Combat Playtest Quality & Stability Improvements 2024.5.v13

Hi all!

We just released a series of updates addressing some of your initial feedback of the first few days of the 2024 combat playtest.

A few of these changes should make especially the duel more engaging and fun to play, so we're curious to hear what its effect is! There are also improvements to the physics look & feel, accessibility and general stability.

What's New

• You can now knock out opponents even if their helmet absorbed the blow - hits negated by armour do concussion damage
• You can now also toggle thrusts with `LMB` + tap `Ctrl`
• AIs can now use thrusting attacks
• Added a debug settings menu, where you can try out a number of settings making characters more or less rigid.
• Melee camera sensitivity now scales with how far your arm is dragged out. You can tweak the sensitivity's min (at or towards the center) and max (out away from the center) in the `Gameplay` settings

Improved

• Improved physics balance & rigidity, characters should now have more swing in their arms, but with a stable root and less wobble
• Tweaked weapon & damage model to make armour a bit less OP. Swords will now more often confer blunt damage through mail and helmets, and the strongest cuts even penetrate mail at times
• You now should be able to reposition your arm more precisely without triggering attacks when you don't want to
• Improved AI distancing and aggression, they should close the distance better and pose more of a challenge

Fixes and minor changes

• Fixed bug where character's hair would disappear when sprinting
• Fixed not being able to equip bow
• Fixed a Settings bug that led to (hidden) physics settings not always initializing correctly
• Fixed some clipping issues with the Bozen great helmet
• Tweaked concussion damage, requiring stronger hits to deliver knock out blows
• You now hear maille rustling when attacking
• A couple more bugfixes

Thanks everyone for your feedback so far, it's been immensely helpful in pinpointing the biggest issues and making these improvements!