Robot Combat Changes

Shield's are by far my favorite piece of equipment in any fantasy game.  Unfortunately, a VERY large portion of game designers refuse to give the shield any love.  Most of the time shields are there just to look cool, especially since they tend to be a redundant item.  For example why block with a shield when I can just rocket jump to the side?  It's even more difficult in this game because blocking has a delay.  The robot should be able to carry the shield in its hand at all times, thus removing the annoying delay.  Since this means blocking is easier, the designer may wish to balance things out by requiring you to put the shield away before you can draw the bow, a time cost you probably won't have in a combat situation.  That way players could essentially choose between two fighting styles; an agile archer who dodges attacks and a more methodical brawler who blocks attacks.  What are your thoughts?

I agree. There is too long a delay between equipping the shield and, say, striking with the sword. It may be easier if you could "equip" both sword and shield at the same time, kind of like in The Axys Adventures, so it would be one short movement to switch from one to the other in combat.

However, you would then probably have to "unequip" them before you could use the bow, adding one more fun layer of challenge to that weapon. After all, you need to have both hands free to fire a bow. Also, I do like your idea of being able to dodge or side-step while in arrow-firing mode.

I suppose that might make sword battles a little more clunky though, if you have to press a button before he will grab his sword; I definitely like the way he grabs his sword and slashes with one click right now.

I see that the reaction time for grabbing the shield is faster in 0.007 and I must say that it is an immediately clear improvement! Now the shield is much more useful; much more effective at blocking enemy attacks. Great job.

Thanks gwolffe, more improvements to come