Combat & PC armor class

Ronan · Post by **Ronan** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:18 am

Dorn wrote:+1

this conversation should only be in the context of nwn2 imo

Hence the forum it was posted in, NWN2: In-Game Systems and Rules Proposals

Nerfing towershields to PnP standards seems a bit silly as well, unless we will be able to duplicate the complete cover effect (and we most likely won't).

JspecWip · Post by **JspecWip** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:15 am

I don't see why more mobs have to be spawned, or understand why PC's on Alfa have to be subject to more combat than in PNP. The fact that the mobs have lower xp rewards I understand, but I don't see why A Dm run encounter shouldn't give equal XP to a session in PNP.

I'm not a DM and don't know policy on Xp rewards, but I think it would only help to stop powergaming if DM run encounters gave out more XP, also this would encourage Rp and group play.

As for the speed of combat the DM could hit pause at the end of every round, making combat more like PnP and less of the mad dash click fest that it is. Combat could become Rp..... people would have time to emote and granted the combat would take much longer, but it would be alot more fun IMO.

wvincenti · Post by **wvincenti** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:32 am

JspecWip wrote: As for the speed of combat the DM could hit pause at the end of every round, making combat more like PnP and less of the mad dash click fest that it is. Combat could become Rp..... people would have time to emote and granted the combat would take much longer, but it would be alot more fun IMO.

That would be an incredible train wreck for any other Players on the server. While we're rather thin on the ground these days there were plenty of times I'd be in the middle of doing something with other PCs while another group was getting dealt with by a DM elsewhere on a server. If nobody else is around and the DM & Players agree though go for it.

-Bill

Mulu · Post by **Mulu** » Mon May 08, 2006 5:12 am

JspecWip wrote:As for the speed of combat the DM could hit pause at the end of every round, making combat more like PnP

Ugh, the drudgery of PnP combat is one of the things I *don't* miss.

I hardly ever engage in combat in ALFA. Combat is almost always a choice. Some choose to seek it out, and that's fine, others don't, and that's fine too.

Fionn · Post by **Fionn** » Mon May 08, 2006 5:52 am

JspecWip - PG'ng just means calculating the best payoff for the effort. If all the good XP comes from DMs, then PG'ng means hitting every DM 'spawn' one can find ;)

Dorn · Post by **Dorn** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:26 am

Ronan wrote:
Dorn wrote:+1

this conversation should only be in the context of nwn2 imo
Hence the forum it was posted in, NWN2: In-Game Systems and Rules Proposals

Nerfing towershields to PnP standards seems a bit silly as well, unless we will be able to duplicate the complete cover effect (and we most likely won't).

Yea....well.....shu-up!

psycho_leo · Post by **psycho_leo** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:31 am

JspecWip wrote:As for the speed of combat the DM could hit pause at the end of every round, making combat more like PnP and less of the mad dash click fest that it is. Combat could become Rp..... people would have time to emote and granted the combat would take much longer, but it would be alot more fun IMO.

Some fights would take forever. I've been in heavy combat DM events that lasted for more than 4 hours. If the DM was hitting pause it would be impossible to finish. Besides, when the DM hits pause he pauses the game for everyone. Would be a major bummer for me if I were chatting at the inn and getting pauses at every turn.

Vendrin · Post by **Vendrin** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:02 am

Pauses don't interfere with chatting.

MShady · Post by **MShady** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:42 am

I remember when doing that (pausing) was suggested for the fight with Andra Moyen. People laughed at the DMs.

Mike

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:01 am

As an aside with no real relevance to this thread, more pausing would be nice in circumstances where the action has been stopped to wait for someone to go to the toilet or relog on or whatever for 5 minutes and the spell caster's spells are ticking down.

MShady · Post by **MShady** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:44 am

I don't think that stops the timer on the spells, though.

Mike

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Mon May 08, 2006 9:20 am

MShady wrote:I don't think that stops the timer on the spells, though.

Mike

From my experiences, it does. Pausing stops the in game clock, which stops the countdown on spells.

indio · Post by **indio** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:25 am

MShady wrote:I remember when doing that (pausing) was suggested for the fight with Andra Moyen. People laughed at the DMs.

Mike

That showed em, no doubt.

JspecWip, pausing, while a global phenomenom, is an inelegant solution, however worthy a cause to make combat more about D&D and less about twitch nerves and stress management. A DM-Proximity pause would work great but is surely impossible.

See, the reason pausing is a worthy goal is that it fights two things...lag and LAG. You've got a crappy video card and the game lags in combat. You die. You've got a crappy dialup connection and a crappy video card and you never, ever win important battles without blind luck. Tech Rezz, please.

If you're facing off against someone dangerous, you want it to be about your skill, decision making and resource management, NOT about how wealthy you or your folks are to afford the latest graphics and broadbad connection. If we lose sight of the fact that we are actually trying here at ALFA to recreate a Pen and Paper D&D experience, and get laughed at for suggesting we do actually try that, then you've already forgotten why we're here, or never knew to begin with.

Mulu · Post by **Mulu** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:02 pm

There is an unfortunate twitch factor to combat in NWN. Even without lag, you can get stuck on landscape or click on the wrong portion of it while trying to maneuver, or get locked in detect / stealth mode and walk when you want to run (almost died to that recently), or attack with no weapons because you clicked your quickslot twice by mistake (my personal favorite), not to mention all the friendly fire issues with spells and feats that require targeting like knockdown and disarm, etc.

The easiest way to get around twitch issues is to use standard police and military protocols, in other words, don't engage unless you have overwhelming force and know you are going to win.

If I had a really bad computer / connection, I'd roll up a non-combat player and just rp, because there is no feasible work around to individual lag, and DM's aren't always tech rez friendly.

But wow are we off topic.

JspecWip · Post by **JspecWip** » Mon May 08, 2006 5:40 pm

*I just wanted to see the thread go to ten....*

Back on topic

This thread has wondered and meandered around alot, but I think this is because there is no *easy* fix to a problem like "inflated PC AC".

The solution lies in the problems with combat in NWN, and from reading this thread its easy to see there are many of them. I personally believe that by using standards set down for PNP we can acheave a more comprehnsive player freindly combat system for Alfa2. I think that, that is what everyone is looking to do by posting here and am glad that everyone has posted here. I think the community can come up with the solutions to the problems the production staff at BW hands us.