[ViewVC] Contents of: cvs/deliantra/server/doc/experience



   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
   A New EXPERIENCE/SKILLS system for CF
   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

        This patch represents a "developer's" version of the exp/skills 
   system. While I have now achieved all of the objectives
   in sections "B" and "C" of the coding proposal (see README.PROPOSAL) 
   and have play-tested as much of the code as possible, I am sure some 
   big bugs must remain. (One for sure is that exp gained when using 
   rod/horn/wand is wrong.) 

   Below this section I outline 1) coding philosophy, 2) gross 
   description of how the code impinges/interacts within older 
   code. 3) designer's notes on the changes to the code.   

   Comments on any area of this coding would be appreciated. Personally,
   I would like to see the Pow stat and a 2-type system of magic
   come into being. After all of you check out the code, I would 
   like to discuss enhancements/bug fixes/implementation. For instance,
   is it too hard to figure out how to use the code! 

   Sometime tomorrow exp2.tar.gz will be available in pub/thomas on
   ftp.astro.psu.edu.

                                                b.t.


   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
   CODE PHILOSOPHY - 
   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

        To move CF over to a new skills-based experience system. In
   this implementation several kinds of experience will exist. Players
   will gain experience in each kind of experience (or category) 
   based on their actions in the game. The sum of all the various
   categories of experience equals the player "score", from which 
   dam, wc, and hp are determined.

       All experience gaining actions will be through the use of
   certain skills -- so called "associated skills". Associated skills
   are each related to 1 kind of experience. Thus, for example,
   "stealing" is a skill associated with "agility" experience.
   There exists also "miscellaneous" skills which allow the use
   of a unique skill, but which are not related to any kind of 
   experience and whose use does not generate experience points. 

        In this implementation, skills and objects are both treated
   as objects in the inventory of the user. Experience "objects"
   each represent one kind of experience and are always invisible. 
   Skills objects each represent one kind of skill available in the
   game. Skills objects may either be invisible or have an associated
   bitmap (in which case they are "tools").  

       All experience gaining actions will be through the use of
   certain skills -- called "associated skills". Associated skills
   are each related to 1 kind of experience. Thus, for example,
   "stealing" is a skill associated with "agility" experience.

   Both Players and NPC's may only use skills which are in their 
   inventories.  NPC's do not use experience objects.

   A breakdown of the properties of skills and exp objects objects is 
   as follows:

   Object       Property                                NPC use? 
   ------       -----------------------------------     -------
   Experience   Each represents a different kind of      NO
                experience in the game. The object 
                in the player inventory keeps track
                of player experience in that category.
                Always is invisible.

   Skill-       Represents a skill the player may        YES 
     associated perform. May be either invisible or
                visible as a "tool". Successful use 
                of this skill generates experience. 
                Experience is allocated to appropriate
                experience object.

   Skill-       Same as above, *but* this skill is not   YES
     miscell.   related to any experience category, and 
                use of this skill generates *no* 
                experience. 


   Linking of associated skills to experience categories is done
   during initialization of the code (in init()) based on the 
   shared stats of both. 
 
   How skills and experience categories are named and linked may be
   changed by editing the skills/experience object archetypes.


   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
   CODE STRUCTURE and IMPLEMENTATION -
   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

        The most important thing is that I moved most of the code into
   the server/skills.c and server/skill_util.c files. The skills code
   is loosely implemented along the lines of the spell code. This is 
   to say that:

        1. skills use (do_skill) is called from fire(). 
        2. there is a skills[] table similar to spells[].
        3. server files skills.c and skill_util.c parallel
           spell_effect.c and spell_util.c in respective
           functionallity. 

   Particular notes about the implementation are outlined below.
 
   Defines
   -------

        #define MAX_EXP_CAT     maximum number of exp categories. Must
                                be >= number in the game. Always include
                                the "NULL" exp object - EXP_NONE.
        #define EXP_NONE (MAX_EXP_CAT - 1)
        #define NROFSKILLS      Equal to the number of elements in the 
                                skills[] array. See skillist.h for more
                                info.
        #define MAX_EXP_IN_OBJ (MAX_EXPERIENCE/MAX_EXP_CAT) the maximum
                                experience that an experience object 
                                may have. See fuller description in 
                                common/living.c 
                                
   Dump switch
   -----------
        How the experience and skills archetypes are configured in 
   any CF session can be seen by using the "-m5" flag. You must have
   DUMP_SWITCHES defined.


