[MUD-Dev] Better Combat

[Zach Collins (Siege)]

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, Paolo Piselli wrote:

> To relate this to my production-model appraoch: this would be the
> difference between the case where there are no rules being
> considered for firing (a more "passive" downtime - such as riding
> a train to the next town over) and the case where there are rules
> that could potentially fire but have not fired yet, and the player
> is actively "polling" the world for input (a more "active"
> downtime - such as Solid Snake hiding behind a box for the right
> time to take out the guard).

And to relate this to a slightly more quantitative model, I'd
suggest that what you're talking about includes a concept of safe
zones on the map, as well as conversational activity.  Having a
weapon ready isn't an indicator of active downtime; but the
likelyhood of engaging a mob might be. Being in a safe zone is thus
equivalent to being in passive downtime, unless the player happens
to be engaged in game-regulated activities such as acquiring things
or making things.  I don't count selling as active -- when a player
sets up sales somewhere, it generally seems to be a very passive
thing: little or no haggling, no deal-making, often handled while
AFK or offline (in the case of player-owned shops in a mall or
bazaar).

I would also suggest that activities which count as passive
downtime, if performed when in an active downtime state, should also
count as active. Selling something in a high-level combat zone with
nearing respawn times and active mobs all around, requires speed and
timing to complete the transaction before the next potential combat.

--
Zach Collins
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