Encouraging specialization

[killster550 401]

well the upside to dockwithme's idea is that it doesnt negatively affect anyone, it merely allows for players who have chopped wood a lot to be a little bit faster at it than other people, which naturally encourages specialization, yet leaves ENOUGH room for a different task, especially if the boost degrades quite slowly

[transcengopher 349]

But. From what I understood when dunk explained how block breaking works, when you start breaking block, it asks for the tool strength. When there is a single number for each tool, it's just matter of accessing the database. But when you make player skills affect mining, for each tool its strength will be some combination of its base strength and player skill, so to get tool strength you will need to first look in database, then look in player attributes, then compute real value, and then send it to block. And then send some response to player skill attributes to reflect that skill is risen and all other skills are lowered (I assume it's what your idea is). So it's "slightly" resource-intensive thing to do, really.

[killster550 401]

yet it is possible, since the MCMMO (shoot me for using it as an example) uses a system where you actually level it up permanently and you have access to some superskill that allows you to mine at incredible speeds (which is BS) but the skill affects drop, a level 100 miner would get 20 diamonds instead of 1 per block.

the only reason i used the above is to show that it IS possible. except we want a dynamic player skill, which could be the problem, par example, what happens if you degrade a rank while you're mining?

[transcengopher 349]

I don't think it's possible, unless you go so far as to add breathing skills, because skills are changing on action.

[dockwithme 76]

Maybe another way to encourage specialization is to implement a true economy. The only way I would just be a lumberjack and chop down trees is if I could then trade those tress in for other materials. I wouldn't have time to go mining, so I could then buy ores. Or if I didn't even like smithing, I could trade in an even greater amount of material for a full blown set of armor. This would also solve single player issues. Have a station that spawns - much like how villages do - that acts as a trading depot. Or make it craftable. Or maybe you have to set-up a village and let it become inhabited. I know I've heard there will be no NPCs, but a trading depot without people would be lonely...

[VegasGoat 51]

Maybe another way to encourage specialization is to implement a true economy

Yeah, that was my thought a few pages back: Encourage living together and trading. Paranoia runs deep in minecraft players, we avoid other players for fear of griefing. Create protection and safe trading systems, and you will see people start working together again. Then you can start making each task more difficult and/or time consuming so people will naturally specialize.

Also, forget about trying to balance for solo players. You can't do both. If the devs want to make a mod where community is required, they should stick to that plan.

[LordOfWolves 514]

-Deleted-

Damn guys I posted in the wrong topic...sorry...

[dockwithme 76]

Yeah, that was my thought a few pages back: Encourage living together and trading. Paranoia runs deep in minecraft players, we avoid other players for fear of griefing. Create protection and safe trading systems, and you will see people start working together again. Then you can start making each task more difficult and/or time consuming so people will naturally specialize.

Also, forget about trying to balance for solo players. You can't do both. If the devs want to make a mod where community is required, they should stick to that plan.

I don't see how you could overlook single players though. This mod offers so much in terms of overhauling survival that it would be a shame to base the game around having to work WITH other people in order to even play. Really that only applies if you're trying to make specialization playable as a solo player, which is silly. You can't expect to survive on your own without doing everything yourself. So maybe that was a silly idea to have trade depot spawn so that single players can specialize but still get everything else they need. Solo players can't specialize.

[VegasGoat 51]

The only reason I say to forget solo players is because you don't want to limit yourself in what you can do as far as community based features for fear of breaking the solo game. I'm sure if they stick to believablility, it'll work out fine where the solo player will still be viable anyway, just that it'll take a lot longer.

[dockwithme 76]

The only reason I say to forget solo players is because you don't want to limit yourself in what you can do as far as community based features for fear of breaking the solo game. I'm sure if they stick to believablility, it'll work out fine where the solo player will still be viable anyway, just that it'll take a lot longer.

True dat. Nothing introduced here was a detriment to solo play anyways.

[Mephistos_chan 26]

The trading post is a good idea and it would be lonely without a trader, but the trader needn't have any sophisticated AI. He should just be another mob but tied to a specific point.

The actual trading system could be a bitch to implement, do you go for a fixed value system, similar to how block values are assigned in Equivalent Exchange or do you go for a more dynamic set up where trading is based on supply and demand. The ultimate system (really over the top) would be for TFC to connect to a central server and trades to take place in a meta economy, ultimate pricing to be determined by the players.

Overall though, I like the idea of a trading post because it can help overcome a poor spawn without 'cheating'.