September 2002
- A "dev chat" with Brad McQuaid Vincent Archer
- Article on Griefers Rayzam
- Article on Griefers Stephen Miller
- Article on Griefers Michael R. Estepp
- Serialization, dealing with changing classes. Neil Edwards
- Serialization, dealing with changing classes. Sean Kelly
- Serialization, dealing with changing classes. Ammon Lauritzen
- Serialization, dealing with changing classes. Brian Lindahl
- TECH: Serialization, dealing with changing classes. Mark Kochanowski
- Ballerium: Interesting Game John Arras
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Valerio Santinelli
- Ballerium: Interesting Game John Robert Arras
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Crosbie Fitch
- Ballerium: Interesting Game shren
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Peter Tyson
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Valerio Santinelli
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Vincent Archer
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Mark Cheverton
- Ballerium: Interesting Game huserl@yahoo.com
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Adam
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Valerio Santinelli
- Ballerium: Interesting Game Jon A. Lambert
- Much Respect to JessicaM apollyon
- Much Respect to JessicaM Michael Tresca
- Much Respect to JessicaM Sean Kelly
- Much Respect to JessicaM Dave Rickey
- Much Respect to JessicaM Matt Mihaly
- Much Respect to JessicaM Michael Tresca
- Much Respect to JessicaM apollyon
- Much Respect to JessicaM Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Much Respect to JessicaM Sean Kelly
- Much Respect to JessicaM Michael Tresca
- Much Respect to JessicaM Paul Schwanz
- Much Respect to JessicaM Richard A. Bartle
- PK/PD (was Much Respect to JessicaM) justice@softhome.net
- MudDev - FAQ 1 Marian Griffith
- MudDev - FAQ 2 Marian Griffith
- [decentralization] Reputation device (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [decentralization] Reputation device (fwd) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [decentralization] Reputation device (fwd) Crosbie Fitch
- ANNOUNCE: Open Betas Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ANNOUNCE: Open Betas Vincent Archer
- ANNOUNCE: Open Betas Richard Aihoshi aka Jonric
- ANNOUNCE: Open Betas Mordengaard
- ANNOUNCE: Open Betas Mordengaard
- Charlie Munger on the Psychology of Human Misjudgment J C Lawrence
- Charlie Munger on the Psychology of Human Misjudgment [summary of points] Sasha Hart
- Point of View Ted L. Chen
- Point of View Shane P. Lee
- Point of View Damion Schubert
- Point of View justice@softhome.net
- Point of View Shane P. Lee
- Point of View listsub@wickedgrey.com
- Point of View justice@softhome.net
- Point of View John Robert Arras
- Point of View Ted L. Chen
- Point of View Ted L. Chen
- Commercialization of virtual spaces Koster, Raph
- Commercialization of virtual spaces Jessica Mulligan
- Commercialization of virtual spaces Derek Licciardi
- Commercialization of virtual spaces Mike Shaver
- Commercialization of virtual spaces Justin Stocks
- Commercialization of virtual spaces Russ Whiteman
- Commercialization of virtual spaces Justin Stocks
- Flexible Perl MUD-like Server Project Luke Parrish
- Flexible Perl MUD-like Server Project stanza
- Flexible Perl MUD-like Server Project Joshua Judson Rosen
- Flexible Perl MUD-like Server Project Lars Duening
- MMOG growth Matt Mihaly
- MMOG growth Koster, Raph
- MMOG growth Daniel James
- UO Advanced Character Service Christopher Allen
- UO Advanced Character Service Jessica Mulligan
- UO Advanced Character Service eric
- UO Advanced Character Service Jessica Mulligan
- UO Advanced Character Service Matt Mihaly
- UO Advanced Character Service Matt Mihaly
- UO Advanced Character Service Amanda Walker
- UO Advanced Character Service Matt Mihaly
- UO Advanced Character Service amanda@alfar.com
- UO Advanced Character Service Marc Bowden
- UO Advanced Character Service Ted L. Chen
- UO Advanced Character Service Freeman, Jeff
- UO Advanced Character Service Damion Schubert
- Storytelling in MMOGs article Koster, Raph
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Jessica Mulligan
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Valerio Santinelli
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Paul Boyle
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Koster, Raph
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Ted L. Chen
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Poe, Lawrence
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article SpY
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Freeman, Jeff
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article SpY
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Derek Licciardi
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Freeman, Jeff
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Marc DM
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Matt Mihaly
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Marc DM
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Matt Mihaly
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article holding99@mindspring.com
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Sean Kelly
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Marc DM
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Sean Kelly
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Mathieu Castelli
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Matt Mihaly
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Matt Owen
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Damion Schubert
- Game developers gear up for cyber wars Michael Tresca
- Online Games Resource Guide Valerio Santinelli
- Critique this combat system Britt Green
Hello,
In working on coding a mud from scratch, I've had to come up with a
new combat system. I'd be thrilled if the sharp-eyed readers of this
list could provide me with some constructive criticism on what I've
come up with. Praise is also encouraged! ;)
A few words before we get into the mechanics of it. I despise the
death-of-a-thousand cuts that seems to be the dominating style of
mud. In this mud, a player can be killed after a few hits. The goal
of this is to make combat more risky, and cause the player to fight
only after giving it some thought. Hopefully this will give a little
encouragement to players to find their fortune in other ways!
