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Lovelace skills list

Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2018 10:10 am
by Mit
A few notes about skills on the new world: On Lovelace, there are no jobs and the distinction between job skills and constructions skills is no longer there - e.g. If you're a chef you can build and run a restaurant.. if you're a farmer you can build and run a farm, etc.
As before, you're limited to knowing 3 skills at a time and you can forget skills at any time, but each new skill you learn increases the time it will take to learn the next one.

So to set the mood, here's the current skills list:
  • Miner
    Farmer
    Lumberjack
    Oil Worker
    Steel Worker
    Retailer
    Quarrier
    Stonemason
    Rancher
    Engineer
    Mechanic
    Auto manufacturer
    Aircraft manufacturer
    Building merchant
    Baker
    Butcher
    Miller
    Brewer
    Chef
    House Builder
    Construction Worker
    Market Trader
    Professor
    Chemist
    Scientist
    Electrical Engineer
    Rocket Scientist

Re: Lovelace skills list

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 12:16 pm
by VDZ
Mit wrote:
Sat Oct 27, 2018 10:10 am
each new skill you learn increases the time it will take to learn the next one.
Does this count number of skills possessed, or does the increase persist even after forgetting a skill?

Re: Lovelace skills list

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 3:06 pm
by Mit
It persists.
Specific values will be adjusted but to start the baseline will be something like, first skill = 10 mins, second skill = 8 hours, third skill = 1 day, fourth skill = 2 days and +1 day for each skill learnt after that.

(The specific skills all modify the baseline value based on their 'complexity' and have a minimum time - e.g. Rocket scientist would never take less than a week and would be 5x the baseline value).

Re: Lovelace skills list

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 9:43 pm
by VDZ
Mit wrote:
Sun Oct 28, 2018 3:06 pm
It persists.
Specific values will be adjusted but to start the baseline will be something like, first skill = 10 mins, second skill = 8 hours, third skill = 1 day, fourth skill = 2 days and +1 day for each skill learnt after that.

(The specific skills all modify the baseline value based on their 'complexity' and have a minimum time - e.g. Rocket scientist would never take less than a week and would be 5x the baseline value).
Would that mean that if I try to learn Rocket Scientist as fifth skill it would take me several weeks to learn it while an alt, er, new player could learn it in a week? Or is it just a week + several days as a flat modifier to learning time rather than a relative increase?

Re: Lovelace skills list

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:08 am
by Mit
The calc (atm - its scripted so easily changed) is that its a base time for each skill + a multiplier on the '# previously learnt' baseline. (e.g. rocket scientist - which is the most extreme example (and can't be learnt as your first skill) - is currently 7 days + 5x your baseline, up to a maximum of 18 days. If you've previously learnt 5 skills then it'll take you 18 days, a 'new player', learning it as their second skill, would take ~10.) (All these numbers may be adjusted by the time the world is ready).

So yes, it'd take an older player who has learnt a lot of skills previously longer than a new player, who for instance, might be someone's brother, who has a particularly comic way of speaking that is obviously very different from the older player.

Of course that suggests there's a benefit of creating a 'new player' here - but there are lots of other changes that mean it shouldn't be a practical benefit.. To start, the 'new player' would have to get enough money for the rocket scientist skill and without barter, min/max price limits on trades and limits on the frequency of price changes, it'd be quite awkward for the 'older player' to get that money to them. Assuming they bothered - and it would be pretty obvious if they had - the new player could then learn the skill slightly more quickly and build the rocket science buildings, but that doesn't help the older player significantly. (In, at least, they can't just then purchase the buildings cheap - because of the price limits and because the buildings need the owner to have the rocket scientist skill to function - and they couldn't buy the products at a discount because of the price limits).

The new skill system is specifically to encourage more differentiation in roles, which therefore makes trade necessary to advance.

Re: Lovelace skills list

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 12:22 am
by VDZ
I think you shouldn't underestimate player creativity. Even Grey, with its fully open trade, had sketchy setups like someone renting a building at a price roughly equal to their income. People will find ways to transfer money and goods to other players and 'other players'.
Mit wrote:
Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:08 am
the buildings need the owner to have the rocket scientist skill to function
This, on the other hand, does prevent building ownership change cheesiness, and is actually quite interesting beyond that as it severely restricts which buildings players can run. I'm quite curious to see how this will work out. (Of course, this does provide a serious 'benefit for existing' which could encourage alting, but alting that way at least wouldn't just be a way of transparently funneling easy money to main accounts.)

Re: Lovelace skills list

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 8:39 am
by Mit
Aye.. I've been doing this long enough to know well how creative people will be :) We never will stop every abuse of the systems, but at least we can hope that the fundamentals are there in such a way that doing so isn't really worth the risk of being caught.

I am also 'quite curious to see how this will work out'.. it may be completely rubbish, of course :)