[OOC] Let The Blood Run Rampant

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

So, how long have you been into T1? I can tell you know what you're doing.

[Tristwich]

I have been doing it for about a year. I have suffered lots of losses...okay I've only won once, but I try to learn something from each defeat, which is why I think I walk awayfrom it improved as a whole.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

'What If' moves should generally be avoided unless you're trying to coral an opponent into a trap. You told me what you'd do if I swung diagonally at you before I made any genuine offensive intent clear. Now, that wasn't my plan, but if it HAD been, you'd have just given me a warning that might have helped me to avoid damage. Of course you might also state such a thing to prevent an opponent from following that train of thought and opening with a telegraphed swing, but I see no reason why you'd not want someone to go for broke and wind up wide open.

Likewise, it's not good because it also may put an opponent into an iffy (and not in a good way) situation if they had actually been planning a similar move. It might make it look like they saw the heads up and specifically avoided it and performed a slight variation, thus appearing to metagame.

Again, it's fine if you're trying to herd an opponent, but there are a lot of situations where it's not practical. It usually just provokes opponents to metagame and gives you one less opening. Better to let your opponent make mistakes rather than try to openly corner them. A cornered beast fights harder, after all.

[Tristwich]

I feel pretty embarrassed to make that mistake to be honest.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

Nothing to be embarrassed about, really. It's super common and far from a fatal mistake in most cases. What's more your setup is one of the best, next to the old shield and pike combo. You even have appropriate side weapons. The greatsword is a bit gratuitous though. I assume it's on her back? That's just a Hollywood invention. Greatswords never come with frogs, rather, warriors would carry them in just their scabbards to and from battle only, leaning the sword in the crook of an arm or against their shoulder. It'd be a huge hinderance sitting down or walking through many doorways with such a weapon on the back, and it takes too much time and effort to unsling it from the back on short notice, particularly in an intense close quarters scrap.

That's just general advice based on an assumption though. It's not for me to say whether or not your zweihander is of use where it is. For all I know you may have a special trick to incorporate it into the fight.

You want to improve, as do we all, so I'm just telling you a few things I found out for myself on the off chance they may also prove beneficial to you. I honestly can't rightly critique anyone without actually seeing how well they use their character, so take my words with a grain of salt for now.

Ah, but one more thing. Kull is examining Sel's grip on her weapons and trying to estimate their approximate reach. Could you reread my last post and then edit the relevant information into your own last post? I'm gathering info I.C'ly.

[Tristwich]

@Doc Doctor
Last sentence of the third paragraph. Also yeah sorry about that I failed to mention she doesn't have the claymore on her at the moment. I usually assess the battle to come and make a choice since yeah it would be rather silly to have that on her back the whole time.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

In my case, I'm not exactly providing you with "What If" moves so much as forewarning you about potential openings and mistakes. I'm not having Kull commit to any attacks, as can be seen, which is vital to the difference. The point of doing this could be purposed to make an opponent hesitant to attack, or to open them up to the mental possibility of losing, all good applications. Note that in my last OOC post, I stated that "What If" moves could provoke metagaming. This isn't provoking metagame. This is called mindgaming, trying to influence an opponent's actions by providing them with observable information that may be fairly and realistically divined. You're doing it too, so you may already know what I'm talking about. Your posts ooze confidence and assurance. You constantly refer to my character, from your character's point of view, as prey. You make your advantages crystal clear to invoke feelings of unease and uncertainty in opponents. All classic examples of mindgaming, just like how I detail Kull's sure death radius, building him up to be as intimidating as possible. Keep in mind that though the two may intermingle, mindgaming isn't always the same as bluffing, though that doesn't become apparent without results. Results, after all, define whether or not what we do is genuinely effective or not.

Consider what'd happen if I didn't know how to use a sword when a fight started, despite using a character stated to be an expert with blades, and I Googled it the day after because my opponent suggested it. That's perfectly acceptable. You aren't learning some nasty secret integral to my battle plan, or a fact about my character that you shouldn't. You might just be enlightened on your own character's build, information I'm freely sharing with you to my own detriment, which, depending on how you process it, may either positively or negatively influence the fight. I'm making this obvious so it's a positive influence, hopefully. Purely informative. It's always a good time to share information, and to learn!

[Tristwich]

Oh there's some new information, hmm

[Drifting Pollen]

Gaaaaaah just hit each other already!

[Normie]

Nonono. They must build up the dramatic tension first.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

Just two things I need to make sure I get. Her trident is in her left hand and the net in her right, yeah? Also, how and where is she throwing the net? Flailing it from the side, or attempting to cast it above? Going for the flank or arms or head?

[Tristwich]

Yes the trident is in her left hand and she is going for his arms by flailing it from her right side.

