Ranger Archive
Thread: A small enhancement I'd like for AreaTrack
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DaveG
Tue Jul 27, 2004 2:13 am
#1
When I do an area track, and get the list of 'things' there is something I think that is missing.
I can select things in the list, but do nothing more with them. I think it would be really useful to click on the on an item in the list and either A) Have a way-point set for that position (i.e. like a snap shot), or B) actually target the 'thing' I'm tracking so I have a constant lock on it.
(B) would be the most convenient, however (A) is probably the most 'reasonable' in role-play terms.
ATemA
Tue Jul 27, 2004 2:25 am
#3
Damnit.No editbutton...well,well.
What I was about to say...I kinda like it as it is(...no,of course not the bugggy part),but the general idea of searching for the target,having to track it down.
But what I do miss,is the ability to examine the targets in my"searchbox"
JBMat
Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:17 am
#4
Dave, Dave, Dave -
Seeing as you are semi-new - I will repeat what has been said many times before -
NO FREAKING WAYPOINTS FOR AREATRACK.
We are Rangers, not Bounty Hunters. We can find stuff on our own, using a skill, instead of a droid to lead us, or a "light from the sky" to help us find our way. (Little know fact, BHs get waypoints to help them find the exits to towns, or they would be eternally lost in cities. Not unlike Calc.)
/ar actually semi sorta kinda works. One of our few skills that does what it is supposed to do.
Rarely do I have to /ar twice for large creatures or people. They are usually in the area they are supposed to be in. Smaller ones are sometimes tricky, so I do /ar twice.
Do not take this as a flame, just realize, those people before you were toasted for the same idea.
JB
DaveG
Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:19 am
#5
Okay, I still think the idea has merit on the basis that the direction reading is approximated to one of eight directions. You say you never have to /ar more than twice, then you're lucky.
Phenix1050
Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:31 am
#6
Well, JB's been around for a while. A well-trained Ranger can approximate that distance in terms of how long it will take them to reach that distance. Here's what you do: find a flat level area and /areatrack. Move around until you get a creature exactly 250m in on direction. Start running that way and also start counting. if you have to stop and areatrack, stop counting (/areatracking time doesn't count) Basically what this will let you do is have a timefram to base your search on. So if you run 250m in 60 seconds on flat ground and you get a target 250m SE...you head right for the middle of S and E and run for 60 seconds. If the terrain is hilly, adjust your timeframe by about 10-20%. This works as a multiplication table too, so if you then get a target 500m away...well then your run in that direction for 120 seconds. Nice little ration formula.
The trick is once you've gotten this worked out, you should be able to find any target within one or two tracks, unless you're hunting down a BH target that moves around a lot. and since Rangers aren' player/NPC hunters, we really don't need to be able to track the way that you've suggested. Animals don't move around that much, so /areatrack should be enough.
Also, if you read around this forum you'll see that Rangers were promised a skill called /track which would spawn a lair and give us a waypoint to that lair, as far as I know. I'm not even sure a true Ranger would need that. If they spawn within 500m of me, I can track them down myself. So, in some ways, your idea has already been looked at...but only for creature hunting, and it's a skill many Rangers are interested in. But if you're asking about a WP to an NPC or player target, then many Rangers would just say "no thanks".
anyway, I hope this has been helpful.
Message Edited by Phenix1050 on 07-27-2004 08:37 AM
AgonThalia
Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:56 am
#7
True:
waypoints on area track would make it easier.
however, this game already tends to be a button mashing game, without thought or strategy.
most rangers want areatrack waypoint free because it is still one of the few things left in the game where you have to use that squishy grey thing between your ears.
waypoints on area track would make it easier.
however, this game already tends to be a button mashing game, without thought or strategy.
most rangers want areatrack waypoint free because it is still one of the few things left in the game where you have to use that squishy grey thing between your ears.
DaveG
Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:04 am
#8
Theanks Phenix1050.
The source my frustration and subsequent post here, is that on many occaisions I'm tracking something which is moving, given that I have to track several times to determine the true direction it really slows me down and I end up loosing the thing.
