New Additions to GS4 Combat

 

Dateline 12/20/2003: CMGR NOT FOR PLAYERS ONLY ANYMORE!

All the recent upgrades to the Character Manager (hereto referred to as CMGR) have drawn the attention of many who did not get to use it previously.  Upon a demand from its membership, at the recent renewal talks for the contract between Simutronics Corporation and the AFL-CIO (Animal & Fauna League – Creatures’ Interest Organization), an agreement was reached to open up the CMGR to allow even the lowliest of creatures an opportunity to visit their trainer.

The terms of the agreement allow that once a creature has eliminated the breathing option from a player, it will be able to train a level and gain a bit of both offensive and defensive strength.  Multi-attacks that result in numerous deaths within a short span of time will only be counted as a single death for training level consideration purposes.  Due to creatures that are non-BCS not being members of the AFL-CIO, they will not be privy to this enhanced ability.  As with players, underhunting by creatures will not gain them any real benefit.

So if you see that dark orc go into the room down the hall from you at the inn, you can know it’s just going to receive its justly earned reward for a job well done.

 

Released 1/27/04: Critter Healing

 

Creatures now heal--very slowly--over time.  This is mainly in response to hunting areas not unloading, heavily injured creatures are not “cleaned up” automatically by the janitor as they once were.  Wounds and bleeders are not removed, so critturs can still bleed to death.  Given enough time not getting whacked on by a player, an abused crittur (that isn’t bleeding) will recover to their base HP.

 

Staves and TRIPping

 

All staves, including quarterstaves and runestaves, are now able to TRIP opponents.  Success in the trip is determined by the character’s skill in two-handed weapons, and character must have 15 ranks in two-handed weapons to attempt to TRIP an opponent.

 

Released 7/21/04: Weapon Conversion Chambers

 

GM Mestys has created weapon conversion chambers and placed them in the arms and weapon shops in all major towns.  Weapons of the correct noun, but of the wrong base, can be placed into the chambers in order to update them to their correct form.

These chambers will be useful to owners of older weapons, including claidhmores, flamberges, katanas, and mauls (sledges and sledgehammers).

All characteristics of the weapon prior to conversion will be present post-conversion, with the exception of old-style claidhmores, which will receive a +10 bonus to offset the difference in AvD.  The conversions are completely voluntary, and cannot be undone.

This conversion is permanent.  If you are unsure if you should convert your weapon, please post your question in the Weapons, Armor and Items Folder, Developer’s Corner - Weapons and Armor Subfolder or place an assist with a GameHost and ask to speak with a GameMaster.

Information on weapons can be found at: http://www.play.net/gs4/info/armory

 

Released 7/22/04: Critters Carry New Treasure Items

 

Reports have been trickling in from hunters across the lands that creatures appear to be arming themselves with a greater variety of weapons than ever before.  While some of these weapons are crude and poorly crafted, others have been discovered to be of good or even exceptional quality.  It is currently unknown from which source or sources the creatures are receiving these weapons, but adventurers are urged to be on the lookout for the occasionally well-armed creature.

Also, in a different update:

 

An improved, more robust treasure system will now provide more randomized options in clothing and containers found as treasure.  Enjoy!

 

Dateline 9/4/2004: WE HAD JOY WE HAD FUN, NOW WE GETS TO CAST SPELLS AGUN!

 

 In a joint announcement today, the Animal Fauna League - Critters International Organization (AFL-CIO) and Simutronics stated that a mutual and satisfactory agreement had been reached on allowing the AFL-CIO members to cast defensive and helping spells once again.  In return, those being allowed to use the spells will see reductions in their attack and defense base values.  The ability to cast spells will make up some if not all of that reduction so that the critters have approximately the same end attack and defense values as before.  In some cases this will not be wholly true as new values were calculated for some of the critters, which will affect their base values.

 

 The defenses against non-direct attack spells will have major changes as well.  Dependent upon the AFL-CIO member’s spell list there will be cases where the defense against spirit sphere spells will be greater than against elemental sphere and vice versa.  Currently the AFL-CIO member’s defenses are basically three times the critter’s level with an adjustment dependent upon if they are semis or pures.  This adjustment has been modified now to account for the spells but it won’t be a one for one change so differences will be seen from previous values.

 

Released 11/7/2004: Voln Opens in Ta’Vaalor

 

Courtesy of GM Tilmont and GM Kitrina

 

Those who seek Voln’s path to enlightenment may now do so in Ta’Vaalor.

Ta’Vaalor’s Voln Monastery can be found outside Amaranth Gate.

Information on the Order of Voln can be found at: http://www.play.net/gs4/info/societies/voln.asp

 

Released 11/23/2004: GUARD and PROTECT

 

Posted by GM Coase

 

Two new verbs, GUARD and PROTECT, have been released!  These two verbs can be used by warriors to devote some of their blocking or parrying ability towards another player.

Guard allows a warrior to attempt to block attacks against another target (either player or creature).  Protect allows a warrior to parry attacks against a target (either player or creature).  A warrior can only attempt to guard or protect one target at a time (i.e. cannot do both at the same time), and a target can only have one guard and/or one protector at any given time (i.e. one guard, or one protector, or both).  To start guard/protecting a target, the warrior simply uses GUARD <target> or PROTECT <target>.  To stop, the warrior may use STOP GUARDING or STOP PROTECTING.