   Global parameters
   -----------------
        Unfortunately, I had to make use of several global parameters.
  These are:
                exp_cat[] -     the default experience objects
                nrofexpcat -    number of exp categories in the 
                                current session.

   New Flags used by the code
   --------------------------
        
        FLAG_IS_WOODED -- needed by the woodsman skill. Should be set 
                          on all "wooded" terrain (eg woods2, swamp, etc.)

        FLAG_IS_HILLY  -- needed by the mountaineer skill. Should be 
                          set on all "mountainous" terrain.

        FLAG_READY_WEAPON -- Code needs this for both players and monsters,
                             and its use differs for each.

        FLAG_READY_SKILL -- Code needs this for both players and monsters,  
                            and its use differs for each.
 
   New structures
   --------------
        A couple of changes to the object structure where made:
        (following excerpt taken from structs.h)

/* These are used by the skills code */
  struct obj *chosen_skill;     /* the skill chosen to use */
  struct obj *exp_obj;          /* the exp. obj (category) assoc. w/ this object */
  uint32 hide;                  /* The object is hidden, not invisible */

        And the 'skill' structure used by the skills[] table is:

typedef struct skill_struct {
    char *name;         /* how to describe it to the player */
    short category;     /* the experience category to which this skill belongs */
    long time;          /* How many ticks it takes to use the skill */
    long bexp;          /* base exp gain for this skill */
    float lexp;         /* level multiplier of exp gain for using this skill */
    short stat1;        /* primary stat effecting use of this skill */
    short stat2;        /* secondary stat for this skill */
    short stat3;        /* tertiary stat for this skill */
} skill;

   Interaction of the skills patch with older code 
   -----------------------------------------------
        Interaction of the skills "patch" with older code is minimized.
   below is an outline of how skills/exp code impinges on older CF
   code (did I miss anything here??)):

        -- in apply() and apply_special() changes were made to allow
        the use of skill "tools" and to better handle the readying of
        combat weapons (swords, bows, etc). 

        -- in hit_player() changes made to allow skills control attacking.

        -- cosmetic changes (as in c_object.c to make pick_up() routine
           monster friendly) Changes in c_wiz.c, input.c fall into this
           category.
 
        -- new commands are inserted into the code 'skills' and 
        'use_skills'.

        -- In init() init_new_exp_system() is called. Linking of 
        exp objects/skills is done here.

        -- add_exp() was rewritten to accommodate changes needed.
        new add_exp() is called from all same locations as before,
        plus it is called by do_skill(). See calc_skill_exp() in
        skills_util.c for details of how experience is calculated
        in skill use. 

        -- fix_player() changed to allow skills to affect player/monster
        status.

        -- skill_attack() is called by hit_player().
 
        -- do_skill() is called from fire(). This is the core routine for
        the use of skills. Only other way to use skills is by player
        undertaking an action requiring a skill (a "key" skill). These 
        are currently:
        (unimplemented skills in parenthesis)

        action          skill(s) auto-readied   Notes 
        ------          ---------------------   ---------------------- 
        combat  -       hand_weapons,           Occurs when player: 
                        missile_weapons.                1. readies a weapon 
                                                2. runs into opponent 
                                                *and* has ready weapon 

        wand/rod/horn-  use magic item          Occurs when player zaps
                                                approprite item. 

        magic use -     spellcasting,           Occurs when player 
                        (praying)               attempts to cast a 
                                                spell of appropriate nature 

        rod/horn/wand - (magic item use)        Occurs when player  
        use                                     uses wand/rod/horn.

        In all of these cases, skills are used merely as "keys" needed
        by the player in order to perform an action. For example, if
        a player doesn't have "spellcasting", they are unable to cast
        spells.


