What kind melee combat improvements are even possible with the engine?

[MagpieOAO]

The most robust but 'simple' combat systems I've seen are in Chivalry, Mordhau, Mount and blade where you have 4 axis of attack (left/right overhead and stab) but are fighting enemies with the same 4 directions. A huge part of it is the strikes are "ray-traced" which means the game is actually calculating where your weapon is as it swings to determine whether it hits as the swing is still going. 

This means by spinning your character left, right or even leaning forward, back while swinging, you can speed up or slow down swings. Due to this, there are restrictions placed on how quickly you can swing and how much you can turn while swinging. Weapons will bounce off terrain or blocked attacks, leaving you open. The result though is a combat system with a lot of depth to master even if it's relatively simplistic. 

I have no idea if the game can do something even approaching that =/

Where should my expectation be on any kind of melee improvements? 

[Maelstrom]

On 6/19/2025 at 11:09 AM, MagpieOAO said:

Where should my expectation be on any kind of melee improvements? 

Little if any, imo. 

There could be an update with new weapons sometime in the future.  The ruined weapons found in ruins indicate they might be able to be repaired like the Forlorn Hope and Blackguard armors.  But that is my speculation on the matter.

[QueerCoded]

All the games you gave as examples are far more combat focused than Vintage Story. I wouldn't expect combat like that from this game

[QueenGeeBee]

I think the most they could do is like, a heavy attack if you hold the attack button down, and maybe making different weapons have different functions.

I kind of wish we could have some different weapons to add diversity there, like some late game maces/clubs that could stun an enemy if you hit them, but they swing slower.

[Thorfinn]

Check out Combat Overhaul. There's quite a lot that can be done, including creatures with multiple hitboxes. But I don't expect something like that to ever appear in the base game. It distracts too much from the main gameplay loops.

[FlareUKCS]

A right click melee attack for melee weapons, like a slow heavy attack 2xdamage but takes 2xtime to 'cast' and slows you by 50% (so you cant just hit and run easily), that wouldn't complicate things too much as spears have a left and right click option (stab vs throw).