With a challenge being made that you can't eliminate scripting at IDOCs or make them fun, I had to write this up.
Preface
This idea of a redesigned house collapse system builds on many different things. It is about keeping the spirit of the original system back before Trammel. It is about reducing the advantage of scripting and cheating as much as possible. It is about adding more in-game elements to a house collapse and making it more fun. It is about eliminating time being wasted and frustration. It is about keeping alive a game style that many players enjoy.
There are really two separate and important things that happen at an IDOC.
- The contents of the house becomes lootable by anyone
- The house disappears allowing a new house to be built
This design will completely split them apart into separate sections.
History
Originally looting and placing happened at the exact same moment. The house disappeared and the loot fell on the ground. Way back before the addition of Trammel the house placement rules were such that you could not place a house on top of any object or player. Of course this had to change under the Trammel ruleset so you could now place over anything and it simply got moved under the house sign.
After many years of this, players began ramping up complaints about how pushing everything on one tile under the house sign made looting basically impossible and gave scripters a huge advantage. Thus the system was modified so the house would disappear but you had to wait a time before the house could actually be placed. This made things a lot better in the loot aspect.
I am not really sure what happened leading up to the most recent changes as I did not play for many years around this time period. In fact, I have not even been to an IDOC under the most recent changes. There is something about monsters taking loot and you having to kill them. However it works today, many people are still unhappy about the IDOC system (as seen in the recent discussions on UHall).
Special Note:
Sections in blue are possible system enhancements.
House Decay Process
The account goes inactive and the server determines that enough time has passed to begin the house decay process. The house sign is updated to reflect that the decay process has become ("This house is somewhat worn"). A new building called a "Land Appropriations Office" becomes available in Brtain. Inside you will find:
- Bulletin Board - showing name, coordinates, and final decay date of houses
- Property Tax Collector NPC - this NPC can be bribed with gold to give the whereabouts of "unlisted" homes ("There is a home south-east of Britain which will be repossessed soon")
- Between 20-40% of homes can be unlisted
- The more gold you bribe the higher chance you will learn of a good home (more stuff inside)
- Whether a house is listed or not is sort of random
- Homes with a lot of "stuff" are more likely to be unlisted
One Hour "Before Decay"
When the decay timer reaches the final hour, the Property Tax Collector NPC will appear in front of the house. He will make an announcement (
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, this structure has delinquent taxes. It is in the process of being reprocessed!). During the next hour players can purchase an "Entrance Permit" from him.
This permit allows access to the player once "the decay" moment happens. Only players with a permit in their backpack are allowed entry. It is important to note that if the house has been set to private you will be gambling on whether this permit is worth the scroll it is printed on!
The Property Tax Collector will appear blue and can be attacked. The following will occur:
- Up to 10% damaged - He will warn you to stop immediately or face dire consequences. (Thou art making a grave mistake)
- Up to 40% damaged - He will pull out his sword and fight back, although pitifully, he is not much of a fighter (*flails his sword around wildly*)
- At 40% damaged - he will summon guards to his aid (Guards! Guards! I need thee!)
- He casts a moongate and guards pop out in proportion to the number of players in the area
- These guards are tough, fast and not to be taken lightly.
- Guards will have special AI to attack offending players (including healers) 1 on 1
- If you are participating in the attack your Entrance Permit is voided (*poof*)
- The Property Tax Collector will heal himself if not attacked for a time
- Guards will remain in the area and dispatch anyone who disturbs the peace from now on
- If the guards are defeated or the Property Tax Collector is brought down to 10% health he will retreat, allowing anyone to enter the structure without a permit during the looting phase.
- In contrast, if he is attacked and is not defeated, anyone who attacked him that wants a chance to loot will have to repent with a fine 10x more than the normal entry fee.
- You may be asking "why would I want to attack him?", without the NPC there is no five minute warning, you won't have to pay to enter, and no one will be able to bribe for a head-start
Further, the longer you procrastinate to buy your entrance permit the more expensive it will be!
"The Decay"
Five minutes prior the Property Tax Collector NPC will announce the impending moment (
Hear ye, Hear ye, This structure is about to be Condemned!). At the five minute warning, everyone is kicked outside if it is a public home.
