[silvarilon]

Well, yes.
Which is why I suggested looking at their history of dropping link during combat, and when they dropped link to figure out if they are intentionally dropping link. And only punishing the ones that seem to be doing it intentionally. But yeah, that's only one option.

How does that help against intentional dropping, though?
If your opponent drops out, either the fight stops at the next turn - in which case they still escape unless this turn kills them - or the combat continues with the other player not at the keyboard. Which (if the default is to just defend) essentially means they'll die sooner or later anyway. It'll just take longer.

Of course, there could be a "set number of turns" after they've dropped out. Say, you've got three turns to kill them, and then it logs them out. Or their default could also include offensive actions, so there's still a chance for them to win, and then you can play out the rest of the fight.

Presumably, though, the player will be able to use better tactics than the default AI. Otherwise, why am I playing instead of allowing defaults to handle it? And if that is true, I still have a disadvantage from the accidental dropped link. Less of a disadvantage than "instant kill" of course, but still a disadvantage. Essentially this reduces the incentive to intentionally drop link, but it only reduces the problem, it doesn't negate the problem.

That said, it's still a perfectly valid solution. (hey, no system will be 100% perfect! Everyone will pick their pros and cons based on personal taste.)

I'm quite a fan for timed turns for a tactical mud combat, so please don't think I'm trying to rubbish your suggestions. From everything I can tell, you are by far my superior when it comes to designing MUD combat systems