Guard behavior

[Hymwen]

Could something be done to the way guards behave? This is the second PC that I lose due to being attacked by a higher-ranked PC and having every guard in the area immediately stampede me, resulting in instant death even though I never attacked anyone.  Maybe have them stop the fight and subdue you, or simply make it so that when you don't attack first, they don't hack you to pieces?

[Present Kank]

I can say, honestly, that that was not supposed to happen.

However...'higher-ranking' in this case denotes a noble, and one that you drew weapons on.  That's bad anywhere.

[Hymwen]

Yes, but that doesn't change how the code works, and the same thing would have happened regardless. I didn't attack, and it makes little sense for an entire army to charge one person because a noble attacks them.

[spawnloser]

I have a solution...make a new character and kill everyone.  Not just lots of people, but EVERYONE.

[Morfeus]

I do not know anything about the situation, but here is my thought:

If I work for someone as a soldier/bodyguard and this person decides to get in fight or/and point out and say: "Kill that person.", I would not try to subdue the person. I will fight to kill him.

EDITed to add:

I didn't attack, and it makes little sense for an entire army to charge one person because a noble attacks them.

To be honest, it makes sense. Even for some commoners on the street it would make sense to go and kill you. Because you are just "nobody" and there is a noble. What if the noble gets hurt in the fight? Whole street could suffer because of that! (depending who the noble is, who he bribed, who are his friends...)

[bloodfromstone]

I think the point is being missed. Regardless of how realistic or not it was in this particular situation, it won't be every (or even most) of the time. In a game with instant death, with NPC guards being the monsters they are and no limit on how many can gang beat one poor PC, I would say this should err on the side of not instantly obliterating a PC.

[Armaddict]

Er, from what I gather...I don't think it would take long for an army to kill one person, and there's not really a way to escape it either.

[Ghost]

... a noble attacks them.

Okay, is it me, or a noble attacking a commoner is actually something teribbly wrong?  Because if I remember right from an IC event, (I did not read any noble docs, mind you) a noble's personally drawing a commoner's blood physically is considered a tabu?

Again, before slaying me for this question, I mark my words:  I am just drawing this from an event took place in the game.

[Reiloth]

I'm pretty sure that in the docs, it says the Noble's are within their right to kill commoner's on the streets, but that its not somthing that should really occur ever. Just that its within their rights. I think it would be somthing more widely accept in the South than the North as well.

vagueries, but i'm pretty sure thats right on.

[Cyrian20]

I don't see her arguing the point of the noble vs. commoner death. She is just
talking about the coded behavior which in other situations besides this one is
overly twinky. Arguing if it is okay or not belongs in RP discussion (thus the reason
I think she put it in code discussion)



That being said we can assume some behavior scripts are probably on somebody's
to-do list as we speak... err write. I would like to see at least a pause like maybe
some movement lag for the ones not immediately in the room.

[Hymwen]

Er, from what I gather...I don't think it would take long for an army to kill one person, and there's not really a way to escape it either.

The point isn't whether or not it's realistic for an army to kill one person. My gripe is that if a noble (and probably templar, and possibly even militia sergeants/lieutenants and such, I dunno) attacks someone, every guard in the room will instantly assist the attacker, regardless of the situation, and most likely resulting in death with no chance of reaction for the target, even if noone intended that. I'd much rather see one of the following:

Guards solving things in a non-fatal manner, such as stopping the fight and subduing the target.

Some short period of warning, like "The human soldier of Whatever charges towards you!" and then 3 seconds later they'd attack.

Or simply not having every guard in the room instantly attack. One or two, then the rest if the target doesn't flee. All twenty guards probably aren't standing in a circle around you the moment the fight begins.

Edit: Another alternative could be that guards simply don't assist the noble when they attack someone unless the noble types some special guards-come-quick command. I don't think it makes IC sense for guards to interfere with a noble's fight without his/her permission. When a noble attacks a commoner it'll probably often be because the commoner pissed them off or something and the noble will likely enjoy getting to show off. If the noble doesn't request assistance and doesn't look like he/she needs it, I personally think it makes sense for guards not to interfere. I've seen PCs suffer IC consequences for doing just that, so why are guards programmed to automatically do it in any situation?

[SpyGuy]

Simply put, people need to be very careful around any guard mobs.  Whether they be npc soldiers, personal body guards or even just your clans kitchen cook.  Unless you want to die or want the person you are attacking to die then consider carefully before you perform ANY aggressive action within sight of these mobs.

Improvements might be nice but I don't doubt what happened was logical.  Too bad though Hymwen, better luck next time.

[Xygax]

Not just guard mobs, ANY clanned NPCs.  If you're attacking or attacked by someone in their clan, it is likely that they will assist.

Some of the early posts in this thread had too much IC info in them, btw.  If someone else on the thread knows who you are and can connect the incident specifically to you, that's too much IC info.  Please do not make posts that don't pass that litmus test.  The request tool provides an excellent avenue for this sort of issue.

As for the rest, it's tough to give NPCs a good idea of intent when combat breaks out, they certainly have no ability to understand the context of your conversation, so they don't really have any mystical means of deciding between subduing you and killing you.

-- X

[Hymwen]

they certainly have no ability to understand the context of your conversation

That's why I wish they wouldn't instantly murder you in every situation.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Maybe a simple addition to the Guard Code that requires the person that they should be obeying to call for help would solve most of the problem.

[Morfeus]

Call for help in case "superior" attacks or call for help in any fight? I somewhat do not like to see NPC guards standing and doing nothing while their noble is murdered just because he did not call them into fight, that does not seem very realistic to me. Actually, about clanned guards (not militia NPCs), I myself do not see much problem. It looks realistic for me they kill you in case you get into fight with their superior, no matter how did you get into that fight. IMHO.