[mainline] Melee "marksman"

[Celtic_Minstrel]

Even so, it'll inevitably still get used on melee attacks in add-ons, so in my opinion there's still a good reason to change it.

[revolting_peasant]

I have another idea. What about:
True Strike
?

Advantages:

• Doesn't conflict with the name of any unit (AFAICT).
• Unambiguous in referring to melee - "to strike" means, in this context : "to aim and usually deliver a blow, stroke, or thrust" - all of them involve contact, delivery to the actual target.
• Isn't specific to a single kind of melee weapon: You can strike someone with your hand, with a blunt instrument, with a blade etc.

Disadvantages (that I can think of):

• Two words rather than one.
• Not an adjective (but then - we already have 'Leadership', 'Formation' in the UtBS campaign and so on.)

I think this addresses most if not all of the points of concern/dissatisfaction regarding other suggestions. So, how about it?

[Celtic_Minstrel]

This seems like a pretty reasonable suggestion. The two words could also be merged together as "truestrike". In my opinion it works equally for melee and ranged, but if people are that attached to marksman I suppose it could also be used for melee only.

[beetlenaut]

I still think marksman is better for ranged, but this is the best suggestion for melee in this thread. We probably shouldn't merge it though unless we also merge "first strike" (which doesn't seem necessary).

[revolting_peasant]

Maybe a poll?

As a new post, you mean? And just a "Yes/No" on this option?

[holypaladin]

In standard meaning a marksman is defined as "a person skilled in shooting."

The Arif line in the Khalifate have marksman on melee attacks, which bugs me a bit. It's not a world-ending problem, but if others agree that it's an issue then we might as well look at how to resolve it.

It seems to me that the reason the Arif has Marksman is because the Khalifate need a good non-magical way to hurt high-defence units (like mountain dwarves or forest elves)

The options I can see:

1) Leave it as is.
Problem: It bugs me... and possibly other people too?

2) Change the name of the Marksman ability.
Problems: Breaks with the history of BfW; Marksman is a really great name for it on ranged abilities

3) Change the name of the Marksman ability for melee attacks only
Problem: Two names for identical abilities is inelegant.

4) Give the Arif line a new ability that serves the same purpose in a different way
Problems: Increased complexity for BfW; results in gameplay changes.

Of course, 4 is the largest of those options - there's a number of ways to go about it - but I think it would also be the best of them.

If there's a general desire for such a change I'm sure we can come up with a good alternative name/ability.

I think the same, "marksman" in meele attack looks weird and is unneeded. I propose to make new ability with same effects as marksman but for meele attacks

[Duke_Anax]

This has been up for 7 years and no one has done anything about it, but melee marksmen bother me too. So let me make a more complete suggestion.

True Strike seems like a good name for it. And to avoid having two abilities with the same name, have it affect defense instead of hit.

[revolting_peasant]

Duke_Anax: How about filing an issue on GitHub suggesting the introduction of one of the suggestions for the Melee equivalent of Marksman? That might draw more attention from developers than this forum thread.

Naturally I'm biased in favor of my own suggestions, especially the last one which you also like (True Strike or True-Strike)... or you could open a new thread with a poll of the options collected from this thread, then file the GitHub issue based on the results. What do you think?

[revolting_peasant]

Currently only the only units using marksman on melee are swordsmen, so "swordsmanship" would still works for mainline.

We now have the Dragonfly line, which are "Marksman" biters.

Anyway, I've filed an issue on GitHub, linking to this thread.

[newfrenchy83]

Do you think the term 'Great Skill' better refers to a melee attack?

[unterwassermann]

Accurate is the best sounding alternative and it works for both melee and ranged.

[Spannerbag]

How about deftstrike?

Rationale/draft description:
Blessed with both quick handedness and superior manual dexterity these fortunate individuals are able to exploit opponents' defensive weaknesses in close (i.e. melee) combat.

Just my tuppence worth.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[Celtic_Minstrel]

Accurate is a bit too bland for my liking.

Deftstrike seems like it fits pretty well but sounds kinda awkward.

[Spannerbag]

...Deftstrike seems like it fits pretty well but sounds kinda awkward.

There are loads of possibilites, deftstrike seemed best to me because it complemented firststrike; "strike" in both cases relating to melee combat so I kinda like using "strike" in the ability name if possible.
More random options below...

• Deft? (IMHO a bit too vague: doesn't obviously relate to melee).
• Deftblow?
• Surestrike?
• Keenstrike?
• Skillstrike / Skilledstrike?
• Meleemonster (not a serious suggestion )

Anyway, hope my random witterings help.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[newfrenchy83]

How about deftstrike?

Rationale/draft description:
Blessed with both quick handedness and superior manual dexterity these fortunate individuals are able to exploit opponents' defensive weaknesses in close (i.e. melee) combat.

Just my tuppence worth.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

Agreed with the description but I think 'skilledstrike' would be better than defstrike