PvP version 0.01 coming soon

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Ryme
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PvP version 0.01 coming soon

Post by Ryme »

Sometime soon I'm going to release a VERY early PvP scenario. I've got a lot of ideas and think it might work, but I don't consider myself much of a PvP expert to begin with, so the plan is to start small, test some basic principles, and then add to it slowly but steadily until we've got a good balance of strategy, complexity, and fun.

This earliest version is going to be not much more advanced than a simulation of PvP at its most basic and random (almost entirely chance, few options, little strategy). Frankly, I expect it will be boring, and not particularly rewarding. But if a few brave souls are willing to try it out for a bit, I can use that data to start adding improvements.

I'll post more when it's ready, but keep in mind I'm looking for bug testing and constructive suggestions.
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Post by MagiNinjA »

Meh. You peoples and your newb gloves. :P
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Post by Ryme »

It's now public, and in the casinos. Adding more details here momentarily.
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Post by Ryme »

Right now it's you against a set of predefined characters, in a limited combat setting. In this first incarnation, I just want to test how the relative powers affect the likelihood of winning or losing, and just kind of make sure things are working at this level.

Combat assumes you always hit, and the opponent always hits. The amount of damage done hinges on your choice of the type of attack, versus their chosen defense. It's a lot like rock-paper-scissors in that certain attacks do better or worse against certain defenses, in a circular sort of fashion. Right now the defensive choice is 100% random, so it's all luck. Later, when real people are behind the characters, they'll have the ability to predefine choices for offense and defense.

Also right now the game assumes your choice for defense is random, as is the opponent's choice for offense. Both of these will be able to be adjusted later, too.

Right now there isn't any risk to playing, other than your time; so it's not a complete waste, I do give out some minor amount of XP, but mostly I'm assuming at least a few folks will want to mess around with it out of curiosity. There will be actual rewards for winning later.

Hit me with questions, bug reports, and the like.
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Post by MagiNinjA »

Wait, what if I want to change my defenses mid combat with another player? How would that work?
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Post by Ryme »

Dunno. I'd imagined that as a strategy you'd have to pick before hand. Mostly to cut down on tons of clicking. Presumably it's a strategic element: you'd pick based on past encounters with the person (fight them once, see what they do, adjust). Or based on other benefits (equipment, say) that makes one defensive choice better than the others.
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Post by MagiNinjA »

I get the feeling that that'd be way too predictable as well as, well, boring. Especially since stats play into this too.
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Post by MagiNinjA »

I still feel shady about this kind of defense. If I want to have confidence in something like this, I want a system that I can morph very fluidly. This is a point Marshall brought up in some random debate that I thought was awesome. In KoL context, speed ascensions (or similarly diamondy activities) require rigid optimizations against a foe that really doesn't change, while in PvP, everything and anything can change, especially since you have a live opponent who can change his/her defenses literally in a snap of a second. There are many more elements to manipulate in PvP as well, and there is always a compromise in PvP that you must go with (consumption mini vs. white canadians). While I'd say that something that involves collections like the flower mini or the WC mini is inherently flawed, some of the minis are well balanced against each other.

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Post by Ryme »

Socket wrote:

1) Instead of your attack/defenses being random, allow the user to set % chances. I.E., you might set to 50% agressive, 25% standard, 25% cautious. Sure, an opponent might spade it out but you could always change it around tomorrow. Not to mention that
This is 100% my intention. Think I may have even mentioned it earlier in the thread.

#2 is also very likely, in some fashion or another.
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Post by Ryme »

Yeah, I can see that quick and simple can be convenient, but I've never felt a win/lose button was especially satisfying on its own. Since fighting takes some game time, I want to make sure players are getting some entertainment for their money (which is time, as we all know). I don't want things to drag out that much -- ideally a tough fight will take maybe 8-10 turns once things are working properly, so there's room for some strategy and some excitement, without it taking too much clicking or time.

Ultimately, though, I know I can't make everyone happy, so I'm picking what I think I'd most enjoy to start, and then I'll work with it as I get feedback.
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Post by Ryme »

That's part of what I'm testing. Thus far:

Ryme won: 45/565 = 8%
Ivan won: 15/191 = 8%
#3 won: 55/149 = 37%
#4 won: 81/112 = 72%
The Mick won: 236/358 = 66%

I wanted to see how drastic the range in power would affect the range in odds. What I've concluded thus far is either I don't have nearly enough samples, or I've got bugs in my code. I would have expected a fairly linear difference between the three, and I definitely would have expected the middle slot to win very close to 50% of the time, and the #4 slot to win less than the Mick.

