Monday, August 27, 2012

Bashing 101

I'm probably the last person who should be telling anyone about bashing, but I figure the best way to start a conversation is to jump right in. Hopefully some of you correct or clarify where I'm wrong!

Before we start, I wanted to remind you of the log that brought this all up (posted by Kyra in the Ouch! Charge Thread! thread):

* R HP:Hurt MV:Fresh > kill h.human
They aren't here.

* R HP:Hurt MV:Fresh > *Novus* has arrived from the south, riding a gray palfrey.
You lance *Novus*'s body hard.

* R HP:Hurt MV:Fresh - Novus: Hurt > kill human
You do the best you can!

* R HP:Hurt MV:Fresh - Novus: Hurt > 
Arthur narrates 'edakim'

* R HP:Hurt MV:Fresh - Novus: Hurt > You do the best you can!

* R HP:Hurt MV:Full - Novus: Hurt > You lance *Novus*'s head.
You do the best you can!

* R HP:Hurt MV:Full - Novus: Hurt > nar on noovus
b
You narrate 'on noovus'

Nikolai narrates 'firetruck her she bashes nice'
[bash ]


You dodge a bash from *Novus* who loses his balance and falls!

+b
Cancelled.
[bash ] 

disen
=charge h.human
Cancelled.
You disengage from the fight.

* R HP:Hurt MV:Full > charge h.human
You line up your charge...

Cancelled.
You line up your charge...


Chaaaaarrrge!! *Novus* bleeds profusely as you skewer him with a partisan bearing the arms of Ghealdan!
This session you've landed 123 out of 231 charges (53% landed)
*Novus* is dead! R.I.P.
You feel the Weave of the Wheel tighten around you.
You receive your share of experience...
Oh, much better the second time around.
Your blood freezes as you hear *Novus*'s death cry.

So, you've practiced bash, you've practiced ride to at least level 6 and you've got a good bashing weapon. Now what? Time to start bashing, of course! Every time you bash something or someone, except under certain circumstances, your opponent will be "sat down" for two rounds and won't be able to hit you. They are literally sitting. This is important to note, because other game mechanics affect this. After two rounds, they automatically stand back  up and resume fighting, though you won't see a room echo reflecting this. They'll just start hitting you again.

Occasionally, you will find that your bash only lands for one round. This normally happens when someone tries to flee immediately prior to getting bashed. In that case, the flee will execute after the first round, rather than waiting for the full duration of the bash. This is known as a one-round bash.

Sometimes, you will miss a bash, and this is where Kyra's knowledge of game mechanics and quick reactions helped her secure her kill. Sometimes when you miss, you disengage from your target. If you've ever gone smobbing, you know that sometimes if you're not buffing and you miss a bash, you have to manually stand up and re-enter combat. Well, the same is true when you're fighting another person. In most cases, your next auto-attack will force the other person to stand up and re-engage, but if you're really quick, you can do as Kyra did, and disengage. Since she had started a bash already, her auto-attacks had stopped. She saw immediately that Novus had disengaged due to his bash and she hadn't hit him yet, so she was able to disengage herself from the fight and charge him before he could react, thus netting her the kill.

Being aware of the mechanics of bashing is very important. There are other situations where you could find yourself sitting or dangerously disengaged due to a bash. Probably the most dangerous of all is when a stabber is trying to stab you. I have seen a number of logs on the AoW forum of people missing bashes and immediately getting stabbed because they were disengaged from their target.

Hopefully this information can help you be more aware of what's happening during combat and avoid the perils of bash disengage!

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