[crossfire] Tweaking alchemy

[Gabriele Dini Ciacci]

Hello, I talk only of alchemy. About other farming skills and
such.. remember the onions.. let's start with alchemy and then see if
we can go a step lower later (just want to keep the thing on topic...
since it is spreading too fast in other directions and focus on alchemy
is more important IMHO, just to be sure to have 1 thing done and not 10
started)

Here a summary of ideas about alchemy redesign, some mine some
from your mail I just read:


# Alchemy recipes should be like spell books, they have to be learned
by the player.
Pro: no more cheaters that know recipes without reading it on a real
scroll (many do this, nearly all)
Cons: No more experimenting and discovering alone of new formulas (not
that many use this)

# "alchemize" skill, if you know "philosophical oil" you can just do
'alchemize philosophical oil standing on a cauldron and ingredients for
ONE philosophical oil will be prepared. If you want to do
mass production you have to do by hand.
Script can do this I think.
Pro: reduce the hassle and makes everything more appealing
Cons: if it is possible to put a delay after EACH preparation there are
not much cons, since people will use the old way for mass production.

# Difficulty, each recipe have a single number/level that indicated
both difficulty and level needed to have 50% of success of making it.
Formula for chance of success (%):
50 - (<recipe_level> - <skill_level>) + <cauldron_bonus>*5

Max (%): 95 - <recipe_level>/10
Examples:
considering a +5 cauldron, a level 110 skill this should be limiting
for recipe level < 100
considering normal cauldron, a level 110 skill this should be limiting
for recipe level < 72

explosion (%) (ONLY if failed, no overlapping percentages, it's
easier to code) :
20 + (<recipe_level> - <skill_level>) - <cauldron_bonus>*2.5
random effect (%) (Can happen too after an explosion, can be a useful
thing but most often a piece of crap) :
20 + (<recipe_level> - <skill_level>) + <cauldron_bonus>*7.5

Magical cauldron tend to always output something, even if not useful,
they produce more and are less likely to explode.

You can learn recipes
of ANY level (success is based on sum of alchemy
+ literacy skill).
Pro: It is simpler than having two numbers, one for
level and one for difficulty.
You never have 100% success.
It is influenced by all variables
Cons: Just simple, no quadratic formulas or anything that make it
realistic/complex

# 'alchemize should give a list with all recipes known by the player
and base % of success (without the cauldron modifier).
Pro: Player know what they are doing and if it too dangerous. i.e. if
they fail they can explode.
Cons: Disclosure of internal game numbers. I'm personally not against
that, you can always show instead of %, easy (50-80%), medium
(30-50%), hard (10-30%), very hard (0-10%).

# shop with basic recipe dispenser altar, drop money, you get basic
recipe, like waybread and basic things. Everyone should be able to
learn trivial recipes without having to quest for it.

# Old Granny cake quest, recipe for a healing cake, newbie recipe,
everyone around level 15 should be able to do this quest.

# Uncle Sam grog quest, recipe for a potion that restore a few mana
(like 10-15), newbie recipe, everyone around level 20 should be able to
do this quest.

With that I think I have considered all aspects, just suggest and ask.

Salutes
Gabriele

-----------
http://linux-wildo.sf.net
http://www.diniciacci.org
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