Gameplay Upgrades

Yup! That'd do it.
Now all we need to do is get BP into your hands, Vic and it's all glitter and gold

Well, one can dream!

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Throw

Theoretically, anything can be thrown, not just the list of throwable weapons.  I recall Dux's attempts at making a perpetual thrower.  This should be a viable fighting style, not just a trick used at the beginning or ending of each fight.  I think the best way to implement this would be to assign a throw bonus to all the currently throwable weapons, and a throw penalty for others.  Sure, your thrower picked up a ball and chain but he very well may hit himself with it (or both gladiators!) when he pitches it.  More than likely he will miss, but if he wants to toss a B&C he's more than welcome.  While working up the inertia to throw such a beast, he will be open to attack from his opponent.

I see a greatstaff tumbling end over end, eventually jumping over the head of the thrower's opponent.

I see a thrower spinning 'round and 'round, building up momentum to pitch a maul.  A sweep from his opponent at this moment would cause extra fall damage.

The larger the weapon, the greater the chance of our thrower hero's opponent stealing the initiative.  Perhaps what would normally be an attack line, would become preparation for the throw, such as the above spinning, or winding up, or pulling way back, or what have you.  Chucking a long spear takes a lot more than a boar spear or javelin!

There's nothing preventing a spin then toss of a halberd to have the effect of the pole smacking the thrower in the side of the head after it has been released.  Spin spin whack!

I recall mention in the old pit of a thrower picking up rocks and tossing them at his opponent.  We can bring back the rocks!

Many detailed thoughts of how different classes of weapons would move from thrower to opponent have sprung to mind, in addition to the different types of preparation necessary for the throw, but I think this is enough info to get brains buzzing.

What do you guys think?

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Yes, I agree. Bring back throwing rocks.

Guys this chat is making me misty eyed  as to how beautifully evolved my beloved Pitt could become!

Sigh, oh well I will get my guys to put an edge on some Target Sheilds just in case. I would love to see a Horc brute throwing one like a Frisbee!

Frisbee shield throwing?!?! I love it!

The buckler might finally become useful!

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The interesting thing about beefing up the throw style is that it would be a real trump-card to CS and Parry or any very low activity levels. In real life shields (to a great degree) and other weapons (to a lesser degree) could be used to knock thrown weapons down, but that would really ruin the throw style. Dodge intensive styles should do very well against Throw.

I think if the expanded throw style were incorporated into the game, it wouldn't have the same auto hit or miss mechanics that it enjoys now.  I see no reason why a shield couldn't block a thrown weapon, especially if it is one without a throw bonus.  It should be harder to parry a thrown stiletto than a thrown war flail.  I suppose if one were to really get detailed, a thrown flail could still flail around a parry attempt!  So maybe I should have said a thrown stiletto should be harder to parry than a thrown morningstar.  Yeah, morningstar.  Those would still be fun to throw!

Of course, there's the potential problem of your warrior being too weak to pick up, let alone throw whatever weapon they mind find on the ground.  It may be risky to have a low str warrior employ throw.  Imagine your 5 str hafling trying to pick up and throw a halberd!  That could certainly add color to the game.  I would like to see the occasional backfire when throw is being employed.

I think there should be a sharp drop-off of efficaciousness of weapons thrown once you get past most of the current crop of thrown weapons.  A thrower would presumably start with three weapons he's trained/training in.  And those three weapons would have throw bonuses.  Once those ships have sailed, so to speak, and your gladiator is left at the mercy of whatever is lying around (throwing the ref's lunch might get you killed!) his ability to dish damage will be diminished, unless he's smart enough to pick up the right weapons.  

Then there's the issue of some thrown weapons working better against certain types of armor. An advanced thrower might start with three different weapons he's mastered. Carrying a boar spear, hammer and stiletto, maybe. I'd have him start with the stiletto, and get off a quick hit! Or maybe, it would be better to throw the boar spear first and be less encumbered for the next two throws? Oh, the possibilities... the game mechanics could favor nuanced throw managing.

Hmmm... I'm imaginging a 17-17-12-15-3-7 elf thrower.  Or maybe a 17-17-12-17-3-5 helf.  If you wanna go crazy, then 17-17-14-17-3-3 helf thrower.  Wow.  He's got the str to pick up anything, the speed to throw quickly and accurately, and the int to pick up better weapons.  Sounds like a fun type of gladiator to run!

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Hmmm... so what if presence was also a good stat for training something different than skill or stats?  What if you could put a perm location in a training slot and the higher your pre, the better the chance of you reducing a perm by 1-3 points.  Think of it as your gladiator visiting a different medicus each week he trains that perm area.  One of 'em might have a way to heal your guy a little.

My first thought was not to tie this to pre, but to just make it a slim (1 in a thousand?) chance of happening but still give it as an option.  Is your guy training in a perm slot while those around him are hitting the gym and learning how to perfect their murderous lunges? <queue dramatic music>

I see this being used for old fart gladiators who are all skilled up and already have crazy high stat trains... and maybe a pesky pop point. Heheheheh.

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I actually like that idea, Vic. Healing perms with Pre. It would at least give some value to pre. I think that it would only heal 1 perm level if the training attempt was successful. The lower the perm level the easier it is to heal it. A level 8 perm would be like training a stat up from 7 to 8 or something like that. If you warrior had a low pre, it would take forever!

Oh yeah, nice suggestions Dux. I like the just move it by 1 point but it being difficult like high level stat raises. This would be a good idea to get implemented ASAP.

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How about having Team Monster fights? Say you want to send two gladiators (do they have to be from the same team? What do you guys think?) to the monsters at the same time, in a team. Then the game picks two random monsters and pairs them together against your gladiators. This could be fun! What would happen if one of the monsters dies, but the other kills both of your gladiators? Would it end when you had one left and the arena master would then make him an offer?

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Even something relatively simple like the random number seed algorithm used by the game, could have an effect on training, fights, challenges, etc. Some random number generators are more random than others, but those tend to take longer to run, which would lead to longer times for the turn to run. Instead of the now 15 minutes (with the new webhost) it takes for the turn to run, imagine if it took 2 hours due to replacing maybe a dozen lines of code.

Coming up with as random a number as possible, can be accomplished in many ways, some of which have been discovered since BP was created. I don't think boar spear dwarves will go away from changing such an algorithm, but it might have an interesting impact on challenges and trains.

If you have too much time on your hands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generator

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