Hello!

I would very much like to remove all numerical values for stats, and
replacing them with either text descriptions or symbols, but I think the
PalmOS screen is too small for that (priority on this is low, since game
logic will use numbers anyway).

What I meant regarding diminishing returns was this: You kill your first
Orc, and get 10 experience... you kill your second, and get 8, because you
learned a bit from the last battle... you kill your 99th Orc and get 2 exp,
because you already know most things about fighting Orcs now (but then
again, experience points are not important... increasing stats and skills
are... experience is more like a score for the hall of fame).

My list of things I want to keep track of is so long that I'm actually
considering athlete's foot stat or an exercise ache stat (up your strength
too much in one day and be in pains on the following day)... or maybe not.

It feels comfortable that no matter what I do, as long as it's behind the
scenes people will probably accept it as an AR mystery and if not, I can
always hide behind a green dragon... ;)

/Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: <ar--marktaw.mailshell.com>
To: <<Address Masked>>
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 1:01 AM
Subject: Re: Palm OS Port (was Admin)


> Rob,
>
> I hope the info you gain from Dan makes it's way to the FAQ... unless, I
guess it's some sort of secret.
>
> A CCG style engine would be interesting, as long as it didn't take over
the game. In some sense, AR already had some of that in it. Weapons & armor
had different ratings for different areas of attack.
>
> I admit, though, that I liked the fact that I didn't really understand how
the combat engine worked and the only way to know whether or not something
would work in a situation was to use it. And then the numbers were so random
that I wasn't sure if a 15 was the upper limit for a weapon, or a low
number, even after a couple of attacks. I guess this is similar to The
Getaway, which has no online stats whatsoever. All of your clues come from
the game - blood on the clothes if you're wounded and they go away if you
heal, things like that.
>
> Though I never really did get the difference between attack/charge/aimed
attack. I do understand that charge gave you a plus to attack and a minus to
defend and an aimed attack did the inverse, but I never really felt I
noticed much difference. Perhaps an ADOM-esque multi-level difference would
be welcome... Feeling brave, go to beserker mode. Wounded and vulnerable? Go
into some super-defensive mode.
>
> One thing I always liked about AR is that no matter how powerful you got,
*something* could kick your ass. Usually vampires. Be sure to keep that
in...
>
> You do get diminishing returns from combat... It takes as long to go from
level 5 to 6 as it does to go from level 1 to 5. 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000 etc.
To go from level 1 to 2 required only a dozen or so rats. To go from 6 to 7
would require thousands.
>
> Also, despite the fact that the game kept track of so many things, you
were never fully told what it kept track of. I like that "what's on the
screen is only the tip of the iceberg" feel to the game. I don't like it
that modern games only keep track of what absolutely must be kept track of
for gameplay. For example, I have no idea what affect clothing has. So what
if I'm cold? But I guess I'd better keep warm because it might affect
combat.
>
> I could go on all day.
>
> Regards,
> Mark
>
>
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