More Variety in (medieval/Renaissance) Weaponry?

[Kadian]

Sounds like you want to make the long weapons similar to the bullwhip? Making them a semi-ranged weapon with a range of who knows what (considering that the squares don’t have a consistent size…) sounds like a possible solution though, I give you that.
Funny enough, a bullwhip isn’t very long, at all. It still has a range of…apparently of 3? Means, long weapons like the longsword could easily reach a similar range, spears could probably reach up to 5 squares.

edit:
Nevermind, i just found out that there are bullwhips with a length to up to 6 metres, holy… I’m assuming they did take a shorter bullwhip though, maybe 2-3 metres, which would mean that you could still get a range of 2-3 out of >some< weapons.

[DooMJake]

Err we already HAVE reachweapons ingame. Even the simple Knivespear can be "F"ired 2 Squares away

[Kadian]

I was only aware that the Bullwhip had this ability, didn’t knew that spears have a similar ability. In any case, it would make sense to give bigger swords a similar attack range.

[Random_dragon]

Spears were eventually given reach, yeah. Can’t remember how long ago.

Ooh, I should give the dory that…

[kevin.granade]

So your suggestion is, if your weapon has more reach than the enemy, they can’t attack you? I think stating it simply like that illustrates why that doesn’t work. Additionally, ‘fending off’ isn’t going to work on a zombie, if you threaten them they will simply move in and call your bluff every time, so you get your attack, but they close and can now attack, or are at least closer to being able to.
Basically you’ve outlined the reasons longer weapons are better IRL, I knew all that, what I need to know is how you propose to turn that into game mechanics that don’t break the game.

[Random_dragon]

Don’t an awful lot of the spears and other long-reach weapons have a higher to-hit than comparable shorter weapons? >.>

[kevin.granade]

Don’t an awful lot of the spears and other long-reach weapons have a higher to-hit than comparable shorter weapons? >.>

Are you saying weapons with a longer reach should be easier to hit with? I agree in general, and I think we do have that guideline in the melee balance thread/file, but I can’t recall where that is at the moment.

[Random_dragon]

I would reason it is a decent abstraction, yes. X3

[Kadian]

Additionally, ‘fending off’ isn’t going to work on a zombie, if you threaten them they will simply move in and call your bluff every time, so you get your attack, but they close and can now attack, or are at least closer to being able to.

While your point is valid, that is not quite what I have in mind - you could technically step away with the zombie, keeping it in your range, but it wouldn’t be able to hit you.
That is actually a technique people already use in CDDA, but with a small, fast weapon. They wait for the zombie to come to them, attack it and step away before the zombie can hit the player, they repeat that and voila, a dead zombie without any problems.
The same technique with a longsword/zweihänder/spear(or in general a long melee weapon) would be that you have a certain reach and can attack the zombie for longer without it reaching you - when it finally reached you, you can step out of the way and do it all again - The speed of the melee weapon would lack, but the Reach would make up for the fact, essentially enabling you to do a similar thing to the fast knives.
I have to say though, this would be gamey to some extend, and I don’t have the feeling it’s a good idea to implement it this way. Still, would be an option.

I agree on the other hand with Random, the higher chance to hit would also work out.

[StopSignal]

I’d like them all in, really, but with an incredibly low spawn chance. After all, some are op, and how many times have you seen a sword, like an actual sword, in real life? Unless they are in walls at mansions, it’s hard to imagine.

[Muaddib]

I’d like them all in, really, but with an incredibly low spawn chance. After all, some are op, and how many times have you seen a sword, like an actual sword, in real life? Unless they are in walls at mansions, it’s hard to imagine.

I’ve seen a lot of actual swords, but then again I live in Europe and you can’t dig a hole here without finding medieval or roman junk.

[Kadian]

I’ve seen a lot of actual swords, but then again I live in Europe and you can’t dig a hole here without finding medieval or roman junk.

You’re exaggerating a tad bit, but yes, Swords, original ones as well as newly forged ones are more common in Europe, simply because this is part of our history~ Still, there is definitely a market for Swords in America as well, which would mean that you could find them there, although more rarely.

There are a few places where a Sword (of any kind and/or any time period) could show up:

• Mansions, obviously, as they are usually hanging on a wall there, or in combination with an Armor stand.
• Museums, obvious as well.
• Very rarely in pawn shops.
• Very rarely in random houses, as there is always the possibility that a random guy somehow got a sword/replica somewhere. For example, I have 2 Sabers and a buckler in my house, hanging on a wall, and an Armor Stand with a longsword, although I have to admit that the armor stand and the longsword are replicas. The sabers are original though, they are still sharp and there was a lot of blood on them before they were cleaned. The buckler even has some old coins nailed on it, from the original owner.
• Maybe a sword-fanatic house? We do have houses with a lot of guns, and I know that there are people out there which also collect swords and knives of all kinds…

[kevin.granade]

Side issue, the ones in pawn shops and random houses are overwhelmingly going to be cheap knock-offs that are basically big knives, they’re going to be unblalanced, overly heavy, won’t hold an edge (IF they’re even sharp), and be at great risk of breaking if you actually try and use them. We already have a “fake katana” for this very reason.
In other words, I agree that in the US, real swords of all kinds should be extremely rare, to the point of it being common not to find one in a typical playthrough. This has almost nothing to do with variety though.

[Random_dragon]

I did add fake variants of most of the weapon additions though. They SHOULD show up at the same rates, relative to their real counterparts, as other existing weapons.