Research System Alternative Methods

[Teraser]

Seems pretty funny! It emphasizes the "learning" attitude of the game and it also makes you think!

[Orima-Kazooie]

I like that it makes you think but a lot of crafting ingredients are so rare that you may never be able to actually create the item you just researched; I've never even /seen/ some of the stuff you're supposed to use for these recipes.

[MilleniumCount]

Naaa, rare is the wrong word I think. The trick is to get the knowledge how to get the stuff you need. Of course they are constantly adding content to the game. The core of my thinking was to make the research system so that you really research things. Nowadays you get the recipes first and onl have to find the ingredients. This isn't really researching in my opinion since the Machines/Wilson obviously knows everthing already and you only have to grind/farm/find the stuff you need.But how does Wilson know what nightmare fuel is good for?Only in case of mandrakes, which I would consider rare, this system would be a little bit bad because you have to use up one mandrake to get the idea what to use it for. But again the question should it be ''research'' or only ''I know the recipe'' let's seek the stuff!

Edited March 29, 2013 by MilleniumCount

[Palpetinus]

I was actuallay playing some minecraft and discovered the Thaumcraft-mod.

Maybe research could work like there?

For how it works look at its own wiki. Here's the link for the exact usage: LINK OF DOOM

I recommend that you see how it works in Thaumcraft, or else the stuff down below COULD be only smack.

How i could see it work in DS:

You have the science machine, open a window and throw in some material. Let's say you throw in flint. You click research, and there is a chance that the item is consumed. For DS, this should be a very low chance, like 5%. And a (high) chance that you examine the object successfully. When it's successful, you get the aspect "Flint" and progress researching an object, which is random, assuming you actually CAN research something. So now it sais like "Flint 10%" in one line and, if you need any other Aspects (which you would - twigs), in a second line only ???, because you have to discover what Aspect you need. On top, it shows now the name of the item you are researching, let's say "Shovel". Researching with more Flint causes that Aspect to progress until it reached 100%. Then you need to find what that ??? aspect is and throw stuff in until you discovered what it is. It's twigs, duh. You do the same thing and throw some twigs in, progress the Aspect to 100%. Now we have Flint 100% and Twigs 100% researched related to a shovel. Or you just throw in Twigs and Flint at the same time, so you can't accidently research something else than a tool that requires flint and twigs. You click "Finish" and it appears in the list of things you can build. You can now build it with the required materials.

Of course this would require that we don't really see what an object requires to build until researched.

But this could be too micromanagy, huh? I guess it would really boosts the experience of actually doing research, not just standing next to a machine to craft something.

I just don't find it THAT logical that some machine randomly boosts Wilson's brain so he can prototype stuff right next to it, but as soon as he walks away he forgets everything if not prototyped.

[MilleniumCount]

I just don't find it THAT logical that some machine randomly boosts Wilson's brain so he can prototype stuff right next to it, but as soon as he walks away he forgets everything if not prototyped.

This was exactly my thinking when I started to think about the research system based on prototypes. It isn't really researching...since you only have have the right objects which you know because there is the recipe already...

But this could be too micromanagy, huh? I guess it would really boosts the experience of actually doing research, not just standing next to a machine to craft something.

Yeah I fear it will be too compicated since you don't get any instructions ingame. It has to be easy enough to be learned by doing without frustrating the player. Also the ''by chance'' aspect of the researched objet is a little bit odd. I think you should be able to research in a direction you decide.

[Palpetinus]

This was exactly my thinking when I started to think about the research system based on prototypes. It isn't really researching...since you only have have the right objects which you know because there is the recipe already...

It's like having a cookbook and the ingredients. You do everything by the book and after that, you feel confident enough to do it wihout the book by what you remembered. Still not researching, though^^

Yeah I fear it will be too compicated since you don't get any instructions ingame. It has to be easy enough to be learned by doing without frustrating the player. Also the ''by chance'' aspect of the researched objet is a little bit odd. I think you should be able to research in a direction you decide.

Well, i guess when it's so complicated to explain, then it's too complicated for the game.But something in that direction would be fine by me...Maybe we should just tweak the prototyping?Maybe we stand next to the machine, click on a recipe, which would only show squares with "?" in them, and fill in things we think that we need into the squares?Example: you click she shovel, which is not researched yet, and a little window pops up at the side (like it is now) with 2 squares and "?" in them. You put in twigs in one square and flint in the second square and click "research". Because you found out what you need, it gets unlocked and you get the material back (shovel is not crafted yet). Now you can craft it.If it's the wrong items or the machine hasn't a high enough tier, it fails and there is a chance that you broke the items in the process.When it's not the right machine, it should - of course - tell you so.

[MilleniumCount]

This a nice idea! Short and concise answer.^^ Later on the day I will put this in the opening post as alternative B!

[MycoLogical]

I like this idea:A MycoLogical "Thumb's Up " for you!

[MilleniumCount]

Thank you. ^^ I added a poll and Palpetinus idea.

[Will]