Skills ====== Skills represent knowledge that Olympian characters may know. Shipbuilding, thievery, kidnaping, training soldiers, castle building, mixing potions, and forging magical artifacts are just a few of the possible actions which skills allow a character to perform. Skills are divided into category skills and sub-skills within those categories. The skill categories are: num name time to learn --- ---- ------------- 120 Shipcraft one week 121 Combat one week 122 Stealth two weeks 123 Beastmastery two weeks 124 Persuasion two weeks 125 Construction one week 126 Alchemy two weeks 128 Forestry one week 129 Mining one week There are also six schools of magic. See the section on magic for more details on learning and casting magical spells. The category skill must be learned before any of the sub-skills within the category may be known. With each skill learned, the player will receive a lore sheet describing background information about the skill and how it may be used. Most skills are invoked with the USE order. The skill lore sheets will give specific information about arguments to USE and and requirements or limitations for using the skill. The lore sheets for the skill categories list some of the skills available for study within the category. For instance, a noble wishing to undertake the study of Shipcraft would first learn the category skill with the STUDY command: STUDY 120 The Shipcraft lore sheet lists some of the sub-skills available for building and sailing ships. One of these is Sailing [9502], the skill required to control a ship on the ocean. The aspiring captain could then order: STUDY 9502 Once Sailing [9502] is known, the lore sheet describing its usage will appear in the player's turn report. To begin study of a skill requires the following: o A source of instruction o Payment of a fee for necessary materials o Payment of Noble Points to learn advanced skills Sources of instruction ---------------------- The source of instruction may be one of the following: o The skill is commonly known, and may be studied anywhere once the category skill is known. When a category skill is learned, the player receives a lore sheet for the category in the turn report. The lore sheet lists the commonly known sub-skills which may be studied anywhere once the category skill is known. Some sub-skills within a category may not be listed in the category lore sheet. These are not directly STUDYable, even once the parent skill is known. They must either be learned from a scroll, a rare book, or through research. See the RESEARCH command for more information on researching skills. o The character is in a city which teaches the skill. Many cities offer instruction in skills. Shipcraft [120], for example, is commonly taught in port cities. The turn report lists skills taught by the location: Skills taught here: Alchemy [126] o The skill was discovered through RESEARCH, and is listed as "Partially known" in the turn report. Partially known skills: Improve ship rigging [9999], 0/7 o The player has a book which teaches the skill. 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 [126] Fee to begin study ------------------ A fee of 100 gold is charged when STUDY is first issued for a skill. The payment is used to acquire various materials needed for the study and eventual practice of the skill. Advanced skills --------------- Some advanced skills require Noble Points to begin study. Each player begins the game with a number of NP's, and receives an additional one each year on the anniversary of their entry into the game. Noble Points may be "spent" to acquire new nobles, or to learn advanced skills. Most skills do not require Noble Points to learn. NP's are required for some heroic combat skills and for advanced magical spells. Diminishing returns from study ------------------------------ Study is a mentally taxing activity. The more a character studies during a month, the less advancement each attempt will yield. The first seven days of study each month are fully effective. The second week yields 4/7th the normal advancement, the third yields 2/7th, and the fourth, 1/7th. days spent studying yield ---------- ----- 1-7 full 8-14 4/7th 15-21 2/7th 22+ 1/7th For example, a character could learn a skill requiring two weeks of study by either issuing four STUDY order for one month, or two STUDY orders for two separate months. Another way to view diminishing study results is that a character who studies four weeks per month will progress twice as fast one studying one week per month. This limit exists on the act of studying, and is not related to the study of a particular skill. For example, a character who studied Shipbuilding the first week, and Combat the second, would have 7/7th effectiveness for learning Shipbuilding, but 4/7th for learning Combat. Intervening tasks during the