[MUD-Dev] Re: AR Mining System

[Oliver Jowett]

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.

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.

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 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 :)

-O


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