Melee attacks and damage

[wizard1200]

I think that a smoother melee damage progression would be better than restricting the graze bonus damage to juggernaut: melee graze damage + 1 per odd numbered point of str above 4 and melee damage + 1 per even numbered point of str above 4 (a character with str 10 would have a graze bonus damage of 3 and a bonus damage of 3).This would make perception less important for melee characters similar to AoD.

Juggernaut could be modified:
Melee damage + 1 per ap spent for movement during the current turn or damage reduction + 3 until the start of the players next turn if he did not move during the current turn.

Blunt could be great for piercing armor:
Basher: stagger + 5 / skill level > penetration + 5 / skill level

Bladed could be great for inflicting damage over time:
Butcher: reaction + 3 / skill level > bleeding (6-8 hp / turn for 2 turns) + 5 / skill level

[wizard1200]

I think that it should be more difficult to disengage from melee combat. For example Trials of Fire reduces your movement if you move out of melee range. Something like this could be implemented in Colony Ship, too, because the chance of a reaction attack is not enough in my opinion: Moving into a non-adjacent tile after you are engaged in melee combat could cost 6 ap (1 ap base + 5 ap disengaging penalty). The fast runner feat could also negate this penalty to make the feat more useful.

[Marcos_DS]

Don't see a real reason why tho? If you disengage, you better do it fast (maybe even jumping away) so you don't get attacked while disengaging. Imo extra disengagement attacks (reaction) are good already - the whole "sticky tank" from some rpgs never convinced me from a lore perspective. A ranged character willing to eat an opportunity attack should be able to disengage without additional punishment. Another thing: just getting into melee range is flushing ranged enemies out of cover for your own ranged squad members - negating the cover bonus can be quite significant imo.

However I think a ranged character could maybe get a distraction malus for targeting characters other then the melee guy(s) while hes engaged in melee.

[wizard1200]

Good point, but in that case reaction attacks from disengaging should be more dangerous (power attack instead of a fast attack), because spending 1 ap and accepting the chance that you are hit by a fast attack is a no-brainer compared to the penalities of using a ranged weapon at point blank range.

I think that being engaged in melee reduces the cover bonus only by half, but you are right, a character who is engaged in melee should only be able to use snap shots at all enemies.

[Marcos_DS]

Originally posted by wizard1200:

Good point, but in that case reaction attacks from disengaging should be more dangerous (power attack instead of a fast attack), because spending 1 ap and accepting the chance that you are hit by a fast attack is a no-brainer compared to the penalities of using a ranged weapon at point blank range.

Agreed, a normal or even power attack would act as a bigger detriment.

I think that being engaged in melee reduces the cover bonus only by half, but you are right, a character who is engaged in melee should only be able to use snap shots at all enemies.

Good to know, i just use my melee guys to flush out enemies for Jed and Evans but didn't check exactly how much better the chance to hit is, i really should look at the details of to-hit more often...