So right now we only have 4 weapons; Cutlass, Pistol, Eye of Reach and Blunderbass.
But for everyone who keeps up with what the devs say it should be quite clear that we will see our weaponry, and - perhaps - combat mechanics, expanded in the future. In my opinion however those mechanics should be quite drastic to keep combat from becoming stale and monotous.
So I thought for a while and made a little list of possible new weapons and combat mechanics that could enrich our swashbucklin' experience. Enjoy!
Let me start with new mechanics. Now that's without a doubt going to be controversial as heck, but I would like to see combat becoming similiar to that from Dark Souls.
...Please hold off with keelhauling me for a few more seconds and let me explain.
Right now we make our characters flail thier sword around without much thought and strategy. There's simply no need for that at all 'couse even when we miss our opponent we simply have to flail the sword at the ground to avoid the stagger. No problem, no strategy. And here comes the thing that I had in mind by making combat similiar to Dark Souls;
introduce stamina and new types of attacks to the game.
Something simple like light and heavy attacks, with light being the vanilla one and heavy having slighty longer stagger, slighty bigger damage [about 25% more than normal attack] and stamina consumption. Stamina would only apply to meele combat, not running, blocking, sidestepping or jumping. I mean the ever decreasing bar would simply make players to consider thier next move with at least some thought (or so I think at least) . We could swing our swords with little stagger upon missing like it was at the very beggining, but only as long as stamina is still present. With it running low however we would have to wait a second for it to regenerate. This way combat would be more strategy based and not at "who's quicker at mashing the attack button" aspect; we would have to distribute our attacks in best way given situation. Also blocking the attacks and sidestepping kind of usefull to use. Stagger upon missing the player character - GIVEN IT'S NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO AVOID IT UPON HITTING THE GROUND - would give us this very needed second to regenerate enough stamina to land a punishing hit on our adversary, and - possibly - change te outcome of the fight.
That's pretty much it.
Another change that would improve combat, at least in my opinion, would be counterattack and parry.
If player have enough stamina and press attack button while blocking, our character could knock back enemy weapon if it's in about half-a-way to our character.
This action would result in major stagger to our adversary during which we could be able to land a sort of a "finisher" that would deal about 50% more damage than normal sword-strike.
There is one more mechanic that was discussed here a few times and even asked about in one in weelky dev-play streams, however Joe stated that they would need some more weapons in game to do that. Thus I'll talk about at the very end and let's to the weapons.
a) Boarding Axe
It could be throwable for example.
b) Harpoon/Pike
Now that the anniversary trailer dropped we all know that harpoon guns are coming to the game. But what I think could be added to the added is the meele kind of Harpoon. Once again a roughly the same damage outopt as cutlass but with slightly different range and would be used for thrusting attack. Would result in a big stagger upon missing and could be thrown as "weapon art".
c) Knifes/Daggers
Remember that little knife from the very beginning of the game that our character takes and uses to stab missions to a table? That one that we absolutelly never use in combat with no aparent reason? Yeah that one. Little range, samll damage but would be quick and couse no stagger upon missing the enemy. Swinging it in DS-like combat system would cost very little stamina. Couldn't really block while using it.No weapon art.
d) Maces
Blunt weapons were popular through out all ages in different shapes or forms. Pirates mostly used belaying pins ans a lil' maces during the fight if they had nothing else. Would deal 30% more damage than a cutlass but would have a shorter reach, longer stagger and consume more stamina if DS-Like Combat System is implemented. Would also deal 50% more damage than a cutlass to skeletons 'couse they shopuld be much more prone to blunt trauma rather than cuts for logic's sake.
In game standard Sailor's Mace could look like belaying pin, while let's say; the Sovereign Mace could resemble a war-pick used by nobility of Eastern Europe used to use. Strong strike able to break block of enemy upon contact and deal Eye of Reach kind of damage as weapon art. Would couse a VERY long stagger [1.5 of stagger time after sword dash] though.
f) Rapier
Type of sword popular among both soldiers, civilians and nobels during golden age of piracy. Early types were ment for cutting but slowly it's blade got more and more slender and meant for thrusting attacks. Could deal 0.75% damage dealt by cutlass but be much more quicker than cutlas, couse shorter stagger upon missing.
Now we are coming to an end of this idea dump of mine so it's time to talk about last combat mechanic left.
Dual wielding.
Simple idea right? Just allowing players to flail two pointy metal sticks at once. So why talk about it at the very end?
Well 'couse we have to name the possible weapons to be wielded in pairs... andthere is one more type of weapon that would be op if dual wielding was implemented to the game.
Namely The Swordbreaker
...or Sword-Catcher if You like. This is a very specific type of parrying dagger that was used in pair with rapiers. The serrated edge allowed to catch the blade of our adversary, and turn it in such angle that he wasn no longer able to retrack it - and thus leaving him defenseless.
If ever implemented to the game along with rapier, it would act as Knife/Dagger but with it player would be able to catch blades of enemies for a second instead of parrying it. No weapon-art.
Also a Buckler!
"WHY WOULD THERE BE A SHIELD IN PIRATE GAME?!!!! REEEE!!!!"
Belive or not it was used by pirates. Bucklers were used mainly as a mean to parry rapier thrusts and as a sort of caestus. From it comes the term "Swashbuckler". It would blend well with dual wielding and parrying. Could have ability to strike oponent with it to make them stagger for minimal damage.
Now, players wouldn't be able to dual wield blunderbusses and Eyes of Reach with anything for obvious reasons, same for Harpoons/Spears. "Finisher" when double wielding would give player chose which weapon would be used to inflicting a blow.
Possible weapons combination:
cutlass/cutlass
cutlass/dagger
cutlass/pistol
cutlass/mace
cutlass/axe
rapier/rapier
rapier/dagger/swordbreaker
rapier/buckler
rapier/pistol
mace/pistol
mace/dagger
mace/axe
axe/dagger
axe/pistol
Please let me know what You think of these weapons and mechanics.
Cheers!
