TFT Melee Simulator

The following Java Applet is a simulator for starting characters for Melee (The Fantasy Trip). The goal behind this project was to decide which was the best character to take in the game. The results may surprise you!

As of the current version (2007-09-23), the following features are implemented:

• Hero list includes only starting characters (ST: 8, DX: 8, 8 additional points, armor and weapons) with the largest weapon for their ST.
• Each bout is carried out until one or the other hero is no longer conscious (ST < 2), or both have broken their weapon.
• If both heroes break their weapon, the bout is considered a draw (tie).
• Automatic and critical hits (double, triple damage) as well as automatic and critical misses (dropped, broken weapons).
• Hero must take a turn to pick up a dropped weapon.
• Hero has -2 penalty to DX for the current and next turn when he has taken 5 or more hits in the current round.
• (new 2004-05-12) Hero has -3 penalty to DX for the remainder of the bout when he has been reduced to ST 3 or less.
• Hero gets knocked down when he has taken 8 or more hits in the current round and must take a turn to stand up.
• Hero will defend if he has an injury causing adjDX to go below 8, provided he has a readied weapon.
• No missile or thrown weapons; no movement; heroes are assumed to be engaged.
• No shield rushing or hand-to-hand combat.
• (new 2004-05-12) Improved verbose output, including die rolls and weapon damage.
• Java Applet developed to run under JRE 1.5 (sorry if your JRE isn't supported).

Bugs fixed:

• 2007-09-23: Several damage values for weapons were wrong. Hammer had 1-1 instead of 1+1 (thanks Todd Roseberry) and Spear had 1+1 instead of 1+2.
• 2004-05-12: 4D rolls vs adjDX (defending) causing dropped/broken weapons on 17/18 respectively.
• 2004-05-22: bout count could be set to 0 (doh! -- thanks $mike)

Suggested uses

There are several ways to use the simulator:

1. To simulate a large number of bouts among two or more heroes. It is strongly recommended to not enable the Verbose output option as it will generate a lot of text!
2. To simulate a small number of bouts among two or more heroes, with verbose details (blow-by-blow) of the bouts. This produces a lot of output, but can be interesting when you want to see the details of the simulation.

Select multiple heroes with the Ctrl key (Command key, for Mac users [thanks for reminding me $mike, it has been too long]). Standard select-all key shortcuts appear to work on Windows.

Your browser is completely ignoring the <APPLET> tag!

Remember, use Verbose output only for small numbers of selected heroes/bouts!

©2004 Christopher Fuhrman -- All rights reserved.

Note about Copy/Paste of results

Because of security constraints with Java applets, you cannot copy/paste the results from the simulator applet (thanks to Marc Gacy for insisting that this doesn't work!).

Rather than signing my applet, I offer an alternative solution for those who want to copy/paste the results. You grant access to the clipboard for my MeleeSimulator applet on your system using the Java policytool. You can download a sample .java.policy file that sets this up for you. Make sure you store it in your HOME directory (in Windows XP, this is usually C:\Documents and Settings\username\). It's probably best to restart your browser after having downloaded this file.

If you already have a .java.policy file, you won't want to overwrite it with mine. In that case, here are the manual steps to add the policy for the JRE 1.4.x:

1. Run the Java "policytool" on your system (in a command window). This application is usually in the bin directory of the JRE and should be in the command path. Sun also documents this tool.
2. Click the "Add Policy Entry" button.
3. Specify the CodeBase: as "http://pages.infinit.net/filmore/MeleeSimulator/MeleeSimulator.jar" (without quotes).
4. Leave the SignedBy: field blank.
5. Click the "Add Permission" button.
6. In the Permission: combo box, choose AWTPermission (java.awt.AWTPermission).
7. In the Target Name: combo box, choose accessClipboard (accessClipboard).
8. Leave the Actions: and SignedBy: fields alone (blank).
9. Click "OK"
10. Click "Done"
11. Chose "Save" from the File menu.
12. Exit the browser and reload the simulator page (this page). You should be able to copy from the results window.

Related links

• TFT Dice Roller (Java Applet)
• TFT (The Fantasy Trip) web ring hub

Please send feedback/bug reports/comments to fuhrman8or@yahoo.com.

Page last updated 2007-09-23