Flying mounts (Objects Help)
Overview
Apart from allowing you to ride various mounts on land, The Two Towers
offers you the chance to use a flying mount. There are two kinds of such
mounts in game right now: Giant Eagles for good players and Fell Beasts for
evil players. They can only be taken control of through completion of a
special quest; you cannot "buy" them like other mounts.
Movement
You can "mount" a flying mount just like a regular one. However, from
this point on maneuvering it is different. You cannot move on the mount
while it is on the ground at all; you must first order it to "fly". When
in flight, you can move freely in any of the main directions: n, e, s, w,
ne, se, nw, sw. Flying mounts do not follow any particular exits - they
just fly above the main map grid. With this limitation, they also cannot
"enter" any special area on the map.
While in flight, you may fly "up" and "down" to change your altitude.
You may wish to do so to "align" yourself with another flying beast that
you may want to attack. Apart from changing altitude, you may also change
your flying speed. Typing "speed <number>" will make your beast go
<number> rooms with one movement command; this defaults to 1.
When you want to dismount your flying mount, you first have to "land"
it. Note, however, that you may only land on open area such as plains; you
will find it impossible to land in, for example, forests.
When the beast moves, the rider will see the 1-line short description
of every room travelled over. Each room on the ground will get a message
"You see a XXX fly overhead." Other aerial beasts will get a "XXX flies
above/below/by" dependant upon respective altitude.
While mounted on a flying beast, you cannot look at or pick up any
ground-based objects. Similarly, they cannot look at you (only your
mount). This is because of the increased distance from you to the object
you are trying to look at - you just can't get a closer look than to know
they're in the room.
Map
You will notice that while you are mounted on a flying beast, your
"map" command will display a slightly bigger map; it is easier to detect
your surroundings from a higher altitude!
Combat
Air combat is more than a stationary fight like with monsters; it is a
three-dimensional combat system. The beasts will still fight stationary
if in the same room and at the same altitude. However, the beasts also
can attack while moving provided that combat has already been initiated
with the "kill" command.
Movement attacks are the "dive" and the "scrape":
- A dive attack is when a player at a higher altitude dives down on his
enemy, doing a dive damage bonus attack.
- A scrape attack is when a beast moves into or through a room with
the enemy (provided both are at the same altitude). The beast will
scrape the enemy with its talons and keep flying. If it is flying
through (moving many rooms at once) it will just attack and leave.
If it stops in the room, it will get a scrape attack and then combat
will continue as before.
During combat, the rider will take damage a portion of the time and
the beast will take the damage the rest of the time. Even though the
goal is to kill the beast, sometimes the rider will receive a blow or two.
Apart from these two, the flying mounts have their own special attacks:
eagles can "claw", while fell beasts can "bite".
Death
If the rider dies while on the beast, he becomes a ghost and floats
down to the ground.
If the beast dies in combat, it will begin falling to the ground.
The rider will receive damage based on the height of the fall and the
weight of the rider (in equipment). This damage will be very high
and will likely kill the rider.
Endurance
All beasts tire while in flight. If your beast begins to tire, you
will be told of this. It would be best for you to land quickly, for
you wouldn't want to be on it if it fell out of the sky...
