Blacksmith mod

[Kieron]

hey alan, have you moved? or am i just imagining that you used to have a usa flag under your name? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

 

[jmv575]

Wasn't he from Bowling Green, Ohio before too?

 

[stevewwb]

He is starting gradschool in Montreal

 

[jmv575]

Congratulations Alan. How'd you like the GRE? What is your field? Shall we call you Prof.. from now on? Really though, congrats.

 

[alan_smithee]

That's right, from good ol' Bowling Green (aka Pull Town, USA, summer home of the National Tractor Pulling Championships [ugh!]) to beautiful old Montreal. The international politics of it all are quite a hassle, but I'll let you in ona little something I've discovered this week: Canada doesn't care a fig for security. I tooka bus to the border at NY the other day, to get my student visa, then just WALKED right back into Canada under everyone's noses.

School starts Wednesday (it's McGill University, the Harvard of the North). I'll be spending three years on a master's in Russian, emphasis on literature. Hella nervous, really... it'll be intensive, and I'm a whole year out of practice. But when I'm done I'll try and get a gig with some magazine or another, either doing translations or journalism.

Gosh, the GRE? It was so long ago I took it I'd forgotten all about it. I did ok on it, I guess. A friend lent me "GRE for Dummies" to prepare...

 

[Kieron]

emphasis on literature? wow, impressive <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" /> i jumped for joy when i finished my first year at uni and italian literature stopped being compulsory <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="^_^" border="0" alt="happy.gif" />

what's the gre?

oh, and btw, what's the status of the mod? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="^_^" border="0" alt="happy.gif" /> (`on-topic`? me? no, never...)

 

[jmv575]

The GRE is the big American test we American students have to take to get into `post-graduate` school. Officially its called the Graduate Record Examination, but everyone on this side of the pond just calls it the GRE. I'll have to take it next summer. Then, all things falling into place... I'm off to study Renaissance `Brit-Lit`. Although, with the current state of American `higher-ed`, a PhD in English isn't the wisest of financial choices.

You speak Italian, Kieron? I always thought you would go more for Greek. I guess that's just the centaur in me speaking though.

 

[Kieron]

greek? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="no.gif" /> the degree i'm studying is in spanish and italian, but i also studied french and catalan last year, and this coming year i'll be studying spanish and catalan here in barça. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="^_^" border="0" alt="happy.gif" /> i had to do italian lit in my first year of uni because italian was my `start-from`-scratch language and you don't get the choice. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

what <i>is</i> the current state of american higher ed?

 

[jmv575]

Wow, you're a regular language man. I'm struggling away at Arabic... struggling be the key.

The current state of American `higher-ed`... Professors make pretty good money... especially the full or associate professors. Professors also like teaching the classes where either the students are smart, or the material is something they truly enjoy. They do not, generally, enjoy teaching your basic `first-year` freshman level courses. So, a lot of institutions hire graduate students to be `Teaching-assistants` or `full-fledged` teachers. They then give the classes the professors don't want to the Teaching assistants while the professors get the plums.

That in itself itsn't bad. The problem is that its much more `cost-effective` for the university to admit a lot of graduate students and give them PhD's rather than hire more full professors and pay them the high wages...since teaching assistants work for next to nothing.

The result is that you have a lot of `under-experienced` and `under-qualified` graduate students becoming PhD's, and then going out into the University job market. In other words, the decision to go to graduate school (especially in the humanities where teaching assistants are readily available) should not be taken lightly. I know a PhD in archaeology bagging grocieries at the `super-market`, and I know many a PhD in English lit working a factory job.

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

Too true, I'm afraid. And to think that a PhD USED to mean a whole lot more... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" /> Sad... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_twisted.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":twisted:" border="0" alt="icon_twisted.gif" />

 

[alan_smithee]

Aw, I really don't need to hear all this... :^(

But you have about summed it up, jmv. I'd add that most professional teachers, the "middle class" of them if you will, generally get shat on. At my American alma mater, for instance, with rising costs they keep raising tuition each year while putting freezes on hiring/raises, EXCEPT for the damned president, who gets a hefty raise and his house renovated regulalry.

So, heck. My Bachelor's about means nothing to me, considering where it's from, and I'm hoping getting some international postgrad sheepskins will be more attractive to the right people.

 

[KevO44]

Well Smithee, now you know. Stop letting damn Liberals run your country. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" />

 

[alan_smithee]

Eh? Liberals? It's been all conservatives for the past four years, and the liberals are trying to take it back.

Anyway... do y'all see why I moved to Canada?

Oh yeah, and a while back someone wanted to know the progress on this mod. I haven't heard from RobC, its originator, for a month or so. But I should think a basic version of it should be ready for inclusion in B12, with skins and coding complete. Unless people would rather use the graphical interface created for it, upon which I cannot comment.