When the house decay countdown ends, it is no longer possible for the previous owner to refresh or transfer the house. In fact, they are simply another bystander and the house is for all intents and purposes owned by no one. All doors and teleporters have their access set to anyone. Players who have purchased an Entrance Permit can now enter the house and begin the ransacking process.
Players can further bribe the Property Tax Collector NPC to get a head-start bonus. Only a few players can be on the head-start list. The highest bribes win.
The process for looting an item is as follows:
- The player must be adjacent to the item and double-click it, the process takes several seconds
- A message appears over your head - *You grab and secure the item*
- Players with the stealing and/or snooping skill get a time reduction bonus
- If anyone else attempts to pickup the same item they receive a message - *Someone is already grabbing that!*
- If you move away during the process it fails
- Upon success, the item is placed into your backpack
- You can only grab one item at a time
The process is different for containers:
- The player must be adjacent to the container and double-click to attempt to open it
- A message appears over your head - *You fumble around trying to open the container*
- Players with the stealing and/or snooping skill get a time reduction bonus
- Players with the lockpicking, detecting hidden, and/or remove trap skill get a success chance bonus
- Upon success the container opens - You manage to get inside!
- Upon failure nothing happens- You can't get it open.
- Multiple players can open a container at once.
- Once a player has opened a container, it becomes more difficult for others to do so - So-so blocks you from looking inside!
30 Minutes "After Decay"
Whether or not the house has been looted completely, the second phase begins. A few minutes prior to this you begin to hear rumblings (think Earthquake spell). You receive an emote -
You feel the ground shaking, it is not safe here! Any remaining items inside begin to fall off tables and contents shift around.
At the 30 minute mark the house collapses.
The foundation gives way and you see bits of the house fall to the ground. If you were still inside you barely come out alive.
Left behind on the ground is rubble from the house. There is a percent chance (maybe in the range of 30-50%) for rubble to be on any tile the house sat on. This rubble cannot be picked up. It can either be pushed or destroyed.
Destroy the Rubble
- To destroy rubble you use either an axe (on wood) or pick axe (on stone/glass) - *You hack away at the rubble*
- Players with lumberjacking and/or mining get a time reduction bonus on the appropriate material
- It takes longer to destroy rubble than to move it
- If you move away then process is cancelled
Move the Rubble
- You cannot be mounted
- Stand beside a piece and double-click on it to begin the process
- The rubble is pushed a tile further from where you are standing - *You push the rubble out of the way.*
- Time spent pushing depends on your Strength, Gargoyles also receive a further bonus
- You can not push rubble into a space that already has rubble or into another obstacle such as a tree
Only one player can push a piece of rubble at a time -
*Someone is already moving that!*
Rubble has a lifespan of between 1-2 hours. Of course if enough is destroyed or moved out of the way a house can be placed as soon as it opens up.
Final Thoughts
As stated in the preface, this design is all about keeping the original spirit of the IDOC system while making it more fun and fair in today's UO. Players no longer will spend an unknown amount of time watching a house decay. Scripters will no longer have huge advantages in finding, looting and placing a house. So this is a clear boost for casual players and a bane on cheaters. There are two other groups.
PVP at Felucca IDOCs should remain just as relevant under this system. In fact it should be even greater, with fights continuing on during the looting and placement phases. Stealthers can have fun walking into a house and the murderers can field up the place to flush them out. One additional change I might like to see is you can not be hidden during house placement. The act of using the house tool reveals you and it is like using a skill, so you can't hide immediately afterward.
Players who hunt IDOCs as a profession will be the most affected by these changes. If the hidden house system was implemented, they can still have an advantage in finding all the houses by manually scouting. They will also show up with the appropriate skills for looting and/or placing. There are always other nuances, such as setting a desirable piece of loot to your last object and using a macro before anyone else can grab it. Plus a seasoned team working on rubble should have an advantage over everyone else.
I feel this design closely resembles the original system under a new consensual ruleset. Players can once again do battle by moving rubble around to thwart other players from placing houses, just like it originally was.
