Ranger Archive
Thread: I've been thinking about /track . . .
I mean, I don't want the ability to "make something appear" even tho that will in essence be the end result. To me, typing /track and selecting a creature from a list and then getting a waypoint 1500m away is kinda boring. Maybe that can work for lower level creatures in areas where they are populated, but I'd rather it be something that gives a feel of actually tracking something. Perhaps the final waypoint will be 1500m away, maybe it will be 3000m away, but I envision the final waypoint to not be revealed instantly upon selecting the creature. I'd rather type /track and then select a crature from the list. then get a message saying "your prey is very close/near/far/unknown", and then you get a waypoint 500m in the general direction of the final spawn. once you hit that waypoint you get another message saying "your prey is very close/near/far/unknown", and you get another waypoint in the general direction. I think you get the idea. with each waypoint you pass, the message let's you know if you are getting closer, very close would mean the next waypoint should be the creature's location, unknown means you are on the trail, but you could be following it for a while.
Also, for some types of creatures, maybe the tougher ones, you could head off in one direction, north for example, and then you get a message saying "your prey has changed direction" and you are now heading east. Also, in rare cases, it would be cool if you get a message saying "the tracks have split" and you get two waypoints. now you have to choose which way to follow. one will end in loosing the trail and having to start again, the other will be the correct trail. This may be one of the drawbacks to using /track at novice levels and masters would not suffer such a setback. And what about bodies of water? how should we /track things accross bodies of water, rivers and lakes and such? maybe it too could trow novices off but not masters? maybe all tracking paths should end at a body of water and either change direction, or the ranger has to cross and begin /track again on the other side. Tracking in marshy areas would become very difficult, but then how exactly would one track something in a marshy area? I think terrain should play a part.
I would think that for basic creatures, /tracking them would require following one or two waypoints until you find the final waypoint. But some of the more advanced cratures that are somewhat rare may take 4 - 5 waypoints until you find it. Waypoints wouldn't need to be spaced any more than 500m or so apart. And for some very rare but highly hunted creatures, perhaps one of the interm waypoints may be right in the middle of an aggro nest of baz nitches or something other than what you are hunting. Just to mix it up a bit.
What do you think? Does anyone have any visions on how /track would work in their minds?
I like where you're going with this idea. However, I'd really rather it didn't involve waypoints. Nothing makes me feel less Rangery than a particle beam from the orbitting GPS satellite that tells me, to within 1m, where I need to be 
I'd much rather have the pathfinding system one finds in cities. Ranger-style.
Make an arrow that starts from your current location to the mob itself. This doesn't need hyper accuracy. We don't need the A * pathfinding algorithm overloading our processing power But what it could do is really make it appear as if we're following tracks.
The existing line drawn in cities is a vector graphic, with bitmap arrows at each turn. I'd get rid of the line and change the graphics to be planar-flat bitmaps and bumpmaps that fall on the ground itself. Each mob has different prints, and the bitmap could show those prints. The track graphical resolution is dependent on distance. The further the mob, NPC or player, the less-resolved the tracks are by you. The closer you get to their last known location, the more resolved the tracks become.
For flying creatures, instead of prints they don't leave, use droppings.
I should be honest though. I've been proposing a variant on this in every game I've played that has some form of tracking I want it to feel like I'm tracking a mob.
Darniaq wrote:
...snip cool stuff...
Tracks you can see! Very cool idea.