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Re: CF: 0.95.3 bugs (OR CHEATS)



Scott Wedel (scott@campy.Tymnet.COM) wrote:

> I think the fundamental problem is creating very powerful artifacts
> without any negatives.  Powerful armor and weapons should be forced
> to impair mage or clerical spells.

Doesnīt change much --- crossfire is heavily biased towards
hack&slash; youīd just have to be a little more careful (retreat
before healing); instead of just cast-and-pray-while-fighting. Very
uch like a lowlevel barbarian has to play (since his failure rate with
prayers is very high).

Note that my primary weapon (the dragonbane) doesnīt help me getting
great everywhere --- it has str+3 and speed+something. My axe of b1ff
has str+something (not quite sure --- IIRC a barbarian gets str 28, so
the weapon would get str+2); other improvements are only damage and
lower weight.. The demonbane is the only exception since it has wis+.

So the dragonbane (since you canīt improve it) actually does cause
problems when casting --- I often have to try several times to get
a spell to succeed. Usually it doesnīt matter, but when I use
dimension door a lot (to avoid killing monsters when I watch newbies)
I usually unwield it. Sometimes I even have to take off my armor
to regenerate spellpoints (I have a whole bunch of magic+, but with
armor itīs still incredibly slow...).

> Second, powerful items should be very hard to unequip, say a 5% chance.
> They have ego and want to be used.  This would prevent a character
> from carrying a large number of powerful items and switching between
> them quickly depending upon the current state of the battle.

Hm... I never do that anyway. I do have my three weapons on a key (no
modifier, shift, ctrl), but I never change while running through
monsters --- I just change in between monsters, if I think itīs worth
the extra keypresses (it usually isnīt). Note that the question is
_not_ "which weapon is best against this monster?" (i.e. dragonbane->
dragons,standard vs. demonslayer->demons vs. axe of b1ff->other tough
monsters), but "is it really worth 3-4 keypresses to change the weapon
and change it back later?". I think that really points out how "balanced"
crossfire is at the moment :-(

Also, whatīs the point of a x% chance for a successful unwield? It
would be very much like getting favors from your god --- you stand on
an altar and pray. If your god doesnīt _obey_ (i.e. give you what you
want: the god is your slave; his task is to do what _you_ tell him)
you say "damned Mostrai (or whatever)" to yourself and continue
praying until he does his job.

So if you canīt unwield the weapon you just hold down the key until
you succeed. If you _want_ to unwield at all (see above).

I think it might be more appropiate to change artifacts in another way:

a) specialize them. A dragonbane gives >200 damage (who cares about
   the exact number? It doesnīt matter at all) against _any_ monster. It
   gives double (or triple?) damage against dragons. Now, itīs supposed
   to be a _dragon_bane, so why does it give tons of damage to dreads,
   demons and other non-dragons? Shouldnīt it be even worse than an
   ordinary rusty sword against non-dragons?
b) Maybe give them a "real" ego. A dragonbane with a chance of equipping
   itself when it senses a dragon, even if it is far away. A dragonbane
   which doesnīt like to be unequipped if there are dragons around.
   A dragonbane that refuses to be used by a character that doesnīt
   fulfil certain criteria. A dragonbane that drags the player to a dragon,
   if the player is not powerful enough to resist. Things like that.
   A powerful shield that drains energy from the player (whatever that
   means --- exhaustion?). A powerful weapon that damages the player if
   it isnīt used frequently enough. A dragonscale shield that doesnīt
   like to cooperate (or even be carried by the same player) with
   a dragonbane. A dragonbane that automatically attacks somebody with
   a dragonscale shield. Etc...

Of course you donīt really want to squeeze this into the current
archetype implementation. Esp. "ego"-artifacts would either need
sophisticated scripting capabilities or special code inside the
server. And thatīs what I think is _really_ necessary --- twiddling
with stat+ and unwield-chances and "if this item gives foo then it
doesnīt like an item which gives bar" is too static to be really
interesting. This kind of stuff also (usually) is very annoying or
doesnīt change much, since everything works the same way. Itīs
boring --- a dragonbane wonīt be a "dragonbane", it will just be
another weapon with the standard "slay dragon" properties. A player is
more likely to accept/_like_ restrictions if they are more unique,
have interesting features --- and if a dragonbane is more than just a
dragonslayer with more damage. Difference, personality, background
story.

Christian


P.S.: is the mailinglist server not working properly? I tried to
unsubscribe (yesterday!) from this mail-address and subscribe with my
new one, but havenīt received _any_ reply.
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