[MUD-Dev] Re: combat

[Richard Woolcock]

J C Lawrence (previously) wrote:
> 
> In a permadeath game this is equivalent to repeatedly attacking
> them and either bringing them close to death, or making your threat
> of death very real.  The mechanics are the same, its just that
> death is no longer a waystation or counting statistic along the
> process.  Instead the metric is, "How often did he get me in a
> position where I was at direct risk of dieing?"

There is one major difference though.  In a permadeath game, no matter
how many times you bring the person close to death, there is always
the threat of you pushing that little bit further - of actually killing
them.  In a non-permadeath mud, killing (and looting, if possible) is
the worst you can do - there is nothing held back, no threat of taking
things any further.

J C Lawrence wrote:
> 
>   In a permadeath system that you had invested several hundred hours
> in, if you knew that if you attacked and won against XXX character you
> would gain return equivalent to another 20 hours of play, but that you
> also had a 10% chance of dieing and thus losing everything -- would
> you attack?
> 
> My intention is to make the rewards that high or higher, but to make
> the risks even higher, especially as the values scale (the more you
> risk, the more you gain, the higher your risk of loss).  I
> specifically don't intend for killer characters to be long-term
> playable.  I intend for them to live short, brutal, highly attractive
> and corruscating lives that have the ability to swoop up the
> advancement levels dedicated to killers, and then flame out before
> getting anywhere significant.  More sedate players, who employ combat
> as a strategic versus tactical tool will do better (hope) and form the
> backbone of the game (hope).

Will you allow killer characters to 'retire' from their professions, to
continue developing slowly up the 'sedate' advancement route?  If so,
I'd be very interested to hear the results.  One-off murders might 
become very tempting (to give yourself a nice boost), but - having
tasted easy success - would the player then be willing to revert back
to the pacifistic method of advancement?  Equally, would a hardened
veteran really be able to give up his war-like ways for long?

KaVir.