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StrikesBrain
Member Posts: 222
Here's a few ideas on some combat items. I mean I've given ideas for just about every other item type. Why not go straight for the juicy stuff for once! Mind you there's a few new weapon ideas towards the bottom, so if the stuff up top of this article bores you, there's more juicy stuff below.
Shown weapon: Now some of these weapons speak of shot animations and whatnot Now I did post a somewhat involved system of weapon slots. But here's an idea on how to do the shown weapon nice and simple. You use a weapon, the avatar will quickly draw it, seemingly from nowhere, and fire it all in a single animation. It won't fire any slower, this is just asthetics. This weapon stays in the avatar's hand until a different weapon is used, or if the the avatar does not use any weaponry for a few seconds, he or she will automatically put the weapon away.
Two new bindable commands would be in order for this, both purely for asthetics. Forcedraw, which would draw, but not fire the highlighted weapon, and forceholster, which would force the avatar to put away any held weapons. If you use forcedraw to draw a weapon, or if a weapon is already drawn and you use forcedraw, the weapon will STAY out, even if the avatar does not use the weapon for a bit. This could be used with roleplay to get a point accross. Nothing says "I loathe you" like a high end chakram pointed at a fiends face.
Of course I think all weapon's should show on the HUD while weilded as well as show on the avatar, it's just bread and butter.
Weapon type ideas! For naming I just picked the name of a weapon that seemed close, trying to stick to the tradition of UL with Chakrams.
Chakrams - These puppies are the old stable of UL, and I say, they should remain largely unchanged. The ONLY thing that I'd prefer to see removed is for them to not do that "Chakram chain" affect. At least not without some sort of special affect (searing chakram anyone?). Of all the weapon listed here, a speedy chakram has a nice mix of stopping power mixed with range and speed and ease of use. Of all the weapons here, Chakrams can be the hardest to friendly fire with. Affect chaks could do with one more feature, using the alternate mode would wield the chakram color side in. An idea for chakrams would be more elaborate looking chakrams for higher levels. I want it so if someone draws a level 50 chakram and brandishes it in my face, I KNOW it's a "very bad thing".
Scythe - A Scythe is not really a melee, weapon. It is a ranged weapon, and it is all about one thing, crowd control. It looks like something almost teardrop shaped, the end bulb is swooped in to one side where there's a small handle that it can be weilded. When held, it swoops down along the forearm. When fired a scythe user winds up, andd then he swings his weapon arm as if he was throwing a wide hook punch. The whole animation takes about a second, the end result is a 90 degree arch of energy that spreads out as it flies away from the user. Scythe shots move THROUGH targets, hitting multiple foes. They are all generally slow though and only good in close to medium ranges. As a scythe shot flies away from the firer, it loses power. By the time it reaches maximum range, the shot is reduced to 25 percent of it's original damage. All scythes have the same speed, but they come in a variety of ranges. Even the farthest range scythe though should be at best mediumish. Scythes NEVER have status affects tied to them.
Atlatl - This weapon looks vaguely similar to the spear thrower. It's best described as a stick with a cup on the end. The cup in dream atlatls though oftem appear more like a nob, and are the more elaborate looking end of the weapon. It's weilded much like the spear thrower, in fact the original smith who cooked this weapon up came from a shard where these things were used to hunt. Instead of loading the weapon, the shooter just goes through the throwing motion and the weapon will throw a high speed dart of energy. These energy darts don't hit as hard as Chakrams, they also are not nearly as broad as chakrams shots, forcing the firer to be more accurate. What Atlatl shots do is move at blazingly fast speeds. They will streak out and leave a small glowing trail behind them, showing the trajectory and who fired the shot. Atlatl shots ignore 50% of the armor on a target and instead of comming in different speeds like a chakram, they come in different ratings of penetration, double, triple, and quad. An atlatl shot will pass through at least one target. A double atlatl shot will continue on after the first target and be destroyed after it strikes a secondary target. Triples will strike up to 3 targets in a straight line, and, of course, the quad atlatl can allow a good marskman to strike 4 targets. An atlatl is a good weapon for a skillful shooter how knows how to hit a mark consistently and knows enough not to fire it when there's a friend down the shooting line. Atlatls work best in long range engagements or for trick shots. Like a chakram, an atlatl can come with status affects tied to it.
Buckler - This talisman is used in lieau of a weapon to produce a disk of energy in front of the user. A buckler's disk blocks any incomming shots, but the defender cannot attack while the buckler is active. A buckler's disk does shove anyone it comes in contact with but does not deal damage. It can be used to provide cover to someone trying to perform a long evoking art, such as shatter on a ward. If anyone closes in to close, the buckler user and try to shove them back.
