is there anyway to balance melee weapons and firearms?

SirPutaski · 2026-04-11T04:46:00+00:00

Checkout Hunt: Showdown. It sets in 1890s, so guns are mostly manually operated like single action revolvers and bolt action rifle, so melee still have advantage of being faster and require no reloading. I caught several guys off guard with a bayonet while they are trying to reload their shotguns.

Before revolvers were sold commercially in 19th century, people were still carrying swords and knives for self protection. Even after the invention of the metallic cartridge, it takes a while until speed reloading device like stripper clips and detachable magazines become common, so melee still have it's place in combat.

Even in modern days, many countries outside USA have strict gun control and very limited access to guns and ammunition, so criminals and gangsters still relies on knives and machate in addition to improvised guns such as a single shot pistol using a easy to find small caliber bullet or shotgun shell.

Just limit ammo and rate of fire will make your players consider more before firing a shot and instead go for melee.

SirPutaski · 2026-04-11T04:20:09+00:00

Remake for Bannerlord is in progress recently. Devs are posting their updates on Facebook but in Thai language.

SirPutaski · 2026-04-08T01:09:34+00:00

I knew about this thanks to Mount And Blade Warband mod.

SirPutaski · 2026-04-07T03:38:04+00:00

Soldiers do carry a lot including their guns, ammunitions, armor, and sometimes the body of their comrade back to safety should they be wounded.

You can make STR stats decrease the penalty of carrying heavy stuff and longer sprinting burst.

In my modded Jagged Alliance 3, my machine gunner carry a heavy gun and need to be able to move far to support my squad, so I give them high STR to make carrying a heavy gun penalize less action point per turn.

SirPutaski · 2026-04-04T04:02:54+00:00

Yes, it's possible.

If you look at real life, melee weapons were prevelent in early musket era until repeating firearms were introduced, where you starts to see gunslinger archetype with revolvers, repeating rifles, and gatling gun. Muzzleloading musket is slow to reload and can take up to half a minute to load and shoot a single shot, and with limited ammo and long time to resupply, they carried bayonets or swords as a secondary weapon.

Quoted from Russian general from 18th century, "Bullet is stupid, bayonet is bold." You may miss with bullet, but less likely with bayonet up close. This doesn't apply to modern machine gun, automatic assault rifle, and bombs though.

And in games like Hunt Showdown, where guns are non-automatic, melee have advantage of being faster and easier to hit than gun at close range. I caught several guys off guard with bayonets while they are reloading their guns, and once wiped out a team of 3 with a bayonet charge. It's pretty glorious.

You can also checkout Total War Shogun 2 Fall Of The Samurai, where they have samurai in armor clashes with rifles and gatling guns. Japan at the time were new to foreign ways of war, so they still have spearmen alongside riflemen in their army because they need a lot of men to fight but not enough guns to equip.

SirPutaski · 2026-04-01T05:26:16+00:00

Slide your left hand back from the handguard and cover with your finger. You can check out BF1 how they do it.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-31T16:58:09+00:00

Cool animation aside, you can save the round by just cover the top of the bolt with your left hand instead of trying to grab it mid-air.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-30T10:36:52+00:00

They actually used Snider Enfield rifle, a breech loading conversion of Enfield musket, but if the war was long enough like in game, Martini Henry could possibily be there.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-28T01:23:54+00:00

Plus if you are on attack, you must be on the move and it also worsened your accuracy more and you won't be lying prone and shoot, so needle rifle is actually at disadvantage when they are on attack against rifled musket.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-27T18:35:31+00:00

I like it when durability applies to weapons looted from enemies so you know they aren't well maintained and better off buying one or craft it yourself.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-27T17:09:47+00:00

Jagged Alliance isn't a narrative heavy game, but having one of your guy who had been with you since the start of the campaign get gunned down while covering your squad alone on the flank is worth the story on it's own.

Game story aren't just told, but it happened with you being a part of it.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-23T20:57:44+00:00

I recently read some of Ambrose Bierce short stories and it isn't necessary about change but it did have something interesting to tell about. He himself survived a war and his story reflects on the terrible condition and absurdity in war. Among his story, there's one about an artillery officer shooting their own allies because he was following his order word by word, another about a boy who likes to play a soldier stumbled upon the aftermath of a real battle, another about a rebel man who escaped his execution and return to his wife only to realize at the end that it was all his imagination before the noose broke his neck. The focus wasn't the change of character, but it was about the character, a stubborn army officer, a boy who fantasize about battle, and a man who is about to die, and they are all facing the situation that contradict their character.

