focus HELD_WEAPON
Picking what you attack with during a fight

As far as I can see, ever since the new dual wielding system was implemented, we no longer have much control over what we fight with. If it's n our hands we try and kill with it. Even if it doesn't make much sense.

A ganger hanging about with a gun in one hand and munching on a taco with the other, once in combat, will try and attack with both the gun and the taco. Currently the solution to this seems to be dropping the taco or sticking in in you pocket or similar.

I personally think that someone using a one handed weapon should be able to hold something in their offhand while fighting exclusively with their chosen weapon. This is what the old dual wielding system was all about. Holding two weapons and switching between them.

To bring back a little of this flexibility I think it would be nice to add a 'focus' command. This way you can tell the game that, if possible, you want to only attack with the specified held weapon.

Now if the taco munching, gun wielding ganger is in combat, they can just 'focus gun' and will just shoot at the enemy instead of trying to stab them with a taco. Of course, for those who WANT to stab them with a taco they can continue dual wielding as is the default or to 'focus taco' if they want to really make a statement.

As I envision this, it would be similar to the old 'switchto' command in that it can only be used in combat. Not in preparation of combat. I also think that if one leaves combat they should have to use the command again when reentering combat.

If it is decided that holding something in the other hand while fighting with a single handed weapon is overpowered, one could add a slight penalty when in this situation. Further, if one felt this was too much, one could have the command take a combat round to employ, thus impacting your attacks.

To the best of my knowledge, yes. ' @default=weapon' just makes your character 'hold' or 'wield that weapon from your inventory if attacked. Nothing more.

My memory's playing games with me and I'm not being very clear in my wording. Sorry about that!

At one point in the game, I can't say what year it was, characters did not, as I recall, switch between weapons automatically in combat. 2003 surprises me for sure. I had the erroneous memory of automatically switching between weapons when one dual wielded coming in sometime in the 2016-2018 time frame. I must be confusing this with another combat change. I apologize!

What I remember was that, before auto switching, you used @switchto to decide what weapon you used when you held two as you would not automatically switch between them. You could use it before combat to decide what you start with and during if you wanted to change your 'active weapon'.

I recall you changing @switchto later. Here's the relevant bit I found in the Dec 2019 improvements thread:

SWITCHTO WEAPON

Switchto is a mostly undocumented command (until now) that let you switch between two held weapons inside and outside of combat. This command was old, and didn't synergize well with our existing system. It was from a time when we didn't have auto weapon switching, or dual wield bonuses.

It is now usable only outside of combat, and the messaging has been updated so that others in the room know you have switched your primary weapon.

Also, I've added a helpfile and updated the examine me on players.

While I agree that how @switchto worked didn't mesh with the current system well, I think there might still be a use for it maybe in a different form. As a way to opt out of auto-switching when you have two items in your hands with limits put in place so it fits in better with the current combat system.

I hope that clears things up a bit!