Suggestion talk:20100519 Increase variety of useful melee weapons

Increase variety of useful melee weapons

Timestamp: CorndogheroT-S-Z 13:07, 14 May 2010 (BST)

Type: New skill

Scope: Anyone who might use, or come in contact with, a melee weapon; roleplayers

Description: As we all know, out of the many melee weapons available for player use, only two really have any usefulness: The Fire Axe primarily, and the Knife having a much more situational, and therefore less common usefulness. But really, it just doesn't seem right that in a zombie apocalypse, everyone is using the exact same weapon; however, no one but the most hardcore of roleplayers is going to sacrifice their AP efficiency in order to create a more believable setting. Therefore, I propose that upon the acquisition of every survivor skill, a survivor gains the ability to purchase the zombie hunter skill "Improvised Weapon Mastery"; and that upon the acquisition of all zombie skills sans brain rot and such subskills, a zombie gains access to the skill "Fiendish Grip". These skills would be slightly different numbers-wise, but would serve identical purposes. First, Improvised weapon mastery. In short, what this skill would do would be to buff the accuracy and damage of any melee weapon that has no secondary purpose (i.e. the cricket bat would be buffed, but not the toolbox) to the accuracy and damage levels of either the Fire Axe or the Knife. A possible list: Fire Axe stats: Crowbar (Its secondary purpose is obsolete by the time the requirements for this skill have been fulfilled. However, its hit rate against barricades is not buffed) Baseball Bat Length of Pipe (see crowbar) Cricket Bat Hockey Stick Beer/Wine bottles Knife stats: Fencing Foil Ski pole Golf Club Tennis Racket Pool Cue (would also lose its chance of breaking) And for the Zombies' Fiendish Grip, the effect would be similar: Zombies would gain access to every melee weapon, and each of these would be buffed to the accuracy and damage levels of a maxed out zombie claw; this includes those with other uses such as toolboxes, as zombies cannot access those functions. Hopefully this suggestion would increase the variety of weapons and roleplaying seen throughout Malton.

Discussion (Increase variety of useful melee weapons)

But beer and wine have a secondary purpose! - User:Whitehouse 15:12, 14 May 2010 (BST)

Also, Lengths of Pipe as impromptu cades for the untrained. Although the loose cades created by them tend more often to kill the user then to save him. -- Spiderzed▋ 16:23, 14 May 2010 (BST)

Are beer and wine really useful at all, though? Plus they break. And as for pipes, their secondary purpose is obsolete by the time a player has all survivor skills, as is the prerequisite for this skill.--Corndoghero^T-S-Z 22:50, 14 May 2010 (BST)

They are fun to pour into generators. :P Also, good for healing that last hit point and not wasting an entire FAK. - User:Whitehouse 22:53, 14 May 2010 (BST)

Well, the idea is not to actually have this skill provide a tangible buff to anyone who has it; otherwise, toolboxes would be as effective as axes and no one would need to carry a weapon as long as they had their toolbox. Since beer and wine break, you would still need a regular weapon.--Corndoghero^T-S-Z 12:09, 15 May 2010 (BST)

Would Fiendish Grip work together with Tangling Grasp? -- Spiderzed▋ 23:03, 14 May 2010 (BST)

The idea is to give gameplay-effectiveness-minded players a wider variety of weapons to use, so I don't see why not--Corndoghero^T-S-Z 12:09, 15 May 2010 (BST)

Fair enough, though I have a hard time to rationalize this in-game. -- Spiderzed▋ 00:44, 16 May 2010 (BST)

Hold them with one hand, bash them with whatever's in the other. 00:51, 16 May 2010 (BST)

I cannot see anything wrong with this for survivors.... its not going to hurt zombies but it will add to overall enjoyment. I am not so keen on the zombie version though.--Honestmistake 00:19, 15 May 2010 (BST)

Fixed your comment HM; don't forget: two enters for a new line. Lelouch vi Britannia is helping make Ridleybank green_ and gives Achievements 00:38, 15 May 2010 (BST)

What do you think is wrong with it, Honest?--Corndoghero^T-S-Z 12:09, 15 May 2010 (BST)

