Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-27179278-20160127025124

              It’s hard to believe that the third anniversary of this mod is almost upon us. When I compare the breadth of this mod as it is now to what it used to be, when the Iron Hills were new, and swarms of orcs would pour over the Mountains of Mordor into the inns of unsuspecting hobbits, I am impressed by the progress that has been made on this mod. Such dedication to a single work is rare in modders, and Mevans has done good work here. I have no doubt that he will continue to add great things to this mod. However, there are still things that I believe can be improved upon, which will add greater depth to the gameplay and enjoyment of this mod. In particular, I think that weapons and combat can be further improved, especially PvP. My idea to improve this aspect of gameplay is twofold: add shields to give melee fighters more options in combat, and change lances to allow for better jousting and tournaments. These are not simple changes, and would require some thought and effort to add, but the options that they add should change fighting from the simple spam-fest that it is (albeit a slower spam-fest now) to a more enticing and exciting option.

Part I of II: Shields

While combat in this mod is certainly better than in vanilla Minecraft, it still seems to turn into a simple clicking event. The biggest choice that a combatant sees is before the fight even occurs, when they choose their weapon and armor. While these choices are important, the actual combat becomes rather stale without many options. A shield could add new aspects to combat, choices with real and potentially fatal consequences.

I would like to quickly make note of the fact that shields have been suggested, and turned down, previously. Mevans stated that he would not add shields to this mod and that players simply do not need more defense, given the rather impregnable nature of mithril armor. Surprising as this may be, I agree with him. Players do not need more flat defense, but I argue that they do need more options while in the thick of combat. Shields can (and with these mechanics, would) add more options without simply adding a flat armor value to the player. In addition, Mevans has pointed out that, while updating to the most recent Minecraft version would be tedious and painful, backporting elements from these versions is possible. Thus, shields (with some tweaks) could be backported from 1.9.

A shield would be an item that could be equipped in a unique shield slot. Each shield would have two properties: Maximum Damage Reduction and Maximum Block Length. The shield would have no effect, unless you were ‘shielding’. Shielding would block any attacks from the front of the shielding player, and you could only shield for a short amount of time (the Maximum Block Length). If you stop shielding for any reason, your shield would need to recharge before you could shield again. When an attack is blocked, all of the damage is mitigated, up to the Maximum Damage Reduction. Any remaining damage is applied to the player as normal. If any damage passes the shield, the shielding is immediately cancelled. A player that strikes will also cancel their shielding (you cannot strike effectively from behind your shield, after all).

Now, I’m sure that some people are asking “but Snoopy, won’t people just hit, and then shield until they can hit again?”, and these people would be right. Simply adding shields means that you now have two buttons to spam, instead of one. So, an additional aspect of shields is necessary: vulnerability. A player in a vulnerable state would take 1.5x the normal damage for each vulnerable state that they are in. Players would only be vulnerable immediately after they stop shielding, and immediately after they strike. These vulnerable states would be very short (less than a second), but they would reward patient players who wait for an advantageous moment to strike. Below is an example to help clarify how this system would work.

''On an ancient field of battle, two warriors meet to settle their grievances. The first, the noble beagle-knight Snoopy, seeks to enter the wild lands of the East in search of his ancient enemy, the Red Baron. The second, the horrendous half-troll Kawolski VII, seeks to defend his ancestral homelands from the daring beagle-knight. Only one may live to see the new dawn… ''

Snoopy is armed with a shield (Maximum Block Reduction of 6 and a long Maximum Block Length) and a sword; he deals 4 damage with every strike. Kawolski VII is armed with a shield (Maximum Damage Reduction 8 and a moderate Maximum Block Length) and a battle hammer; he deals 8 damage with every strike. Neither are wearing armor, and regeneration will be discounted for this fight. Each player has 14 health.

