[Answered] How much randomness can be added to an entity?

[Goregonzola]

Hey everyone!

I recently had a showerthought about randomness in DST. Most mobs and characters have strict values and attributions in their codings. There came the idea: What if I would create a character that would have randomly changing abilities?

I'm curious: Is there a (not too advanced) way to add something like these to a survivor:

- Randomly adding or removing certain tags to/from a survivor every in-game day

- Randomly changing damage multiplier after a certain action (let's say eating) - with predefined min and max values

I didn't faced such roulette-like codings so far. Is there a way I could approach these and similar ideas? Is there any in-game lua file that could serve as a reference?

I don't expect fully polished codings from you (though, if you have some on the tip of your tounge, I wouldn't refuse them either), I'm mostly curious about a general strategy or a reference.

I'm really excited! Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

Edited June 6, 2021 by C_Thun

[Monti18]

Well randomness is pretty easy to add, you can just use math.random.

For example, adding or removing tags:

local tags = {
  "tag1",
  "tag2",
  "tag3",
  }

local function IsDay(inst)
  local tag = tags[math.random(1,3)]
  inst:AddTag(tag)
end

inst:WatchWorldState("startday", IsDay)

We have a table and get a random tag from a certain list at the beginning of a day. 

If you want to change the damage multiplier after eating, you call SetOnEatFn and add your changes:

local function EatingDamage(inst)
  inst.components.combat.damagemultiplier = math.random(50,150)/100
 end

inst.components.eater:SetOnEatFn(EatingDamage)

This function changes the damagemultiplier after each thing that was eaten to a random value between 0.5 and 1.5.

If you need more help, let me know 

[Goregonzola]

Ah, thanks for the quick guide, @Monti18!

I'm especially happy about the examples. I've discovered math.random as well, but since it's such a versatile tool, it's good to see how it should look like in such situations.

Have a nice day!