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From: djenner@arthur.Eng.Sun.COM (Doug Jenner)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d
Subject: Re: MDG is NEAT! Um...
Message-ID: <8570@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 25 Feb 91 21:48:36 GMT
References: <1991Feb21.021206.1085@coplex.uucp> <1991Feb23.191404.4767@hotb.radig.de> <1991Feb24.182503.3387@jwt.UUCP> <15239@chaph.usc.edu>
Sender: news@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: djenner@sun.UUCP (Doug Jenner)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 104

In article <15239@chaph.usc.edu> jcollins@sal-sun84.usc.edu (James Collins) writes:
>
>  This game is pretty neat, but I javen't found any items excet for doohicky's and widgets.   The Trader's were empty so where's all the good stuff, like swords and armor?
>
>							James

Answer: NONESUCH.  Actually, all items and treasure in the default config-
uration begin at sector [-3], which is NONESUCH, or nowhere.  As monsters
are killed a random roll is made vs. 1/2 of the max_hp of the dead critter 
plus 10* the danger level of the critter.  If the roll is greater than this
number there is no treasure [giving a rat a chance of .5*(5+(10*2)) or a
12.5, rounded to 12% of having goodies, while a Blue Dragon has a chance
of .5*(105+(20*10)) or a 152% chance of having goodies.]

Now just HAVING goodies isn't good enough.  There are actually two kinds
of goodies.  Treasure (gold) and items.  50% chance of either.  Unfort-
unatly, items are awarded in a braindamaged manner.  A for loop in 
put_item_tr() bashes through the list and allocates the first available
treasure found, starting with the best stuff and working down into potions
torches, and then into Widgets -- but at any given prize has a 50% chance of
changing the more expensive prize for a cheaper one...  The net result is 
you need to kill off monsters, collect the stuff, and DUMP IT somewhere so
that the stuff won't get tagged as being in NONESUCH place and therefore 
available.  Otherwise you can go head to head with a Wailing Horror and get
a damn TORCH as your only reward, while at a late point in the game can see
a newbie bump off a jackel and pick up Sword of Fury as the treasure.

A much more enlightened approach would be to group the treasures by
worth, such that the higher danger level critters get the more valuable
the stuff will be worth.  One possible way would be to modify the if
statement that skips all stuff not in NONESUCH, that are crystals, or 
are cash prizes to also make sure the cash value of the prize is adequate
(say, 10*(danger^2)-10).  In this fashion, an anhkheg will cough up a prize
of at least $30, while a Efreeti will have at least a Shimmering Shield
(cash value $900). For the case in which no proper prize exists, you
are just out of luck.

Here are the diffs to implement such a plan (NOTE: these haven't been
debugged, I just make them up on the fly, use at your own risk): 
8<--- cut here 8<---
*** combat.c.orig	Fri Feb 22 11:48:22 1991
--- combat.c	Mon Feb 25 13:23:17 1991
***************
*** 696,702 ****
  
  	switch(rnd(2)) {
  	case 1 :
! 		put_item_tr(sector, x, y); 
  		break;
  	case 2 :
  		put_treasure(tval * 20, sector, x, y); 
--- 696,702 ----
  
  	switch(rnd(2)) {
  	case 1 :
! 		put_item_tr(sector, x, y, danger); 
  		break;
  	case 2 :
  		put_treasure(tval * 20, sector, x, y); 
***************
*** 741,748 ****
  }
  
  
! put_item_tr(sector, x, y)
! int sector, x, y;
  {
  	int i, choice;
  
--- 741,748 ----
  }
  
  
! put_item_tr(sector, x, y, danger)
! int sector, x, y, danger;
  {
  	int i, choice;
  
***************
*** 751,757 ****
  	for(i = 0; i < pseg->item_count; i++) {
  		if(pseg->itm[i].loc.sector == LOC_NONESUCH
  		&& pseg->itm[i].type != CRYSTAL
! 		&& pseg->itm[i].type != CASH) {
  			if(choice == -1 || rnd(2) == 1)
  				choice = i;
  		}
--- 751,758 ----
  	for(i = 0; i < pseg->item_count; i++) {
  		if(pseg->itm[i].loc.sector == LOC_NONESUCH
  		&& pseg->itm[i].type != CRYSTAL
! 		&& pseg->itm[i].type != CASH
! 		&& pseg->itm[i].value > (10*(danger*danger)-10)) {
  			if(choice == -1 || rnd(2) == 1)
  				choice = i;
  		}
8<--- cut here 8<---

Comments?
--
_Doug Jenner_	          Model: Homo Sapiens, version 0.24, Alpha release 
djenner@sun.com		
The above views are those of the author, and not necessarily those of 
  Sun Microsystems, Inc.  'Though I haven't really asked them about it.