[Tristwich]

@Doc Doctor
Going to have to dispute that tactic, since I wrote those actions during his counter of my attack, thus the swing wouldn't have enough time to actually hit her given how fast she is and that he would have to recover to a normal swinging stance to actually swing without toppling over.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

Aye, but he had predicted those actions and accounted for them by timing his swing to hit her before she hit him. They were a part to your reaction to his counter, but that counter didn't come as a surprise. I was quite specific in covering all the bases. In fact, she'd have probably needed to slow down to properly suplex him without actually having her forwards momentum bowl him over. He timed his blow for her to outright smash into him bodily, hence he actually prepared for her to be faster than she'd likely be moving, giving him the edge he needs to hit first. The only time his axe wasn't in position to swing was when he simultaneously switched his stance and his grip, which would've been before she was in place to attack again. She's fast, but Kull had timing and read her strategy, so he had the benefit of acting in tight coordination with her. He moved from one clean swinging stance into another, and as mentioned many times, he's very careful about having good footing. Perhaps her mass might topple him over if she really threw her ass into it, but keep in mind where the axe is positioned, ready to go. She'd still have it thunder into her chest and kill her, or so I'd think.

[Tristwich]

@Doc Doctor
I find it difficult to believe your character has the ability to "perfectly" (a word I really don't enjoy seeing in these types of things) her speed without having even seen her run in the first place. We've only been walking around each other and Kull has the mathematical training to calculate how fast she can be based on her height and supposed muscle mass (since I don't believe he can see through armor) and then perfectly time his ax for every possible scenario including her darting away which was the impression given the entire fight? Sorry, but I am just not sold on that.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

He's not able to divine significant information from her muscle mass and height. I never mentioned such things. He's been in many, many fights and has a good general idea of how fast a mortal is on the battlefield. Two martial artists that have never met before can swap hands and still evade blows in a timely manner based off of past experience, based off of their idea of what a mortal biped can and cannot do. He doesn't know exactly how fast she is, but he's not being precise to within perfect parameters. He has a general estimation, and the rest depends on her body language. If that weren't the case, nobody would be able to react to and deflect a simple thrust, which he did in the same motion as he readied his axe. As in, his axe was ready /when/ he deflected her trident, /before/ she was close enough to hit him. His weapon was ready, she was wide open, and he swung.

I don't see how she could be so fast as to cross the distance faster than he could react and just bear hug him without getting blasted by a ready weapon.

[Tristwich]

How does your character have the ability to coordinate both a counter, a weapon stance change, and readying that weapon in a span of around a few seconds since that is the amount of time this exchange happened. You would have had to allow Selandra to get close to get a stab in, closer to even get a swing off on her. I don't see how she wouldn't also be able to take Kull down since we agreed she was 60 pounds heavier than her character sheet said and 60 pounds of extra hardened muscle is more than enough to take down someone who is lighter than yourself.@Doc Doctor

[Alexei]

The more actions one uses in a post, the less effective they become overall. As doing more effectively eats up more time as opposed to comitting to one or two. Attacking and moving doesn't eat up much time. But attacking, moving, and changing stance would.

Just my two cents.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

It takes him less than a second to perform the swap up, as I physically demonstrated. And again, the counter and the weapon stance change happened at /the same time/, in /the same motion/. She had a definitive and stated reach advantage with her trident as well, and yes, Kull let her get close enough to hit her with the axe. As for her capacity to take him down, that depends on many factors. Angle, leverage, and of course, how he'd potentially defend against it. I actually wouldn't mind him getting toppled by her because she'd still be struck with the axe, but if Kull wanted to remain on his feet, he'd let his rear leg slide back and sprawl her. Lifting him up for a surprise at such a fast charge isn't just impractical, but also would require Selandra herself to be able to predict Kull's own speed, double standards. The difference is this.

Selandra has no stated reaction speed in her profile. Kull, however...

Abilities: Kull is a physical powerhouse, able to bench 500 and kick through cinderblock like styrofoam with his reinforced greaves. He once killed a lion with asphyxiation by ramming his fist down its throat. He has the reflexes of a professional boxer and the power to match, along with nearly three decades of experience as a manslayer.

@Doc Doctor

Here's a sprawl in action, and a world class fighter reacting to an opponent's rush down with excellent timing despite not knowing exactly how fast they'd be.



And various videos of boxers predicting and slipping punches. Perfect? Well, it's what they intended to do, and they are capable of doing it, some with ease.

[Doc Doctor]

@Tristwich

If you'd like, we can have the resident unbiased judge make a call. @Ridaku.

LeeRoy or Pollen can judge too, but Daku has a more... Ummm... Blatant history of mercilessly busting my balls, so I think you'd prefer him.