ATLANTISv2 atl-design-digest #57 From: csd@microplex.com (Christian Daudt) Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 00:00:00 +0000 Errors to csd@microplex.com Now there should be a digest whenever (a) there are 10 emails or (b) whenever there is an email waiting for more than 48 hours for a digest to be completed. So don't get worried if the digest has only 1 or 2 emails, that just means the list has been slow. (I hope it works) If you want previous versions, they are available via WWW at http://www.microplex.com/~csd/atlantisv2/ ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hesidence <hesiden@Stoner.COM> Subject: Re: Atlantis: bows Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 08:18:21 -0500 (CDT) lam@diamond.eng.tridom.com (Larry Morris) writes: >> I'm puzzled, why can a unit with a sword and no combat skill gain +2 >> combat skill AND tax while a unit with a xbo or lbo and no skill >> not use it in combat nor to tax? >> >> Why not allow xbo's and lbo's the same ability of a sword? > >Scene: a dark, dingy tavern in some nameless remote region of Atlantis. >In walks Grobo, the New Law, carrying a vicious-looking sword. > >"Ok, youse filthy peasants, koff up some dough. Empty them pockits, >we know ya got 6 extra each this month!" > >Phred: "Huh! No way, sucka! Dese is *mine* silber, an' I'm gonna >smash dis beer-mug all ovah...HEY! Dat t'ings SHARP! Ouch! GGGGkkkk!" > >*ching* *clink* *grumble*. Interesting, perhaps 1 to 5 percent of the peasants should attack the taxers once in a while. Perhaps take a little of that war faction advantage away. >Scene 2: an equally dark and dingy tavern, other side of town. In >walks Buffo, hoisting his trusty unstrung LBO. > >"Ok, youse misbegotten stinkin' orc-hordes, lay out dat silver! Ya >got *real* pertection now! Like it 'r lump it! Hey you! Ya got some >kinda problem? Jus' wait a second there, this little knot here goes >in this slot, ummm, hey, couldja help me bend this thing back a bit? >Wait now...aaaah, drat, where's the frickin' arrow. Damn! Knew I >shoulda taken that correspondence course. Hey! Wait, just bend it >a *little* bit, ok? Not that..." *SNAP*. "Umm. yeah. Ummm. Want a >beer?" So what your saying is don't let them up close when you have an unstrung longbow? Perhaps Buffo should have at least have strung his bow before entering a orc infested tavern and trying to get silver by force. Seeing as how even skilled bowmen have hand-to-hand combat skill of zero I don't see how 1 skill level will make that much difference. A couple of peasants could take out a skilled longbow man just as easy. Assuming peasants are combat skill 0 then a peasant attacking a longbow man has a .5*.5 = 25% chance of hitting. A skill 1 longbow man has a 5*.33 = 16.5% chance of hitting peasant. I don't see an unskilled man being able to use a sword as much more than a club with a sharp edge. Could not any one in atlantis pick up a bat-sized piece of wood and start taxing? Your sure to do better than the SKILLED longbow man in the example above. Also Youse fergot Scene thraee: an even darker dingery tavern in the heart of the assassins quarter. In walks Pansy, the wood elf, with his loaded crossbow. "Pardon me", nobody pays Pansy the least bit of attention. Pansy walks over to the bartender, points the crossbow at this abdomen and says, "Excuse me, I believe you forgot to pay your taxes this month." "REALLY?", says the bartender in a suprised voice, "is it the first already. I've been so buzy lately..err..I mean business has been slow...the wife has been nagging...you really don't have to point that I'll pay...6 right? okay okay 7 and and a free beer?...sorry sorry free wine...stuck up elves... no no I said snuck up...the sand worms snuck up..." ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Atlantis: bows Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 09:34:40 +1000 From: mic mak <csytafe@cc.uq.oz.au> Please do not send to this mail box as the person to whom you have been sending to no longer has access Thank You Regards Ian Young ---------------------------------------------------------- From: vjg@cbnea.att.com Original-From: v.guinto Date: 23 Oct 1995 11:16 EDT Subject: Some design/rule thoughts for A3 Since A3 is getting closer, I wanted to toss out just a few minor ideas that I think would be nice to see. First, I want to compliment the GM on choosing a REALLY NICE price for A3! I was worried about how to pay for it, but I can certainly squeeze out $4 each month (much more easily than the $10/month I was expecting). I hope he's certain that that fee will bring in enough income to earn a profit on the game; when I start in A3, I'll want to make a long-term game out of it, and won't want it to go bankrupt in six months! Any chance of the A2 code being released, perhaps as shareware? A3 looks like it will be a better game, but A2 is pretty good (certainly better than A1!). None of these are game-breakers or revolutionary in nature, just some minor ideas. 1. I would like to see a crossbow-specialized race. Perhaps darkmen or some type of dwarf? 2. (Can you tell that I like bows?) I would like to see some special materials or magic enhancements to improve bow effectiveness. (I haven't actually dealt first-hand with mithril or ironwood, but I'm writing based on what I've heard; I could be wrong.) Mithril makes swords with bonuses, but if ironwood can be used to make bows with bonuses, then it's at a pretty high skill level because I have never heard of it. Also, I'd like to see an "enchant weapon" spell rather than a specific "enchant sword" spell, or a separate spell for longbows/crossbows. Bows are powerful now, but I would enjoy seeing them made more powerful for those who invest the money to get the better materials and spells. (I always dreamed of running a mercenary archer army in the game.) 3. Maybe in the new version, assuming there will still be wandering monsters, some weaker monsters could appear first, then the killer ones? Right now, scouting with an unarmed single elf is cheap and effective, but there's no reason it should remain so. I'm thinking of monsters that could be beated with just 5-10 COM-2 troops here, and not a whole lot of them, nothing powerful at all. 4. A long time ago somebody suggested a "tribal" faction type (back when it seemed like faction types would remain in A3). The idea intrigued me. How difficult would it be to install such an idea into A3? My idea: - two faction points to "buy" a specialized race - units of the specialized race could reach level-4 in its specialized skills (level-2 for other skills, as normal) - Any other races used by the faction would be limited to level-2 for specialized skills, and level-1 for other skills. - Points spent on taxing and trade would cover twice as many regions, IF the peasants in those regions are the same as the "bought" race. Other regions would work normally. (Or, conversely, you could limit this type of faction more by counting non-racial regions double and racial regions only once.) - Points spent on magic would work normally. Example: a player spends two points on TEL as the specialized race, two points on taxing, and one point on trade. If located in an area with a lot of TEL regions, that player could tax in 20 regions and produce in 10, as long as he kept exclusively to TEL-based regions. He could generate an army of fierce warriers (COM-4), but couldn't really send them out to terrorize the world, because he would be limited in ability to tax or produce in non-TEL regions. Just some thoughts. A WEL-specialized faction would do pretty well in an area with a lot of forests; a TEL-specialized faction would be well-suited to the Monzon area in the current game. (Oops - I broke my word; implementing this would be a major change to the current A3 plans. Sorry!) -Vince Guinto vjg@cbnea.att.com ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 09:38:36 -0400 From: xuequin@unix.asb.com (Mark Reid) Subject: Re: Atlantis: bows At 09:34 AM 10/24/95 +1000, mic mak wrote: >Please do not send to this mail box as the person to whom you have been sending to no longer has access > >Thank You > >Regards > >Ian Young > This is an automated list. Advise sending mail to admin@atlantis.rahul.net stating desire to discontinue. Expect one week delay. Up