Re: ARENA Restart; Rules Changes

From: carl@gergo.tamu.edu (Carl D. Perkins)

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 21:01:00 +0000

In article <srt.749150362@aerospace.aero.org>, srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner) writes...
>Summary of Proposed Rule Changes:
>
>  * ARENA to run for a fixed time period (2-4 weeks), 1 update per
>    day.  At end of period, Champion declared and ARENA reset.

Not sure I like this.

>  * "Challenge +" and "Challenge *" eliminated.  Challenges will be
>    made to specific characters.  You may only challenge characters
>    with as many or more wins than you have; those characters must
>    accept the challenges.

+ won't be missed (by me, at least - I never used it). * will be.
It'll be impossible to make a challenge on the same day/turn you enroll
as you won't know who exists - unless you create 2 and have them challenge
each other, or communicate outside the game with another player.

>  * Impact weapons further weakened for play balance purposes.

Well, I think they were unrealistically advantageous before so...

>  * Initial money increased; prize for winning a match eliminated or
>    reduced to 1 gp/win.

It'll be almost impossible to go up more than a step in armor in the
durration specifed.  If the game runs for 4 weeks, and you are in from the
first turn, you do 2 challenges per turn and win 70% (much higher than most
of the top characters listed manage) that makes for a 39-17 recors with a
net gain of 39 gp.  Not a lot.

>Your comments on these proposed changes will be appreciated.
>
>					-- Scott T.

What I'd like to see:

1) The game remain open ended.

2) An auction house added to the arena - you could auction off your old
   characters, and possibly a few randomly generated characters on occasion.
   This would let people buy characters (from selling players, auction house
   takes 20% commision of course) who are not starting with a 0-0 record.
   It is also something else to do with the accumualted money.
2a) Limit each player to some small number of "free" gladiators, the sort
    that are now used, like 3.  If more are wanted, they must be bought.
    0-0 gladiators (player generated like now) would be relatively cheap,
    although a player may set a minimum price for one of his lousy record
    gladiators lower if he wants to get rid of him.
2b) To make this work, there needs to be some limit on the number of gladiators
    a player can run.  Making players pay for a gladiator's upkeep and medical
    expenses would be good - if you have a "stable" of gladiators that
    wins consistently, you can afford to get more, which also provides
    an incentive to have a good record other than just amking the "top 3"
    lists.
2c) The income from all of a player's gladiators is pooled together.

3) The possibility of character death.  People die playing football on
   occasion - being a gladiator should be much more dangerous than that.
   Particularly since that is more or less what they are trying to do.
3a) Instant auto-retiremnet of a dead character.

4) More than one arena and/or more than one type of fight.  Have fights
   divided into "first blood", "standard", "no quarter", and "to the death".
   A player can decide what sort of fights to enter his gladiators in.
   A "first blood" fight ending after the first real damage is caused.
   A "standard" fight would go until one of the gladiators surrenders or
   is unable to continue due to unconciosness or death (like now).
   A "no quarter" fight ends at unconciosness or death.
   A "to the death" fight has only one survivor (or none - of both die
   the judges would have to pick a winner).
   The riskier the type of fight, the more lucrative the victory.

5) Hold periodic tournaments, allowing any character to be entered.  Announced
   a few days in advance, after the closeing date run the tourny a round or
   two per turn.  In the initial round characters are randomly assigned
   in pairings.  Characters with mismatched records could (and would) end up
   fighting each other.  Entring the tourny would require a fee from the
   player for each character entered, with the winner getting a percentage
   of the entry fees.  Each character that makes it to the quarter-finals
   could get 1% of the total entry fees (total 8%), each making it to the
   semi-finals could get 2% (another 8%, each of these characters has made 3%),
   the two finalists also get 10% for the looser (2nd place, total of 13% of
   entry fees) and 25% for the winner (who, incuing earlier rounds payoff, gets
   28%)(grand total prize money = 51% of entry fees) - or any system along
   these lines would work.
5a) These tourneys could be reated as per suggestion 4, with the worse
    types giving higher percentages to the winner (in the case of a "to the
    death" tourney, the winner will be the only survivor).

6) Add animal fights - a "CHALLENGE LION" for example.

I expect this would take more programming to set up than your suggestions.
A lot more, potentially.

--- Carl  (Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd)

References

ARENA Restart; Rules Changes
srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner)
Mon, 27 Sep 1993 17:19:22 +0000

Referenced By

ARENA Restart; Rules Changes
srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner)
Mon, 27 Sep 1993 17:19:22 +0000