an observation about range/power of saber styles

[Low Rent]

The way it is now each saber style has a specific range and power .

 

Light stance - short range- least amount of power.

Medium stance - medium range - average amount of power

Strong Stance - longer range- most amount of power.

 

This seems inherently backwards.

 

As you swing a saber, or a stick, or your fist etc. The power is dissapated the farther the swing has to travel. Reverse, this and the shorter the you have to swing (or the less you have to extend yourself to swing) the more power that will reach the target when it connects.

 

At the rate it is right now in game, a longer, slower swing is doing the most dammage when in essence the swing, upon reaching its target would have little power at all.

 

Conversely, the shorter swings are doing the least amount of damage.

 

 

Now of course I don't know what it takes to change something like that, so I won't really propose that something be done about it. It does however strike me as extremely odd that this is the case.

 

Low Rent

[ACGe0rge]

The speed facter is the real drawback to the more powerful swings. Strong stance can easily be countered with a faster stance if you know when to time your attack (as well as getting out of the way).

 

I also dissagree with you about why the stong stance should have a shorter range. IF you're chopping wood, the best way to get power is to stretch out your arms and take a long slow swing of the axe. It would take a lot more swings to get though a log if you kept your arms close to your body and made quick swings. If you were chopping vegetables, you would keep the knife close to your body and make quick chops. You could get more power if you made log chopping type swing but (beside making a mess) it would take a whole lot longer (and you dont need much power for vegetables).

 

I do have one problem with the ranges of the swings. Tehre have been a few occasions where (accoding to what I see on the screen) the saber only gets near me without actually hitting, but I still take damage or die. Fortunatelly, it's only happened a few times so i dont worry about it too much.

 

Those are my opinions anyway. Let me know what you think.

[HBK]

I agree w/ ACG.

I'll make another analogy. Hitting a baseball, you get the most power from a swing that is long and your arms are extended. You lose power from (a)trying to keep the bat/your arms from extending, i.e. you are fighting against the inertia which will create more power, and (b) you change the natural path of the swing, again removing energy from the swing, and © shortening the swing. Try this, hold your hand 2 inches above your desk and slam it down. Now hold it 10 inches above and slam it down. See the difference?

However, you would still require some kind of bat speed to produce the power. Same for the sabre. The 'form' for heavy is what you would expect for a powerful blow, but the speed of the swing gives that power away.

 

I read in these forums somewhere that the basic damage is 30 for blue, 60 for yellow and 100 for red. I would suggest making red a bit faster, but make the damage 40/60/80. 40 for blue because it is just so weak.

 

I also have noticed the range of some attacks. I don't want to come off like an anti-red, but I notice it the most with this stance. Annoying when you think you are slick and avoided a DFA and get crushed.

 

HBK

[Kyth'emos]

I agree that 40/60/80 is better than 30/60/100, but i think they should all have the same range, after all the saber is just as long in blue as it is in red.

[ACGe0rge]

It's not a matter of how long the saber is, but how far you extend your arms.

 

AS for the speed of the attacks, I think the idea is that the swing speed is actually faster than than medium and light, it's just that whe windup and recovery times are so long. I can explain using the same axe analogy I used before. Keeping your arms close to your body to make short quick chops may seem faster, but the actual speed of the axe head as it hits eh log would not be that great. Using the long, slow, extended swing would take longer, but the actual speed of the axe head would be a lot greater than the quick swing. In other words, you could make a lot of 5 Mph swings with the short swing, but a lot less 15 Mph swings with the long swing (I have no idea what the actual speeds would be).

 

I havn't paid close enough attention to whether or not the animations are exact depictions of the physics involved, but I think they are close enough for good gameplay.