Re: POWDER 103 Released

On Apr 5, 6:30 pm, R. Dan Henry <danhe...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 19:13:52 -0700 (PDT), Jeff Lait

<torespondisfut...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Apr 1, 3:31 pm, Brendan <brendandetra...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
6) The armour classes for non-armour items make no sense to me
whatsoever.

There is a lot of flexibility in this game, in regards to spells and
items. Like equipping armor as a shield, for example. It's the same
reason non-weapon items have damage rates...

I meant the AC for boots, helmets and shields.

This ends up being too complicated than it should be.

Especially since the display implies it is simple.

Point taken. However, I am not at all convinced making the display
complicated is an acceptable solution.

There are multiple slots to be protected: head, neck, torso, and
feet.  Which slot is hit depends on the relative size of the
combatants.  The chosen slot's equipment is then used to determine the
armour for the attack.

So there is a hidden hit location system. One which is not discoverable
through play, while a single AC display suggests you have a single
defensive value.

I've always believed that if the system is not discoverable through
play, then it doesn't exist. The system is then the equivalent of
just some extra random noise. I could be convinced POWDER's item slot
system is just another random variable.

There are already a few random variables involved, however, AC is not
a flat number like D&D but is rolled against, and how it is rolled
against is a function of your skills.

The single AC value *is* an accurate summation of all the random noise
in the system (including hit locations), so I am not convinced it is
misleading. Working only from a per-item-slot AC is likely to be more
misleading since one wouldn't properly weight the slots unless one
also keeps in mind the relative chance of each being hit.

Consider a character with two armour slots, torso and head. Say I
have plate armour that avoids 50% of attacks and leather armour/helm
that each avoid 25%. Wearing the leather armour leaves me with 25%
avoidance, which is the same as the plate with no helmet. The AC
value displayed in POWDER is somewhat equivalent to that 25%.

All of that is very complicated and what not.  The number on the
status line, however, is an accurate distillation of all the factors.
Basically, it asks "What is your AC against the average attack?"

It would be better to get rid of this display, with its suggestion of a
single defensive value than keep things as they are. There is, however,
room on the inventory screen to place an AC value next to each slot that
corresponds to a hit location, providing an explicit display of actual
protection.

In so far as you get hit or don't, it matters little *why* you got
hit. Ie, being hit because there was nothing on your head and it
chose the head target is the same as being hit because your armour is
all leather and not plate.

All one really needs to know is that higher is better :>

As long as that is the theory, the "average AC" marker can go, since one
only needs to compare protections in the same slot to go for "higher is
better".

Except you can't then trade off that floppy hat for a iron helm in
exchange for downgrading your plate mail to chain mail. Higher is
better for each slot does not tell you the relative worth of each
slot.

I also really like the single value as it makes explicit the effect of
skills.
--
Jeff Lait
(POWDER: http://www.zincland.com/powder)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Oh for crying out loud, invisible!
    ... fire/cold resistance for example. ... mostly been presenting facts that stand in favor of heavy armour. ... But +2.5 hp per hit is significant, depending on how much you get hit ... of course, but where you don't get hit at all with a dodging character, ...
    (rec.games.roguelike.misc)
  • Re: Words / Lines overlap after hitting Enter within a table in Wo
    ... It's just a display issue. ... > Or is Word really inserting extra text into the table? ... When I hit ... >> to explain this problem unless someone sees the actual screenshot of this ...
    (microsoft.public.word.docmanagement)
  • Re: HMS Warrior vs. USS Monitor
    ... shatter her turret armour. ... the warrior wasn't so fast that it couldn't be hit and the 11inch guns had ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • RE: ws3svc
    ... Click on the Magnifying glass at the top or hit Ctrl+ E, ... Click on Edit-> Clear Display or hit Ctrl+X to clear the display. ... 5)Once the display is clear in Filemon window, hit Ctrl+E to start capture. ... Search for Access Denied and you will find if a particular user account ...
    (microsoft.public.inetserver.iis)
  • Re: Words / Lines overlap after hitting Enter within a table in Word!!
    ... It's just a display issue. ... Or is Word really inserting extra text into the table? ... When I hit ... > to explain this problem unless someone sees the actual screenshot of this ...
    (microsoft.public.word.docmanagement)