22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 1st comment:
Votes: 0
For awhile, I've been wondering, how oh how to I make WoW players even more angry with text based mudding.. And I think I finaly figured it out.

Everyone hates a gnome-mage on wow, unless you play one ;) IN anycase, they are rather annoying.

But I think text based mudding has one up on them now!

BEHOLD, the Racial skill designed to make gnomes REALLY annoying in combat.

Cheers, hope to get some feedback.

// This should piss some people off, one more reason why people hate gnomes other then WoW's gnome/mage epidemic.
COMMAND(do_scatter) {
if(str_cmp(race_table[ch->race].name, "gnome")) {
ch->Sendf("But your not a gnome-ad!\n\r");
return;
}

if(!is_fighting(ch)) {
ch->Sendf("You cannot scatter unless your in combat!!\n\r");
return;
}

// can be done on ANY turn ;) making this truly a pain in the ass
act("$n screams, "Holy crap! THERES A BOMB!", ch, NULL, NULL, TO_ROOM);
act("You scream, "Holy Crap! THERES A BOMB!", ch, NULL, NULL, TO_CHAR);

// one random outage ;)
CHAR_DATA *vict = get_enemy(ch);

// now we scare the victim!
if(vict && number_percent() > number_range(0,100)) {

char_from_combat(vict);

// here is where they scatter!
if(ON_MAP(vict)) {
for(int x = 0; x < 6; x++) {
vict->Move(number_range(0,11));
act("$n runs wildly into the room! FREAKING out about something crazy.", vict, NULL, NULL, TO_ROOM);
act("You run wildly into the room! FREAKING out about the gnome's bantering about a bomb!", vict, NULL, NULL, TO_CHAR);
if(number_range(0,6) == number_range(0,7))
x = x/2; // cut it in half because theres is more chance to run on the worldmap.
// so we don't want them going too crazy!
}
} else {
for(int x = 0; x < 6; x++) {
if(vict->in_room->exit[x] != NULL) {
if(vict->in_room->exit[x]->u1.to_room != NULL) {
char_from_room(vict);
char_to_room(vict, vict->in_room->exit[x]->u1.to_room);
act("$n runs wildly into the room! FREAKING out about something crazy.", vict, NULL, NULL, TO_ROOM);
act("You run wildly into the room! FREAKING out about the gnome's bantering about a bomb!", vict, NULL, NULL, TO_CHAR);
// make them scatter wildly, hopefully they run afew rooms away with this :)
if(number_range(0,6) == number_range(0,7))
x = 0;
}
}
}
}
}
// 7 to 12 turn wait here, this is pretty powerful all things considering! Makes them take off wildly! HAHA
if(is_fighting(ch)) {
turn_end(ch->turn, 600-GET_SPEED(ch), ch);
ch->skill_wait += number_range(7,12);
}
}
22 Dec, 2008, tphegley wrote in the 2nd comment:
Votes: 0
So a gnome can 'freeze' a player endlessly by spamming scatter? I'm not accustomed to your game so I don't know how the fighting works.
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 3rd comment:
Votes: 0
Nope, players have turns, though this skill can be used out of turn, it unfortunatly cannot be used until the skill_wait is over :) skill wait counts down as turns go by, so once your turns have passed (the 7 to 12) it lets you use it again, (or other skills if you choose)

* note: it sends them running wildly around. which can be problematic at best, especialy with aggro and all.
22 Dec, 2008, tphegley wrote in the 4th comment:
Votes: 0
Ok. I think I understand now. Using this removes the gnome from combat and sends him running around wildly not letting the other person be able to target him very well until it is over in which the gnome is probably 3-6 rooms away or so.
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 5th comment:
Votes: 0
actually, it sends a random victim running several rooms away.

Think of it like this.

[Team A] [Team B]
Gnome Human
Elf Dwarf
… …
… …

Said gnome in team A, uses scatter.

get_enemy(ch) is called, (finds his enemies in team-b: and randomly picks one)

Then with the check that vict != NULL and if the percents align right,
the victim is pulled from combat, and sent randomly running room to room bellowing random stuff until they reach the end of the movement.

On the worldmap, they can run up to 6 rooms away, unless it hits a certain point, then it slashs the x-value in half, and they keep running.

In rooms however, is to find the first available exit, and then moves the character through it, and so on and so-forth, also with the chance of resetting the x so it can send them further.

The overall goal of the command is to knock down the opposing group's members. making it easier to fight them.

A side note to this is, if they are the last person in combat that you scare away, you get half-xp for the perverbial 'kill' when it removes the victim from combat. char_from_combat(vict); call.

Its a little annoying skill, enhancing the hatred of gnomes that people already share so happily. :)
22 Dec, 2008, tphegley wrote in the 6th comment:
Votes: 0
can the gnome do anything else during these 7-12 turns?
22 Dec, 2008, Midboss wrote in the 7th comment:
Votes: 0
Yeah, given the original system they should be able to do other stuff during the 7-12 turns. Perhaps not skills in general? I dunno how much different it is from the core or even what was in the core anymore – though I wouldn't be surprised to see some features from the private version I had continued developing for a while show up in Darien's. I don't believe it'd be the first time we'd had similar ideas.
22 Dec, 2008, tphegley wrote in the 8th comment:
Votes: 0
So it's pretty much a 'fear' bomb like warriors ability to fear people with their shout. It's an interesting feature in a mud.
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 9th comment:
Votes: 0
During those 7-12 turns, they can still attack, flee, all that fun stuff, but skills themselves have wait-timers on them. So if you use a skill, it could be afew turns before they can do anything again (skill wise)

Using bandages and the likes.

