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[The Cake Earl]

Melee in general is tricky subject to approach due to the relative imbalance it would likely add to the game, where faster mechs punch slower mechs to death in a flurry of deadly mist lynx jabs.

My solution is far more eloquent than a "push "V" to knife kill." That being, Haymakers

Imagine that melee is not a prompt for punch, but an activation, you push E (or something else) and it activates your "intent to wind up for big swing." Where you then, twist your cockpit hard to one side, winding up the blow, and then back to center unleashing a big ole fist into (presumably)
your foe in front of you.

This adds 2 things to the mix.

Fistly (yes, fistly) it prevents a simple damage addition, eg. walk up to enemy, fire all weapons, once in melee, punch+fire all weapons. By winding up haymakers you enter risk vs. reward stage, taking your focus off you enemy means that A) your not shooting them, and a smaller, quicker, or savvier opponent may take the opportunity to bug out.

Secondly, it makes it skill based. You wont be having atlas' punching spiders because they're close enough to push (E) and send your assault fist at them, slow lazy punches will only hit someone slow enough to eat them

This model of course only applies to fisticuff mechs, and not crazy axe-wielding mechs currently. But with that in mind, i propose fist melee be more of a knockdown/back, more than a true damage dealer.

The assets for a mech getting his ass knocked down were implemented back in beta, where dragons roamed the field, waiting for any opportunity to run over any unsuspecting foe. So it stands that this will help balance certain standoff showdowns that are currently unbalanced.

For example, a Direwolf fighting an Atlas. Currently by all accounts superior firepower of a direwolf is going to leave the atlas a smoldering wreck in no time flat.
But a slow slow direwolf may be at the mercy of an atlas at zero range, where a big steiner scout punch knocks him down, leaving him vulnerable to fire.

Zero range engagement become much deadlier than they currently are (not that theyre too nice right now) but it should be stated that damage of fists, and potential knockdown should be determined by both the weight, and current speed of both mechs in question when landing a hit, so that with a running start, a hunchback gunning it at 100km/h might just stand a chance of knocking over that atlas.

Inversely, it means a tight alley fight, will still be settled with guns, seeing how 2 mechs of near equal weight standing at 0 speed, are likely not going to be able to punch the other to the ground.

which leads to the final installment of fisticuffs, the cross-counter.
"That there dragons headin' at mah Atlas aweful fast, if i time my punch right, ima land mah hit first and send him right unto his tuckuss."
almost like jousting, first one to land the hit wins, and seeing how you have to look away to wind that punch up, makes it alot trickier than it seems

but thats just my ideal of what melee hopefully will be like, obvious outcry from those who pilot fistless mechs, but that just the nature of the beast. I just hope we avoid the simple push "e" to punch, that would be quite upsetting

Edited by The Cake Earl, 08 December 2014 - 03:43 AM.

[Caesar Lop]

I would love this just from being a big fan of physical attacks from TT. Naturally, this would be a reason to actually keep armor on a Centurion's left arm and why a Nova or Stormcrow not carrying PPCs, Gauss Rifles, nor Autocannons in their arm pods could keep their lower arm and hand actuators equipped provided there's enough critical space.

As for Mechs that don't have them hand acutators, they'd still be able to attack with their arms, but with reduced damage depending on whether the hand actuators are missing along with the lower arm actuators. For example, say you have a Stormcrow-C whose right arm has lower arm and hand actuators installed. You could still 'punch' with the left arm, but it would do much less damage than a punch from the right arm due to the former not being able to support such assemblies in order to carry that LB-10X. That's pretty much how I see this being implemented. OuO

The biggest obstacle to physical attacks I see is in regards to latency. I'd hate to be the guy in a Nova Prime who tries to deck an Atlas, only to find out the Atlas lagged out to somewhere else and I'm all vulnerable. o.o;