Don't have "Riddle of Steel" ... too bad.
Remember DL's tagline: "Reality is more terrifying than fantasy."
Reality is more playable than fantasy, too.
The vote on ONR, and the Mesoamerica and Holy War betas, all say that this improves game play substantially. It adds some tactics, reduces weapon inflation - makes people choose between faster and higher damage, like the original DL did. Makes armor more valuable, also like DL did. Makes the distinction between raw killing power and armor penetration more distinct - again something the original DL started. These add a lot to the game, instead of everybody just getting a weapon that does 10 points of damage and trying to hit the other guy four times before he hits you four times, like something out of "space invaders".
I'm all for the proposed changes to healing time and statistics damage from wounds. Those were something I did not have the skill to implement, and if you get them working, several other mods would love to incorporate that as well. I still figure that is a moot point when an unarmored man can take four hits from a great sword and keep fighting... what good is long-term wounding if the weapons are apparently made of rubber? Fix the obvious problem first, and work down.
If I tried to describe the RCM in text, it would take days ... and when I finished, it would take a week with pencil and paper to make sense of what I said. A lot of messing with the numbers, using the cut and pierce attributes in strange ways to tweak the chances of somebody going down from a given number of injuries. Let's just say that the result is statistically accurate damage, based on crime reports, injuries on animals and people I have seen or referenced, and combat wounding studies, plus test cuts against armor. The bibliography alone would be several pages long. There are a couple of "short answer" summaries of the statistical model in the "Combat Realism Model" thread on ONR, but highly incomplete.
Instead of a one-page summary, let's do it the other way. Send me a copy of the source code. (No, I don't want to steal it or give it to anybody else - I had this discussion with AW over at TLD, who is paranoid somebody will get his source code.) I'll make changes, and send back the item data file & source. I only need to change the item_kinds1.txt (module_items.py) file - it won't hurt anything else. You can play it, and run it by some beta testers, and see what everybody thinks. Compare the two. The real proof is in the game, after all - right?
If the vote is no, then no hard feelings. I'm confident enough this will be popular that I'm willing to write it up. (Translation - I want to play this mod, but I consider the vanilla combat model such a turn-off that I will probably not, unless some serious changes are made. Conveniently, those changes were already developed, and are standing by.)
The inspiration for this model owes a lot to the original DL - I feel it only fitting to complete the circle, and return it to DL's successor here.
Put the module system into a .zip file and e-mail it. (
Ronlosey@hotmail.com) Give me two days ... 48 hours, and I'll have you something that will blow your socks off. I guarantee it.