Skill rust way too fast

woflsipder · 2013-06-11T10:37:18.000Z

I dont know if this is a bug or if it’s just me refusing to set the skill rust to 2 , but i have set it to 1 in options , so the skills shouldn’t rust more than 1 level , but each time after i get more than 8 in mechanics i go to sleep and the skill rusts back to 7 then i try to bring it back to 8 and after going to sleep it goes back to 7. It’s like an infinite loop that makes you starve to death just doing mechanics all day not to lose a second for the skills to start rusting.

I guess if you have a higher level in a skill it should rust slower , because it doesn’t really makes sense that skill rusts extremely fast once you get to an “expert” level.

100Rads · 2013-06-11T10:45:56.000Z

Have you taken the Forgetful trait?

woflsipder · 2013-06-11T10:48:00.000Z

100Rads:

Have you taken the Forgetful trait?

nope.

Slax · 2013-06-11T13:14:29.000Z

Yeah, I’ve had level loss on the 1 setting as well.

DeadWeight · 2013-06-11T16:00:58.000Z

I set mine to 2 just because I don’t think your skill should go down. Like, if I don’t drive my car for a week I don’t forget how to drive, if I don’t cook food for a while I don’t forget how. Skill rust doesn’t make sense IMO…

grisamentum · 2013-06-11T18:28:50.000Z

DeadWeight:

I set mine to 2 just because I don’t think your skill should go down. Like, if I don’t drive my car for a week I don’t forget how to drive, if I don’t cook food for a while I don’t forget how. Skill rust doesn’t make sense IMO…

I agree. Especially over the course of a couple months; I might get rusty at something I haven’t done in a couple years, but it’s just better to remove it from the game entirely, simply because it’d be trivial to exercise a skill once a year or so.

KA101 · 2013-06-11T23:31:52.000Z

One thing that isn’t obvious is that Cata-time is compressed: one day at the default season-length is roughly equivalent to one week of real time. Nevertheless, I’d agree that skills shouldn’t rust until at least 4-5, possibly higher.

Retaining “how to cook” is distinct from reliably knowing “how to cook meth”, a higher-level Cooking recipe.

Bladerock · 2013-06-12T00:26:29.000Z

Any chance of getting time decompressed? There really isn’t any benefit to it, and mostly, it just confuses people.

Rivet · 2013-06-12T00:36:46.000Z

I think it’s a simplification intended to give the game more seasonal variety. It can take a fair amount of real time just to play long enough to see the first season change as it is. Though it would be nice to see an option in the menu to alter the length of seasons the same way you can change the time display, starting points, or skill rust setting.

KA101 · 2013-06-12T00:40:56.000Z

Rivet:

I think it’s a simplification intended to give the game more seasonal variety. It can take a fair amount of real time just to play long enough to see the first season change as it is. Though it would be nice to see an option in the menu to alter the length of seasons the same way you can change the time display, starting points, or skill rust setting.

Last I checked, there is! Something like “Season Length” or somesuch. Defaults to 14 days.

woflsipder · 2013-06-12T11:24:18.000Z

you can get 3 free points in character creation by setting the skill rust to 2 in the settings and while creating the character chose the forgetful trait. Points for nothing.

Justice · 2013-06-12T14:15:10.000Z

woflsipder:

you can get 3 free points in character creation by setting the skill rust to 2 in the settings and while creating the character chose the forgetful trait. Points for nothing.

If you don’t want every single character you make to have the Forgetful trait, then you can raise Initial points on the same options screen by 3 points.

Scheuche · 2013-06-12T15:24:11.000Z

woflsipder:

you can get 3 free points in character creation by setting the skill rust to 2 in the settings and while creating the character chose the forgetful trait. Points for nothing.

Just as you can choose ugly and truthteller without repercussions if NPCs are disabled. Ofc all up to the players moral compass if acceptable or not.

