Resets and repops

[Chris Gray]

[ChrisL]

:>Not bad; my only problem with this is that if there's any sort of
:>mechanisms by which the player can learn about their world without
:>actually going places, this starts to break down.  The most obvious
:>example is the spell locate object.
:
:Other good candidates:
:
:  Built in rumour systems
:  Newspapers
:  OBE (Out of Body Experience)
:  Scrying
:  High altitude overview (for those with 3D)
:  Indirect viewing ("typical" magic eye objects, or your
:clairvoyance).
:  Remotely controlled/possessed mobiles.
:  Demon riders on mobiles.
:  'Bots.

I'm not sure how to interpret the last 3 examples, but as for the others,
none of those exist (yet) in my scenario. A wizard could create any of
them, however. So, this suggests some changes. Currently, in my scenario
(which I still call a "starter" scenario"), there are really 3 classes
of NPC's:

    - those that stick around all the time. They either sidestep
	combat, run away instead of being killed, get regened like
	players do, or do not enter the combat areas.

    - those that are special to special rooms. These are the ones
	discussed - they come back only when the room is triggered.

    - generic monsters - these are pseudorandomly generate when players
	move around in combat areas

The reason the class 2 ones stay gone until needed is really just one
of efficiency - my server will run on a 7 Mhz 68000, so I want to not use
extra cycles. A quick fix here is to have them re-appear right away, but
not reactivate. So, distance viewing will see them, but always in the
same place. An OK compromise, I think.

Another solution is to establish a convention that says that distance
viewers should check for and call a specific action on locations they
are viewing. That action could cause the viewers to see the missing
NPC's, without actually having to create them. (Dirty trick, I know!)

[TrashCollectors]

Kewl! This one I'm going to have to seriously consider, although likely
not as detailed, and I don't have a mana concept to deal with.

Unfortunately, my next release is almost 100% dealing with issues of the
client, and not any scenario stuff. I'm spending boring time messing
around with scroll bars, text clipping, etc. Ick!

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA