[MUD-Dev] RTS aspects in MUDs (LONG)

[Leland Hulbert II]

John Robert Arras wrote:

> Some ideas might be: They can "hire" a guard for an hour by
> spending 10 points. The guard acts like a pet for that period of
> time.  (They might even hire other players and reward them with
> points...)

Cool.  An economy run by faction points...

> I think this idea fixes one of the huge problems with putting an
> RTS into a MUD. What happens when the player logs out? In an RTS
> you are constantly clicking stuff and moving things around, and if
> your AI player were so darn good at this, why would you even need
> to be around to play? By letting players affect an AI that's
> always on, instead of having make the decisions themselves, you
> end up with less of a disparity between when players are online
> and offline. How could an RTS MUD with kingdoms led by players
> survive for a week if the "King" and his "High Council" decide to
> go to Cancun for spring break?
 
Well, a player willing to put in the ammount of effort that I think
it should require to get to the position of King or High Council is
not likely to give up the game for a whole week.  Not that I'm
saying that's a good thing.  Also, I'm hoping that, unlike
traditional RTS games, there will be periods of relative peace when
the kingdom can do for itself.  Of course, this leads to a new level
of meta-gaming, where you choose the momment of you big attack to
coinside with your enemy being asleep or out of town.

I think that the AI should be embodied in a character, the King if
that is an NPC, or a high-level aide if the King is a player.  The
AI can keep things running when the player isn't around.  One thing
I worry about is how to restablish the AI character after it is
killed.  I lean toward establishing many RTS AI-capable NPCs for
each kingdom, each with a portion of the responsibility.  Then one
of the lower level commanders can take over when the King is
assassinated, which I fully expect the players to try.  The other
possibility that I am toying with is making the AIs unkillable
Dieties.  Then the advancement of the players through the ranks can
take the form of a test of faith.

Lee
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