Random Encounters?

Erithinal · Post by **Erithinal** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:31 pm

How about the chance to happen upon a group of orc or kobold on the road? Like, say..

A tall, black haired elf walks in from the east.
An orc in hiding jumps out onto the road!
An orc in hiding jumps out onto the road!
An orc in hiding jumps out onto the road!

A group of orc brandish their weapons, and grunt.

Meh?

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 6:59 am

That is an interesting idea, that would be easily enough added to the wilderness areas.

A few comments though:

- most roads are supposed to be relatively "safe" ICly (and "safe" OOCly to allow lowish level characters to wander through the realms/kingdoms); that would mean that the encounter should be either very low level (so that lowish level characters are not killed, but then that would just be a very minor nuisance for higher level character) or the encounter should be scaled to the level of the traveller (not sure how IC this is though) - what would be the best solution?

- there would be no way to spot the ambush before it happens; that means that the traveller would always be surprised, no matter whether he's very good at 'spot'ting or not.

Tortus · Post by **Tortus** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 12:04 pm

I think your idea of having the encounter be scaled after the level of the traveller is a good idea. Even if it might not be that realistic, or IC, it would still be fun, and that's what matters in the end, isn't it?

And, make random encounters in the wilderness areas be harder, and less scaled perhaps. This might serve to disencourage taking shortcuts and not sticking to the road. (Which in my opinion is poor RP. You normally don't just stray from the road and go 30+ miles through fields and forests when you're out on a journey).

Balek · Post by **Balek** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:20 pm

I think it's an great idea, and it would be nice to see them scaled to the player's level (or even the total level of all players in a group, if that's possible).

I suppose this could be done using wizinvis mobs wandering the world map, set to stick to a single land type so we don't get hobgoblins ambushing people in the middle of a lake.

As of now, we don't have spot checks, but if they are ever put into the game, it would be nice if there was some way for that skill to be used to see these ambushes coming. I've never coded anything in my life so I don't really know what works and what doesn't, but if there was some way of creating echos in the rooms adjacent to the ambush based on a spot check, that would probably solve the problem. One way I can think of doing this would be to have a total of 9 wizinvis mobs in a square. They all move together (not sure if this is feasible, I've never seen mobs that all move together in separate rooms). The middle one springs the ambush and the 8 perimeter mobs all run spot/listen checks and indicate the direction of the ambush if a successful check is made.

Tortus · Post by **Tortus** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:43 pm

I think a way to do it is to have a small chance of triggering an ambush script everytime you enter a room.
Say perhaps 0.5% of the times you enter a room, you'll have an encounter in that room.
It just seems to me that this way might save some CPU power.

Erithinal · Post by **Erithinal** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:53 pm

The advantages I see to this is that it will encourage parties, instead of the normal lone wanderer along the road. Also, it will open up a lot of opportunity regarding bandits and the like. I'm glad everyone so far is liking this.

Gregal · Post by **Gregal** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:57 pm

I like this idea, it seems it will add a kick and flavor to the game. But what I am concerned about is the mobs being a bit strong....Yes it will encourage grouping and the such, but what about those characters that log on at times when many aren't on, or evils. Lets face it there aren't many evils and you can't exactly expect them to ban with goods. But then we have to consider our player base that logs on when many are asleep or such. I am in full support of this idea and would like to see something like this implemented. (Never knew how hard it was to type without going ssssss, lol...I am getting too used to it.) Thanks!

Rhytania · Post by **Rhytania** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:17 pm

I think this will be a great idea as long as it is in moderation and it doesnt turn out to be a Final Fantasy VII effect where you random encounter every three seconds (God its been years since I played that game but that was one of the most annoying things of any game I have ever played!)

Exer · Post by **Exer** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:41 pm

I as well love this idea especially in dungeons where you don't really need to worry about the lvl of the chars as each dungeon should already has a lvl base associated with it.

