Non-lethal combat idea - 22/04/13 08:30 PM
One feature I am missing on most RPG and one that would actually fit perfectly into D:OS (IMO) is the ability to resolve combat without killing every opposing enemy.
Of course I don't mean fighting mindless undead, frenzied enemies, etc. But sentient humanoids, especially humans, rarely fight to the death. It would improve the game a lot if they an ability to surrender / flee / something in this vein.
I got this idea when watching the 5th or 6th preview of D:OS, seeing the poor drunken guards slaughtered once again on the bridge.
Just imagine real life conflicts if they could only be resolved when one side is completely wiped out. Yikes.
A game like D:OS with so many realistic underlaying systems running in the background would benefit a lot from something like this. Of course this would also need to be another such system, which would track some kind of morale stat and exclude an enemy from a combat encounter (because he panicked and won't fight anymore) while his morale reaches zero. Players of course could still attack such enemies and kill them, if they want to.
Mechanically this could be done as temporarily excluding an enemy from a faction (and making him non-hostile) when his morale reaches zero, and returning him to his faction after the combat (but still as a non-hostile). Such defeated enemy could disappear from the initative bar for the remainder of combat (exactly as if he/she/it was killed) with his turns ignored, or be marked as "neutral" on the bar (staying idle on his turn, or moving away from harm).
Such enemy would still count as defeated (awarding XP for the player), and each enemy could be only defeated once to avoid exploiting the system (another flag).
I'm not sure how to handle loot dropping. I guess defeated but unkilled enemies would not drop anything, or they would only drop items held in their hands.
Another, separate, idea is to allow players to surrender during combat (option similar to now-present fleeing). This would only be viable for certain enemies (they would need to be flagged) like guards and citizens and would end with players involved automatically transported into the prison.
Of course I don't mean fighting mindless undead, frenzied enemies, etc. But sentient humanoids, especially humans, rarely fight to the death. It would improve the game a lot if they an ability to surrender / flee / something in this vein.
I got this idea when watching the 5th or 6th preview of D:OS, seeing the poor drunken guards slaughtered once again on the bridge.
Just imagine real life conflicts if they could only be resolved when one side is completely wiped out. Yikes.
A game like D:OS with so many realistic underlaying systems running in the background would benefit a lot from something like this. Of course this would also need to be another such system, which would track some kind of morale stat and exclude an enemy from a combat encounter (because he panicked and won't fight anymore) while his morale reaches zero. Players of course could still attack such enemies and kill them, if they want to.
Mechanically this could be done as temporarily excluding an enemy from a faction (and making him non-hostile) when his morale reaches zero, and returning him to his faction after the combat (but still as a non-hostile). Such defeated enemy could disappear from the initative bar for the remainder of combat (exactly as if he/she/it was killed) with his turns ignored, or be marked as "neutral" on the bar (staying idle on his turn, or moving away from harm).
Such enemy would still count as defeated (awarding XP for the player), and each enemy could be only defeated once to avoid exploiting the system (another flag).
I'm not sure how to handle loot dropping. I guess defeated but unkilled enemies would not drop anything, or they would only drop items held in their hands.
Another, separate, idea is to allow players to surrender during combat (option similar to now-present fleeing). This would only be viable for certain enemies (they would need to be flagged) like guards and citizens and would end with players involved automatically transported into the prison.