LE A Knights Calling

[TheKazz]

Ok so when news that mounted combat would be included in patch 1.6 I decided I wanted to make a knight character that would fight from horse back any time I possibly could. Well I started playing and that idea lasted all of about 10 minutes and in that 10 minutes I lost 3 horses. So I got an idea for I mod to improve mounted combat to the point where being a Knight character is actually possible.

 

Now before you say it I know "horse armor" the problem with horse armor (at least all the horse armor I have found) is that it makes your horse totally invulnerable which in turn makes the player invulnerable which is quite honestly pretty lame. If I wanted to play like that I would just put god mode on all the time.

 

So here are some of my ideas, Keep in mind I have about as much modding experience as a skooma chugging troll in black reach so I really have no idea how difficult it would be to implement what I am asking for. With that said lets begin.

 

-- 1. Making mounted attacks deal more damage. Simple enough if you want to just put a passive buff that increases damage output by a fixed amount while mounted but I think we can do better I would like to see a system that increases the amount of bonus damage based on how fast you are moving and maybe some other factors we can get into a bit later.

 

-- 2. Implementing a wider variety of horses to chose from each with strengths and weaknesses these varieties could be as simple as they were in oblivion being that horses from each city had different stats the horses in Anvil had the highest Hp but were much slower than the horses from Bravil Ect they also all had different colorations. Thats cool and all but how much cooler would it be to have totally different types of horses ranging from ponies to clydesdales (the Bronies out there will eat that up) obviously there will be a dramatic difference in appearance ponies will be about half the size of standard horses and clydesdales should be about 20-35% larger than standard horses. They will also have a great difference between stats clydesdales will have more health and will be stronger but much slower and receive more damage from falls.

 

-- 3. Add the ability to use shields, shouts, powers, and magic while mounted, this I'm sure would be rather difficult considering that Bethesda didn't do this them selves. Or perhaps they felt that the modding community was capable of implementing the missing features and decided they should focus their efforts on Dawnguard and other DLC I don't know I don't work for them.

 

-- 4. Improving the horses' AI to be a more realistic representation of an actual war horse. Including fear of fire, jerking away when hit, spooking from creatures like wolves, and bears, rearing, bucking, and kicking with their hind legs, perhaps even a tendency to ride in formation (flying wedge anyone?) these are just a few ideas off the top of my head the list could go on and on.

 

-- 5. Trampling! perhaps the most important reason why cavalry units were as successful as they were is the sheer size, weight, and speed of the horse its self. This is not represented in Skyrim at all as charging into a bandit has the same effect as running into a brick wall your horse simply bounces off the bandit now I am not a physics major but it seams to me that the force exerted by a 800-1200 pound horse moving at 30+ miles per hour should be slightly more than a 180-200 pound man that is just standing there but I don't know call me crazy if you disagree.

 

-- 6. Dismounting/tripping now as I am sure most people know the best defense against cavalry is spears well Skyrim doesn't have spears so let go to the next best thing dismounting and tripping. This shouldn't really need too much explanation but I'm gonna do it anyway. Dismounting is achieved by yanking the rider off the back off the horse either by grabbing the rider or just hitting him really hard. The more damage you take the more likely you will be dismounted having low stamina will also make it easier to dismount you. Tripping up a horse usually involved a well timed attack to the horses front legs which would cause the horse to flip head over heels. Well trained knights would avoid breaking their mounts necks by training their horses to scurry (or as people unfamiliar with horse terms jump) over the attack. If possible this type of AI system would make but fighting while mounted or fighting against a mounted opponent really fun in my opinion as it would really a lot a good timing and quick reflexes instead trigger spamming.

 

-- 7. Improved maneuverability for horses! It always bugs me that horses all ways seem to have the turning radius of an 18 wheeler semi truck. Go to youtube and look up a keyhole drill I'll wait.... done yet? good now I am not asking for that amount of maneuverability but s good average of what it is now and a keyhole drill would be nice. maybe even add special maneuvers that would function like shouts and powers that could be a 180 or that could be a good way to activate your trample idk use or imagination.

 

-- 8. So to balance all this out I propose using a system similar "Gabriel Mailhot's mod Dual - Combat Realism" that would make stamina management for both your horse and the player vital to being effective with mounted combat without stamina your horse can't sprint, trample, scurry, or use other maneuvers. If your stamina is too low you wont deal as much damage, you will take more damage and you will be much easier to dismount. If your horses stamina is low it it rear and buck which will cause your stamina to be depleted as you try to hold on. If you run out of stamina while your horse is bucking you are dismounted.

 

-- 9. Split damage as mounted combat works now your horse takes all the beating until it dies and the player takes none of the damage (unless it is an AOE in which case both rider and horse take damage) this results in a pile of dead horses. So there needs to be a way for the player to absorb some of that damage or a way to heal your horse and know what your mounts health is at or both.

 

-- 10. Maintaining your horse for added benefits this could be feeding it carrots, apples, berries, grain, ect. to gain a boost to health, or stamina. perhaps even running speed increase damage. ect ect. brushing your horse could also give it buffs these buffs would last for 24 in game hours. you could even add crafting recipes at a cooking pot or a grinding wheel to acquire higher end feed for your horse

 

-- 11. Improving horse armor, Horse armor is great the models available on the nexus look awesome but like I said earlier they make the horse totally invulnerable and thats no fun, Horse armor should add HP and damage resistance at the cost of decrease stamina and stamina regen. You could also add enchanted horse shoes that could make up for the lose of stamina or increase speed or any other aspect you want it to (fire damage for horse attacks! and flaming hooves would be super bad ass on shadowmare) (Water walking would also be cool then you wouldn't need to find a bridge to cross a river). Horse armor should also be craftable and improvable at a forge and work bench though it should use a lot of mats or you can purchase it from the stables in each of the towns.

 

-- 12. Riding perk tree! After Bethesda launches Dawnguard later this month we will get to see how they added the vampire and werewolf perk trees and use that as a model to make other unique perk trees but some ideas for perks are:

-- Knight's arm 1-5: Increase damage while mounted by 20, 40, 60, 80, 100%

-- Steed of Valor 1-3: Horses you own have +20, 40, 80 stamina

-- Knight's Speed: you mount and dismount 40% faster (could also come with a unique animation such as Zorro's famous rear mount or the mounting animations from any of the Assassin's Creed games)

-- Spurs: Horses you own move 30% faster

-- War Horse: Your horse will some times knock enemies to the ground with its kicks.

-- Thunderous Charge: You deal 50% more damage while your mount is sprinting

-- Agile Pony: Maneuvers cost 30% less stamina

Those are just a few I can think of I am sure you can think of more and the perks will depend oh everything comes together.

 

So those are most of my ideas for now I really hope someone is up to the challenge of making this mod because I feel like mounted combat could be so much better than it is. These are just some general ideas that I have had floating around in my head for a while. Not all of these NEED to be implemented into the mod but they are all good ideas and I would love to see these idea and more I am sure there are a lot of other great ideas out there I think I recall seeing a thread about mounted killcams which would be an awesome idea as well. Any I that's all I care to type right now so I will wrap this up hope someone feels like taking this project on :)