Shattered Kingdoms

Kicking off the Q&A for the code update announcement made here.

Minor code update today. As usual, I reserve the right to change (or not change) anything, based on observed feedback.

I don't know enough about the other changes, but I'm fairly certain that the prone to neutral stance thing is such a terribad idea. Stance was a tactical choice, and putting it at the mercy of the brain dead tactic of spamming bash is so horrid.

There are many ways to be knocked prone -- this isn't a bash specific thing.

Neutral is the state of not being in a stance and therefore not having any special penalties or bonuses applied. Every other stance does grant bonuses but also applies penalties. Neither aggressive nor defensive were intended to provide a huge advantage, although they should statistically add up over a long fight.

If you are prepared to whine a lot about this change, it means those stances were probably not balanced and maybe I need to take another look at them.

I noticed that if you parry an aggressive NPC when you walk into its room, you can walk out of its room before it tries to strike again.

That sounds like a bug.

I'll try to reproduce it, but I'm certain you can do the same just as easily as I.

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Well, it's funny that you mention not being able to change stances while prone as something new. You never could do that anyways. In fact, the only way you could even see what stance you were in while prone was by typing score. Even typing stance with no argument resulted in the "you need to regain your feet first" message and lag.

Going to neutral stance when knocked prone is ridiculous. Stance literally no longer matters as a tactical choice for front row characters...You know, the ones that were supposed to have made the most use and put the most thought into stance. "Statistically add up over a long fight?" What game are you looking at? There's no such thing as a long fight in SK. Scratch that, the only way that you get a long fight is if you get two characters trying to kill each other in defensive stance but oops! That was just removed from the equation. You just finished calling bash the "gold seal standard" of skills in the game like a month and a half ago or so, and you just buffed the hell out of it.

Curious to know what the hedgehog skill/stance is. Sounds like a super defensive stance. Might need to roll a porcupine male human now and join the x-men. Worst mutant power ever.

I think having to constantly reset stance is a pretty silly, distracting, and unnecessary part of the game play experience.

I think, Dulrik, if you want the prone to have the additional affect of taking you awhile to get back into your stance, simply code it so your stance AUTOMATICALLY readjusts at the end of combat. Perhaps (another thought), it should reset at the next tick after combat, if you wanted a small lag. There's 2 ideas to improve what you've done.

I'm not saying when you get knocked prone you shouldn't lose your stance. That's kind of a nifty idea really. I'd have to play test/be play tested on to see what sort of a difference this change is otherwise making. I AM saying having to constantly reset stance is a pretty frustrating thing, especially considering how many times/ways a character can be knocked prone.
Considering also that triggers are forbidden, what exactly were you aiming for here? 100% of the time a stance is lost a player (should really) reset it as soon as they are able, RIGHT?

Please reconsider.