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

[Scott Wedel]

The map reset logic is fundamentally a kludge.  The intent is to have maps
reset so they can be played again while allowing a player deep in a dungeon get
out without facing fresh maps.  The kludge is to extend the reset time whenever
a map is visited and to have the map reset timeout longer than what it'd take
to complete the dungeon.

A better scheme for resetting maps would be to note what maps are part of a
connected set of maps.  Then the map reset logic could decline to reset any of the
connected maps if a player is on any of the maps (letting a player in a dungeon
get out) and set a relatively short reset timeout if the maps are unoccupied.


As for the current kludge, it could be further kludged to extend the map reset
timeout only after a character makes some number of moves in the map.  That'd
allow a player to see that a map is unchanged and immediately leave without
changing the map reset timeout.


>
     
      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
     
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      has been reset.
     
     
Absolutely a terrible idea.  The map reset logic should be utterly invisible
to players.  Players should only know that maps with dead monsters and so on
means another player was there recently.