Blockades

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

I was sitting in study block today, thinking that's it's been far too long since one of my patented Ideas That'd Never Work (tm). Then it hit me like a mul punch to the gonads... Blockades. Walls. Fences. Let me give you the skinny on it.

Basically, I'm proposing that there be a small supply of tent-like objects avaliable in game. These objects I'm proposing I will henceforth call blockades, though they could easily be walls, fences, or pointy sticks jammed vertically into the dirt. They'd work like this...

Some one buys an object with a sdesc similar to 'a pile of blockade materials' or 'a bundle of wooden planks'. They would be super-expensive, very heavy, and a general pain in the ass to obtain. However, they'd be there, and more or less worth the cost and strain to your kank's back.

To use this 'pile of blockade materials', you'd have to 'drop' it (like you do a tent) and then 'build' it. The 'build' command would be augmented with a direction, you know, north, south, east, or west to show which direction you want to close off. Once built, the blockade would have a sdesc along the lines of 'a spiky wall of bone has been erected here'. So if you typed 'drop blockade', then 'build blockade west', you'd have a wall that would block all movement to the west. Similarly, a duplicate of the blockade would have to appear one room to the east, blocking all movement to the east as well (this way, no one could accidently wander into the room "through" the blockade)

The blockade, in an OOC coding sense, would act a lot like a cross between an uber-NPC and a sparring dummy. It'd have a ludicrously beefed up guard skill to prevent anyone from "sneaking" around it, or what have you. "Getting around" the wall would be completely impossible... They'd have to smash it down, which will litterally be 'hitting' or 'killing' the wall. (It'd have a high number of health points to symbolize it's toughness... Like 500, for example. Obviously, higher-quality blockades will have higher health, and be able to withstand attack longer.) It would act like a sparring dummy in the sense that anyone stupid enough to 'kick' or 'bash' this looming wall before them would find themselves flat on their ass with a sore toe or shoulder.

Finally, once the blockade has served it's purpose, it could be deassembled, reverting back to it's 'pile of blockade materials' form. The benefits I see for such an object would be:

1. Raiding- We've all seen twinky raiders, and similarly twinky victims. Blockades along narrow passes could enrich raiding roleplay greatly, in my opinion, as both the victim and the raider are forced to stand still for a minute and EMOTE as opposed to spamming 'flee self' or 'kill dark'.

2. PC Militia- Setting up a blockade along Caravan's Way might be an interesting attempt to catch that damned spice smuggler, or setting up a row of obsidian spires might deter that gith raiding party from charging through the gates. It'd be interesting ICly too, having to contact your Sergeant and tell him you can't go on patrol because that damn militia decided to ward off the main drag once again.

3. RPTs- Think about it, the next time you and <insert clan name> are looting an ancient <insert cool place>, you could find yourself confronted with a ruined gate, collapsed tunnel, or overturned wagon you have to contend with. Suddenly those warhammer-wielding muls look like a real good idea, eh?

Problems I see with this are:

1. Coding- There's a reason I put this one first. An item/NPC crossbreed like this could very well be impossible to code. Then there is the issue of 'duplicating' the blockade in an adjacent room to fully simulate the wall. I know diddly squat about Arm's code, so I'll leave possible solutions up to you smart folks.

2. Abuse- No one wants to encounter twenty blockades along the North Road, I'm sure of it. This could easily be countered, however, in the following ways. First of all, the blockades would be incredibly heavy and expensive, seriously limiting their avaliability and preventing any rag-tag team of raiders from getting their grubby, spice-streaked hands on one. Secondly, I feel there should be a -huge- delay (maybe even as much as ten RL minutes) in erecting a blockade. This would allow ample time to EMOTE sharpening the obsidian spikes and driving in the agafari planks, and would prevent unrealistic moments like, "Hey, the Tulukis are attacking! Quick, build a wall, they're starting to shoot!" Finally, there could be a simple request for players to be considerate when using blockades... No permament wall in front of the 'Rinth for example. Of course, this wouldn't be a huge problem, as the blockade would be unable to defend itself in any way without players avaliable... That fence isn't going to strike back, so the 'Rinth rats can take their time tearing it apart, brick by brick.

