Grimm wrote:sardonica wrote:Bowmen cannot string a bow and attack when they're being engaged by a guy with pointy metal thrusting it in their face.
You should see The Avengers.
I was totally going to come here today and say this, but didn't earlier because I've been mulling over this concept for a while.
Quite a while.
I've been playing DrTm with Bows a lot lately and I've been sort of surprised when monsters come up to me and I'm still using my bow on them (when it's not worth transmuting) and I realize that Centaurs, who use bows, come up to you and use melee instead of still shooting you (possibly to conserve ammo, but I dunno). AI doesn't seem to judge on what the superior attack mode is depending on distance.
While observing this, I wondered about whether there should be attack penalties or bonuses or defense penalties or bonuses depending on defender distance from the ranged attacker. Unfortunately, it does not work in favor of the argument made in this thread.
Damage done would conceivably diminish with distance as velocity decreases (conceivably adjusted based on ammo type and launcher type; steel ammo and xbows would likely never be penalized).
At a distance, given travel time (even considering short range as we're in a dungeon), a dextrous target would have a miniscule advantage to dodge or block an incoming ranged attack than one at point blank range.
Accuracy would be diminishing at longer ranges, extended by the type of weapon, Granted, movement at short ranges might counteract any point blank bonus. I could see an accuracy penalty or a dodge bonus at point blank range, but then I could see that for all distances.
Which means it evens out, which is why I never started a thread like this.
As mumra says, the display is a representation of what's going on, you are not necessarily touching anyone you are adjacent to; they are simply within a range arbitrarily defined as "adjacent" where non-reaching melee attacks can conceivably connect.