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Old 05-17-2018, 12:06 PM   #11
ericbsmith
 
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Default Re: Clarification on Gurps combat turn rules.

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Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
Declarations result in a lot of "Durrr, why did I do that?" moments that make highly skilled warriors look like idiots.
A declaration with conversion might work reasonably well; if you're seriously wounded you can convert your action into an All-Out Defense. If the opponent you've been fighting takes a Move to try to run (around/away) you may convert your action into a Move or Move and Attack to follow. If the opponent you're fighting is knocked down or incapacitated you can convert your action into an Evaluate for another opponent.

Still, this would add complexity for the sole purpose of slowing combat, and neither added complexity nor slower combat are things that GURPS needs.
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Last edited by ericbsmith; 05-17-2018 at 12:09 PM.
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Old 05-17-2018, 02:06 PM   #12
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Clarification on Gurps combat turn rules.

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Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
It's only a slight stretch of plausibility that someone might be able to rethink their combat strategy in response to somebody else falling down or running away.
This is also identical to the same stretch that's the motivation for declarations in the first place. So there would seem to be little point in introducing declarations to solve that problem.

That is, declaration is desired so that the faster characters can react to the slower ones in the same turn, even though they act first (to give them the benefit of inflicting shock and so on). Hence, the slower characters are required to declare so that the faster characters know what they're going to do and can choose accordingly.

But that observation-reaction cycle by the fast character occurs in the same fraction of a second that's deemed implausible when it's performed in the unmodified combat sequence, when a character observes some combat result and reacts accordingly. Adding declarations doesn't really solve the problem, if problem it is, so much as move it.
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Old 05-18-2018, 04:38 AM   #13
Gollum
 
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Default Re: Clarification on Gurps combat turn rules.

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Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
Declarations result in a lot of "Durrr, why did I do that?" moments that make highly skilled warriors look like idiots. It's a fairly huge stretch of plausibility to imagine that a trained fighter would swing at air because he declared an attack and his opponent ran away or fell down.

The existing system really isn't so implausible. Reaction times for humans in fights can be measured in 100s of milliseconds. It's only a slight stretch of plausibility that someone might be able to rethink their combat strategy in response to somebody else falling down or running away.
Actually, good warriors don't think during combat. They react by pure reflexes. That is why combat training is so hard and time consuming. To master a technique, you can't content yourself with knowing it; you have to do it thousands of time (literally), in order to become able to do it without thinking at it.

So, GURPS rules are right here. Good warriors immediately react to what happens around. Bad ones are those who try to plan their action in advance ... which explains why they hesitate so often and, in GURPS terms, why they fail their attack before the foe even tries to avoid it.

Declarations don't simulate true combat. They do simulate strategic combat of wargames. GURPS rules do simulate true combat much better.

Last edited by Gollum; 05-19-2018 at 10:31 AM.
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