[MUD-Dev] A flamewar startingpoint.)

[Adam Wiggins]

[Stephen Zepp:]
> Adam Wiggins wrote:
> > More importantly, the situations themselves are so varied as to actually
> > stay interesting to the player, which was our #1 goal when we first
> > started crafting the combat system.
> 
> Hmm..one question for ya:  if your system is that complex, how can npcs
> used it?  This is a topic that's plagueing me..

Heh...well the answer is, 'not very well'.  Our AI stuff has always
been huge series of if-statements, a little bit of 'cheating' (peering
at values players don't have access to), and some SERIOUS group-coordination.
Granted, that dwarven guard isn't very smart.  But he's better equiped
than you, more skilled (maybe) than you, has better stats (probaly) than
you, and he's got four buddies that are going to help him out if you
mess with him.
Also we rely on incredibly powerful creatures, such as dragons, to keep
the players in check.

Finally, combat just doesn't *do* very much for you.  There's no
experience, and you usually don't want, can't use, or can't carry the
equipment that you opponent is wearing.  (Plus, who wants a bunch of torn-up,
blood-stained clothing?)  Combat skills are the only direct benefit.
Normally you wouldn't *want* to fight someone unless they were an obstacle
(barring you way to something you do want), or an enemy (they stole something
from you or otherwise screwed you over and you want to 'teach them a lesson').

How well this will work is still up in the air.  We've never had more
than about a dozen players during any given alpha-test, and those tests
have been quite short.

> > > I also don't like moving to a
> > > clocked system as it fairly well forces me to move the entire game to a
> > > clocked system, which I'm resistant to.  I'm still much won over with
> > > letting everything execute as quickly as it can.
> 
> I'm moving towards a "queued event" system, sort of like "I'm starting
> to swing my sword, I'm swinging my sword, he's moving his mace to block,
> he's committed to block, OKAY..now, feint under his block, and slice his
> guts open!  That's probably an overdone description, but with "segments"
> like D&D used to have, tho wasn't much used in most version of rp-style
> ( the miniatures version of D&D used them :) ), you have this idea of
> "some actions are just quicker than others"...thrusting a dagger is a
> lot faster than an overhead blow from a heavy two handed mace..

Cool.  This is exactly what we do, and I love it.  An attack has
the following states: prepare, swing, impact, recovery.  This makes
doing a riposte as simple as doing a 'prepare' state without any of
the others.