S2 Melee
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[edit] Overview
Savage 2's melee system incorporates a few unique features that makes it feel very smooth and responsive. Melee combat between players in Savage 2 consists of 3 basic moves. Each move interacts differently with the opponents moves. The basic melee attack moves are Attack, Interrupt, and Block, in addition to each units special abilities. Each melee move, and its interaction with others moves are detailed below.
[edit] Attack
An attack which does smaller damage, executes quickly, and uses very little stamina. It breaks an opposing interrupt and is deflected by a block.
- Breaks an interrupt by opponent
- Stuns attacker if opponent is blocking
[edit] Interrupt
This attack has a slower initial animation to 'forewarn' the opponent of a possible attack. This move takes significantly more stamina to perform but does more damage.
- Breaks through blocking opponent as well as stunning him
- Interrupt is broken if opponent counters with an attack
[edit] Block
This move is used to deflect the damage of an attack and stun the opponent. An interrupt will break a block.
- Stuns an opponent performing an attack
- Broken by an interrupt, stunning the player
[edit] Blocking and piercing modifiers
While executing the correct move while engaged in melee combat is crucial, it is not just a matter of choosing and timing the correct move. Each unit has a blocking and piercing modifier percentage which affect the outcome of a battle.
A units blocking modifier determines the percentage of damage from a quick attack that is blocked. A units piercing modifier determines how effective a block is against the attack. It effectively lowers the opponents blocking percentage by its value.
For example, if Unit 1 has a blocking percentage of 80% and faces Unit 2 with a pierce of 25% and damage of 50 and Unit 1 successfully blocks Unit 2's quick attack, 80% of the 50 damage is blocked, however 25% pierce effectively removes 25% of the 80% block (20% of block) equally a 60% block of damage, or 30 damage points removed causing 20 damage to Unit 1.
[edit] Combat Balancing
To make melee more stable (usable) each attack uses stamina. By using stamina it makes fleeing a melee battle by running more difficult since running burns stamina. Also, player movement is hindered while swinging which makes aiming and blocking much more accurate.
Savage 2's melee system also incorporates a few LagAids which makes the melee feel smoother and spontaneous. Damage from melee weapons are "projected" from the attacking unit via a pie slice which expands and retracts during the animation cycle of the attack. This makes attacking and evading much more intuitive and gives the melee a more purposeful and deliberate feel.
Finally, the animations are set up to allow a "warm up" cycle (fast for a quick attack, more deliberate on a strong attack) which leaves a very short period of time where the swing actually takes place. Meaning the swing itself almost happens instantaneous. Each swing is also trailed by a nice swoosh effect which makes following the movement easier.