I do think I want to adjust the calculations so that this spread can be a bit wider, but manipulating your PvP power at the cost of other benefits is something I intend to be part of the game. If 6 points was inconsequential, my plan would have serious problems, so I'm glad that's not true.

If anyone feels like spending some time fighting the middle three, it would be much appreciated.

The three attacks are just rock/paper/scissors right now. Later there will be things that change them some. For instance, gear that boosts one of the attack types.
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Post by Ryme »

Wow. Just realized I'd forgotten all about ties, which really skews the numbers. Here's the newest results.

Against Ryme (640 fights):
ryme won 49 times = 8%
tie 140 times = 22%
players won = 70%

Against #2 (218 fights)
#2 won 20 times = 9%
tie 51 = 23%
players won = 68%

Against #3 (174 fights):
#3 won 63 = 36%
tie 56 = 32 %
players won 32%

Against #4 (177 fights):
#4 won 126 = 71%
tie 37 = 21%
players won 8%

Against #5 (405 fights):
#5 won 273 = 67%
tie 29 = 7%
players won 26%

Still kind of skewed, but not quite as weird as they seemed before. Certainly the middle slot makes more sense, as it's split about evenly. I'd like to lower the chances of tieieng there, though. I'm gonna redo some of the calculations, and try a new set shortly.
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Post by Ryme »

Also, a special thanks to the top 10 testers of the initial PvP test:

Code: Select all

Name               rounds fought
xXRevaNXx  	         49
Matt the vigilante 	 32
Armarant 	          28
Socket 	                24
Hariwald 	           22
Arthur Dent 	        19
Xarth 	                18
chuwenhsuan 	        18
Brew 	                17
lazyfire 	            17
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Post by Ryme »

Revised the PvP calculations a bit. Also put in tiebreakers, so that if you tie but your margin of victory is still pretty decent, the judges might select you as a winner. (Or loser, if the margin goes the other way.) Ties are boring, right?

Also bumped up the XP gain slightly, to encourage further testing, because I realize this is still probably pretty unexciting, since it's mostly chance. But I really do want to know how this stuff will pan out before making wild and crazy assumptions.
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Post by MagiNinjA »

Your moderate attack far overmatches your opponent's attempt to dodge. Ryme loses 27 points.

Ryme proceeds with a moderate attack, which far overmatches your attempt to dodge. You lose 22 points.

You won the duel, so you'd probably get something here. An item or reward or something. But for now .... nothing.

Normally you wouldn't get this here, but as thanks for testing the system, and to prevent it from being a complete waste of your time, here's 175 XP. Thanks!
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Post by neocamp22 »

Well, otherwise the attacker gets an extra advantage. On another note, Ryme, I've been running a bunch of pvp's on a few multis, for now using only using fierce.
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Post by MagiNinjA »

Ah, yeah, I just realized that.

Any more specifics on how the formulas will be calculated? (HP, power, etc.)
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Post by Cristiona »

Normally you wouldn't get this here, but as thanks for testing the system, and to prevent it from being a complete waste of your time, here's 14 XP. Thanks!
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Is software supposed to trigger while using the arena?
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Post by Ryme »

Yeah, software can trigger. I think I need to adjust it for what could be shortened fight time, but that's not applying yet.

Equipment isn't going to work right now (VR helm, for instance), because arena equipment is going to have some restrictions.
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Post by Ryme »

Socket wrote:too small a sample to be meaningful by itself.
Yep ...

509 duels so far since the changes
147 wins for schmoe
221 ties
141 losses for schmoe

That's too many ties. By quite a bit. I'll have to adjust that some.
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Post by Ryme »

New results with 0.2

Against Ryme (323 fights):
ryme won 3 times = 1%
tie 40 times = 12%
players won = 87%

Against #2 (783 fights)
#2 won 46 times = 6%
tie 232 = 30%
players won = 64%

Against #3 (847 fights):
#3 won 243 = 29%
tie 370 = 44%
players won 27%

Against #4 (724 fights):
#4 won 428 = 59%
tie 239 = 33%
players won 8%

Against #5 (217 fights):
#5 won 185 = 85%
tie 31 = 14%
players won 1%
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Post by Satan »

I'd be curious to know the stats of that other one :p
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Post by Ryme »

Oh. 105 offense, 95 defense. Results were about the same as #3-- pretty evenly matched.
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