There's a video below the fold. Watch it, it's amazing.
There's text there as well! Not just a video dump like the last post!
From Pharyngula
This dude has my gratitude. First off, evolutionary algorithms are AWESOME. It is simply astounding how much power they have from such simple beginnings. Their only weakness is the time it takes them to converge on a solution. However, they can find better solutions to extremely complex multi-dimensional problems.
Talk.origins has a big article on evolutionary algorithms. In it, they describe many complex, real-world problems that have had GAs (genetic algorithms, another name for the same thing) applied to them with successful results. The algorithms outperform human experts, and do it faster an equivalent human can. There's a really interesting example there about a GA used for battle tactics planning (in wargames, not actual battles!) that was pitted against military experts, and it won. What's more, when the experts were able to revise the GA's plans using their own expertise, the GA's original plans *still* won!
Though I never finished it (quit with only a few hours of hacking left), I was designing a GA to create a neural network that could play 3D tic-tac-toe against me, because I love that game and nobody ever wants to play me. It was designed along the same lines as Anaconda, the checkers-playing neural network that was trained with a GA. Hopefully it wouldn't be quite as skilled. ^_^ But then again, I need a good challenge. I should dust off that code and finish it up.
Monday, October 29, 2007
How to evolve a clock
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Archery in D&D
I was thinking about bows in D&D this morning, inspired by a recent conversation on Monte's boards about how to accurately model firearms in the game. My friend JediSoth let me bounce ideas off of him and offered moral support.
Here's the thing: Bow ranges in D&D are FUCKING RIDICULOUS. I mean, seriously, even a casual perusal of them by someone with an eye for archery would have them thrown out (and I am familiar with bows). They are way too long, with shortbows having a 60'/70' range (normal or composite) and longbows having 100'/110'.. This causes problems for guns, because of one of the major benefits of a gun is that it can be used at longer ranges than a bow. Trying to model this difference creates *ridiculous* ranges for guns, which isn't cool.
Now, bows certainly can be shot that far, just not in a traditional aim-and-shoot thing. You have to arc your shot into a volley. You don't have accuracy with that, but it's okay because usually you have friends with you doing the same thing, and you're shooting at a group of people anyway, so some of the arrows are bound to hit.
So, two things need to be done. First, bow ranges need to be cut. Second, we need good volley rules.Bow Ranges
Finding a new range for bows is actually pretty easy. When I was discussing it this morning, I popped off 30'/40' for shortbows/longbows right away. It seemed an appropriate distance for a no-penalty zone, both logically and game-mechanically. JediSoth suggested I check the d20Modern SRD, which (surprisingly, to me) backs me up perfectly, listing an archaic longbow as having a 40' range. So, great! Note as well that it lists handguns as having similar ranges, and gives rifles ranges between 60' and 120'. You see why the bow ranges are so bad...
As a side benefit, this makes thrown weapons much less suck-ass in comparison. 10' compared to 100' means "why bother", while 10' compared to 40' means "sort of sucky, but not too horrible".
Before I am drowned in email (yeah, right) proclaiming that bows can totally shoot farther than 40', rest assured that I know this. The rules know this as well, which is why the range number is just for the first range increment. You get ten of those fuckers, which means a 400' max range, you just get progressively less accurate. This syncs up reasonably with the real world.Volleys
I'm not completely sure what to do with volleys yet. My first plan is to just allow a volley at up to max range. You have to have friends with you, though, and it's an area attack with a Ref save for half. Save DC = 10+some sort of number based on your friends, affected by range in the same manner as a normal shot. This is fine, because even if you have a -16 or something to your shot it just means that the enemy is going to take half damage (full damage on a 1! Woo!). Much better than taking *no* damage like a failed attack roll normally gives.
The issue now devolves into simply ensuring that this makes some sort of sense (it seems to), and then finding a good relationship between number of friends and size/DC of area attack. Also, should you be able to pinpoint your volleys? I'm thinking grenade-like by default (as in, happens automatically). This means that large volleys are still going to be 'accurate', as they can only shift a small amount, but you can't just concentrate tons of fire into a single square. This adds a touch of complexity, but volleys aren't something that will be used regularly in battle so it's okay, plus I'm sticking to recycling establish mechanics as much as possible.
Friday, October 19, 2007
The Arcanist!
I'm happy right now! I finally finished the Arcanist class for Ironcarnum. That thing's been sitting unfinished for forever.