1)      Snoopy begins shielding to prevent damage. [Snoopy 14: Kawolski 14]

2)      Kawolski VII rushes in to strike Snoopy. Snoopy’s shield blocks 6 of the damage, but the shield isn’t strong enough to stop the entire hit, and 2 damage is dealt. Snoopy is not shielding now, and must wait a brief period before he can again. Kawolski immediately raises his shield to prevent damage. [Snoopy 12: Kawolski 14]

3)      Snoopy strikes, but 4 damage is less than Kawolski’s Maximum Block Reduction of 8, and so Snoopy deals no damage. Kawolski is still shielding, as the damage did not pass his shield. [Snoopy 12: Kawolski 14]

4)      Kawolski backs away while he waits until he can strike again. Snoopy, seeing an opportunity, pushes forward and waits until Kawolski’s shield drops. [Snoopy 12: Kawolski 14]

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">5)<span style="font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';">      Kawolski cannot keep his shield up, and it drops right before he can strike. Snoopy seizes the moment and attacks. Because Kawolski just lowered his shield, he is vulnerable, and takes 1.5 times the damage (1.5 * 4 = 6). Snoopy immediately raises his shield to mitigate the counterstrike. [Snoopy 12: Kawolski 8]

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">6)<span style="font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';">      Kawolski attacks, and 2 of his damage passes Snoopy’s shield. Because Snoopy just struck, he is also vulnerable, and so takes 3 damage and is no longer shielding. [Snoopy 9: Kawolski 8]

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">7)<span style="font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';">      Kawolski backs out of range and waits until he can attack again. Snoopy keeps his distance, waiting until he can shield again. [Snoopy 9: Kawolski 8]

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">8)<span style="font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';">      Kawolski begins moving in, and Snoopy backs away and starts shielding. Kawolski moves faster, because Snoopy is shielding, but he stays just out of range, and waits for Snoopy to stop shielding. [Snoopy 9: Kawolski 8]

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">9)<span style="font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';">      Snoopy needs to keep Kawolski from hitting him while he is vulnerable, so he stops shielding, and hesitates until he isn’t vulnerable and then moves into range. [Snoopy 9: Kawolski 8]

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">10)<span style="font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';">   Kawolski sees that Snoopy is attacking, and so he decides to quickly shield (to catch the impending strike) and then to attack. Snoopy, however, hesitates until after Kawolski strikes to attack. Kawolski does 8 damage, because Snoopy isn’t shielding. Kawolski  is doubly vulnerable though, because he struck and stopped shielding when he struck, so Snoopy does 8 damage (4 * (1.5 + .5)) [Snoopy 1: Kawolski 0]

<p class="MsoNormal"> There is still one more important point to cover: how the current shields would fit into the new system. Given the amount of work that went into the available shields, these options all aim to allow for as much reuse of the current shield code as possible. These options also aim to keep as many of the excellent shield textures as possible while giving shields of different strengths different looks.

<p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps the most obvious option is to allow crafting of shields on faction tables. The faction table would determine the shield’s ‘skin’, while the crafting recipe would determine the strength of the shield. This does complicate the issue of awarded shields, as these are not associated with any given alignment. Some creative thinking would need to be done to resolve that issue. Towards that end, the second option only allows shields to be crafted on a vanilla crafting table. There would be a limited number of shield types, but you could choose which skin that you would like from the current menu. This, however, means that you could not differentiate between the relative strengths of separate faction’s shields.

<p class="MsoNormal">Lastly, shields would help solve an issue that has plagued this mod (and oh so many others) since its inception. This problem is, of course, bows. They have been very powerful for quite some time now, and shields offer an enticing solution. Should shields be added, it would be relatively simple for a soldier armed with a melee weapon to shield himself from archers. This would leave the archers with an uncomfortable choice: to shoot early and hope that the missile penetrates the shield, or to wait and attempt to shoot while the shield is ‘recharging’. Given how effective shields were at negating ranged attacks in real warfare, it seems fitting that they serve the same role in the mod as well.

<p class="MsoNormal">The additional mechanics create a more in depth system, where victory depends more on skill, strategy, and well timed gambles than on whoever has the best gear.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <ac_metadata title="Improvements to the combat system: part I of II"> </ac_metadata>