I can understand your confusion as this is a complicated science that is often clouded by comic books, movies and games that use unarmored Asian combat animations for fully armored Medieval Knights

Grabbing a "one handed" weapon with 2 hands will give you more tip control (accuracy, that is why baseball batters and golfer use two hands ) and that extra control can also be better for feints and it can give you more blocking power.

But not really all that much extra hitting force.

If you are fighting your own weapon for control because it is very long or top heavy that can "waste" power that would have gone into your attack, thus supporting the misconception that using two hands gives you more power.

I am a book author and instructor of Medieval melee combat. Been doing it for over 30 years. when I was still in tournaments I was ranked in the top 1% world wide in our organization (full contact full speed ).

I have been ranked as King twice and now hold the rank of Duke as well as Knight. (my credentials: http://wiki.caid-commons.org/index.php/Patrick_Levi_Darkwrath)

Do not forget we are talking about Western Medieval Combat, Fencing Foils and Japanese Katanas are just not the same kind of combat as when your are in 60 pounds of steel armor.

See here for more information:

http://www.spookyfx.com/book/tromp.html

Not all the blows are the same in this case. Depending on the angle, the 'extra' arm could help or hinder the strenght of the blow. A two handed side blow, could not have much impact gain comparing to a a one handed blow to the side of your weapon hand, but an overhead chop does gain a significant impact when executing with both hands. A diagonal ascending cut though, is stronger if executed one handed and towards the side of the weapon hand.

going back to the original topic of the thread, I'm hoping for a good 1 handed system too. I always liked the fighting in the first two thief games, still some of the best ever, ironic it was in a game about stealth. You didn't have a lot of health but you had to perform more blocks and the enemy blocked well too. It was kind of a mix of longsword and rapier styles i guess, but it was fun.

they did say that skyrim would take more skill/planning/whatnot so maybe you would have to DODGE every swing an enemy makes! maybe they'll pull something from age of conan where if you'd double tap left,right,up,or down your character would hop/leap to the side you tapped w/ the slight cost of stamina.
if they have it like that, the game will be much more interesting!

You'll find two swords in no time. I will be using a shield provided this time-based shield blocking isn't lame.




I think Skyrim is a pretty cool guy. eh kills dragons and doesnt afraid of anything...

I can't wait for that great feeling when all the fun work i pour into my character begins to take shape. You know when your guy reaches lvl 10 and you think "yes! i'm getting somewhere!"

OK i can get your experience and you are right about the difference between the kinetic energy being not much larger when you swing a great sword to say a long sword but you are talking about the transfer of kinetic energy but using a sword is not about the transfer of energy it is all about the retention of energy as you slice threw your opponents flesh witch is why the katana has that beautiful curve it is so that when you slash threw say an arm there is only an inch of the blade in contact with the flesh where as with a hammer the transfer of kinetic energy is all that inflicts the damage. when you have a sword with more mass aka a great sword it retains the power you put in to it longer then a sword half its weight

When using a 2-H weapon your attacks are slow, when using 2 1-H weapons you can't block, when using a 1-h weapon your attacks are fast and you can block. I have no clue if a shield changes anything for 1-H

I agree that they should apply a speed boost if you are only using 1 weapon and no offhand or shield.


Oblivion forced 1 handed characters to use a shield as their was no advantage to this style.

You can block with 2 one handers, using both buttons.

Source?

One of the earlier magazine transcriptions I think.

Don't worry about it, we'll be able to use it. as for you OP i found you an avatar you can use http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_L78zEKWCMII/TGb3UbHGEVI/AAAAAAAAAbA/yznhJf59OnM/s320/GreenTerror_0.jpg or size down the face from http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_L78zEKWCMII/TG8EqcKSyHI/AAAAAAAAAzU/BLOrO5XCN0w/s1600/cho%27gath.jpg one with paint


but whatever you do, with that name you just have to use cho gath as an avatar :thumbsup:

I never heard of it, I heard you can't because Bethesda wanted to balance it because dual wielding lets you be more offensive and deal more damage

No, they said that they want magic to be more offensive and so weapon and spell convination didn't allow blocking. Anyway, both informations came from magazines and supposing are really correct could be changed later. So, aparently you can block with two weapons and aparently you can't with weapon and spell.

This.

I think some of you are worried about nothing really. Fighting and switching tatics/loadouts,is a major part of the game,and it's been overhauled. Do you think bethesda would do a crappy system after all that time?.....No. You'll be able block anyway/anytime you like ,except when having a weapon in one hand and a spell in the other. That however,does not mean you can't block with just a weapon on one hand. If your off-hand is either empty,holding another weapon (duel wielding ),a shield,or is being used to hold a two-handed weapon you can block,because the block button allows you to. The only way you can't block is if the spell takes up the other hand,because that button is now assigned to the spell.Any other way than that,i'll bet my arsecheeks you can block.

You can't block while holding a weapon in one hand and a spell in the other. Some people don't like this,but i think it's fair,because spells can be very powerfull,they can be used at range,it makes for a good game balance. That combo ( spell and weapon ) is ultra offensive,you need a down-side. But there really isn't too much of a downside ,because we can switch loadouts on the fly/very fast/almost instantly. There really is no need to worry at all about this.

personaly I think being unable to block with a weapon and spell is a realy bad idea. You should be able to block with a weapon reguardless.

It's not like blocking with just one weapon was very effective anyway...

I believe they said that the shield spell was making a comeback, which would allow you to shield yourself from physical damage if you are a spellsword, which could compensate for not being able to block.

i have actualy made a thread about this and weather it will involve the use ofour free hand or not. (my subsequent thread lasted all of 5 mins)


my ideas were to have the hand and a half style. its more of a defensive style where you do a lot less thrusting and more sweeping and swinging. and while you dont need both hands to swing ( other hand could be pushing oponent back or giving quick jabs) when you do a power swing you would grab with you other hand to help give more power and guid for a better aim.

this to me seems more rugged and realistic i mean who is in a fight to the death goin if i could only grab with my other hand i could knock this guy over

this would be awsome and a perfect balance, i also like the parrying idea of swinging your sword at the enemy's weapon when they attack.

And some people also wants only a longsword in one hand ! :toughninja:

One Handed Fighting will probably be my weapon style of choice. Although I'm still undecided between Duelwielding and SWS. Duelwielding will probably do more damage but Shield and Sword is a classic fighting style that will allow me to block.

The is no dual-wielding skill, this fits in to the 2 handed skill - within this skill there will be perks for dual wielding and 2 handed weapons. You will choose which perk branch you follow