[CF List] problem with some diseases

[Peter Mardahl]

So what you're saying is, in the archetypes file,
allow things like
"damage_adjusted_by_caster_level 1",
and then have the archetype reading code,
based on what type of thing it's reading,
translate that into the appropriate in-code
parameter change, such as making the damage negative?

Well, you do gain clarity from the archetype writer's point
of view, at the expense of enormously more complicated
archetype file parsing and maintenance.  The way the loader
works right now just wouldn't support such functionality,
it'd have to be rewritten and would have to do two passes
through each object, one to figure out its type, and the
second to interpret all the parameters specific to that
type.

I think someone else's suggestion (Andrew's I think) of
a front-end like crossedit providing boxes like "LOCKCODE"
where you type in a number, and then setting "value" or whatever
in the archetypes makes
sense and doesn't force a  change to the existing code,
though THAT has to be maintained too.

PeterM


>
     
      But you (and Mark in his response) both miss the bigger point.  It is
     
     >
     
      the archetypes definition that is needlessly difficult.  The archetype
     
     >
     
      definitions should make an effort to be clear and self documenting.  Diseases
     
     >
     
      should be defined so that DISEASE_DAMAGE_TYPE=ADJUSTED_BY_CASTER_LEVEL or
     
     >
     
      whatever is the proper way to define the effects of the disease as compared
     
     >
     
      to whether the value for damage is positive or negative.  Then if the
     
     >
     
      archetypes parser handles that by storing a negatives value in the damage
     
     >
     
      field of the object to save room in the object structure then so be it.
     
     >
     
      Then the issues of clarity are isolated to the code internals.
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
      Overloading in the archetype definitions creates problems because then it
     
     >
     
      becomes much harder to unwind overloading because then one has to review
     
     >
     
      every archetype to determine what was the intended purpose of this value
     
     >
     
      in that field.
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
      							sdw
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
      __________________________________________________
     
     >
     
      Do You Yahoo!?
     
     >
     
      Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free
     
     >
     
     
      http://sbc.yahoo.com
      
      
     >
     
      _______________________________________________
     
     >
     
      crossfire-list mailing list
     
     >
     
     
      crossfire-list at lists.real-time.com
      
      
     >
     
     
      https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/crossfire-list