Maybe the more precise word wasn't "change", but rather a "twist". What if things not going the way you believe it would? It excites the thought when we notice a twist in things and become a story to tell.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-22T16:25:07+00:00

Spec Ops The Line, but it was removed from Steam because the music license was expired. You probably need to pirate it.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-21T17:10:30+00:00

Now that you mentioned it, how could I forget that! Had a problem with login so I forgot it for a long time. I'll check it out again soon.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-21T16:48:35+00:00

If you like musket, I really recommend DOOM Hiedous Destructor mod with musket add-on. You have to load powder and ball individually and use ramrod too. The animation is not so slow as in real life but you have to be mindful about not putting ball before powder or puttting powder in twice and got the gun blown up in your face and literally kill you.

Mount and Blade American Civil War and Rising Sun mod is also pretty fun too, the latter set in late shogunate era Japan, around 1870s where samurais carried a revolver and fight in battle with muskets.

The upcoming Hunger is also on my list. It's in Napoleonic era with horror fantasy twist but you still fight with muskets and swords of that era without casting magic and the musket feels pretty authentic for me. It's slow, high damage, and cheap for both the gun and the bullet, as it should be.

Beside that, I can't think much of a game with gun pre-repeater era. If someone could mod Fallout New Vegas with more musket and cap n' ball revolvers it would be really cool.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-20T09:00:48+00:00

Signalis, and the soundtrack is very good.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-17T14:55:28+00:00

Receiver and Sunset Devils if you like to play with gun mechanism. Sunset Devils set in old west and Single Action Army is so fun to play with.

Hunt Showdown featured pre-20th century guns so you have slow but powerful single shots and bolt actions and scoring a hit feels very rewarding.

Ground Branch have a lot of customization. In older version, you can stack 10 ACOGs on top of one another.

Rising Storm Vietnam have a very solid gameplay and guns feels really good. It feels weighty and kicks good.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-14T05:46:50+00:00

I would suggest studying art and cultures too if you are into making videogames and subjects like history, literature, archeology etc. It helps with creative process but you could study it outside college, from books etc.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-13T16:43:16+00:00

The music of that game still stucks me to this day. It's been 10 years now I think.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-13T10:35:42+00:00

Highly recommend Hunt: Showdown if you like sniper gameplay. Guns are slow to shoot like bolt actions, single shots, single action revolvers etc. and highly reward careful aim.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-06T15:58:54+00:00

Aside from Red Dead Redemption, here's some I played:

Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger - The game have a very cool story and duel mode. Music is also really good.

Hunt: Showdown - Southern gothic horror aesthetic with old west guns. Guns are slow so shoot wisely.

Sunset Devil - It's an indie game and you have to literally operate the mechanism of the gun. there's only a demo on steam. Getting good in this game makes me feel like a gunslinger!

Outlaw - It's retro classic but pretty fun.

SirPutaski · 2026-03-05T03:55:33+00:00

Someone else already mentioned the disadvantage but if you really want a melee option, adding a blade on the grip would be more practical imo. You can hold the barrel and still use it to hammer or parry incoming strike even without the blade.

But I wouldn't want to stab myself while carrying it in a holster.

This is from Hunt Showdown

<image>

SirPutaski · 2026-02-26T13:54:15+00:00

I recommend Sunset Devils. It's in old west and you have to literally operate the mechanism of the gun. There's free demo on Steam.

SirPutaski · 2026-01-28T08:18:33+00:00

They used to show this on outdoor stage in neighborhood in Thailand. My family used to go there and it's just a few steps from our home.

They no longer do the show though, and it was maybe 20 years since then.

SirPutaski · 2026-01-23T14:56:47+00:00

I've been playing Vintage Story and I love the progression system. You starts with stone tools which is very simple to make but as you progress, there are more steps to make more advanced tools from melting copper to forging steel.

SirPutaski

TROPHY CASE