So to begin with, my combat system is based on the premise that two
combatants, completely equal in skill, have a 50% chance of hitting
one another. Please note that armor doesn't affect ones chances of
being it. That's handled later. The only two factors that affect
one's chances of actually striking an opponent are agility and
weapon skill.
The formula to determine ones chances of hitting is as follows:
(first combatants agility + first combatants skill) - (second
combatants agility + second combatants skill) / 2
This number is added to 50 for the better fighter, and subtracted
from 50 for the worse. Here's an example:
Rig the Barbarian is fighting Jean-Louis. Rig has an axe skill of
31% and an agility of 40%. Jean-Louis is better with his sword,
having a skill of 41%, but city life has made him sluggish. His
agility is only 35%. So Rig has a subtotal of 71 and Jean-Louis'
is 76. Pretty evenly matched. 76 - 71 = 5. 5 / 2 = 2 (we'll drop
the 0.5) So since Jean-Louis has a better subtotal, his chance of
hitting is 50 + 2 = 52%. Rig is 50 - 2 or 48%.
Things get more interesting if Rig was fighting a cloud dragon (96%
agility, 85% skill with its claws.) The dragon has a base of
181. Doing the math we discover that Rig has a -5% chance to hit,
while the dragon has 105%! This would default to 2% and 98%
respectively, since those seem like good min / maxes.
The moral of this is don't bite off more than you can chew! :)
If a hit was made, we'd determine *where* the blow landed. Lets
assume for this exercise that all creatures are humanoid. There are
six body parts: a head, a torso, two arms and two legs. When a hit
happens, the location is randomly picked from 1 - 10. The numbers
correspond as such:
Head - 3
Torso - 4, 5, 6
Left Arm - 7, 9
Right Arm - 8, 10
Left Leg - 1
Right Leg - 2
These numbers were picked based on where they fall on the bell
curve. Arms have two hit locations because they're likely to be
struck during combat.
Next, there are no hit points in my mud. Instead there's vita
(clever, eh!) All creatures have a base amount of vita based on
their size. After all, a dragon should be able to withstand more
damage than a sparrow. Furthermore, vita varies from body part to
body part. Here's a table that will help illustrate what I mean:
Size (example) Multiplier Torso Vita Limb Vita Head Vita
------- ------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
Tiny
(Mouse) - 1 1
1
Small
(Gnome) 1 3 2 1
Medium (Human) 2 6 4 2
Large
(Troll) 3 9 6 3
Huge
(Dragon) 4 12 8 4
So according to this table, Rig the Barbarian and Jean-Louis who are both
about the size of a human, have 2 vita for their head, 6 for their torso
and 4 for each of their limbs. Make sense?
When a player loses all his vita on his head or torso, he basically rolls
against his luck percentage to see if he dies. If he's successful, he must
make this roll anytime he's struck, anywhere. After all, he's grievously
wounded and any further damage could push him over the edge. If its a limb
that goes to zero AND the weapon has the sever flag (ie: swords and axes,
not clubs, arrows and daggers) the player must make a luck roll or else the
limb is whacked off. Otherwise, the limb is just horribly mauled and hangs
limply at ones side.
Now, its doubtful that no one on my mud would stroll around without armor,
let alone get into a fight without it. So far I've identified several
base-types of armor. Each one provides different bonuses against different
types of attacks. The four different types of damage are piercing, cutting,
chopping and bashing. Here's another table.
Damage
Type* Hides Studded Bone Chain Scale Plate
------ ----- ------- ---- ----- ----- -----
Pierce +1 +1 +2 +1 +2 +3
Cut +1 +1.5** +2 +2 +2.5** +3
Chop 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2
Bash 0 0 +1 +0.5** +1 +2
* There will be other damage types in the game (fire, electrical,
poison, etc) but lets not complicate things.
** A .5 mean it randomly provides either n or n+1 protection. 50 /
50% chance of going either way.
When someone is stuck, the armor can absorb from 0 to its rating of
the damage. Hides can absorb up to 1 point against cutting attacks
while plate can soak up to 3 points against piercing and
cutting. Enchantments can of course, change this.
One last table, this one of weapons, their damage type and their
damage. Just like armor, enchantments can change this.
