.DT combat Discworld living help combat Name .SI 5 combat - How things beat each other up. .EI .SH Description .SP 5 5 The current Discworld combat system resides in /std/living/combat.c. Combat is driven by the living heart_beat() that occurs approximately every two seconds. There are no rounds since there is no coordination between combatants. Every two seconds each combatants heartbeat fires and the code makes a determination whether or not they will attack. If they attack the do_attack() function is called to perform that attack. An attack goes as follows: .EP .SI 5 choose_opponent(); choose_defender(); choose_attack(); choose_defense(); calc_attack_modifier(); calc_defense_modifier(); // perform skill comparison calc_damage(); calc_armour_protection(); write_messages(); // damage people, weapons & armour after_attack(); .EI .SP 5 5 When someone is being defended the attack is slightly more complex in that if the attacker is successful combat will loop back after the skill check to choose_defender() in order to let the opponent have a chance to defend themselves. .EP .SH Combat stages .SP 5 5 Each stage of combat shown above is governed by a single function. Each function receives a combat attack data class and returns the same data class with additional information filled in. Each function is in the autodoc system and has defined pre and post conditions. The default combat actions and activities can be overridden in one of three ways: .EP .SO 5 25 45 combat specials Combat specials (see below) can register for and augment or override each stage of combat. function overriding When coding an NPC that will always act differently in combat the existing functions may be overridden. function shadowing Don't do this. Use combat specials instead or I will come and cut your sensitive bits of with a blunt and rusty instrument. More seriously, there are occassional situations where this may be appropriate, but please make sure you have one of them before using this technique. .EO .SH Attack Class .SP 5 5 The combat attack class is defined in /include/combat.h and is documented in the autodoc system. The class records all known information about an attack as well as certain anciliary information that may be required (such as the last action by the attacker, the tactics of the attacker and defender etc. etc.) .EP .SH Combat Specials .SP 5 5 The combat system allows external commands or objects to register their interest in a specific objects combat. Registration can be for the offensive or defensive part of combat and can register for any of the combat stages. The registration is done through the register_special() function which is documented (with an example) in the autodoc system. .EP .SH Public Methods .SP 5 5 The combat system provides the same set of public accessor functions as the old combat system and tries to be as backwardly compatible as possible. Each method is documented in the autodoc system. In addition to the traditional methods the combat system also defines two new methods, start_combat() and end_combat(). These two methods are not used by the combat system but are called by it at the start and end of combat. You can safely override these if you have things you wish to do at the beginning or end of combat. .EP See also .SP 5 5 .EP
