Combat system suggestions

[deeliriyum]

I know that fight require great deal of strategy and choosing a right combo of creatures is more likely to bring a victory, but why dont we take this to a totally different level?

Here goes...

1. Make fights turn based where you can actually control your creatures during fights.
Every player should have like 5-10 seconds to make his move. If you get attacked by other player you would get a pop-up window where you can choose between manual fight and auto-defend. If the player is idle auto combat will be always turned on.
This would give a chance to players who have slightly weaker creatures to defeat their opponents by using in-fight tactics.
Now i know what you're probably thinking right now... "OMG but the fights could last for hours"
With the current damage and HP ratio they would. Increasing dmg and\or lowering creatures' HP could fix that problem.
What i dont like about current combat system is that i can attack someone, close the window, refresh the page and see the result. It just kills all the joy of the battle. "If you close combat window you loose baby!" would be my rule. With turn based system you would learn to apprecaite every battle you win and ultimately you'll become true master of tactical combat!

2. Make players that are in combat invulnerable to third player's attacks. They would get pop-up "Player is already egaged in combat! Get in line damn it!"

3. Creature development.
Creatures now have a linear development. Would it be possble to make them branch as they lvl?
Examples
(barren soul) when it reaches lvl 2 you would get to choose between strong single target heal and small 6 target heal.
(heretic archer) strong single target dmg or arrow shower all 6 units for a smaller amount of dmg.
(grasan) 6 units weaken defence or Earthquake 6 units stun or something like that.
This will bring variety of fighting combinations and possible outcomes. It would also give a sence of uniqueness to your creature combo.

4. Reaching target. When i started playing MD i was very careful about position of my creatures, only to find out later that every creature can hit any target.
If the creature is a melee it should hit only adjecent units, archers\ranged creatures could hit both front line and background units etc etc. <- yet another tactical issue to think about.

5. BRING YOUR AVATAR INTO THE FIGHT! <-- nuff said.

6. Give us a button so we can create our rituals in safezones. Its really annoying when you go out just for a few seconds to set up your ritual and ppl eat you alive. Instead of creating ritual you enter safezone in a bad mood, with 0 HP and all creatures dead.


Well thats about it. I know some of these things are next to impossible but the forum section says New Ideas so there ya go. If is any of my ideas accidentally similar or identical to someone else's, take my sincere apologies.

[Liberty4life]

5) rpcs does have avatar in battle

everything else=impossible

[GgSeverin]

Great ideas may I use some in another game? Because implementing those in MD is gonna take years!

[Chewett]

[Redacted]

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
Redacted

[Bootes]

1) This is VERY hard to Implement in pretty much Anything Browser Based. It would also be basically be a Total revamp of the Battle System (I know that what your going for here, but the Current System is there for a Reason).

2) Yea, this could be a Problem, Consider how hard it can be to find Targets sometimes. Now Add the constraint that people are involved in Battles lasting at least 5 minuets.

3) This idea (or something like it) has been brought up a few times. The major issue is Artwork, so the only way to make it work is by Stats and Abilities differences.

4)I've seen this Idea before too, could be done (might be a bit more Code to implement, but shouldn't be as drastic as the code for 1)

5)Ummm... No. I'd much rather See what Armor the Opponent has than what Avatar they have during Battle (this is the current System). And what RPCs have you seen that On?!? I know my Avatar doesn't show in Battle...

6)This is one of the Most popular Suggestions... I agree... but It's been Suggested Time and Time again since I've joined (about 5-6 Months ago) and nothing has changed so... Sorry ;(

From what I hear (or has been Implied) I think Mur has ideas to Revamp the System at Some Point (the whole Balance and Honor system is messed up right now as well) so I expect at some point the whole system will be redone.. till then I bet the combat will remain like it is...

[Frosty]

But I like being able just to skip to the result!! Especially when all the flash seams to freeze up and takes ages just to cycle through one round because its taking forever on each thing, leaving me extreamly vulnerable if im somewhere popular.

Branching has already been suggested, but the huge amount of artwork it would entail (not to mention how confusing it would be to tell what is what at the higher levels) has pretty much ruled that out

As for changing during the battle? NO NO NO Once the battle has begin its begun, there is all the suspense of wanting to know if your ritual will hold up, whether you put enough vit into it, or too much (there was no way you could have beten him, now look how long you have to wait to regain the vit!, ohh im such an idiot). But it would also change one of the key parts of the game, which is learning which creatures work best on which of their ability's. If you can change them then there is no point.

Position of creatures wouldnt work either, it would limit the types of rits you could have if creature X only works when in positions Y. Because there not really proper as you would consider units of war, and are not bound by the rules of human warfare.

But then again my opinion only - Manu might like some of your suggestions. I suggest you put some of them up in a poll.