The class seems fairly full on abilities, but actually they are all just special interfaces with the existing Ironcarnum system. This is intentional, because having a class full of unique magical abilities sort of defeats the philosophy behind Ironcarnum in the first place (that is, putting magic in the hands of anyone who wants it). However, the Arcanist is clearly the undisputed master of magic, with all the bonuses he gets.
I'm a little worried that the class is a bit full, but the low BAB and BDB should help balance things. Ooh, I just remembered that I need to actually specify his Hit Dice as well, duh.
Basically, the Arcanist just gets lots of fuel to power the spells he learns with his feats. Free Focus tokens, reduction in Focus Option costs, and the ability to exceed Focus limits all let him flex his arcane muscles harder than the average magic user, and really put the Focus subsystem to good use, which was the intention. To promote flexibility and greater system use, he also has the ability to Wildcard some Arcane feats, similar to the Man-at-Arms, so that he can always pull out the spell that he needs. If I end up needing to cut back on something this'll be the first to get dropped, I think.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Ironcarnum Introduction
Before I really get into posting the first of the TS:IE (True Sorcery: Ironcarnum Edition) conversions, I thought I'd explain a bit more about the mechanics of Ironcarnum. That way you're not totally in the dark about what the hell I'm doing. I'll put up some of the history of Ironcarnum later, but that would bloat this post beyond belief, so it gets skipped for now.
Ironcarnum is a feat-based magic system, because I love the structure presented by Iron Heroes' Mastery system. Feats are also a non-class based resource that everyone has access to, so the system is accessible to dabblers. Essentially, one feat gives you one spell.
I found early on that this doesn't give enough complexity or control for a full magic system, though, so I added an additional layer in the form of Focus tokens. You gain these from either taking Magic Lore feats or levels in the Arcanist class. These are spent on Focus Options, which most Ironcarnum feats have. Typically, Focus Options provide the sort of mundane scaling that would be a waste to blow an actual feat on, but are necessary for a fully-fleshed out system.
Ironcarnum spells, as much as possible, tie into the existing rules structures rather than inventing new ones. Rather than have a caster level stat, you use BAB (after all, that one number already covers your skill with rapiers, greataxes, and longbows, so why not fireballs?). Rather than have spells use standard actions (and thus have to scale funny to remain viable against the option of full-attacks), let them use attack actions, or be constant so no action is required at all. Attack spells are nothing more than exotic weapons, and their stats are balanced as such; they also use a plain attack roll against a save. This strategy gives an enormous return on investment, because you then get to harness all the existing rules to enrich and complexify your system without having to invent them yourself or have the users of the system memorize entirely new rules. Spell Focus? Try Weapon Focus. Empower Spell? Weapon Specialization. Quicken Spell? Use Two-Weapon Fighting. These little gems pop up without even trying in Ironcarnum, and that's a sign of good rules.
Again, the whole system can be perused from the link on the right. It's a well-organized wiki, so you're never presented more than you can easily digest at once. Take a few bites!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
True Sorcery, Ironcarnum-style: Part 1
Ironcarnum is the magic system that I created for Iron Heroes. I was dissatisfied with all the current magic systems floating around, so I made a fairly radically new one based around feats. You can find it over in the links on the right, and I'll give it a better explanation some day.
Now, a 'failing' of Ironcarnum is that it's rather idiosyncratic. I have fairly particular views on what is appropriate for it, and so there's a goodly bit of classical magic that isn't covered. On the other hand, True Sorcery, the most popular commercially produced magic system for Iron Heroes, *does* cover pretty much everything. That's what it was designed to do.
Here's where it gets interesting. Ivan Blascoe, known as Dalfen in various places, approaches me with an offer. He really likes the Ironcarnum approach, but likes the breadth of power in TS. He asked if I would be interested in a joint project combining the two, where the powers of TS are translated into an Ironcarnum structure. I was intrigued by the idea, and gave him the green light. I didn't really expect too much out of it, but a few days later he sent me an email with a third of all the TS powers already done, and the rest followed soon after.
This stuff was good. I mean, really good. His translations were faithful, the power levels were accurate, and it was just plain *interesting* to see. However, he used some of the Ironcarnum mechanics in a not-quite-kosher way (or at least in a way that could be done more effectively), so I needed to give them an editorial look-over before I signed off on them.
Now, that was way the hell back in April, making my editorial pass about 6 months late. But it's being done! Live, and in front of millions!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
A new theme!
You know what? The Iron League (see the sidebar) is far too placid and underrated a place. There's a lot of awesome stuff there that doesn't see the light of day. Now, I think this is partially due to the organization, but still. I'm going to devote a regular series of posts here to the Iron League, highlighting things that I think are good and explaining why.
