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[Huntthetroll]

(Posted under the assumption that no one has mentioned or discussed this already):

After one too many experiences watching a dwarf endlessly and futilely punching an unconscious opponent in the head, here are some suggestions for improving how NPCs fight and how the game handles head trauma.

1. In lethal and no-quarter combat, an unarmed NPC should default to the following actions upon rendering an opponent unconscious:
     a) Civilized (dwarves/elves/goblins/humans/assimilated animal people), humanoid creatures should strangle their opponents.
     b) Uncivilized creatures with teeth/claws should bite/scratch their opponents' throats.

2. If the lungs and heart can be bruised without breaking any ribs, then it should be possible to bruise the brain before fracturing the skull. (This happens all the time in real life and would make DF more !!FUN!!.)
     a) Immediate corollary: Bruising of the brain should not be instantaneously lethal. Tearing of the brain can be left as is, unless Toady wants to implement a detailed brain model.
     b) Instead, each bruising injury to the brain should have a chance to cause a syndrome, including any one or more of the following effects:
          i) Permanent stunning/dizziness
          ii) Permanent nausea
          iii) Inability to speak
          iv) Blindness
          v) Deafness
          vi) Paralysis (half-body or whole-body)

[SixOfSpades]

I concur. Upon hearing that silver was an excellent material for blunt weapons, I created 2 full squads--1 with high-quality silver hammers, 1 with high-quality silver maces. Both squads were functionally crippled, because each had only a couple of members (who were physically stronger than the others? I forget) who were able to penetrate an iron helm with their silver weapons. An iron helm worn by an unconscious goblin. Seriously, if they're helpless and you can take literally any kind of shot you want, why would you focus on attacking the ONE piece of armor that might be able to stop you? And keep attacking it for minutes at a time, after it's proved time & time again that it laughs at your puny silver?

In addition to OP's suggestion, there should be an additional set of coup de grace options, only available against an unconscious or similarly helpless opponent. Things like removing their weapons/armor before death, slipping a dagger between armor plates for a guaranteed kill, bashing their head against the ground, clogging their nose/mouth with mud, that sort of thing.

[IndigoFenix]

The reason why the heart and lungs can be bruised without damaging the ribs is because DF doesn't really model the ribs properly, all the upper and lower body organs are just sort of floating around independently in the body, except sometimes when you hit a rib the game knows the heart or lungs are behind them.

Body parts with AROUND behavior should function like tissue layers, which transmit impact shock through them to lower layers even when not broken.  And yes, bruising the brain should not be instantly lethal.  I think cumulative damage to THOUGHT body parts should have a chance of disabling any FUNCTIONAL tissue elsewhere in the body.

You can remedy this by removing skulls and giving the head a bone layer instead.  You can also give the brain an outer layer with BREATHE and GUTS tags, which will cause winding and nausea when damaged, and make the inner layer THOUGHT.

[Blastbeard]

When I first found out how vulnerable the neck was and how a well-placed punch could instantly kill roughly 90% of the things you come across in an average adventure, I was let down when I couldn't grab someone and snap their neck through wrestling. Normally, you can only do tearing damage through wrestling, unless you're breaking a joint. However, if you add [JOINT] to the neck in the body part file, you can perform a neck-breaker that behaves exactly like you would expect. Have a look:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

Human 1: Has the tide turned?  I must press on!
You grab Human 1 by the neck with your left hand!
Human 1 punches You in the lower body with his left hand, bruising the muscle and bruising the pancreas!
You lock Human 1's upper spine with Your left hand!
You bend Human 1's neck with Your left hand and the upper spine collapses!
A ligament in the upper spine has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
The Human 1 falls over.
Human 1 misses You!
You release the grip of Your left hand from The Human 1's neck.
Human 1 misses You!
Human 1: How fleeting life is...  Begone fear!
Human 1 misses You!
Human 1 has suffocated.


The victim is still somehow able to move, speak, and even bite after this, but will eventually suffocate as long they aren't a vampire or something with the [NOBREATHE] tag. It's fully functional and requires next to no modification to the raws, but the wording in the wrestling menu and combats reports might need changing if it were going to be made into a standard feature. I can't think of any reason not to include it apart from that it could make combat easier than intended.
"Oh hello bandit *grab-snap*"
"Hello soldiers *grab-snap grab-snap grab-snap*"
"Hidragonbyedragon *grab-snap*"

Edit: Just to specify, you need to add [JOINT] to [BODY:NECK] to make it work. Adding it to [BODY:HUMANOID_NECK] or anything other whole body entry does nothing. Adding [JOINT] to [BODY:THROAT] will work and is extremely effective, but produces unrealistic results. Happy modding!

[peasant cretin]

@IndigoFenix and Blastbeard

Thank you both. I'll have to tinker around with this.