When guarding, the warrior automatically (if not incapacitated) attempts to block attacks against the target with 50% of his or her normal blocking ability, at the cost of 25% reduction in chances to block attacks directed towards him or herself (i.e. if the warrior normally has a 20% chance to block an attack against themselves, then the warrior would have a 10% chance to block attacks against his or her guarded target and a 15% chance to block attacks against themselves.).  Protect works in exactly the same way, but with parry attempts instead of blocking.

The above only applies to the chances to outright block/parry an attack.  It does not affect either party’s derived parry or block DS.

 

Released 11/30/2004: Multi-Opponent Combat

 

Posted by GM Kitrina

 

At long last, Multi-Opponent Combat (a.k.a. MOC or Force on Force combat) will soon be implemented as part of our Really Spectacular November!

How does it work?

If a target is attacked by more than one attacker within a short period (less than 10 seconds), the target’s defenses may be reduced.  The amount of reduction in the target’s defenses is based on the number of attackers, the level of the attackers compared to the defender, and the defender’s skill in Multi-Opponent Combat.

Attackers within +/- 10 levels of the defender are considered one attacker.  Attackers more than 10 levels below the defender are treated as half of an attacker.  Attackers more than 10 levels above the defender are treated as 1.5 attackers.  The total number of attackers is tallied and rounded to determine how many effective attackers are engaging the defender.  (Even if an attacker is 20 levels higher than the defender, no multi-attacker penalty applies to the defender unless there is another attacker.)

At 15 MOC ranks, and for every 20 MOC ranks thereafter, one effective attacker is negated.

For every effective attacker beyond the first, the defender’s effective stance is reduced by 25%, similar to the way that ambushing from hiding currently modifies a defender’s effective stance.  If the total reduction would go below 0 (full offensive stance), then the remainder percentage will be applied to the defender’s offensive-stance Parry, Evade, and Block DS.  It will not reduce those values below 0.

Q.  Does it apply to creatures when players attack them?

A.  Yes!  Grab a buddy or two and have fun ganging up on your enemies!

Q.  What about my 1st level paladin that I just made today? Is he going to die to a rat swarm?

A.  Creatures 5th level and less will be treated as half of an attacker when evaluating how many attackers are on a defender, so a minimum of 3 would be required before a newbie character loses any defenses at all.  Player character attackers of all levels will still be considered normally, however.

Q.  How can I avoid being beat up by creatures?

A.  There are many ways to offset the potential for multiple attackers beating up your character.  These include, 1) training in Multi-Opponent Combat, 2) hunting with a buddy, which will reduce the chances of enemies taking all of their attacks out on you, 3) retreating to another room so you can fight where you are not outnumbered, and 4) doing something to stop the attackers from attacking (e-wave, Lullabye, hitting one hard enough to stun it, etc.).  No defenses are lost just for a potential attacker being present in the room.  Attackers are only considered “engaged” if they physically attack the defender.

Q.  What counts as an attack?

A.  Currently all attacks that are resolved with our basic AS/DS combat system are considered, but this will be expanded in the near future to include maneuver attacks as well.

Q.  What if I attack more than once with MSTRIKE or Two Weapon Combat?

A.  No matter how many times an attacker attacks a target, he is only treated as a single attacker for the purposes of Multi-Opponent Combat.

 

Posted by GM Warden

 

Q.  Do dead creatures count as attackers?

A.  Yes.  If you are fighting a creature that has attacked you and you kill it, you are still considered to have been engaged with that creature for a few seconds.

Q.  Does a failed swing (‘clean miss’...) count?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Does an EBPed swing count?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Do prone/wounded creatures count as attackers?

A.  Prone creatures count half their normal amount.  Wounds on the creature do not reduce their count unless they are reducing their stance in response to their wounds (see below).

Q.  Does the stance of the attacker matter?

A.  Yes.  The attacker’s value is scaled based on their stance.  An attacker in defensive stance is completely disregarded as an additional attacker.

Q.  If I move to another room, do I count as completely disengaging?

A.  No, such a design would be too easily abused.  We will be enhancing the PEER verb to allow players to look into adjacent rooms in hunting areas, though, to help allow players to pick their fights.

 

Released 12/2/2004: Multi-Opponent Combat Change

 

Posted by GM Warden

 

Multi-Opponent Combat has been changed to disregard attacks that did not occur in the current room.  This should alleviate concerns with running through a hunting area and losing defenses from creatures in different areas.

 

Released 11/30/2004, Updated 12/3/2004: PEER Command Update

 

Posted by GM Kitrina

 

The PEER command has been updated to allow players to look into adjacent hunting areas.  It was previously only usable in towns and in rooms that were specifically designed for PEERing.

Usage: PEER <direction>

 

Posted by GM Warden

 

Peering through portals in hunting areas should now be possible in most instances.  For example, players should be able to peer through doors or up ladders to see if a drove of vorpal bunnies is waiting on the other side.