Author Topic: Hunting  (Read 11220 times)

Eldargard

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Hunting
« Topic Start: July 21, 2014, 12:13:12 PM »
*Title*
Hunting

*Summary*
Add a variety of elements into the game to allow nobles to hunt for sport

*Details*
Characters can gain the ability to hunt various animals using various methods and weapons.

Base Option:

Add a hunting skill. All nobles are assumed to have horses, dogs and hawks/falcons to hunt with. Add a "Hunt.." option to the actions page that leads to a hunt sub page. On the hunt sub page you can chose what animal to hunt (Stag, Deer, Bear, Boar, Wolf, Fowl, Rabbit/Hare, Fox or Any), what method of hunt to perform (Falcon or Hawk, Bow and Stable, Dog and Force) and the weapon of choice. Depending on the game selected, only certain hunting methods wil be available. Depending on the method of hunt selected, only certain weapons are available The hunt the commences taking XX hours. A report is then generated describing the hunt and its result.

Hunting Weapons:
Spear
Used in Dog and Force hunts with the jousting skill.

Sword
Used in Dog and Force hunts with the swordsmanship skill.

Bow
Used in Bow and Stable hunts with the archery skill.

Hunting Methods:
By Dog and Force
This is considered an honorable and prestigious method of hunting. Prey found then chased to exhaustion, then cornered (done with the hunting skill). The hunter then kills the prey with sword or spear (done with swordsmanship or jousting). This method of hunting is challenging and dangerous and can result in being wounded badly. You might increase your hunting, swordsmanship or jousting skill. H/P might be gained. Only Stag, Deer, Bear, Boar, Wolf and Fox can be hunted in this manner.

By Falcon or Hawk
This is considered an honorable and prestigious method of hunting. The bird is released into the air. Prey is then flushed by the noble and/or dogs for the bird to attack. Success in entirely based on hunting skill. This hunting is generally safe but quite challenging. There is a chance the Hawk/Falcon will not or can not return. Only Fowl, Rabbit/Hare and Fox can be hunted in this manner.

By Bow and Stable
This is not considered an honorable and prestigious method of hunting though it is also not frowned upon either. Thus is done by flushing game towards hunters waiting with bow and arrow (done with hunting skill). the hunter than shoots the game (done with archery). Best done with a slow and controlled herding of prey. Generally safe method of hunting with high success rate. Hunting or archery skill might increase. Only Stag, Deer, Bear, Boar, Wolf Fowl and Fox can be hunted in this manner.

Game Types:
Stag
The most prestigious kind of game. Can only be hunted by Dog and Force or by Bow and Sable. Very difficult to succeed.

Deer
Fairly prestigious game. Hunter is ok with any dear though would be delighted to find a stag. Higher chances of overall success but lower chance of getting a stag. Can only be hunted by Dog and Force or by Bow and Sable.

Bear
Prestigious kind of game. Can only be hunted by Dog and Force or by Bow and Sable.

Boar
Prestigious kind of game. Can only be hunted by Dog and Force or by Bow and Sable.

Wolf Killed by Sword or Spear
Not very prestigious. Can only be hunted by Dog and Force or by Bow and Sable.

Fowl (Goose, Ducks, Pheasant, Partridge or Grouse)
Not very prestigious. Can only be hunted by Falcon or Hawk or by Bow and Sable.

Rabbit/Hare
Not very prestigious. Can only be hunted by Falcon or Hawk or by Bow and Sable.

Fox
Not very prestigious. Can be hunted by any means.

Any
The hunter is satisfied to catch any kind of game their chosen method allows. Highest chance of success though high prestige game is less likely to be caught than if you hunted for that game specifically.

Advanced Options:

Most of the Base option applies with the following changes/additions:

* By default, only Dog and Force and Bow and Sable options are available
* By default, the noble has no dogs or falcons to aid in the hunt
* Knights can build Kennels on their estate to gain access to dogs
* Dogs can be purchased via the kennels
* Dogs increase the chance of a successful hunt regardless of the kind of hunt
* Dogs can be lost/killed during a hunt, depending on the method of hunt and kind of game
* Knights can construct Mews on their estate to gain access to hawks/falcons
* Hawks/Falcons can be bought via the mews
* Hawks have a numerical rating like captains that add to hunting skill
* Hawks can be named or have randomly generated names
* Hawks can be lost during a hunt
* Knights can build Stables on their estates
* Once built, knights are assumed to have room for horses bred for hunting and gain a bonus to hunts
* Characters can hire a Falconer, Master of Hounds and/or Master of Horses to further add benefit to the hunt
    * These people are assumed to train and are for their respective animals
    * This extra care/training means higher quality animals and thus the bonus
* An option in which several player controlled nobles can hunt together.
    * Every hunt is assumed to consist of the player character leading a group of minor nobility to hunt together though the pc noble is always the one to make the kill.

