[MUD-Dev] New topic: AI and NPCs

[Adam Wiggins]

[Jeff K:]
> At 08:37 AM 8/31/97 PST8PDT, Adam Wiggins wrote:
> >*nod*...most of our wrestlers are completely unskilled.  Wrestling was
> something
> >we threw in as more of a way to help out the big, slow guys - if that
> 
> Just as a note most RPG systems balance the speed of a little guy with the
> damage dealt.  The big guy with greater strength does much mroe damage when
> he DOES hit.  But whatever works for you.

Right, but our combat system is completely different from anything I've
ever seen.  Mainly since we model damage so realisticaly - we quickly
found that a lumbering 900 lb ogre-type critter versus a 150 lb elf
with a fast sword-arm and a sharp rapier lost every time.  A rapier through
the guts of a 900 lb ogre kills just as surely as any 'hard-hitting' attack.
Of course this makes sense, but isn't exactly what we wanted.

> >*nod*...although I should tell you our size scale.  Our test runs usually
> >involve sending in two or three goblins (~50 lb each, 3') versus a
> >minotaur (~800 lb, 9') or a jhaa'rdk (~900 lb, 9').
> 
> Well that certainly is an extreme you dont see in the real world.  Coudl a
> man, or boy, with the proepr techniques, hold a horse?  I tyend to think
> so, but the techniques woudl be very different tehn for a man.  Thats just
> an opinion though. i knwo of no practical tests :)

Yeah, there's another good point - varying anatomy.  How about creatures that
drop limbs (ala lizards' tails), or that can shapechange on the fly (T-1000)?
Difficult to test, as you say, so one can only speculate.  I find it pretty
interesting to consider and then try to implement.

> >Secondly, I didn't write any of the wrestling code, but rather my partner
> >(who is currently practising Jujitsu, although I'm not sure how his
> >experience level compares to yours).
> 
> Hmm.  I studied Judo.  Its been years, i hardly even remember msot of my
> Japanese and though Is tudied a numeb of years I was never very good
> frankly but i WAS good at undertsnading the theory ;)  
> 
> Jujitsu is the martial art from which the sport Judo wss derived.   Itw as
> always my understanding that the two are, at the theoretical roots, pretty
> much identical BUT I've never studied Jujitsu itself so I coudl well have
> holes in my knowledge there.

And this is another thing that interests me - fighting styles.  Even watching
old martial arts movies and seeing the difference between Kung Fu, Tae Kwon
Do, Karate etc...when it gets *really* interesting is when you throw the
various styles against another, ideally completely different, style.
In some cases speculation is your only choice, given the fantastical
nature of a mud world - what IS the outcome of a 2 foot droid with a stun
rod versus a 9' Kzin with imcredible strength and razor-sharp claws?