Pssh. Imperian has it. And it is AWWSUM!

Edit: To elaborate on the "awwsum," I actually go out and hunt things that give multiple afflictions without worry. Is it going to make me a top-tier combatant? No. But it does enough that I'm willing to participate in combat, which Firstaid does not.

As for buying m&m, yea. That'd be nice. So would buying credits, but I can't do that either and that'd the the one to take priority.

Computationally, curing all afflictions is considerably more expensive than a simple sipper, especially if you're going to bring priorities and proper checks into it. :P


Somebody should make a half decent, free combat system...

Zarquan:

Computationally, curing all afflictions is considerably more expensive than a simple sipper, especially if you're going to bring priorities and proper checks into it. :P


Somebody should make a half decent, free combat system...

The current sipper seems to calculate the values of health mana and ego and compares them to user defined limits. It also checks if you want to use vials, scrolls or sparkleberry, and if the nature domoth should be used instead of the sparkleberry. It also applies health to deepwounds.

I can't see how this would be doable, but enlarging the list of things that these checks can be applied to uses up too many resources.

Wasn't there an "open source" system out for zmud some time back? I remember people saying that they wanted to work on one atleast.

However, my problem with systems and free systems in general, is that they don't have very good patch mechanisms. You have to uninstall everything and re install everything, and you lose customization much too frequently. When these things are server side and part of the game itself, you don't have that problem.

Not to mention, it's nice to be able to play games from any web browser on any computer.


Question though: Is it still possible to forge a weapon that has more than the 463 calculated cap on artifact weapons? I ask because it seems like I can't temper anything higher than the 463 even without runes on it.

My older combat system had a great upgrade mechanism and didn't lose any of your customizations (if you did them the 'proper' way). But, yes, there are issues with creating, supporting, or using a free combat system, almost as many issues as a server-side combat system might have.


It is possible to randomly forge just over the cap on a stat, but you can never temper a weapon above the cap.

Deschain:

Well, for a curing system to actually be workable in combat it needs to have the concept of priorities, so you have to add that in, in addition to specifying which type of cure to use for afflications that can be cured multiple ways, thresholds on when to sip health or use it to cure wounds, etc. Plenty of configuration that has to be there for the curing system to be worth much in combat.

It also adds a decent amount of computation per user on the server side, not sure how that would affect Lusternia's performance.

Firstaid last I checked used priorities already. It may not be ideal ones but it does do things it has to, including using green/gedulah and allheale to remove afflictions.

Draylor:

There have been talks to the effect that some further server-side curing will be added. I personally do not see it happening anytime soon, as it's an awful lot of work. That said, it would be nice, but getting the balance right is a primary concern and well, time will tell, I guess.

Iosai is currently looking into it, but I would think it would simply autofire firstaid when you get a "you are afflicted with blah" or make it a 1s timer, that sort of thing.

Malarious:


Firstaid last I checked used priorities already. It may not be ideal ones but it does do things it has to, including using green/gedulah and allheale to remove afflictions.



Iosai is currently looking into it, but I would think it would simply autofire firstaid when you get a "you are afflicted with blah" or make it a 1s timer, that sort of thing.

Yeah, we discussed it on envoys a few weeks ago. It will definitely be on a timer and also would very likely not prioritise like a proper system would.

Still, I welcome changes like this. Lowering the bar for combat is definitely something I suspect we all would be happy with and I think doing such would be wholly conducive to a more varied and involved playerbase. I actually think it would help to bring more players in, regardless as to whether they engaged in combat or not.

Ssaliss:

I honestly don't think it'd be an awful lot of work... Get an affliction (or rather, when the aff-message is shown) -> add to curequeue/firstaid curequeue. When the affliction is cured, remove it from the curequeue.

The real question is if this would become too powerful or not. But technically it doesn't seem to be that much work to me.

This is exactly what my system does.

Yes, Imperian has it, and there's no reason that Lusternia can't just copy the code. I'm certain that one IRE game will be willing to give it to another IRE game.

Unfortunately, Imperian's setting is... garbage. There is no epic back story to the fantasy world and these days I am in it for some idle fun (see: Winnae the Puissant) and not to create my own epic story (see: if any of you remember Zero, Strung, Iriaen etc. from other IRE games). Yet I still want there to be an epic story taking place in my game environment.

As for being forced to use certain weapons, I remain competitive. Isn't the racial bonus 10/10/10 on a weapon? Isn't that like 800 credits worth that you can't replace by merely buying more credits?

Sell an artifact that lets you switch your racial weapon bonus and I'll buy it Estarra, I promise, even if I don't start playing again. It would help with RP, my bear was raised by an Orclach or something!

Finally, I tried M&M and did not like it. Requiring people to learn mudlet and pay a player who could be struck by lightning any day now does not build confidence in me re: this game's long-term staying power.

There are a number of reasons we can't copy Imperian's autocuring code, least of which is that they handle afflictions in a fundamentally different manner. As I've said before, I'm currently investigating the potential of adding some form of automated firstaid to lower the level of entry to combat while still giving client-side systems an advantage. Watch this space! :)

Jello:

Yes, Imperian has it, and there's no reason that Lusternia can't just copy the code. I'm certain that one IRE game will be willing to give it to another IRE game.

Unfortunately, Imperian's setting is... garbage. There is no epic back story to the fantasy world and these days I am in it for some idle fun (see: Winnae the Puissant) and not to create my own epic story (see: if any of you remember Zero, Strung, Iriaen etc. from other IRE games). Yet I still want there to be an epic story taking place in my game environment.

