Purely Hypothetical: Weapon Length

[Vicious Love]

...
Not that I'm implying anything. The Lord of the Hunt leaves nothing to the imagination.

Y'know.

I'm just saying.

Either way, let me start by pointing out that these suggestions would completely destroy the present balance of power in Dom II, and that MODding them in without compromising game balance would necessitate a total reworking of pretty much all the combat related variables in the game.
Nonetheless, food for thought, and straightforward enough:

Wouldn't it be more realistic and just a tiny, almost negligible iota cooler if particularly long weapons could be used to strike at enemies which aren't adjacent to the attacker? There'd be an attack skill penalty involved if there are any friendly units between the attacker and the target, particularly if they are one size larger than the attacker or target(Whichever is smallest). The penalty would be doubled if the units between attacker and target are hostile, and striking over the shoulder of a unit two sizes larger than either attacker or target would be impossible(Except maybe if the attacker/units between attacker and target are ethereal. Phase stick!).
Furthermore, to put the conspicuously absent "Ohdearmethere'sarowofstickswithpointybitsontheends inmyhorseike" back in "pike", repel attempts would be made not only by the targeted unit, but by any units within weapon range not presently engaged in melee(That is, the front rank would be too busy watching their own hides to repel anyone but their own attacker, but the rear ranks would be free to poke away).
Thattaway, lance armed knights would still definitely get one hit in with said doom phallus, but would be aereated the moment they closed in for a sword/hoof/hadoken combo. Speaking of which, how come knights get to use their own morale when resisting repel, instead of spazzed out battlehorsie morale? Now THAT'D give serpent cataphracts an advantage. Silly lizards just barrel right into certain death, not a shred of self preservation. To say nothing of undead horses suffused with horsie evil. Also, something should be done about the repel damage cap. But I digress.
Either way, both the repeller(Repellant? Repulsive party?) and the attacker/defendant/client should get a defense skill/attack skill penalty if attacked/made to repel more than once per round, a penalty which should probably carry over to the repellants' ordinary attacks and the defenders' defense vs. ordinary attacks. Cruel, but fair. Such is war.
Of course, counterbalancing this is the fact that long weapons are pretty much useless in close quarters, without a dozen fellow sticksmen behind you. Attacks and repel attempts made at a shorter range than the weapon's length should suffer a significant penalty, though not quite as significant as trying to strike at a target at just the right range, over an enemy's shoulder. Which might also give said shoulder-bearer a repel attempt of his own, to complicate things further. Long weapons' defense skill penalties should be much less forgiving than they are at present, with the fact that a stickman in formation effectively gets three or four free repels compensating for the fact that he's essentially menacing the opposition with a knife on a four meter stick. Alternately, ever seen a Jotun try to get at a Hoburg between its legs with a Jotun axe? This is not a metaphor.

...

And that's that, I suppose. Totally impractical for anything but a total overhaul MOD, which would be kind of silly, Dom II being as near-perfect as it is. Of course, Dom III will be entirely wishlist and feedback suggestion-based, with KO and JO pretty much running errands for the forum Users, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
On the plus side, I now have a few minutes less free time. And a burning desire to give Games Workshop some free publicity and start work on the copyrightariffic SkavenMOD.

[Vicious Love]

Addendum:
Of course, rank upon rank of untrained, ultracheap militia with pikes would still be superior to ultra-elite, ultra-expensive knights, but France didn't dwell on that, and neither shall we. Not like any of that matters after you've researched Bone Grinding, anyway.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Vicious Love:
Addendum:
Of course, rank upon rank of untrained, ultracheap militia with pikes would still be superior to ultra-elite, ultra-expensive knights, but France didn't dwell on that, and neither shall we. Not like any of that matters after you've researched Bone Grinding, anyway.

I would doubt that a group of untrained, unarmored militia would stand up to a proper cavalry charge across solid ground. Pikes don't do you any good if the guy beside you runs away.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
I would doubt that a group of untrained, unarmored militia would stand up to a proper cavalry charge across solid ground. Pikes don't do you any good if the guy beside you runs away.

That's why you place a line of trained swordsmen behind them, and make sure that they know that anyone who runs will be run through.

See, it's good for morale that way.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
That's why you place a line of trained swordsmen behind them, and make sure that they know that anyone who runs will be run through.

See, it's good for morale that way.

Medieval NKVD. Now all we need is someone to mod in a Commissar unit ...

[moodgiesanta]

Size doesn't matter, it's how you use it.

[Leif_-]

[quote]Originally posted by Arryn:

Medieval NKVD. Now all we need is someone to mod in a Commissar unit ...

I suspect this method of casting "Sermon of Courage" has been used throughout the ages. It's only in modern times' democratic armies that the officers aren't supposed to shoot at their own troops. (For some reason, though, they're still equipped with pistols as their side-arm - even though pistols are completely unsuited for shooting at the enemy. Hmmmm...)

[Vicious Love]

Just my luck, my computer went and died on me in what was clearly some sort of hardware problem midway through my post-flurry yesterday. I'm presently typing this frome one'a them new-fangled carpal tunnel keyBoards with 3(!) windows buttons. I pried both out of my old one, naturally.
Anyway, I've been toying with the idea of all fear-causing units in the presently nonexistent-but-I-swear-I'll-get-around-to-it SkavenMOD being battle standards. Furry, sober, and make the USSR seem subtle and humane by comparison.

Update: Also, clan Eshin make the GRU look like "Volga, Volga" singing choir boys. Furthermore, this keyboard is deeply lame. In summation, my toes itch. Is there no relief?

[ March 19, 2004, 17:08: Message edited by: Vicious Love ]

[Hawkmoon]

HmmmKavenMOD..why not go over board and make a warhammer mod? I mean...there are 12 or 14 warhammer races out there....nott hat I'm a programmer or have any idea what sort of undertaking that would be but I would play it....