Elbow? I prefer punch

[Farley4Fan]

Why would you headbutt someone's actual head?   :D  That would daze you the same amount as them.

[Succubus Dryad Of The Undying Comet]

Imagine playing as merc and having a guy just pop out of the shadow and hive you a headbutt.
You would see his visor glow, the screen would get blurry and you'd just lose orientation.
Like the invisible guys in fear, they were just showing up out of nowhere and jumping on you, and you could see all the details on their faces and all.

[Westfall]

If you're going to headbutt the merc, hes going to get quite stunned. That would call for an easy neck.

[Cyntrox]

At least when wearing/using the gasmask, the mercs face is mostly covered.

[Kubanator]

It doesn't matter whether the mercs face is covered. It's a blunt force. It's just going to shove the mask into his face, creating the same effect.

[Ion.67]

And hurt the spy like hell.

[Kubanator]

If the spy hurts himself headbutting something, he's not a very good spy. An experianced fighter/physicst knows that if you hit a wide object with a wide object the force is spread evenly throught the face of the object. Lets assume that the spy can muster 200 pounds of force. Now this is reletively high, seeing as this is a fast maneuver, but nonetheless. Let's assume that the spies crown is 4 inches by 4 inches, which is about my size. That means there is 12.5 pounds of force per square inch. That sounds pretty painful. However, there is no way for the merc to be able to stand this, so he will roll with it. Rolling with it means the force of the blow is reduced, but he must move backwards. By rolling with it, the force is halved, giving you 6.25 pounds of force per square inch. But wait, the gas mask is also moving towards the mercs face, therfore the force is halved again giving you 3.125 pounds of force per square inch. That's not too bad now is it?

[Ion.67]

From the pictures I have seen, the gasmask looks sharp, as it has edges. I don't care how you look at it, but hitting a straight edge with your head is not the best idea in the world.

[Tidenburg]

^ Ha, Agreed. I think a merc with a helmet and visor getting headbutted by a spy with material on his face isn't going to do much for the spy. What do you think the whole point of wearing helmets is!?

[Succubus Dryad Of The Undying Comet]

camouflage and protection.
The current visor that is glowing is just yelling: "HERE I AM AVOID ME", while it shouldn't if PS is aiming for realism.

[Kubanator]

From the pictures I have seen, the gasmask looks sharp, as it has edges. I don't care how you look at it, but hitting a straight edge with your head is not the best idea in the world.

Then logically, a punch would hurn even worse. The head is the hardest part of your body.

[Farley4Fan]

Kubanator is right once again.  It's all unrealistic.  Just forget it everyone.  It doesn't matter.  We should look past realism and just make an animation that looks fine.  Preferably, the elbow needs to look a little more powerful than it does now.

[Gawain]

The current visor that is glowing is just yelling: "HERE I AM AVOID ME", while it shouldn't if PS is aiming for realism.

you actually did  a good point here: what about only special vision modes creating a coloured glow?

[Ion.67]

I really don't think a security force would be wearing any kind of special suit or anything like that. They are protecting...whatever it is they are protecting, with brute force, not waiting for someone to come and take them out silently.

[Farley4Fan]

That is a factor that balances a few things.  It doesn't matter if it is unrealistic or not.  Mercs shouldn't be able to hide as well as spies and that's how it is.  Mercs need to stand out somewhat.  A good way to do that is to make their visors glow regardless of whether they are using visions or not.