[CF-Devel] Future crossfire changes/projects

[Mark Wedel]

Scott Barnes wrote:

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      Proposed Change:  Competition Maps
     
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      Details:  Add the ability to make NPCs remember things after map resets,
     
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      so that maps like a "race to the finish" map or "battle to the death"
     
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      map could be feasible.  Also, just a novelty idea here, a map could be
     
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      done that would be sortof a sumo wrestling tournament, players pay some
     
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      coins to enter the tournment, try to push each other out of a circle,
     
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      and the winner (the one that never got pushed out) gets all the coins
     
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      the players paid.  Just a thought :)
     
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      Pros:  Just think of the possiblities :)
     
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      Cons:  Might be difficult to do, players that are sore losers might get
     
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      bitter and kill the winners ;)
     
     
 There is of course already one map sort of in this category - the arena in the
starting town.

 This could of course be extended for more variations as mentioned above.

 But I wonder how this might affect playing style.  I remember mail recently
with a 'problem' of players being too friendly to other players (giving out
items to newbies), but it was said this was a preferable problem compared to
having a bunch of player killers out there.  I wonder if such direct
competitions may make players more agressive to other players.

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      Proposed Change:  "Smart" NPC's
     
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      Details:  Sortof the same thing.  Make NPC's able to "remember" things
     
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      about the players.
     
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      Pros:  It would make it possible for whole new plots to evolve around
     
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      the players (ie, a player that steals and attacks townspeople, the
     
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      townspeople would "remember" and could tell other players that they're
     
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      bad, players could even become "villians" and "heros" of sorts :))
     
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      Cons:  Would most likely be EXTREMELY difficult to implement.
     
     
 I think some of this would have to do with the scripting.  currently, npcs
can't even the last thing a player said to them, let alone from before a map
reset.

 OTOH, I think storing information in the player about reputation might make
more sense.  Looking at just csua and metalforge, there have been several
hundred players started, and these servers typically only have a few players on
them.

 Imagine having thousands of players, and hundreds of town inhabitants.  Storing
this information in the npc could really get complicated.  But a related change:

Proposed Change: Have map regions
Details: Maps (cities in the current map set) would be set in some region. 
These regions would have different characteristics.  Perhaps some regions don't
like certain races as much as others (so for example, the elf in the dwarf city
would get shifted by prices, while the dwarf would get really good prices, and
everyone else neutral prices).  Regions could also contain other information,
like alternate treasure lists (food in the dwarf city may be considerably
different for example).  Related to above comments, players could have different
reputations for each region (doing quests may raise ones reputation)
Pros: Add more flavor to game.  Quests would potentially have additional
effects.  Some quests could not be available until a certain reputation is
reached.
Cons: Adds another level of complications.  A map with the wrong reputation
value could really screw things up.