Disengage/Re-engage when fighting someone you can't see.

[Seeker]

It seems that this might occur.

You are fighting something.  Some-other-thing (like nightfall, or a rising storm, or some icky vile magicky thing) occurs and makes you unable to see your opponent.  If you disengage, your opponent (who might not be able to see you a lick either) can still keep wailing on you.  There is no way to re-engage with that opponent who is pounding your hide.  If you made this mistake in a room with no exits (or exits you can open only by seeing them) you have just committed suicide.

Is this right?  Is this a code feature?  Is a re-engage command appropriate in such situations?  Am I just missing some syntax?


Seeker

[jstorrie]

This is very likely an oversight, since normally speaking, when someone attacks you in the dark, you are able to fight back (or at least try to.)

[Qzzrbl]

I think Seeker's kinda got a point here....

It's probably a situation that wouldn't happen too terribly often, fighting in a room with closed doors and you suddenly become blinded for one reason or another. I can't think of why someone would disengage after this, but there's also no real good reason not to have a re-engage hit-that-asshole-who-is-hitting-me-back command.

We should make that the syntax too, "hit-that-asshole-who-is-hitting-me-back".

[Tisiphone]

Make a nosave combat toggle. Disengage automatically frobs it to on, so you won't 'save' against combat, i.e., hit people back if they hit you. You can always frob it manually though, so if you get into a situation like this, you can re-engage automatically. This has the added benefit of allowing you to have your character decide not to attack things attacking him, for which I'm sure someone somewhere will find a use at least once.

[Gimfalisette]

You can't just enter "hit" or "kill" or "disarm" or "bash" or whatever with no target, like you can in normal combat to re-engage?

[Seeker]

I can't think of why someone would disengage after this...

Let me give you one excellent reason NOT to....   

You lunge at the bristling war tregil but it's foul temper gets in the way!
You slash at the bristling war tregil, barely grazing his leg.

A bristling war tregil rears back and horks a viscous gob at your face.
Your eyes burn with agony.  You are blinded!

A bristling war tregil bites you on the arm, connecting hard.

{disengage}
Someone bites at you, but you dodge out of the way.
You stop fighting a bristling war tregil!

{Shout (flinging both arms over ^me face, howling in pain) My eyes!}
You shout, in sirihish accented sirihish, fling both arms over your face, howling in pain, "My eyes!"
Someone bites you on the ankle, connecting hard.

{hit tregil}
You don't see them here.

Someone starts crawling up your leg, its sharp claws digging in through your leggings.


{kill war}
You don't see them here.

Someone lightly claws your wrist.
Someone bites you on the nuts, doing grievous damage.

{Shout Nooooooooo!!}
You shout, in sirihish accented sirihish, "Noooooo!

{emote bats at ~tregil in a panic of terror, trying to work loose the ties holding up ~leggings}
You can't see that here.

Someone says, around a mouthful of flesh and leather, shaking his head back and forth fiercely, "Heh heh heh..."

Someone claws your body, connecting hard.
Someone claws your waist, connecting solidly.

Seeker

[Seeker]

Am I just missing some syntax?

You can't just enter "hit" or "kill" or "disarm" or "bash" or whatever with no target, like you can in normal combat to re-engage?

Not according to the any of the help files.  I looked pretty damn thoroughly.  Trust me.


Seeker

[Morgenes]

Try using kick or bash.

[Seeker]

Thanks, Morgenes.  I suspect that Gimf is right, too.

Could we have a small update to the disengage documentation?  It claims that aggressive actions will reinitiate combat, but all combat commands are defined in their own help files as requiring valid targets, so would seem therefore unusable in the situation above.

I think, once engaged, kick, bash and disarm work during regular combat without the described required <valid target> also, come to think of it.


Seeker

[Gimfalisette]

I think, once engaged, kick and bash work during regular combat without the described required <valid target> also, come to think of it.

That's what I meant. If you're in combat and disengaged, you can do kick or bash or disarm with no target to re-engage. (You can use those at any time in combat with no target specified and you'll do it to whichever target you're currently attacking...or you can use them and specify another target.) I would suspect that if you're in combat and disengaged you could use hit or kill with no target to re-engage also...but I haven't tested it and I don't remember specifically.

[Morgenes]

I would suspect that if you're in combat and disengaged you could use hit or kill with no target to re-engage also...but I haven't tested it and I don't remember specifically.

I think this would be a nice change, but unfortunately it was not coded this way.  Something to consider for when a coder has some free time.