Equiping things you need to Mix

[RunTime]

I was thinking that instead of like EL where you just need the items (Needles/Morter&Pestles/Alembics/hammers/etc) to be in your inv, why not make it where you have to equip these items to mix? It would make more sense, because who can carry a shield and long sword, and mix a delicate potion? lol would have to be pretty darn good  ofc this would mean you would need models of each tool in the characters hand, so might be a pain. But just thought I would throw it out there. 

[EndorVaeros]

I like this idea as well. If this were done, you wouldn't need a model for a needle in everyone's hand, because it would be too small to really see anyhow. Besides, since there aren't really any animations for such things. I think just making them need to be equiped would be enough. ^.^

[RunTime]

Very true, but would be cool to see a Mortar and Pestle in a potioners hand 

[krayon]

I was thinking that instead of like EL where you just need the items (Needles/Morter&Pestles/Alembics/hammers/etc) to be in your inv, why not make it where you have to equip these items to mix?

I actually already thought of this and made the item database flexable enough to have items creatable with dependencies of:

• Require ingred: X of item I
• Require tool (item) T
• Require tool (item) T to be equipped
• Require sigil S
• Require Nexus N of level L or above
• Require Knowledge K
• Require level L in skill Y

As well as this, they have costs:

• Loose ingred(s) I on success
• Loose ingred(s) I on failure
• Ingred(s) I goes on cooldown on success
• Ingred(s) I goes on cooldown on failure
• Loose tool T on success
• Loose tool T on failure
• Tool T goes on cooldown on success
• Tool T goes on cooldown on failure
• Costs X food
• Costs X mana
• Costs X health

This was the system that I quickly hacked together to support what I thought would be a reasonable amount of flexability.

PLEASE if anyone else can think of any other costs or requirements for this sort of thing PLEASE, PLEASE let me know.  That way they can go into the actual design and make it very flexable.  The obvious one(s) for me atm are:

• Require X proximity to object type O (eg. you need to be next to a ... blacksmithy thing)
• Require presence in map area M
• "Costs X food on failure, Y food on success" would be good too
• Loosing only X of ingreds I - at the moment it's all or none (this is a simple code change)
• Require proximity to NPC type X (the great NPC of help-me-make-this)
• Require proximity to NPC named X (the great NPC of help-me-make-this ... named Ralf)
• Require proximity to Player of type X (when next to dwarfs you can make dwarf clothes)
• Require proximity to Player named X (when next to Korrode you can make a sword of "killall")

To support rare items, I need to perhaps have a "X percent chance of making item Y instead"

Of course it supports combinations of all of the above:

Potion of Mana
Requires:

• 3 bones (lost on failure or success)
• 5 gold pieces (lost on failure or success - manufacturing tax)
• 1 uber sword (lost on success only)
• bowl in inv (loss on failure only)
• pair of gloves (equipped)
• knowledge of "bad ideas"
• some funky nexus of 1 or more
• sigil of crazymaker

etc...

So, if anyone can come up with more scenarios it would be good.  Remembering there's no harm in adding them as they don't even need to be used.  The important thing is having the ability WHEN we do want to do something, to not have to go back to the code

EDIT: Minor formatting

[trollson]

Mixing in Map Objects...

I've been disheartened by the EL mix model for some time.  It doesn't really offer much in the way of a game play.  So I would extend the mix model to make more use of the map objects that litter the world, as krayon hints at above.

Opportunities:

• No longer require large carry capacity to support mixing - ingredients can be accumulated in a Map Object instead.
• Mixing at storage sites avoided.
• Area affects can provide spot-quests - see below.
• Collaborative work.

Requirements:

• Persistent storage associated with certain static Map Objects.
• Game system mechanism to handle law and order - see below.

Method:

• Use INGREDIENT on OBJECT - places INGREDIENT in OBJECT.
• Use TOOL on OBJECT - enacts a recipe defined by (TOOL, OBJECT) if character INVENTORY and OBJECT together contain necessary ingredients.  Result is created in INVENTORY or OBJECT if space does not permit.
• Use OBJECT - moves "top" item from OBJECT to INVENTORY if space, this is analogous to harvesting, which could be integrated with this mechanism.

Area Affects

When the EL Astrology system was being produced, I envisaged it as being a dynamic part of the game world - rather than just another set of global numbers to irritate the players.

From the view point of mixing, I would have liked to see a Seer predict that at some hour, near some location, a powerful conjunction of some nature would occur.  Creating certain items under this conjunction could have special enchantments...

This could still work with inventory mixing, but having to find the right Map Object would be far more fun.


Law and Order:

When using Map Objects to hold ingredients for mixing, there is no "locking" of that object to a single character or group. Unlike bags, you only need to be adjacent to them.  So villains can steal items from the Map Object if they can get in range.

On (serious) shortfall in the EL system is the lack of recognition or support for villains and heroes.  Playing villains has always been a part of RPGs (from the D&D Thieves onwards); but in an MMORPG this has to come with a system of law and order, offering recourse to the victims.

Many good suggestions have died on the EL forum because of the lack of a villain/victim resolution in the game.   So I propose that serious thought is given to how a system can be created which is both fair and supportable.  I have some ideas...