*Benefits*
Nobles where well known for hunting in the middle ages and hunting was, indeed, considered a noble pastime. This brings that aspect of nobility into the game. Further, this provides knights with something to do during peaceful times. It also gives new knights a way of earning H/P and increase skills.

*Possible Downsides or Exploits*
Players use hunting to buff up skills? Well, this is really a benefit to me - to a certain extent at least. I also think hat making it progressively more difficult to increase a given skill as its level increases should keep abuse from happening.

Players who hunt to gain too much H/P? Nobles could gain a great deal of honor and prestige through hunting. The pastime was highly regarded as where successful hunters. At the same time, care should be taken to ensure that a character constantly fighting in battles gains H/P more quickly that a character that constantly hunts.

Constantine

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #1: July 21, 2014, 12:57:20 PM »
I like the idea overall, but I'm afraid it might be too easy to abuse by ceaselessly spam-hunting to farm H/P.
Maybe hunting should yield H/P only during a special event akin to tournaments?
There's no problem at all with hunting increasing skills though, given you'll have to spend at least as much money/time as you do in training grounds.

De-Legro

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #2: July 21, 2014, 02:17:15 PM »
I like the idea overall, but I'm afraid it might be too easy to abuse by ceaselessly spam-hunting to farm H/P.
Maybe hunting should yield H/P only during a special event akin to tournaments?
There's no problem at all with hunting increasing skills though, given you'll have to spend at least as much money/time as you do in training grounds.

Yes, require it to be a Hunting Party or whatever. Require a building Hunting Lodge to run them and a gold cost to perform them. Make them a social event just like tournaments.
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Dragonsbane

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #3: July 21, 2014, 02:31:30 PM »
You could add in a fail rate depending on how few people join the hunting party, or add a loss of honor or prestige of one fails too many consecutive hunts. Also, this does seem like a cool idea.

Eldargard

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #4: July 21, 2014, 02:54:42 PM »
I love the idea of having multiple PC nobles getting together to hunt but thought the solo hunt (your PC noble with assorted NPC minor nobles) would be the easiest first step. I may very well be wrong though...

As far as mining H/P goes, I would rather not curb it excessively. A common complaint is that it can take forever for new characters to gain enough H/P to do cool things - especially in times of peace. Having another avenue of garnering some H/P would be good in my opinion. I still think that the odds need to be set so that battle is clearly the best means of H/P gains and would even be fine with a cap set on how much H/P one can gain via hunting. Awarding H/P for group (multiple PC Nobles) hunts and not for solo (only your PC noble) might help in curbing how often a character is awarded H/P.

Regarding the hunting lodge, are you suggesting that the hunting lodge:

* be necessary to form multi-noble hunting parties (my favorite)?
* be necessary to gain H/P n a hunt?
* or both?

Qyasogk

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #5: July 21, 2014, 07:59:07 PM »
I really like this suggestion as well. Successful hunts could allow a boost to honor. But only rare or dangerous hunts should raise prestige.

Speaking of which, some of these animals ARE dangerous. There should be a chance for people on the hunt to become injured or even die (may King Robert Baratheon rest in peace!) when hunting particularly ferocious prey (including friendly fire which should LOWER honor).

And that is how you keep people from abusing the hunting mechanic just to boost their stats.

Anaris

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #6: July 21, 2014, 08:05:10 PM »
I think it's also worth noting that prestige and honour already have a diminishing returns mechanic built in. It's not hard to make sure that someone with 1 prestige can go to 5 hunts and potentially gain 10 prestige, while someone with 20 can go to 20 hunts and not gain more than 3.
Timothy Collett

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Eldargard

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #7: July 21, 2014, 08:11:23 PM »
I think it's also worth noting that prestige and honour already have a diminishing returns mechanic built in. It's not hard to make sure that someone with 1 prestige can go to 5 hunts and potentially gain 10 prestige, while someone with 20 can go to 20 hunts and not gain more than 3.

