what do you think steve? pretty nifty huh?

Ninjas are cool

thnx and plz rate it:-}

I had to rate low, because there are too many attacks. Each character just has one attack.

Would it require massive reconfiguering to allow for 2 attacks or is it harder to program and would slow down the computer?

I like ninjas. But you can't put ninjas in the game because they have REALULTIMATEPOWER. There is just no hope for Merlin when faced with ninjas. Unless Merlin also has REALULTIMATEPOWER. Does Merlin have REALULTIMATEPOWER? I'm not sure. For me he doesnt unless I put it on easy :P

lol

I haven't put a lot of thought into doing two or more attacks for a character. In theory it shouldn't be too hard. But that's in theory.

It could slow down the game as the character will need to find targets for each attack and then evaluate (somehow) which one to go for.

A random number generator? Check range to target, and have different ranges set for the two attacks? Then you'd have to set a flag saying whether the monster stays at range to use it's ranged attack, or closes to use its melee attack.

Er, well if the monster decided randomly whether to use ranged or melee attack it's behaviour could become somewhat erratic.

I actually have an unfinished game online that is somewhat similar to Merlin but with scenarios to beat instead of a map grid. Well anyway in the game there is several units that use multiple attacks without appearing random. They just add up "points" for each action then choose the best one that has the most points. I'll give 2 examples of units that "think" about what to do just a sec while I check my code. My game uses recharging manna bar for spells.
Paladin thought process:
Find closest enemy (if any)
Find closest ally (if any)
If you have a close ally and enough manna raise them.
If you have an enemy and no close allies move toward them and attack.
Else if you have a ally and enough manna go towards them and raise them.
Goblin Mage thought process:
If any enemy is too close run from them
If the closest enemy is far away head towards them
Then he runs a loop for all units nearby and tallies the number of friends compared to enemies. If there aren?t 2 more friends than enemies he will save manna to summon goblins.
Then he runs a loop for all units in range of a fireball. He selects the first object as his target and adds up a tally of units that would be hit friends and allies and decides the "points" the shot is worth. He then repeats the process and replaces his target with if any other targets are worth more "points"
If he has lots of friends around and not enough manna to summon then if he doesn't have a good shot and didn't decide to summon he will not summon.
If he doesn't have enough manna he won't fireball. (just realized a way to speed up my code by not analyzing fireballs if he doesn't have enough manna in the first place)
If he has enough manna and will summon he summons goblins between him and the nearest enemy.
Else he will shoot a fireball if he has a positive point shot (note could have a negative shot if it would hit friends).

That said the goblin mage is my most "intelligent" troop strategically placing fireballs and comparing friends around.
I suppose I should put a link to my game and update it some time.
http://www.qrsoftware.com/appletgame/index.html
I case I get lazy and don't update the page (note this page was just a test if I could run it online) shift changes spells, right mouse is move and left mouse is fire. The first mission is save the base the second is the goblin mage.
I haven't spent much time on graphics or any walk animations for the units. Um, have fun and hopefully I will compile my code and upload with the latest version that has Mission objectives along with other stuff.

p.s. I am sorry for the long post I tend to do that every once and awhile.

I updated the game but for some reason the web page that it is in doesn't want to update. Sorry about the long load time I need to clean up some unused files. Any suggestions or comments can be e-mailed to sketch at qrsoftware.com. (didn't put @ to try and avoid spam) I think I will stop talking about my game now on Steve's site without approval/permission.

ninjas are awesome:OE