Combat Sim update

[Bob Richter]

What version of the combat sim are you using? You do know that V2 (the one that is currently on the webpage etc) has 25 weapons in there, right? I stopped adding weapons when I got to the point where the only ones left were basically just copies of other ones I had already added, but if there are any specific weapons that you just can't live without, I can put them in.

I'm using V2.0

The list of weapons available there (largely for my reference:)
1. Arming Sword
2. Bastard Sword
3. Club
4. Doppelhander
5. Dual Rapiers (I prefer "Case of Rapiers" myself, but...)
6. Flail
7. Footman's Pick
8. Long Spear
9. LongSword
10. Mace
11. Maul
12. Pike
13. Poleaxe
14. Poniard Dagger
15. Quarterstaff
16. Rapier
17. Short Sword
18. Warflail

Eighteen weapons, by my count, leaving a rather large list of omitted weapons.

Eventually, I would like to see EVERYTHING included (as far as melee weapons, at least.)

But, hm.. what CAN'T I live without?

1. Cut & Thrust
Unlike any other weapon -- a medium-length sword almost equally capable at Cutting and Thrusting.

2. Sabre/Scimitar
A Cut & Thrust with an important difference which makes it one of tRoS's most entertaining weapons.

3. Estoc
I've always wanted to use one of these. I'm also somewhat unsure of the mechanics behind it.

4. Greatsword
I know. I know. More or less just a more powerful Longsword...

5. Falchion
One of the best Sword & Shield swords out there. Something sadly lacking in the Combat Simulator.

6. Short Spear
Um. If you have a Long Spear....

7. Short Staff
Enough different from the Quarterstaff that I think it warrants inclusion.


I have many, many ideas, but most of them should wait for later revisions.

Um. What language is the Combat Sim written in, BTW?

[Aaron]

Well that's fair enough then.  I used the Sim to help get a feel for how the system worked..Thats how I found the prob with Toss.  Now I'm playing around with it now and I notice that bind and strike doesnt seem to be taking the success dice away from the opponent before they swing back..Cut and Thrust got 2 success on his bind against Hef who was attacking back with 6. hef still got to roll all his 6 dice and gutted poor Cut and Thrust.  Should this work like toss?
Here's another one I just remembered..The defender gets no options when the attacker does a Stop Short..?

[Brian Leybourne]

I notice that bind and strike doesnt seem to be taking the success dice away from the opponent before they swing back..Cut and Thrust got 2 success on his bind against Hef who was attacking back with 6. hef still got to roll all his 6 dice and gutted poor Cut and Thrust.  Should this work like toss?

Hmm.. I'll have a look at that. From memory you can't do a B&S on a simultaneous attack, so I'm guessing you're talking about the situation where player A does a B&S and player B responds by attacking instead of defending?

Here's another one I just remembered..The defender gets no options when the attacker does a Stop Short..?

RTM. He's not supposed to.

Brian.

[Aaron]

Oh I see........ As the defender against a stop short you get no option...No need to change the sim for that one then..Does seem a little unreasonable though...The peasant with the pitchfork stops short on the giant who looses dice cause hes put off? A very silly example but I'm sure you see my point..  It didn't occur to me that you wouldn't get a chance to react as the defenders options arent set for any of the other maneuvers.
Hmmm...thats a very long list of weapons up there..
Has anyone mentioned grappling for the Sim? Maybe not the full rolling around on the ground rules but possible Grappling to trap of Throw?

[Brian Leybourne]

Has anyone mentioned grappling for the Sim? Maybe not the full rolling around on the ground rules but possible Grappling to trap of Throw?

Reading through the rules, it seems that B&S is supposed to remove the dice from the opponent on your next attack, the concept being that you have opened him up so that he'll have a harder time defending against your next attack, not so that he'll be penalised on HIS next attack, so I'm going to leave it as is.

As for grappling, well, that's a whole new kettle of fish and a lot of work, which is why I have not bothered so far. I may or may not, I'll think about it.

Brian.

[Brian Leybourne]

Eventually, I would like to see EVERYTHING included (as far as melee weapons, at least.)

But, hm.. what CAN'T I live without?

Grumble. You're talking a lot of work for negligible reward - most of the weapons you list are only fractionally different from others that are in there.

Is anyone else dying to see extra weapons in the combat sim? If I get another vote for yes then I'll add Bob's suggestions, otherwise the weapons selection will stay as it is for now.

And hey, eighteen weapons is still 17 more than you had with the old combat sim... :-)

I have many, many ideas, but most of them should wait for later revisions.

Um. What language is the Combat Sim written in, BTW?

There's not a whole lot of point in having suggestions unless you tell me what they are.

Oh, and Delphi, which is visual Pascal, basically.

Brian.