Dreamsmith weapon fun!
Enhance talisman - This art can be used on talismans with a level that determines the required level for use and it's affect, like a Chakram. Upon using it the dreamer sets a target level he's aiming for and evokes the art. Depending on the difference in levels and the level of his enhance talisman art, the target talisman can very well just vape. A talisman can only be enhanced once.
Infuse talisman - This art takes a weapon, and a several elemens of a specific element. It vapes the elemens and puts their energy into the weapon, giving it a special affect. The art tells the evoker if he meets the requirements in terms of elemen supplies and gives him a prompt to verify the evoke, in case it's going to eat something he doesn't want it to eat. The level of chakram he can alter is affected by his level of Infuse Talisman, AND the max level he has the keyed element at. So, if a dreamsmith has 10 willpower and 20 lucidity, he's going to be able to perform lucidity infusions on higher level weapons then he could do with willpower infusions. The art has a chance of vaping the target talisman, odds are based off of the level of the talisman, and the level of the art. It is easier to infuse a talisman with a property of the same element it is designed for. A GK chakram will take a willpower infusion more readily then it will with a lucidity infusion. A weapon may only be infused once. If this process is performed on a status affect weapon, the weapon loses it's status affect. These special infused items are only available through dreasmiths.
And here's the infusions:
Willpower: "Forceful" Infused weapon knocks anyone back that it strikes, this causes art evokes to cancel.
Insight: "Piercing" Weapon gains the ability to pierce invulnerability shields, like what some mares in UL have.
Lucidity: "Searing" Chak and atlatl shots splash on a confirmed hit and damage adjacent targets for partial damage. Scythe shots grow broader.
Resilience: "Sundering" Shots deal extra damage to equipped shields.
Retool Talisman: This dreamsmith art changes the element of a talisman. So, he can change that level 40 GK chak into a level 40 FS chak and keep his FS friend armed. The odds of success are based off the level of the art and the level of the talisman. On a failure it vapes the talisman. A partial success is possible where it halves the charges but succeeds.
Reshape Talisman: This is a dreamsmith art for fashion conscious warriors. It doesn't have a fail rate, like some of the other arts, but it does allow the dreamsmith to change the appearance of talismans that show on the avatar when used, like weapons. The choice of new images is limited by the type of talisman involved. If reshaping a chakram, the end result will look like a ring, and it will have the same color scheme, but the art would give the evoker a whole array of chakram shapes to pick from. of course this will require a prolific modeller on the game developers end end 
Kabalist fun!
Suppress Affect: A Kabalist with this ability gains the ability to toggle on and off the special affects of affect weapons. This is primarily useful for crowded scraps where you don't want to aggrivate friendly fire with status affects.
Longshot: A kabalist with this skill passively extends the life of Chakram shots. More training with this technique gives more life to the shots. The end result is longer range on all chakrams.
Speed shot: A kabalist with this skill passively speeds up all of his shots. This ability can be toggled on and off. More training in this technique increases it's affect.
Because only someone as deranged as me would have a rubber chicken Named Alfredo Sanchez
Comments
Sounds like lots of additions for the sequel, Reclamation 2.
Nah joking. That's a ton of ideas, and they all sound pretty cool. Hopefully the dev team will take a look at this, at least for future patch ideas or something if not for when it goes gold. The game definately needs a broader weapon variety than chakram and blade, especially with a Kabalist focus out there. There's what, a hundred some odd arts in UL that do all sorts of things, and like six talisman types of which only two that inflict some kind of damage? A variety of weaponry like this would be great. Maybe different foci would be better at different kinds of weapons, like GateKeeper would be more chakram advanced, and SoulMasters be more 'Buckler' advanced or something, drawing from Strikes post, just for example?
damnit, and here I thought I had a briliant idea, get all excited to post it AND THEN remembering Strike already posted something at least topic relaated only to find he beat me to it again (and by a long time too).
We'll call this a variation, or another possibility on the quoted idea. Still requires the Kabalist template, but each chak that is genned, there is chance that it could have the effect of "Rapid Fire". Example, gen a chak that is fast, next chak to gen is fast and bouncy, third chak to gen is fast and rapid fire. The third chak is handed off to a Kabalist (can be toggled or a natural game mechanic) who with his template is able to fire off shots at a much faster pace, maybe even two shots per one charge, but its an effect that cannot be added via forge. Just wanted to make sure I got the forge note in there.
....and life goes on