Hello all,
I was thinking something which would be very realistic - weapons breaking on impact.
Consider this - due to much stress, any steel tends to suffer affliction over time and it will eventually break in some point.
This is valid primarly for swords, as they are most difficult to forge and due to low quality steel back then these are the most prone to breakage.
For example in-game a sword hitting a hard metal object like steel armour or steel canted shield should result in a negative impact to sword’s overall durability plus a random chance of breakage depending on the type of hit, target and sword’s quality.
It can be extended so that maces, hammers and axes could also break in some point, albeit more rarely than swords. Maybe their wooden handles could break more often due to stress
rather than their steel heads, as this is the case with woodcutting axes in real life. And it will be good if a well placed hit in the wooden shaft could crack or even split it, thus rendering the weapon useless.
Finally, I think that armours and shield should also decline over time. Armours may crack in places and/or reveal weak spots for a weary attacker to exploit. Shields could become battered over time with broken cantings and with punctures through them by arrows or picks, degrading their defence capabilities and eventually rendering them useless.
Of course, all equipment which degrades should present negative effect to its initial stats. Armour and shield degradation will make these items to offers less protection for the wearer and bladed weapons would usually get edge damage, making them less effective for cutting or suffer a rolled points making them less effective for thrusting.
Important aspect to consider is that not any damage to the equipment is reversible or repairable. A skilled blacksmith may be able to repair rolled or broken point to a sword or to reshape and sharpen its ragged edges, but eventually the steel and heat treatment would wear out and the sword will become useless and prone to failure no matter. So that it has to be smelted and forged again or just left behind as garbage or used in barter with the blacksmith for a newer weapon (he could almost always use the steel for something else). Same thing goes for other war equipment too.
If the above suggestions are implemeted in Deliverance it would most definitely improve the gameplay and immersion a lot, because the player would be forced to consider maintaining his weapons and armour to his best abilities. Besides, the player would always strive to get the best possible weapons not because their higher damage like in any typical stupid game (which shouldn’t be a big factor anyway), but because their quality and durability in which he could trust his life.
Also, in some point, he would have to change his weapon and armor nonetheless because of the stress they took.
Thank you for your time!
