Now then, the philosophy of the new combat is this: If someone wants to hit you, they'll probably succeed. The question is whether or not it'll hurt and who is left standing at the end. Multiple combat is nasty (and does work), so ganging up on someone is really a great strategy. There's no negatives to anyone if they're being ganged up on, just a lot of people with the same chance as ever to hit you - which means you're taking more hits per round than otherwise if multi-attacked.
Damage is a direct function of a random weapon die roll (based on the weapon's actual damage, so the quality of your EQ is important), your str, & your weapon skill versus your opponents defense. The defense actually minimizes the result of the first calculation in its entirety, so don't think that just because there's a lot more going into the left side of the equation that the defense is weak.
Stat wise, strength increases damage, and increases your HP, which is used as a derived stat to represent a character's resting force levels (their capacity to do damage).
Dexterity is mostly used to measure actual misses, and it is not a function of having a high dex, but more the difference between your dex and your opponents. At the most extreme opposites (eg, you have 100 dex and your opponent 0), you'll generally hit 90% of the time, and if you flip the two, you'll generally miss 90% of the time... meaning 10% of the time will be a hit, at minimum, always for everyone. Extrapolating that, people with equal dex hit 50% of the time, and you can probably figure out the arc from there. Dex is also used in the calculation of MV, which is used as your resting defense levels (eg, when you're just wandering around, how likely it is that someone can effectively clock you).
The difference between someone's resting force and a victim's resting defense is the chance a critical hit will be scored. If a player does enough damage in one blow, the victim will be incapacitated with shock (this is extremely rare and will require augmentation. It is very unlikely to happen naturally - Kinaed couldn't do it on the test port with stats and skills maxed out.)
Armor buffers a character from damage, instead taking it itself until it's "broken". When armor is broken, it can be repaired, but it will be useless to protect you until it is repaired. The heavier your armor, the more tired you get walking around in it, though.
No weapon is better or worse than another weapon, though some weapons are better or worse against specific defense skills (so think rock, paper, scissors). To be an unstoppable combat wombat, you'll need all the weapon skills and most of the defense skills, but to be a maxed out expert against any particular skillset presented in an actual combat scenario, you'll only need one weapon skill and two defenses.
It does not feel like current TI combat as the urgency is diminished. Turn-taking is enforced. Targetting is straightforward. See the below help file that was the original premise for combat. (Please note, small details have changed and some of those items are not yet programmed, meaning they may change as well).
Code: Select all
PLANNED HELP FILE
Syntax: attack <name> <target location> <emote>
defend <emote>
safe <name> <target location> <emote>
flee <direction> <emote>
<technique> <name> <emote> || [trip|backstab|feint
surrender <emote>
disengage <emote>
Attack <name> <target location> <emote> allows a player to attempt to
attack another player. This will automatically calculate the player's success,
apply any critical wounds received, deduct hit points from the opponent, and
reduce the attacking player's stamina accordingly.
Defend <emote> allows a player to defend themselves until further
notice. They can only defend themselves to the maximum of their ability, but it
will return them a portion of their stamina. Note that players can only defend
themselves once per time they are targeted by a attack or technique, and
defense reduces damage, but does not eliminate it.
Safe <name> <target location> <emote> acts as an attack, but does not
actually assign hp damage or criticals. It does, however, reduce a player's
stamina as a normal attack would.
Flee <direction> <emote> can remove a character from combat, and move
them into the next room on a chance of success based upon how many players in
the room they're fleeing from have them set as their target. Characters cannot
flee through closed doors!
Surrender <emote> will flag a character as surrendered, leaving them
open to a massive attack (which will reduce them to one hit point, flag
them incapacitated and give them a critical equal to the amount of HP lost),
or leave them open to an arrest, or allow a disengage (in cases of sparring).
Techniques all have their own effects and bring most of the strategy into
the game, though there is some strategy in timing your attacks.
Combat forces players to respectfully take turns with one another. Each
made requires a player to wait for their opponent to use at least one
before they may be targeted again.
Armor absorbs damage directed at a character until the armor is too
damaged to do so anymore, but it can be repaired. Safe attacks do not
damage armor.
