Re: (TFT) Mass Combat

[Christopher Fuhrman <fuhrman8or@yahoo.com>]

Hi Jay,

--- Jay Carlisle <selfinflicted_wounds@boardermail.com> wrote:

> I AM curious about a couple of things though.

Before I explain the details, I will repeat some of the history of my
motivation to do the simulator. It was a whole lot of my yearning to code a
program version of Melee since I was 16, and partly to help answer the question
of "which starting character in basic Melee is the best" (there are threads of
that nature on the list in the archives...)

> Do figures ever Defend?

Yes. As mentioned on the web page for the simulator:

* Hero will defend if he has an injury causing adjDX to go below 8, provided he
has a readied weapon.

> Will a Spear user Charge?

Charge attacks are not considered in the current version. I had considered
making it a configurable option (a check box before you run the simulation).
That is, you could run a simulation where, say, the first attack can always be
considered a charge attack, and the simulation plays out properly considering
pole weapons (charger vs. chargee). Charge attacks are much more complicated.

For example, in some cases it could be bad for a broadsword-wielding hero to
charge a spear-wielding hero - he'd be giving the chargee a +2 to his adjDex
and risk taking double damage. Engaging the enemy to limit his mobility is
usually the reason one would do such a thing. Anyway, as I'll point out, the
map isn't considered at all in the simulator, so the 3-hex straight line
without facing (or however you interpret that rule to allow pole weapon
advantage) is assumed to be OK in the simulator (if I were to implement that
feature). 

Simulators are abstractions of reality, and Melee is already an abstraction.
So, making a simple assumption like the first attack is treated as a charge
attack is reasonable. I only have to implement it...

> Is the Melee map used or is the movement abstract i.e. can a spear ever get
> off a 2 hex jab (or am I thinking AM?)
> 
> My thinking here is that there are several weapons that IMHO, while not being
> so well suited to a arena fight, would fair MUCH better in mass.

It's great that you are using the simulator for this reason, and I'd be very
happy to consider tweaking it or adding support for your use. Let's just try to
keep the ideas simple. I have no desire to go and implement all the intricacies
of facing/mapping/movement into the simulator. 

On the other hand, I have considered N-on-one combats, where engagement,
front/rear/side hex rules, etc. are abstractions. For example, a giant
surrounded by 3 players, where the players always shift to get at least a
rear/side attack. You can work it out on paper and see that the best the giant
can do is keep one or two in his front hexes... Simplifying the circumstances
and doing a model that you code is much easier than coding all the
possibilities, provided the model you have is not flawed and your assumptions
are correct.

I can see similar ideas with respect to a one-on-one engagement, with a
separate, spear-wielding hero staying out of the fray who takes jabs. But
two-hex jabs aren't a part of basic Melee, so that gets out of the scope of my
intention of the simulator. If you ever heard of "feature creep" in (software)
product development, this is exactly an example of it :-)
 
Thanks for the feedback and I enjoy reading your posts. For the record,
spell-checked posts are always the most enjoyable :-) 

To anyone posting through a web interface, you should check out Firefox 2.0, as
it does on-the-fly spell checking inside of web forms. This message has itself
had 5 or 6 corrections already done, while I was entering it into Yahoo's mail
interface. 

I don't like getting into wars about which web browser is better, but I would
have a hard time going back to Internet Explorer because Firefox 2.0 does
spell-checking inside web forms (and I write 99.9% of my email that way).

Cheers,

Cris


       
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