is this the way combat is supposed to

work in sl? basiclly one shot and you're dead? this doesn't really make sense because in most fps games only a well-placed head-shot with a sniper rifle will produce a 'one-shot' kill. most of the combat i've seen so far (after buying a simple gun) really is pointless because it seems everone dies after one shot.

is this correct? are there armor systems or shields to make the combat gameplay a little more common?

damn I forgot to buy arrows

For the horde!!

I have nothing of value to add to this thread.

Piako, in case you didn't notice - SL is anything but an fps. And in SL, no one even dies. They just get teleported home.

SL is whatever the creator of that particular sim wants it to be -- that is the wonderful thing about SL.

I'm not really into combat in SL, so I can only give you the basics.

Some areas in SL are "damage enabled". In those, scripts can deal "damage" to you; and if your health is reduced to zero, you're teleported home. How much damage a script(ed weapon) chooses to deal with one blow is entirely up to the script, so it really comes down to "gentleman agreements" about using specific weapons for the style you want.
Though, in fact, these areas are often specifically used for "arms races" between clever scripts, where the trick is to do all sorts of evasions and blocks programatically, more than it is "playing combat".

Alternately, there exists several scripted combat systems, which don't rely on the built-in damage/health system, but whatever rules the makers have come up with. Again, we're down to gentleman agreements to use a certain combat system, and not using weapons which abuse the system (however that is defined and enforced). Such systems may well include shields, armors and whatnot.

-And incidentally, one-shot kills may well "make sense". It's certainly more *realistic* than pumping 400 rounds into somebody and seeing a health meter being chipped away. It all depends on what you want from the gameplay.

Look for RP sims that use a combat meter.

Damage enabled land is only good for instant-kills.

like some people have already said above there are 2 ways to do combat in SL, the default being on damage enabled land using prim projectiles that have damage scripted into them they always seem to be set at 100% damage too so you are going to die from being hit just once. the other is using a combat system that uses sensors to detect hits, I think you will have a much better experience from the sound of it if you seek out a group (and there are loads of them) that use these.

As others have mentioned, I think you need to join an organised roleplay sim that uses combat meters. Most of these sims also have restrictions on the weapons used so some can't cheat by having modified weapons that can take out anyone instantly. Most of the damage enabled weapons are more griefing tools.

Decide what type of combat you would like to do and look for a roleplay area that fits the charactor. There are a variety of roleplay sims that include combat in SL from Vampires, Gorean, fantasy, dark roleplay, futuristic ... the list goes on.

some well programmed combat systems only work with the weapons programmed for them

To those suggesting roleplay sims, the OP isn't interested in RP, which he explains in this post:

/327/e4/286819/1.html

Sounds to me as though he's after a simple FPS, which I'm not sure has been created in Second Life yet. The closest I could think of is if someone has scripted and built a paintball system that registers hits but doesn't give an immediate kill. Anyone know if something like that exists in SL? It's all I can think of that might meet his needs.

Throws you thorns and mark of the wild while running by.

Ancestors be praised!

Cheapshot
hemo
hemo
kidney

My tiny combat systems require more than one hit to kill.

ahhh drood buffs gotta love 'em

snuck up on me grrr hates alliance rogues

Healingtouch
swiftmend...
Lifebloooooooom!

So the consensus seems to be, the OP belongs in World of Warcraft.

Stormwind uber alles!

i don't think the OP would like wow very much, EVE online would probably be more in line