[MUD-Dev] Combat

[Greg Miller]

Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:
> Combat in UU is simplistic. It all comes down to one number you whack up
> against another number, and the bigger number wins. There's a slight skew
> in the numbers from a random number generator, but nothing worth worrying
> about. You can buy bonuses to your own number, and penalties to your
> opponent's number, but in the end it's basically a case of... umm... well,
> basically, "mine's bigger than yours". (Damn, I'm on a roll tonight.)

Hrm, you know, this started me thinking about UU/TW combat and why
people in TW don't get upset to nearly the same degree as most mudders
over being attacked. It seems to me it comes down to the fact that
virtually all TW battles result in permanent injury, not death, so
players tend to look at it differently, even though the results may (in
some cases) be just as extreme when considered in light of the game
mechanics. So maybe the solution is to provide for a large amount of
non-fatal PK, but the question becomes this: How do you provide for
long-term negative side-effects to fighting without actually killing the
victim? Broken limbs spring to mind, but what else?

> 
> Instant combat is a neat idea. I like it better than protracted combat,
> because it lowers the most prominent level of waste I see on MUDs: time. I

I think it comes from the fact that UU started out as a TW-like game,
and TW started out as a trading game, not a combat game. TW would be
fun, even in combat were removed entirely. Your typical mud would leave
the player with little to do. So instant combat shifts the focus quite a
bit toward resource building (or to some alternative I haven't
considered).

> It's under examination. I'd *like* them to go away entirely. There are,
> however, certain issues involved there.

Well, both time limits and the side-effects of their removal are design
flaws, and there'll surely be SOME way to fix those side-effects.

> And, of course, the help system has some trouble. If you've looked at it,
> you know why: it uses ANSI carriage control and VT52 emulation to simulate
> a menued interface. This is just plain not going to work for the guy on raw
> telnet.

Or the guy dialing up to a BBS with the third-rate terminal program
included with his modem :)

[snipped the quiz concept]

I like it. I might use something similar in my mud, although there'd
have to be some reward other than xp, since I don't use xp.
--
http://www.classic-games.com/
President Clinton was acquitted; then again, so was O. J. Simpson.
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