Fallout-like Combat

[Waters]

This is probably way outside of what is currently being worked on, but is there any chance of a fallout-like combat system being added as an option in the game?

One thing that always disappointed me about U7 was the ability to cower from virtually every encounter (U9 was many times worse). Much of the game seems to be spent running from point a to b, hustling past any creature one is not forced to fight. Combat is dull, yet brief, and does not seem to add to the game.

The older Ultimas had a separate combat screen from the main map which was brought up during an encounter. Many older rpgs used this system until games such as fallout started using a combat 'mode'.

When combat is entered, each action takes a certain amount of 'action points' to perform. NPC foes and players take turns attacking, with the more powerful generally dominating via APs. Levels and training increase the amount of APs available to the player (in addition to combat skills, etc), so there is an incentive to care about the players combat statistics. Called shots to specific anatomy locations used more APs, whereas a 'snap shot' is less accurate but far 'cheaper'. Spells have a casting time which decreases as the player increases magic proficiency.

When entering the combat mode a grid appears over the map tiles. Moving the cursor displays the cost to travel to the indicated location. Different terrain has different movement costs, and items such as swamp or magic boots modifies the penalty or grants an AP bonus.

This method of combat would make it easier to control the 'toughness' of the various creatures in Britania. Some creatures would pack a punch, but be too AP restricted to catch you should you run, where others such as the harpies or mungbats (sp) would be weak but extremely hard to flee due to high APs. Some creatures (especially the plot specific ones), would be at such an AP and damage advantage initially that the player would need to postpone attacking them until the his statistics had improved later in the game.

Just an idea, which seems to be a great feature in other games. Not sure how much work it would be, but I think it would really add to the game if it could be pulled off.

[Dominus]

Not to say that a tougher combat system wouldn't be neat but to me combat in a RPG is always a nuisance. You need it to advance your character, get stuff to sell and use but overall it is just an artificial mean to make the game go longer. If I have to go from a to b I hate it when I have to fight each and every randomly spawned creature (especially in U4 and clones of it).
But yes, combat in u7 was always one of the dullest.

[painful]

Everytime I play, I hardly enter fights. I never seem to come across anybody except the 'staged' fights that are requried by the story.

[drcode]

Note that U7's equivalent to AP's is the dexterity stat. Creatures with low dexterity, like slimes, have to wait longer before attacking. It's probably not as sophisticated as you've described.

Exult only started using dexterity after the 1.2 release.

[Daemongar]

Well, I don't think mandatory combat appeals to many people, unless it's limited to special encounters. Currently, I'm having a go at Wizardry 7, so I have an idea of how brutal constant combat can be. Wow!

Either way, I'm a HUGE fan of both Ultima 7 and Fallout 1/2. I think if combat was made less frequent and had a little more meaning the Fallout type combat could be used. But there is a lot of it, when you get down to it, if you slowed combat down a shade or two, it would really drag the game and get pretty boring. Fallout combat works because XPS are more important, and looting corpses for money is one of the few ways to make money.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see it - kind of a combination U6/Fallout, but I think that combat is so inconsiquential to U7 that it's been sort just left as is, somewhat.