PLACE COMBAT SYSTEM INITIALIZATION PHASE

• The First Phase is the Initialization Phase. This checks to see if an encounter is already in progress, and if not, “loads” the fight into each player's individual memories from a Page Program called a FIGHT CARD. If the encounter is already loaded, it will proceed directly to a program I call the COMBAT CORE program. I generally add a programming grid to the Room, using the first grid to run a SET UP program whose function is to run Page Programs that check for conditionals related to things including the potential scripted encounter. The start of a scripted encounter is triggered by a positive action from the player by presenting a Page link that will start the fight. If the player doesn't want to be the one to start the fight, all they have to do is not click the link. This helps with group play because the group's leader can ensure that all the “cats” have been “herded” to the room and are ready. The second room programming grid has the sole function of checking to see if the GLOBAL ENCOUNTER FLAG is set, and if the player has loaded the encounter. I have found where Global Memories are concerned, it is best to do this as a room program rather than a page program, and that it might be necessary for players to refresh once or twice to bring it up.
• Every scripted encounter within the Place is set up through the use of a program called a FIGHT CARD, tied to a page in a single room with no doors and no deco that serves no other function than to host FIGHT CARD pages. This is for ease of search, by keeping all of the encounters in one place. An encounter is triggered by using a RUN PROGRAM contraption to run the required FIGHT CARD program. My convention for labeling FIGHT CARDS is to call them FIGHT CARD 001, FIGHT CARD 002, FIGHT CARD 003, et cetera. This ties every encounter to a unique number that is searchable and easy to keep track of.
• Each FIGHT CARD page has a corresponding ENCOUNTER CARD PAGE that gives the visual of the encounter, and tells you how many Mooks in each group are left, and how many Hit Points the Boss has, if there is a Boss in the encounter.
• Every FIGHT CARD is a program that writes information to various memories using the SET MEMORY contraption. Memories to be set are MOOK 1 (for the number of mooks in the first group), MOOK 1 DIFFICULTY (for their Attack and Defense stat), MOOK 2 (number of mooks in the second group), MOOK 2 DIFFICULTY, BOSS HP (the number of hit points of the Boss enemy), BOSS DIFFICULTY, ENCOUNTER FLAG (with the number of the FIGHT CARD), LOOT ID (With the number of the LOOT CARD to be used, which is how an encounter is resolved and will be covered in greater detail later), and finally, the GLOBAL ENCOUNTER FLAG (with the number of the FIGHT CARD). To prevent mix-ups from having multiple players/player groups doing different things at the same time, I went with 5 GLOBAL ENCOUNTER FLAG chips. Expensive, but worth the hassle.
• Every ENCOUNTER CARD has its own program, that is simply a MEMORY EQUAL contrivance checking to see if the ENCOUNTER FLAG memory is equal to the Encounter Card number, and if so, SHOW PAGE for that ENCOUNTER CARD.

Place this program in the room programming grid for your fight. You want to see if FIGHT CARD 009 is present in the player's memory, meaning they have the fight “picked up,” and if not, “load” the fight for them. If there is an encounter loaded, this will execute the COMBAT CORE program after every page refresh or post in story/banter to keep the fight cycling through to the end.

• ROW 1 COLUMN 1: MEMORY LESS (checks to see if ENCOUNTER FLAG memory is less than 1) If fail: RUN PROGRAM (COMBAT CORE) in the Escape Hatch
• ROW 2 COLUMN 1: MEMORY EQUAL (Checks to see if the GLOBAL ENCOUNTER FLAG appropriate to that room has a value equal to the appropriate FIGHT CARD number for that room, in this case a value of 9)
• ROW 3 COLUMN 1: RUN PROGRAM (Runs the FIGHT CARD 009 program.)

This program “loads” the fight into the player's memories, allowing them to “pick it up.”

• ROW 1 COLUMN 1, 2, 3: SET MEMORY (Three contraptions which load values into MOOK 1, MOOK 2, and BOSS HP to set the number of MOOKS in each group and the boss' hit points)
• ROW 2 COLUMN 1, 2, 3: SET MEMORY (Three contraptions which load values into MOOK 1 DIFFICULTY, MOOK 2 DIFFICULTY, and BOSS DIFFICULTY to set their base stats.)
• ROW 3 COLUMN 1, 2, 3: SET MEMORY (Three contraptions which load values into ENCOUNTER FLAG, the appropriate GLOBAL ENCOUNTER FLAG, and LOOT ID FLAG. Typically this value is the same as the FIGHT CARD number, in this case being 9.)