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[Tracking] This skill doesn't have to be garbage

Screws

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
I don't think it's very absurd to have the range increase as you level it, and greatly increase the range at GM.

Currently having 20 tracking is exactly the same as having 100 tracking but with a higher chance to find people who are hiding next to you as in on your screen.

In order to have even a 50% chance of finding someone hiding you need to match their skills in tracking AND detect hidden. While their skills are complimentary to the rest of their template, tracking/detect hidden have no reasonable synergy with any template.

Tracking and Detect hidden do the exact same thing, only detect hidden allows for a second function. Why would a complimenting skill improve the main skill just as much as raising the main skill would...?

So, in order to avoid nerfing stealth, I think allowing tracking to have a much more broad view would make raising it worth while. This would help people find others in dungeons much easier, and allow people who are hunting sparse monsters/animals/npc's(or finding a quest npc) find their prey quicker.

In short: I'd love to get support to have a currently useless skill tweaked to become a potentially popular skill in every hunting party and I'd love even more to hear that a dev is considering it/has talked about a change like this before.
 

Lord Raven

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
What if Tracking were linked to Spirit Speak so that you could locate dead folks? (If you can already Track ghosts with Tracking then disregard.)
 

Screws

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Well that'd definitely be interesting, but since the way tracking works makes it extremely rare to benefit people and is really equally effective in its practicality at 0 as it is at GM, people still probably wouldn't raise it.
 

Screws

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Finally got to it and I think the best way to go about this is keeping the current range for 0 and not increasing it till after 20. One screen is roughly 30x30 tiles, depending on how far you zoom out. Moving up past 20 should increase the range by 1 screen every 10 points (or ~30 tiles). At GM, while a lot of skills gain a 5% increase in effectiveness I think that allowing an entire dungeon to be checked is a better choice, since 15 tiles is never going to matter. So at GM you'd have a 12 screen (or ~300 tiles) radius, and the ability to quickly scan a dungeon for what you're looking for without having to go through the entire level (you would still have to move from one level to another, but you could scan the entire floor that you're currently on without wandering around).

The numbers SOUND a little high, but compared to how massive sosaria is and how quickly people can move, I'm wondering if this is actually enough to reliably find anyone on any shard but Atlantic.
 
N

NatalieVain

Guest
maybe combine tracking and forensic evaluation to find out where a player has been, what he has been killing in the last day etc.
 

Irulia Darkaith

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Why not give the trackers some quests of their very own?

For example, just as fishermen get orders to fill, there could be some sort of museum collector, or big game hunter that asks trackers to find rare animals or items. The tracker would pick up the request and start wandering around the lands trying to track the animal. They would pick up signs of unique hoof prints or something. And it can be scaled, with some passive but difficult to find creatures, all the way up to very difficult monsters/creatures who will put up a fight. It could be scaled like Treasure Maps or fishing quests and only someone with tracking would be able to find it.

Or link it to forensic evaluation, where local authorities are trying to find an escaped criminal or missing person. The tracker could go through the cities, looking for signs, using forensic to determine if the culprit had visited. Finally tracking the fugitive down to their hidden lair , and either making an easy arrest, or maybe the criminal has henchmen and you have a big fight.

There could be solo quests and more difficult ones where an adventure party might need a good tracker.

And while we're at it, why not do an even more obvious thing and simply combine a lot of semi-useful skills together and just call it "scout" or "detective" or "ranger" and lump all the skills like tracking, camping, forensic, herding, detect hidden, taste ID together. That way you can spend 100 skill points and actually get something out of it. And of course scale it so that it's more useful at higher levels. Or make all these skills required and useful in becoming an actual detective - a true Sherlock Holmes that can quest for rare items, creatures, escaped criminals, etc. by collecting clues through taste id, finding footprints, etc.
 
D

Dashiel

Guest
Why not give the trackers some quests of their very own?

For example, just as fishermen get orders to fill, there could be some sort of museum collector, or big game hunter that asks trackers to find rare animals or items. The tracker would pick up the request and start wandering around the lands trying to track the animal. They would pick up signs of unique hoof prints or something. And it can be scaled, with some passive but difficult to find creatures, all the way up to very difficult monsters/creatures who will put up a fight. It could be scaled like Treasure Maps or fishing quests and only someone with tracking would be able to find it.

Or link it to forensic evaluation, where local authorities are trying to find an escaped criminal or missing person. The tracker could go through the cities, looking for signs, using forensic to determine if the culprit had visited. Finally tracking the fugitive down to their hidden lair , and either making an easy arrest, or maybe the criminal has henchmen and you have a big fight.

There could be solo quests and more difficult ones where an adventure party might need a good tracker.

And while we're at it, why not do an even more obvious thing and simply combine a lot of semi-useful skills together and just call it "scout" or "detective" or "ranger" and lump all the skills like tracking, camping, forensic, herding, detect hidden, taste ID together. That way you can spend 100 skill points and actually get something out of it. And of course scale it so that it's more useful at higher levels. Or make all these skills required and useful in becoming an actual detective - a true Sherlock Holmes that can quest for rare items, creatures, escaped criminals, etc. by collecting clues through taste id, finding footprints, etc.
If they did this, I'd finish these skills right away. As for the other ideas, they are good too, however I think tracking should also have a passive element. If you are walking around you should have a passive chance of "noticing" signs of a recent passerby or the presence of a stealther (if you walk over their tracks perhaps?)
 
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