DeadWeight · 2013-06-12T16:56:36.000Z

I always pick ugly and truthteller because I never have NPC’s so I’m just like “sweet, free points” Of course I can always just give more skills to begin with…

woflsipder · 2013-06-12T18:38:12.000Z

Justice:

[quote=“woflsipder, post:11, topic:1721”]you can get 3 free points in character creation by setting the skill rust to 2 in the settings and while creating the character chose the forgetful trait. Points for nothing.

If you don’t want every single character you make to have the Forgetful trait, then you can raise Initial points on the same options screen by 3 points.[/quote]
I know , i know.

Doing that makes me feel like i’m cheating. I don’t know why , but changing any settings makes me feel like i am cheating.
Maybe because it is cheating.

kenoxite · 2013-06-12T19:33:29.000Z

While I agree with your sentiment, it’s not in the cheating section, so it isn’t technically cheating.

Skill rust capped at level start seems to be the fairest option anyway.

Although I would like that as default, but with the first % being harder to achieve. That way it’d feel more fair for me. You don’t lose your level (so recipes aren’t locked), but progress is more difficult until you “get the hang of it” again.

It would also work well with the way crafting works as default. Until you have over 20% the required minimum level there’s a chance of screwing up and lose materials. Making harder to get that 20% would balance the fact that you can’t lose a skill level anymore.

kevin.granade · 2013-06-12T20:07:56.000Z

Think of initial points as a difficulty adjustment rather than cheating.

DeadWeight · 2013-06-13T01:00:23.000Z

Kevin Granade:

Think of initial points as a difficulty adjustment rather than cheating.

I like that idea a lot! The concept of a difficulty level is nice, I always put my points to 8 instead of 6, it’s not a huge difference but a little boost to help my character, plus I always set the time to 7, idk if that changes anything though…

i2amroy · 2013-06-13T04:52:51.000Z

Slax:

Yeah, I’ve had level loss on the 1 setting as well.

Level loss should be fixed in the latest dev versions, if you are still having level loss problems with those then let us know.

[hr]
As for the actual learning system plans, the end plan is quite a bit more complicated then what we have right now, and ties in with the book system as well. Here’s the basic breakdown.

Characters have a “skill level”. This is raised by doing actual things. Any recipes learned on or below this skill level will never be forgotten.
If characters haven’t spent time doing a skill recently then they will accumulate rust. This functionally makes their skill a lower level (for purposes of success checks, etc.) but does not cause recipes to be forgotten. Rust can be worked off very quickly with a little work (and could potentially be worked off by reading books as well).
When characters read books they gain “bonus levels”. This does not raise the character’s “skill level”, but it does unlock recipes and provide bonuses to % chance to succeed and other skill checks. If a character has any “bonus levels”, then their “skill level” will raise much quicker through actual experience up until they don’t have any more “bonus levels”. Over time unused “bonus levels” will disappear, and any recipes that haven’t been learned by raising your actual “skill level” will be forgotten.

kenoxite · 2013-06-13T07:34:22.000Z

[quote=“i2amroy, post:19, topic:1721”]1) Characters have a “skill level”. This is raised by doing actual things. Any recipes learned on or below this skill level will never be forgotten.
2) If characters haven’t spent time doing a skill recently then they will accumulate rust. This functionally makes their skill a lower level (for purposes of success checks, etc.) but does not cause recipes to be forgotten. Rust can be worked off very quickly with a little work (and could potentially be worked off by reading books as well).
3) When characters read books they gain “bonus levels”. This does not raise the character’s “skill level”, but it does unlock recipes and provide bonuses to % chance to succeed and other skill checks. If a character has any “bonus levels”, then their “skill level” will raise much quicker through actual experience up until they don’t have any more “bonus levels”. Over time unused “bonus levels” will disappear, and any recipes that haven’t been learned by raising your actual “skill level” will be forgotten.[/quote]

Sounds interesting. Particularly point #1. That was the main reason to turn skill rust off. It made no sense that you wouldn’t be able to craft something anymore because you forgot that 1% of a skill when sleeping.