[CF-Devel] skill & spell object code check in.

Sat Sep 13 00:08:02 CDT 2003

  I've checked in the new skill + spell code.  I don't want to delve too in 
depth on details, as I think the docs I wrote up with them, and now in CVS, are 
pretty good, so I'll just give quick summary:

skills: No longer are there experience categories.  Each skill has its own exp 
and level total.  The handling of exp for skills is greatly improved - should be 
impossible to funnel exp into a different skill - even in party mode.  This is 
because for things like spells, we record the skill name the exp should be 
creditied to.  It is possible to adjust the amount of exp you earn in a skill 
that goes to your overall exp.  For example, it may be desirable to make it so 
that skills over all progress at near the same pace (level 10 one handed 
weapons, level 10 alchemist, level 10 literacy, etc).  However, given literacy 
is a relative safe profession, don't want give the player as much exp for their 
overall level when using literacy as compared to soemthing dangerous.  As an 
effect of these changes, the 'skills' tunable file is gone - now you tune skilsl 
by changing objects.

  Objects have been updated to note what skill you need to use - this is mostly 
relevant for weapons.

spells: spells are now object.  You learn a spell, and an object is added to 
your inventory.  Things like spellbooks, wands, rods, etc, have the spell object 
they fire in their inventory.  spells are now much more tunable - one can make 
an acid ball with no code changes at all - all that would be needed is a new arch.

treasurelists now determine likelyhood of the spell showing up in wands, 
scrolls, etc.  Magic is now split into 4 skills, evocation, pyromancy, 
summoning, and sorcery.  Given spells are now objects, spell_params file is now 
gone - you tune spells by changing the archetypes.

  Several notes:
I tagged the arch and server source with tag 'rel-1-5-0-patch' for the code just 
before this checkin, so if you want the code from before this checkin, just use 
that tag.

While I have added some backward compatiblity to handle spell related objects on 
maps that might have values set (spellbook of X for example), I have not written 
any code that updates player files.  This is possible to do, but given the 
numerous changes, I'm not sure what level of backward compatility should really 
be strived for here.

  I consider this checkin to be a major piece for a '2.0' release, so one might 
consider this pre-2.0 or the like.

  There are some areas that still need some work:
Mosely's rare books in scorn need to be updated for the 4 spellbook types - this 
is relatively minor.

Balance is probably in order.  Currently, all the skills contribute on a 1:1 
bases to overall exp.  That may not be correctly.

  I tried to keep the spells at the same power as before, but some of the old 
code as 'odd', and in cleaning up the code, its probable balance is a little off 
from before in terms of damage or sp costs or the like.

  The CVS client will display all the skills, but it does tend to take up too 
much space in the stats pane, so I'll make a few tabs I think to cover that. 
One 'bug' is that it is pretty much impossible to know if a player has a skill 
until they use it, so you'll never see the pain lists skills with 0 exp.

  Personal notes:
I've been playtesting the code for several weeks, finding bugs and fixing them. 
  I think it is relative stable, but leave it to one person to use try something 
I didn't.  OTOH, I personally think the spells are probably better tested than 
they have been in a long time, as I basically went through each spell type and 
gave it a try, and found several things that look like they may not have worked 
from before the changes I made.

  My one note is that it is harder on spellcasters, as you don't have quite the 
same number of choices to make.  There is currently nothing in the code 
preventing a spellcaster from getting are four skills (other than cost).  I have 
a feeling that as players play the different spellcasting skills, refinements 
(in terms of spells to fill gaps and the like) will be found and added.

  Have any questions, feel free to ask.  As said, I think the documentation on 
this should be pretty good (in the doc/Developer directory in the server), so 
please read that first before asking too many questions.

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