A Question

Started by Professional, December 23, 2015, 10:35:22 PM

Does sparring with a dummy improve skills any? Is it purely for roleplay or can you benefit off of sparring with one?

It can benefit when you're extremely unskilled, but rarely after a certain point.  It is not a dependable training device in its current state.
She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together. --J.D. Salinger

Extremely unskilled being novice level?

December 23, 2015, 11:52:41 PM #3 Last Edit: December 23, 2015, 11:59:26 PM by Inks
You can gain some hidden offense punching it at low levels, too. When you miss that is a potential skillgain. Honestly though it is far superior to spar people or hunt animals. You are likely better to spend that time RPing for contacts than afk fighting some dummy, unless you are stuck there due to chores.

Find an AI elf to train on,
If you can hit it and it can't hit you, you aren't training well.

Yes there are coded benefits to training with a dummy, no it is not just for RP purposes. The benefits come primarily while at "novice" of whatever skill you're trying to improve. Remember there are several coded combat skills that -can- improve, and not all of them show up on your skills list (coded offense, as someone already mentioned). Also remember don't try to kick or backstab or sap the dummy unless your clan docs/employer PC say you can.
Talia said: Notice to all: Do not mess with Lizzie's GDB. She will cut you.
Delirium said: Notice to all: do not mess with Lizzie's soap. She will cut you.

I do not see why using -kick- on the dummy would be frowned upon.

I think it's because the coded echos associated with kick imply a living breathing person on the receiving end.

Sweet, thanks for the replies everyone.

Quote from: Jave on December 24, 2015, 06:33:36 PM
I think it's because the coded echos associated with kick imply a living breathing person on the receiving end.

If you kick a dummy hard enough it'll break. It's got coded "broken dummy sawdust leakage" built right in as a reminder that you're not supposed to do that.
Talia said: Notice to all: Do not mess with Lizzie's GDB. She will cut you.
Delirium said: Notice to all: do not mess with Lizzie's soap. She will cut you.

So...
Kick it as much as you want.


Quote from: Lizzie on December 24, 2015, 10:05:39 PM
Quote from: Jave on December 24, 2015, 06:33:36 PM
I think it's because the coded echos associated with kick imply a living breathing person on the receiving end.

If you kick a dummy hard enough it'll break. It's got coded "broken dummy sawdust leakage" built right in as a reminder that you're not supposed to do that.


I guess in that case the reason you aren't supposed to kick it is because your Sgt will beat your ass for breaking training gear.

Quote from: Jave on December 24, 2015, 10:47:06 PM
Quote from: Lizzie on December 24, 2015, 10:05:39 PM
Quote from: Jave on December 24, 2015, 06:33:36 PM
I think it's because the coded echos associated with kick imply a living breathing person on the receiving end.

If you kick a dummy hard enough it'll break. It's got coded "broken dummy sawdust leakage" built right in as a reminder that you're not supposed to do that.


I guess in that case the reason you aren't supposed to kick it is because your Sgt will beat your ass for breaking training gear.

At one point the staff saw that people were ignoring the echoes and continuing to kick the dummy, and they removed it from the training area and told the clan leader PC that he'd have to order another one from Salarr, because it was broken beyond repair. Suffice it to say the rest of the crew wasn't happy, they were still required to attend training, but no longer had a dummy to train with when no one else was around. It was a couple of RL months before it was returned the sparring area, IIRC.

Talia said: Notice to all: Do not mess with Lizzie's GDB. She will cut you.
Delirium said: Notice to all: do not mess with Lizzie's soap. She will cut you.

Quote from: Professional on December 23, 2015, 10:35:22 PM
Does sparring with a dummy improve skills any? Is it purely for roleplay or can you benefit off of sparring with one?

"If your character has some basic knowledge of a skill or spell (i.e., if it appears in your 'skills' list), then it will improve by doing it over and over again. When you fail in an attempt to use a skill or spell, there is a chance it will improve. "

A sparring dummy happens to be -really- easy to hit though.


About kicking a dummy
You're going to let a half-giant hit at it with bone weapons, but not let an elf kick at it? Because it will break it?
The first response Jave gave makes more sense.
It's shitty that the code hasn't been fixed to represent the kinds of targets we are actually kicking though.
Or just mention how hard we kick that way it doesn't need to be specific. We can do the emoting.
Backstab is actually the only dialog option an assassin has.

Quote from: Medivh on December 24, 2015, 11:43:06 PM
Quote from: Professional on December 23, 2015, 10:35:22 PM
Does sparring with a dummy improve skills any? Is it purely for roleplay or can you benefit off of sparring with one?

"If your character has some basic knowledge of a skill or spell (i.e., if it appears in your 'skills' list), then it will improve by doing it over and over again. When you fail in an attempt to use a skill or spell, there is a chance it will improve. "

A sparring dummy happens to be -really- easy to hit though.


