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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</H1>
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<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long) </LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: Michael Willey &lt;<A HREF="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</A>&gt;</LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: 18 Dec 1998 15:32:04 -0600</LI>
<LI><em>Cc</em>: mud-dev &lt;<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>&gt;</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 12/18/98 2:28 PM, adam#angel,com wrote:
&gt;On 18 Dec 1998, Michael Willey wrote:
&gt;&gt; A simple problem.  Assuming Buffy starts at a
&gt;&gt; full charge, a simple script will kill off Boffo
&gt;&gt; in eight seconds, with mana to spare.  Something
&gt;&gt; along the lines of..
&gt;&gt;
&gt;&gt;   Repeat 4 { chill touch boffo, wait 2 seconds }
&gt;&gt;   nuke boffo
&gt;
&gt;Perhaps.  But one might note that now the game 
&gt;already has more complex combat than 80% of existing 
&gt;muds.  I'd say that's a pretty good start.  Now with 
&gt;a little imagination we can extend this and come up 
&gt;with some slightly more amusing spells rather than 
&gt;straight damage to shake things up a bit.

Ok.  I'll certainly agree that you're on to something 
interesting here.

[SNIP]
&gt;&gt; Buffy's next goal is probably to raise
&gt;&gt; her mana maximum to 200 points, so she can
&gt;&gt; change her insta-death script to
&gt;&gt;
&gt;&gt;   repeat 2 nuke boffo
&gt;&gt;
&gt;&gt; and be done with it.
&gt;
&gt;Actually I think your chill touch trick would *still* 
&gt;be better regardless of how much mana she got.

I'd have to disagree - killing Boffo instantly and 
regenerating mana later is by far preferable to 
conserving mana in combat.  The two nuke trick will 
kill Boffo immediately, before he even has a chance to 
respond.

That's the real point at which your system's balance 
breaks down - when one combatant can kill another 
without needing to regenerate mana, the kill becomes 
instant.

[SNIP]
&gt;Here's some more spells which Boffo or Buffy might 
&gt;have.  Most of these ideas are not new, of course - 
&gt;Magic: The Gathering is a great source for this sort 
&gt;of spellcasting, so I will now shamelessly rip off a 
&gt;few of its more popular spells.

[SNIP spell list]

&gt;Now with just one or two of these spells at his 
&gt;disposal, Boffo could make mincemeat of Buffy 
&gt;(presuming she was blindly trusting the 4*chill touch 
&gt;+ nuke script you mentioned above).

Sounds like meta-magic - something akin to mana judo, 
altering the effects of opponents' spells to use 
against them.  With or without your mana resource 
management setup, that would make a very interesting 
tactical subgame.  Combining the two subgames is even 
better.  I'll have to blatantly steal this idea, if 
you don't mind.

&gt;The point being that we've removed that annoying 
&gt;character lag (which players hate), made clients less 
&gt;important than wits, preserved the flow and pacing of 
&gt;combat, and in the meantime maybe made the combat
&gt;gameplay a little bit more fun and engaging for the 
&gt;players.

Now the trick becomes making a similar system to deal 
with physical combat...  Substitute fatigue for mana, 
have a list of combat maneuvers with advantages and 
disadvantages for each situation, and go from there?

Another problem:  How do you protect players from the 
ravages of real lag?  Wouldn't that leave their 
characters as drooling idiots, standing around being 
punching bags for their opponents?



</PRE>

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<li><strong><A NAME="01032" HREF="msg01032.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence &lt;claw#under,engr.sgi.com&gt;</li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="01010" HREF="msg01010.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Adam Wiggins &lt;adam#angel,com&gt;</li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="01008" HREF="msg01008.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Sunny Gulati &lt;sunnywiz#radiks,net&gt;</li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01026" HREF="msg01026.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>, 
David Bennett <a href="mailto:ddt#discworld,imaginary.com">ddt#discworld,imaginary.com</a>, Mon 21 Dec 1998, 20:43 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01043" HREF="msg01043.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>, 
Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 22 Dec 1998, 20:53 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01011" HREF="msg01011.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: More Laws, was Re: DIS: Client-Server vs Peer-to-Peer</A></strong>, 
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Sat 19 Dec 1998, 01:21 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01033" HREF="msg01033.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: More Laws, was Re: DIS: Client-Server vs Peer-t o-Peer</A></strong>, 
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Mon 21 Dec 1998, 23:41 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01006" HREF="msg01006.html">[MUD-Dev] Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>, 
Michael Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Fri 18 Dec 1998, 23:32 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01008" HREF="msg01008.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>, 
Sunny Gulati <a href="mailto:sunnywiz#radiks,net">sunnywiz#radiks,net</a>, Sat 19 Dec 1998, 00:30 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01010" HREF="msg01010.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>, 
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Sat 19 Dec 1998, 00:58 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01032" HREF="msg01032.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Re[2]:[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></strong>, 
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Mon 21 Dec 1998, 23:36 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00996" HREF="msg00996.html">[MUD-Dev] Some useful links</A></strong>, 
Niklas Elmqvist <a href="mailto:d97elm#dtek,chalmers.se">d97elm#dtek,chalmers.se</a>, Fri 18 Dec 1998, 18:23 GMT
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>

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