[MUD-Dev] Better Combat

[cruise]

David Kennerly wrote:

> But is as fun as you said: like watching a lumberjack.  In OGL
> (open gaming license, the "open source" that D&D now rides on)
> power attack is a simple subtract attack bonus and add to damage,
> which meets this above sentiment precisely, yet it is dull.  Dull!
> There is an optimum result to input for a tuple of (armor class,
> attack bonus, damage, 2-handed or not, and a few others), but the
> result is fairly mindless, and has the flair of a lumberjack
> ... without the singing.

Well, as has been stated before, you can work out an optimum
decision for each possible position in a flight sim, too, but it's
not necessarily feasible in the time-frame allowed. While, yes, in
most games you can "pre-calculate" this grid (for this enemy use
power-attack, this enemy use defensive, etc.) that's only because
the enemies you fight don't respond and react.

> Power attack could be modeled as a matrix as well, and the
> problem, as would be seen in that matrix, is that it's surface (if
> a matrix were continuous) is smooth and has a very small slope.
> Even it's optimum is not treacherous.  Declaring +1 power attack
> is optimum under most cases, and it requires highly irregular
> circumstances to deviate, which a matrix (or set of matrices of
> typical encounters) reveals.  So, in this example of determining
> how hard to swing and "taking control" what would be some of the
> game mechanical effects?

The idea is keep combat fluid and dynamic by offering these
options. So it no longer becomes "power attack increases damage at
expense of defense", but "power attack increases damage at the
expense of telegraphing my move to the opponent who now has an
opportunity to respond."

I'm going to take a massive leap across genre's here - I'm surprised
no one else has drawn the parallels already: There's one genre where
combat is not only fun, but the entirety of the game...beat 'em ups.

Players come back time after time, simply to fight. If we want to
make combat in RPG's enjoyable, then it's worth taking a few
hints. Powerful blows don't "lower your defense", but take more time
to execute, leaving time for the opponent to avoid/block/attack
first. The "lower your defense" behaviour of D&D (say) is an attempt
to reflect this, without requiring the twitch reactions of a beat
'em up. A step down the ladder of complexity. But by doing that, you
make the process less involving, and therefore less interesting.

Which makes sense in a deep RPG, where there's many, many other
things to be doing, and so you streamline the doing of each of
them. But when combat becomes the game, as it does in the grind,
then that simplicity only leads to boredom.

--
[ cruise / casual-tempest.net / transference.org ]
   "quantam sufficit"
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