The Dark Hunt, bug or feature?

[Angela Christine]

One day, while being followed by one of those track-you-to-the-ends-of-the-world creatures, I found out I could be tracked even after nightfall on a dark and stormy night.  Another time I found I could be followed even through a lightless cave, by a creature that wouldn't be using a lantern.  So much for my attempts to be clever and get them off my tail before reaching town.  Then, being the curious creature I am, I tried it myself.  Sure enough, even in a storm so bad that I couldn't see even with a lantern I was able to find some tracks.  Cool, I rock.  

Is this a bug, and I should file a bug report, or is it supposed to work this way?  I can see arguements either way.  

Pro-dark hunting:  Many animals use  primarily use smell, not sight, to hunt and things still stink at night.  Some PCs or PC races may have a more developed sense of smell than the average Earth human.  Some signs will be obvious even in low visibility, a charging inix will trample enough brush to be tracked by touch if you needed to since it effectively creates a flat path.  Did you ever watch "Due South?"  That crazy mountie could track even in the city, it often involved licking unpleasant things, but still.    While it might be too dark to see the whole league-by-league room, you can probably still make out things within a few inches of your face, so you can still follow a trail it is just a little harder.

Anti-night hunting:  While you might be able to track by smell in a still, dark cave, a blinding sandstorm is a different story.  The ground is sandy, the air is sandy, the whole mess is moving at high speed and that is going to smear the scent trail so it should be lost very quickly.  And a humanoid with their nose to the ground trying to follow a trail by scent is just silly.

It seems like it should be more difficult to track in dark or stormy conditions, not necessarily impossible, but more difficult.  Maybe the tracking code just isn't sophisticated enough to take enviromental conditions into account?  In some conditions a trail should persist for days or weeks, while in others the trail would be obliterated within minutes.

Any thoughts?

Angela Christine

[Dakkon Black]

I have to Say AC, good arguments for both sides.. now Im undecided. Well it seems to me like it should definately be given some really hardcore skill flags for trackin in that kinda weather, maybe even misleading information?? Either way if thats what happens, it seems like it should be changed. Like you said there are somethings that could probably do a damn good job of finding you, but in weather like that?? Definately bordering on bug.

Then again perhaps your char is just that hardcore allready  

[Angela Christine]

I have to Say AC, good arguments for both sides.. now Im undecided.

That's helpful, thanks Dakkon.    Thanks to my maxed out internal debate skillz I spend most of my time undecided; for example it once took me 20 minutes to choose what size Slurpee to buy.

Well it seems to me like it should definately be given some really hardcore skill flags for trackin in that kinda weather, maybe even misleading information?? Either way if thats what happens, it seems like it should be changed. Like you said there are somethings that could probably do a damn good job of finding you, but in weather like that?? Definately bordering on bug.

Then again perhaps your char is just that hardcore allready  

Yeah, I rock.  It seems vaguely buggy, but I'm not sure if it is supposed to work that way.  I probably should have asked in the ask the staff forum.  Maybe my character's should just try to be indoors before it gets dark.  

AC

[Delirium]

That's helpful, thanks Dakkon.  :P  Thanks to my maxed out internal debate skillz I spend most of my time undecided; for example it once took me 20 minutes to choose what size Slurpee to buy.

AC -must- be a Libra.

But, yeah, I've noticed this before when I had characters that could track - I expected it to be worse in bad weather or low light, and it wasn't as far as I could tell.

For animals, I don't really see a problem tracking in low light, since they're more prone to use smell than sight I'd think. However I don't think hardly anyone or anything should be able to track in a storm.

As it stands now, the tracking vs weather code probably just doesn't reflect that yet. Can always RP that the weather's too bad and is covering the tracks, I guess.

[Wintermute]

Due South r0xx0red.