Posted by Nepenthe(IMM) on July 5, 2000 at 13:49:25:
In Reply to: Hmm, I like this thread. My two cents: posted by The Arcane(VIP) on July 5, 2000 at 12:20:34:
> Of course, there are also a couple of instances I can think of, where nuances or hidden variables related to a skill or class are realistically beyond the realm of even educated guesswork on the part of a player who has never been privy to the code. I'd be curious to know what those instances are. Send me an email on that? Generally, when I hear someone talking about an illogical nuance, they're wrong and it's actually a don't-care condition. . . but I'm going to assume you have some idea of what you're talking about. > This is, in my opinion, the most important part of this post. There are skills that will seriously screw you if you let people get them off on you in combat, regardless of how badass you are. If you're slept by a necro, for example, now you have to rely on the necro botching the kill moreso than on your own skill, if you want to escape. Almost all of the skills in question are combat-starting only. I have some misgivings about your sleep comment -- but then I've thought up no small number of new tricks to mix in with it in the last year and a half, so maybe as necro non-botching-ness approaches infinity that does work out. Competent groupmates here, as everywhere, change everything. . .but many's the character slain by relying on someone s/he shouldn't have. > Keeping alert, not doing things that lag you for more than one round, and spamming murder (or something else) when they're not in the room, and so forth... that's the real key. Over the past two years or so, and a few thousand (ugh) hours of playing, I've never been bard slept. I've never been fiended. I can count the number of times a necro or AP has ever slept me on one hand. I've only been withered twice in my playing career... once due to an error I made, once due to simple lag. And so forth. I've actually been bard slept quite a lot with various characters over the years -- but rarely by a lone bard. Those just getting started might question, "Why would you intentionally try something as seemingly stupid as jumping a group of three or four including a bard?" Sometimes, obviously, there are RP concerns, but beyond that the answer is twofold: First, because if you're "good", nine times out of ten you can pull it off. Second, because you believe you're that good -- virtually any time you go up against a greater number of players, you're gambling that they're going to perform less well than you. I should really write that ego post, but I have some thoughts on roleplaying I'm going to try to get to first for my next coherent non-reply. > Well, that's not really a valid argument as a tactic. You're assuming an unskilled or simply lobotomized conjurer for the above, and any number of "tactics" work if you assume a dumb opponent, but fail as all-purpose measures. True -- however, there have been an awful lot of posts over the duration of conjurers claiming that no matter how bad the gaunter and how good the gauntee was that there was nothing you could do. I'm not really suggesting that anyone use that particular tactic. It's a simple example of the idea of lateral thinking. How many times did we see a log of someone getting trashed by a nightgaunt with the plea, unspoken or otherwise, "There was nothing I could do!" The point is, there's a lot you can do, and much of it should be taking place before that gaunting ever occurs. Going on the offensive and hounding the conjurer and depriving him/her of rest time is a simple one. Getting the drop on them on their favorite gaunting location is another. You're absolutely right, a smarter conjurer can deal with these ideas and requires some sneakier and more clever ideas -- but I get the idea that many people don't even know where to start, do you? > As I've noted in past discussions, nightgaunt gets a bad rap mostly due to idiots who fire them off every other sunset, occasionally getting lucky and having one bring the prey, and even more occasionally, managing to finish them off (c.f. Vaieno logs). If nightgaunts are used properly, with careful preparation and planning, your odds of survival go way, way down. I'll post a couple of examples later. Absolutely. That's true of nearly everything though, isn't it? My issue is with the idea that any idiot can play a conjurer and destroy any and all opposition without being smart enough to find their guild from market square, not the idea that they can be used well.