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Not really sure what RunUO, UOX, POL, etc have as options, but with Sphere I have the choice of insta-kill guards or normal fighting type guards. Now my question is, which do you prefer and why?

With insta-kill guards, noobs can run to town and escape a monster beating their butt, pk's get instant justice, etc etc. You don't have to worry about a guild or party of griefers running in to beat down all the guards and takeover the town and/or scare off all the non violent players with insta-kill guards.

With normal guards, you have a chance to kill them, it's more realistic. It gives a chance for npcs to attack the town and not get totally shutdown at the gates. You also have the chance for one or more very strong players to waltz in and takeover your town.

My shard has an npc camp system (curteousy of Shadowlord) that will spawn it's own critters, have them create camps and bases (with multis they place themselves), and allow you to destroy their camps/bases. This system will also have the npcs expand on their own if the players don't keep them in check... they spawn a raid leader, who will assemble a raiding party, and that party will go off and travel on it's own. If the party comes across people or towns, it'll attack them, if it comes across a nice spot to build on instead, it'll build a new camp.

I like the idea of letting these monsters attack a town and not get killed in one fell swoop by the guards, but I'm unsure on whether it'd be feasible. I've always played with insta-kill guards on any shard.

Do you guys think it'd take too much security out of an average player's life or would it be a good idea?

In the online UO they switch the guards on and off for the insta kill during mass raids. Sometimes they remove them all together from town...which really sucks.

The idea of an NPC camp/raiding party is pretty cool. I can see how that would get out of hand after a while though.

The insta-kill guards thing always bothered me but normal guards would not work either since players would kill them their self as you pointed out. On the shards that I had done, I left the stats and skills alone but turned off the insta-kill and changed the AI to allow the guards more mobility to keep up with fleeing players. Players have a fair chance of making it out of town alive but the guards are nothing to sneeze at.

On a normal scripted EMU like RUNUO the guards would cluster during a raid like what you described, Sphere guards would as well from normal 55i (thats the last one I worked with so don't know the others). If they are weak then the NPC's would overrun them quickly with the respawn turned off. The NPC's would be slaughtered if the guards were at full strength and if they were normal they would most likely just sit on the edge of town and battle forever...

If the NPC raiders could some how be flagged so that if they entered an area the guards would "Switch" from one type to a non-teleporting, non-insta respawn they might balance out while still keeping players in check.

Dev

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"So...if crazy people don't know their crazy...does that mean your only sane if your know your crazy?"

I personally hate insta kill guards.

RunUO does not have any option either, Instakill only by Default.
I have made new guard AI on my RunUO shard that are very strong, but they also wander the town streets. Some remain standing post in specific areas. While they are pretty much too strong for a one on one combat, they are still killable. They also keep their boundaries in check, and if they chase something, they will stop if they run too far from their boundary. When the guards are spread out even enough throughout town, there will always be another one in the area by time that first one stops chasing.. this was done to prevent anyone from luring the guards in town all away from any given area.
The guards will also loose sight, if you run around a corner and hide, light of sight is also taken into effect to a point.. to kinda create as realistic AI as possible.. rather than them always knowing where you are.. giving you a chance to outrun them, or run and hide behind a small building.. You can actually stealth through town as a murderer, if your good enough, and sneak past them.

I think I have created some pretty damn good guards.. all of this was done because I hate Insta kill guards, and felt something better was in order.

Oh, I have also the opposite.. where if you run into a town thats run by criminals, the guards will actually attack you if your an innocent

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Forget what you know, know what you forget.

I really think there should be a mix. You need a "safe" place for new players to run to if monsters are chasing them, but it's also more realistic to allow the more powerful players to take over a particular town. If your nation/city-state/world is supposed to have a strong central government, then after the guards in a town are wiped out, the crown/mayor/president/whatever should send waves of increasingly tougher/more numerous guards to "liberate" the town. This would make an interesting dynamic.

I use mortal guards as a personal preference. Set roughly to the high end of player stats, well maybe a tiny bit above average players, they do the job. Mine heal in a similar manner to having bandages so there's a bit of a player-like advantage for them.

So far a handful of guards can handle most minor monsters. Unless of course they're completely overrun. I don't have any raiding systems in place but I have on ocassion tossed in a bit of grief from the NPCs. It works out even if you lose a guard or two.

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Darien Dragon
"There is no good or evil, only fun and boring."