As for being forced to use certain weapons, I remain competitive. Isn't the racial bonus 10/10/10 on a weapon? Isn't that like 800 credits worth that you can't replace by merely buying more credits?

Sell an artifact that lets you switch your racial weapon bonus and I'll buy it Estarra, I promise, even if I don't start playing again. It would help with RP, my bear was raised by an Orclach or something!

Finally, I tried M&M and did not like it. Requiring people to learn mudlet and pay a player who could be struck by lightning any day now does not build confidence in me re: this game's long-term staying power.

Pretty sure you don't need that racial bonus to be effective. For example, tae'dae's get that bonus but they are still slow - that weapon bonus doesn't outweight their racial slowness (I'm pretty sure).

Same with Aslaran, you're going to be faster with a speed weapon that an orclach is, due to your balance bonus, plus you have an equilibrium bonus on top of that. It's actually pretty balanced, it just depends on what you want to do.

As for learning mudlet, it's the best client out there right now. Better off learning it anyway.

Also I hope Vadi doesn't die. :(

I know that Aetolia's autocuring has a small simulated latency time added in so that it doesn't trump out systems completely, and of course it doesn't assume things in a way that a real system can.

Jello:
Finally, I tried M&M and did not like it. Requiring people to learn mudlet and pay a player who could be struck by lightning any day now does not build confidence in me re: this game's long-term staying power.

Well that just makes me really sad that someone would say that. Keep your lightning and upsetting comments to yourself, thanks.

Throwing in my two cents, here:

m&m (and Mudlet) does not make you a good combatant. No system does. The decisions you make, based on what your system tells you, do. No one requires you to use Mudlet or m&m - there are other clients and systems out there (including Nexus and Lusternia's auto-curing). You could expend the effort and create something yourself which would work better for you (props to those who do!), however, those of us who don't have the time or inclination to do that, might find it worthwhile to support the effort of another.

Anyway, Lusternia has made lots of progress in recent months with accessibility. Everyone considers Iosai is the most wonderful thing ever, and I applaud her efforts (and all of the others in the background who also contribute) in making Lusternia a more approachable game. The auto-curing that's already in place is wonderful, and I'm excited to know that more is on its way.

----------

Short questions... hm. I have one!

Is there a way to find out/view a design pattern with the full appearance, dropped and examined (not just the list of patterns with DESIGN PATTERNS TAILORING, for example) if you're not a tradesperson of the trade in question (and can't just... TAILORING ROBES 73284)?

Svorai:

Is there a way to find out/view a design pattern with the full appearance, dropped and examined (not just the list of patterns with DESIGN PATTERNS TAILORING, for example) if you're not a tradesperson of the trade in question (and can't just... TAILORING ROBES 73284)?

No. I mean except for asking a member of the trade to tell you.

Personal preference about clients aside. Most systems have relied on that one person to keep them updated, and decent free systems are the exception more than the rule. Treant spoiled many people on that last point! I don't use M&M, but it seems like a good deal for the cost and its definitely the most popular system out there at the moment.

There's always Lilia's as a free alternative, not sure what client its on, I think its mudlet too though.

Turnus:

There's always Lilia's as a free alternative, not sure what client its on, I think its mudlet too though.

It is.

Svorai:

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Short questions... hm. I have one!

Is there a way to find out/view a design pattern with the full appearance, dropped and examined (not just the list of patterns with DESIGN PATTERNS TAILORING, for example) if you're not a tradesperson of the trade in question (and can't just... TAILORING ROBES 73284)?

If you're in the cartel, even if not trademaster, you can do:

CARTEL CATALOGUE for the list of designs and
CARTEL CATALOGUE for the full details

Iosai:

There are a number of reasons we can't copy Imperian's autocuring code, least of which is that they handle afflictions in a fundamentally different manner. As I've said before, I'm currently investigating the potential of adding some form of automated firstaid to lower the level of entry to combat while still giving client-side systems an advantage. Watch this space! :)

Can you explain the second half of your statement?
By it's nature, a client side system will have an advantage over the "open source" server healing system. Anyone building a system will know all the strenghts and weaknesses of the default curing system and be able to code around that in some way. Secondly, the main advantage of a client side system is going to the be on the Offense of the user, not the defense.

Why is the "superiority" of a client side system important to worry about in the design?

Don't we want to make Nexus and the Flash client viable alternatives?

Ideally in my view, people will be selling systems for offense instead of selling systems for defense. Client side systems will ALWAYS have the advantage, even if the curing on the server side is "perfect"

You shouldn't make the server side curing optimal, even when just talking about unmasked affs. If the server side system worked optimally, it would totally bypass response times for any other sort of coding initiative, period! I think what Iosai is talking about is something like Aetolia's simulated latency.

One of the things I know Iosai has been working on is making sure (for instance) that things hitting under blackout are NOT automatically detected by autocuring, and so on. Stuff like (knowing to diagnose under blackout) that is what gives client side systems an advantage, one that should really be preserved for them.

Enyalida:

You shouldn't make the server side curing optimal, even when just talking about unmasked affs. If the server side system worked optimally, it would totally bypass response times for any other sort of coding initiative, period! I think what Iosai is talking about is something like Aetolia's simulated latency.

One of the things I know Iosai has been working on is making sure (for instance) that things hitting under blackout are NOT automatically detected by autocuring, and so on. Stuff like (knowing to diagnose under blackout) that is what gives client side systems an advantage, one that should really be preserved for them.

Why?
What's wrong with the game automatically doing things a client side system might do during blackout?

Autocuring already have simulated latency, so that code already exists, I'd imagine.