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Combat: How to handle it?


CanisAquilus

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Hey guys.

 

I've been running into frustrating circumstances over the past few days and I figured I'd come to the forums for some inspiration.

 

You're standing in a cantina, and some guy you don't know starts getting in your face, provoking you. We've all been here.

 

How do you handle it?

 

Now me, I'm a man who likes pvp, and combat, so I'm quite happy to handle the whole thing with a duel. But over and over again I get into circumstances where the player throwing out most of the insults will refuse to duel me for no reason, or will refuse because he's lower level than me.

 

Whats the right way to handle this?

Edited by CanisAquilus
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Generally, the polite thing is for the the challenger to allow the challenged party to choose the method of combat. It is a sort of old school dueling etiquette -- I slapped you with my glove and you get to choose whether we use pistols or swords.

 

This system tends to cause people to be more hesitant before entering into random fights... sort of like real life, i suppose. I may be a level 50 and think it is good to pick on a level 14 but should I lay down the challenge and that level 14 chooses an emote or /roll duel I might lose. Likewise, if I have my favorite combat emotes macro'd but I'm level 6 and I challenge a 30 who opts for /duel I can expect to be searching the cantina floor for my teeth for the rest of the night.

 

But, as I said, that's the polite way of settling things. People are not always polite. In the end, all I can tell you is that if you initiate combat you should let the other guy choose the method. If you are accosted, and the other party insists on using a method with which you don't agree, you are always allowed to refuse the fight.

 

You are not a "bad RPer" simply because you don't want to be someone's punching bag. The opt out, though, only work if you are the challenged party -- it is embarrassing to challenge and run!

 

If you decide not to fight when challenged, for whatever reason, simply whisper the other party with a note saying, "I regretfully decline your kind offer of violence."

Edited by Darth_Slaine
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I suppose what I find frustrating about that system is it does make for what seems to me to be rather bad rp.

 

You often get characters, (low level characters in my experience), which are all too keen to walk up to the biggest mandalorian in the bar and, metaphorically speaking, call him or her a nerf herder.

 

You don't have to be sherlock holmes to figure out what ought to happen next.

 

The big time mercenary is going to want to take the pipsqueaks head off... but you seem to suggest the loudmouth has the right of refusal, or right to rp combat. Rights he's proportionally more likely to use, depending on how dangerous the person he's irritating is.

 

So basically we get a sitatuion where any character can irritate any other dangerous character they want, for as long as they want, without consequences.

Edited by CanisAquilus
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I suppose what I find frustrating about that system is it does make for what seems to me to be rather bad rp.

 

You often get characters, (low level characters in my experience), which are all too keen to walk up to the biggest mandalorian in the bar and, metaphorically speaking, call him or her a nerf herder.

 

You don't have to be sherlock holmes to figure out what ought to happen next.

 

The big time mercenary is going to want to take the pipsqueaks head off... but you seem to suggest the loudmouth has the right of refusal, or right to rp combat. Rights he's proportionally more likely to use, depending on how dangerous the person he's irritating is.

 

So basically we get a sitatuion where any character can irritate any other dangerous character they want, for as long as they want, without consequences.

 

Getting people to agree on combat-methods is difficult for the reasons you mention. Players will generally always choose the method that will favor their characters in the fight.

 

As a community, we cannot establish the one true method for resolving IC combat, we can only do our best to treat each other fairly and politely.

 

In the end, you can only control your actions -- so set the example. When you initiate combat, let the other player choose the method of resolution. If you are attacked, and the other player insists on a certain method you disagree with, refuse the combat politely and give your reasons OOC. There is never reason to get into an argument OOC over it -- sometimes we must just agree to drop the scene.

Edited by Darth_Slaine
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It seems to me that if you're deliberately provoking another player, you ought to let them pick the method. Even if you don't *initiate* violence, you're obviously pushing the scene in that direction.

 

Starting a fight verbally, then hiding behind rp combat so you can "win" and to avoid being smashed in a duel seems like a pretty large cop out to me, and frankly a little rude.