It's not unbalanced or anything.... I'm just not keen on zombies using weapons. --Honestmistake 12:59, 15 May 2010 (BST)

It's in-genre, plus they already can. 00:32, 16 May 2010 (BST)

It's only in some genre and the fact that zombies can already cheat to use weapons doesn't change my opinion that zeds should not use them! A buff to make an actual zombie attack useful would be better --Honestmistake 02:32, 17 May 2010 (BST)

It's not cheating, zombies can already use several items (such as melee weapons and the toolbox) to attack with as is. I don't see how that's cheating when it's in the drop-down menu for attacking. 03:01, 17 May 2010 (BST)

Didn't realise they could use items like this without using the old url cheat that let them shoot. Even so its still pretty meh for me as I want bitey clawy zombies not tool using undead monkeys. --Honestmistake 08:21, 18 May 2010 (BST)

The vast majority of zombies, I think, would still use their claws. After all, you don't have to spend time as a survivor to get those. I know my rotter zombie is likely sticking with claws; anything else would be a pain--Corndoghero^T-S-Z 15:22, 18 May 2010 (BST)

I've given this kind of thing much thought, and here's what I came up with:

Don't add a skill! It's totally unnecessary, this should only be a small boost to make the weapons worth consideration! Besides, skills are such a massive change that it would never be implemented! KISS!

Pool Cues: Raise the base accuracy from 25% to 50%, which for maxed out survivors is 40% to 65%. This makes it more efficient than the axe, with 1.3 damage per AP rather than 1.2. It would still be better to just grab an axe and ignore the existence of cues, but if you do find one, you wouldn't just toss it unless you need the inventory space, much like a flare gun.

Crowbars: Raise base accuracy from 5% to 10%, which for maxed out survivors is 20% to 25%. This makes it the best weapon in the game for downing barricades, but only slightly, destroying 0.25 levels per AP rather than 0.2.

Fencing Foil, Golf Club, Ski Pole, and Tennis Racket: Raise base accuracy from 10% to 25%, which for maxed out survivors is 25% to 40%. Slightly better than the axe before axe proficiency, at 0.8 damage per AP rather than 0.75, but once proficient, they lose out, at 0.8 to 1.2.

Baseball Bat: Raise base accuracy from 10% to 20%, which for maxed out survivors is 25% to 35%. Equally useful an an non-proficient axe, but at only half the weight.

It should be noted that for zombies with no skills, claw would still be most efficient, except when compared to pool cues. Since they can only be found when alive, they would do little more than give the newly dead a brief but much needed boost. --VVV ^RPMBG 21:24, 15 May 2010 (BST)

but pool cues break after 1 hit.--Dirty 01:19, 16 May 2010 (BST)

Which is why fire axes would be used more often. You're better off loading up of ammo that cues, but if you happen to have some just lying around, you may as well put them to use. --VVV ^RPMBG 04:17, 16 May 2010 (BST)

the Mayor has a point. Lets just buff the weapons now rather than making a new skill.--Kralion 18:22, 16 May 2010 (BST)

There are two problems with buffing the weapons: One, the idea is that you have full combat effectiveness with all of these weapons. Anything less, and the intent of this suggestion has been subverted, and the vast majority of players will still use their axes. Second, the weapon buffing idea provides a net survivor buff by increasing newbie survivor melee effectiveness at no cost, something which the original suggestion does not, not to mention that the axe is still clearly the best once again when you have all the skills. While I do not categorically refuse to support a survivor buff, one would never pass voting, and the game just doesn't need one right now.--Corndoghero^T-S-Z 22:01, 16 May 2010 (BST)

I really like this. I'm not sure about the zombie side of things though - I'd have it so that the possession of the harman melee skills transferred upon death, so a zombie with those skills would gain the full weapon benefit. 00:32, 16 May 2010 (BST)

I have to admit this is one of the first ideas that i have come across that is sane it would defently find use for the other Melee weapons and it would be a nice change when using cricket bats and bottles etc it would find a use for the useless weapons User:Boomer Australia 13:07, 14th June 2010 (EST)

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