At 05:30 PM -0400 26/6/2000 , Bobby L. Russ wrote:
> I was wondering what the stock MUD's levels are for mobs. Let me
>try and put it another way. At level 5, what is the average mob's
>Hitpoints, damage attack, etc. Is there a list of this anywhere? I am
>curious as I am working on balancing the mobs with the characters right
>now in my MUD which is altered from Stock, but seeing a stock comparison
>might allow me to alter it as I altered the players.
The table is in mud/doc/OLD-DOCS/defs.doc under the heading "Monster
Lookup" which is rather old. The idea behind it is that an X level fighter
should be equal to an X level mob, with some restriction in terms of how
"magical" should a magic item be, the max amount of dam a weapon should do,
etc etc. However, whenever we add in some changes to the gameplay, even tho
it's just a small thing like letting players have better chance in getting
a +hr/dr items, we can already throw the table out the window.
Why?
1. We tend to forget that mobs don't use armors/weapons. Well... some do,
but even then they'll be wearing few armors and using a plain weapon. How
can a mob compete with players who goes around having among the best eq
available in the game?
2. Example: From the table, a lev20 mob is suggested to have 248-260hp,
thac0 of 1, 0 AC and does 3d6+4 damage (average of 14.5) which is supposed
to be considered as a Minor Demon. Half of the time, your average fighter
at the same level will have about the same hp, but their thac0, AC and dam
will definitely be better.
3. Mobs don't use skills/spells. Some will cast spells or use kick/bash,
but very few. Players, on the otherhand, will bombard them with all the
skills/spells that they've mustered. With some coders/imps tend to add in
more skills/spells that can do more dam, mobs won't be able to stand a chance.
4. Players will group up together. Mobs?
Solution? So far I've seen muds that some or all of the following in order
to try to create a balance:
1. Let mobs have more hp to withstand the assault.
2. Let mobs do more damage.
3. Make it so that mobs can also group together, either they will randomly
group up together or if they see their "friend" being thrashed they will
join in.
4. Let mobs make use of the skills/spells as well. Why would an aggro
assassin mob start an attack by the normal means, when he can backstab the
victim and do more dam?
So, will these help? Yes and no. These suggestions can help, but
coders/imps must really sit down and think up some form of guidelines in
order to balance up the mud. However, just having guidelines is not enough.
I believe that we need to continue to review everything and change when
necessary. It doesn't matter if the max amount of dam a weapon can do is
supposed to be 4d6, when there are lots of weapons out there that does that.
---
Afizal Mustapa
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
(amustapa@hotmail.com)
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