Snake Sneak
Posts: 124
Joined: Monday, 14th March 2011, 11:14
Diversify thrown vs slings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRm6lCl499w
I prefer weapon classes that differ a bit in use and are best in their own niche. Currently slings and throwing weapons are very similar. They're both ranged weapons that can be used with shields. The differences are that thrown weapons have a wider choice of ammunition (normal, silver, dispersal), seem to deal more damage, but slings can benefit from launchers (scrolls of enchant, brands, randarts). Honestly, I think that's not a lot. Especially that you may wish to spend your scrolls on melee weapons, in which case your sling will likely be plain and won't have an advantage over thrown. Also, Crawl lets you throw even if you wield a cursed weapon, no switching whatsover is necessary.
The ability I propose is Running Throw and it's inspired by history. You will note pictures and photos above show objects being thrown by running people, or at least people using their forward momentum to give the throw more power. It comes naturally when you try to throw stuff. You can throw while being stationary, but it's not as effective. It's easy to find images and photos of people performing running throw.
While sling can, and often was, used with a shield, I couldn't find any pictures of people who would run - or even lunge - with a sling.
In Crawl terms it would mean that the default way to use thrown weapons would be Running Throw. Each time you 'f'ire at an enemy, you throw and advance 1 tile towards it. Stationary throwing would either be not permitted or performed with 'F' (force throw at), and it would deal -20% damage. Naturally it would mean thrown weapons would be best for characters who favor melee, and that's okay. Thrown and Slings would become better defined. Slings are still pretty easy to find for early survival.
Thrown: a sidearm for characters who prefer melee
Slings: the most defensive ranged weapon
Bows & Crossbows: sacrifice shield defense for extra power. Bows and Crossbows can be diversified at a later time.
As a bonus, it creates an incentive to play without excessive luring.
Historically skirmishers and raiders did use short bows, but thrown weapons and slings were popular because they could work with shields. Skirmishers were especially good at ambushing archers, and many thrown weapons can double as melee weapons, so you could exploit poorly defended archers if an opportunity presented itself.
Side note: shorter versions of fustibalus can be used one-handed, but if it were to be realistic, it would be a 2-handed weapon and share the main weakness of bows and crossbows: no shield.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bFQYNfJqqY