[MUD-Dev] Character skill amplifying player skill

[Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com]

From: Brian Hook [mailto:brianhook at pyrogon.com]

> Character A has a Piloting skill of -60%, so now his ship has a
> turning radius of 72 degrees/second.  Character B has a Piloting
> skill of +10%, so his ship now has a turning radius of 198
> degress/second.  Same thing applies to acceleration -- 2.4G
> acceleration vs 6.6G acceleration.  And weapon damage can be
> adjusted by your Tactical rating, etc. etc.

You will have the interesting problem where sometimes a higher turn
rate or acceleration isn't more desireable. I was at a retro game
exhibition in London a couple of weeks ago and was playing one of
the first games where you could upgrade your ship as you chose
through spending points. It was noticeable that getting more than 2
speed boosts was actually a hindrance to play. Wouldn't it be
annoying in a game where your characters superior skill actually
makes it harder to play?

Alternatively you could limit what could be equipped through their
skill levels (you may have mentioned this in your post). That way
the turn rate of a players ship is still directly under their
control.

> But maybe other graphical games have introduced this (Deus Ex also
> comes to mind, but it had a woefully flawed implementation that
> only diminished innate player skill instead of amplifying poor
> player skill -- not having Rifle skill only hurt you, but having
> it didn't help you other than by removing a penalty).

Yes, but aiming a rifle with a mouse is a lot easier than pointing a
real one. By not having the skill, your sight was moved in a
realistic fashion for someone who hasn't been trained in firing a
rifle. I don't really have a problem with this, otherwise you have
FPS experts bringing in player skills their characters don't have
and also taking advantantage of the easy input method.

Dan

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