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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 18:50:59 -0800 (PST)</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
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<PRE>
On Wed, 6 Jan 1999, James Wilson wrote:
>
> On Tue, 05 Jan 1999, Nathan F Yospe wrote:
>
> [JCL's original quote snipped]
>
> >On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, James Wilson wrote:
>
> >:I'm curious - has anyone implemented a system allowing variable levels of
> >:combat detail ('brief-mode' vs 'verbose-mode', for instance)?
>
> [snip]
>
> >The client has two levels of information screening: server detail level,
> >and display detail level. The first relates to bandwidth, but the second
> >is for exactly this sort of thing. Certain information will be described
> >in 7 modes: "minimal", "sparse", "simplified", "standard", "interested",
> >"detailed", and "exacting". These modes are autoscaled by attention, and
> >tend to focus rather highly on combat when it is first person; a fight a
> >character is endangered by goes up to exacting instantly... but this can
> >be manually overridden. I'm not sure what changes I'm going to make with
> >the manual override... I don't care for it much... but this is one thing
> >that makes me consider leaving it.
>
> I should have been more clear... I know that many muds allow different levels
> of detail in DISPLAYING combat (several people have already piped up saying
> that their muds do this) but what I was interested in was JCL's original
> problem, namely that some players would like to have a great deal of detailed
> control over combat. This is a problem not only in that providing that detailed,
> interesting combat system is naturally difficult, but also in that many players
> aren't interested in the details of combat and WOULD like to type 'kill
> Bob' and be done with it.
This does not seem possible to me in any sort of interesting combat
system. To me a good/interesting combat system is one in which automation
is very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve (yes, I've read the law
about automation, but I disagree that it will always be done if combat is
designed correctly. No one has yet done it in Achaea) and one in which
there are a great deal of split-second decisions to be made.
These decisions, imho, cannot be made automatically without some sort of
sophisticated AI that is beyond the scope of any MUD I have seen or heard
of.
Furthermore, let's say that Sir Gawain is fighting Silisaris, and Sir
Gawain knows that Silisaris has automated combat on. Given the Mudding law
(which I believe is more or less true) that players will always figure out
your algorithms by experiment, Sir Gawain is going to know exactly what
Silisaris is going to do. In a situation like that, Silisaris is going to
just get stomped on, primarily because a good combat system should have
enough variables in it that the creator of the system cannot just sit down
and say "ok, in situation X, a player must do action A to be most
effective". I've been surprised many, many times by the strategies
employed by my players in combat, and the way they combine abilities to do
things I hadn't thought of.
--matt
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<LI><STRONG><A NAME="00077" HREF="msg00077.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></STRONG>
<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> James Wilson <jwilson#rochester,rr.com></LI></UL></LI>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00047" HREF="msg00047.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Tue 05 Jan 1999, 19:18 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00057" HREF="msg00057.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Wed 06 Jan 1999, 01:32 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00058" HREF="msg00058.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Nathan F Yospe <a href="mailto:yospe#hawaii,edu">yospe#hawaii,edu</a>, Wed 06 Jan 1999, 02:25 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00077" HREF="msg00077.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Thu 07 Jan 1999, 02:09 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00078" HREF="msg00078.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
diablo <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Thu 07 Jan 1999, 02:51 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00079" HREF="msg00079.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Nathan F Yospe <a href="mailto:yospe#hawaii,edu">yospe#hawaii,edu</a>, Thu 07 Jan 1999, 02:54 GMT
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<li><Possible follow-up(s)><br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00048" HREF="msg00048.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 05 Jan 1999, 19:36 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00050" HREF="msg00050.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
quzah [softhome] <a href="mailto:quzah#softhome,net">quzah#softhome,net</a>, Tue 05 Jan 1999, 21:07 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00107" HREF="msg00107.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
T. Alexander Popiel <a href="mailto:popiel#snugharbor,com">popiel#snugharbor,com</a>, Mon 11 Jan 1999, 16:23 GMT
</LI>
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