[deeliriyum]

[quote name='Frosty' post='18838' date='Oct 24 2008, 07:57 PM']But I like being able just to skip to the result!! Especially when all the flash seams to freeze up and takes ages just to cycle through one round because its taking forever on each thing, leaving me extreamly vulnerable if im somewhere popular.[/quote]
That means battle system is a bit buggy and needs some tweaking. Making player invulnerable to attacks during combat would decrease your popularity

[quote]Branching has already been suggested, but the huge amount of artwork it would entail (not to mention how confusing it would be to tell what is what at the higher levels) has pretty much ruled that out[/quote]
You dont need new artwork the way i see it. If the creatures look the same they would still have tactical advantage and only during fights will you reveal development line of your creatures.

[quote]As for changing during the battle? NO NO NO Once the battle has begin its begun, there is all the suspense of wanting to know if your ritual will hold up, whether you put enough vit into it, or too much (there was no way you could have beten him, now look how long you have to wait to regain the vit!, ohh im such an idiot). But it would also change one of the key parts of the game, which is learning which creatures work best on which of their ability's. If you can change them then there is no point.[/quote]
Changing? Sorry but what do you mean by that? The creatures that are bound by ritual are those that will be involved in a fight. You suffer the consequences of your own actions.

[quote]Position of creatures wouldnt work either, it would limit the types of rits you could have if creature X only works when in positions Y. Because there not really proper as you would consider units of war, and are not bound by the rules of human warfare.[/quote]
Hmmm maybe i should have clarified my idea further. If the creature is in the middle of your front line it will be able to hit all three tagets. creatures to the left and right have access only to 2 targets.

o o o
|/\| /\|
o o o this is accessibility pattern i had in mind for melee creatures.

[quote]But then again my opinion only - Manu might like some of your suggestions. I suggest you put some of them up in a poll.[/quote]

eh... never dont that... would be greatful if someone could do that for me

I know this is browserbased game and they usually dont involve downloading but i have seen some games that have beutiful 3d graphics and are playable in your browser. The game is called Fallen Legions or something like that but im not fan of fps games. The only thing it requires is installing some small add-on. Maybe something like that would make most of these things possible.
Seeing a fine job Manu did with his team so far i say IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING!

[Frosty]

Just re read your post, do you mean control by: in that 10 second time period you get to choose which creature you attack?

But your idea of strategically placing creatures in positions so they can only attack the adjacent creatures would mean huge amounts of re coding, and a radical change in the way that rituals are set up. I know a lot of older players have become very attached to their well tried and tested rituals.

As for it slowing down, I think thats more to do with my ancient wireless router

[Liberty4life]

[quote name='TheNinjunny' post='18837' date='Oct 24 2008, 08:36 PM']5)Ummm... No. I'd much rather See what Armor the Opponent has than what Avatar they have during Battle (this is the current System). And what RPCs have you seen that On?!? I know my Avatar doesn't show in Battle...[/quote]
wodin and ren has avatar in fights, it could be that mp1s have avatar in fight

[Chewett]

[Redacted]

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
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[Bootes]

[quote]I know this is browserbased game and they usually dont involve downloading but i have seen some games that have beutiful 3d graphics and are playable in your browser. The game is called Fallen Legions or something like that but im not fan of fps games. The only thing it requires is installing some small add-on. Maybe something like that would make most of these things possible.
Seeing a fine job Manu did with his team so far i say IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING![/quote]

One thing I'd like to point out is that Mur (Manu) is striving to create a certain Atmosphere within the game. He doesn't want MD to be as "Visually Immersive" as these 3D game worlds, Rather he is striving for more of a Storybook Effect. One where your Imagination fills in the gaps a little, and where Edges of the World are still a bit Fuzzy (Here there be Monsters!).

Creatures are not really "Pets" or "Monsters" that you Fight with. They are a part of you, as in a reflection of a part of your personality (soul?), and can be Summoned ("released") if needed.

Again I think a few of your Ideas have merrit, and would Improve some "Trouble Areas", I just wanted to Point out that there are other Reason why things are the way they are than just to create a popular Internet game (that's just a Bonus!)

- Disclaimer-
That is all just my Own Idea of what Mur's vision of the game is, based on Numerous posts I've read by him, and Conversations with him.

[quote]wodin and ren has avatar in fights, it could be that mp1s have avatar in fight[/quote]

Oh ok, it's the "Uber"- RPCs that have that...

[quote]if you know the rit that you are facing and change it then you win any battle[/quote]

I can't find where he's Suggesting that chewett... I think he just meant you could Control the Actions/Attacks of Creatures more Directly (Like Pokemon, or something like that). Your still stuck to the Ritual you had when you Entered the fight... (though if you control them the term Ritual makes less sense...)

[Chewett]

[Redacted]

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
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