[MUD-Dev] Balancing Melee vs Ranged Combat in Games Which Model Space

[Jerrith]

At 11:55 AM 4/3/2001 -0700, Brian Hook wrote:
> At 04:02 PM 4/3/01 +0100, Dan wrote:

>>         How do you balance characters being able to cause damage to
>>         a monster/player when it isn't able to retaliate.

> Allow monsters to retaliate with ranged attacks of their own?

That doesn't fully address the issue, and isn't a solution for all
cases.  You rule out the possibility of monsters that, for whatever
reason, don't have ranged attacks.  (Say a forest animal, such as a
deer.)  You also don't address players who don't have ranged weapons
facing those who do.  Finally, assuming we're trying to give the
creatures believable behaviors, why would a creature ever close to
melee range with a player who didn't have a ranged weapon?  (The last
two can be ignored if you assume every player will have a ranged
weapon, however that seems unreasonable in a number of cases as well.)

If the creature only has melee attacks, and can't close to melee
range, it either needs to be able to escape, or insignificant enough
that killing it doesn't give a reward the player would find
worthwhile.

In EverQuest for example, a number of combat techniques involve
slowing or stopping the movement of a monster, and then killing it
with ranged weapons or spells while out of melee range.  It can be
very efficient and rewarding (in terms of treasure and experience)
however it generally isn't very heroic in nature (heroism being
something I'd hope to see encouraged in a fantasy rpg).

AR Schleicher (Jerrith)
jerrith at jerrith.com

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