Take Undermountain, as you go deeper in, the random encounter will create higher lvl mobs. Maybe even with a 1% of meeting Halister himself. This would also promote grouping.

I would suggest staying away from the ambush idea on the roads and keep it to dungeons and certain areas in the game. Those random encounters can also target specific alignments or races, such as a elf war party near ardeep that would ambush a orc etc..

Hrosskell · Post by **Hrosskell** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:57 am

My only fear is that what Rhy said will happen. That, or another way to abuse the system. We're gonna have tons of kids walking around in a patch of grass to level up their Pikachu, if you catch my drift.

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:29 am

Well, the frequency can easily be fine-tuned.

It will not likely be set correctly on the first try, but that's rather easy to change.

Lorion · Post by **Lorion** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:26 am

Just a question from the viewpoint of a wizard who likes flying around :p
Unless there are mobs with ranged weapons included in these encounters, a flying person could simply pass the ambush. However, if you still get the ambush message and have the mobs show up, what would happen with them if you just laugh at them and fly away? I don't want to make this idea appear bad, in fact i like it, but I just can't help not thinking that after a while, when many people flew over, you'll have dozens of angry orcs on every step of the map.

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 6:01 am

We could have a dispelling wizard in the ambush as well.

Balek · Post by **Balek** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 6:25 am

In fact it might be possible to code ambushes using ranged attackers that spawn a room away and take shots at flying party members or even players engaged in melee combat. Maybe in some appropriate outdoor areas flying PCs could be attacked by a group of flying enemies (not flying humans and orcs, but rather 'natural'/magical aggressive creatures) leading to an epic battle in the clouds.

In another circumstance a group of adventurers might stumble across a well prepared group of mercenaries hired by some long-forgotten enemy (after all, most people in this game have done some quests that could realistically have made some people angry), leading to a battle against a few armed fighters, a cleric and a mage. These things shouldn't be the norm, as fighting through an army of mercenaries just to get to Daggerford from Waterdeep would get tedious and wouldn't really add anything to the game.

Penryn · Post by **Penryn** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:26 pm

I would love to see off the road ambushes taking place. It would make traveling in the wilderness more scary and more fitting for folks. People might have to stick to the roads then or face the terror of ....

It could be fun to see specially if coded up to a certain level of someone and popping in random places (some safe like ardeep perhaps and others much worse like the trollbark).

Jerigo · Post by **Jerigo** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:39 am

This might serve to disencourage taking shortcuts and not sticking to the road. (Which in my opinion is poor RP. You normally don't just stray from the road and go 30+ miles through fields and forests when you're out on a journey).

This comment might not be entirely necessary, but I just wanted to point out that it might be well within the proper RP of a ranger to take a more rugged direct route through the wilderness instead of sticking to the fixed roads.

Tortus · Post by **Tortus** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:12 am

Of course, Jerigo, which is why I wrote "normally".

I was given an idea now though. How about if a higher skill in pathfinding reduced the chances of a random encounter?

Dugald · Post by **Dugald** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:52 am

Or maybe a skill that automatically told you if there are creatures in a surrounding block of your own (as if looking). That way the danger can be out there, but without a an actual ranger leading - you'd have to dink around looking in every direction...and we all give up on that eventually

Tracking, or such. I'd play a ranger just to have a skill like that. But I have no idea of anything at all on the coding side - just brainstorming.

Jerigo · Post by **Jerigo** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:01 pm

Tortus wrote:Of course, Jerigo, which is why I wrote "normally".

I should stop using the boards at 4:30 in the morning.

Isolrem · Post by **Isolrem** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 10:27 pm

these things would be really fun if you have a fair chance of surviving the encounter
be a shame if explorative newbies find themselves slain outright by bandits on the road (however realistic that might be in RP) leagues away from any cities and quite unable to explain to anyone where exactly they were
1. encounters are adjusted to character level/sklills
2. encounters are turned on in config
3. encounters occur after completion of a certain journeyman's quest

Random Encounters?

Random Encounters?

Hmmm