Long ago contact instantly showed you the target's true sdesc. It was changed for a period to show what you would see if you look at someone, including descs that would reveal if they are hidden or under the effects of specific magickal effects. Now it says "someone" until you psi.
Did changes to contact (specifically true desc -> someone) buff stealth too much?
I think the intent was so that you'd have some dude in a facewrap sitting at the bar, and someone used to just go contact facewrap and it would say, You contact the ugly dude. You could then just cease and the guy had no idea who was sniffing his sdesc. Now you have to actually send something which reveals yourself.
Quote from: Pariah on November 28, 2023, 10:54:31 AMI think the intent was so that you'd have some dude in a facewrap sitting at the bar, and someone used to just go contact facewrap and it would say, You contact the ugly dude. You could then just cease and the guy had no idea who was sniffing his sdesc. Now you have to actually send something which reveals yourself.
This is pretty much it. People were sdesc sniffing the cloaked and hooded guys which kind of defeated the purpose of having your hood up.
Quote from: Riev on November 28, 2023, 11:28:10 AMQuote from: Pariah on November 28, 2023, 10:54:31 AMI think the intent was so that you'd have some dude in a facewrap sitting at the bar, and someone used to just go contact facewrap and it would say, You contact the ugly dude. You could then just cease and the guy had no idea who was sniffing his sdesc. Now you have to actually send something which reveals yourself.
This is pretty much it. People were sdesc sniffing the cloaked and hooded guys which kind of defeated the purpose of having your hood up.
Really only does much to put a person off it if they are hooded and trying to hide their own sdesc. If someone is curious, they're curious. And I think the intent of a change can be one thing while still having unintended consequences. In fact I would say the lion's share of the game's issues actually spring from a myriad of unintended consequences meeting in places that cause playability and enjoyment issues. Like the jewelry overhaul for example. There's how many hundred (maybe thousand) items in the db that are jewelry, and someone went in and manually reset the values on /all of them/ because of "not one player in Luir's, I'm sure", but didn't go in and adjust all the values of the (only a few dozen) raw gem items. So now you have a fucked jewelry economy where all the gems are worth more than the jewelry they get made into, and constantly full jewel sellers because no one is buying gems that cost multiples of what the jewelry that is made from them sells for.
Make that a thousand paper cuts of changes over the years, and this is where we are. Every shell item that costs three times more than any craft that comes from it sells for. Every animal that doesn't offer the same bonuses or penalties when dealing with them, every spamcasting gemmed sequestered away from people because 'before the HRPT people in Allanak weren't actively mobbing the streets against gemmed', and so on and so on.
Interesting take.
This is about contact and stealth though.
I think it's great (playability) as you can accidentally spill secrets to the wrong person...but rather, what I've seen more is psi Amos? psi the actual message
I do not see how it helps or hurts stealth (sneak/hide) gameplay specifically.
Quote from: Dracul on November 28, 2023, 01:10:42 PMI do not see how it helps or hurts stealth (sneak/hide) gameplay specifically.
I think Lotion is asking if this made stealth BETTER, and I think if you're already hidden, this doesn't really affect you.
It only affects people that are NOT hidden (or have failed their hide) and someone contacts you, but you still needs to "reveal" yourself as having contacted you just to find their sdesc.
I think it's some meta crap that I rate just as crappy as when people know you're trying to pk them and way you to see if you're online and if they find your mind they just hide somewhere in their castle.
Quote from: Riev on November 28, 2023, 01:25:51 PMQuote from: Dracul on November 28, 2023, 01:10:42 PMI do not see how it helps or hurts stealth (sneak/hide) gameplay specifically.
I think Lotion is asking if this made stealth BETTER, and I think if you're already hidden, this doesn't really affect you.
It only affects people that are NOT hidden (or have failed their hide) and someone contacts you, but you still needs to "reveal" yourself as having contacted you just to find their sdesc.
I'm glad people cant' tell I'm a ninja just because they way me when I'm sneaking. I always hated that.
It reveals slightly less information than it did in the past. You could psi-taunt the person and instantly get their sdesc. Typing "contact 2.elf" to instantly get an elf's sdesc without any chance to yourself be exposed to risk is lame.
It reveals way less information than the change that came immediately after that echoed their current modified sdesc; hidden, invisible, masked, cloaked, in the dark, naked.
I very much disliked "You contact the naked shadow with the Way" and all the permutations.
What we have works, and I don't think it affects stealth at all. If you scan and see someone, and contact shadow... it might work. But you STILL don't know who it is until you put yourself out there as well.
Riev for Psion 2023.
What does it matter if they put themselves out there?
The sneaky has everything to lose and the Wayer has almost nothing.