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Apr-30-2004 11:17

I posted an update today. There are a bunch of little tweaks included and typos fixed. Some of the bigger changes:

* Fixed Double Father Bug in Random Mysteries
* Added two levels of difficulty
* Favors now go up to Incredibly Hard level for experienced players
* A bunch of new favor items were added
* Detectives are now automatically booted from agencies if they become retired
* High scores are now divided by detective age
* Fixed duplicate contact bug
* You are now allowed to use the detective shop while working on a case
* Session timeout from inactivity increased from 5 minutes to 15

Please post any comments or bugs specific to this update here.

May-4-2004 10:44

I don't see any possibility to advance in two. I don't see how easy it is to maintain positive in two. You have to bat 1000, be successful every day, just to keep from back sliding! If you do the job you go +4 in one and -2 in the other. With a daily decay of -1 and alternating between two factions you go +4, -1, -2, -1, +4 etc...

May-4-2004 11:31

Okay. Going back to the idea of giving newer players a chance of being top in a faction:

With the current system, it appears that the daily decay is 2 (for those high in standing). Completing a "little job" advances 4 points.

Maybe my thinking is simplistic, but isn't this the same as the previous situation (where a job advances 2 points)?

Little Job +4
Decay -2
= 2 points per day advance
(assuming no changes as a result of completing mysteries)

That means those already high in their standings with the factions can still "hog" the positions, doesn't it?

Or am I missing something?

May-4-2004 13:11

Maybe what should happen is random events that take down standings a lot more for high-up people, so that they can stay up for a few days but then every now and then -- you know, the mafia head gets mad that you're hitting on her family members, or you messed up on some red tape at City Hall, or Mr. Chen gets angry at your poor Latin skills. Minus 15 points for you.

May-4-2004 17:57

Ok. Here's how it is now. The standing decay doesn't kick in unless you are above 10 or below -10. Inside that, no decay at all. However, decay can go as high as 4 points a day, if your standing is high enough. So, there is a fairly firm ceiling that is pretty difficult to pass, unless you get really lucky on random events one day. Even if you do, you're unlikely to stay on top long.

Now, let's just see how this plays out.

whiners

May-4-2004 18:53

i think random events that cause durastic faction standing changes are a pretty cool idea. i bet a lot of people's feathers will be ruffled, but if there's no decay below 10, then you pretty much never can see the inside of another faction once you get going... it might be pretty cool to all of a sudden have your politics changed up a little :) not to mention more realisitic.

May-5-2004 00:19

Actually I got a decay of 4 today. And the little job offers me 4, so it doesn't seem really possible to advance.
What would make sense to me is to gain different points according to the number of questions you answer. For example if you answer only 2/3 you gain 2 points, while if you answer 3/3 you gain 4 points.
And the decay should be less than 4.

May-5-2004 04:57

I, too, would be curious to try out other factions as well, even if I only got to advance/be on good standing in one at a time.

May-5-2004 08:39

The decay makes it easier to try out new factions, actually. In the old way, once you had built up good standing in one faction, you very likely had highly negative standing in the others. So, if you wanted to get to the point that you could do little jobs for one of them, you would need to:
a. stop doing little jobs for your current faction
and
b. quit any mysteries that went against the faction you were trying to build up

In other words, it would be a very long process. Now, if you want to return to zero, you can let decay take you down to the 10 point area. After that, you would still need to selectively quit mysteries, but you would have a lot less far to go.

May-5-2004 20:46

thats alot of mysterries to selecively quit, especially if you only get 3 a day... i dunno, i don't want to seem whiny

May-6-2004 00:25

Heh, I like it when you guys whine. Lets me know you care.

If a lot of people are interested in switching factions, I could look at adding some kind of voluntary action that will just completely reset your standing levels.