thinking about tilesets and sprites i got the idea of combat weapon effects... little weapon slashes or thrusts or hit sprites... similar to like comics or older rpgs did it.
the question is if it is possible to create them right... i.e. soundsense can read the log and throw out sounds if someone gets hit by a sword. but can "something" read the log and "find" the two entities that are hitting eachother and then adding a transparent "swordslash" sprite over the one who gets hit?
i guess they would have to be transparent (so they go over the other sprites?) for 8 directions (where attacker and the one getting hit stand next to eachother) and for each weapon type... i.e. dagger (a little slash or poke), sword (a larger slash), spear (a thrust?).
maybe even what type of attack it was.. i.e. getting hit by a spear end is a edged thrust and getting hit by the wood is a blunt slash?.
i.e. like these
http://img10.deviantart.net/3801/i/2011/269/c/a/ichigo_skul_cald_effect_sprite_by_axellkl-d4azzha.pngof course not animated... just one sprite for each weapon... maybe if it would work out rotated depending on where the attacker is hitting from.
or this overlayed over who gets hit by a spear on each hit:
http://img06.deviantart.net/c51b/i/2013/200/7/5/new_alucard_spear_by_esco1979-d6e9va4.png the left arrow-y effect.
or for a sword or axe one of these would appear:
https://vxresource.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/slash_effect_002.png maybe sword the top left one, knife the 4th from the top left one, or axe the 2nd from bottom 1st from left or a halberd the 2nd from bottom 2nd from left.
or for a bite some animal teeth effect.
or a shield effect when a hit is blocked by a shield.
well just references to show what i mean.
basically you can see here in the first 20 seconds what i mean with combat effects over enemies etc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bllk28GN3Wksword slashes over the skeletons and hit bubbles over the character when the skeletons punch. (also, one way heroics is amazing
)
maybe someone even knows of a mod that already tried this?
but maybe it would be "too much effects" in combat with people flashing 4 times a second or so... (if i remember that undead cat fight in my human outpost that went forever with 4+ hits every second or so...)
but it might also look nice when a squad charges and you can see who gets hit without checking the reports screen...
well just a random idea.