I know that the eventual DF plan is to move more and more things into the raws for modders to use, but the sooner that comes, the better.
Before the raws changes go up for release, it would be good to get things like numbers of pain receptors, fatigue levels and the ability to break ribs through armour right.
Going back to armour, an end to armour stacking would be good, as would the addition of proper leather armour as seen in the mod linked earlier. Where that mod is lacking is in unarmed combat, as playtesting showed.
Ah yes unarmed combat. I have so far left it untouched as adjusting it fairly easily sprawls into lots and lots of different raw files.
The current version of my mod seems to have taken out the ridiculous one-hit punch kill through a helmet, but biting, scratching and AI priorities are still weird. For some reason the bite attacks 'attach' even if there is only a bruise through the armor, and the subsequent shake attacks completely ignore armor. Leading to ridiculous things like being able to take down an armoured enemy by biting him in the foot. While standing.
I should be fairly simple to keep unarmed attacks from being effective where they should not, either by nerfing the material or adjusting the bodypart. In theory you can adjust the attacks themselves, but I really don't fancy adjusting each and every creature entry. AI priorities however are well out modding reach as far as I know.
The scratch attack somehow phasing through mail is also an issue with the mail not being worn with effective padding. Breaking ribs through mail and padding should only be a good way to break your own fingers.
I have gotten the padded and leather armor working properly now, with only a number of material template changes being needed which is think is a worthwhile sacrifice (I try to keep the mod as compatible as possible). More info in the combat mechanics thread:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=142372.msg5937839#msg5937839It will be released along with a few other changes on my mod page, but for anyone who wants to use it this is pretty much all you need to do:
[IMPACT_YIELD:1]
[IMPACT_FRACTURE:100000000]
[IMPACT_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:37500]
...
[SHEAR_YIELD:10000]
[SHEAR_FRACTURE:10000]
[ITEM_HELM:ITEM_HELM_COIF_PADDED]
[NAME:padded coif:padded coifs]
[ARMORLEVEL:1]
[LAYER:UNDER]
[COVERAGE:1750]
[LAYER_SIZE:4]
[LAYER_PERMIT:0]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:5]
[SOFT]
[STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_METAL] Annoyingly, its possible to make adamantine padded armors. This is to at least limit the sillyness.
[ITEM_ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_GAMBESON]
[NAME:gambeson:gambesons]
[ARMORLEVEL:1]
[UBSTEP:MAX]
[LBSTEP:MAX]
[LAYER:ARMOR]
[COVERAGE:328]
[LAYER_SIZE:16]
[LAYER_PERMIT:2]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:12]
[SOFT]
[STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_METAL]
[ITEM_ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_AKETON]
[NAME:aketon:aketons]
[UBSTEP:MAX]
[LBSTEP:MAX]
[LAYER:OVER]
[COVERAGE:875]
[LAYER_SIZE:4]
[LAYER_PERMIT:2]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:8]
[SOFT]
[STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_METAL]
[ITEM_GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_MITTENS_PADDED]
[NAME:padded mitten:padded mittens]
[ARMORLEVEL:1]
[UPSTEP:0]
[LAYER:ARMOR]
[COVERAGE:2292]
[LAYER_SIZE:12]
[LAYER_PERMIT:8]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:6]
[SOFT]
[STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_METAL]
[ITEM_SHOES:ITEM_SHOES_BOOTS_PADDED]
[NAME:padded boot:padded boots]
[ARMORLEVEL:1]
[UPSTEP:0]
[LAYER:ARMOR]
[COVERAGE:2292]
[LAYER_SIZE:12]
[LAYER_PERMIT:6]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:6]
[SOFT]
[STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_METAL]
[ITEM_ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_LEATHER]
[NAME:cuir bouilli armor:cuir bouilli armor]
[PREPLURAL:suits of]
[ARMORLEVEL:2]
[UBSTEP:0]
[LBSTEP:1]
[LAYER:OVER]
[SHAPED]
[COVERAGE:500]
[LAYER_SIZE:14]
[LAYER_PERMIT:15]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:9]
[LEATHER]
[HARD]
All of these take 25% off of a blunt hit's force now. 0 impact strain would take off 100%, 49999 takes off no force, 50000 makes it automatically pass through blunt force like chainmail does.
Increasing the impact yield should also give it an arbitrary momentum cost, but I haven't quite gotten to experimenting with that yet. Might be appropriate for the cuir bouille (boiled leather) armor, which in reality had a consistency somewhat like hard plastic.
EDIT: I'm expecting a 'no', but does anyone know of a way to get helmets to protect facial features? Things like something kicking my fully armoured warrior and the nose and the part exploding in gore is pretty high on my annoying things list.
Nother EDIT: Whoops, I both midsspelled the cuir bouilli armor and balanced it wrong. Fixed now.