[CF-Devel] Paralyze

[Mark Wedel]

Yann Chachkoff wrote:
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      Some thoughts about this...
     
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      Some underlined problems with possible corrections:
     
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      1 - I got paralyzed and I think it is a server problem, resulting in a savage
     
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      disconnection.
     
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      Can't we simply add a message or something telling the player that he's
     
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      currently paralyzed ? This could solve the problem in most cases.
     
     
 This would be easy enough to do.

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      2 - You are paralyzed and you need to leave the game for some reason, but
     
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      can't.
     
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      I don't think this is a specific paralyze problem - you may need to leave the
     
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      game abruptly at any time. Either we allow a way to leave the game anywhere
     
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      you want (effectively rendering the savebeds useless) or we implement some
     
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      kind of "paused" mode. Another thing to do here is to be able to use some
     
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      commands even if you're paralyzed (mostly "quit" and "save").
     
     
 This isn't really a problem.  If the client disconnects from the server, you
will get saved where ever you were.  The unix clients actually have a disconnect
option that will do just that.  I'm not positive what the behaviour is when that
happens (eg, where you re-appear when you re-join) - I think the case is that if
you are in a no magic spot (like a treasure chamber), you will re-appear at
home.  Otherwise, you will re-appear wherever you were when you disconnected. 
Random maps are a little different in some of the handling I think.


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      3 - Players paralyze newbies "just for fun".
     
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      That's the risk in any "unrestricted" game environment. If we prevent the use
     
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      of paralyze on other players, we also need to prevent any other harmful spell.
     
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      My opinion: if you are a newbie and feel repressed by some bad boys, either
     
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      make a league against him or report it to the server maintainer. This will not
     
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      require again more code in the server and could also promote teamplay
     
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      somewhat.
     
     
 Yep.  Players setting up lightning walls, or hitting newbies with drain
attacks, or anything else can be done (steal from them while invisible or
something).  And the term newbie here may be incorrect - it is really anyone of
low level, which could still be experienced players without the proper
protections.

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      4 - I'm paralyzed but I want to be able to save my character from
     
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      monsters/starvation/door bell syndrome
     
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      Isn't paralyze supposed to prevent you to do anything with your character ? Or
     
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      maybe it has another meaning in English ? Isn't paralyze one of the things
     
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      that can add more risk to the adventurer's life ? And if players are still
     
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      able to do some things like using items or casting some spells, why would not
     
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      the monsters also be able to do so ?
     
     
 The above is correct.  The problem is that paralyze can basically be a death
attack if you get paralyzed with nasty monsters around.  So everyone gets the
amulet/ring of free action when they can, which makes them 100% immune to this,
so at level 10-15, paralyze is now meaningless (as is drain).

 Note that at least in case of the doorbell issue, you could disconnect your
client.  But your not supposed to be able to save yourself from the doorbell.


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      Except for the first point (sending a clear "paralyzed" message/status report
     
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      to the player), I see no reason to change the way paralyze currently works -
     
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      sounds like the game would take care a little more of me, and I don't want it:
     
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      I love living dangerously :)
     
     
 As said, the problem is more that most will not live dangerously - you get that
immunity to it, and its no longer a big deal.  The only real issue is if you
take that amulet off and put something else on because you do not expect to be
fighting anything with that attack immediately, and would rather have some other
effect.

 I think the real goal is to still have paralyze in the game, but in such a way
where immunity to it is not a requirement to effectively play.

 My personal thought is to make the duration very short (less than 10 ticks,
further adjusted by protections).  This duration is not re-lengthened if you are
hit while paralyzed, eg, if there is only 1 tick until you are unparalyzed and
you get hit by paralyzation, it does not change anything - only getting hit when
you are not currently paralyzed makes a difference.  In this way, you should at
least get one action before you may get hit again.  I also like Peter's idea of
only needing to make one save against the spell.  This fixes some things as
often you will get hit multiple times from the same spell due to the overlapping
nature of it.