Doing concept work on a new mod, looking for help.

[RetroNutcase]

Well, it's a funny story. I played a game recently called Dead Island. My first thought was "Wow, Oblivion melee would be fun if it was this fast paced." Then it hit me: Why not try to do so? Admittedly, my experience with TES CS is limited, but I do have some, and I'm willing to learn...So what I'm basically here for is to ask for help, input, and soforth as I see if I can't turn a concept into reality. The concept? Twitch Combat. The goal? Bring fun into Oblivion's melee and make it a desirable combat type vs magic or archery, without making it overpower them.

 

Unlike some of the mods out there however like Deadly Reflex and Duke Patrick's Combat Melee, this would attempt to change combat without straying excessively from Vanilla. This means no new attack functions/keys, no focus on making the combat system incredibly complicated and harder to learn, although it will change how melee works so some re-learning will be needed. Below is the concept document (incomplete) that I've been drafting up for this mod, and I'm looking for input on it, as well as possible help in making it possible through TES CS and OBSE.

 

Tentative Mod Name: Twitch Combat.

 

Terms to note: Player Skill means skill of the player at the controls, whereas Avatar Skill means the skill of the ingame character.

 

-Blocking Mechanics-

Blocking will now be an emphasis of both player and avatar skill. Blocking will use a timing system, where the longer you block, the less effective your block is. Your block's effectiveness will deteriorate in effectiveness to a minimal amount of 50% as you keep your guard up, and will return to full when you lower and re-raise your guard. Higher levels of Block will allow you to maintain a fully effective block for longer periods before deterioration kicks in. In addition, Block Recoil will now be a rare occurance, related to new systems being implemented with blocking.

 

Timed Block: Similar to Doc Block's timed block mechanic. A Timed Block is a block that will use 100% of your Block stat. With a shield, the window is longer. The window also gets a bonus based on your Block skill. A Master will have a larger window to perform a Timed Block compared to a Novice. The most notable benefits of a timed Block are that you will have full Block effectiveness, and if your stats outperform the attacker's, you will have a chance to recoil them, or prevent being staggered if using a small shield/weapon to block a considerably stronger attack. However, a Timed Block is not a 100% ensured way to avoid being staggered or inflicting recoil, it merely provides better odds. A timed block using a Dagger to try and stop a powerful Orc with a Warhammer will still be likely to result in the blocker being staggered, unless the numbers end up being in their favor.

 

Perfect Block: A second type of Timed Block with an even tighter window, a Perfect Block occurs when blocking within the moment of impact or close to it. The result of a Perfect Block is that all damage will be nullified, regardless of the means of blocking used, and the weapon blocked. In addition, the attacker will always be recoiled by a Perfect Block. Like Timed Blocks, higher mastery levels will increase the window, but it will always be a small fraction of the Timed Block window. Note that if the calculation for a Perfect Block window is less than 0.1 seconds (Due to penalties from not using a shield and having a low block skill simultaneously) it will not be possible to perform a Perfect Block until you either equip a shield or improve your block skill to compensate for penalties from not using a shield.

 

Fatigue Loss: Fatigue will always be lost on Block now, even if you are at a higher Avatar Skill level. Instead, those with an experienced Block skill will have reduced Fatigue loss on block. This is to balance out other aspects of the new system. The amount of Fatigue lost is based on the defender's means of protection (Shield or weapon, and how effective said shield/weapon is) and the attacker's means of inflicting damage. A stronger defense will result in less fatigue lost per block, whereas a stronger offense will result in more fatigue lost per block. This basically means that a defender with a small weapon will not be able to effectively defend against a heavy weapon, but by the same token, a powerful shield will be more effective against most weapons. The reasoning behind this is that it is a bit immersion breaking to have a Mage deflect your Claymore using a dagger.

 

Recoil: As stated before, Recoil will not be as common anymore. Recoil on Block will only occur under certain conditions. The first condition under which Recoil can occur is when there is a superior defense score vs the attack score (IE, a heavy shield blocking a small dagger with a Timed Block). Under most conditions, even a Timed Block will not cause recoil in normal fights, unless the difference in attack/defense is that large. The second condition is a Perfect Block, which will always cause recoil, but the conditions for a Perfect Block are much stricter.

 

Guard Crush: A Guard Crush is when a defender is overwhelmed by the strength of the attacker, and the defender is forced into a stagger. Guard Crushes occur when attempting to guard an attack and not having the fatigue needed to do so. Guard Crushes are a much bigger danger when facing a heavier weapon that can drain more fatigue from a defender such as a Warhammer, whereas lighter, faster weapons like daggers drain far less per blocked hit. In addition, stronger shields can absorb more impact from weapons to lessen fatigue loss from blocking. The only way to avoid a Guard Crush while blocking is to use a Perfect Block, as even a Timed Block can be Guard Crushed if attempted with low Fatigue.

