How would you change combat as a whole, if you could?

[h2mk]

I want more ways to attack players in non-pvp worlds

[. . .]

On 7/1/2022 at 8:14 PM, Canis said:

I disagree with the idea that intricate combat has no place in a game like DST, because interesting and complex combat mechanics make a fight feel more blood-pumping and action-packed than the rest of gameplay, as it arguably should be. With Don't Starve's origins, fighting was meant to be a last resort sure, but that's just not the game we play nowadays.

That being said, I have a few ideas floating around.

Dodging.
Kiting in DST feels repetitive, as it just devolves to "Hit X times, back up, repeat". If most mobs moved forward when they attack however, this would force players to use something else. That's where a new dodge mechanic would come in. Essentially, you could tap a key to move to the side, gaining I-Frames, at the cost of a cooldown period where your character catches their breath. (half a second dodge, 1 second CD). Certain characters would have different animations when dodging. Wilson, Wendy, Wicker, Walter, etc would throw themselves on the ground, while more physically apt characters like Wolfgang, Winona, and Wigfrid would stay on their feet, looking more like a graceful duck, but not to the point of a professional fighter.

What this does is essentially give everyone the teleport-kite ability that Wanda and Wortox have. Im debating with myself on if I'd want characters to suffer 2x damage vulnerability on their cooldown period, to de-incentivize spamming it. This would open up the ability for mobs to have more intricate attacks that require precise timing to face head-on. Sentient mobs could even try to fake an attack to bait you to dodge.

Weapon Type
Very simple. Some may argue that this is not needed at all, but I view it as a way to force variety into the meta. In short, there are three damage types: Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning (Yes, I play D&D.)

Most mobs will have a 50% damage resistance to one, take 150% damage from one, and take normal damage from one. Let's take Deerclops for example. They're big and meaty, so a bludgeoning weapon wouldn't be as effective. Piercing however would thrive with such a big target. As another example, a Clockwork Knight. Piercing and Slashing will barely scratch it, but it's metal would easily dent underneath a hammer. This is also an example for how special mobs could be resistant to two types instead of just one.

You may ask again "why do we need this?". Again, to force variety. The idea of "forcing" anything sounds rough, but people enjoy new things to look at. Lets take a look at possible weapons for Early Game alone.

Slashing: Axe, Machete
Piercing: Pickaxe, Spear
Bludgeoning: Hammer, Mallet

The first item in the order deals 26.67 damage and suffers increased durability use when used to hit things.
The second item in the order still has 26.67 base damage. However, if used against a creature that's vulnerable to it's damage type, it is multiplied by 150%, dealing 40.005 damage per hit.

I could go on about how elemental or shadow damage can be their own types, but im guessing only 20% of you have actually read this far regardless, so I'll cut myself off here.

wish i could give this 100 likes

[Cloakingsumo198]

Make projectiles aimable like in forge for blowdarts and Walter slingshot

[Capybara007]

combat is fine, i dont want to do a minigame about dodging and parrying and blocking when i want to get 1 silk

its just some weapons are underwhelming like the darts and some enemies are stupid like ck

[-Nick-]

Add some kind of forge styled combat in base game. But heavily toned down of course.

I would love better ranged weapons that are fun to use and are a alternative to melee.