This was my thought exactly.

Charles

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #8: July 24, 2014, 07:44:17 PM »
I like the idea of a Hunting Logde being necessary. This would be a building that can only be built in rural regions (or just woodlands).  The lord of the region could set up the hunt party much like city lords can set up tournaments.  For the purpose of coding, I would view it exactly like a tournament.  I am not sure that a gold reward would make sense, though it should still cost something to join.  I also do not feel it should be a continent wide event, either private or realmwide.  Prestige and honour could be won by all those who participate based on what they catch, but also to the lord, based on who shows up: more value for nobles ranked higher than them (dukes, rulers and council members - who kill something) down to nearly nothing for knights.
There could also simply be some probability that no animals are found causing a loss of prestige to the lord.  This probability should be very low initially, but increase exponentially as the animals are being killed.  I am not sure how to implement that, perhaps have some standard length of time that it takes for the animal population to recover (it could be random or changing based on all sorts of variables: weather, # of participants in the previous hunt, size of region, type of region, how recently a large army moved through the region, etc.) 
 

Anaris

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #9: July 24, 2014, 07:49:32 PM »
I like the idea of a Hunting Logde being necessary. This would be a building that can only be built in rural regions (or just woodlands).  The lord of the region could set up the hunt party much like city lords can set up tournaments.  For the purpose of coding, I would view it exactly like a tournament.  I am not sure that a gold reward would make sense, though it should still cost something to join.  I also do not feel it should be a continent wide event, either private or realmwide. 

While some of the code could certainly be reused, because it would most definitely not be a continent-wide event—and thus also not be exclusive; that is, more than one Lord could be running a Hunting Party at one time—there would be significant differences in the code from how tournaments are handled.

However, we have had a plan on the drawing board for a while of making tournaments no longer exclusive, and this would serve as a good trial run for that, too.
Timothy Collett

"The only thing you can't trade for your heart's desire...is your heart." "You are what you do.  Choose again, and change." "One of these days, someone's gonna plug you, and you're going to die saying, 'What did I say? What did I say?'"  ~ Miles Naismith Vorkosigan

Kai

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #10: July 25, 2014, 04:49:19 AM »
I think small group hunts are a good idea as a kind of mini-tournament. But I think hunting alone is too much of an anti-social activity, and is basically just grinding for stats. If it existed, it would have to be made like the academy where the main restriction is gold rather than time.

Fleugs

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #11: July 25, 2014, 11:25:34 PM »
Cool idea. I was thinking if as a reward next to H/P, it could also be rewarded with a limited amount of food (like 5 bushels, more a token reward)? Or alternatively, it could cause a small morale raise for your men (hooray, boar and pheasants!). But overall this sounds like a fun thing!
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Stabbity

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #12: July 26, 2014, 10:21:54 AM »
Just one tiny nitpick,

There is no archery skill, and its been said there never will be. Use a real weapon, not some savage peasant's tool.
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Dishman

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #13: July 26, 2014, 10:44:06 PM »
I'm not so sure about permanent H/P gains, but maybe a kind of 'unique item' that nobles can farm for? "Pelt of the White Boar" or "Golden Stag Antlers" and all that. You can have a Honor or Prestige boost that isn't overpowered, might even integrate into the advy game of barter, and gives people the all-too desired 'achievement/medal/whatever'.

Additional thought: It would be kind of neat if you could 'organize a hunt' like a tournament announcement. Some region owner pays gold depending on how many takers you think there would be, folks join, whoever gets 'the kill' ends up with an item. More prestige for bigger hunts, chance of complete failure, a convenient message group for folks to RP, etc.

My main problem with the feature request is that it doesn't create character interaction. We need more features that bring people together, not stat-grinds that keep people from talking.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2014, 10:52:07 PM by Dishman »
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Dragonsbane

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Re: Hunting
« Reply #14: July 28, 2014, 02:47:13 PM »
An idea struck me, well two really, the first was depending on the type of region, you can hunt for different types of game. For instance, you won't find the same things in mountain regions that you will in coast, or rivers, or forests, or deserts, ect. Another was not only could you be wounded as has been discussed, but have a rare instance if the hunting party is exceptionally small, that they, depending on the region, could come across while hunting a wolf, the whole pack, and be killed by it, or if hunting in the mountains, you won't have the same ability to fight, so a mountain lion catches you on bad footing and drags you away to you death.