And yeah, my combat code is based off of Midboss's turn based combat system, which I've modified to great extent to make it the core combat code :)

But with that being said, its actually quite fun, you have to be smart with your skill choices, because it can be awhile before you can use it again, plus the skill also slows down when your next attack is. So your enemies may have multipul turns before you get your next turn.

Its made it so that skill usage is based on strategy. And this skill has made it so that you can for a brief moment, interrupt the overall combat progression, in your favor assumingly. Taking out an enemy other then using kill_unit on them (prods revival) is the best method.

On my mud, health is balanced to skill damage, so it may only take 1 or 2 hits to kill someone the same level as you. Its important to not get overwhelmed, or else you will die, and die fast :)

On that note, turn based combat is great, but the muds focus is on room-to-room combat, and mass AOE, you only get locked into turn-based combat if you choose to duke it out in the same room. Which can be someone's weakness if they only skilled up in mass AOE skills or long-range skills. Shooting a bow/arrow at someone in the same room doesn't work all that well to say the least;)

Anyways, there goes the tangent.
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 10th comment:
Votes: 0
A fear bomb, good way to put it, but its gnomes just screaming 'theres a bomb' and fightening people.

Every race in my mud has its own skill after level 5, like treant, their skill consists of if they are in a forest, they get 100% chance to blending into the background, completely invisible to everyone, except other treants.

Humans get life, if they use it, everytime they move, they gain health, elves get ritual, which when used, makes them invinciple, they cannot be entered into combat, and cannot be damaged by AOE, but they cannot do anything else but it until they cancel the ritual, if they do, they lose a random amount of health… in anycase, the gnome was my showcased skill, because I felt it looked perfect to be the next great annoying gnome skill. :)
22 Dec, 2008, David Haley wrote in the 11th comment:
Votes: 0
Shouldn't there be some kind of saving throw against this? You don't have any comparison against the victims' intelligence, wisdom, etc.. I have a lot of trouble imagining seasoned combatants falling for a trick like this. I mean, these people face down mighty monsters and other powerful creatures and hardly flinch: why should they be scared of this?
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 12th comment:
Votes: 0
Yeah, there should be, but I haven't gotten around to writing saving throws yet for this.

For the moment, its just a random-chance of success. Which is annoying.

But for my mud, which is a modern/futuristic style mud (guns, nukes and the likes) being based on armies, and infact, being in the military myself, I know how easily it can be on the lines to scare someone, just by saying a key-phrase, not to mention actually seeing it. So I tend to believe that for the moment, it suits just fine. Until I back to my computer that is and I get to start tweaking it with other fun things. I'm considering giving a random effect that causes fear that makes the victim skip their turn for x amount of turns (or run pending the rolls)
22 Dec, 2008, David Haley wrote in the 13th comment:
Votes: 0
Under that reasoning, all you'd have to do to win battles IRL is run around telling the enemy there are bombs. :tongue: What I was getting at is that you can scare your own team because they're likely to believe you, more than the enemy is likely to believe you – never mind to the point of panicking and losing their composure to that extent.
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 14th comment:
Votes: 0
I've seen battles lost because someone shouted 'BOMB' people tend to take it seriously in combat, and since combat is usualy high-paced, they don't always have the time to find out who shouted it, and because of that, they take it quite seriously and move away if their is even an inkling that its true.

In anycase, yeah, it does need a method to stop it from being so perfect, which is a perfect reason for me to put save vs fear into the mud, which I've been pondering for the fear skills.
22 Dec, 2008, elanthis wrote in the 15th comment:
Votes: 0
You will successfully annoy most people simply by having gnomes in the game. :
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 16th comment:
Votes: 0
This is a true enough fact, gnomes do have that effect on people.

But still, beyond that, I'm trying to keep on-par with WoW with annoying people with gnomes, the question I guess at hand is, is this nearly enough to annoy people with gnomes :)
22 Dec, 2008, David Haley wrote in the 17th comment:
Votes: 0
I'm a little confused, why is it a goal in and of itself to annoy people? (and why are gnomes so inherently annoying?)
22 Dec, 2008, Omega wrote in the 18th comment:
Votes: 0
indeed, but I'm gearing up to make gnomes alittle extra-special, balance is key, so I am finding a way to stay within balance, while making gnomes annoying, well, more annoying. Overall goal-in-mind, have players want the kill-on-sight mentality, but not actually do it because they know how annoying they are.

well, annoying for other people, one-on-one conventional combat, everyone is equal, even gnomes, but that doesn't mean that cannot be annoying within said combat, they dont' get any extra attacks, just things that players will inherintly hate about them, unless they are playing them.

Now mind you, I have this for just about every-race, but gnomes are particularily captivating when it comes to being annoying :) Thus the extra effort :)
22 Dec, 2008, quixadhal wrote in the 19th comment:
Votes: 0
Young kids these days just don't know how to be properly annoying. Gnomes? Bah!

SMURFS!!!!!

Nothing is as smurfingly smurfing annoying as a smurf.
23 Dec, 2008, Guest wrote in the 20th comment:
Votes: 0
It might be seen as annoying just to talk about gnomes :)
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