Lovelace skills list

[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

[VDZ]

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?

[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).

[VDZ]

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?

[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.

[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'.

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.)

[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