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

[Oliver Jowett]

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..

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!


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. 

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

-O


--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.