Re: (TFT) Combined Offensive/Defensive Action

[raito@raito.com]

> Paying fatigue to defend seems weird to me, but paying fatigue to attack
> make sense. Granted, I only have very limited stick-fighting experience.
> But I'm inclined to say, just defending doesn't cost fatigue, just
> attacking doesn't cost fatigue, but doing both those things in the same
> turn should, and should also come with DX penalties to the attack.

I have a stick-fighting story here. Once upon a time, we had a guy who was
pretty new. He'd just passed his authorization test and got his card
(meant he could fight in tournaments). At the next practice, I joked that
we didn't need to take it easy on him any more. He said,"I'd like that".
So I said OK. We hit the field, and for the next fifteen minutes or so, I
turned it up to 11. I doubt that I even bruised him, because all I turned
up was the intensity, not the power. I don't think he even got off a
single blow, because part of the exercise was for me to either shut him
down before he got started, or hit him before he moved. He got tired.
Notice that he got tired without making a single attack. So in my
experience, it's entirely possible to tire oneself out while doing nothing
by defending.

> So if you have a low-DX, high-ST figure fighting a high-DX, low-ST
> figure, Mr. Low-DX can defend and attack every turn, thus making himself
> harder to hit, while also still having a chance (albeit a small one)
> each turn to hit Mr. High-DX. And he can keep doing this for longer than
> his opponent can. Plus, if he's wielding anything heavier than a
> broadsword, he's doing enough damage that he only has to land a couple
> of blows. You'd have to do some math and tinkering (how exactly does
> this defense work - is it standard "opponent has to roll 4 dice" or
> what?) to make sure the playing field stays even, but I think it could
> be relatively simple gameplay-wise once you figured it out.

Mr. Low-DX can't keep it up forever. And there's little point to Mr.
High-DX spending ST. If Mr. Low-DX is burning ST, Mr. High-DX is
effectively damaging his opponent. And getting hit with a high-damage
weapon always sucks. And it can always hit (3-4-5). And this translates
pretty well to my experiences, too. Get the high-ST guy to wear himself
out. He will. Yes, you take the chance that he'll get lucky, but that's
always the case. Or you try to get him quickly, before he gets lucky.

> Original Melee is a pure tradeoff between ST and DX, implying that they
> are, and should be, of equal value in combat. IQ and combat talents
> complicate things, because they often allow you to get more mileage out
> of your already-good attributes (Fencing and Two Weapons let you
> capitalize on DX, Warrior and Veteran make your ST go farther by
> stopping damage, etc).

>From that point of view, Wizards complicate things, because they trade ST
for various combat effects. And there's still a tradeoff. Burning ST is
exactly like getting damaged, within the combat. So you're trading taking
a little damage for either doing more damage, or taking less damage.
Rather like a Wizard who only has missle spells and Blur or Dazzle (a
decent Wizard can affect more than just DX and damage).

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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