So my thinking was, as it is we get a polar coordinate (direction and distance), so why not simply convert coordinate systems into cartesian, if we did that we could make our owh way point with /waypoint anyway. So it's not that much of a leap from what we have already.
Calculus_Entropy
Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:24 am
#9
DaveG wrote:
Okay, I still think the idea has merit on the basis that the direction reading is approximated to one of eight directions. You say you never have to /ar more than twice, then you're lucky.
FWIW, I have to /areatrack twice about 50% of the time...
Calculus_Entropy
Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:29 am
#10
DaveG wrote:
Theanks Phenix1050.
The source my frustration and subsequent post here, is that on many occaisions I'm tracking something which is moving, given that I have to track several times to determine the true direction it really slows me down and I end up loosing the thing.
So my thinking was, as it is we get a polar coordinate (direction and distance), so why not simply convert coordinate systems into cartesian, if we did that we could make our owh way point with /waypoint anyway. So it's not that much of a leap from what we have already.
Something like that might work and let the cranky old Rangers not have to rely on a WP, whilst the 'other' Rangers can make WP's to their hearts content. Honestly,I am of the old-school crowd that likes to have to work a bit for their dinner...
I have to wonder, however, how that would work since critters tend to wander a bit...
BaneShee
Tue Jul 27, 2004 8:19 am
#11
Dave,
Your idea has been suggested several times beforeand does have merit. There are a few old school folks around that say theywant change to occur but don't understand that weneed to make this profession more accessible toa wider range of players before we will get the attention we deserve. My personal preference is not to have a waypoint but I can see where some would like the added convenience.
I like your idea of having the interface return a coordinate that you can use with the /waypoint command but I still think having to take that extra step is unnecessary.Another option might beto include a /waypointon, /waypointoff toggle or to have a check box on theAreatrack interface to disable waypoints.
Springbok
Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:01 pm
#12
To roleplay or not roleplay. That is the question.
Rangers find things: tracks, spoor (poop), and bent grass, are not a perfect science, however close to the well trained Tracker. You lose a track, backstep until you pick it up again, then go again, sometimes they just wash out to nothing, ala range, weather conditions, etc. (ie. do /ar again, sometimes mob despawns, killed by another, etc.)
Or you can have a waypoint, or flowy directional thing like in /find, or a targetting arrow but no skylight tube...but that is flawless. We are good, but c'mon. =)
Obviously you know my take on this now =)
Camina
MR/TKM/CH
Shadowfire
DaveG
Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:13 pm
#13
Good replies, thanks for taking this seriously.
To qualify, I had the idea, and I do very much want to role play, which is why I said in the very first post thata static 'snapshot' way point would be more reasonable than a target lock in terms of roleplay.
As a roleplayer, to justify the way point system weall use, I imagine that our "datapad" is a real peice of kit much like a PDA, and one of it's functions isa GPS system. (I own a Palm Tungsten T3, and I could easily add GPS functionality to it, so it's not that much of a leap of imagination to think that something similar could exist in the SW universe).
Furthermore, when we do /areatrack all we're doing is saying that something is "over there" or "over here". Bearing and distance are mathematically equivalent to North/East (or X/Y), so punching that into our datapad as a way point still doesn't seem that unreasonable to me.
Heck, to really stretch out the argument, I could already do what I'm talking about. I have a bearing and distance from /areatrack, all I need to do is use a calculator with SINE and COSINE functions and I can calculate the dX/dY and punch it in asa way point. However, I think that my SWG DataPad could do this much quicker than I could with a calculator and pen and paper. Hence acheiving the correctional speed I'd like to make /areatrack more effective.
True most creatures don't move a great deal, but some very important ones do, in fact a select few seem to move so fast as to make /areatrack pointless, imho. I'm saying this from experience, and an example would be the Peko Peko group of creatures.
Oh, and to qualify something else. I've just nicely finished a six day hunting trip to Yavin 4, where I had no support at all, I havested 40K hides on my own, plus a meat order, then the day after I got back home Iwas out to Dantooine doing another hide order. So I wouldn't call myself a lazy ranger 
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