3. Playability- Buildable and moveable walls, even if rare, could seriously hinder playability for a lot of players. I think this problem can be easily fixed by several of the methods above, however... Mainly, making blockades a rare issue to encounter, and having them take time to assemble and tear down. This would give raiders or other organizations without access to blockades a fighting chance, enabling them to patiently outmaneveur their foes. Let's take a fake example... Let's say that Allanak is at war again with Tuluk. North of Luir's, Tuluk decides to establish a blockade along one of the narrow passages through the North Road. A 'Nakki scout reports that there is a 'wall of vertical wooden planks' blocking the road, preventing any hope of travel. Instead of turning around, Templar L33tness sends out a dispatch of light cavalry to tear down the wall, who then sprint back to Luir's and rest up. The next morning, Lord Templar L33tness takes the heavy infantry off to battle at the ruins of the blockade, clearing  any few planks up if they persist after yesterday's assault (along with any Northern barbarians set to guard there). Ah, strategy... How I long for thee...

That's about it. It has some obvious issues, but I think it'd be an interesting, albeit minor, addition to the game. What do you think?

[X-D]

Sounds cool, and most of the code is already in place, except the hit points part. I'm for it.

Don't think it would take much to take an existing "item" in game to block directions rename and redesc it and attach a script to another item to "build" it. Making it attackable might be difficult though.

[creeper386]

It has some obvious issues, but I think it'd be an interesting, albeit minor, addition to the game.

I think you kind of said it all right there. No way to argue with it being interesting, but it would be fairly minor for the work.[/quote]

[Northlander]

Would anyone be allowed/able to disassemble it and how would this work playability-wise?

Seems a good idea and I think it could bring something to the game in the areas you mentioned.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

There's one thing I don't think you've brought up, regarding the disassemble part: who would be able to disassemble it, and how would this work, code-wise and playability-wise?

You're right, I did forget to mention that, and I'm afraid to say I'm not -entirely- sure. I'm not sure how deep the tent and guarding code go, but I'll say they've always impressed me greatly. Perhaps a piece of code similar to the one in the guarding code would be an order here. I'm talking about how your character will automatically let people who is part of his clan past while he is 'guarding' something. Maybe when a person sets up a blockade, a tag is set to their character. Then it'd be only that person and anyone in that person's clan that could begin deassembling the blockade. If that person isn't in a clan, then it'd be only him and him alone that could do it.

A person attempting to deassemble a blockade who didn't take part in it's construction might get a message like "You have no idea where to start" or something.

Other tidbits I mentioned earlier would be helpful here, too, such as the assembly or break down of a blockade taking as long as several minutes in real time. Maybe when Recruit Dumbass attempts to single-handedly take apart the blockade it will send out an echo along the lines of 'Recruit Dumbass begins taking apart the spiny bone wall'. At which point his commanding officer or fellow clan members could come across and bitch slap him. It'd have to work like crafting or foraging or such so the command could be 'interruptable'.

And if all else fails, there's that mul with the warhammer I mentioned.

[Rindan]

Would anyone be allowed/able to disassemble it and how would this work playability-wise?

Seems a good idea and I think it could bring something to the game in the areas you mentioned.

Let anyone be able to pull it apart.  Just let it take 10 minutes.  If you need to get through in a hurry or are afraid you might get interupted, then bash your way through.  If you have the time, then just dismantle it.

[X-D]

I was going to write, of course you'd have to have it so that it could only be dissasembled from the room it was assembled in, then I got to thinking, there is no reason for it to show up in the other room since it is an outdoor item, it only needs to show up if you look that direction or attempt to move in that direction, looking you would see the barrior but nothing behind it, moving would give you attempt to go (direction) but you run into a spiky bone wall. This would also take care of the problem of giving it actual hitpoints and being able to attack it, one simply needs a script so that each time the barrior is built it can take say 50 hits before going down, the hits would simply be from an armed pc or npc ramming it. The already built in move delays would make it take a while for a lone person to knock it down, and the larger the group the faster they could knock it down. If you wanted to get a bit fancy you could have strength bonus, so say a dwarf counts as 2 hits, mul gets 3 and half-giant gets 4.
Then you need only attach an echo so that the people behind the barrier know something is bashing at it and bingo.

(edit)
Oh, and don't make (the kits)  buyable or sellable by npc merchants but craftable by merchants (merchants getting the best types) and subs that would be able to craft certain kits. Though once the barrior kit is crafted, anybody can set it up and dismantle it.

That would likly be the simplest way to implement......I mean, tents and walls already in place, item damage already in place, a matter of a few simple scripts.
(another edit)
And some of the "higher" blockades could be spiked and such, causing damage to the ones bashing it.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I would actually suggest that merchants not be able to craft it, and that only the subclasses of 'rebel' and 'stonecrafter' and 'lumberjack' be able to. I think that would be more logical, since these are the folks most likely to understand how to do such a thing.

[X-D]

So, your saying sombody that could build a wagon, weave a basket, make a sword, craft a crossbow, make armor and many many many many more things can't understand how to build a transportable wall kit?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Yes, because those are all things that can be sold. A blockade should not be sold, it should be made as needed, and by folks who need it and would have some sort of background in needing it.

