Re: (TFT) Best starting Melee character revisited - charges.

[Cris Fuhrman <fuhrmanator@gmail.com>]

Hi Bob and Rick,

I answered both your questions in the text below:

On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 6:34 AM, Rick Smith <rsmith@lightspeed.ca> wrote:

>   I've another question to add to the ones Rob asked.
> Do you use the "must charge 3 hexes to get a charge
> attack" rule?
>   If you do, then if the pole weapon user retreats
> his opponent, he only has a 50% chance to get a
> second double damage charge.
>

The simulator abstracts all of this. I assumed on the first round, any
pole-weapon user will get a charge attack (it's like assuming the movement
condition is true, but only for the first round). The current version
doesn't handle movement (or initiative). There's another rule that says
"set vs. charge" gives +2 DX, but I don't use it since it requires deciding
who is charging and who isn't. It seems unfair to decide that randomly, so
I just left it out.


> On Wed, 2013-20-02 at 11:11 +0000, Robert Ward wrote:
> > It might be interesting to add two items of 'behavioral inventory' to
> > your simulator
> > 1. defend against charge attack yes/no
> > 2. (for pole weapon users) disengage after attack (so as to get a charge
> > attack next round)
>

Great ideas - I'll put them on the feature list, and get to them when I
have time/motivation. FYI, the source code is on Google Code so anyone who
can code in Java can add these or any other features.


> > Also -- again relevant for pole weapons -- might be the retreat rules.
> > So if a pole weapon user hits an opponent but takes no damage, he should
> > retreat his opponent for a charge attack next time. In a one-on-one
> > battle (pole weapon vs no) this must be optimal strategy.
>

Another good point. Retreat is interesting in that context, but also
because the rule says figures fall if they have no place to go.

I don't like random decisions for the spatial part (is a figure blocked),
so I thought about a model that's realistic (fair) yet simple. What about a
one-by-eight hex arena (think tunnel with no exits)? It is long enough to
allow both figures to meet in the middle after having made charge attacks
moving forward 3 hexes each (satisfying the constraints of the pole charge
for double damage). In this model:

1) Retreating a figure moves it back a hex (the only direction it can go).
If it's at the end of the line, then it will fall after another retreat.
There might be some instances where this makes a difference, but
intuitively it seems not.

2) If a pole figure has at least three hexes behind him, he can potentially
re-charge after disengaging for double damage. However, if he has been
forced back at least one hex, it wouldn't be possible.

Is it worth it to code this model? Will it change the results much? Figures
who get forced back consistently are either a) low adjDX (they don't hit
often) or b) have weapons that don't pierce the armor of their foes. There
could be some match-ups where it matters.

I would be inclined to implement first the behavior of disengage +
re-charge (assuming the 3-hex rule is still true) and see if it makes a big
difference in the rankings of figures. If so, then the more complex tunnel
model could be interesting.


> > Another also -- does the simulator give first attack to charging
> > pole-weapons?
>

Isn't that an Advanced Melee rule? I was trying to keep the simulator
old-school. However, using check-boxes for behavioral options would allow
this to be done.
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