Meat and Predators

[Kill4Free]

If you are being chased, by say, a tembo, or raptor, because they are hunting for food, then can you throw meat on the ground, when they are a few squares away, then leave the area, and when the predator comes across it eat the meat and abandon pursuit of you?

[X-D]

There really is only one answer to this one.

Try it and see.

[Kill4Free]

I am staking more on it then just my meat, I cant really afford to find out.

[Agent_137]

Think it out logically with your character. Is it something your character would try? Maybe, carry some meat just in case?

The more you get into your char, the more you'll want to answer your own questions in the game.

What does your character believe would work? Play him that way.

Losing your character isn't bad. There's nothing wrong with it. We all lose chars. Then we make new ones. Then we keep having fun.

Relax, man. It's just a game.

[sjanimal]

Set up.

This is a set up.  I've never tried this.  But I'm 90% sure it would never work.  

What sucks is that it would work in real life, but not in the game.  The game code is great.  But it simply does not support stuff like this.

I think people deserve to know if a plan will fail ONLY BY VITUE OF LACK OF CODED SUPPORT.  I mean, if I were playing the tembo, I could role playing stopping to sniff the meat, but a mobile (the algorithm the computer uses to control blind-NPCs like tembos) doesn't really role play.  Setting this guy up will prove nothing.  

I'm not dissing the game code, it's the best MUD, I've played.  But I don't think we should jerk this noob around.  

Yeah, try it bud, but make sure you have a real good escape plan.

[Kill4Free]

Thanks, I suspected it wouldnt work, but everytime I ask a question the only answer I get is,  if it was real would it work, so I wasnt sure about this.

[Cenghiz]

C'mon! sjanimal is right.. Stop being RP badasses.. It won't work.. It's one's right to know if the code supports him.. IRL it would probably work. A big hunk of meat would distract the raptor, thought he's not that large. IG, even if the raptor ate the meat (I don't know if they do), NPCs eat as instantly as we do. So it'll probably keep on the chasing. I remember a scrab devouring another scrab I killed then attack me, then try a bash on me before I could clean the skinning emote I was writing.
Sorry but it's not too nice to say: "Try and see if the code supports it. If it doesn't; we all lose chars.."

[Halaster]

One alternative is to try and wish up, maybe someone will respond (but don't bet your character's life on it!).

wish all "Hey, I'm being chasec by a tembo, and I just dropped some raw meat to throw it off!"

If you're very lucky, someone will control the tembo... heheh

[Mr.Camel]

Or maybe its very unlucky? :twisted:

[Anonymous]

I think that if you word the question properly in 'Ask the Staff' you can get an answer.  That question is:

"Does the code properly reflect the natural tendancies of a tembo that is chasing me should I toss down a thick, juicy chunk of meat?"

The answer to that question doesn't tell you whether or not a tembo's instincts tell it to keep chasing that which is running away from it or if it will just go for the meat.  Because your average Zalanthan wouldn't know either since I don't think there's much zoology going on in Zalanthas.  Regardless, asked this way you will know whether or not a shortcoming in the code will hamper your efforts or if tembos just like to chase those soft, tanned hairless meat balls on legs.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

One alternative is to try and wish up, maybe someone will respond (but don't bet your character's life on it!).

wish all "Hey, I'm being chasec by a tembo, and I just dropped some raw meat to throw it off!"

If you're very lucky, someone will control the tembo... heheh

Hello, Halaster. Why not write a script or prog that will check for things like that in the room the predator enters? Have it go off on a chance. 60% that animal will stop to 'eat' the meat, and 40% chance that it will not, and will continue chasing you. THis would be very realistic, and what's more, very easy to do.

[Anonymous]

Venomz, while it might be easy to do what happens when you have a script firing off checking every room every 10 seconds (the minimum number required for the script to even have a chance to fire off when a player is spam fleeing) across the whole mud?  It would peg the CPU very hard, IMHO.

[Pantoufle]

No it does not work to drop meat and have a predator go for the meat instead of you -- though realistically this may be the case, there is no code to support it.  And I would never tell some newb to give it a try and see, since the end result will be a very boring death to a very boring robotic NPC.  That kinda shit just ain't cool.

[marko]

In this case, we can also assume that tembo like their flesh live and warm as opposed to dead and cold.  So therefore, it may not be realistic for a tembo to ignore that nice yummy warm flesh for the icky cold meat.  

[Pantoufle(notloggedin)]

True, arguably tembo may prefer a live kill to a scrap of meat.  But then again, they might not.  And in either case, there is no code to support tossing meat at an NPC to stay the beast from coming after you.  Even if there was, the NPC would likely get meat, eat meat, all in the matter of a milisecond, and then continue on its merry way to hunt you down (irregardless of the fact that it may now have a belly full).

So I would always err on the side of caution and tell any newbie expressly not to go experimenting with such merciless code as aggressive NPCs.  Realistically someone might be able to dress up as a bandit of some otherwise aggressive NPC outpost, but you wouldn't tell them to "think realistically" and go give it a try, now would you?  You and I both know the code is not going to take that shit into consideration and the instant they try to be "realistic" the code is going to prompt them the Mantis head before you can blink.

