changes to mechanics

[Laurel]

Once again:

maybe you guys could really announce changes to broader game (especially combat related) mechanics after all those years and given the small population Genesis has these days?

It was fun and giggles to see the doppelganger on the Bloodsea isle (the one from the pool) "growing" and healing to FVW each time Laurel started to prepare the ogre crush.
It was idiotic to see the sailors across Bloodsea trying to assist their captains each time Laurel started to prepare the ogre crush.
Today Laurel almost died to ... Viridian!?!? Please ... only because he used his starting special each time Laurel started to prepare the ogre crush! So blind, blind, blind, wound (by now FRH already) ... finished all this at BA. TYVM! I was already composing a mail for restoration due to a bug ... thanks to skunks and quick turning off ogre crush Laurel has no recovery in progress.

Anyway - should I bug report Viridian, Bloodsea or ogres? Or the game mechanics in some way? Sheeeesh guys, really.

[Celephias]

Interesting - I noticed my at will special was completely ineffective but I thought it was due to some tweaking as MM is recoded. Maybe we need some more deterministic testing and include others from other guilds. Have others seen 'new and interesting' behavior?

Or, someone who has knowledge of a particular code change could chime in....

[petros]

Not aware of any tweaks to game mechanics, Laurel. If you see something similar again, please do log it and send it to me. (PM or in game).

[Laurel]

Srsly ...? It takes you 30 sec to clone an ogre + a bloodsea ship with crew and yet you place the task on me? Sheeeesh.

[Laurel]

You attack the powerful ebony-skinned male human.
You start to consider using your bottle for something other than drinking.
Your ogre mind starts trying to recall how to manage a crushing blow.
The jovial sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The jovial sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in
his eyes.
The big-eared sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The big-eared sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in
his eyes.
The jovial sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The jovial sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in
his eyes.
The short sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The short sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in his
eyes.
The red-faced sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The red-faced sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in
his eyes.
The red-faced sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The red-faced sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in
his eyes.
The short sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The short sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in his
eyes.
The big-eared sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The big-eared sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in
his eyes.
You pound the powerful ebony-skinned male human's legs with your sledgehammer
of the colossus.
Holding your bottle tight, you swing it at the powerful ebony-skinned male
human, but in your drunken haste, you land only a glancing blow.
The powerful ebony-skinned male human twinkles his eyes dangerously.
You feel calm again.
You swing at the powerful ebony-skinned male human's body with your
sledgehammer of the colossus, but his frilly white shirt protects him.
The powerful ebony-skinned male human balances himself expertly on the heaving
deck, then makes a vicious swing at you, his deadly rapier barely missing your
left arm.
You feel ready to hit someone with your bottle again.
You start to consider using your bottle for something other than drinking.
You swing at the powerful ebony-skinned male human's body with your
sledgehammer of the colossus, but his frilly white shirt protects him.
Holding your bottle tight, you swing it at the powerful ebony-skinned male
human, but in your drunken haste, you land only a glancing blow.
You feel calm again.
BLAM!! BLAM!! One after the other you bring your sledgehammer of the colossus
and sledgehammer of the colossus hurtling down on the powerful ebony-skinned
male human!
The powerful ebony-skinned male human seems thoroughly bashed.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm ...It dawns on your tiny brain that you could probably try for
another crushing blow, if you haven't already.
Your ogre mind starts trying to recall how to manage a crushing blow.
The short sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The short sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in his
eyes.
The jovial sailor bellows: You scum, stop fighting my friend!
The jovial sailor looks at you as if ready to attack, though you see fear in
his eyes.

[petros]

So they are trying to assist... Are you concerned about the part that they're assisting, or that they're assisting when you're trying to do an ogre crush? Doesn't seem like a change in game mechanics from the log.

[Zingil]

To me it seems its the function 'Gosh_I'm_being_attacked_what_do_I_do?' in the NPC that becomes called every time Laurel starts preparing an ogre crush.

In the case of the Bloodsea sailors they just call out for assistance and make their friend NPCs attack its attacker but in the case of Viridian he performs a special attack on his attacker. Normally this should only happen when the NPC gets attacked initially and not be called again during the same fight. Its a bit similar to trying to 'kill' the target you already are fighting. All you see is a 'Yes, yes.' response, not the 'I'm being attacked' function being called again.

So for some strange reason Laurel's ogre crush makes the NPC think its being attacked all over again, even though it is already in combat with Laurel. Whether this is due to a change in the ogre crush, the general special attack template (if the ogre crush has been standardised and uses it) or the 'I'm being attacked' function in the general NPC template, or more specifically in Krynn/Ansalon NPCs I have no way of knowing.

It would be interesting to see if A) Other autoassisting NPCs in other domains react in the same way, and B) If other guild's special attacks cause the same novel reaction by NPCs.

But in any case this seems to be a new feature, for whatever reason.

-Zingil's player

[Laurel]

Best example what it fucks up is the red-runed greaves doppleganger from Karthay. You can't kill him if you have an ogre in team trying to crush, as each attempt to crush initiates combat for this NPC, which allows him to ... fully heal.
Answering Zingil - Neidar specials nor gladiators nor minotaurs nor pirates generate this effect.
It's only ogres in Krynn only. Didn't see Shire nor other npc's screaming about every ogre crush being prepared ...

[petros]

Are you certain that this is actually a change in behavior? I checked and ogre crush always re-initiates combat. It's possible that the npcs in Krynn have been changed recently to respond to the "initiating combat" event differently... In any case, it sounds like you should bug those npcs. An NPC shouldn't heal to full just because someone initiates combat with it.

[Zingil]

Or more simply; make the ogre crush check if the ogre is already in combat when preparing an ogre crush. If not in combat then initiate combat, but if the ogre is already fighting the target then do not re-initiate combat. This simple check should save a lot of unnecessary code being executed as well as sorting out the problem outlined in above posts.

-Zingil's player