gilchristr
12-03-2017, 02:55 AM
Somebody asked me today which of these are better for UAC, and I said grapple is better.
But later I looked at the critical tables, and assuming both flares have an equal chance for an equal rank on the table (I would be surprised if this is not true), it looks like they really are different:
- a quick scan of the far right columns shows that unbalance basically always causes a minor even on rank 1 result, whereas grapple typically does not cause a minor unless a rank 2 or 3 is reached depending on hit location;
- unbalance seems to have more knockdowns, several rank 1 positions on the unbalance table have knockdowns (indicated by the K). Grapple typically has to have a higher rank for the same location to get a knockdown. You can see this for instance on the leg locations where grapple has the messaging "target is NOT knocked down" even on a rank 2 grapple to the leg, whereas a rank 2 unbalance to the leg does score a knockdown. I'd definitely give knockdowns to unbalance (makes sense given that it is called "unbalance".
- grapple wins on raw bonus damage from the critical. This seems like a poor area to win on though as you choose between these flares for setups, not direct kills whether by critical or raw damage.
- grapple's only real tactical advantage seems to be more chance to stun. However, seems like a lot of opponents are unstunable or shake off stuns, certainly more than opponents immune to knockdown.
https://gswiki.play.net/Grapple_critical_table
https://gswiki.play.net/Unbalance_critical_table
In summary, if the target can be stunned, especially if the target can't simply later shake off stuns, then grapple may be a better choice. But this seems to be too narrow of a niche.
I would say the apparent ease of knockdowns on low ranks for the unbalance flares makes it a better flare for UAC more often not. A knockdown is a nice setup to finish the fight. Stuns are good for that purpose too, but not as good as knockdowns for that purpose because the grant less modifiers to the next attack if the target is even vulnerable to stuns. Plus a target that shakes off its stuns does not lose its action, whereas a knockdown target standing up does lose its action. Knockdowns can also prevent a critter from performing a maneuver attack that could kill you (either directly or by making him waste his action to stand up), whereas a rank 1 stun may not especially if the critter just shakes it off. I doubt the extra raw bonus damage from grapple will have much of a tactical effect because I think UACer's will usually end a fight from tier up critical well before the blood loss would matter.
But later I looked at the critical tables, and assuming both flares have an equal chance for an equal rank on the table (I would be surprised if this is not true), it looks like they really are different:
- a quick scan of the far right columns shows that unbalance basically always causes a minor even on rank 1 result, whereas grapple typically does not cause a minor unless a rank 2 or 3 is reached depending on hit location;
- unbalance seems to have more knockdowns, several rank 1 positions on the unbalance table have knockdowns (indicated by the K). Grapple typically has to have a higher rank for the same location to get a knockdown. You can see this for instance on the leg locations where grapple has the messaging "target is NOT knocked down" even on a rank 2 grapple to the leg, whereas a rank 2 unbalance to the leg does score a knockdown. I'd definitely give knockdowns to unbalance (makes sense given that it is called "unbalance".
- grapple wins on raw bonus damage from the critical. This seems like a poor area to win on though as you choose between these flares for setups, not direct kills whether by critical or raw damage.
- grapple's only real tactical advantage seems to be more chance to stun. However, seems like a lot of opponents are unstunable or shake off stuns, certainly more than opponents immune to knockdown.
https://gswiki.play.net/Grapple_critical_table
https://gswiki.play.net/Unbalance_critical_table
In summary, if the target can be stunned, especially if the target can't simply later shake off stuns, then grapple may be a better choice. But this seems to be too narrow of a niche.
I would say the apparent ease of knockdowns on low ranks for the unbalance flares makes it a better flare for UAC more often not. A knockdown is a nice setup to finish the fight. Stuns are good for that purpose too, but not as good as knockdowns for that purpose because the grant less modifiers to the next attack if the target is even vulnerable to stuns. Plus a target that shakes off its stuns does not lose its action, whereas a knockdown target standing up does lose its action. Knockdowns can also prevent a critter from performing a maneuver attack that could kill you (either directly or by making him waste his action to stand up), whereas a rank 1 stun may not especially if the critter just shakes it off. I doubt the extra raw bonus damage from grapple will have much of a tactical effect because I think UACer's will usually end a fight from tier up critical well before the blood loss would matter.