The Thread for Town Defense Suggestions

Suggestions
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It’s always seemed strange to me how the militia fight during Town Defense mode. What would be neat is if each class had their own weapons that are independent of their tools (the cook currently wields a spoon to fight!) Farmers could fight with pitchforks, cooks with chef’s knives, workers with lumber axes, etc etc.

But what also bothered me was that I had a stockpile of short swords next to the standard, and the Hearthlings just ignore the weapons cache. I understand there currently is no AI for that, but it would make a lot of sense if they picked up at least a weapon (not armor though, since irl it takes forever to suit up) if it was nearby and convenient during Town Defense mode, and then return them to the stockpiles when Town Defense mode finishes.

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additional suggestion:
having a new carpenter item: the weapons rack. you need to stock it first and then militia will grab their weapons from there.

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there is also such thing as an armour rack as well, which allows people to quickly don armour, as it’s already prepped to be worn. that said, I believe there is a worker clothing already that boosts defense for non-combatants anyway, so getting armour for peasants doesn’t make too much sense.

I do like the idea of my hearthlings running around with pitchforks, scythes, torches, picks, hammers, etc because they don’t have an actual weapon.

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Pitchforks and knives make much better weapons, although the potential insulting power of a hoe or spoon as a weapon is not to be underestimated.

But, yeah, I’d love to see more weapon-y tools pulled out for fighting.

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Pickaxe’s are not to be underestimated… Those are sharp enough to be a weapon. I can kind of say the same for hoe. (if you have ever seen medieval weaponry for peasants/common folk, you would know what I mean, as they could not technically use the stuff that were meant to be used with training. They used what they had, like a form of a scythe, a modified hoe, and some other various tools they have had practice with in doing what work they do.) Pitchforks are kind of common cliche.

Although a spoon the cook has, is only good for the matrix. slow painful death… >< I wouldn’t mind seeing a cast iron frying pan. That way it would double as an upgrade tool for the cook. Frying pans should not be underestimated. It is a blungeon weapon make of iron. Not all weapons need to be sharp to be effective.

That is my thoughts on this. :slight_smile:

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Actually pickaxes were use as weapons, they were much more effective vs heavy plate armor than a sword or axe.
But how about some defensive structures which can be used by the militia, like small mounted ballistas, cages with bloodthirsty rabbids or big slingshots to throw 'em at your enemies, pits filled with tar or spikes (or rabbids), clay pots filled with hotoil above some doors, maybe some spiked walls with heathlings behind 'em threatening their enemies with sharp sticks and pitchforks.

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lol
Reminds me of the Terraria Bunny cannon…

Although if was a slingshot, we could use stone. Those with a low heart stat would not be able to pull that back. A bunny launcher seems like a decent idea, if it is a wind up crossbow like device. Lots of leather and wood in both those…

Defensive structure for militia only does sound like a good idea, if they are simple enough. I be more inclined with them training goat or sheep, maybe even a boar/pig type creature for a beast to use.

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squigs! we need squigs :smiley:
i think wolfs gonna be tameable, but some sort of a lil boar would funny too. Defensive traps/weapons would be also funny, like a chicken dummy filled with bees or farmers throwing yak poop on attacking goblins…

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I renamed the topic to The Thread for Town Defense Suggestions, since by now we’ve gone way out of scope of the original topic (not that I’m complaining) to better suit the discussion.

I think when archers come out (i think they’re planning A16 for that, according to the streams) they might add in a few defensive buildings as well, or at least the ability to assign archers to posts. Although I’d love to see ballistae and trebuchets (Gondor-styled walls, anyone?) for defense, i think that assigning archers to posts would be the most feasible way to maintain both functionality and versatility.

I think it would be a simple matter of modifying the footman AI of patrolling stockpiles and farms. Add a new area tool for archer posts, and the archers would patrol those as opposed to everything else when not carrying out party/individual orders.

Also, I wasn’t dissing on the pickaxe per se, but the lack of variety in weaponry is a little depressing. The current hoe is a wooden hoe, so maybe the blacksmith could craft an iron hoe as an upgrade for both damage and efficiency.

