Re: CF: Direction, maps and balancing

[Mark Wedel <>]

David Sundqvist wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 21 May 1999, Anthony Thyssen wrote:
> > Also prehaps monsters need a speperation of move speed to hit speed.
> > EG: a monster can hit 3 times while only move once in the same time
> > period.  Note animation speed should be left as it is.
> 
> Agreed. Actually, I think we should move completely towards the same
> characteristics for monsters as for players and the same mechanisms. That
> would make balancing much easier in the long run.

 Right now, a players weapon speed is a derived stat and only the player has a
weapon speed.

 If there is a desire to still keep weapon speed, which there probably is, it
should probably be added to objects at large.  So an item could be determined to
have a bonus weapon speed or a bonus movement speed (or both).  So you could
have bracers of speed, which increase weapon speed, and boots of speed, which
increase movement.

> 
> > Player speed when he has average stats also needs to be looked at.
> >
> > Prehaps (for a un-encumbered player) while dextery increases, weapon
> > speed may increase (NOT a great deal, say 3 times movement at dex 20)
> > but actual player movement speed don't really change (unless draging a
> > lot of stuff).

 Currently, there is a max movement speed based on armor.  However, bonus speed
items can go beyond that.

 Also, movement speed is calculated by how much you are carrying - so picking up
10 kg slows you down.  It may make more sense to determine a max carrying
capacity based on strength, and instead have definate points where speed changes
drastically.

  For example, if you are just carrying a little bit of stuff (maybe up to 25%
of your capacity), speed is not affected much at all by it.  For the next 25% of
the carrying capacity, speed goes down a bit faster, and so on.  I would have to
double check - the current mechanism may use something similar to this.

> 
> Agreed. It would need to be looked at closely. IMO, if we move towards a
> more balanced and slower game, rather than hack'n'slash, an average fight
> between a lowlevel character and a lowlevel monster should actually last
> for a while (5 seconds? 10 seconds? 30 seconds?) rather than the fraction
> of a second we currently have. The mechanisms to achieve such a change
> would be complicated and should be well thought through tho. It would
> likely involve both moving speed, weapon speed, damage and hitpoints. And
> maps to a very large extent. So the question is, do we want to move
> towards such changes?

 I think a little more thought out battles would be nice.  The problem is that
time is sort of tricky in crossfire - if you are wandering accross cities or
whatever, 8 ticks/second (fast paced) is sort of nice.  However, when fighting
tougher monsters, than can be a bit fast.

 Note that one problem is that most weapons do enough damage to kill first level
players in just a couple blows.  And there is a definate disparity between
player and monster HP (tough monsters have thousands of HP, tough players may
only get in the hundreds).

 I think the following are the key differences:
 1) speed
 2) armor
 3) ac
 4) hp.

 Players tend to have more of the first 3 than monsters, while monsters tend to
have more of the last than players (to I guess balance that out.)  Players can
pretty easily get up to 50 armor (reducing damage in half) - not a lot of
monsters have that.  Players can also get very good AC early, making it
difficult for monsters to hit the player.  And player thac goes up relatively
quickly, so a tough to hit monster at first level becomes pretty easy at fifth
(better thac, and likely a magical weapon)

 One thing that probably needs to be done is a definate heirarchy of speed. 
Something like:

speed 2.0 - lightning bolts, arrows.
speed 1.5 - maximum player speed with magical bonuses.
speed 1.0 - dragon fire, maximum player speed without magic
speed ....

 With this, players could never outrun lightning or arrows.  With magic, they
could outrun some of the slower affects.  Without magic, they could just keep
their distance.  Also, with some definate max values on speed, it should be
easier to tune monsters - there is a better idea of what speed the player may
have so it could balance the monster.

 Perhaps also have all players start with a movement speed of 1, with strength
determining how fast that speed is reduced to lower values, and agility only
increasing weapon speed.  So higher strength means it is more likely you can
stay at high speed while still carrying stuff, and that high agility means you
can attack faster, but does not mean you will actually move faster.  Since this
would keep players actual movement speed a bit more constant (save for magic)
-
[you can put yourself on the announcement list only or unsubscribe altogether
by sending an email stating your wishes to ]