Weapon Damage Damage
------- ------ ------
Arrow Pierce 1
Dagger Pierce 1
Club Bash 2
Mace Bash 3
Short sword Cut 2
Hatchet Chop 2
Long sword Cut 3
War axe Chop 4
Maul Bash 4
So what does this all mean? Lets expand on our previous example of
Rig vs Jean-Louis.
Rig strikes Jean-Louis with his hatchet. The location roll is a 6,
so Jean-Louis is struck in the torso. Jean-Louis is wearing chain
mail, which might absorb a point of the blow! The damage roll for
the axe is 1d2, and is a 2 in this case. Jean-Louis' armor roll says
it absorbs 1 point of damage. So Jean-Louis takes a point of damage
to his torso, which now has total vita of 5.
Jean-Louis now returns the favor and slices Rig with his long
sword. The location roll is 3, a head blow! Rig isn't wearing any
armor on his head. Yikes! The damage roll for Jean-Louis' sword
could be as great as 3, but is only a 2. Since Rig has no armor on
his head, there's no armor roll. Instead his head vita goes from 2
to 0! Fortunately Rig makes his luck roll, so he's not dead. But
every time Jean-Louis hits him, Rig will have to make a luck roll or
else shuffle off this mortal coil.
That's basically the combat system for my mud. I'd really appreciate
any feedback on logic flaws, scenarios that might throw a wrench in
this and other general comments. Sorry if this wasn't the most
succinct and concise explanation but I hope I got the point across.
Thanks!
The ocean, she is strange and wondrous, filled with animals that
disturb even a Frenchman. - Critique this combat system Paul Schwanz
- Critique this combat system Edward Glowacki
- Critique this combat system hart.s@attbi.com
- [TECH] new linux thread library coming for libc Bruce Mitchener
- Zhe4 shi4 shen2me zhan4? Richard A. Bartle
- Grouping in MMP Games Dave Rickey
- Grouping in MMP Games Clay
- Grouping in MMP Games Amanda Walker
- Grouping in MMP Games Alex Kay
- Player Created Content - The Holy Grail? Matthew Dobervich
- Player Created Content - The Holy Grail? Matt Mihaly
- Player Created Content - The Holy Grail? Sulka Haro
- Player Created Content - The Holy Grail? Matt Mihaly
- Player Created Content - The Holy Grail? Michael Tresca
- Emoticons: When was the "big bang?" Randolf Richardson
- Emoticons: When was the "big bang?" Darren Henderson
- Emoticons: When was the "big bang?" Elia Morling
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Dr. Cat
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Matt Mihaly
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Dave Rickey
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Matthew Dobervich
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Dr. Cat
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Mark Cheverton
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Zach Collins {Siege}
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Dr. Cat
- Massive Online Gaming magazine shren
- Massive Online Gaming magazine Peter Tyson
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Ted L. Chen
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) John Robert Arras
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Ted L. Chen
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) John Robert Arras
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Derek Licciardi
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Matthew Dobervich
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Travis Nixon
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Ted L. Chen
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Sasha Hart
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Ted L. Chen
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) hart.s@attbi.com
- Understanding Simulation (was: Point of View) Kwon J. Ekstrom
- MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article Clay
- Diamond Age (ex story telling in MMORPG) Mathieu Castelli
- visualization toosl for text mud builders... (aka automapper) fred@clift.org
- Understanding Simulation hart.s@attbi.com
- Understanding Simulation Damion Schubert
- Understanding Simulation Michael R. Estepp
- Understanding Simulation Ron Gabbard
- Understanding Simulation shren
- Understanding Simulation Sasha Hart
- Understanding Simulation shren
- Understanding Simulation Peter Harkins
- Understanding Simulation shren
- Future of MMOGs Valerio Santinelli
- Future of MMOGs Shane P. Lee
- Future of MMOGs Eric Lee {GAMES}
- Future of MMOGs Crosbie Fitch
- Future of MMOGs Koster, Raph
- Future of MMOGs Mike Shaver
- Future of MMOGs Crosbie Fitch
- Future of MMOGs Joe Andrieu
- Future of MMOGs Crosbie Fitch
- Future of MMOGs Jeremy Noetzelman
- Future of MMOGs Sean Kelly
- Future of MMOGs Dave Trump
- Future of MMOGs Matt Mihaly
- future of MMOGs Adam
- Future of MMOGs Brack, J. Allen
- Future of MMOGs Matt Mihaly
- Future of MMOGs Matt Chatterley
- Future of MMOGs Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Future of MMOGs Damion Schubert
- Future of MMOGs Derek Licciardi
- Future of MMOGs Jon A. Lambert
- Future of MMOGs Valerio Santinelli
- Future of MMOGs Travis Cannell
- Future of MMOGs Dr. Cat
- Future of MMOGs Crosbie Fitch
- Future of MMOGs Koster, Raph
- Future of MMOGs Crosbie Fitch
- Future of MMOGs Adam
- Future of MMOGs Amanda Walker