[Anonymous]

You and I both know the code is not going to take that shit into consideration and the instant they try to be "realistic" the code is going to prompt them the Mantis head before you can blink.

Are you playing in some bizzaro world Armageddon where 'drop meat' takes 5 minutes?

[Quirk]

Five seconds may be enough to make the difference between being in combat with the tembo and getting away safely, never mind five minutes.

It'll take a couple of seconds to enter "drop meat", and some sort of delay is likely required to find out whether the tembo will continue its chase or stop by the meat. It cuts the escape that little bit finer, and that may make the difference between life and death.

And yes, since you're unlikely to get a rezz as a result of a code flaw in any but the most egregrious of situations, experimenting with such things is a dangerous thing to do and should not be casually recommended.

Quirk

[Agent_137]

I still think his character should carry some meat around just in case. It'd be cool. I'm doing that with my next ranger.


City boy says, "Dude, what's that smell?"

Ranger guy says, "Oh, that's my meat."

City boy says, "Your what?!"

Ranger guy says, "My meat, for throwing down to keep things that want to eat me off my track."

City boy says, "Oh, right, cool, man."

Ranger guy says, "Yes, I know."

[sjanimal]

If I can give some follow-up advice...

Halaster is completely right about wishing....it works.

I use a wish about every five hours of gameplay, and I've only once ever had an IMM resopnd negatively.  Sometimes they're not around, but usually if they are around they get back to me pretty quickly, and are helpful, as well as being good role players.

Let's face it -- they are very entertained by the crazy antics and ploys that we try.  It's donwright amusing to everyone.

Yeah, go ahead and wish once in a while to try stuff like this.  The IMMs are truly very helpful, for the most part.

[Cenghiz]

I know imms are helpful. I don't usually wish up for something.. But they jumped in all the time there was something interesting.. But... My current char was about to die of thirst one west of the Temple of Dragon, too.(There are 3 players online) I had coins for more than a few large skins of water, there were NPC's that IRL I would probably be able to give 50 or 100 or 150 coins for just dragging me to the water. Luckily I survived.. But I can't blame any imms for  their being asleep at 3am EST and 10 am here in Turkey.
Luckily the regeneration was faster than dehydration damage. But no newbie would like to die in an attempt to try a risky thing without imm's support. Thumbs up for wishing up, but they may not work sometimes.

[moab]

Usually things chase you not necessarily to eat you but many times because you represent a threat.

I'm pretty sure that if a fellow being chased by a lion in the jungle were to drop a pack of meat, the lion would take him out first and come back for the meat later.

Of course this isn't always the case - large snakes for example, but many times (big cats, bears, dogs, etc) it is.  They like the chase.  If you're running, they wanna get a tasty bite while you're all warmed up and sweaty.

[Xan]

Also remember that such an animal is focused on you, they arent logical beings that are going to weigh all the pros and cons.  Fresh, tender meat over some week old piece of durrit?

I'd like to see more animals that dont pursue beyong their hunting grounds, but I dont think tossing some meat in realistic circumstances will distract any serious predator.  I could be wrong though.

[Cenghiz]

Nope, I would say.. I'm greatly interested in big cats and most know that they're scavengers.. They 'would' stop and eat the meat, probably. They know there's a competition of eating food amongst all neighbour cats. And cheteahs (sorry if mispelled) would do for sure, because they're known for their instincts keeping their loss of energy minimum. They automatically stop a pursue when they believe the energy they would gain won't be worth that. Or they would die of hunger because of their high metabolism.
It's our fantasy to dream cats as vigorous hunters, but they're just scavengers, who would bully a female with two kittens (even two kittens of their own) and get her dead prey rather than hunting.
But I can't say anything about canines.. I hate canines.. I never bothered to investigate their instincts.
Errr.. Of course, I never dropped meat when a leopard was pursuing me.. I may have had blubbered.. We can't really know till someone goes to a safari and tries.

[Gilvar]

I dont like that someone said this wouldn't work. Having never seen anyone try, or even think about doing it on PCs (and I tend to watch a good deal of hunters/wilderness types for solo-rp) I think its fairly ignorant to say it wouldn't work. And no this is not an invitation for you to go out and try and then post your results here, but that a good deal of you shoot down an idea's validity in the game with little or no experience in the area irks me.

If it works or not is really not to be posted here. Its a code intracy, and is line with questions like "Does holding such and such a tool make me better at crafting?" answers are not given flat out because its a feature of the code that shouldn't ever become positive public knowledge because it alters the actions of SOME players on at least a few levels.

Similarly, saying flat out that it doesn't work, will most likely (regardless of how great an RPer you think you are) discourage people from attempting it in the future, because most people, when faced with npc danger go into command-spam survival mode either running and hiding or similar courses of action. Saying "NO THIS WONT WORK" basically shuts off the options to some players that would've tried of their own volition, since they will know in the back of their head it wont work.

I will not say if it does or doesn't work in the manner intended, but encourage players to play their characters realistically rather then on what coded results they think will happen, this makes the game a better place for everyone.

[Agent_137]

I will not say if it does or doesn't work in the manner intended, but encourage players to play their characters realistically rather then on what coded results they think will happen, this makes the game a better place for everyone.

I like to think this quote embodies why code should be left in the background.