[MUD-Dev] Languages (slightly offtopic, was Text Parsing)

[Matthew Mihaly]

At 05:56 PM 6/3/99 -0700, Ben Grear wrote:
>Matthew Mihaly wrote:

>> Chuckle, if I wasn't so secure in the knowledge that I have created a
>> combat system that will wallop the shit out of anything I've ever seen or
>> heard of, I wouldn't be so confident in my assertion that though I
>
>Heh, the first thing that I'd do if I wanted to do battle on your
>server would be to get tt++ fired up and make a whole shitload of
>macros to get rid of needless/implied commands....  Combat should be
>almost NOTHING about typing commands.  If that is an edge, then a bot
>will be able to whip a human every time...cause computers type really
>fast and never screw up (if your script is good...)

Obviously it shouldn't be about typing. That's why you use macros. Everyone
uses macros. It is a given. No one can fight without them. If you can't
manage to set up macros, you're simply not competent enough to master the
fighting system anyway. I do, however, challenge anyone to make a bot that
can beat me in combat on Achaea. I'm sure it is theoretically possible, but
we've been up for nearly two years, and I can, using no auto-responses,
beat the pants off of any player, regardless of whether they try to
automate their combat or not. I'm sure it is theoretically possible to
properly automate our combat system, just as it is theoretically possible
to design a program that will always win at chess (unless it is playing a
program of equal caliber).  It's not going to happen any time soon. 

If I might say so, without being offensive, I see a lot of tunnel vision
going on in this list, at least as regards combat. I blame stock muds
myself. The combat systems I've seen in every single stock mud I've had the
bad luck to encounter are the equivalent of "See spot run" in terms of
allowing players with superior personal skills to triumph. They all seem to
let any moron be good as long as he or she has the right equipment and
level. That's fine  if that's what you are going for, but I want our combat
to be a sport. Most players will  never be any good at it. They cannot
think fast enough or think innovatively enough. I'm a bit tipsy right now,
but I'll give $1000 to anyone who can write a script that can beat me in
combat in Achaea.

--matt




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