So, I've made up a new dance called the reboot scramble :P. But seriously, it seems every time I see that there has been a reboot a little light bulb appears over my head and I do the scooby-doo, "Bwaaaaaaa?" It would seem to me that everyone has the same idea -- "If I log in right after a reboot, I can take ALL those leaves/berries/fruits and sell my #()@!%!!! HUZZAH!"
I log in, thinking that I can finally sell some stuff that I've collected over the last week or so... I do so, then I think, "well, maybe I could pick some fruits or something from plants I know about." I go check them and everything has been picked clean. Everything. I'm obviously not the only one who has thought this, however the person who got there first has picked more than I find in a RL week (assuming said plants or vines re-stock upon reboot).
I don't know if it would be possible, but I'd like to see some sort of code that would force players to leave a certain amount of leaves/berries/fruits on a plant, echoing something like, "If you pick any more, the plant may die off," or, "You've taken more than the plant can handle." No more excessive-depletion-to-the-point-of-extinction of the nearby plantlife!
This would still allow those people who are constantly playing or refreshing armageddon.org to still get their fair share, but would force them to leave some for other players. Thoughts?
As far as merchant coins go, the period following a reboot is no longer the optimal time to be selling things.
As far as fruits and other forageables go...most of the plants that you "pick" from slowly regrow fruits and whatnot over time. There are at least a few plants that you "get" from that will restock over time as well.
The vast majority of "get" plants are old-school, though.
As far as the reboot scramble is concerned...it's an issue as old as the MUD itself, man. It's one of those things you'll either grow to love, or learn to live with.
I know that this is not really on topic, but recently I've noticed that a few House docs allow their employees to sell a certain amount of items PER REBOOT to their designated shops.
Why per reboot? Why not per week, or per month?
Quote from: Synthesis on August 22, 2008, 03:44:47 PM
As far as merchant coins go, the period following a reboot is no longer the optimal time to be selling things.
As far as fruits and other forageables go...most of the plants that you "pick" from slowly regrow fruits and whatnot over time. There are at least a few plants that you "get" from that will restock over time as well.
The vast majority of "get" plants are old-school, though.
As far as the reboot scramble is concerned...it's an issue as old as the MUD itself, man. It's one of those things you'll either grow to love, or learn to live with.
Well maybe this topic needs to be in Armageddon Reborn as an idea for the new mud. I really dislike the ability of the lone player that is awake at 7am who notices a reboot to run off and gather up ALL of the leaves of every plant nearby. It's annoying and unrealistic, imo. Even with the plants you can 'pick' from, it seems you could either wait x amount of time and check again to -maybe- find something, or you could just wait until a reboot and take everything.
Quote from: Ammut on August 22, 2008, 03:15:56 PMI don't know if it would be possible, but I'd like to see some sort of code that would force players to leave a certain amount of leaves/berries/fruits on a plant, echoing something like, "If you pick any more, the plant may die off," or, "You've taken more than the plant can handle." No more excessive-depletion-to-the-point-of-extinction of the nearby plantlife!
... seriously? No. If my character is the type to strip a plant with no regard for its future, I should be able to strip the plant with no regard for its future.
But then again, as I mentioned in another thread, it might be cool if your relationship to the land started to dwindle when you did stuff like strip plants completely without leaving a few branches or leaves or whatever. I don't know what the relationship to the land would do... maybe preservers/druid-ish-types could tell by looking at you ... or certain tribes may be able to sense it or something.
Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_fantasyLow fantasy is an umbrella term, describing various works within different sub-genres of fantasy, to contrast specific works with high fantasy. Though a very vague term, some features that may indicate low fantasy are: downplaying of epic or dramatic aspects, de-emphasising magic, real-world settings, realism, cynical storytelling and dark fantasy. An archetypal example of low fantasy might take place in a quasi-historical setting where the protagonists lack a clear moral initiative, are haunted by dark pasts or character flaws and where conventional fantasy elements (such as magic, elves, or dwarves) are lacking or absent.
Much like nearly everything else, I assume that the visible, coded plants that you can interact with are merely examples of all of the flora in the area. It wouldn't make sense for there to be a few dozen plants in the whole of the known world that produce useful fruit or leaves. The example plants are just the most obvious ones, the ones that are easiest to find. The roots a ranger finds when foraging for food indicate that there are other useful plants around, they just aren't quite so obvious, they take skill and wilderness savvy to find. The obvious plants anyone can figure out, even a rinthi pickpocket who has never been out of the city before can figure out how to pick fruit off a fruit tree if he happens to find one. Naturally, the obvious plants are the ones that are harvested often. Since they haven't gone extinct yet, presumably they have evolved so that the stripping doesn't harm them, or else it helps them propagate in some way.
As for the reboot rush, it is unavoidable. The only limitation on it is that you can't be everywhere at once. So if you go to shops to be the first guy to unload 5 of everything, then you won't be the first guy to run around the wilderness and pick 5 of everything. You have to prioritize your borderline twinkery, do you head off to the grasslands to collect herbs, head to another area to pick fruit, or head down south to pick bimbal? Or would this be a good time to head over to the Blackwing outpost to do some shopping? Reboots also mean a break in the weather, so this may be a perfect time (possibly even your only chance all week) to practice archery or visit places like Red Storm at are perpetually stormy. What ever you choose to do first, you lose out on the things you didn't choose.
There have been some improvements over the years to lessen the importance of reboot time, but there are still reboot opportunities.
Usually, if I happen to be on right after a reboot, I try to limit myself to taking/buying/selling only half as much the hard coded limit. Those limits are partly OOC (especially for food items, since there should be an unlimited market for buying food) so using up all of the OOC opportunity presented by the reboot is OOCly rude to other players. And unless my PC is desperate, there is no reason to be rude to fellow players.
Plants now respawn leaves/berries/et cetera.
Water them to make them do it faster.
Quote from: Yam on August 22, 2008, 05:54:01 PM
Water them to make them do it faster.
Are you serious?
I don't know about you, but these days, when I scramble to the NPC stores after a reboot, it's because the merchants will finally have things to sell again!
Since the "selling to vnpcs" code and with the mud's uptimes being longer, a lot of the merchants in the game (most recently noticed, the wandering merchants in the 'Nak bazaar) that don't start off with much inventory will sell it all off to vnpcs and have nothing to trade for sometimes days at a time, until the reboot.
It isn't debilitating, but it's kind of frustrating.