Mercenaries

[trevius]

Yeah, I think the SQL for the upkeep cost was committed as testing settings, where it is easier to tell if upkeep is working properly when you don't have to wait 15 minutes between each one. On live, it is 15 minutes for upkeep and 3 minutes for the suspend interval. If you want to set that, you can run the following SQL:

UPDATE rule_values SET rule_value = 900000 WHERE rule_name = 'Mercs:UpkeepIntervalMS';
UPDATE rule_values SET rule_value = 900 WHERE rule_name = 'Mercs:UpkeepIntervalS';
UPDATE rule_values SET rule_value = 180000 WHERE rule_name = 'Mercs:SuspendIntervalMS';
UPDATE rule_values SET rule_value = 180 WHERE rule_name = 'Mercs:SuspendIntervalS';

I think the upkeep timers are still a bit flakey, but hopefully we can get that stuff ironed out along with a few other things soon.

[gibroni]

noticed that after zoning the mercs mana goes to zero. so it isnt retaining their mana when zoning.

[bad_captain]

Yeah, nothing is saved currently. I plan on working on buffs & other stuff in the next couple days.

[Drajor]

I left Trevius a message on IRC but I am really not sure who this should go to.
After looking into the dbstr_us.txt file changes I was able to pull out data for 2375 mercs. The data includes ID, Race, Type, Confidence, Proficiency and Tier.

Anyone want it?

[bad_captain]

What's in there that's not already in game? I haven't looked at RoF to see if there were any new mercs, but the rest should be in there ( then again, half or more of them are only available through expansion purchases, special merchant contracts, and other methods that may not be available in game).

[Drajor]

Originally Posted by bad_captain

What's in there that's not already in game? I haven't looked at RoF to see if there were any new mercs, but the rest should be in there ( then again, half or more of them are only available through expansion purchases, special merchant contracts, and other methods that may not be available in game).

I don't know. I haven't played live since PoP!

[thepoetwarrior]

Some of these rule values seem duplicated.

Mercs:SuspendIntervalMS
Mercs:SuspendIntervalS

Mercs:UpkeepIntervalMS
Mercs:UpkeepIntervalS

Mercs:AggroRadius
Mercs:AggroRadiusPuller

Is one or the other obsolete?

[bad_captain]

The top two sets are, and I think were done for convenience. The last pair are not, as it allows two different aggro radii, depending on if the mob's target is the puller or not (puller radius is smaller, or they would run out to attack before you want them to.)

[trevius]

Here are the default rule settings from ruletypes.h for the merc timer stuff:

RULE_INT (Mercs, SuspendIntervalMS, 10000)
RULE_INT (Mercs, UpkeepIntervalMS,  180000)
RULE_INT (Mercs, SuspendIntervalS, 10)
RULE_INT (Mercs, UpkeepIntervalS, 180)

I dunno why they were done in seconds and ms, since we could just multiple or divide by 1000 in the source to switch from seconds to ms. I think the reasoning was because some places use seconds and some use ms, so it might be a bit less resources to not have to do the math even though the math is pretty simple/quick. We can probably remove whichever rule is used the least and just do the math for the seconds or ms depending on which one is kept. Either way, for now, just make sure they are the same amount of time for the MS and S rules with the same name (as shown in the defaults).

To be Live-Like, the UpkeepIntervals should actually be 15 minutes, otherwise you get spammed every 3 minutes about upkeep costs. Currently, upkeep costs are disabled until the merc stuff is more finalized, so there is no actual charge that happens, just a message about it.

[Thuz989]

I would love to see mercs succeed. That being said here is what i am observing..

ROF clients trying to zone with most mercs = zone crash Ill have to compile with debug and try this...

Cleric mercs just chain cast group loyalty buffs
Cleric mercs just keep chain casting group hp buff if it cant buff pet of PC.

When you dismis a bot, it still hows on your screen, and is targetable, but strangely enough you can do anything to it. Still shows in group. Zoning seems to clear the issue ONLY for the PC that zoned. everyone else can still see merc in group and standing there doing nothing.

After you dismiss a merc it is not deleted from database.

I realize its an enormous amount of work, and i appreciate your efforts.

[Shiny151]

Originally Posted by bad_captain

The top two sets are, and I think were done for convenience. The last pair are not, as it allows two different aggro radii, depending on if the mob's target is the puller or not (puller radius is smaller, or they would run out to attack before you want them to.)

So since the 2/18 merc update with:

REQUIRED SQL: 2013_02_18_Merc_Rules_and_Tables.sql
OPTIONAL SQL: 2013_02_18_Merc_Spells.sql

...is the mercs.sql in the utils\sql\svn still required as well?

[bad_captain]

Originally Posted by Shiny151

So since the 2/18 merc update with:

REQUIRED SQL: 2013_02_18_Merc_Rules_and_Tables.sql
OPTIONAL SQL: 2013_02_18_Merc_Spells.sql

...is the mercs.sql in the utils\sql\svn still required as well?

No, from now on, all sql scripts will be in the git folder. They are basically the same file.


Edit: the file referenced in my git commit about merc spells is the same as the one you referenced. The earlier files are required as they add the necessary tables, if this is an initial install. If it is just an update, then just use the version in the git sql folder.

[Thuz989]

Can this code even work anymore now that mercs have own table?? I assume they dont have NPC ids that i have seen?? I assume since they dont have a special attack field this wont ever be true?

//try main hand first
				if(attack_timer.Check()) {
					Attack(GetTarget(), SLOT_PRIMARY);

					bool tripleSuccess = false;

					if(GetOwner() && GetTarget() && CanThisClassDoubleAttack()) {

						if(GetOwner()) {
							Attack(GetTarget(), SLOT_PRIMARY, true);
						}

						if(GetOwner() && GetTarget() && SpecAttacks[SPECATK_TRIPLE]) {
							tripleSuccess = true;
							Attack(GetTarget(), SLOT_PRIMARY, true);
						}

						//quad attack, does this belong here??
						if(GetOwner() && GetTarget() && SpecAttacks[SPECATK_QUAD]) {
							Attack(GetTarget(), SLOT_PRIMARY, true);
						}
					}

[Shiny151]

Originally Posted by bad_captain

No, from now on, all sql scripts will be in the git folder. They are basically the same file.


Edit: the file referenced in my git commit about merc spells is the same as the one you referenced. The earlier files are required as they add the necessary tables, if this is an initial install. If it is just an update, then just use the version in the git svn folder.

Okay great because how you described the update is how i followed it. I just wanted to make sure i didn't miss anything. And by the way, thank for for working on Mercs; I have a half a dozen folks who play on my server and we have really been enjoying the greater possibilities they bring. We appreciate all the work you've done to bring this to us.

[Armm]

Using ROF and UF client with latest 32 bit GIT build, running latest PEQ and patches, up to and including git sql patches.

These problems happen on both ROF and UF clients every time:

Suspend and Dismiss merc leaves merc standing there, targetable, but only has an entity number. Cant use #kill or #damage on him. If you zone you cant see them anymore.


With 2PC in group with mercs, if you suspend a bot, UNSUSPEND him and then zone, you end up with 2 mercs with same name in database. Repeat and you get more mercs in database with same name. The old ones show as suspended. If you start chain dismissing them you can get rid of some but not all of dupes.


Assuming 2 PCs and mercs in group, 1 tank merc, 1 healer merc... 2 pets. Healer will chain cast loyalty group buff series because it wont stick on pets im guessing. Get rid of pets, problem goes away.


Thank you for working on mercs! they seem to zone better than bots. If the ghost/dupe thing was figured out it would be great.