[CrystalMud] Silence?

Awfully quiet around here, even in the wake of my posting the basic CrystalMud
preliminary specs; no commentary at all?

> You wrote:

Sounds neato, but since I've no experience with MUDing, I've withheld comment.
:)

> Sounds neato, but since I've no experience with MUDing, I've withheld

Ah, but you're just the lad to give your thoughts on the beast,
though.  What do you think about what you /read/, not what do you
think about MUDs. Crystal won't be yourr typical type of MUD; no hacking and
slashing to go up a new level. Its about Power, Politics and just enjoying
Things That Go Boom, or that's the idea, anyway.

No offense intended, but as long as my internet access/e-mail
service is this cheap-as-hell (money and quality  :>) school
account, I really can't get involved in any MUD's. The Sysops play a pretty
mean Garth Wader with anyone using their accounts for that. Sooooo....I
figured that I would just keep out of any discussions on your game. It sounds
interesting, but as soon as I saw that it was a MUD, I pretty much skipped the
rest of your posting.

Sorry.

Out here.

        -monty

> At 11:27 PM 9/17/96 -0400, you wrote:

I have been so busy doing other things that I was unable to read about your
MUD. Is there any website or whatever out there I can read? Let me
know...

Jay

> On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, Alexander Williams wrote:

> Awfully quiet around here, even in the wake of my posting the basic

It sounds like a good idea, but since I have a Real Job (tm) I don't expect to
have a lot of time to invest in MUDding.

Since this is a MUD, however, it would be interesting to see if you could
improve your combat units -- i.e. make them go from green to regular to
veteran, and possibly develop some elite units. This is something that would
get me interested, because I could then develop the forces that I would want
to have.

One thing that I don't see happening with this is the "macro-scale"
point of view that you can get on a tabletop. In the game, most weapons have
very long ranges (e.g. lasers can shoot up to 60"). How can you represent this
with a 80x24 vt100 terminal screen and still give the feeling that the line of
battle stretches for a couple of miles?

> You wrote:

Power, Politics, Things That Go Boom? How could I turn *that* down?;)

I have no clue as to how MUD-battles would be handled, but the
interaction would be fun, particularly if espionage and diplomacy take a role.
Also, in the same vein as RPG experience, would units go up in experience as
well? That would be cool.

> It sounds like a good idea, but since I have a Real Job (tm) I don't

Part of the beauty of this design is that as long as you have one or two
active members in your Corp, you only have to show up once or
twice a week if you want to be involved in any offensive/defensive
actions regarding your mine holdings.

> Since this is a MUD, however, it would be interesting to see if you

That's sort of the idea; the status of both the Leadership and Morale of Units
is one of the things I still have to work the specifics out regarding.

One of the primary thoughts I have is that you purchase your Elements and
immediately organize them into Units (or, possibly, may buy entire
pre-designed Units).  Of course, your first Units will be Green (but
so will most peoples' for a while), but over time (unsure whether to tie it to
realtime or to `number of engagements' right now) they'll become Regulars and
better. Of course, taking Unit lossess will set that back; exactly how will
depend on how we go with increasing the ratings.

> One thing that I don't see happening with this is the "macro-scale"
point
> of view that you can get on a tabletop. In the game, most weapons

Part of the `environment,' if you will, of CrystalMud is that the line
of battle typically /doesn't/ extend for a couple miles; its
cost-ineffective to sink that much money into Units that go out and
get smashed. The terrain will be fairly broken, which will keep LoS down for
the most part.

I've been toying with the idea of implimenting `LoS /only/' targeting,
in which an Element can only see and target Elements either it or a
Unit-mate can recognize.  On the other hand, that increases
computational load for generating the ASCII-map.  Recognizing the
position of every Element on the battlefield means you only check LoS when you
go to fire.

The real answer to the question you posed, though, is that you'll be able to
request an `ASCII overview' map which displays the battlefield and which can
be centered on different locations. Being able to center it anywhere on the
field will give you the ability to `see it all', as it were, and that should
at least help in getting the feeling of immersion.

> Power, Politics, Things That Go Boom? How could I turn *that* down? ;)

I figured that'd be part of the general concensus.;) Why should the players of
That Other Game(tm) get to have all the fun, online?:)

> I have no clue as to how MUD-battles would be handled, but the

> a role. Also, in the same vein as RPG experience, would units go up in

> experience as well? That would be cool.

As currently envisioned, when the battle situation occurs on The Big
Map (basically, a planetary-surface map with hexts 500km wide or so),
the factions involved get together and decide when to schedule the actual
encounter so everyone that wants to be in on it can be there; on the Big Day,
they get together in seperate virtual rooms, the system gives them the Units
that will be in each Combat Group and they array themselves for the coming
battle, taking turns (per side) moving Units just as in DSII. Anyone on one
side can move any Unit, the idea is to leave it to the players to decide if
its one Unit apiece, or however they want to organize it.

The advantage of that arrangement is if someone goes linkdead, their Unit
won't be left high and dry, someone else can jump in and take over 'til they
get back.

As currently planned, espionage and diplomacy should be a fairly intriguing
(pardon the pun) part of life on FreeZone (the orbiting platform). Bring
formal charges against opposing Corps, plant damning evidence in their
quarters, get involved in a torrid love affair with an agent provecateur of
the Evil Empire. Enjoy life!:)

See a previous post of mine regarding experienced Units. I'm still grinding
that sort of thing through my head for specifics.