New study idea

Scott Hauck (hauck@cs.washington.edu)
Mon, 17 Aug 92 23:57:57 -0700

Since I've yet to feel a really good flame lately, and since I'm sure
BtA will just LOVE this idea, here goes a new idea on STUDYING skills. Note
that this idea is much more applicable to a COMPANION system than a large-
faction system.

First off, my problems with the current system are:
1.) It encourages people sitting on their butts in a tower studying
2.) it allows people to advance to high levels with no accomplishments
3.) Guilds aren't that useful

What I'd like to see is for all training except for actual level advancement
to occur during the player's normal work. So, concurrently with a player's
normal activities, he'd be accumulating experience in whatever skill he has
chosen to learn. At the point where a player needs to advance a level, or to
begin in a skill which he has no experience, he must seek out a teacher of
a higher level than himself, and spend something like 3*level days studying with
that teacher. For most levels of a skill, the teachers in most towns should
suffice. For higher levels, where only few people have such high skills, the
player would have to seek out better teachers. When the player finally reaches
a very high level, there would no longer be teachers, and some kind of quest
would need to be performed. For example, a Mage would have to seek out the
Necronomicon, and USE it, in order to gain the next level.

BTW, I'd suggest that a teacher would have to be 5 levels above their students,
so that levels 7-10 would automatically require quests to fulfill them.

The two problems I see with this system:
1.) In a large-faction system, it makes it too easy to have lots of skilled
units, since units don't have to be taken off money production to study
2.) Since training occurs in parallel to other actions, it requires a seperate
queue and seperate CANCEL options.

Scott

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