[CF List] Map reset time (was: New To Crossfire)

[Raphaël Quinet]

On Fri, 29 Mar 2002 21:13:09 -0800, "Mark Wedel" <
     
     mwedel at sonic.net
     
     > wrote:
>
     
      Joris Bontje wrote:
     
     >
     
      > Some maps, for instance pupland' raffle1 is very popular because of the
     
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      > specific enemies you find there.. There are often requests to the
     
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      > dungeon master to manually reset it. With more people you will have more
     
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      > of these problems. I think shortening the reset time isnt good for
     
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      > everything, having more maps is better.
     
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       Yep - and duplicating the map probably doesn't solve the problem (Eg, have a
     
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      raffle1a, raffle1b, all the same content but different instances).  In that
     
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      case, the player may just do them in order since if they liked the first one
     
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      for hte monsters it contains, they probably like the second one with the same
     
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      monsters.
     
     
While reading this old thread, I came up with an idea that could solve this
problem: duplicate the maps, but make sure that a player who visits and/or
who solves one of these maps cannot visit the other ones within the next
hour or so (using half of the map reset time should be a good value for
this "temporary ban").

This could be done by introducing a time-limited object in the player's
inventory.  Using the usual inventory checks, the player would be prevented
from entering the other maps until the invisible object has expired.  Just
like some of the invisible keys/pass/... that are used in many maps, except
that the object would be time-limited in this case.

This should not be too hard to implement: the expiration time would have to
be set when the object is added the the player's inventory.  When the
current time (server time) is greater than the expiration time, then the
object is removed from the inventory.  In fact, the object does not have to
be removed precisely when it expires, because that would require frequent
tests on all objects in the inventory.  Instead, the object can remain in
the inventory until there is an inventory test for this type of invisible
objects.

>
     
       Many maps have a problem in that they don't reset if anyone visits them before
     
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      they would reset.  Eg, if raffle1 is due to reset at 1 pm, and someone visits it
     
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      at 12:45 pm, now it won't reset to 2:45 pm.  This is controllable in the maps
     
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      themselves, and all shops ignore that visit factor, but those are about the only
     
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      that do.
     
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       The reason behind that is that it could take more than 2 hours to solve a
     
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      dungeon, and you don't want the early parts resetting on you.
     
     
Actually, the real problem is not the fact that the reset time is extended
if someone re-visits the map too early.  As you mentioned, this is a very
useful feature, especially because some people take longer than others to
solve the same dungeon, so customizing the reset time for the maps would not
be sufficient.  For most maps, extending the reset time after each visit is
a good idea.

The real problem is that the players have no way to know if the map has been
reset or not before entering it.  And if they enter it too early, then the
reset time is extended.  If there was any way for a player to know if the
map that they are about to enter has been visited recently, then some of
these issues would not exist at all.

I suggest the following solution: introduce a new archetype for exits,
which would change faces depending on whether the target map is currently
in memory (or swapped out) or if it has been reset.  The difference between
the images could be minor (light coming from a door or window, position of
the door handle, sign added on the door, ...).  The players would learn what
the differences are, and after a while they would avoid entering the maps
that haven't been reset yet.

-Raphaël