Hello everyone! This is my first post on this forum, I hope I'll bring something good to this community.
First of all, I just found Sui Generis and I'm very excited about it, it seems like a sandbox roguelike RPG I always wanted.
Now, to the point: I am a full contact early medieval combat reenactor. I fight fith swords and shields, axes, long axes and spears. I know this doesn't automatically give me any authority, but I spent years on thinking how real fights would look like, what would be the best thing to do, and which things would be suicidal in the battlefield.
I know that games don't allow absolute realism in terms of combat (yet), but I think few of real life principles could be adopted in Sui Generis, for two reasons: first - this game already breaks tendencies in many categories, and that could produce one of the best combat systems so far. Secondly - in many areas this game seems focused on realism and simulation, and with real like physics and damage I think should go real like and correct behaviour of the characters. I won't give full descriptions of combat moves (I could though if you want), I just want to point out a few things to keep in mind.
Also, I'm speaking as a rather experienced warrior, I would love it if our character would learn those things with increasing skills.
First of all - put something between you and enemy. It's a very natural thing to do, even without training. In fantasy and "historical" movies characters do theatrical fights, often exposing their backs and sides to the opponent. When we face someone we should almost always hold a guard. If have only have a sword - we will point it at the enemy. If we have a shield, then we can hold in front either of those. That seems obvious, but for example footwork should go with that. If we have a sword only we should put our right foot forward and stand sideways to the opponent. This way we're a smaller target, we can block and dodge more easily and we have a lot of reach - like a fencing stance, just less overdone.
Secondly - pick weapons accordingly to situations. A spear has very small chances of succes against a shieldman. As soon as he gets past the tip we're in serious trouble. However - taking a one handed sword with a shield against a troll would be suicidal, since we won't be able to either block any of it's attacks, or reach it without getting dangerously close. Spear in this case is a much more viable option, and a ranged weapon would work best. Two handed weapons should work well against armoured enemies et cetera. I'm not saying our character should carry a whole arsenal all the time, but different weapons should work best against certain enemies. Physics system will force that anyway hopefully.
Third thing - those awful over the top attacks. I'm okay with our character flailing his weapon around as a fledgeling, but as we get more experienced the attacks should get quick and precise, without unnecessary movement. One doesn't have to put a sword far behind to deliver a good blow. In most cases it doesn't matter how hard we hit, as long as we hit first. The more powerful blows should probably be taken into consideration while facing enemies in armours for example.
Four - thing that annoys me the most. Again, I could accept that when our character is inexperienced, but later on it's intolerable for anyone that ever wielded a weapon and a shield. I hate it when in games during an attack we purposedly move the shield aside to expose us to the enemy - just for the sake of boring sword&board gameplay in which we just bash each other on the shields. One does not need THAT MUCH space to swing a sword, surely not when one wants to survive. In more advanced combat it actually comes down to being able to attack and block an enemie's attack at the same time. With experience our character should be able to cover himself regardless if attacking or not.
Five - weapons are not heavy. They are not. They couldn't be, as I said before, it doesn't matter how hard you hit, but if you hit first. That is except for chopping - wood or monsters. The heaviest two handed swords weighed around 3 kilos, typical viking swords about 900 grams or less. This fantasy world seems gritty and realistic, and it would be nice if weapons were acting like they are of proper, realistic weight (that is of course except for weapons that are meant to be used by the inhumanly strong).
I think I'll end up with that pentalog wall of text. I'll surely write more later, if anyone cares to read (and I'll probably skip the introductions). I have quite a few ideas, for example party managing - I'd love to press a "give command" key, click on one of my trusty soldiers and order him to move somwhere else (it would be even cooler with our character pulling off a short animation and a vocal command). That idea isn't actually that close to the terms of melee combat, however with time I learned that having at least one companion is always a huge advantage, and teamwork always beats individual skill.
EDIT - I almost forgot! I didn't have a chance to look up close enough in the video, so I don't know whether it's that way in the game. Please, please, don't give infantrymen cavalry shields. That is kite and heater shields. Their shape is designed to fit the horse's side. Makes sense if you think about it. Kite shields are a bit longer, so they can be sometimes used by infantry, they protect the front leg and most of the body. However typical knightly
heater shields are too short to protect well if used with a double grip. Grip is another VERY important issue. All round shields that have been used on foot had a single grip exactly in the middle. That is the best place to hold it - the geometrical centre that allows for best manouverability. Sometimes they had extra stripes above the wrist so that they would be easier to hold in place when enemy hits, but never would anyone have two stripes on a shield to hold it - it would be absolutely useless.
Another thing is knightly equipment. Many people don't realise this, but knights fought on horseback. They were CAVALRY. They were told to get of horses from time to time, during sieges especially, but their main purpose on the battlefield was a horse charge. Now, what does a typical imagination of a knight wear in combat? A closed helmet, heater shield and full plate of course. But those things just don't work very well on the ground. Helmet visors allow to see stuff, just not enough to be as aware of surroundings as it is in battle (and in combat situational awareness is the MOST important thing of all). A mechanism that narrows your cone of vision when you have a closed helmet on would be great I think.
I also have a few concerns about the combat pacing, that is gotten so wrong in most RPG's. I'm pretty sure SG's combat system will already do that to some extent, I'm just going to put in a reminder of what to avoid. And what I'm babbling here about is the amount of hits enemies or our character can hit. In real life pretty much any hit can be lethal. Most of the attacks end up blocked or missed. With locational damage system realistic wounds should be pretty easy to make - meaning that if we get cut to the right arm we might as well be dead. This by all means wouldn't make the fights shorter - if anything - longer, because both combatants would be much more careful in their actions. Most hits should be deadly, unless in heavy armor. However heavy armor should come with a big penalty to stamina and movement speed, as well as it should to some extent make it harder to get up (most of it would come from the stiffiness of this garment though, no the weight).
