Now, before I proceed, I want to state that this is merely a suggestion off of a few things me and a friend were talking about while we enjoyed the addition of the stamina feature to the game. I love it, and I'm intrigued by the possibilities. It's not a "Please add it" kind of thing. It's more of a "Hey, we came up with this. See if it can be kept in the back burner for when the right time comes" kind of thing.
So, a detail with Guns of Icarus that has lead to some people complaining about the game or just not playing it altogether, is the lack of "gunplay", also known as the lack of FPS-style rifles, pistols, hand-cannons and melee weapons.
Personally, I find the game alright as it is. However, having a basic yet creative form of close-quarter FPS-style combat could give the game the much-needed variety in terms of crew gameplay, and could lead not only to some interesting and imaginative scenarios but also to the increase of the playerbase.
How would we go about this? Well, what my friend and I gathered was the following (keeping in mind we want it as an addition to what is the actual game, and that people will be a lot more busy fighting on their respective ships than trying to board the enemy ship and shooting at each other with flintlocks):
For starters, weapon variety is up to the developers, really. Even if it's as basic as having 3 categories (Rifles, Pistols and Melee), it would be more than enough. We're thinking guns are not all that good now-a-days (lore-wise) and that those guns that are around are either slow to reload or lousily inaccurate.
So, how does the gameplay become thrilling and varied? Well, here's what my friend suggested:
"Melee combat could be precision-based, or similar, as seen in games like Chivalry, where timing is everything."
Subsequently, Stamina would play the key role. You see, swinging their swords or whatever at each other would spend small amounts of stamina. If they, however, activate their stamina while swinging, not only will it give their swing a speed boost, but it could also make it land harder, at the cost of, naturally, ending up with less stamina - thus becoming vulnerable. Everyone, always, for then and ever, will have the same default amount of stamina, and it's the same bar as the one used for the current Stamina-related features in GOIO. This gives a nice foundation for a melee combat system, simple and creative enough to last for generations.
Now, actual firearms. Following the idea that they're mostly inaccurate and difficult to aim, they would have different features regarding the use of stamina. For starters, the long reload times could be sped up with the use of stamina, but it would cost not only the amount spend, but also the accuracy once they are done reloading. If they're shot, I suppose, they lose accuracy and/or stamina. And, in order to balance it out, the damage their projectiles would deal to enemy ships would be so poor it would not be worth using for anything other than actual crew vs crew combat.
To all of the above, add the ship layouts and some clever strategy. It could and would most likely be... Beautiful.
Again, it's not a request to implement. It's a request to consider or read for thought with Co-Op mode in mind.
