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

[John Buehler]

Brian Hook writes:

> Maybe a better solution is that a running/charging enemy has a
> pretty strong defense bonus when someone is attacking it with a
> missile weapon.  This way you at least have a chance to close with
> your attacker instead of being nicked to death from far away.  On
> top of that, presumably if you have reasonable restrictions on
> missile weapon usage (e.g. running and firing; can't wear heavy
> armor when firing a bow, etc.) then battle _should_ break down to:

>   - archer gets one or two free shots

>   - archer is now at a disadvantage because they are in melee range
>   of enemy

>   - archer's disadvantage should (ideally) be offset by wounds
>   inflicted on enemy

> But one thing I'm trying to be clear about is that I have two "goal
> axes".  The first is attempting to keep things
> reasonable/"realistic"; the other is keep things balanced.
> Sometimes the two are mutually exclusive.

I'm not a believer in innate balance between combatants with
dissimilar skills and weapons.  There should be conditions available
in the game that always clearly favor one over the other.  It then
becomes the player's responsibility to ensure that his character
doesn't get caught at a disadvantage.  The conditions under which a
given weapon or skill clearly holds an advantage may be quite
ephemeral and difficult to create.  Other times, they may fall quite
commonly into place.

Personally, I'd like to see a resurrection of the melee warrior in the
medieval genre.  That he really has the advantage in field and
confined space combat (i.e. most scenarios).  When an archer has a
defensible position, he should have the advantage.  But when an archer
exposes himself to direct contact with a melee warrior, he should know
that he's in trouble.  "Run early and run often" should be the
archer's motto.  In all of this, I assume that an archer is not the
melee skill equal of a melee warrior, nor that the melee warrior can
equal the skill of the archer with a bow.

I'm not sure how I'd work crossbows in.  A trivial rate of fire might
permit a melee warrior have a kind of one-shot ranged attack.

JB

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