   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
   DESIGNER'S NOTES - more nitty gritty 
   &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&


        I have just taken the objectives from the crossfire proposal I 
   made earlier. Each is discussed one-by-one:

>        Part B - Multiple experience categories
>        --------
>         B1 - Multiple categories in which a player may gain experience.

        Experience objects owned by the player are not directly
        viewed. The "skills" command does give some information.
 
>        B3 - Each experience category will have an associated stat(s)-

        There must exist an experience category with Str and Int
        set. Otherwise, no wc, or sp will be gained after 1st
        level. Multiple Str, Int experience objects could exist,
        but will only accelerate player wc, sp gains.
 
>        B4 - Wc, hp and dam will become related to the appropriate

        Right now hp are related to the player "score" which 
        is the total of all player experience. 

>       Part C - Skills
>       --------

>        C1 - Two kinds of skills will be available: "associated" skills
              
        Implemented. Seems to work well.
 
>        C2 - Skills will be objects in the character inventory. These
 
        Implemented. Seems to work well.

>        C3 - experience will be now only be gained through the use of
>            skills associated to one of the categories of experience.

        Implemented. Seems to work well.
 
>        C4 - Both NPC and players will be able to use skills.
 
        Implemented. Seems to work well.

>        C5 - Players will be able to learn skills by reading scrolls of

        Fixed a minor bug in this.


General background note on why experience objects change stats from
Brian Thomas, Aug 20, 1997:

        Nope. Stats are used by experience objects to 'tag' the 
        category of experience, ie

                "physique" exp objects have Str 1
                "wisdom" exp object have Wis 1

        There shouldnt be an increase in the stat in question.

        [ now for a bit of explaination, longish...]

        This setup seems a bit arcane I know..so why this way?
        Why not hardcode the experience archetypes, eg have type
        EXP_FIGHTING, EXP_MAGIC, and so on?

        Well... at the time I did this, there was some debate about
        what experience system was the best, as some ppl wanted to 
        have only 4 instead of 6 categories, and so on .. (*sigh*).

        In the attempt to make the experience system as flexible as
        possible, I coded the experience 'categories' to be defined
        by the archetypes and using various stats to differentiate 
        them. Properities of the experience categories are set by the
        stat(s) they have defined. To my knowledge the stats have
        the following properties:

                str --> gains experience, from fighting
                con --> controls hp progression somewhat (if a define
                        in living.c is set).
                dex --> gains exp from agility skills
                wis --> gains exp from priest skills, effects grace
                        calculation
                int --> gain exp from mental skills
                cha --> gain exp from personality skills
                pow --> gain exp from wizard skills, effects mana calc.

        So, If you didnt like the current 6 experience catagories and
        wanted only 3 for your server, say "fighting" "presense" and 
        "holyness" you could  remove all of the old experience archetypes 
        and define the following new ones:

        Name      Properties           Explaination
        fighting  Str 1, Con 1, Dex 1  Combines old physique, agility exp
        presence  Pow 1, Cha 1         Combines old magic, personality exp
        holyness  Wis 1                same as old wisdom exp

        So, every player on this server would only see 3 types of 
        experience to be gained. If you fight or steal something, then
        experience points go to the "fighting" category.

        And note, since we DIDNT design an arch with Int 1, there will be
        NO experience gained for use of mental skills (at least in theory
        this should be the case. I dont recogmend leaving out a stat,
        eg you should have a every stat covered between all of your new
        experience archetypes). 

        Even though I wrote a doc to help explain how to do this, probably 
        nobody but me (or maybe Peter) really is knowledgeable enough (and 
        has the desire) to reconfigure the game experience to suit their 
        individual tastes. This might be some code we could 'simplify'
        (heh, remove it).


