Cover (no ontology)

From Mazeworld

Cover is a part of most rooms in Mazeworld. They are objects that serve as passive defense and is essential to maintain stealth in order for the contestant to attempt a stealth shot.

Types of cover

Cover may be randomly generated in rooms that have an encounter inside, even those that are not hostile. When the contestant enters such a room, the player may type @cover to prompt the IRC bot to generate cover. Cover damage is regulated solely using LDV rather than Pain, making cover potentially more durable, with each type having a set health and LDV modifier, similar to how Armor Class works in regards to limb damage.

Strategy

Cover is an essential aspect of combat in the Mazes, as it has many uses - stealth, speed, and protection from hits via passive defense. By providing passive defense, they can absorb hits from enemies, but are relatively ineffective if melee combat is engaged. It provides an exception to the is intrinsically tied to the Initiative system rules, by allowing combatants taking cover to be faster and more efficient during the turn they decide to take cover (see IS article about turn resolution for more information). Cover absorbs all damage intended for the encounters using it, until it is destroyed, or unless explosives are used. In such cases, splash damage hits ALL encounters and anything damageable on the same side as the point of detonation, this includes cover and encounters taking cover, though this only applies for the blast; fragmentation, for example, will hit the cover.

When a contestant first enters a room and sees an encounter, he/she can attempt taking cover. Taking cover counts as a turn in combat, and as an "attack"; as such, it is subject to a dice roll, but not to the failure threshold; even with FT modifiers, a 6 or more is required to be successful in taking cover.

Should the contestant succeed the roll, he/she will successfully take cover, stealth will be preserved, and (in most cases) the enemy inside will not notice the contestant's presence.

However, should he/she fail the roll, the contestant will succeed in taking cover but will be noticed by the enemy, ending his/her turn; this leaves a window for the opponent to attack.
In case of a critical failure while rolling for cover, they don't take cover at all; the enemies will attack beforehand. They must also roll again to take cover next turn.

Cover becomes more interesting if the contestant is attempting a stealth shot. More information on this article.

See also

• Abilities
• Gameplay mechanics
• Stealth shot
• Scope mode