Post:Dynamic Spawnrates - 03/20/2013 - 14:00

Re: Dynamic Spawnrates · on 03/20/2013 02:00 PM CDT	1265
>>Equilibrium - The spawn evaluates the hunting ground and says, "There's 4 people here and every time I fire off there's 4 people and 4-8 creatures." so it decides, you know what, that sounds good. >Isn't this what we have now in certain hunting areas that cause complaints? >2 people dancing with 4 each = 8, 2 people twiddling their thumbs. That example wasn't as clear as it could have been. Let me clarify: Every 40 seconds the spawn fires. It tries to keep a 3 to 1 ratio. Every time it fires it finds how many players there are, how many creatures there are, and restores this ratio. Underpopulation - The spawn evaluates the hunting ground and says, "There's 4 people here and every time I've looked lately there's 4 people and 11-12 creatures. Normally I'd spawn 0-1 creatures, since I want a 3:1 ratio, but I'm going to spawn 2 this time. If it happens again I'll spawn 3. And again? I'll spawn 4. And I'll keep increasing that until we hit 4:1 and see how that looks." Equilibrium - The spawn evaluates the hunting ground and says, "There's 4 people here and every time I fire off there's 4 people and 4-8 creatures. Sounds good to me, let's spawn 4-8 more to get us back to 3:1" (This is how it works currently. This is NOT the scenario with people tying up spawn dancing and not killing, that's an underpopulation scenario). Overpopulation - The spawn evaluates the hunting ground and says, "There's 4 people here and every time I fire off there's 4 people and 0-2 creatures. Wow so, uh, yeah, that last batch didn't last very long. Instead of spawning the 10-12 I normally would to get us back to a 3:1, I'm going to only spawn 9. Huh. Still all instantly died? Let's only spawn 8. Yup, still being slaughtered. Let's do that until our we stop getting instantly murdered the moment we pop our heads out the ground." Since this is the scenario everyone is worried about, I'll expand. Say the above happens - You have 4 people in the hunting area, 1 is a normal guy just trying to hunt. The other is a guy with two mules to force spawn hosing everything down the moment it spawns. What happens then spawn slows down? Let's look at it closer, and assume the creatures always spawn in the room with the players at a perfectly even split (not exactly how it works, but good for this example). Start conditions: Farmer + Mules = 3 people w/9 creatures. Every spawn he'll kill every creature in his room. JoeHunter = 1 player w/3 creatures. Every spawn he'll kill 1 creature in his room. Spawn #1: Pre-spawn population = 2 Target = 12 (4 x 3) Delta = 10 10 creatures spawn. Everyone gets 2.5. JoeHunter = 4-5 creatures Farmer = 7-8 creatures JoeHunter is over the engagement cap so the remainder wander off and eventually find the farmer, who murders them. (Again, this isn't exactly how it works, but it's close enough for the example). All further calculations assume this happens. JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 8 creatures Spawn #2: Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 12 (4 x 3) Delta = 9 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 8 creatures This repeats for awhile. Spawn #10 - the dynamic spawn rate starts to kick in, since every time it looks it's replacing a large chunk of it's population. It decides to drop the ratio to 2.9:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 11.6 (4 x 2.9) = 12 (We'll use traditional rounding from here on out and shan't mention integer math). Delta = 9 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 8 creatures Spawn #11 - the dynamic spawn rate sees that it's still replacing the bulk of it's creatures every pulse, so it drops the ratio to 2.8:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 11.2 = 11 Delta = 8 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 7 creatures Spawn #12 - Still all dying? Hrh. Down to 2.7:1 we go! Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 10.8 = 11 Delta = 8 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 7 creatures Spawn #13 - Down to 2.6:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 10.4 = 10 Delta = 7 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 6 creatures Spawn #14 - Down to 2.5:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 10 Delta = 7 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 6 creatures Spawn #15 - Down to 2.4:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 9.6 = 10 Delta = 7 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 6 creatures Spawn #16 - Down to 2.3:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 9.2 = 9 Delta = 6 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 5 creatures Spawn #17 - Down to 2.2:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 8.8 = 9 Delta = 6 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 5 creatures Spawn #18 - Down to 2.1:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 8.4 = 8 Delta = 5 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 4 creatures Spawn #19 - Down to 2:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 8 Delta = 5 JoeHunter = 4 creatures Farmer = 4 creatures And we stay at that level until a smaller % of the creatures are dying with every spawn at which point the spawn rate starts to turn back up. Let's say JillHunter shows up, who also kills 1 creature every spawn. Spawn #30 - @2:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 10 (We have a 5th person now) Delta = 7 JoeHunter = 4 creatures JillHunter = 1 creature Farmer = 5 creatures Spawn #31 - @2:1 Pre-spawn population = 3 Target = 10 Delta = 7 JoeHunter = 4 creatures JillHunter = 2 creature (This time Joe's spawn wandered to Jill, or she was one of the 3 people who gets a second creature. Either way.) Farmer = 4 creatures Spawn #32 - @2:1 Pre-spawn population = 4 (Remember, Jill has one that lives now) Target = 10 Delta = 6 JoeHunter = 4 creatures JillHunter = 3 creature (Again, Jill picks up one of the spares) Farmer = 3 creatures Spawn #33 - @2:1 Pre-spawn population = 5 (Joe has 3, Jill has 2) Target = 10 Delta = 5 JoeHunter = 4 creatures JillHunter = 3 creature Farmer = 3 creatures At this point we're again at a steady state, but since we're only replenishing 50% of the creatures each time the spawn rate would start to curve back up. Again, these aren't anywhere near finalized numbers and the above spawn # are purely illustrative, but hey should convey the general idea.
This message was originally posted in Creatures of Elanthia \ General Discussions - Creatures, by DR-RAESH on the play.net forums.