Revision:	1.2
Committed:	Thu Sep 7 21:42:42 2006 UTC (17 years, 8 months ago) by pippijn
Branch:	MAIN
CVS Tags:	HEAD
Changes since 1.1:	+0 -0 lines
State:	*FILE REMOVED*
Log Message:	Moved documents to doc/historic
#	Content
1
2
3	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
4	A New EXPERIENCE/SKILLS system for CF
5	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
6
7	This patch represents a "developer's" version of the exp/skills
8	system. While I have now achieved all of the objectives
9	in sections "B" and "C" of the coding proposal (see README.PROPOSAL)
10	and have play-tested as much of the code as possible, I am sure some
11	big bugs must remain. (One for sure is that exp gained when using
12	rod/horn/wand is wrong.)
13
14	Below this section I outline 1) coding philosophy, 2) gross
15	description of how the code impinges/interacts within older
16	code. 3) designer's notes on the changes to the code.
17
18	Comments on any area of this coding would be appreciated. Personally,
19	I would like to see the Pow stat and a 2-type system of magic
20	come into being. After all of you check out the code, I would
21	like to discuss enhancements/bug fixes/implementation. For instance,
22	is it too hard to figure out how to use the code!
23
24	Sometime tomorrow exp2.tar.gz will be available in pub/thomas on
25	ftp.astro.psu.edu.
26
27	b.t.
28
29
30	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
31	CODE PHILOSOPHY -
32	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
33
34	To move CF over to a new skills-based experience system. In
35	this implementation several kinds of experience will exist. Players
36	will gain experience in each kind of experience (or category)
37	based on their actions in the game. The sum of all the various
38	categories of experience equals the player "score", from which
39	dam, wc, and hp are determined.
40
41	All experience gaining actions will be through the use of
42	certain skills -- so called "associated skills". Associated skills
43	are each related to 1 kind of experience. Thus, for example,
44	"stealing" is a skill associated with "agility" experience.
45	There exists also "miscellaneous" skills which allow the use
46	of a unique skill, but which are not related to any kind of
47	experience and whose use does not generate experience points.
48
49	In this implementation, skills and objects are both treated
50	as objects in the inventory of the user. Experience "objects"
51	each represent one kind of experience and are always invisible.
52	Skills objects each represent one kind of skill available in the
53	game. Skills objects may either be invisible or have an associated
54	bitmap (in which case they are "tools").
55
56	All experience gaining actions will be through the use of
57	certain skills -- called "associated skills". Associated skills
58	are each related to 1 kind of experience. Thus, for example,
59	"stealing" is a skill associated with "agility" experience.
60
61	Both Players and NPC's may only use skills which are in their
62	inventories. NPC's do not use experience objects.
63
64	A breakdown of the properties of skills and exp objects objects is
65	as follows:
66
67	Object Property NPC use?
68	------ ----------------------------------- -------
69	Experience Each represents a different kind of NO
70	experience in the game. The object
71	in the player inventory keeps track
72	of player experience in that category.
73	Always is invisible.
74
75	Skill- Represents a skill the player may YES
76	associated perform. May be either invisible or
77	visible as a "tool". Successful use
78	of this skill generates experience.
79	Experience is allocated to appropriate
80	experience object.
81
82	Skill- Same as above, but this skill is not YES
83	miscell. related to any experience category, and
84	use of this skill generates no
85	experience.
86
87
88	Linking of associated skills to experience categories is done
89	during initialization of the code (in init()) based on the
90	shared stats of both.
91
92	How skills and experience categories are named and linked may be
93	changed by editing the skills/experience object archetypes.
94
95
96	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
97	CODE STRUCTURE and IMPLEMENTATION -
98	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
99
100	The most important thing is that I moved most of the code into
101	the server/skills.c and server/skill_util.c files. The skills code
102	is loosely implemented along the lines of the spell code. This is
103	to say that:
104
105	1. skills use (do_skill) is called from fire().
106	2. there is a skills[] table similar to spells[].