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“I’ll cut your heart out with a spoon!”
“wouldn’t a knife work better?”
“It’ll hurt more, you twit!”

there was such a thing as a military pick, which is much lighter/smaller than what is actually used in mining. a pickaxe is to large, heavy, and all-around unwieldy to be used as an efficient weapon. that said, 2 of the most common “poor man” weapons were pitchforks and scythes (oftentimes the scythes would be modified into spears by taking off the blade and then pointing it upwards instead of outwards). they were the most common tools of the era, after all, and a single farmer could easily house 3 or 4 of them to give to those who don’t have one. and unlike kitchen knives, they’re actually decent for combat. not all blades are equal - kitchen blades are really, really sharp, as well as really, really thin. if you tried actually using it in combat, it’d snap after 1 use. also, with how short they are, you could be killed before you had a chance to attack with it. military blades, on the other hand, are actually rather blunt. not club-blunt, but with how thick they are, it’s to be expected. it’s still sharp, but I wouldn’t wanna try peeling potatoes with it. frying pans might seem like a decent weapon, until you realize it’s only the thick cast iron ones that are any good, and, as you might know about cast iron, it’s quite brittle. also, there are other weapons that use less iron, have a larger reach, and are more effective as blunt weapons. they’re called maces. or hammers. or, heck, clubs. clubs don’t even need any iron, you can just use a lot of wood.

not saying using some of these tools is a bad idea (on the contrary, it’d be hilarious seeing a cook running around smacking enemies with a frying pan, or, god forbid, a spoon), just that there are other tools available that would be more efficient as weapons and are readily available to the regular hearthling. they may not be sword-like, but they are definitely not something you would want to fight against without some armour. polearms in general are rather terrifying for their reach, and you don’t need to be trained to stab someone with a pitchfork or scythe-spear.

also, late comment is late. sorry.

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The cook currently DOES use a spoon ;_; and the weaver uses a spindle!

A butcher’s knife or a chef’s knife is still 100x better than that spoon, and hell, dont even get me started on that spindle!

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well maybe he could use his yarn like hitman, “shhht it will be over soon”

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strangles enemies with yarn

beats enemies within an inch of their life, then sows up the wounds and lets them heal so you can do it again

suddenly the weaver is sounding more and more terrifying… I’m going to stop now lol

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or the weaver has a necromantic hobby, filling fluffy toy rabbits with souls of his beaten enemies…

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sets hearthling with lowest spirit and strength as weaver from now on

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“killer rabbid origins: the harvest”

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Cast iron is not as brittle as quite a few wood type… So having maces even if wood would be about the same…

Didn’t say it would be all that effective, however it is not like a cast iron pan is going to break on the first hit… Like some other things used as weapons.>.>

Was the main reason I suggested it. Militia uses what they have on hand, not necessarily what they have in storage. so equipping them with weapons like soldiers would be pretty much making them soldiers. that is equipping them with what your footman uses.

Hmm… why does the weaver remind me of linus… Charlie Brown. Blanket attack… ><

Really the weaver could use the spindle like a whip, if the thread was thick enough. or various other desperate moves…

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It seems to be needles would be one of the most effective weapons for a weaver.

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Well, I’d say that if there happened to be weapons sitting next to wherever the safety banner is, people enrolled in the militia should take the time arming themselves with said weapons for the time being and returning them where they found them later

I have a barracks stocked with plenty of extra weapons, enough for a total of 11 more armed Hearthlings, but it never gets used since there isn’t any AI for them to pick up anything more useful.

What would differentiate them from professional footmen is 1) no courage bonus from class, 2) does not pick up heavy armor, and 3) returns everything back to normal after town defense mode is deactivated. The idea is that if a militia in real life were called to defend a position, they would grab anything helpful along the way that doesn’t take a lot of time. There would be no reason for a militiaman to not pick up a weapon upgrade if it was nearby and convenient.

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We should have craft-able militia banner similar to the safety banner. Where the militia will retreat to, and possibly have militia weapons stashed nearby. The bulk of the fighting should really be left to the professionals and the militia should retreat to the nearest defense point and hold position there. If there are no banner than they can do what they do now and hold position wherever they are.

It was crazy in the last enemy explosion I had that my blacksmith went after a cluster of 3 giant zombies while my footmen were a bit behind and he died in like 2 hits. They should really retreat to a defense position and get the stragglers the footmen let through and not try to be a hero.

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