PlaneShift

Attached to Project: PlaneShift
Opened by Elvors Amenoras - 29.12.2008
Last edited by Steven Schwartfeger - 26.03.2009

I consider it unrealistic how terrain is (not) interacting with movement.

As far as I know, in real life, every meter up is as taxing as ten meters across. (The factor of 10 is from a schoolbok, it might be a good idea to verify this from a professional source.)
Going downwards requires concentration to avoid slipping and falling, and a surprisingly large amount of strength to absorb the shock from “falling” the height would lose with every step. (Walk down 250 metres of a moderately steep slope with a backpack on your shoulders and you’ll know what I mean.)

In terms of game mechanics, this would mean:
* When running upwards, the speed should decrease and stamina loss should increase, and the cumulative effect of these two changes should be drastic. It’s possible to trade one change for the other: keeping the speed unchanged and massively increasing stamina loss would force players to rest, keeping the stamina loss constant would call for a massive speed reduction. However, I think it should be a little of both since that causes interesting effects (see below under “game experience”).
* When walking downwards, there should be no stamina loss (you can make the physics work for you), and you should be faster, but you lose mental stamina. The less your mental stamina is, the higher the probability of slipping and falling. If you fall on a too-steep slope, you continue skidding. Falling should do damage that’s proportional to the total weight (character + load), blunt damage (not much help from armor); skidding should do damage-over-time, armor protecting fully (essentially this is abrasive damage, which is similar to slash - but don’t give characters armor training from that).

In terms of game experience, this would mean:
* Getting up on a slope is a time-consuming experience, and almost never worth avoiding the walk around the hill. People will stay on the paths in the valleys. This will cause more interaction between normal travellers (and make Cutthroat Lane work better for the Cutthroads, too). It will also make people who leave the road more likely to remain undetected.
* The Settings team can make NPCs less accessible and less likely to be found by placing them on a hilltop, or in a valley behind mountain pass.
* Players with maxed stats have less issues with upward slopes than newbies, but they will still avoid slopes unless they have reason to.
* Hilltops will become a tactical advantage. An attacker will need far more time to reach a defender on the top, and expose himself to ranged combat for a longer time. (Take this into consideration when reducing the effectiveness of long-range combat spells; ideally, a mage would win against a fighter from a hilltop, and lose against a fighter on even ground.)
* Hilltops also become a bit of a trap. Defenders forced to flee from a hilltop risk falling and getting overwhelmed.
* Pursuing down a hilltop is problematic due to risk of falling. Defenders might want to hide a pursuit team in a nearby valley that’s near the height of the route of the attackers, though that would force them to split up forces. Decisions, decisions… which means tactical variation, which is a Good Thing when it comes to making the combat aspects of the game interesting :)
* Reaching the Eagle Bronze Doors takes a lot of time already, making them even less reachable will no doubt make many players very unhappy. An alchemist that sells stamina regeneration potions at the bottom of the path up would help with that.

Just my 5 cents :)
(and no, I don’t expect this to be implemented anytime soon :D )