Three more melee weapons be added as follows:
ITEM BUYS SELLS WEIGHT
dagger ~5 ~8 2 wpn 4
axe ~10 ~13 5 wpn 7
two-handed sword ~28 ~32 14 wpn 13
Add one more missile weapon with changes as follows:
ITEM BUYS SELLS WEIGHT
shortbow ~10 ~15 4 wpn 10
longbow ~18 ~22 6 wpn 12
Each item weapons, armor, and others, be given a "break percentage".
Every time a unit holding the item goes into combat (or, perhaps,
every round), the item is checked to see if it will break. This
is realistic when applied to weapons and armor (allowing them to
wear out) and is also suitable for horses (dying in combat) and
other items. This would reduce the "once you buy it, it exists
forever" feel of things.
If the above idea is implimented, you could have broken items
converted into a new item called "broken X" such as "broken
longsword". These could be "DISCARD"ed or "DROP"ed (new command)
or...
Reimplement Weaponsmithing [117] as well as Bowyer and
Armorsmithing. Weaponsmithing would work something like
shipbuilding. You would get a level of fixing and then a
level of making as follows:
LEVEL EFFECT
1 Fix daggers
2 Make daggers
3 Fix axes
4 Make axes
5 Fix longswords
6 Make longswords
7 Fix two-handed swords
8 Make two-handed swords
9 Fix enchanted weapons
10 Make enchanted weapons
The input for making weapons would be metal ore + lumber (forges and
assesories) + time. The input for fixing weapons would be a broken
weapon + time (and, perhaps, lumber and metal ore). If you add
another missile weapon, bowyer would be similar. You have 5 types
of armor that I am aware of but I am sure armorsmithing could be
squeezed in easily along the same lines. You would need to create
an item, leather, for leather jerkins. I would suggest simply
having "metal ore" and not worrying about the difference between
bronze and iron for the rest. Keep the production rate for making
fairly low and this shouldn't upset things.
The idea here is to add a few more options (more melee weapons, a
couple of skills) as well as the realism of weapons and armor and
horses wearing out after a great deal of use. I think this would
be relatively simple to implement and, by having things wear out,
it would not create an economy where things are created but never
destroyed (unless sold -- sort of). Once equipped, an army need
never outfit again as things stand now. I think that is unrealistic.
In addition, those of us in the new world have been stuck with
longswords being available in only one place. I think a variety of
melee weapons would solve this, much the same way a variety of
armors and missile weapons has solved this problem in those areas.
On top of that, for the people who don't want to deal with it, the
only thing they will HAVE to deal with is replacing broken weapons.
So, what do you think?
John Morrow ( Varian [856] )
morrow@remus.rutgers.edu