(This is mostly just high level discussion on how the RPG should work. Don't expect this stuff in game anytime soon.)
There is a problem with combining turn based combat and shared world multiplayer.
NPCs could get "trapped" in battles. If a battle takes 1 minute in real time, it's not really a problem. But if a human player takes hours per each turn, it's a huge mess. In the rpg, the end goal is for NPCs to have jobs and directly impact the world. Freezing them into battles disrupts that.
Say a dragon is flying towards its home but a player engages in combat and goes offline. The dragon would essentially be removed from game for a while. Other players wouldn't be able to find it.
Or a player engages with every guard in a town. While they're in the fight, a different player could do illegal activities in the town without problem.
Possible solutions:
A. Combat and interactions occur in a alternate/clone universe. All NPCs are copied into the battle. NPC health could be linked between universes so that if two separate battles are happening with the same NPC simultaneously, the killing blow could still only be delivered once. Could weave this into lore too.
B. Combat is forced to be extremely short, say 5 minutes a battle max. That would keep the interruptions with NPCs relatively minor. The NPCs would be interrupted if it was real-time combat too so this one wouldn't need any lore explanations.
C. NPCs are scaled back and removing them from play is not detrimental to other players.
D. Combat is not 100% turn based. If a player doesn't take their turn, it doesn't delay the outcome of the battle. Maybe the computer takes their turn for them.
The same problem and solutions also apply to human players. If two humans are fighting, how should the match play out? Is it ok if a battle takes days of slow turn taking, or should a fight be over in minutes?
There is a problem with combining turn based combat and shared world multiplayer.
NPCs could get "trapped" in battles. If a battle takes 1 minute in real time, it's not really a problem. But if a human player takes hours per each turn, it's a huge mess. In the rpg, the end goal is for NPCs to have jobs and directly impact the world. Freezing them into battles disrupts that.
Say a dragon is flying towards its home but a player engages in combat and goes offline. The dragon would essentially be removed from game for a while. Other players wouldn't be able to find it.
Or a player engages with every guard in a town. While they're in the fight, a different player could do illegal activities in the town without problem.
Possible solutions:
A. Combat and interactions occur in a alternate/clone universe. All NPCs are copied into the battle. NPC health could be linked between universes so that if two separate battles are happening with the same NPC simultaneously, the killing blow could still only be delivered once. Could weave this into lore too.
B. Combat is forced to be extremely short, say 5 minutes a battle max. That would keep the interruptions with NPCs relatively minor. The NPCs would be interrupted if it was real-time combat too so this one wouldn't need any lore explanations.
C. NPCs are scaled back and removing them from play is not detrimental to other players.
D. Combat is not 100% turn based. If a player doesn't take their turn, it doesn't delay the outcome of the battle. Maybe the computer takes their turn for them.
The same problem and solutions also apply to human players. If two humans are fighting, how should the match play out? Is it ok if a battle takes days of slow turn taking, or should a fight be over in minutes?
