pero5ar
commented
3 weeks ago I understand the need to fine tune targets for a simulation, but I don't think any heuristic of behaviour would do it justice
If this project is to do more advanced things with the targeting aspect of the simulation, it would probably be more worthwhile to create "manual mode" where the user would go step by step and pick action and targets. This mode goes against the idea of the app being "just a better CR calculator" but it would still help DMs by having an easier way to simulate a probable combat scenario than doing it on paper.
Currently Attacks by monsters are always contributed over the party, while player characters will concentrate their attacks on the lowest health enemy, until there are none left. This assumes, that enemy monsters are tactically even throughout all of a campaign, which is bold, but we assume as well that players are always aware of each other and are actually able to attack that target.
Proposal Space is hard to emulate and probably infeasible, but different fighting styles for both players and monsters aren't. Similar to the targeting decisions for players (which currently are "default" or some specific) and monsters (which currently contribute evenly), we could implement different attack patterns the monsters and players could follow. The user could shoose those different tactics for both the enemies and the players, according what environment they have in mind for their encounter. This would somewhat account for the spacial component, but also for different types of parties (New players, tactical geniuses, ...) I can reference the World of Warcraft simulationcraft addon, which offers fight types for DPS calculations. Some would be:
Patchwork. No movement, 100% uptime, 100% free choice of target (This is the current implementation) Low Spread. No movement, 100% uptime, 75% free choice of target (desired target not in range, will attack second target [HP-wise/wtv.]) Low Hectic. Slight movement (non-casters use actions/bonus actions for dash/disengage 75% of the time), 100% uptime, 100% free choice of target Light Environment Attention. No movement, 75% uptime (object interactions or persuasion encounters on the side), 100% free choice of target Wide Spread. No movement, 100% uptime, 50% free choice of target High Hectic. 50%, 100%, 100% Heavy Environment Attention. 100%, 50%, 100% And so on, see figure.