Research Rewrite

[Kinaed]

We'd like to rewrite research. Finally.

Some ideas:

- We'd like it to work with any skill.
- We're considering putting skillbooks in the game that unlock the level of research you can get to, for example: an apprentice manual on Footwork, a master manual on Haggle, etc.
- When the book is finished being "read" (eg, you've gotten the max pool off it), it's consumed.
- There's a value on the book that determines how much pool it actually contains. Like energy from food, there will be set building standards around how much silver it costs per pool amount.
- If researching without books in a library, there's a much smaller chance you'll pool, and instead of getting a specific skill desired, you will get a random selection of skills.

The mini-game:

Code: Select all

Syntax: research
        research note <skill>
        research guess <word>
        research end
        

- When you begin researching, you flip through some pages and begin to take notes. 
- On a chance related to your int (or luck if using a library), you may find "A <interesting> passage on <skill>." If you're using a skillbook, it will be based on the selected skill, otherwise it will be a random skill.
- If you see this message, you can type 'research note <skill>'
- At this stage, you get a five to ten character word that has been jumbled in three or four ways. Depending on your research skill, you have a set number of retries available. If you guess what the word is correctly before you run out of tries, then you pool and are put back to the cycle of finding passages.
- The various adjectives used to describe the passage also describe how difficult the word is.
- The word will be randomly taken from one of TI's help files in the IC information index.

Yes/no/suggestions?

[Callista]

I think the idea of a consumable book is sort of silly imho, just ICly (why would a book disappear just because it is read?). How about combining it with the idea posted elsewhere about wear and tear on items, so that books can be read a finite number of times before they crumble away? At least it would make sense for books to wear out over time.... if you are looking for something consumable to explain learning skills through methods, something other than books might make more sense. Lectures/discussions at the university? (Not necessarily timed, but rooms you could go to for them. Think of it like office hours :) ).

Just MHO.

[Kinaed]

The idea isn't that the book is consumable, just that after having used it to a certain degree, it no longer benefits you. You can't read a single book on finance and become an expert, for example. I can reread the single book I bought in high school 100x, and it won't benefit me anymore after that. This is what the consumable represents. Also, for the sake of the fact that this is a game, not a reflection of irl, skill learning through research shouldn't be a simple one-off purchase. The game has to be harder than that, or no one will LBU, it will become a game of scholars with no practical experience. Similar to Inspiration and LBU not working well together, we have to balance the difficulty of each method to a degree.

[Callista]

So its not really consumed, its just a one-time used. Can another person pick up the same book and read it for their own gain?

[Kinaed]

Nope. Harder to program. Not a little bit harder, but a lot harder. We'd have to create new fields on books and so on to remember who got to what % with that particular book, etc. It's consumed because having useless books lying around will just irritate people.