Some balance ideas about eswords and Rapier

[SchrodingersWolf]

Preamble

The energy sword (Esword) has always been sidelined in the vast arsenal of Syndicate weaponry, and it is no surprise – Eswords are only known for being cheap, with no reliable stun/knockdown mechanics or utility such as antistuns which the more popular Chainsaw and Powerfists have. Add in subpar damage and a somewhat unremarkable parry and you have a quite mediocre weapon. The unpopularity of the energy sword appears to be what partly inspired #25877 – Nobody buys the esword unless it is to combine them.

On the other hand, the Captain’s Rapier (Rapier), while getting a long-needed buff in the form of #26869, still feels a bit lacklustre compared to a few other High Value Items – Failing to secure the Rapier should feel bad for the Captain, much like the Hand Teleporter or the Magnate MODsuit. Currently the theft of the Rapier serves nothing but to bruise the Captain’s ego.
In this document I aim to change that by adding additional utility options to the esword and the Captain’s Rapier – The former more focused on offensive capabilities while the latter more defensive.

The Energy Sword

Plasma Echo

For the energy sword – I am proposing a dash function which is triggered by an action button, much like jump boots but vastly better. The cooldown on the dash function will be approximately 30 seconds.

When the dash is initiated, the user dashes forward for 5 tiles, becoming non-dense and immune to projectiles during the duration of the dash. The tiles on and directly behind the user initiated the dash, if it was occupied by any mobs after the user has finished the dash, will now knockdown and deal moderate burn damage (About 45 total, targeting chest, could be parried) to the mob on said tile. (I am debating on whether to extend this to 2 tiles, both on and, to make this more likely to happen)

Additionally, at the end of the dash, if there is a mob directly on the destination tile, they will be pushed back two tiles and receive slight burn damage (About 20, targeting chest, could be parried). This dash will end prematurely if a solid object blocks the user, but it will not cause a knockdown to the user like jump boots nor will it trigger the end of dash shove attack mentioned above.

This change would allow for the esword user to gain much more mobility – Something that the other meta melee weapons do not provide. It also provides some offensive capabilities in the form of closing the distance to a ranged weaponry user and the additional shove.

Charged Handle

The esword will also receive antidrop when the user has successfully damaged a mob with a mind 2 times, lasting for 5 seconds after the user has stopped damaging any mobs with a mind. However, the esword would not be concealable or unequipped when this is activated.

This should allow for esword users to hold their own against a baton user, as well as improve the esword’s capabilities against wallshoves should the user successfully damage their victim a few times. On the other hand, locking this behind two successful hits will still allows for some counterplay, either by getting a knockdown before getting hit, or by entirely stamcritting the user. Ranged weaponry would also help as well.

The Captain’s Rapier

Bluespace Rupture

As for the Captain’s Rapier, I’m proposing a martial arts combo that would be somewhat complex but powerful (Somewhere between 5-6 intent swaps) – Successfully executing this combo would allow the user of the rapier to teleport the target to a random beacon on the station z-level.

This feature would preserve the defensive and one-on-one nature of the Rapier, vastly increasing its value in case the Captain could not or would not utilize their Hand Teleporter.

Bluespace Flourish

Another combo (2-3 intent swaps) would allow the user of the Rapier to disarm a target and then throw/teleport the disarmed weapon 2-3 tiles away from the target. Antidrop protects this from happening.
This is a weaker version of the weapon stealing Disarms of Krav Maga – Successfully landing this combo will land you a longer respite compared to if the weapon was simply dropped on the floor.

Entangled Parry

The Rapier would also come with a feature where a successful Parry would increase the attack cooldown of a weapon by 1.5 seconds. This would be helpful against weapons that have antidrop, allowing the user of the Rapier to either keep defending or setup for the aforementioned teleportation combo without outright just giving the Rapier antidrop or antistuns.

Conclusion

While my experience in game design is very limited, these are the options that I feel like would increase the appeal of the basic esword and the Rapier, solidifying the former into a mobility choice for Syndicate melee weapons (Which in my opinion, is desperately needed to counteract the adrenals tax), while the latter would become a powerful defensive option that can delay an attacker and even simply expel them until support arrives.