Knuckle weapons should not take inventory space when equipped.

[ayprofessor]

I've always played with clubs, but recently I decided to switch things up and use a combination of fist weapons (like the knuckle wraps) and spear. I've found these fist weapons are very lackluster. Also, all the other weapons have a good positive to them, even early in game:

1. The club is an overall balanced weapon and can stun enemies easily, which helps in close quarters;

2. The spear has a larger range, which helps in the open;

3. The bone knife can deal bleed and is also a harvesting tool;

4. The stone sledgehammer deals a lot of damage and is also good to destroy doors and other blocks.

One could say the knuckle wraps allow you to attack faster, and that's true, but I'd rather have more range or be able to hit harder. It just seems bad compared to the other melee options. So, I was thinking they could be changed to be wearable, like gloves and clothes are. That way, their main benefit would be that they don't take space in your inventory when equipped (belt+backpack), because they would be equipped as clothes.

This would also be interesting because:

1. It makes sense: if you equip a knuckle weapon, essentially what you have is a type of glove or gauntlet.

2. It would be automatically balanced by the fact you can't equip gloves or gauntlets of any other type. You'd be trading an armor slot for an wearable weapon.

3. It would be very helpful in the early game, in which inventory space is a valuable resource to have (because it would allow you to carry more items before being encumbered)

4. It would be interesting in the late game: you would have the option to depend mainly on firearms and only have a knuckle weapon equipped as melee last resort backup, freeing inventory space for loot or ammunition.

What do you think?

 

[meganoth]

The knuckles damage the teeth of zombies so they can't infect you. It is explained in the perk description: "Zombies can't bite if you knock their damn teeth out! Craft quality 2 poor knuckled weapons and deal 10% more damage with fists. Punches to the head negate infection ability"

And from perk level 2 on you also have a stagger chance; "...and have a 30% chance to stagger opponents with power attacks".

 

[ayprofessor]

I still think it is too little, compared to other melee weapons.

 

[Lemmers]

I don't know. The game mechanics require weapons in your inventory to select them, and if you didn't have a knuckle wraps icon then you'd need to keep an open slot on your hotbar for "unarmed" which negates the point. I'm not sure the team would want to muddy the waters between armor and weapons either, and from what I understand they are simplifying the armor system soon.

 

[SylenThunder]

I could see replacing gloves with them. That will cost you some armor and associated mods though. I'm also not able to wrap my head around how you would code it to only apply the damage and associated buffs when using attacks without any weapon equipped.

This also wouldn't function any longer with the new gear system that's coming.

I also agree with Lemmers here where it would end up muddying the waters between armor and weapons. Additionally, I am currently unable to think of any game where a claw/fist weapon didn't take the same slot as all the other weapons.

 

[meganoth]

The game already hits zombies with an empty fist when you leave the slot empty (that is probably what Sylen means with "gloves"!?). Which could be said as using no slot, but actually you still need a slot, just an empty one. 

And that is the extent of what you could expect from such a change I think, i.e. if you leave a slot open and a knuckle is in your hand armor slot then the knuckle would be used instead of a fist.

That would mean no real advantage and many people new to the game would need an explanation how to use them

 

[ayprofessor]

About the empty slot required to use them: think about it when you throw a spear, it leaves an empty space on your belt. It could work like that.

 

[meganoth]

Agree, that would be a somewhat obscure and difficult to master but interesting new combat method. But you would need to "double-class" into two attributes to make it effective.

 

[ayprofessor]

Perhaps we could get a "drop item" button, like there is in counter strike. For example, if you are carrying a pistol and you run out of bullets, you could drop it with a button press and then attack with your punches (or knuckles wraps in this case).

 

[meganoth]

Perhaps we could get a "drop item" button, like there is in counter strike. For example, if you are carrying a pistol and you run out of bullets, you could drop it with a button press and then attack with your punches (or knuckles wraps in this case).

There already IS a drop item button in the game. Mostly it is a source of frustration because you may hit it accidentally in the heat of battle and then stand there without a weapon.

Seriously, your punches are too weak to count as a weapon, your best bet in a no-ammo situation would be to run away and get more bullets or use the melee weapon you normally have in another slot anyway. Even if TFP made the change and enabled knuckles in the free slot your own perked melee weapon would almost always be the better weapon to use.

One of the most popular and most often cited videos from Madmole had him drop his bow middle in a horde night.

 

[TWORDY]

Well, this could make a lot of sense to me only if fists are meant to be drawn any time no matter what. Fists might work as a basic/default defence/offence weapon in my view and might be upgradeable throughout the game. Interesting idea with fists functioning as a part of the garment. Having fists as functional/efficient as a machete or a club doesn't add up for me unless the game wants to stay arcade to the core. 

I`ve got mixed feelings about a 9mm pistol functioning close to a Sniper with a cope attached in 7DTD... with lower degradation accuracy could slightly decrease also so keeping the weapon in proper shape with oiling/cleaning the weapon could be a thing...