This is a little idea I had for Starbound's melee weapons, mostly from a certain RPG game, that some of you might realize. I was thinking of weapons that had a chain attached to the end of the handle of any kind of weapon (Axes, swords, lances, maces), that allows you to attack enemies at a distance by throwing, then reeling it back in. I was also thinking of the controls, like left-click to throw, then you can left-click again to whip the chain, making the weapon pop and possibly hit the enemy again; with right-click to pull it back in by the chain that you're holding. And I was wondering if it'd be better if you rarely and randomly found weapons with this attached, or if the chain should be something that you create, then attach it to the weapon allowing it to be thrown, with the possibly of detaching it and turning it back into a regular weapon. Thoughts?
I think that the range of such weapons should be dictated by how many chainlinks you have in your inventory. Feeding them out like bullets but when you reel the weapon back in it gives you all of your chainlinks back, and each link could be 5 pixels long. Plus, it should have a set throw/retract speed so that the longer range you make it, the longer it takes to retract.
I don't think possibility of attaching chain to all weapons would be a good idea, although I like the idea itself. I think having a chain should be an additional statistic, making weapon generation more interesting. In Terraria were flails, just simple spiked balls attached to a chain, but it fits. I like the idea of combos you were writing, it would make fight more smooth and fun. @Ricola Your image scares me
I agree with you, but think what could do with mobs/players a giant spiked jo-jo, swords on chains from GoW or an ALMIGHTY STICK going forth and back, forth and back, forth and back...
I dunno. I'd be satisfied with a whip weapon class. Just something from my favourite Castlevania games.
OMG I have an idea like this. Hook the chain to a revolving sword. Revolving swords have a hollow circle with a handle inside. It has 2 blades on each side of the circle, which spin around it.
A "Strike-Chain" like weapon from Mega Man X2 would be awesome. (damages enemies, acts as a grapple in a pinch) "It's a little something I like to call...FIGHTER-DOKEN!!" 8-Bit Theater...damn. I suddenly feel old.
seeing a sword being whipped by a chain would seem a bit awkward, im thinking more of a medieval flail
Seems a bit similar to the flail or harpoon weapons in Terraria, but I really like Luxy's idea of giving the player a little more control over the weapon's behavior. Terraria's flails always had a peculiar floaty feel to them, but if you could sling them out, let them hit the ground, and then snap them back at your command it'd give them a much more satisfying heft in a addition to the obvious benefit having more control.
I think to compensate for the insane reach that these weapons would have, you should only be able to use one-handed weapons in their creation, so as to limit their heft and damage. Maybe these weapons could also be two handed? (One hand for the weapon, one hand for the chains) On a different note, creating a ghost rider character that uses these weapons would be awesome!
You guys are giving some great ideas here, but I do realize that stuff like swords on chains would seem a little awkward.
As Ricola said, the longer the chain, the longer it takes to retract. I think that is great, but it is missing something. This comes from opinion, but I think that you should move slower or not at all if the chain is out, mainly due to this: Who would be running around knowing that since they are running, the momentum of the weapon wouldn't work exactly as you wanted to and you will probably mess up. There should also be a slight recoil once you get it back, I know I am listing cons, but hear me out. You can add something like speed/power into it, such as charging the weapon. You wouldn't be able to move, but you will charge the weapon, and the longer it's charged, the faster and more powerful it goes, and this leads to a con. If it's going fast, you will not be able to change the direction as sharply, such as not charging = extremely sharp turning, full charge = 90 degree turn takes about 15 seconds. Another con is that if it's charged, it will be harder to tell when to start your combo, your weapon might just hit them and you won't have a reaction time to utilize the combo system. I want to get back to what I said about the recoil, it's logic that when you grab a weapon at high speeds that your arm will go back a ways, so you will have a recoil to get it back and have to wait maybe 2-3 or 5-6 seconds to re-throw it, depending on the charge, yet if you can click at the right moment at the peak of your recoil, you will be able to throw it back immediately. The charging will take effect then, because the faster it goes, the larger the recoil. A full charge will go so fast that the recoil will be amazingly high and it will take great skill, by that, I mean a large difference for an instant re-throw. No charge = 1 second at peak to throw, full charge = .2 seconds at peak to throw. This could also be a grappling hook, you would have to get a full charge and throw the weapon into a thick surface. Your weapon will have a 30% chance of staying inside the material, you can climb it if it works, there is a time limit to it though. You have 10 seconds to get to where you need to go until the weapon comes out and you fall, this too, will take great skill and planning before use. The point I am getting at is that this weapon will be amazing for the people with amazing skills and reaction time. I know you might not like all these, but I just tried to use logic to make the aspects of this weapon type.
Aww MAN what if you could use grappling hooks as temporary chain weapons? Like you can use a pick axe as a weapon in a pinch, you could use grappling hooks to avoid switching weapons and give the attacker an awesome amount of maneuverability!
That sounds amazing! That gives me another idea for a chain weapon, it requires full charge. Once you throw the chained weapon at full charge, you will right-click, and the chain will wrap around the enemy, you will be able to then attack them in different manners. Such as swinging them up in the air and smash them into the ground again and again. You can also decide to slice into them, inflicting small amounts of damage at a time, then finally tear through them and inflict one large attack. Be careful though, they can still use weapons at that point, but to a lesser extent. They have a gun which fires once a second, when wrapped, it will be once every four seconds. You can also use your terrain to your advantage, such as swinging them into the wall, then the ground, and repeat until they get out. You might also be able to make a 'shield' out of this. I mean that you will grab the chain, and swing the blade around you continuously, making an offensive shield around you. This will actually be used for ranged attacks also. You can also feed the chain out little by little, making the shield bigger, but at the same time, it will be slower and you will be more vulnerable during the times you are not having the chain going fast enough. If you stop spinning, there will be a small recoil, maybe about 1.5 seconds, then you can throw it. Unless you have mastered the recoil throw, where at the peak of the recoil, you will have a .3 second window to left click at throw your chain at high speeds.
I just realised a guy using grappling hooks in a fight would look kinda like Spider-Man! Although I live your ideas, Jagai, I have to offer a bit if criticism. Where would you fit all the keys to use these abilities? It would become awfully finger-bending. Also, if ALL of your ideas for different attacks were implemented, we must remember that this is one class of weapon and if it had all of these different functions it would become impossible to face an enemy wielding a chain weapon without a chain weapon!
