Shadowing people

[TripleX]

Not once it happened to me that I found myself inside an estate even before I managed to type 'follow self' while shadowing a noble/merchant/commoner around the city. Will it be possible to add a delay for the npc guard who open the gates for their masters, so that a thief who is shadowing that person will be able to type 'follow self' right before they enter their estate? -- IC I do not want to follow them into their estates, just around the city. One note on this subject is that I love people who carry a key-ring just because of the fact that there is a delay while they unlock a door, which gives me time to type 'follow self'.

[UnderSeven]

This is a fun one because I don't know that I disagree about guards having at least a brief delay when opening doors, but then again this might make shadow too much of a good thing.  Already it allows you to follow someone round with only one check on your skill at the begining.

My suggestion?  Pay attention to where they're going and use the 'alias' command to set an alias to follow self.

[TripleX]

It's not just about paying attention. It happened to me before that a person I was shadowing slipped into one of the estates just like that, without having any insignia on him. Obviously he was clanned, so the guard allowed him to enter, but for me it wasn't obvious he's going to do that.

[UnderSeven]

But the estates are static locations,  This is just like a skilled thief/assasin will try to understand their target and scope out the situation before doing something so brazen as actually tailing them so close.  Basically you know where the estates are, when they near one it might be a good idea to follow them manual style.  I really can't imagine the guards are going to have delay added for the sole purpose of making shadowing (an already incredibly easy ability to use) even easier.

[Agent_137]

it's not the sole purpose. it's just another case where NPCs need to have a delay added in manually since they don't have one automatically.

It does seem pretty far down the list of priorities, though. I'd just stick with an alias for now.

[UnderSeven]

I don't think it's far down the list, I just think it'll be such a massively big job and difficult one that it might be a long time before we see it.

[Werd]

You could always make a trigger set to follow self whenever you see that guard. If it is IC for your character not to follow them into their estate I don't see any problem with using a trigger to play it accordingly.

[TripleX]

Easy to say, hard to do.  I think that the best thing would be to use my own judgement, and type 'follow self' right before they hit their estate.

[spawnloser]

Yes, you would need a whole series of triggers to prevent you from following whoever you happen to be following into whatever estate they happen to be entering.  One for every noble house and merchant house, for every city your character is frequenting.  That would get cumbersome and annoying to get all the trigger points for the 'follow self' to react to.

[Angela Christine]

You could also use an ingame alias, or a cliant side macro.  

You don't even need to "follow self," a valid directional command will work just as well.  You won't follow someone if you are in a different room from them.  Some cliants use the numeric key pad as direction keys, so you can leave the room with a single keypress.

Too much trouble?  Don't follow people into areas that contain estates or compounds.


AC

[EvilRoeSlade]

An Idea.

Make it impossible to enter estates by shadowing people.

[mansa]

An Idea.

Make it impossible to enter estates by shadowing people.

Until it is possible to climb over the estate walls, I don't think this will ever be put into affect.   You will make 'estates' a beautiful rivendell, where nothing bad can ever get in.

(Unless, of course, you currupt your guards.  But, it takes a while to currupt NPC guards)

[EvilRoeSlade]

One word: Infiltration.

It isn't realistic to enter an estate by use of the hide skill.  It is realistic, but impossible to enter an estate by use of the climb skill, but that doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't be able to get in by being an excellent hider.

[Carnage]

An Idea.

Make it impossible to enter estates by shadowing people.

Agreed. If the doors were opened and you were hiding/sneaking, would you be able to make it into the estate? Not likely, because the guards can still see you thanks to their skills.

However, entering the estate by shadow makes the guards think that person is a friendly person you want to bring in with you. It works the same way as people being able to manually follow you into the estate.

To put it simply, it's a bug.

[Agent_137]

i think you should be able to sneak into an estate if you are pretty decent at it. You can watch the guards, wait for them to change shifts....then sneak partway in. Hide, wait wait wait....sneak some more. Of course, this is wholly outside our current code....but still!

[EvilRoeSlade]

i think you should be able to sneak into an estate if you are pretty decent at it. You can watch the guards, wait for them to change shifts....then sneak partway in. Hide, wait wait wait....sneak some more. Of course, this is wholly outside our current code....but still!

I disagree.  Most estates have gates.  Gigantic gates that need machinery to raise and lower them.  You won't be able to get in unless a guard willingly raises the gates for you.  If you wait until they raise the gates for somebody else, you still won't be able to pass through those gates without being seen, since that involves passing through a well-lit area with no cover and which people are being paid to watch.

[wizturbo]

To be honest, its way too easy to shadow someone into a guarded Estate.  In reality, that should be VERY hard.  Those Estates are well lit, very well guarded by trained men.  I'd say, a dramatic sneak check should occur to actually sneak into an estate by following someone.

[Kalden]

The most realistic way to breaking an estate would probably be climbing, like a ninja.   :twisted:

Get a grappling hook, or jump from a nearby rooftop. I'd like to see more uses for climbing around the cities.

[Sir Diealot]

Actually..the most IG realistic way would be to Magick or Kill your way in

[Carida]

I'm curious, since we're talking about shadowing people ..and I hope I'm not taking it off topic.. but.. I often think its also unrealistic to shadow someone into their house. I mean.. even if your in a shadowy entry way... I think you'd notice someone following you in when you turn to lock the door.. instead of you lock the door and then once your inside and the door is locked.. then the shadower.. makes an appearance.

Well.. I hope I didn't take it off topic.. just something that flitted through my mind.

[Agent_137]

perhaps entryways should introduce their own skill check?

[TripleX]

I agree with you that it would be very hard to shadow someone inside their own house, but there are other ways to enter a house which are not considered code wide, such as getting in through a crack, or a window. Modern burglars will usually prefer to use a crack, or a window to get inside your house, rather then picking your door's lock. Picking a lock is usually performed on a safe, or a locked chest.

[Quirk]

Modern burglars will usually prefer to use a crack, or a window to get inside your house, rather then picking your door's lock. Picking a lock is usually performed on a safe, or a locked chest.

Modern house door locks are usually difficult to pick. Remember the technology in place on Zalanthas isn't going to run to Yale locks. Three or four tumblers probably qualifies as a "good" lock. Glass is probably too expensive for most people to have glass windows, and cloth-shielded windows are unlikely to be at a height accessible from the street.

Some examples of Greek and Egyptian wooden locks:

http://students.cup.edu/mou2519/locks.html

Quirk