Delirium's compromise:

Make it unecessary to stand, code-wise, for a scan.

Have scan echo, and be able to tack on an emote to the scan echo, much like the 'look' echo works now.

>scan narrowed gaze wandering slowly over faces in the crowd.
The woman scans the area, narrowed gaze wandering slowly over faces in the crowd.

Here's a better one:

Transform it into spot and scan.

Spot will only find people with lower hide skills and will work like listen. This can be given to some subguilds and classes, such as warrior, to solve the problem of no scan in subguilds and guards not being able to spot assassins until it's too late.

Scan will remain exactly the same.

Carnage wins.

I think I have to agree with Carnage, that would be one way to solve the problem.


AC

So what...I get no credit for that idea whatsoever?

I'm thinking that scan should have a flag-check. If you're in a crowded room, and the person is hiding, it can be assumed he's not hiding under a table - just keeping a low profile among the crowd, and could be noticed by anyone who is paying attention (has scan running)

If he's in a private apartment, he's hiding under the furniture or similar and would take "active" efforts to find him.

Currently there's also the matter of being able to spot things 3 rooms away - this I think should also be flag-dependent, if it isn't already. If you're in a desolate strip of desert, there's not much stuff you can hide in. If you're in a thick forest area, there are dozens of ways you can keep out of sight from a distance even from the most attentive scanner. Or at least, there should be.

Scan runs continuously until it shuts itself off (or until you type "watch" - that was documented in the weekly updates so it isn't IC info).

I think the fact that it echoes when you start it is enough - no further emoting necessary for the initial "scan" command to be typed by the scanner. If the scanner is moving around, riding or walking, and sees something that looks hidden or invis or whatever - he certainly -should- emote the fact that he's noticed something, unless the player has decided that his character hasn't noticed - maybe he was already RPing looking in the other direction, or is injured and concentrating on his pain, or whatever.

Quote from: "Callisto"Carnage wins.

What else is new?

Quote from: "I"In some cases, it should echo, such as when you are in the middle of the desert, in a private room, or some othersuch. On city streets, in taverns, and indeed, typically in any populated room, it should not.

In an unpopulated room, you are likely somewhat the attention of the hider, or of other folks. In a populated room, there are many other people. Do you expect me to believe that I should notice you scanning in a crowd? How? Are you ducking down and peering under stuff, or are you just looking around intently? If the latter, I won't notice you.

Carnage gives this idea of spot and scan as two sister-like skills that do the same thing, but at different levels. This idea I can live with. I would hope that spot is not an echoed skill, and could be used in every instant that listen can be used, while scan, the high-class skill, dictates that you are peering under stuff and kicking over tables to find that elusive rat.

Additional useless thought (which I don't support, but provides a compromise a la Carnage's two skills) .. let the skill% dictate whether or not you're bumbling about and noticed [echo to room] vs echo to no one.

It's a give-away on class and spammy to room.  That's my objection with the echo.

I think the spot/scan idea has merit, also as long as spot does not echo.

But I really like the idea of just reducing the odds of an echo on scan as the skill improves, eventually getting rid of it altogether...except for maybe other pc's with a high scan skill.

More realistic to me and probly easier to code.

I do like what X-D is selling, man, I gotta say.  It would possibly only require adapting code already in place for other skills.

Quote from: "uberjazz"So what...I get no credit for that idea whatsoever?

No.  Canadians never get credit for anything.  


AC