[MUD-Dev] Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)

[Michael Willey]

On 12/18/98 2:28 PM, adam at angel.com wrote:
>On 18 Dec 1998, Michael Willey wrote:
>> A simple problem.  Assuming Buffy starts at a
>> full charge, a simple script will kill off Boffo
>> in eight seconds, with mana to spare.  Something
>> along the lines of..
>>
>>   Repeat 4 { chill touch boffo, wait 2 seconds }
>>   nuke boffo
>
>Perhaps.  But one might note that now the game 
>already has more complex combat than 80% of existing 
>muds.  I'd say that's a pretty good start.  Now with 
>a little imagination we can extend this and come up 
>with some slightly more amusing spells rather than 
>straight damage to shake things up a bit.

Ok.  I'll certainly agree that you're on to something 
interesting here.

[SNIP]
>> Buffy's next goal is probably to raise
>> her mana maximum to 200 points, so she can
>> change her insta-death script to
>>
>>   repeat 2 nuke boffo
>>
>> and be done with it.
>
>Actually I think your chill touch trick would *still* 
>be better regardless of how much mana she got.

I'd have to disagree - killing Boffo instantly and 
regenerating mana later is by far preferable to 
conserving mana in combat.  The two nuke trick will 
kill Boffo immediately, before he even has a chance to 
respond.

That's the real point at which your system's balance 
breaks down - when one combatant can kill another 
without needing to regenerate mana, the kill becomes 
instant.

[SNIP]
>Here's some more spells which Boffo or Buffy might 
>have.  Most of these ideas are not new, of course - 
>Magic: The Gathering is a great source for this sort 
>of spellcasting, so I will now shamelessly rip off a 
>few of its more popular spells.

[SNIP spell list]

>Now with just one or two of these spells at his 
>disposal, Boffo could make mincemeat of Buffy 
>(presuming she was blindly trusting the 4*chill touch 
>+ nuke script you mentioned above).

Sounds like meta-magic - something akin to mana judo, 
altering the effects of opponents' spells to use 
against them.  With or without your mana resource 
management setup, that would make a very interesting 
tactical subgame.  Combining the two subgames is even 
better.  I'll have to blatantly steal this idea, if 
you don't mind.

>The point being that we've removed that annoying 
>character lag (which players hate), made clients less 
>important than wits, preserved the flow and pacing of 
>combat, and in the meantime maybe made the combat
>gameplay a little bit more fun and engaging for the 
>players.

Now the trick becomes making a similar system to deal 
with physical combat...  Substitute fatigue for mana, 
have a list of combat maneuvers with advantages and 
disadvantages for each situation, and go from there?

Another problem:  How do you protect players from the 
ravages of real lag?  Wouldn't that leave their 
characters as drooling idiots, standing around being 
punching bags for their opponents?