Scripted Traders (IE NPCs that buy stuff w/o the "store

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:33 pm

There are a few places in ALFA where traders buy objects from you via scripts rather than via the merchant screen.

EG in TLR there are traders that buy furs, and others that buy beetle-parts.

Presumably it is done this way to make the items valuable without making them something every merchant will buy.

Is there going to be a need for this sort of thing in NWN2 (do we even know yet?). If so, I have a couple of ideas I would like to share.

Fionn · Post by **Fionn** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 6:18 pm

I'd like to see a way to do this *with* a store. The scripted merchants are laggy, and often don't allow you to sell *some* of your items. NPC consigners (aka PC owned stores) would be one area they'd be needed. Fetch it quests (bring me a 'shrubbery') would be another.

I don't see a need to make sure no other merchant buys 'shrubberies', but obviously the guy that asked for it is likely to pay more.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:35 am

The reason I asked is I wondered if it was possible to use item tags in the scripting.

EG, take a trader that buys furs.

The furs would have tags like

Wolf pelt - ALFA_FUR_10_WOLF
Cougar Pelt - ALFA_FUR_14_COUGAR

The the trader script, instead of checking for one of several different tags and comparing it to the list of stuff it buys, extracts info from the tag name.

So -ithe script looks at the first part of the tag - "ALFA_FUR" and says, yup, thats something I buy,

Then it looks at the second part and says "And I pay xx gold for it"

So the merchant says "I see you have a (item name), I'll give you (variable extracted from tag) gold for it."

"I see you have a Wolf Pelt, I'll give you 10 gold for it."

***

Why, you ask?

Well, imagine that all of ALFA uses this trader script. A DM *anywhere* in ALFA could create a brand new, never seen before item...

EG: Winter Wolf Pelt: ALFA_FUR_30_WINWOL

And even though this item didn't previously exist, without any changes to the merchant script, every furrier accross ALFA would immediately know this is something they buy and for how much.

"I see you have a Winter Wolf Pelt, I'll give you 30 gold for it."

Would work for gems and beetle parts too, or anything that would only be bought for decent prices by a specialist buyer

/no idea if this is desirable or practical. The idea occured to me whilst writing up some excel formulas and I just wanted to share it in case it was of any use..

Fionn · Post by **Fionn** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:05 pm

very doable, but it requires standardization across ALFA. Hit up Cypher and help build the hunter/trapper system for NWN2 ;)

Thangorn · Post by **Thangorn** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:33 am

creslyn's done it already.. I have a player run economy script to add to it so the hunters and skinners keep themselves in check.

if a certain number of furs come in over a particular period, the price will drop as the demand drops.

after a certain point the cost of the tools of the trade for hunters, trappers and skinners will outweigh the returns for a time.. it would make for more fun rp between players..

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:25 am

Thangorn wrote:creslyn's done it already.. I have a player run economy script to add to it so the hunters and skinners keep themselves in check.

if a certain number of furs come in over a particular period, the price will drop as the demand drops.

after a certain point the cost of the tools of the trade for hunters, trappers and skinners will outweigh the returns for a time.. it would make for more fun rp between players..

So if a DM creates a brand new item with the right tag, any of the furriers will recognise it and buy it automatically?