[MUD-Dev] Re: Administrative notes

[Jon A. Lambert]

> From: Nathan Yospe <yospe at hawaii.edu>
> This is true. However, I like having fights between large forces armed
> with weapons of mass destruction. This tends to lead to a one-hit-you're-
> dead philosophy. Not absolutely... most hits result in loss of a limb,
> rather than death... but if you don't have a team to back you up, and you
> lose a limb, and you are lying in agony in a pool of your own blood, the
> chances that your opponents are _not_ going to shoot you where you lie are
> small. Of course, armor is at a premium as well, and battlesuits, and
> large tanks... and wormhole beacons, which grab you in the case of severe
> system shock and dump you in a medical facility.
> 
I think here lies a key difference between medieval and modern/futuristic
combat.  The effects of high-velocity shock are killer in modern combat.  
Wounds tend to be more "difficult" from an E.R. perspective.  Medieval
requires a more "personal touch" to killing with wounds a bit tidier.

Of course I haven't really thought too much about the actual velocity 
of a magic-missile. *grin*
But white phosphorus grenades are Oh so cool. 

> 
> The analogy I draw is nazi occupied europe during WW2... except on a
> galactic scale. Its a brutal game, yes... especially as you are homefront
> resistance, after the homefront has lost.
> 
> Yeah, I tend to take the same philosophy. Not completely the same
> direction with it... but the philosophy of determining your own goals. Of
> course, having an ultimate evil that needs to be destroyed is a bit of a
> deterent to that sort of thing... until you consider that, A) the evil is
> a bit much for anything short of nearly a hundred well trained soldiers
> with a LOT of battle gear, and B) who says that YOUR goal has anything to
> do with destroying that evil? Why not be a colaborator? Or just a
> merchant, getting rich off of both sides? Or whatever role you want to
> play? I'm figuring a year or so before the first time someone gets to the
> point where they can make a go at the big baddie... a few years before
> anyone pulls it off.
> 
A quote comes to mind from one of my favorite authors: 

"To fight the empire is to be infected by its derangement.  
 Whoever defeats part of the empire becomes the empire; 
 it proliferates like a virus... thereby it becomes its enemies."
				- P.K. Dick


JL