B18 Feedback: Melee vs Ranged Balance.

[TheMeInTeam]

Thanks Granitecosmos for the analysis, it's interesting, very well thought-through, and you brought up some very good points.

It is true that some of the relationships that should've held got twisted by the new update. We'll be making some adjustments for version 1 to get things back to making sense (especially really basic stuff like: hitting people with a wood log should beat using fists!)

I think I'm going to try to make shield belts a lot more accessible.

Realism concerns aside, I want melee and ranged combat to be viable on both attack and defense. For example, I basically never see players go all melee, and it would be cool if that was at least something that a few people did.

I know this post is a few months old, but I've been reading through this thread.  If you want to see players go all melee, melee needs an answer for each offense the game presents.  At least on the upper difficulties, all-melee can't do competently against mechanoids without EMP grenades, is very risky vs sappers w/o shield belts, and roughly untenable when significantly outnumbered by a siege event.  High level infestations generate too many megaspiders to keep pawns relatively safe in melee also.

Ranged weapons being so powerful when clubbing in melee is an issue too, I have no incentive to make proper tribal melee since I can just use a recurve bow, shoot it against enemy melee and simply micro to whack people with them in melee to down raiders in detail with nearly no dropoff compared to using clubs (and better than a shiv).  At least thrumbo horns still hurt like crazy.

Regardless, so long as there are raid types that are roughly untenable for melee, it's a niche situation option rather than legitimately viable; you're better served simply employing ranged and being capable of handling all raid variants in a more cost-efficient manner instead since you're going to need it anyway.

[Revshawn]

Thanks Granitecosmos for the analysis, it's interesting, very well thought-through, and you brought up some very good points.

It is true that some of the relationships that should've held got twisted by the new update. We'll be making some adjustments for version 1 to get things back to making sense (especially really basic stuff like: hitting people with a wood log should beat using fists!)

I think I'm going to try to make shield belts a lot more accessible.

Realism concerns aside, I want melee and ranged combat to be viable on both attack and defense. For example, I basically never see players go all melee, and it would be cool if that was at least something that a few people did.

We got no late game weapons Tywin. You give us lightsabers we'll give you a Jedi Order.