[Lucien Black]

I can live without additional weapons, though they'd be nice.  I would like to add my vote for (if it's not too difficult) adding the use of appropriate skills.  I say that mainly because I'm unsure of precisely how some are meant to work, and because I know that if I ever manage to actually play TROS, something like Body Language is something I'd use a lot.

Anyway, I would like to say thanks for doing all this work at all!  It is much appreciated.

Lucien

[Aaron]

I've got an easy one for you to fix Brian...If it hasn't already been noticed.  The arming glove Bind and Strike target number is 0.
Aaron.

[Brian Leybourne]

I've got an easy one for you to fix Brian...If it hasn't already been noticed.  The arming glove Bind and Strike target number is 0.
Aaron.

You're right, but ony for player 2 :-)

That's what comes of cutting and pasting blocks of code but forgetting to change variable names from "abindstrike" to "bbindstrike"... :-)

Fixed.

Brian.

[Aaron]

Good stuff..
I would also like to second Lucien's comment, all the work is much appreciated.  I found the original sim excellent for helping me understand the flow of combat so I'm sure the new version will assist even greater.  
aaron

[Bob Richter]

Eventually, I would like to see EVERYTHING included (as far as melee weapons, at least.)

But, hm.. what CAN'T I live without?

Grumble. You're talking a lot of work for negligible reward - most of the weapons you list are only fractionally different from others that are in there.

That's also true of many you DID include. The Scimitar/Sabre, at least. It's a very unique weapon. The Falchion, too. But I *do* want all of them.

I have many, many ideas, but most of them should wait for later revisions.

Um. What language is the Combat Sim written in, BTW?

There's not a whole lot of point in having suggestions unless you tell me what they are.

Oh, and Delphi, which is visual Pascal, basically.

Brian.

Suggestions:
1 - Include equipment quality factors
2 - Switch to a primary hand/off hand orientation instead of a weapon/shield orientation (that shows a certain bias.)

I actually forget what most of my ideas are right now.
I'll get back to you on that.

Delphi?

Odd how it looks so much like a VisBASIC program.

Oh well, my training's not in Pascal, so it wouldn't do me any good to beg for your source code anyway. :)

[Valamir]

Grumble. You're talking a lot of work for negligible reward - most of the weapons you list are only fractionally different from others that are in there.

Would it be possible to add an input form so that anyone who wanted could enter the relevant weapons stats and have them populate the database.  That way you wouldn't have to do all the fiddly entry stuff.

[Lance D. Allen]

Y'know, I think Valamir's on the right track. The ability to enter our own weapons, so long as they don't have any really special qualities (beyond +/- bleeding/shock/pain or somesuch) would vastly increase the value of the program. It would allow us to do it so you don't have to, and it would also allow us to try out experimental weapons for balance issues, or to add new weapons entirely that don't exist in the current TRoS book, but which might come out in TFoB or some other supplement.

I'd say, while you're at it, make armor the same way.

PlayerX: "Hey Brian, why don't you add X weapon to the sim, it's my favorite."

Brian: "Why don't YOU add it, and send me your weapon file, so I can use it too?"

[Brian Leybourne]

1 - Include equipment quality factors
2 - Switch to a primary hand/off hand orientation instead of a weapon/shield orientation (that shows a certain bias.)

1. At this point, that would entail a lot of work, so it's a maybe for the future but don't hold your breath.

2. Left/Right or Weapon/Shield, either is easy to do, but once you go down one path, you're talking a LOT of work to backtrack (and basically, re-code a good 10% of the program, which is well over 20,000 lines of source code at the moment, not to mention all the form changes etc). So, no, basically. And I disagree with your bias comment anyway :-)

Odd how it looks so much like a VisBASIC program.

Oh well, my training's not in Pascal, so it wouldn't do me any good to beg for your source code anyway. :)

It wouldn't matter if you were a Delphi-god, it still wouldn't do you any good to beg for my source code.

Would it be possible to add an input form so that anyone who wanted could enter the relevant weapons stats and have them populate the database. That way you wouldn't have to do all the fiddly entry stuff.

Hmm.. well, no, not really. Due to the actual programatic edits I had to make for many of the weapons because they "break the rules" (so to speak) I have an internalised database instead of an external data file. See previous comments on recoding the entire program (and you're talking a more substantial change here) to understand why this wont happen.

On the other hand, yesterday I added all the extra weapons requested, plus a few more, so you shouldn't have too much to complain about :-)

What it comes down to is, I understand some of the extra things people think would be cool, but you're talking a huge amount of work to implement them, and I'm not being paid for this you know :-) Plus, and this is important too, my opinion of how the sim should look is a consideration also.

Brian.

[Mokkurkalfe]

Plus, and this is important too, my opinion of how the sim should look is a consideration also.

Brian.

Of course.

BTW, I'm really looking forward to when you start with the AI opponent, mostly because of the very interesting discussions that will bring on how to fight in TROS...


...You *will* let the rest of us help you with that, won't you?