This is part of a project I am currently working on, but I figured hey, what the hell, why not post it here now and get some feedback from folks. Visualize it web-based, with key words highlighted and hyperlinked to approprite help files.

Carrion Fields Quick Start Guide #3: Combat Overview

Combat: Combat in Carrion Fields is the most complex part of the game, and this guide is not intended to provide detailed information on all the nuances of fighting other characters or NPCs. Rather, it is intended to present new players with a broad understanding of how the combat system works, in the hopes that they will experiment and refer to help files as they apply to specific situations.

There are two basic types of combat: Combat vs. Player Characters (PCs) and Combat vs. Non-Player Characters (NPCs), also sometimes referred to as MOBs or Mobiles. The two types of combat share most of the basic attributes, but do have some differences that will be pointed out.

Prior to Combat: Before attacking an NPC, it is advisable to use the ‘consider’ command to see how difficult they might be for you to kill, as well as determining their size and alignment. If you are planning on attacking another PC, you can also prepare yourself for combat using spells, skills, supplications, songs, magical objects and items. You can also choose to wield certain weapons that take advantage of any vulnerabilities that your opponent might have. For example, if you are a duergar warrior planning on attacking an elven thief, you might want to quaff a ‘fly’ potion (to negate their ability to trip), eat a pill that grants you ‘protection’ (reducing the damage you will take from them due to their and your alignment differences), and wield an iron axe (taking advantage of their elven vulnerability to iron as well as their lack of knowledge of fighting with axes).

Initiating Combat: Certain spells, skills, songs or supplications can be used to initiate combat. The ‘murder’ command can be used for both PCs and NPCs, and the ‘kill’ command can be used for NPCs.

During Combat: The flow of time in the game is divided into a series of ticks, each of which lasts (roughly) one minute in real time, and accounts for an hour of game time. During combat, the time between ticks is divided into ‘rounds’, each of which is even further divided into ‘segments’. For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll assume that each combat round contains five segments. Since the length of each tick is variable, the amount of rounds per tick is variable as well – but the amount of segments per round is always fixed. During each round of combat, all physical attacks take place automatically: you strike at your opponent with whatever weapon you are holding (if any), and then they strike at you. Some classes have the ability to perform more of these attacks than other classes (the second/third/fourth attack skills). Around those automatic attacks, you can enter commands to the game, either informational or combat oriented in nature.

Every time you perform an action or enter any command to the game while in combat, you require a certain number of segments to complete that action. Most commands (where, flee, tell, etc.) only require a single segment to complete. Most skills, spells, communes or songs (strangle, fireball, wither, etc.) require multiple segments to complete, and will often take more than one round to do so. For example, if you initiate combat with the ‘charge’ command (which we’ll say requires 11 segments), your next command will not be implemented until just after the third round of combat has started (5 + 5 + 1 segments), though your physical attacks will occur automatically.

This is important for a number of reasons. First, if you ‘stack’ commands to the game, each one will have to be executed over the appropriate number of segments and rounds of combat before the next one can go through. For example, if you initiate combat with ‘charge’, then follow immediately with bash (13 segments) and trip (15 segments), you will not be able to perform any other commands for 39 segments, or almost eight rounds of combat! It is often possible for the fight to turn against you in that period of time, and if you have stacked commands, you will be unable to change your tactics and flee. This concept, having to wait before your commands to the game can be executed, is known as ‘lag’.

Certain skills, spells, communes and songs can also cause your opponent to experience lag, though this is only experienced by PCs and not NPCs. The ‘bash’ and ‘trip’ skills are two popular methods of ‘lagging’ your opponent. If successful, each skill will impart upon your opponent a number of segments where they will be unable to execute any commands…but remember (from the previous paragraph) that these skills will also impart upon you a number of segments where you will be unable to execute any additional commands. When deciding whether to lag your opponent, or try to deliver additional damage, a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, “If both players got up and walked away from the computer without entering any commands, who would win?” If you think you would win in that scenario, then maybe lagging attacks are good options.

Ending Combat: Combat ends one of two ways. Either one party flees (via the ‘flee’ command or via ‘wimpy’) or retreats, or one party ends up dead.

Following Combat: Once combat is over, your character will be experiencing a rush of adrenaline that will not allow them to sleep for a short period of time, or enter their guild or leave the game for a longer period of time. As well, to the victor goes the spoils of war, and the winner can now loot the corpse of the fallen, taking whatever trophies they desire. It is important to note that all non-newbies can loot the corpses of the fallen, though the victor has the option to guard the corpse from such vultures.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends