[MUD-Dev] Re: Combat Was Re: Leaving characters in play

[Orion Henry]

At 05:59 PM 5/18/98 +1200, you wrote:
>On Mon, 18 May 1998, Orion Henry wrote:
>
>> -- Actions all have a priority that the queue is sorted by.  The priority
>> levels we had decided on were (from lowest to highest) menial, information
>> gathing, life-or-death, reactionary, and involentary.
>
>I have a feeling I've seen discussion of this before on the list, but 
>anyway..

Yes, this was brought system was brougt up over a year ago.  Its been so
long since we have talked combat systems and we have so many new
subscribers I didnt feel bad about recycling it.  Also all the luck stuff
at the end was new and I was curious as to what people thought.


>How long do actions last in the queue? How are they affected by changes in
>the environment?
>
>  > get sword
>  > open chest
>  You pick up the sword.
>  Bubba charges in and swings his sword at you!
>  > parry
>  You parry Bubba's wild blow.
>
>[.. combat ..]
>
>  Bubba casts the dreaded "make all chests electrified" spell.
>  > skewer bubba
>  You skewer Bubba with your sword. He collapses to the ground.
>  You open the chest. ZAP! You are dead!
>  > say damn!

hahaha... yes, that COULD happen under the system as I understand it.  I
had a few things to compensate:  1) the "stop" command clears the queue of
all volintary actions.  Thus if you see something bad heading your way you
can immidatly stop your action queue.  2) different actions have different
fragility levels.  If you get bonked on the head you will most likely
forget about your apple.  If you casually kill bubba without breaking a
sweat you'd go right back to eating it.  Some things (like counting) get
broken very easily. ;)

Boffo:	"127, 128, 129..."
Bubba: "Hey Boffo!  Did you hear?? 130 of the guards men kill 115 peasants
over by 163 street! 123 more were wounded!"
Boffo:	"Arrrrrghhhhh!!"


>Perhaps parse commands when received, to the point where you know what it
>refers to (ie. resolve context at the point the command is entered, not
>when the action un-queues). Then, if there is a visible state change in
>what a queued action refers to, and the action has been queued for >N
>seconds, cancel it / require confirmation from the player. 

We parse the command immidatly, get the entity pointers for the targets,
and then slip it onto the queue.  We havent thought of a clean way of
checking changed state beyond the obvious.

> Get the rock and open the door
You get the rock.
Boffo opens the door.
You reach for the door but stop.
>



>Or the system could drop lower-priority actions if something "important"
>happens? eg. >X higher-priority actions queued since the low-priority
>action was.
>
>This could be desirable and/or irritating for other reasons:
>
>  Ouch! You have an itchy ear! You scratch it.
>  > open chest
>  Ooh, that ear really is sore. You scratch it some more.
>  > look in mirror
>  Scratch, scratch.
>  Yup, looks like you've got a nasty rash on your ear.
>  Scratch, scratch.
>  You forget about opening the chest for now. That ear sure is itchy!
>  > grumble

Hahahahahahahahahah!

I was actually considering doign things like that just for social purposes
but letting them affect other things as well.  The itchy eaer would proboly
start as a proprity menial and sloooooowly work its way up to life-or-death
and finally involentary.

Boffo locks blades with you and snarls, "You are MINE Bubba!"
> press
You press your weight right into Boffo making him slide back a few feet.
> sneer
You sneer at him evily.
Boffo's eyes widen in terror.
Gee, your each sure does itch.
> knee
You knee Boffo in the balls and make him wince, his grip on his blade
weakening.
Boy your ear is REALLY starting to itch.
You start to perspire.
> headbut
You headbut Boffo and send him reeling with a bloody nose.
OH MY GOD YOU HAVE GOT TO ITCH YOUR EAR NOW!!
Your grip on your sword is weakening.
> back
You unlock your blades and back away from Boffo as he regains his balance.
He stares at you in disbelief.
Boffo says, "What?  Has the great Bubba found mercy in his heart?"
> scratch ear ; grumble 
Ahhhhhhhhhh... you needed that.





--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.