 

Perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree there, though and you have given me food for thought. I think if the scene is headed in that direction I'll just whisper the other player and let them know that I'll be wanting to duel if it gets physical.

Edited by CanisAquilus
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It seems to me that if you're deliberately provoking another player, you ought to let them pick the method. Even if you don't *initiate* violence, you're obviously pushing the scene in that direction.

 

I have to agree. Acting ****** and then refusing to take one's lumps for it is just Bad Form.

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Generally, the polite thing is for the the challenger to allow the challenged party to choose the method of combat. It is a sort of old school dueling etiquette -- I slapped you with my glove and you get to choose whether we use pistols or swords. ....

 

Thank you for this wonderful reminder of an established idea which has worked for centuries. I'd completely forgotten about it, and for myself personally, I'm going to use it as a personal rule.

 

Now, an issue in this example is "how do I then RP my way out of it if the challenger refuses to accept my terms?"

 

Well, we'll get those people who will insist on the fight after you already negotiated that no, you won't fight because he won't accept those terms of the fight you pick, being the challenged party.

 

At this point, if they don't get the ic hint "Fine, I accept, we will duel with pistols at dawn" and the ooc collaboration "ok, since you picked the fight I decide how we do it, you're 15 levels above me, I suggest we use rolls" what do we do? I've had people then refuse my terms for the fight but start throwing pure RP punches. I had one guy outright throw a bomb at me and tell me I was now dead.

 

Now me, at this point I simply say in ooc that I don't appreciate people who do things to my character in rp without agreeing to ground rules ahead of time, so I will ignore what they just did, and if they do it again without talking to me nice ooc about how we're going to handle an rp fight, then I will ignore them completely as a gamer. Does this seem about the right way to handle it to you guys?

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Now me, at this point I simply say in ooc that I don't appreciate people who do things to my character in rp without agreeing to ground rules ahead of time, so I will ignore what they just did, and if they do it again without talking to me nice ooc about how we're going to handle an rp fight, then I will ignore them completely as a gamer. Does this seem about the right way to handle it to you guys?

 

Sometimes that is the only way to handle it. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but I will generally not let someone dictate what happens to my character. That includes forcing me to enter into a combat scene with a method not previously agreed upon.

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Hey guys.

 

I've been running into frustrating circumstances over the past few days and I figured I'd come to the forums for some inspiration.

 

You're standing in a cantina, and some guy you don't know starts getting in your face, provoking you. We've all been here.

 

How do you handle it?

 

Now me, I'm a man who likes pvp, and combat, so I'm quite happy to handle the whole thing with a duel. But over and over again I get into circumstances where the player throwing out most of the insults will refuse to duel me for no reason, or will refuse because he's lower level than me.

 

Whats the right way to handle this?

 

Obvious. Leave the Cantina. There are plenty of them throughout the galaxy, and there's only one of the annoying guy. Once in the privacy of your ship, feel free to vent all your frustration out like so:

*activates Overload Saber and clicks on Master Strike*

Everyones happy :D

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Hey guys.

 

I've been running into frustrating circumstances over the past few days and I figured I'd come to the forums for some inspiration.

 

You're standing in a cantina, and some guy you don't know starts getting in your face, provoking you. We've all been here.

 

How do you handle it?

 

Now me, I'm a man who likes pvp, and combat, so I'm quite happy to handle the whole thing with a duel. But over and over again I get into circumstances where the player throwing out most of the insults will refuse to duel me for no reason, or will refuse because he's lower level than me.

 

Whats the right way to handle this?

 

Personally, if someone is getting in your face, picking a fight with you, then you get to call the terms. If you want to PvP and he suddenly starts hiding behind wanting to emote a fight, then tell him as politely as possible OOC in a tell that you aren't interested.

 

On the other hand, if you like emote fighting, or you think you might like to try it and you don't mind losing, then you might give it a try. I'm assuming you don't mind losing by your willingness to PvP. I'm assuming the other guy doesn't want to lose by his refusal to PvP. So you can assume that most likely - if he started the fight and insists on an RP'd emote fight - that he'll win at any cost. But you can be the bigger person and RP through it and lose with style.

Edited by Sendra
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