What are my options for buying a cMUD and/or MUSH system? My last two spars went horribly wrong because I couldn't cure properly and I'm pulling my hair out (using Catarin's).

I'm trying to look for a system that will hold up decently and is updated frequently.

EDIT: Someone referred me quickly to Ethelon's system.

I'd suggest Treant over Ethelon's. Treant is free whereas Ethelon's is not, both mush.

Free isn't always better though

Ethelon's costs but has free (and really good) customer service. Treant is free but costs for customer service, so to speak.

www.wildinkdesign.com/ag

That link will show you the specs on the system .... though some parts of the website aren't as updated as they should be (if I'm remembering correctly).

I got Ethelon's system yesterday, it's why I was able to bash with you last night, heh. Good stuff, good support so far.

I'm just going by my experiences of myself vs people using Ethelon's system and myself vs people using Treant. At least there is how you can get a real feel for a system instead of going by what people say that get gifts for selling his system for him.

Ethelon's older, not updated system was busted. So easy to break it.

Now that he's back, he seems to be updating and fixing issues all the time.

Treant is decent. It's downfalls are no telepathy curing, falls for pretty much every illusion in the book, and Iasmos is not a combatant. However, it's pretty solid from my experience with it and Iasmos was always quick to answer emails or problems.

Then you get people like me who'd likely break any system I use.

Any system you use will need work, even Ethelon's system. Shaddus can't very well claim that the system works well when he dies in two attacks. I've fought plenty of people that use Ethelon's system that die very easily. His parry is easy to trick. I've noticed some things about Treant that aren't very up to speed like me damage killing a warrior in less than 30 seconds because he didn't pick up recklessness. I've heard complaints from both sides on this and most certainly heard many complaints about Palisade. Think about it like this, who all uses Palisade and is considered "top tier". Who uses Treant and is considered "top tier". Who uses AG and is considered "Top tier"? Shuyin uses Palisade, Melville uses Treant, not really sure about AG.

Uh, I'm just a sucky fighter. And the lack of Trans Resilience doesn't help, nor the fact that you're an artied demi in plate. I'm an aslaran in robes.

System's don't keep you from dying. They just slow it down, and Ethelon's does a much better job than I would be able to do on my own.

Edit: I won't lie, Ethelon's recklessness check sucks. Rest of it is decent.

As someone who has used both AG and Treant, I do like both. But I'm not a combatant. I can hold my own only decently in my own demesne and I've been pretty rusty since I haven't fought in a demesne in about eight months. I prefer AG for the basic curing (I had to code some of my own stuff for Treant), but I much prefer the flexibility of Lua and how Treant is coded over how AG is coded. Again, I'm use them for bashing mostly, so don't take my advice if you want to be a top tier fighter.

It's because your fat

Ugh. The idea of having to do more than press the 'on' button for a system has me utterly unwilling to try combat. I should have rolled a female character. Then it would be 'ok'.

Not every system is for every person. I'm not a top-tier combatant myself because I lack the time to really play and get involved in the larger conflicts. I rely a lot on the users of my code to help me improve it. (Yes, I'm working on the Telepathy curing, among other things.) You might be surprised at many of the people that use, or have used, my combat systems, though.

You can't fairly judge any combat system by loading it up, having a spar, and not properly configuring, tweaking, or amending the system to your own needs. A lot of what makes top tier fighters great is their willingness to customize the heck out of their system to take full advantage of their (IC and OOC) abilities.

I'd say that coding your own is best. If you're willing to though. I'm currently coding my own(CMUD) and so far it heals my prompt and cures basic things like broken arms and legs, prone and writhe. Slowly working on curing blindness, paralysis and stupidity for bashing. Sooner or later I'll be into the fray and conflicts. It'll be oh so fun.

If you dont want to, you can always use Treant. Systems are supposedly to only help you cure your afflictions, next step is for you to bring down your opponent.

Just my two cents, though.

How in the crimminy christ-crackers do you people manage to break Catarin's?

I've used both Ethelon's and Treant. Here's the differences to me.

Ethelon has a system and support and will add virtually anything you ask him too (if it isn't too bad) after you buy it. Treant I've heard has good support after you buy it and it is less bogged down with extra features you may not want and is a bit quicker than Ethelon's especially in group combat. (If you have a decent computer this doesn't matter as much)

Ethelon's system to me is a bit more user friendly and he works on it to be more user friendly and he has help files for a lot of his different features, Treant to me is a bit less user friendly, that may be because I never purchassed support. To use all of Treant's features I'd probably have to ask a bunch of questions when I used it I had to ask some people to make some of the features I miss from Ethelon's system.

Ethelon's will help somewhat with with offensive triggers and Treant won't at all.

I like how Eth's system echos afflictions after the prompt in choke so I can cure manually and pick and chose what to cure, so I can keep up my offence reliably and still cure better than the auto curing in Treant but really I didn't give treant much of a chance there with it.

Ethelon's system has a whole clan of anonymous users who know a whole bunch about the system, if you have a problem it's very possible they can solve it. Treant you have to find your own help or rely on Iasmos if you have purchassed the support.

Right now Ethelon's system lacks a map and health bars which I fell in love with on Treant but a little birdy told me that that is changing sometime soon. Treant is awesome for knowing where you are all the time if you are in a place the game has mapped.

I like the nifty extra features in Ethelon's system and they are reliable so I use his mostly but sometimes I still switch over to Treant in group combat because my computer is so slow. I use both! Also Treant has issues with mages.

Both has it's perks I like Ethelon's coding more personally. I survived most things things on Treant too though (Except mages then again I've always had trouble with mages). All in all both are good systems. This is just a quick going over of my experiences

That's a pretty good point-by-point comparison there.

I'm working on the Telepathy curing...

I do help people with some offense stuff when they purchase the support contract, and there are add-ons that help with offense, too. (I've got more ideas than I have free time, unfortunately, or I'd have a lot more add-ons by now.)

You don't need a little birdie. I can tell you myself that Ethelon's system will soon have better GUI support.

I keep asking people what they like from AG that they miss in Treant, and the answer I inevitably get is the auto-bashing. Okay, so I coded a simple-but-effective auto-bashing script for my own personal needs (it kills only one creature, but I don't have to keep hitting a macro nearly as often), but I don't plan to sell it. If anyone gives me additional things they'd like to see, I do my best to integrate it or make an add-on. (Hint: people who suggest decent add-ons get them for free, if they're something worth selling.)

I actually found it was really easy to code my own autobasher on Treant, especially since I much prefer working with Lua over VBscript. And it was less dangerous than Ethelon's, too (read: didn't fire randomly).

One thing I missed from AG when I tried Treant was a potions list organizer, but that's just me being extremely OCD.