[Rindan]

Yes, because those are all things that can be sold. A blockade should not be sold, it should be made as needed, and by folks who need it and would have some sort of background in needing it.

I think people confuse the merchant class with fluff class.  A merchant is really just a master craftsman.  He doesn't have to be a nice guy.  He doesn't have to be a wussy guy afraid to get his hands dirty.  He doesn't have to be subtle.  He could very well be damned good at wood working and happily build a barricade to do whatever nasty thing it is built to do.  Dishonest work?  Sure, but work none the less.  In fact, I imagine a raiding group would find great use for their own merchant class character.  He would be a sort of Mr. Fixit.  He might not hold a weapon worth his salt, but he knows exactly what everything they bring in his worth.  He knows how to repair their armor, work hides they bring in, fix their weapons, build new weapons, build any odds and ends they might need, and in he is a damned fine cook to boot.  I think barricade building would be a fine addition to the merchant guild. Sure, your average merchant house merchant would never touch it.  Your skilled craftsman who is a master of wood working might.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Actually, I don't think of the merchant class as a fluffy, tregil-hugging class. However, you do make a valid point. In this light, I would say yes, let the merchant make them as well then.

[Anonymous]

Without getting too IC, hopefully, something like a barricade already exists, that blocks movement and line of sight in the direction it is placed.  So really, to do something similar with a crafting skill might work as follows:

1. Craft an "unbuilt" barricade.  You might "craft log log log into disassembled barricade."  Creates an unbuilt barricade object, much like an unerected tent.  Very heavy, obviously.  And yes, log, log.  It's big, it's heavy, it's wood.  It's better than bad, it's good.

2. "erect barricade north".  You erect a barricade to the north.  Two things happen, one is that movement and line of sight are blocked just like the current code allows for, and the other is that the room now contains a barricade object.  The barricade object should be marked as something that cannot be picked up.

3. "unbuild barricade" or something like that.  Turns the barricade object into a disassembled barricade object after a delay.  Taking another action, getting attacked, etc. will result in the "your concentration falters" message.  Once the barricade is unbuilt, passage and line of sight through the affected direction resume normally.  Rooms may only contain barricades in legitimate directions that are not currently blocked by some other method.  Saves on having to build in a way to attack barricades or some such.

[Anonymous]

I realized a small, correctable flaw in my previous post.  In step 2, when the barricade is up, it should place objects in two rooms, the room it is erected in, and the other room affected by it.  This allows it to be broken down from either room that it exists in.  When it is broken down, the object in the room in which it was not broken down in should be removed.

[forest imp]

Just wondering if this barricade/wall/fence could be built in front of enterable 'gates' like some buildings and stalls?  If so, would it work any differently than blocking directions would?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Just wondering if this barricade/wall/fence could be built in front of enterable 'gates' like some buildings and stalls?  If so, would it work any differently than blocking directions would?

It would not allow someone from another room to enter from the direction that the object is placed in to 'guard'.

And guest, you are correct. Not a bad idea, and I had not even thought of it. A few minor tweaks and this is suddenly very implementable.

[Trenidor]

I love this idea!!!...will there be a climb skill affecting it?

3. "unbuild barricade" or something like that. Turns the barricade object into a disassembled barricade object after a delay.

"unbuild barricade" should produce a somewhat raw material instead of the build it back up thingy - like turn the baracade back into logs instead of the whole kit- that way there is no barricade wars and the left over logs can be turned into weapons-------bam...<whoever built the barricade to stop the people> provides weapons for <the people blocked>
I'm not saying weather or not that would work out but hey. :wink:

last part-
Those of us who have somehow built an IC clan can build a nifty stronghold wall around their secret hideout.

[Kalden]

Many large walls in the game are climbable, so it makes sense that your "fences" are also going to be climbable. Personally, I don't see them as that effective. I'd put the difficulty of climbing them at pretty low, even, depending on what it is.

They would be effective at making it harder to flee, though. Back people up into your wall.

[X-D]

Two things.

1:If you stick the barricade object in the adjoining room, the "unbuild" command should not work there, you can destroy it sure, but everything holding it together would be on the side it is built from.

2: unless you added a climb command to the game, making it climbable would increase the difficulty of implementing barricades by A lot, after all, the other thing that is currently in the game to block directions is not climbable.

This is far from the first time that somebody has had the barricade idea on the gdb, and I have no idea if it is on the staff to do list or not, but as the staff is overworked already, if it ever was to be implemented then it would be more likely to happen if the method was simple.