Critter spawning

[Melb_Wiz]

Hi again,

With the spawning of random monsters - does anyone know what the trigger is?
Back in the early Wizardry games monsters used to randomly spawned with each movement along a corridor - whereas some games seem to work on time.

The reason I'm asking - I want to level my Priest (L9), so I'm wandering around the Temple as a duet with a Paladin (vL8, aL~20ish). Am I achieving anything by -walking- or would I meet the same number of monsters just staying in one place. (And thereby not getting lost...)

Has anyone tested these out?

I have the spawn rate and difficulty at max for each, but I'm not exactly drowning in critters... [img]smile.gif[/img]

M_W.

[Radek]

As far as the trigger is concerned, I am not sure. But I recommend walking. It does not matter where you are walking. If you do not know the terrain well then you can go to and fro or go in circles.

Notes:
1. Standing and waiting need not be successful. Note the usual method of completing the monk quest: climb the town gates, go (you yourself [img]smile.gif[/img] ) to bed, and when you awake next morning, the quest will be done.
2. The area where you are waiting for monsters matters. Do not expect a fast gaining of XP in the Valeia region, including the environment of the Serpent Temple. If you want to speed up things then try Ishad N'Ha region (west of the town). The area begins with a sufficient piece of a single path, which you can stroll to its end and back to the town. But do not go too far. Otherwise, you will meet the salads.
Another good possibility at low levels is entering the Serpent Temple and waiting for random encounters with Serpent Priests (ca 600 XP each) but you must be able to cast Cure Poison or have bags of Cure Poison potions ready.
3. Do not forget to set monster spawning to "often" in the game options.

[LiOnHe@rT]

either that or u can wait patiently till u reach anephas' shrine somewhere in the distant shores of brimloch roon (pretty far eh?)... there is a room in that dungeon where u can spawn at most 20 scorpions which gives you ~720xp PER SCORPION! however if u are in dire need for some lvling up then the serpent temple would do fine.

[Melb_Wiz]

Hi,

Thanks for the tips.
I found that the spawning (even at 'often') wasn't very fast in the Serp Temple, but it's quite nice on that other path out of IshN. Especially when those Mountain Spiders wander around in groups of 5.
A day of game time was enough to get the Priest to have the last missing L6 & 7 spells, so she's now on the Monk quest... [img]smile.gif[/img]

That raises a point about time, though. I tried the monk quest last night, and left the computer on for roughly 24 earth-hours, to find that barely one game day had passed ... and tonight, a game day has passed in about 90 earth mins. Is that because I'm walking around?
I changed the game speed setting to 1 last night - I'm wondering if that needs a game re-start to have any effect. (It doesn't -say- that it does, though - whereas the light change states that the effect will happen when I restart.)

Either way ... soon my elephant will be KungFu-Fighting! (I've heard of the way of the crane, and the praying mantis, the tiger, or the dragon, etc - even the drunken monkey ... but I've never heard of the way of the elephant!)

M_W.

[Melb_Wiz]

Well ... looks like I need to try turning my brain on. Or buying one.

I -just- figured out that the "game date & time" beside the save game is ... well, earth time. [img]smile.gif[/img]
So ... the co-incidence I mentioned above about the game day last roughly 24 earth hours ... well, well - isn't that amazing?
Really, that the "game date" was the same as the earth one, AND that the game time was the same as the earth one (for every save game, too) ... you'd think that would have been a clue, really.

*BLUSH*

Melb_Wiz, who really isn't being much of a wiz this time. [img]smile.gif[/img]

P.S. I'd been thinking that those date/times were such a convenient way of telling how far I had left to go in the Monk Quest, you see...

[Bungleau]

Ahhh, yessss... good old time confusion. I can't think of another game that tells you what real-time time it saves at. Everything else I can think of uses game time. I guess that makes it easy to figure out how long it's been since you've played [img]smile.gif[/img]

And as for staying around versus walking, I find it easier to walk. The way I figure it, the odds of a monster spawning near you are much greater if you cover more territory. I also have a nice quirk in my game -- when a monster spawns, the game pauses for a second. So every time the mouse stops responding, I'm running around looking for who just joined the party.

I will note that monsters appear to spawn behind me more often than in front of me. I do a lot of running back and forth because of that. Don't know if it's always true, but that's what I've noticed.

[Radek]

There are more such games, Bungleau. For example, Half Life. In fact, showing the real time instead of game time is typical for a lot of hack'n'slash stupidities. The game time has no meaning in that stupidities.
Well, I think that W&W has borrowed more than it's sane from the hack'n'slash stupidities:
- missing game time even if it does have its function in the game (day-night cycle),
- impossibility to rest,
- missing compass, you have to open the mini-map if you want to see where you go,
- really bad maps of the wilderness. W&W is the only game known to me, where it is disadvantageous to create a complete maps of the wilderness. Having only "paths" in the wilderness is much better. Well, there is no wilderness in Duke Nukem like stupidities.
- and so on, and so on...
It's a pity. W&W is a very nice game full of good ideas. The hack'n'slash templates in it are spoiling the overall impression. Perhaps, the realization team was more experienced in Duke Nukems than in RPGs [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[Bungleau]

Guess my lack of gaming experience in other areas is showing [img]smile.gif[/img] I don't play many hack-n-slash games, and stick more toward "proven" CRPGs.

[bsftcs]

I have never experienced any monsters' spawning when standing still outside, whereas in dungeons they spawn even when one is still.

When in the wilderness I navigate almost solely by looking at the minimap. Although it is a relatively rare occurence I have experienced times when monsters have spawned within the map boundaries (using the spirit eye spell). But I have never experienced monsters' spawning inside the map boundaries inside a dungeon.

[LiOnHe@rT]

well, given that the minimap of a dungeon is pretty limited as it only shows walk-able paths, it is indeed pretty rare to see monsters spawning inside the boundary.....
as for the spawning outside, i rarely show any attention to it as i'm always busy exploring here and there that i continue running all the time ! this is why i got "That Unusual Stat" from running too much....