Version 2 of Brian's Combat Sim is up

[Jake Norwood]

http://www.theriddleofsteel.com/support/

Check it out. Also, Brian, why don't you hop on and tell us what's new.

Jake

[Sneaky Git]

Wow.  Just tried out the combat sim.. amazing.  If, as others have said, this is only a piece of the puzzle (game itself has more options, etc.), I can hardly wait to pick up a copy of this game!  Tomorrow cannot come fast enough!

[Durgil]

My local game store, here in Indianapolis, told me they'll have it in by Friday.  Man, I feel like a kid at christmas!

[Jake Norwood]

Make sure (everyone!) to talk up TROS at your FLGS so that they carry more! If you want supplements, we *have* to do well here.

Jake

[Brian Leybourne]

Hi all, I'm the guy who wrote the combat sim.

So, what's new? Well, lets see:

* There are I think 22 weapons to choose from.
* You can save/load characters.
* All combat maneuvers are available except grappling
* Although knowledge of the rules is helpful, it's a lot better about explaining what various maneuvers do and how they work, more so than v1 and especially more so than the dos combat sim.
* It incorporates the revised stop short and beat maneuvers (you can beat an opponents weapon or shield and they not only get the die penalty but cannot use the beaten object in the next exchange), and allows rapiers to feint without having to slash first (again, from the revised rules)
* You can fight with a shield (or without), or with 2 weapons. Off hand weapon choices are: dagger, short sword, arming glove or dual rapiers.
* You can half-sword, to get the extra benefit versus armour and the range change.
* You can even elect to drop your weapon and draw a dagger if your opponent has slipped inside your range
* It incorporates some of the rules minutae I missed in V1, like not being able to do a full evade the exchange after you attack, and your opponent losing his shield benefit if you duck & weave.
* You can declare an attack as your defense, and then try to steal initiative (or allow the opponent to go first).
* It has a pretty splash screen now :-)

I think that about covers it. No software is ever going to be able to cover all the possibilities of face-to-face tabletop play, but IMO it's a good introduction to the combat portion of the game and I think covers a good 80-90% of the combat possibilities.

I have been doing some work on V3, which has an AI to play the opponent, however it's been going slowly because of all the things an AI has to consider. I have also possibly just got another TROS project to work on that will take priority, but you'll see V3 at some point.

Brian.