About kicking a dummy
You're going to let a half-giant hit at it with bone weapons, but not let an elf kick at it? Because it will break it?
The first response Jave gave makes more sense.
It's shitty that the code hasn't been fixed to represent the kinds of targets we are actually kicking though.
Or just mention how hard we kick that way it doesn't need to be specific. We can do the emoting.

It -will- break it. I'm not talking ICly. I'm talking codedly. It is coded so that if you kick it hard enough it will start to leak, and eventually it will break.
Talia said: Notice to all: Do not mess with Lizzie's GDB. She will cut you.
Delirium said: Notice to all: do not mess with Lizzie's soap. She will cut you.

Another question since you're all still here...

Regarding skills I have no clue about. Say I had no skill in piercing (it doesn't show up in my skill list). If I constantly work with piercing weapons, will it ever show up in my skill list, or am I bound to the skills I start with as a character?

That's pretty stupid considering you beat the hell out of them with training weapons all the time. The dummy SHOULD break eventually, and more SHOULD have to be ordered. That's reality.

Quote from: Professional on December 25, 2015, 12:18:13 AM
Another question since you're all still here...

Regarding skills I have no clue about. Say I had no skill in piercing (it doesn't show up in my skill list). If I constantly work with piercing weapons, will it ever show up in my skill list, or am I bound to the skills I start with as a character?
You will never branch a weapon skill as a class that doesnt get it.
Excluding advanced ones as warrior.

Quote from: Jihelu on December 25, 2015, 12:40:35 AM
Quote from: Professional on December 25, 2015, 12:18:13 AM
Another question since you're all still here...

Regarding skills I have no clue about. Say I had no skill in piercing (it doesn't show up in my skill list). If I constantly work with piercing weapons, will it ever show up in my skill list, or am I bound to the skills I start with as a character?
You will never branch a weapon skill as a class that doesnt get it.
Excluding advanced ones as warrior.

What about skills that are not weapon skills?

Quote from: Professional on December 25, 2015, 12:49:29 AM
Quote from: Jihelu on December 25, 2015, 12:40:35 AM
Quote from: Professional on December 25, 2015, 12:18:13 AM
Another question since you're all still here...

Regarding skills I have no clue about. Say I had no skill in piercing (it doesn't show up in my skill list). If I constantly work with piercing weapons, will it ever show up in my skill list, or am I bound to the skills I start with as a character?
You will never branch a weapon skill as a class that doesnt get it.
Excluding advanced ones as warrior.

What about skills that are not weapon skills?
There is one exception, being Pilot I THINK!, but other than that nope.

Quote from: Professional on December 25, 2015, 12:18:13 AM
Another question since you're all still here...

Regarding skills I have no clue about. Say I had no skill in piercing (it doesn't show up in my skill list). If I constantly work with piercing weapons, will it ever show up in my skill list, or am I bound to the skills I start with as a character?

It doesn't really work that way, but no, you're not bound to the skills you start out with. You get those skills. With use of THOSE skills, you will eventually "branch" new skills that are part of the overall "skill tree" of that guild (or class, or profession, in other games). Example

Weapons:
piercing   [novice]

(and no other weapon types)

Two-handed [advanced]

And maybe if you try two piercing weapons, one in one hand, one in the other hand, with all your practice you might eventually "branch" the backstab skill. Then, you'll see:

Weapons:
piercing    [journeyman]                     backstab    [novice]

Two-handed [master]


That isn't the actual progression you should expect, but rather the general idea of how progression works in the game.

Pilot is an exception, as noted above. There might be one or two other skills that will show up on your skills list just by using them. But weapon skills are not among those. Weapon skills will either come with your "starting" list of skills, or branch from the advancement of your starting skills. But that's only for guilds that have weapon skills. Some do not.
Talia said: Notice to all: Do not mess with Lizzie's GDB. She will cut you.
Delirium said: Notice to all: do not mess with Lizzie's soap. She will cut you.

AKA:
Merchants suck shit at weapons using them will not help you.
Though they will raise your super sekret offense/defense stats but thats another thing, not a skill.

Quote from: Professional on December 25, 2015, 12:18:13 AM
Another question since you're all still here...

Regarding skills I have no clue about. Say I had no skill in piercing (it doesn't show up in my skill list). If I constantly work with piercing weapons, will it ever show up in my skill list, or am I bound to the skills I start with as a character?

Ride, Pilot, Accents, and Languages are the exceptions to this. I think that's it?
Backstab is actually the only dialog option an assassin has.

Quote from: Medivh on December 25, 2015, 02:32:00 AM
Quote from: Professional on December 25, 2015, 12:18:13 AM
Another question since you're all still here...

Regarding skills I have no clue about. Say I had no skill in piercing (it doesn't show up in my skill list). If I constantly work with piercing weapons, will it ever show up in my skill list, or am I bound to the skills I start with as a character?

Ride, Pilot, Accents, and Languages are the exceptions to this. I think that's it?
I didn't think you could get ride like that?