Re: (TFT) Record Keeping

["David Michael Grouchy II" <david_michael_grouchy_ii@hotmail.com>]

> From: "RMORGER" <RMORGER@mail.ev1.net>
>
> Being able to add weapons,
> creatures, items etc to match would be fantastic.

Robert,
    I agree.  I have been working on programs to do just that.  Having 
finished them, I am currently trying to fold them into the character_lab 
program (the hardest part I'm finding out.)
    Besides the Shipbuilder, Armorer, goldsmith, and Architect programs, I 
have the magic item lab, and the monster_lab.  I have even written a Mnoren 
world builder program, Invent a new spell/potion, and finished the outline 
work on the melee fight program.

    Now for the boring part.  (skip this if you are not into programing 
difficulties.)

    As to why folding the progams in together is harder.  Everything 
affects everything else.  Within just the character_lab each TALENT has to 
be flagged as combat, literacy, or entertainment.  As several of the jobs 
have requirements or determines pay by these categories.  So I wrote a 
program to add new talents and tested it on Cas libers web page.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~casliber/tft/spellist.html

    The program "reads" the new spells fine, adds them to the 
character_lab, and even scans the explanations of each spell for key words.  
So words like "damage", "fire", or "bite" cause it to be flagged as a combat 
spell (once again wholly different form a combat talent on the job table).  
But I find that when I add new race types in I have to develope new flags.  
Does the new race have hands?  Having hands is a big unspoken requirement 
for things like using a sword.  And on top of that there are exceptions.  
Monkeys have hands, but don't use swords.  Octopi don't have hands, but do 
use swords.
     Other complications.  Can the new race be tamed and ridden?  Dragons 
cannot, but a Roc can.  Dragons will let people ride them, but only if it is 
the dragon's idea, and if they think it will improve their Status amoung 
dragons.   Also, Dragons, dwarves, and dragonets have reaction modifiers 
between each other.  They all love gold and hate each other for being the 
same.  In fact a dragonet can smell a dragon kilometers away and will become 
quite agitated.  Does the new race intrude have "gold jealousy" too?  Do 
Trolls hold jobs?  Are all monsters just brigands?  If you use monster_lab 
to create a green slime with DX 13 is it still just a nuisance, or does the 
character get full exp for killing it now instead of just 5.
     And that's just for the new races.  Does that new spell have a potion 
counterpart?  Some enchantments, like crystal ball, have no spell 
counterpart.  And that new weapon my freind made (a big samuri nut by the 
way) called a katana does 2d+1 for only 12 St required.  Now that's just not 
cricket ole man.  First off TFT already lists a katana as = to a broadsword. 
 To have it do 2d+1 it would have to be finely made and cost a whole lot 
more.

     (boring part over.)

    In conclusion, the programs written handle all the complications on 
their own quite well.  It is in folding all the programs together that I 
find my self quite challenged.  So back in October I took a break.  I just 
stepped away and let my mind wander.  Well sure enough, come February I came 
up with a solution, and I have been working on it.  Suffice it to say that I 
found the solution in biology.  I am doing something similar to chromosome 
pairs, where a new "thing" tends to favor one parent or the other.

    David Michael Grouchy II

_________________________________________________________________
Check out the coupons and bargains on MSN Offers! http://youroffers.msn.com
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"