it to take a Tier 1-2 hole, depending on how long you've charged the attack. This will cause the axe to break, and it must be refilled at a nearby ammo box, then repaired through an animation before the Pirate can use it again. Consider it a "reload animation" for the sake of simplicity.

    Strengths:

    • Allows boarding players to be more effective in damaging the enemy ship
    • Creates easier but lenient pressure in scenarios without cannons
    • You no longer have to worry about stepping into fire from your firebombs to deal deck damage to a ship

    Weaknesses:

    • Reduces the effectiveness of combat against other Pirates
    • Significantly less effective than firing cannons
    • Reduced movement with a melee weapon requires your positioning to be on point.

    The reason I think an axe would be a better tool for damaging enemy ships than something like a handheld cannon is that this weapon is purely melee. Guns are as strong as they are because you can hit your enemy from virtually any range, so long as the falloff isn't heavier than the distance you need to shoot. I believe the sword makes up for this with its lunge and sword hop. However, since the Axe is purely meant for ship damage, it has neither a lunge nor a hop.

    If this gets added and one of the emotes isn't the Pirate dropping the axe into a guitar solo, I'm never forgiving the developers that make the emotes

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  • Guildar9194
    Marauder

    @boneheart1237

    The Handaxe would fill a role no other Armory weapon is capable of: Ship Damage.

    No. No handheld weapon should do ship damage.
    You want to be effective at damaging the enemy ship? Use canons.

    I really don't think we need a melee weapon that further pushes the boarding meta.
    No need to ever fire a shot! Just board, camp, smash holes, and refill at the enemy ammo box.

  • INNERAgnt3
    Castaway
    Insider

    A weapon that could deal ship damage would be freaking insane. Here's a few of my concerns with this weapon:

    I'll start off with strengths for adding a weapon like this. A niche like this would be absolutely fire, especially since, like you said, nothing else does it, and it will add what I'm assuming would be a sidegrade to the sword in terms of melee. I also like this weapon due to the change of enemy armories so you can't rapid cycle them.

    However, some concerns/thing's I'd like to know I do have with this weapon are as follows:

    • How much damage would it do? How many hits is it's combo?
    • Where would it have to hit to do damage?
    • Can you block?
    • How much does the movement get reduced?
  • INNERAgnt3
    Castaway
    Insider

    @guildar9194 Depends on the downsides. If we're talking a weapon that genuinely sucks at PvP, but has this niche, I'd be down, ESPECIALLY since the meta desperately needs a shakeup. It's not meant to be effective, just a bit of a utility on top of being able to board. The problem is, boarding is really one of the only effective ways to sink an opponent in a timely manner, and a tier 2 hole at the expense of a melee would suck

  • Guildar9194
    Marauder

    @inneragnt3

    If we're talking a weapon that genuinely sucks at PvP, but has this niche, I'd be down, ESPECIALLY since the meta desperately needs a shakeup.

    Except players have 2 weapons. They'd pick a weapon they are good with & the axe. Or hell; 2 good weapons!
    They board, they win the boarding fight, they switch one weapon for the axe, they now put holes in the ship.

    Weapons don't damage ships for good reason; Balance.

    You want to damage ships? You fire your canons.
    You want to prevent repairs & bailing? You board.

    This axe would completely break open that balance. Now people can just board & both damage ships + prevent repairs.
    That's not 'shaking up' the meta. It's solidifying it into a 100% pure boarding meta. There would be no more need to ever fire a single canon shot ever again.

  • INNERAgnt3
    Castaway
    Insider

    "Or hell; 2 good weapons!"

    You can't change weapons in enemy armouries anymore, so that makes no sense, since you'd have to change weapons from your ship to do that. And boarding against a competent crew is no easy feat as is. Sure there are tools to aid, such as the grappling hook, but overall it's still a massive investment

  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    Who would wanna damage a ship in pvp, with a melee weapon? It much faster to use the cannons.

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