Re: DM: Roll-up and question

From: Ben 'Critical' Hitz

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1993 22:01:42 +0000

In article <2f7jflINN2eg@uwm.edu> dray@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Daniel Ray Giese)
writes:
>:     Another turn, another roll-up.  10-4-13-10-10-10-13.
>:     Any suggestions?

Hey, this one is 1/2 decent:  10-4-13-15-15-10-17 is obvious...
style is not so.  Real low CN kinda limits you too offensive, but you
could consider PL or PS (but run offensive).  SL or LU is probably your
best bet... I don't make LU with less than 17 WL, but it can be done.  I
would go SL.

>:     Also, this may be a DM faq, but how do you determine a warrior's
>:     favorite weapon or how long should it take?  I've had notoriously
>:     bad luck (all my originals died but still going .54) so my
>:     'eldest' warrior is 5-6 turns old, and has used a different
>:     weapon often, but with little insight.  Is there a method to help
>:     a newbie out there?  Also, I wonder what were PR's meant to do?
>:     Mine just got DA'd after losing every turn except against another
>:     PR, despite a 17 WT and DF (WL about 11).  Not only did he lose,
>:     but he lost without learning, and so seemed useless.

It is a FAQ, but there isn't an answer!  You find out your favorite
weapon, when you go to ADM... (heh).  What you are looking for, in trying
to _guess_ your favorite weapon is lots of critical attacks.  You probably
know what I mean, but in case you don't; a Critical attack is much more
descriptive than a 'normal' attack.  I.e., 'Foobar strikes with his
SCIMITAR' is a normal attack; 'Foobar twists into a tremendous cutting
attack with his SCIMITAR' is a critical.  There are several (unique)
critical attack comments for each weapon.  There are also critical dodges
and parries.  Critical ripostes may or may not exist, it's hard to tell
(nor really relevant). Warning:  there are comments which appear to be
_between_ normal and 'true' critical attacks.  One such example is 'Foobar
slashes an arcing attack with his scimitar'.  That isn't considered a
_full_ critical, but it may be better (i.e., do more damage; be harder to
defend) than a 'true' normal.

Some _rough_ (very!) guidelines:
assumption:  An offensive style running offensive
What you want to look for is a _change_ in the 'critical hit rate' as a
function of _only_ weapon change.  This is basically impossible, but you
can try.  Look at fights where you were running the same (for the minute
in question) strategy, against the same (or similar) oppenent, but using a
different weapon.  OK, now that you realize that you don't have any of
those, skip the opponent bit.  A weapon that you seem to do alot of
criticals with _could_ be your favorite.  Another warning:  Warriors seem
to throw more criticals vs. defensives/scummy opponents  be sure you check
(# criticals)/(# swings).  Also, it helps to know your attack rating, and
(heh) your opponents defenses.  I'm not certain, but it seems likely that
you will throw less crits if your opponent has high defenses.  (not
contradiction with the previous sentence).  The other possiblility is that
it's _only_ a function of your attack rating (+/- mods for strategy,
etc...)

One very important point: A favorite weapon can _only_ be one that's
suited to your style! This makes it _much_ easier to find your favorite if
you are a LU (6 suited weapons) vs. a ST (_all_ suited weapons).  Note
again that's suited to _style_.  You can have a 3 ST and get Halbard as
your favorite (if you are a ST or BA).  When you hit AD, you are granted
the ability to use your favorite, no matter what it may be...

PR's are supposed to _riposte_.  A riposte is that comment you get after a
your opponent fails to hit you (usually due to a handy parry or dodge by
you, but can also happen on a wild swing).  A 'ripose troika' is a set of
3 lines on your fight sheet where you
1) defend (parry or dodge)
2) riposte
3) attack

You _can_ get riposte comments without following them up with attacks.
(See: Parry, Total).  Generally this means you should be fighting more
offensivly, or with a higher activity.  PR are probably the second hardest
style to run in DM (first, being of course, AB).  Even the best PR I ever
had (17 WT/WL/DF) lost his first 4, and 6 of 8.  ('course he then won 9
arena fights in a row, and got a TV, before he was killed).  My only
advice is:  Change your strategy!  PR's seem to like numbers between 1-10,
but only one set.  Boy, that made sense.

I have to go.  You can e-mail me questions if you like, but I'm
terminal-free from 12/25-1/29

Ben Hitz (AKA PUG)
Arenas 18,52,53,105
--
"With humor Comrade, always with a bit of Humor"
         From 'The Manchurian Candidate'

References

DM: Roll-up and question
dray@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Daniel Ray Giese)
Tue, 21 Dec 1993 19:40:37 +0000