As it stands, combat in EP seems to heavily favor ranged combat over melee. There is the obvious, very large benefit of being able to strike someone far away, but there is also the bonus you get for aiming your shot, the increased damage ranged attacks receive, the bonus for firing from point blank range, the fact that the penalty from firing in melee combat can be negated with a quick action move, the increased benefit of dual wielding compared to melee, etc.
As it stands, there is no mechanical benefit to using melee weapons. So, here are a few ideas I have rolling around for helping to level the playing field somewhat to encourage more diverse characters and combats.
1. Those using a melee weapon, unarmed, or a light ranged weapon--eg, a pistol--receive their full Fray bonus against ranged attacks.
2. Introduce gear that is particularly effective versus ranged weapons. Force fields are a classic. Something like an emp that bounces away metal bullets. Portable cover, like a grenade that explodes into a thick foam wall.
3. Larger weapons have penalties. As it stands, firing a sniper rifle feels like the character is inside a first person shooter moreso than a breathing world. Such a weapon shouldn't be inherently superior for all run and gun tactics. Instead, a weapon like that should inflict some major penalties unless you're using it from at least medium range along with something to steady your aim.
4. Ranged attacks suffer a -30 penalty if the attacker is in melee range. That's good. Ranged attackers can walk away into pointblank range as a quick action, receiving a +10 bonus for point blank range, +10 for reach if the defender is unarmed or using a small weapon, and another +10 for using a smartlink or laser sight. Which means that, IN CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT, someone with a large, unwieldy rifle is going to have an inherent +30 bonus against someone using a knife or shock gloves. That's terrible. In addition to revamping the modifiers, make melee combat stickier. If someone is in your face, they aren't going to idly sit by while you take ten steps back and fire. Represent this as an opposed test. Moving out of melee range is a quick action, with the person trying to escape rolling Fray/Freerunning vs the others Melee skill. Using something like a rifle inflicts a penalty, and you can gain a bonus if you make it a complex action instead of a quick action. If you fail, you not only don't go anywhere, but you take a free hit from the person you were trying to get away from.
Hull breach.
"Hello...I am a Bouncer, I can survive in vacuum for a few
precious moments...You, sir, cannot. I really do not care about
all that dodging you are doing, because I am not shooting at you.
By the way, I have already put a nano-virus on your vac-suit, so it
will not be deploying...Now...Suck Hard Vaccuum!!"
"Hello...I am a Bouncer, I can survive in vacuum for a few precious moments...You, sir, cannot. I really do not care about all that dodging you are doing, bec---" BANG
"You should know better than to monologue. N00b."
This is because Melee stopped being a useful tactic in ballistic warfare in the 1700s.
Also it is far easier to displace large surface area kinetic impact.
Melee weapons are smart in specific applications. I don't think they need to be made stronger just to keep pace with Ranged weapons, Ranged weapons are better, this is the point.
http://twitter.com/thinkwritemute
[quote=ThinkWriteMute]This is because Melee stopped being a useful tactic in ballistic warfare in the 1700s.
Also it is far easier to displace large surface area kinetic impact.
Melee weapons are smart in specific applications. I don't think they need to be made stronger just to keep pace with Ranged weapons, Ranged weapons are better, this is the point.[/quote]
And yet we still enjoy martial arts movies. Despite the fact that guns are deadlier than punches, people still like the idea of a guy dropping into a room full of mooks and smashing their heads together. Such a character does not work in eclipse phase, despite all the melee weapons they bothered to add to the game.
The fact that there is no grappling and that ranged attacks cut defense in half alone would make melee weapons suck. As it is, their only purpose is for when the GM takes away your guns or when he wants to send really pathetic mooks at you.
Melee's main advantage is that it is discreet and requires few resources (other than arduous training, or a good skillchip).
Resources are not an issue, so that makes half the reason out the window.
Discretion can still be useful. However, it is perfectly legal to go just about anywhere with basic, low-powered weaponry, so you can be discreet while still packing a punch.
So yeah, melee is a last resort thing. You can argue it's cool, but the massive counter argument is that it wouldn'T make sense for melee to be strong. So no, EP does not need better melee weapons or rules.
Subdual, page 204. You'll find your grappling there.
In that case, the book should make it clear that melee combat is inferior. As it's presented, with the various melee weapons, it's almost like they're trying to present it as a somewhat viable option for characters.