107	3. server files skills.c and skill_util.c parallel
108	spell_effect.c and spell_util.c in respective
109	functionallity.
110
111	Particular notes about the implementation are outlined below.
112
113	Defines
114	-------
115
116	#define MAX_EXP_CAT maximum number of exp categories. Must
117	be >= number in the game. Always include
118	the "NULL" exp object - EXP_NONE.
119	#define EXP_NONE (MAX_EXP_CAT - 1)
120	#define NROFSKILLS Equal to the number of elements in the
121	skills[] array. See skillist.h for more
122	info.
123	#define MAX_EXP_IN_OBJ (MAX_EXPERIENCE/MAX_EXP_CAT) the maximum
124	experience that an experience object
125	may have. See fuller description in
126	common/living.c
127
128	Dump switch
129	-----------
130	How the experience and skills archetypes are configured in
131	any CF session can be seen by using the "-m5" flag. You must have
132	DUMP_SWITCHES defined.
133
134
135	Global parameters
136	-----------------
137	Unfortunately, I had to make use of several global parameters.
138	These are:
139	exp_cat[] - the default experience objects
140	nrofexpcat - number of exp categories in the
141	current session.
142
143	New Flags used by the code
144	--------------------------
145
146	FLAG_IS_WOODED -- needed by the woodsman skill. Should be set
147	on all "wooded" terrain (eg woods2, swamp, etc.)
148
149	FLAG_IS_HILLY -- needed by the mountaineer skill. Should be
150	set on all "mountainous" terrain.
151
152	FLAG_READY_WEAPON -- Code needs this for both players and monsters,
153	and its use differs for each.
154
155	FLAG_READY_SKILL -- Code needs this for both players and monsters,
156	and its use differs for each.
157
158	New structures
159	--------------
160	A couple of changes to the object structure where made:
161	(following excerpt taken from structs.h)
162
163	/* These are used by the skills code */
164	struct obj chosen_skill; / the skill chosen to use */
165	struct obj exp_obj; / the exp. obj (category) assoc. w/ this object */
166	uint32 hide; /* The object is hidden, not invisible */
167
168	And the 'skill' structure used by the skills[] table is:
169
170	typedef struct skill_struct {
171	char name; / how to describe it to the player */
172	short category; /* the experience category to which this skill belongs */
173	long time; /* How many ticks it takes to use the skill */
174	long bexp; /* base exp gain for this skill */
175	float lexp; /* level multiplier of exp gain for using this skill */
176	short stat1; /* primary stat effecting use of this skill */
177	short stat2; /* secondary stat for this skill */
178	short stat3; /* tertiary stat for this skill */
179	} skill;
180
181	Interaction of the skills patch with older code
182	-----------------------------------------------
183	Interaction of the skills "patch" with older code is minimized.
184	below is an outline of how skills/exp code impinges on older CF
185	code (did I miss anything here??)):
186
187	-- in apply() and apply_special() changes were made to allow
188	the use of skill "tools" and to better handle the readying of
189	combat weapons (swords, bows, etc).
190
191	-- in hit_player() changes made to allow skills control attacking.
192
193	-- cosmetic changes (as in c_object.c to make pick_up() routine
194	monster friendly) Changes in c_wiz.c, input.c fall into this
195	category.
196
197	-- new commands are inserted into the code 'skills' and
198	'use_skills'.
199
200	-- In init() init_new_exp_system() is called. Linking of
201	exp objects/skills is done here.
202
203	-- add_exp() was rewritten to accommodate changes needed.
204	new add_exp() is called from all same locations as before,
205	plus it is called by do_skill(). See calc_skill_exp() in
206	skills_util.c for details of how experience is calculated
207	in skill use.
208
209	-- fix_player() changed to allow skills to affect player/monster
210	status.
211
212	-- skill_attack() is called by hit_player().
213
214	-- do_skill() is called from fire(). This is the core routine for
215	the use of skills. Only other way to use skills is by player
216	undertaking an action requiring a skill (a "key" skill). These
217	are currently:
218	(unimplemented skills in parenthesis)
219
220	action skill(s) auto-readied Notes
221	------ --------------------- ----------------------
222	combat - hand_weapons, Occurs when player:
223	missile_weapons. 1. readies a weapon
224	2. runs into opponent
225	and has ready weapon
226
227	wand/rod/horn- use magic item Occurs when player zaps
228	approprite item.
229
230	magic use - spellcasting, Occurs when player
231	(praying) attempts to cast a
232	spell of appropriate nature
233
234	rod/horn/wand - (magic item use) Occurs when player
