Animals that track

[Good Gortok]

I think animals that track need to suffer the same laws of physics as player characters. Many, if not all, behave in a highly questionable way:

> They don't actually follow your steps but rather seek you out in a straight line. If there's an aggressive tracked in the room and you run five north, five east and five south, the animal will just go five east to get you. The animal should have to go the same route as the victim in order to follow them.

> The animal seems to track you as far as it takes to reach you, even if this is 80 rooms across multiple types of terrain. I'm not sure if they stop at coded zone borders, but some areas are extremely large anyway and lead to unrealistically long pursuits.

> Sometimes the animal is unaffected by movement delay and attacks immediately upon entering your room. They'll also sometimes move through two rooms in an instant, walking from "far away" and into your room without delay.

Is this a known bug or is it somehow intended to work this way?

[Synthesis]

Known issue.

Too lazy to search for old threads.

[Eloran]

Known issue.

Too lazy to search for old threads.

[Thunkkin]

edit: linked a thread, then realized it wasn't the one I wanted.

Anyway ... X-D has done a ton of research on this and posted it. 

So yes, it's been discussed.

And yes, I think it still requires attention - but it may just not be fixed for Arm 1, I have a feeling.

[Eloran]

But it may just not be fixed for Arm 1, I have a feeling.

Let's hope for the past. Staff have been on a -roll- lately.

[Aesuna]

This also bothers me a lot, and I hope it's fixed before Arm 2.

[Ammut]

I agree with the OP.  This has been a problem for me with every hunter type character I've created and I would love to see it fixed or at least considered in arm 2.

[Chettaman]

You'd think sooner or later they'd get smart and stop before they got anywhere close to the gates where countless kin have been slain.

[Gunnerblaster]

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,33853.msg415194.html#msg415194

[Gagula]

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,33853.msg415194.html#msg415194

*cough* show off *cough*

[SMuz]

Haha, I fled w,w,s,n,e,e once (to go back and get my mount). Was fleeing from a gortok. I saw that gortok searching the ground for tracks when I was heading north. I don't recall the gortok going south after it tracked me as going south (even though I was in the same room), because I was too busy panicking

[brytta.leofa]

I'm sorry to do this, but...

Psionics     (Communication)

All intelligent creatures on Zalanthas are able to use psionics (often called the Way or the Way of the Mind) to some degree. Psionic powers enable people to communicate across vast distances, track people and animals, and barricade their minds against intrusion. Non-psionic races are long since deceased on Zalanthas, not having been able to compete with those who possessed the ability.

Which is to say: yes, It's Magick.™

[spawnloser]

I'm sorry to do this, but...

Psionics     (Communication)

All intelligent creatures on Zalanthas are able to use psionics (often called the Way or the Way of the Mind) to some degree. Psionic powers enable people to communicate across vast distances, track people and animals, and barricade their minds against intrusion. Non-psionic races are long since deceased on Zalanthas, not having been able to compete with those who possessed the ability.

Which is to say: yes, It's Magick.™

Bullshit.  Tembo are not psionicists... nor are raptors... or halflings.  They have the 'hunt' skill and must use it.

[Ampere]

I'm sorry to do this, but...

Psionics     (Communication)

All intelligent creatures on Zalanthas are able to use psionics (often called the Way or the Way of the Mind) to some degree. Psionic powers enable people to communicate across vast distances, track people and animals, and barricade their minds against intrusion. Non-psionic races are long since deceased on Zalanthas, not having been able to compete with those who possessed the ability.

Which is to say: yes, It's Magick.™

Bullshit.  Tembo are not psionicists... nor are raptors... or halflings.  They have the 'hunt' skill and must use it.

I'm sure some actually are psionicists, but regardless, we all know that's not what's being discussed.

Brytta recieves a highfive for the troll, and Spawnloser is the focus of my laughter for taking the bait.

[Twilight]

track people and animals

You'd have to know the last time this particular help file was updated to know if it was currently relevant, due to a retcon around psionics at one point.  At least, I as far as I know it was a retcon, rather than an organic change with causes played out IG.

As this was awhile ago, newer players would most likely not know.

[SmashedTregil]

Give me a break, psionics. Plenty of other humanoid NPCs track, and they track the same way. Even hostile NPC elves track, and they by definition cannot be psis.  And needless to say, they track in the same way Raptors do.  Though they 'do' (atleast those I'm aware of) have area limits, which they do not exit.

What we have here with track, is a flaw of mechanics. Perhaps it is a compromise of things, and I can dig that. But to explain this somehow ICly, I would personally find more disrupting and "jarring".

[spawnloser]

Bullshit.  Tembo are not psionicists... nor are raptors... or halflings.  They have the 'hunt' skill and must use it.

I'm sure some actually are psionicists, but regardless, we all know that's not what's being discussed.
[/quote]
Actually, none of them are psionicists.  I can declare this as fact without any fear of being wrong.  I'd cite something that is in the documentation, but that would be too much of a hint for people.  Find it yourselves.

The FACT of the matter is that NPCs should be governed by the same rules that PCs are governed by.  There should be skill-checks involved.  I know of a time when a staffer animated an NPC that had the track skill and actually had the NPC USE the skill to track someone down.  That was indeed the super-awesome.  Non-animated NPCs should follow the same rules too.