Ranger Archive
Thread: The Next Iteration of Trapping
Bekan wrote:
Nice thread, although I would have one, well, not coplaint, just observation I guess.
Crossbows are my domain.
I am Wookiee. Wookiee am I. I make and use bowcasters. The first fish or doggie I see using a bowcaster-like device, well, I'll just scratch on him.
Very well said. I agree.
DaveG wrote:
On first impressions I like the ideas here, but there's something bothering me when I think about it put ito practice.
Whether you use factory runs, or you do things on the move; we have always had the freedom of making things in the field if and when we need to.
With traps and camps it's great because we're free of that stress that most crafters must feel, always feeling like you must always have the best resources. When it comes to camoflauge it's a different story, if you want to make the best kits you've got to horde away the best resources, it's even worse if you wait for the best shift of all two or three of the required resources. I'm perhaps exaggerating the reality a little bit, but the flipside is that we put together camo kits always knowing we could do better if we waited for the right resources. Having said all that given the rate we consume our own craftables, we'd need an awful lot of "good" resources to keep us going.
So, I've always been glad that resoure quality didn't matter when it came to camps and traps; I could just grab the nearest available resources and cobble something together.
So like I say, experimenting with traps sounds like a very interseting idea, and my knee jerk is that I like it, but I think in the long run it's just going to be another thing to stress about. I'd rather stay as we are, rather than constantly keeping my eye on stats so I can make "uber" traps. If I wanted that I'd be a crafter.
dave, I understand your concerns, butI think they can be tempered rather easily. Think of it like this: a weaponsmith could, theoretically, make a weapon on the run. It'd be decent, but not great. Same pricinple should apply to ranger. the best traps should always take a little extra work to make.
Same with ranger traps. Using crappy materials, etc, you'd get the exact effect as you do now. So that'd be the "base". Good materials and experimenting would only make them better (plus, it'd actually provide a reason to pop a high-level camp, with a crafting station).
Another possibility is to keep experimentation, but make it interdependant from resource quality. Meaning that you get points in experimentation as you go up ranger, but no matter what resources you use, it'll start off at the same base and resource quality won't matter. Experimentation will make Ranger-made traps better than scout-made traps.
You could even tie it in such that every point of experimentation raised the trapping level required to use it by 5. So a Ranger-made Phec-dart that's much more effective could only be wielded by someone who's skilled in trapping.
On the other hand, if resource quality didn't matter, and it was just a matter of rangers getting more experimentation points than a scout; then this just sounds like an isomorphism of trapping skill.
DaveG wrote:
Thing is through, if resource quality is going to enter into it at all, there's still going to be that pressure of using the best stuff. How many master weaponsmiths do you know that make weapons out of rubbish resources?
On the other hand, if resource quality didn't matter, and it was just a matter of rangers getting more experimentation points than a scout; then this just sounds like an isomorphism of trapping skill.
Is this really that big a deal, though? With the exception of camo kits, we don't need specific resources. It's not that hard to find good bone and hide somewhere at any given time. Besides, you can get enough resources for a decent factory run in an hour, since traps require so little. Also, consider the demands. Crafters usually need a good flow of high quality resources to keep their businesses running, and in the case of a popular AS or WS, everybody wants what they sell. I'm guessing if Phenix's plan ever became reality, we wouldn't suffer those same demands being made on us-- we pretty much only craft for ourselves. Some folks (like Cryos) who run ranger-specific vendors might feel pressured to gather up a good store of quality stuff, but those people also tend to have ranger friends willingto help out with the harvesting now and again (usually in exchange for a free crate or two of the finished product, and just for the enjoyment of hunting with ranger friends).
I don't really see this as a problem.
al-djinn'i
Master Ranger