 

Shields vs Parry Weapons: Shields will be the superior means of blocking, with one handed weapons having only a quarter of the effectiveness of a shield, and two handed having half the effectiveness. This means that using a dagger or shortsword to block against a heavier weapon class will not be as effective as using a matching weapon, or better yet, a shield. The penalties however can be offset by having a higher Block Skill, and using Timed/Perfect Blocks.

 

-Weapon Mechanics-

 

Heavy Weapons: This will play a much larger role than it did in Vanilla. Heavy Weapons will be slower, and have a much higher Fatigue cost than before, but in exchange they will hit hard, especially against blocks (Unless they have an exceptionally powerful means of blocking, such as a good shield and timed block.)

 

Light Weapons: Light Weapons will be faster and use less Fatigue, though they will also be less effective at chipping away at an enemy's defense. In addition, using them against a means of defense that outclasses them will be more likely to result in a recoil on the attacker's part if the opponent performs a timed block and heavily outclasses the attacker.

 

-Fatigue Mechanics-

 

Fatigue will be a much more important factor in combat than it was before, and actions will for the most part, have a higher fatigue cost than they did in the past. However, to offset this, Fatigue will also regenerate faster, and get regen bonuses from Athletics/Endurance, but you will have to avoid spending any fatigue for a brief period (1 to 2 seconds) before any regen kicks in. In addition, Fatigue will have a chance to be damaged by normal attacks if they hit hard enough. Having a lower Fatigue makes it more likely to be staggered by taking damage, and if your Fatigue is critically low or empty, you will more than likely be knocked down from taking a hit. The idea here? Fatigue is being tweaked to increase the pace of combat, and also to offer advantages to those who can exploit weaknesses by lowering opponent fatigue. It also means heavier, slower types who focus more on their Endurance will be a much bigger threat than lightweights when it comes to their Fatigue totals.

 

-The fun part: Math Formulas and Skill Level effects-

 

Block Formula: Gonna probably need help coming up with this one. Basically, the idea is take the defender's attributes (Skills/stats) vs the attacker's. If the results are even or near even, there is a successful block but no recoil. If the results heavily favor the defender, they will deflect the blow and recoil the attacker. If the attacker is favored, they will likely cause a mild stagger on the defender, or a severe one if their Fatigue is low enough.

 

Stagger Formula: This one also needs work, but the idea will be that if damage inflicted by an attacker exceeds a defender's threshhold, and they are not blocking, they can be staggered by being hit, or even knocked down if their Fatigue is low enough. Being Staggered would also inflict a Fatigue loss, so good evasion and defense becomes more important than ever against a heavy hitter. However, I need some input on what an ideal formula/stats for such a system would be.

 

Timed Block and Perfect Block Windows: Base (Novice) windows are as follows (These assume you are using a shield).

Timed Block: 0.25 Seconds

Perfect Block: 0.1 Seconds

2 Handed Penalty: Divide by 2. Timed/Perfect Block is not possible if result < 0.1

1 Handed Penalty: Divide by 4. Timed/Perfect block is not possible if result < 0.1

Skill Level Bonus: +0.25 to Timed Window for each stage of mastery (Apprentice, Journeyman, etc...) and +0.1 to Perfect Window for each stage of mastery.

This means the final windows for a Master w/Shield are

Timed Block: 1.25 seconds

Perfect Block: 0.5 Seconds

 

-Adjusted Block Perks-

With the way things change in this mod, so too will the perks one gets for Block. The new system works as such:

 

A Novice is fatigued normally by blocking, and hand-to-hand blocking against weapons has no effect. A Timed or Perfect Block can be performed only with a Shield.

 

An Apprentice is now fatigued less by blocking. It is now possible for them to perform a Timed/Perfect Block with weapons, though it is incredibly difficult.

 

A Journeyman's shield or weapon is no longer damaged when he/she blocks, timing window for Timed/Perfect Blocks is improved, and it is now possible to use Unarmed Timed/Perfect Blocks, though they have the same penalty as a one handed weapon for calculation purposes.

 

An Expert gets an even better timing window than before for the purpose of Timed/Perfect Blocks. Perfect Blocks now have a 5% chance to disarm opponents on top of the existing perks for a successful Perfect Block.

 

A Master has an incredibly large window for Timed Blocks and Perfect Blocks, and now has a 10% chance to disarm opponents on a successful Perfect Block.

 

 

So, that's the idea and what I've got down so far, how does it sound? Fair? Fun? Or broken and in need of changes? Again, I'm basically looking to make melee faster, and more fun, as well as rebalance a few aspects I found broken (Like a weak shield being able to recoil even the heaviest of weapons, or for that matter, a mage with a dagger deflecting a claymore).

Edited September 20, 2011 by RetroNutcase

[RetroNutcase]

Giving this a bump, I really need some second opinions on this idea, and possible help in making it happen if it gets enough support.