month do not affect the tally of study time. One could study the first week, engage in other tasks the second and third, and study again on the fourth week. The study command issued on the fourth week would yield 4/7th. Study results are kept track of daily. For instance, if a character studies a skill for three days, and then is interrupted, the three days of study are not lost. If the skill requires a week to learn, four more days of study are needed. A STUDY command which continues into the next month will revert to the fully effective rate of return. For instance, suppose a character spent all month studying skills. The last study command doesn't finish at the end of the turn: unit 5499 # Osswid # > study 161 (executing for three more days) Although this study command was yielding 1/7th per day at the end of this turn, the remaining three days will yield 7/7th. The total advancement from this command would therefore be 3 4/7 days of study credit. Partially known skills: Weather magic [161], 3.57/21 Experience ----------- Once a skill is known, further STUDY of that skill has no effect. Gains in proficiency come with experience using the skill. Experience is counted for each turn that a skill use is successfully completed. If a skill is used more than once per turn, only the first success will count towards experience. Projects which take multiple turns to complete, such as shipbuilding or castle construction, only count towards experience when the project is finished. number level ------ ----- 0-1 apprentice 2-3 journeyman 4-5 adept 6-8 master 9+ grand master Experience will speed work with some skills. For example, a master shipbuilder will be able to construct a galley somewhat faster than an apprentice. Some skill uses benefit more from experience than others. Skills not rated for experience ------------------------------- A few skills are not rated for experience. These may be skills which are not directly used, or ones for which experience has no meaning. If a skill is not rated for experience, the skill level will not be shown in the skill listing. For instance: Skills known: 9502 Sailing, apprentice 9999 Strength bonus Since experience is not applicable to Strength bonus [9999], its level is not shown. Teaching -------- Direct character-to-character teaching is not possible in Olympia. However, it is said that some magicians and alchemists possess the ability to record knowledge on scrolls, which other characters may study from. Summary of studying ------------------- o The category skill must be learned before a sub-skill within the category may be studied. o Beginning study of any skill costs 100 gold. o Payment of Noble Points may be required to begin learning some advanced skills. o A source of instruction must be available the first time STUDY is issued: - The skill is taught by the location. - The skill is commonly known, so it may be studied anywhere once its category skill is known. - The skill was discovered through RESEARCH, so it may now be studied. - The skill is taught by a book or a scroll. o Diminishing returns from multiple studies within a month: - First week: 7/7 - Second week: 4/7 - Third week: 2/7 - Fourth week: 1/7 o Once a skill is known, further STUDY of that skill has no effect. A rough example --------------- This is a rough, heavily edited example of how some study commands might look in a turn report. All of the other details that a real turn report would have were omitted to focus on the study orders. Turn one: Skills taught here: Shipcraft [120] 1: > study 120 1: Paid 100 gold to begin study. 1: Will study Shipcraft for seven days. 7: Learned Shipcraft [120]. Lore for Shipcraft [120] ------------------------ All skills concerning ocean travel fall under this category. Shipcraft encompasses the building and repair of ships, training of sailors, and navigation at sea. The following skills may be studied directly once Shipcraft is known: num skill time to learn --- ----- ------------- 9502 Sailing one week ... Further skills may be found through research. Turn two: 1: > study 9502 1: Paid 100 gold to begin study. 1: Will study Sailing for seven days. 7: Learned Sailing [9502]. (It doesn't matter where 9502 is studied, since 120 offers it directly.) Turn three: 1: > study 126 1: Instruction in [126] is not available here. (Need to find a location or book that offers instruction in Alchemy) Turn four: 1: enter xxxx 1: Arrival at City of Alchemists [xxxx] Skills taught here: Alchemy [126] 1: > study 126 1: Paid 100 gold to begin study. 1: Will study Alchemy for seven days. Partially known skills: 126 Alchemy, 7/14 (Alchemy requires 14 days of study to learn, seven of which we have completed.) Turn five: 1: > study 126 1: Continue studying Alchemy. 7: Learned Alchemy [126]. Skills known: 120 Shipcraft 9502 Sailing, apprentice 126 Alchemy