Combat Update: Rerolls

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Rias
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Combat Update: Rerolls

Post by Rias »

Taking another stab at updating how combat numbers work. I didn't really like the idea of the "static sliding window of opportunity" we had before, so combat rolls are more open now. No more minimum roll. Instead of minimums, we have rerolls to stack the odds.

So for instance, instead of defense stacking its minimum roll based on roundtime (or lack thereof), it now grants rerolls. When not in roundtime, you get a base 5 rerolls for your defense - meaning you take the best of 5 rolls of d(100+skill). So at 150 skill, you'd be getting a random number between 0 and 250. When you have rerolls, you take the best of all rerolls when in the positive, or the worst of all rerolls in the negative. That means at 0 seconds roundtime, your defense is taking the best of 5 defense rolls. Each second of roundtime reduces your rerolls by 1, up to 5. So at 5 or more roundtime, you've lost all your rerolls.

Balance now affects reroll numbers, for both offense and defense. It's a simple Balance / 5 equation. So at 5 balance you get 1 extra reroll, 10 balance 2 rerolls. This also means you need to worry about negative balance, because at negative rerolls you're going to be taking the worst of all your rerolls. Not ideal. This should make Feint and Circle that much more effective in combat, as well as the Combat Readiness ability that defaults you to +5 balance over time instead of 0. That's like a free reroll!

Attacking from stealth now reduces the target's defense rerolls, based on how successful the ambush is.

When I briefly tried out the rerolls idea before, the big issue was that as numbers got higher and the range of difference got greater, damage numbers got to be pretty insane. I put in a simple fix to smooth out the endroll-to-damage calculation based on the difference between the attacker's maximum and the defender's maximum. So far it feels pretty good.

I'm going to need combatty people to really hammer at this and give me some feedback. In my limited testing thus far I'm happy with it, but unforeseen consequences tend to pop up. The hope is that now, people won't feel confined to that "sliding window" range of numbers in order to have any chance in combat either offensively or defensively. Now the rolls are a lot more open, meaning there's always that chance for really good luck in the face of overwhelming odds, or really bad luck in what was an almost sure situation. I like that a lot better, and I think it allows for combat-apt-but-not-mastered characters in particular to not feel they have to maximize their offense skills. They can now settle for less and still know they'll have a chance against stuff that may outskill them, instead of being virtually helpless against anything past that narrow window of success range.

Hopefully this all makes sense - feel free to ask for clarity. Thankfully it was all a surprisingly simple couple of changes code-wise.
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Rias
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Re: Combat Update: Rerolls

Post by Rias »

I should probably post an example of what the rerolls look like in the combat numbers output in-game.

Code: Select all

You swing at an infested vagrant with your copper mace!  Melee(d120(1x)):89 vs Dodge(d103(-2x)):7 = 68
   68 crush damage (chest)
   Several broken ribs driven into the chest! Shish-ka-vagrant. *mortal*
In the above you'll notice my melee roll was d120(1x). That (1x) means I got 1 reroll attempt there, so I rolled d120 twice and took the better of the two rolls. I had previously used a Feint so my Balance was at 8, which is where the +1 reroll come from.

The vagrant had a dodge of d103(-2x), meaning they got 2 negative rerolls - taking the worst of all 3 rolls total. They were at -2 because, again, the ever-useful Feint move - it reduced the poor guy's Balance to -10.
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Jaster
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Re: Combat Update: Rerolls

Post by Jaster »

Just for clarification: Roundtime related rerolls are applied to DEFENSE only, and Balance rerolls are applied to both OFFENSE and DEFENSE.

Does this mean that the maximum number of rerolls for DEFENSE are 7, assuming you are at 0 roundtime and 10 balance (if that state is even possible...)?

This would also mean your maximum number of rerolls for OFFENSE is 2.

Is this correct?
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Rias
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Re: Combat Update: Rerolls

Post by Rias »

Balance ranges from -25 to 25, so offense can get up to 5 rerolls at 25 balance, defense up to 10 (at 0 roundtime). Advantage is clearly given to a defender who's staying focused on the defense and not letting their guard down.

Some offense moves do get inherent extra rerolls. Feint and Mighty Blow get 2x, Staggering Blow gets 1x. Non-attack maneuvers like Circle don't consider the usual combat rerolls, which can be a good way to up one's own balance against an opponent who's turtled up.
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Re: Combat Update: Rerolls

Post by Jaster »

Oh ok. I've not messed around with combat hardly at all, so that clarifies things! It sounds like an improvement to me, for what it's worth. :D Seems like it introduces more tacticool-ness.
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Re: Combat Update: Rerolls

Post by Rias »

I neglected to consider sitting/prone when I moved to the reroll system. Whoops. Target's position will now affect their rerolls. Advice: Don't get caught sitting or prone in combat.

If anyone notices a combat scenario where sitting/prone don't seem to affect rerolls when they should, please use the BUG command to report it in-game.

P.S. Hopefully people are liking the reroll system. I'm really happy with it so far. As always, will continue to monitor and tweak numbers.
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