Re: [CrystalMud] Silence?

> It sounds like a good idea, but since I have a Real Job (tm) I don't
> expect to have a lot of time to invest in MUDding.

Part of the beauty of this design is that as long as you have one or
two active members in your Corp, you only have to show up once or
twice a week if you want to be involved in any offensive/defensive
actions regarding your mine holdings.

> Since this is a MUD, however, it would be interesting to see if you
could
> improve your combat units -- i.e. make them go from green to regular
to
> veteran, and possibly develop some elite units.  This is something
that
> would get me interested, because I could then develop the forces that
> I would want to have.

That's sort of the idea; the status of both the Leadership and Morale
of Units is one of the things I still have to work the specifics out
regarding.

One of the primary thoughts I have is that you purchase your Elements
and immediately organize them into Units (or, possibly, may buy entire
pre-designed Units).  Of course, your first Units will be Green (but
so will most peoples' for a while), but over time (unsure whether to
tie it to realtime or to `number of engagements' right now) they'll
become Regulars and better.  Of course, taking Unit lossess will set
that back; exactly how will depend on how we go with increasing the
ratings.

> One thing that I don't see happening with this is the "macro-scale"
point
> of view that you can get on a tabletop.  In the game, most weapons
have
> very long ranges (e.g. lasers can shoot up to 60").  How can you
represent
> this with a 80x24 vt100 terminal screen and still give the feeling
that
> the line of battle stretches for a couple of miles?

Part of the `environment,' if you will, of CrystalMud is that the line
of battle typically /doesn't/ extend for a couple miles; its
cost-ineffective to sink that much money into Units that go out and
get smashed.  The terrain will be fairly broken, which will keep LoS
down for the most part.

I've been toying with the idea of implimenting `LoS /only/' targeting,
in which an Element can only see and target Elements either it or a
Unit-mate can recognize.  On the other hand, that increases
computational load for generating the ASCII-map.  Recognizing the
position of every Element on the battlefield means you only check LoS
when you go to fire.

The real answer to the question you posed, though, is that you'll be
able to request an `ASCII overview' map which displays the battlefield
and which can be centered on different locations.  Being able to
center it anywhere on the field will give you the ability to `see it
all', as it were, and that should at least help in getting the feeling
of immersion.