Combat:Overview

Speed and Afflictions

Speed in combat is what truly separates the gifted from the merely competent. Being able to reach a decision instantly, in fact, almost sub-consciously, is the hallmark of the skilled. Speed, in this sense, does not mean that you may allow a player to do an infinite number of things as fast as he can hit his macros, however. What we mean by speed is that the intervals that must exist between certain actions (like healing, putting up certain defences, and performing nearly all offensive abilities) should be short.

For instance, Paladins have an ability that allows them to swing two swords at someone at once. This will unbalance them for approximately 4 seconds, after which they can do it again. Generally, the intervals between offensive abilities, aside from some special ones, will be between 2 and 5 seconds. The intervals between healing things, such as applying salves, eating healing herbs, drinking elixirs, etc, depend entirely on what they do. For example, because players can dish out afflictions quite quickly, most affliction-curing herbs and salves can be taken once a second. An elixir that heals health, on the other hand, can only be taken every 5 seconds or so.

'Give-and-take' is a term I use for lack of a better word. I use it to mean the giving of afflictions and the taking away (healing) of them, or the application of defences and the taking away of them from your opponent.

By way of example, a Serpentlord can, every two seconds, bite you with a venom, of which there are about 26 kinds, each doing something different to you. This is and example the giving of afflictions. You would, if you don't wish to die, be healing these afflictions as fast as you can, by eating the proper herbs, smoking the proper herbs, drinking the proper elixirs, applying the proper salves, and other things. This would be the taking away of afflictions.

Now, in order to try and stop the serpent from biting you, you can apply a sileris berry to yourself, which will stop him from biting you, but he can flay it away with his whip, and continue biting you. You can re-apply the berry, but it takes about 5 seconds to take effect, so he will get in a couple bites in the meantime. This is an example of give-and-take as it applies to defenses.

Give-and-take also applies to how we deal with health and mana. Unlike in a AD&D-style game, where you may be wounded seriously and take a long time to become healed, in a fight in Achaea, your health and mana, as well as your various wounds, can be healed very quickly. Generally, unless your opponent is incompetent, your health and mana (health particularly) will swing drastically. You get damaged, you attempt to heal yourself as quickly as possible. You'll see this a lot in the log of a fight I have included at the end of this document.

Balance and EQ

The basis on which Achaea's combat system is built is the idea of limiting how often you can do things like attacking and healing. In Achaea, the main way in which we limit how often you can attack are by using what we call Balance and Equilibrium. In most cases, to perform an offensive ability, you must possess both balance and equilibrium. Balance represents physical balance, while equilibrium represents mental composure.

For example, when you swing a sword, you may be unbalanced for about 4 seconds. While you are unbalanced, you won't be able to attack physically and, in most cases, mentally. Generally speaking, magical abilities use equilibrium while physical ones use balance.

We limit how often you can heal by imposing a sort of 'balance' on various healing methods. For instance, you can only successfully apply a salve to yourself once a second, and you can only eat an herb (with a couple exceptions) once a second. Elixirs that heal your health or mana may only be taken about once every 5 seconds, and the herb that heals health and mana (irid moss) may only be taken about once every 5 seconds.

By using the command PROMPT STATS, you will be able to see whether you have equilibrium and/or balance. If you have them, there will be an e (representing equilibrium) and a x (representing balance) on your prompt.