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

Wasn't RobC going on vacation? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" /> Maybe he didn't want to come back! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

Does anyone have his email addy?

I think in the interim, we could include this in the new Build without the graphics interface, which can be an `add-on` when it gets finished. Whaddaya think? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />

 

[alan_smithee]

I agree, the blacksmith dialogs are fun.

I PM'd you RobC's email addy, Catty.

 

[Kieron]

have you tried the interface btw? the other thing the interface did was separate the shop and the blacksmith entirely, so that shops only sold items and blacksmiths sold all the weaponry (the blacksmith would then also need to be put on the fasttravel menu). and on the interface you could reequip, buy/sell and upgrade weaponry all within the interface...

i can easily add it in before the build when the rest of the mod is finished, if you want. but you don't have to use the interface if you don't like it, i don't mind <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="^_^" border="0" alt="happy.gif" />

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

<!--`QuoteBegin-alan_smithee`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(alan_smithee)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I PM'd you RobC's email addy, Catty.[/quote]Okay, handled, Alan...

Please tho, Alan... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/whippa.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="whippa.gif" /> Not "Catty". I am anything (most likely BATTY, haha!) but! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/diomed.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":dio" border="0" alt="diomed.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

 

[NathanKell]

Kieron, sounds like you could just edit the giveitemstotrader or whatever func in q_r to skip blades, and make a copy to do only blades for the blacksmith, to keep it all (shoot forgot the word), um, generated.

Re: upgrading weapons.
What I think would be a better (though of course longer) approach would be to redo the system so that quality is a property rather than a different item.
We'd have to do the same thing to track pistol reload status when unequipped, so might as well do it together.
I.e. right now we track items by id in char.Items.(id) = quantity.
What we'd need to do is, for at least weapons,
char.weapons.(id_0), *.quality and *.shots
char.weapons.(id_1), *.quality and *.shots
And so forth so if three pistol3, pistol3, pistol3_0 has an independent qual and reload status from _1 and _2.

We'd have to rewrite equip functions (and getdamage funcs) to use id_n as name instead of just id.

 

[alan_smithee]

I never could get the graphical interface to work. I did something wrong in the installation and had to give up in favour of other projects; I'll try again sometime and comment on it.

Oh yeah, and about the idea of limiting weapon sales to 'smiths... it kind of makes sense, and I do think it's a little odd to get every sort of item at a shop (I might like to see medicines taken out and sold instead in an apothocary), but I didn't plan on giving every single island a blacksmith. Oxbay was going to go without, to keep the English from doubling up and keep the player from levelling up to a perfect sword at the beginning of the game. Oxbay could still have a smith, I suppose, but his abilities could be limited. RobC and I talked about this, that each blacksmith would have different degrees of skill in gun/sword repair. The Spanish would be great with swords but poorer with guns, for instance. Can the graphical interface reflect this, or is it a single set of code applied to all smiths? And not having tried it yet I have to ask, does it repair guns too?

NK: Could you explain, in layman's terms, what all that would mean to weapons in the game?

 

[NathanKell]

Basically, things now are tracked very simply. A `weapon-item` has one set of stats, and the only thing tracked per character is the number of that item carried. So if you're carrying three pistol3+1s, they all have the same stats. In fact, you can't swap between them, they show up in one square in inventory.

In order to do more advanced things, like swords that wear over time, and pistols which stay charged when not equipped (i.e. for the mod to
"`hot-swap`" between `four-odd` loaded pistols, fire and grab next, and then at the end have none loaded), we have to change the way `weapon-items` are tracked for characters.

The above post was a `back-of`-`the-envelope` brainstorm on how to do that.
Speaking of which, had another idea.
---
Other way to complexly track items: containers.
The way to envision this, is that whenever an item is added to inventory, it gets its own container, i.e. item23.
Inside that container is the id of the item and any extra information (repair level, is it loaded, etc.)
Only items in containers could be equipped.
When you sell the item, the item becomes a "normal" item again.
When you swap item to officer, the whole container would get transferred.

In order to not clutter up inventory unduly, only "readied" items would get put in containers (i.e. only items in ready inventory); otherwise the inventory list would go on forever. So when an item goes from ready inventory to basic inventory, or is sold, it would have repair status "baked" into it, i.e. go back to the way all items are tracked now (i.e. fine and worn blade3 are _separate items_).

code:
ref chr; //chr is char whose items we're dealing with now
int i = 0;
while(CheckAttribute(char,"readyinv.cont"+i);
string contattr = "cont"+i;
chr.readyinv.(contattr).id = itemid;
if(pistol) chr.readyinv.(contattr).charge = loaded_or_not;
chr.readyinv.(contattr).repair = RepairState;