Filling Out Thematic Sets

[Northcott]

There are some things that would be lovely to see in game that could be added with minimal effort.

1. Nordheimer and Cimmerian placeable buildings; despite being cultures that dwell in colder climates – especially the Nordheimers – the basic placeables don’t seem to have options with snow-covered rooftops. It makes them look a little odd in the colder biomes. A little touching up to the skins gives server owners and/or players some more options.

2. Filling out weapon sets. For example: Obsidian weapons can be crafted, but not all weapons can be crafted in obsidian. If a sword and two-handed sword are both possible, surely a katana should be too.

3. Javelins need some more love. Entertaining moveset and an interesting weapon choice, but the selection of javelins is very limited.

4. Lastly; katanas. Other forms/skins for them would be fantastic to see. They didn’t really appear in Howard’s writing, but there were plenty of single-edged swords from comparable cultures through history – even a Viking archeological find turned up a single-edged blade. As a nod to the movie, that move set is perfect with swords that mimic his blades in the Schwarzenegger films. Some blade variations that don’t look like later katana models would be great to have access to.

Thanks for your time.

[Kapoteeni]

@Northcott

They didn’t really appear in Howard’s writing, but there were plenty of single-edged swords from comparable cultures through history – even a Viking archeological find turned up a single-edged blade.

Single-edged blades have been quite common in history across the world. Sabers, scimitars, falchions, messers, cutlasses etc. Some of them have even featured in Howard’s Conan stories - Conan wasn’t too picky when it came to labor-saving devices of killing.

The katana has more in common with a western longsword than with western single-edged swords because of how it’s commonly used, with two hands. Most katana stances and move sets have equivalent or near-equivalent counterparts in western longswordsmanship, which may be why the moves from the Schwarzenegger film seem so familiar. To most intents and purposes, katana is just a somewhat worse longsword design (mainly for the lack of a proper pommel and handguard), although the curved blade makes it slightly better at cutting down unarmored peasants.

Howard didn’t feature katanas in Conan stories because the katana is a very Japanese creation, and Howard never introduced a Japan-influenced culture to the Hyborian Age. (Yamatai is a later, non-canonical addition.)