Instruction

Olympia: The Age of Gods PBEM (Oct 4 2000)

### 3.3.3: Instruction

Instruction is necessary to learn category skills and speeds the learning of teachable subskills. There are four sources of instruction in Olympia:

- Some cities teach skills. Shipcraft [1000], for example, is sometimes taught in port cities.

  The turn report lists skills taught by the location:

        Skills taught here:
           Shipcraft [1000]

  To make use of this instruction, the noble must issue the `study` command while in the city. (Note that you cannot be in a tower in the city; you must be directly in the city.)

- Guilds and temples teach the appropriate skill. For example, a Guild of Shipcraft teaches Shipcraft [1000]. A non-guild member can enter a guild by being stacked with a guild member to take advantage of this teaching. Note, however, that he still cannot learn guild skills (even though he is inside a guild hall) unless he becomes a guild member.
- Books of instruction are sometimes available. Items which teach skills are shown in the inventory listing:

        Inventory:
                     qty  name
                     ---  ----
                       1  Old book [6001]

        Old book [6001] permits study of the following skills:
           Alchemy [1500], 20 days instruction

  Books of instruction may be created by nobles, discovered in the possession of monsters, or found for sale in cities.

  Each book provides a specific number of days of instruction. The number of days instruction remaining in a book is shown in the inventory listing for the book. Note that books provide days of instruction; not learning. Each day a noble uses a book consumes one day of instruction from the book, even if the noble doesn't get a full day's benefit from that study (because, for example, that it is his third week of study for the month).

  A book will be used automatically when a study command is issued and no other form of instruction is available. To avoid using a book (as, for instance, when you wish to save the book for another noble), the noble must give the book to another noble or otherwise remove it from his inventory.

- Nobles can be teachers. A noble who knows a skill may use the `teach` command to teach other nobles the skill. However, the `teach` command requires a quiet, uninterrupted environment, so teaching must be done in a tower or an appropriate guild. There can only be one class in a tower/guild at a time. The teacher is the top noble issuing a `teach` command. The students are the top five nobles in the tower/guild who benefit from the taught subject. Any other nobles are too far from the teacher to follow his instruction. (See teach)

  The ideal teaching situation is for the teacher to be the owner of the tower/guild (the top noble) and the students be five nobles stacked under him. However, it is often difficult to coordinate this when arranging teaching between multiple players. The rules for teaching are a compromise so that players aren't punished for simple mistakes in timing or order.

  For example, suppose that on a particular day, the following nobles are in a tower executing the indicated commands:

           Newark Academy [z38], tower, defense 20, owner:
              Fenris [re7]                      (study 1001)  *
              Kosar the Indefectible [aw0]      (study 1193)
              Captain McCook [ea0]              (study 1000)   *
              Oleg [o1eg]                       (teach 1000)   +
              Dr. Pangloss [ac6y]               (study 1005)  *
              Law Netexus [au0]                 (study 1000)   *
              Alion Krysaka [e1y]               (study 1100)
              Dr. Pain [em28]                   (teach 1100)
              S.K. Renta [ep76]                 (study 1000)   *
              Armweak [em78]			(study 1000)

  The plus in this example indicates the teacher, the asterisks indicate students who benefit from his teaching.

  The only teacher in this tower is Oleg, teach [1000]. Dr. Pain is not considered a teacher, because he is not the first teacher in the tower. Fenris benefits from Oleg's teaching because [1001] is a subskill of [1000] and he is one of the first five students. Kosar does not benefit, because 1193 is not a subskill of [1000]. Likewise Alion does not benefit because he is studying [1100]. Note that Armweak does not benefit because, although he is studying the proper subject, he is not one of the first five students in the tower.

A source of instruction is required to learn a category skill. For example, to learn Combat [1100], a noble must be in a city that teaches that skill, a tower where another noble is teaching that skill, or possess a book of instruction for that skill.

Instruction speeds the learning of teachable subskills. If instruction in the category skill for a teachable subskill is available, then the student will learn the skill in half the normal time. If instruction in the specific subskill is available, then the student will learn the skill in one-quarter the normal time.

For example, Train Swordsmen [1105] is a teachable subskill for the category skill Combat [1100], with a learning time of two weeks. If a noble studies this skill without any instruction, it will take him two weeks of study to learn the skill. If he studies it with a teacher of Combat [1100], he will learn the skill in one week. If he studies it with a teacher of Train Swordsmen [1105], he will learn it in 3.5 days.

Instruction has no effect for unteachable subskills or guild skills.

In some cases, a noble may have more than one source of instruction available. For example, he might be studying Train Swordsmen [1105] in a city that offers Combat [1100] while holding a book of instruction for Train Swordsmen [1105]. Or he might be holding two books, one of which gives instruction in Combat [1100] while the other gives instruction in Train Swordsmen [1105]. In these cases, the source of instruction is selected according to the following rules:

- If the noble is studying a subskill, then instruction in that specific subskill is selected over instruction in the category skill.
- When a book and some other source offer the same type of instruction, then the other source is selected.

Accordingly, if a noble studies Train Swordsmen [1105] in a city that offers Combat [1100] while holding a book of instruction for Train Swordsmen [1105], he will use the book for instruction --- because the book offers specific instruction. If he were to study Combat [1100] in a city that offers Combat [1100] while holding a book of instruction for Combat [1100], then he will use the city for instruction.

The benefits of instruction are calculated daily. If a noble begins studying with a book which only contains two days of instruction, then the first two days of the noble's study will be at 2x or 4x the normal rate (depending on whether the book teaches the specific subskill being studied or the category skill) and the remaining five days of study will be at the normal rate. If instruction ends prematurely for a category skill that requires instruction, then the noble's study command also ends.