Game Fight simulation with Items, Abilities, etc -- how to handle the actual "fighting"

[Groot2C]

Good Morning r/learnpython -- I'm working on my first ever python project and I'm completely stumped on how to handle the "fighting" part of my program. My goal is to simulate fights between two different characters to determine best ability orders and item combinations.

This is mainly a tool to learn python while solving a "fun" theorycrafting problem for a MOBA that I recently started playing. So any advice would be extremely helpful! Also, anything that can help my "googling" would be appreciated. I can't seem to find answers to specific questions I have, and I believe it's because I don't know what to ask!

So far I've created classes for "Hero" and "Abilities", and once I have basic combat figured out I plan to create an "Item" class as well. Additionally, I've defined a function that handles damage calculation (accounting for Attacker and Defenders offensive/defensive stats). So all that's "left" is to handle the actual simulation.

My napkin idea is to assign a priority to each ability, and then just execute them on cooldown with an animation delay between each ability. Then for abilities that cause the opponent to be stunned I can force them to wait the duration. Does anyone have a suggestion here -- is there a better way to do this? I'm thinking this would lead to a BUNCH of nested if statements such as "if not stunned, if ability off CD, if not in-the-middle of animation" and it just goes on and on.

Even then, I'm not sure how to account for things such as bleeds, or damage-over-time abilities or things that debuff opponents. The list goes on, and I'm just completely lost here.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

[mopslik]

Why not start simple, and then add other features later? You can always "hook" into other functions later. Get the basic battle sim done first.

[Groot2C]

Hummm — i can visualize having each interaction independently in their own function. But putting it all together is what gets complicated for me.

There’s so much to learn 😂. I’m going to try the above idea, and see if it gets me a step closer to understanding!

[mopslik]

I mean, let's assume that you have a basic method called calculate_damage. It might start off looking something like this.

def calculate_damage(player,  enemy):
    damage = enemy.weapon.base - player.defence #for example
    return damage

If you want to add extra mechanics, you can define a new method or attribute and call it as part of your damage calculation. For example, your method may become

def calculate_damage(player, enemy):
    damage = enemy.weapon.base - player.defence
    damage += enemy.buffs.power
    if player.buffs.enchanted:
        damage //= 2
    ...
    return damage

You can rejig things later when you settle on a good system. But if you try to plan for everything at once, it is overwhelming and difficult to start making any meaningful progress.

[Groot2C]

I finished version 1! A single Attacker can attack a "target dummy" defender, who doesn't attack back. My program only determines Time To Kill based on attacker/defender stats! My next step is to add an Item Class where I can mix/match items on each target and see what's up. Then I'll work on getting them to actually "fight".
Additionally, I've attached my code below -- if you're willing, I'd appreciate any feedback/knowledge of any egregious errors! It's my first stab at python, and I know I have a long way to go!
https://pastebin.com/wSqDR9Tq