235	use uses wand/rod/horn.
236
237	In all of these cases, skills are used merely as "keys" needed
238	by the player in order to perform an action. For example, if
239	a player doesn't have "spellcasting", they are unable to cast
240	spells.
241
242
243	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
244	DESIGNER'S NOTES - more nitty gritty
245	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
246
247
248	I have just taken the objectives from the crossfire proposal I
249	made earlier. Each is discussed one-by-one:
250
251	> Part B - Multiple experience categories
252	> --------
253	> B1 - Multiple categories in which a player may gain experience.
254
255	Experience objects owned by the player are not directly
256	viewed. The "skills" command does give some information.
257
258	> B3 - Each experience category will have an associated stat(s)-
259
260	There must exist an experience category with Str and Int
261	set. Otherwise, no wc, or sp will be gained after 1st
262	level. Multiple Str, Int experience objects could exist,
263	but will only accelerate player wc, sp gains.
264
265	> B4 - Wc, hp and dam will become related to the appropriate
266
267	Right now hp are related to the player "score" which
268	is the total of all player experience.
269
270	> Part C - Skills
271	> --------
272
273	> C1 - Two kinds of skills will be available: "associated" skills
274
275	Implemented. Seems to work well.
276
277	> C2 - Skills will be objects in the character inventory. These
278
279	Implemented. Seems to work well.
280
281	> C3 - experience will be now only be gained through the use of
282	> skills associated to one of the categories of experience.
283
284	Implemented. Seems to work well.
285
286	> C4 - Both NPC and players will be able to use skills.
287
288	Implemented. Seems to work well.
289
290	> C5 - Players will be able to learn skills by reading scrolls of
291
292	Fixed a minor bug in this.
293
294
295	General background note on why experience objects change stats from
296	Brian Thomas, Aug 20, 1997:
297
298	Nope. Stats are used by experience objects to 'tag' the
299	category of experience, ie
300
301	"physique" exp objects have Str 1
302	"wisdom" exp object have Wis 1
303
304	There shouldnt be an increase in the stat in question.
305
306	[ now for a bit of explaination, longish...]
307
308	This setup seems a bit arcane I know..so why this way?
309	Why not hardcode the experience archetypes, eg have type
310	EXP_FIGHTING, EXP_MAGIC, and so on?
311
312	Well... at the time I did this, there was some debate about
313	what experience system was the best, as some ppl wanted to
314	have only 4 instead of 6 categories, and so on .. (sigh).
315
316	In the attempt to make the experience system as flexible as
317	possible, I coded the experience 'categories' to be defined
318	by the archetypes and using various stats to differentiate
319	them. Properities of the experience categories are set by the
320	stat(s) they have defined. To my knowledge the stats have
321	the following properties:
322
323	str --> gains experience, from fighting
324	con --> controls hp progression somewhat (if a define
325	in living.c is set).
326	dex --> gains exp from agility skills
327	wis --> gains exp from priest skills, effects grace
328	calculation
329	int --> gain exp from mental skills
330	cha --> gain exp from personality skills
331	pow --> gain exp from wizard skills, effects mana calc.
332
333	So, If you didnt like the current 6 experience catagories and
334	wanted only 3 for your server, say "fighting" "presense" and
335	"holyness" you could remove all of the old experience archetypes
336	and define the following new ones:
337
338	Name Properties Explaination
339	fighting Str 1, Con 1, Dex 1 Combines old physique, agility exp
340	presence Pow 1, Cha 1 Combines old magic, personality exp
341	holyness Wis 1 same as old wisdom exp
342
343	So, every player on this server would only see 3 types of
344	experience to be gained. If you fight or steal something, then
345	experience points go to the "fighting" category.
346
347	And note, since we DIDNT design an arch with Int 1, there will be
348	NO experience gained for use of mental skills (at least in theory
349	this should be the case. I dont recogmend leaving out a stat,
350	eg you should have a every stat covered between all of your new
351	experience archetypes).
352
353	Even though I wrote a doc to help explain how to do this, probably
354	nobody but me (or maybe Peter) really is knowledgeable enough (and
355	has the desire) to reconfigure the game experience to suit their
356	individual tastes. This might be some code we could 'simplify'
357	(heh, remove it).
358
359