Modular Action System, Assemble!
Posted by Kwip on October 6th, 2006 | 12 Comments 
I’m trying to level up, I swear. The problem is, I am WAY too easily distracted by shiny things. And I think I’ve mentioned before that Ryzom is so damned unique even the simplest thing that their players take for granted fascinates me. I become focused on playing with it and wind up spending far too long experimenting instead of actually getting out there and getting xp from it.
The "it" in this case is Ryzom’s Modular Action System. It sounds like some sort of robotic armor, but it’s actually a clever damn way to distract obsessive-compulsive people like yours truly from ever accomplishing anything in the game. And this is driving me nuts, because they’ve launched the Ryzom Ring now, so every damn minute I spend trying to learn not to suck is another minute I’m NOT impressing the world with my brilliant quests.
Here’s how it works: every action you take is broken down into various "stanzas." The stanzas are the modules in this Modular Action System, you see. So I earned an "accuracy" stanza and an "damage" stanza. I also learned some "credit" stanzas, "Consumes 10 Stamina" and "Consumes 3 HP," each worth 10 credits.
What I can do now is create my very own attack, the aptly named "Super Attack."
I started the game with a basic "Improve Accuracy" action and a "Improve Damage" action. After a few innocent Yubos brutalized, I earned my new stanzas and set out to make my attack. I decided that it wasn’t far I was being forced to chose more damage OR more accuracy; my Super Attack would consist of a damage boost AND an accuracy boost.
That’s right, tremble before my awesomeness! Obviously I’m a super genius and nobody EVER thought of combining these two stanzas!
However, I’m left with a problem: each of those stanzas have a "cost" associated with them (5 points). I’m now 10 points in the hole. But no fear! Thanks to my credit stanza, "Consumes 10 Stamina," weighing in at 10 credits, I’m able to drop the cost to zero. If I add my other credit stanza I’d be able to boost the success rate on this attack.
In short, I would become the most unstoppable force known to man Tyroskind. My head swam with the lofty weight of great powers. But just like Spider-Man, there were great responsibilities with these great powers! Could I chose wisely?
Of course not.
I added both the credit stanzas to my Super Attack and set out to demonstrate to that bane of my existence, the foul, loathsome Weeny Ragus’, that I was not to be kicked around any more.
Not true! As it turns out, not only was I going to be kicked around some more, I was going to actively help them kick me around.
First off, let me just say that if you’re attacking something called "Weeny," your confidence is already shaken. I tried to creep towards where I knew the Ragus’ laired, only to find them charging out to great me. It turns out my tender flesh is very pleasurable to their palates, and they were eager to try some more.
No fear from me, mister! I had my SUPER ATTACK to fall back on! I started clicking away with that attack, chaining one right after the other. And I did start off strongly – the first of the Ragus’ fell before my massive blows like my diet before a pint of Ben & Jerrys.
That’s when I noticed something of interest. Do you remember how I talked about the credit stanzas having a cost associated with them? Yeah, well, neither did I. It turns out that while I was busy whipping up on my Weeny victims, I was also doing a pretty good job of whipping up on myself.
I had depleted most of my stamina and a darn good chunk of my hit points without any help from the Ragus’. Of course they didn’t want to feel like they contributed nothing, so they gladly chipped in. And it turns out that once you’re out of stamina, silly things like dodging and running become REALLY hard. Especially when you run right into the Ragus lair. Twice.
The problem is you can set up your own way points on the map and have an arrow point to them. But I was getting confused and kept thinking the arrow was pointing North, the direction I didn’t want to go. Really, it was pointing back to camp, where I DID want to go, very badly. And I did go back there – to respawn.
So I’m dead again. Supposedly there’s a way to be rezzed by other players in this game, but honestly, I wasn’t about to admit my stupidity to other players yet. They already think I’m the biggest idiot in the game because I spent fifteen minutes carrying on a conversation with another player only to discover it was an NPC; I don’t need to explain my corpse sitting in the middle of a Ragus lair. A Weeny Ragus lair, no less.
Oudknoei pointed out to me that the death penalty is xp, but the shame penalty for dying in such a stupid fashion is much, much higher.
Now while I’m sure this appeals to most people, I am a bit of a wimp. I’m sure Ethic makes fun of me because I feel guilty killing the requisite 
