free-ish pseudo

[PowerDiver]

My mages can never pseudo, but there is a workaround with 3.1.2. If you hit and get attacked, you learn the plusses on an item. If it is average or magical, it becomes identified. If it does not become identified, you can conclude that it is an ego.

I don't know whether that was intended, but that's how it is right now.

[Magnate]

See also this ticket

[Marble Dice]

I don't like the implications of this behavior, but I'm not sure I like the implications of requiring a pseudo before items can be identified through use, either.

[PowerDiver]

Originally Posted by Marble Dice

I don't like the implications of this behavior, but I'm not sure I like the implications of requiring a pseudo before items can be identified through use, either.

I originally coded things so that you had to get pseudo to get id. The current behavior "fixes" that to be consistent with the main paradigm.

The current system of "if you know all attributes that are present you get id" is kind of strange. When you learn slow descent on boots, you know immediately whether they are slow descent or stability because of id status, but only slow descent gives id.

IMO the clearly correct way is to require the player to learn whether the boots have rNexus before differentiating, but that requires presenting the edit file to the player, and people call that spoiler information as if it were a bad thing. Without presumed knowledge of the edit file, I see no good alternative to the current system.

This can all be made moot by moving to a rune based approach. However, then pseudo and most ID is instant on pickup [or maybe upon viewing] and that seems like variant territory.

[Derakon]

I'd assume that the player can tell if an object has powers that he hasn't figured out yet. Maybe that's what you meant by a "rune-based approach". Then if he finds out that his boots have slow descent, and he knows that there's another power on there, then he knows they aren't just Boots of Slow Descent because those only have one power.

Random thought: would there be any value in, once a player recognizes a given power, automatically recognizing that power on new items he finds?

[Marble Dice]

Originally Posted by Derakon

Random thought: would there be any value in, once a player recognizes a given power, automatically recognizing that power on new items he finds?

This is actually what is referred to as a "rune-based approach." The idea is that "resist fire" is a rune which is present on all items with resist fire. Once the player learns to read the resist fire rune, he can see it on all items that have it.

I think my ideal would be either a rune-based system or automatically applying process of elimination to the edit file, as Eddie suggests.

[Derakon]

Of course, if you imagine it as actual runes, then assuming they don't glow when activated, the player gets to try to figure out which rune on his equipment caused that particular effect (e.g. for Boots of Stability, you'd know that the two runes on it are slow descent and resist nexus, but you wouldn't know which is which). That'd provide some additional value to items that only have one power!

But would be a major pain to deal with, so I rather doubt it'd work that way.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Marble Dice

I don't like the implications of this behavior, but I'm not sure I like the implications of requiring a pseudo before items can be identified through use, either.

FA solves this problem with instant pseudo for everyone on pickup.