New weapon: Boar Spear

[conanjaguar]

Yes, you read that title right, and yes, I am speeling currektly .

What I propose as an item that might be in one of the upcoming DLCs is not a Bear Spear, but it’s lighter, shorter, and less deadly little sister, the Boar Spear.

It would be a semi-unique item with a chance of spawning in such locations as the Broken Railroad Hunting Lodge, in a cave in HRV or Ash Canyon, or in some other remote location.

In use, the Boar Spear would be similar to the Bear Spear, except that it will not be a guaranteed kill. It would allow you to fight back against a bear, or maybe a moose if you stretched it, just like with a wolf, but with more damage being taken by you.

I’m thinking it would weigh 5 KG, be repairable with 4 scrap metal at a milling machine, and also perhaps be throwable.

What do you guys think about this idea?

[Razum]

In principle I like the idea. But it should be implemented carefully, so that it doesn't turn the balancing upside down by still being useful. Noisemakers are a good example of such, as they fill a niche.

For the boar spear the right niche would be semi early game. The moment you have a weapon other than the boar spear you would always take it (whether that's the rifle, revolver or even the bow), since it's much safer and you don't get hurt. Hunting with boar spear at that point is pointless. And just having it for safety is a nobrainer, too, since the revolver for example is much lighter and does the same even better. So the only reasonable time to find it for it to have used, is before you find a rifle or revolver. And that's what I would call early game. It gives some protection and the ability to hunt, before having other useful weapons.

For Interloper it would be especially useful for when you haven't yet crafted a bow. Without a bow you have no weapon in Interloper. That's pretty sad. So I would welcome the boar spear. But especially in Interloper it would shift things. The boar spear of course should be stronger than a hatchet. So when having it, there's much less need for searching for the heavy hammer and then voyaging to a forge. So again: implement it carefully. Maybe it would be better, not being able to find it and instead needing to craft it yourself under consumption of much resource (time, material), since it's even much bigger than a hatchet. Then you would be back to the heavy hammer being the first priority in early game.
I don't know, which way would be better, they both have pros and cons.

So now: what to do with late game? As I stated, the other weapons exceed the boar spear in utility, weight (except for rifle) and risk. So one way (the TLD way) would be limiting the other weapons usefulness. TLD is in my opinion about doing the best out of what you have, while what you have isn't much. So reducing the amount of ammo you find would make the boar spear a serious competitor, since you don't need ammo to use it. You could use it to finish a bear or moose after having hit them 1 or 2 times with another weapon. It could be useful even in late game, but still having quite a risk (you don't know how much damage you take, but you know, that you will take damage). For hunting wolves it will be pretty useful, no doubt.

I think throwing it isn't that useful, since you won't it throw very far, without much damage and once you've thrown it, you won't be able to use it anymore.