[MUD-Dev] Re: AR Mining System

[John Bertoglio]

-----Original Message-----
From: Oliver Jowett <oliver at jowett.manawatu.planet.co.nz>
To: mud-dev at kanga.nu <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Date: Thursday, May 14, 1998 6:44 AM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: AR Mining System


>On Thu, 14 May 1998, John Bertoglio wrote:
>
>> The following is the help text associated with the AR mining system.
>> Comments and improvments are sought.
>
>> Mining tools improve performance. Tools like picks and shovels when
wielded
>> or held increase the amount of ore found each hour. High strength and
will
>> power also increase the amount of ore mined. Mining skill determines the
>> quality of the ore found and has a small affect on the quanity of ore
>> found. Note that miners with low skill levels will deplete the mine at
the
>> same rate as highly skilled ones despite the fact that their ore will
>> produce less of the targeted material.
>
>I'd have thought that ore is ore is ore is ore, and there's the same
>physical amount of raw mineral in a volume regardless of how it's been
>collected.


You are correct. This is really a game device designed to generate creative
disonance. I want to create *real* reasons for player conflict. The idea is
that a community of prospector-miners will have a good reason to keep
others out of "their" mine...maximizing yield. I would expect this fact to
create interesting results.

There is a vague RL explanation: Ore is ore. But ore is a subset of dirt. A
newbie miner fill up lots of carts with dirt, digs in the wrong direction,
etc. They throw alot of good ore out with the bath water (to grossly mix
metaphors).

>Random thought: instead of using the mining skill directly to determine
>ore quality, make mines big - really big - with ore very unevenly
>distributed. Then the challenge is in finding where to extend your shafts
>to find a rich vein - which is where the mining skill becomes sought
>after.

This is a good idea. I will look into the permutations of this notion. The
current system models that to a degree. After a certain amount of digging
is done in a particular area, a new shaft is created. Skilled miners find
more ore because they know where to dig....ect. Since I don't want to
preplan a mine, the model you suggest would be difficult for me to utilize.
Still, the notion of a "Bonanza" out there could be compelling thing.

>Could lead to a more interesting system: is it better to hire one expert
>miner and 50 grunts, then go to work with the expert directing operations?
>Or to hire 15 reasonably experienced miners? Or 200 grunts, and spend a
>lot of time transporting worthless dirt around? Let someone else find a
>rich vein then exploit the area yourself. etc..


I try to abstract anything in the world that is somewhat boring. Digging
ore for eight hours takes about 10 seconds of game play, unless the process
is interupted by ore depletion, mine depletion, random encounter or some
other situation. The notion of using labor to build serious mines merits
consideration but is outside of our current scope.

>I like the abandoned-shafts-become-infested idea (oops, too much
>snipping). Devious. This is a nice way to auto-generate dungeons: let the
>players do the work for other reasons, then steal it :)
>
Gotta do something with those holes. I also see players establishing lairs,
theives dens, etc. They might have to occasionaly battle critters for
occupancy, but nothing like a truly abandoned mine. I intend to use a
variant of JC's Orc Cave example as an occupancy model. The only real
change will be a more event driven model...orcs happend when players
stumble into their world. Key orc npcs will have permaent residence, but
others would be generated based on time since last encounter. I kind of
operate on "If no one is there to see the tree falls, not only did it not
make a sound, it probably isn't even there" principle.

I would expect some interesting (read goofy) things to happen like people
writing their names with mine shafts, etc. A typical mine will be huge by
the time it is depleted.

>-O
>
>
>--
>MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.


John Bertoglio



--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.