The Ghost of Christmas Future, II

[bitza]

(an advanced village too, really - noob villagers don't care about training combat skills).

That sounds to me as if they simply have their priorities wrong, though.

this is 100% correct - what's the point of raising quality and stats if you're just going to roll over whenever a bad guy shows up?

[loftar]

How about AI enemies (such as animals) that fight back without killing you

Not that there isn't any point to this, perhaps, but I hardly think AI enemies are a substitute for real humans.

[...]and any player attacking someone from a noob village is likely so much superior in stats that attempting to fight back is entirely futile.

Well, if this were categorically true then this whole discussion is moot since there could never be a need to practice anyway, no?

[Akhilleus]

I do like the training dummy idea. Craftable, fights back, stops if you have 25% hp or less or some shit. Programmed to fight like someone who has a vague idea of what they're doing. Maybe even have "Basic Training Dummy" Advanced Training Dummy" "Expert Training Dummy" IDK. Just an idea to shoot out there. I understand why the combat is what it is though. I just wish there was a different one entirely, but, I also understand how difficult that would be to think up and apply to this game in particular.

[VDZ]

[...]and any player attacking someone from a noob village is likely so much superior in stats that attempting to fight back is entirely futile.

Well, if this were categorically true then this whole discussion is moot since there could never be a need to practice anyway, no?

Considering the animals have combat behavior, I would assume you're supposed to be able to melee them at some point. Understanding combat is not necessary, but it does seem helpful. It kind of feels like I'm missing part of the game by never doing any melee combat.

[loftar]

Considering the animals have combat behavior, I would assume you're supposed to be able to melee them at some point.

I thought we were talking about understanding combat in the context of being able to defend oneself against other players. Was your point about PvE all along?

In that case, I say you're being very overly paranoid. I've been fighting animals quite a bit on my "real" characters with no fear whatsoever of dying.

[Potjeh]

How about AI enemies (such as animals) that fight back without killing you

Not that there isn't any point to this, perhaps, but I hardly think AI enemies are a substitute for real humans.

What if you implemented AI as a neural network? In an MMO like this it could get a LOT of training. Hell, I think that it'd be better than most real humans within a couple of months. And it should fight fairly human-like if it learns to fight by fighting humans.

[Arcanist]

90% of combat is the movement, even in 1v1 with closely statted characters, the movement is who will win or die, and the choice of what combo to use when you have enough coins, good luck training that combination into a computer.

[Potjeh]

Ever played Creatures? You'd be surprised what you can train a NN to do.

[popfor]

I believe that the implementation of a military-class evolving AI is in order to effectively counter Hearthings. For science, of course.
Can't let those grinders get away with being powerful.

inb4 feels emotions and overthrows game /thread

[TeckXKnight]

inb4 feels emotions and overthrows game

I for one welcome our swimming stealth bear overlords.

Ever played Creatures? You'd be surprised what you can train a NN to do.

Besides you and me has anyone ever played Creatures before?