Halving revolver damage

[McMuffin]

The solution to officers should be directed towards the class and not the weapon, people will just find ways to work around the nerf.

[Kane Kaizer]

The issue is that even though hopefully the current plan will help to curtail ramboing (however exactly it's going to be implemented), I don't know of any other solution that will also justify allowing revolver reloads. This idea could have potentially allowed for both and would have balanced the decrease in damage.

[Poorlaggedman]

Well with an auto surrender option your lone wolves have to stand at a distance rather than enter the autosurrender range. Presently officers (particularly the unacceptable blue-uniformed Confederates) have no qualms about circumnavigating an enemy line and shooting 6 players one-by-one in the back (I'm sure with less damage they'd just aim for the head unless you're gonna nerf that too ). With an autosurrender in close proximity to large numbers of enemy - they can't do that. And it leaves the option of bum-rushing a lone wolf just out of reach of your line to take him prisoner if a loaded musket isn't handy or he's being tricky behind a tree or rock.


With the flag bearer system hopefully we start to see less of the wild reckless charges that we do and more sustained firefights with any 'charge' being the finishing touch not the main course. The wild and stupid charges would result in a lot of casualties that will not be back to the front sooner than if they had been taken while 'in line.' The hopeful slackening of wild charges will mitigate an officer role to endure more longer range engagements where a pistol is less useful.

My sincere hope is that lines start to choose to withdraw when they realize it's far more advantageous to preserve themselves and their handy field spawn than get obliterated every time on top of losing their flag. May not happen, but it's my hope. So hopefully there will be less engagements at 5-10 yards, particularly the mad-dash kind which they all become.

A server-side option not letting the same player spawn twice (or x number of times) as officer (unless TK'd) would also help tremendously. So in order to keep his power he has to survive. That means more staying behind the line and doing his job and less wild and reckless pistol dueling.

[A. P. Hill]

Thank you for your suggestion.

We're currently working on an officer specific system that will both limit ramboing as well as add to the role of the officer. In short: an officer is worthless alone on the field without men to lead and thus he will be relocated back to HQ with a message stating so. If this isn't going to get rid of the unwanted behavior we will makes changes to it (could be to strip the officer of his rank should he find himself alone too many times or it could indeed be to try out your damage suggestion).

- Trusty

Pretty sure this sounds like the winning solution.

[Poorlaggedman]

So... if I want a player to scout... send the officer, and if you time it right he can be teleported to the rear before he can be killed. I prefer non-gamey solutions that don't perpetually box players into literally you have to do this or we teleport you / kill you. Heaven forbid there's an officer on the skirmish line or an outpost or on picket duty. Or assigning an officer to marshal troops coming from a rear spawn area. That'll never happen legitimately Manipulating human activity in a game or otherwise needs as much delicacy applied as to designing the tax code. To not take into consideration the exceptions and the ways it can be abused creates as many problems as it solves.

[TrustyJam]

So... if I want a player to scout... send the officer, and if you time it right he can be teleported to the rear before he can be killed. I prefer non-gamey solutions that don't perpetually box players into literally you have to do this or we teleport you / kill you. Heaven forbid there's an officer on the skirmish line or an outpost or on picket duty. Or assigning an officer to marshal troops coming from a rear spawn area. That'll never happen legitimately Manipulating human activity in a game or otherwise needs as much delicacy applied as to designing the tax code. To not take into consideration the exceptions and the ways it can be abused creates as many problems as it solves.

We are talking seconds and not minutes. It is very limited how much scouting you'll be able to do.

In any case. It will be tested and tweaked as everything else.

- Trusty

[JohnDewitt]

In reality a lot of the soldiers were armed with revolvers and pepperboxes as well. They took them with them from home for the intended use of self-defense when in close combat. So if we were to approach this realistically we should be able to have a secondary revolver as an option eventually for close quarters combat. Another one of those reasons why actually closing in for man to man combat was very, very disliked back then and they'd even rather stand at 50 yards exchanging volleys.

[Leifr]

In reality a lot of the soldiers were armed with revolvers and pepperboxes as well. They took them with them from home for the intended use of self-defense when in close combat. So if we were to approach this realistically we should be able to have a secondary revolver as an option eventually for close quarters combat.

Sources?
If you're thinking of the thousands of portraits where soldiers are holding large knives, additional revolvers and other paraphernalia, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

[Bivoj]

I have read about personal weapons (including various firearms as revolvers, one-shot pistols and pepperboxes) in Osprey “Combat” (I know, military tabloid; I am not that interested in US history, my focus is military history of Europe), which is “proven” by the mentioned photos. I am curious how much of this is actualy true.

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/m...heater-1861-65

[Leifr]

I have read about personal weapons (including various firearms as revolvers, one-shot pistols and pepperboxes) in Osprey “Combat” (I know, military tabloid; I am not that interested in US history, my focus is military history of Europe), which is “proven” by the mentioned photos. I am curious how much of this is actualy true.

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/m...heater-1861-65

It's a gross misconception that appears over, and over, and over again.
The evidence that soldiers during the American Civil War carried additional arms (especially revolvers) is scant. When you're looking at a studio portrait of soldiers, both north and south, you're seeing props supplied by the photographer to the soldier.

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"Along with the general setting, most Union soldiers were furnished with a few props, so the "fierce-looking Civil Warrior who appears in an ambrotype armed to the teeth may not have owned a single weapon with which he is pictured." The clearest examples of the borrowing of militariana are the many photographs of privates with officers' swords (pl.117), Confederates from the same regiments posed with identical D-guard bowie knives, and Union infantrymen with no holsters but large revolvers. Figure 33 is a typical studio portrait of a quadruple-armed Union private. He sports two revolvers (no holsters), a battle knife, and a musket with a fixed bayonet. The awkward young soldier yet to see action in this sixth-plate tintype probably owned none of the weapons other than the musket. The rest came from the prop room of the gallery." (Rosenheim, 2013)

"In some parts of the country, certain varieties of props were sold as easy moneymakers... Valerius C. Giles, a Fourth Texas Infantry soldier, recalled in his memoir... "While Bridges [sic] was placing me in position for this ambrotype, he suggested that I would look more fierce and military if I would pin one side of my hat back with a star. He had a supply of stars on hand, which he sold for a dollar apiece... " (Rosenheim, 2013)

Rosenheim, J. (2013) Photography and the American Civil War, Museum of Modern Art.

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I have attached three images; the first of which is referenced in the above text as the private with the officers' sword, the second as the quadruple-armed private and the last one a member of a Tennessee regiment who succumbed to the same pressure as the Texan.

1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg