Talk:Tattoo of the Wandering Way
From NexusWiki
> The number of Magic Points spent is equal to the distance travelled.
> Thus, if the Nexus Champion teleported 4 squares north and 5 squares east,
> he would spend a total of 9 Magic Points.
No doubt this has been discussed in the forum, but the definition given in the wiki is *not* consistent with gameplay.
The de facto measure of distance in the game is the AP cost to get from point to point.
As we all know, diagonal moves cost exactly the same AP as horizontal and vertical moves.
Because teleportation is instantaneous travel, I submit that even intervening water squares, etc., should not affect the "path" taken by the teleporting traveller. Which would be the longest diagonal, followed by whatever horizontal or vertical distance remains.
The math is not particularly hard, little more so than the current math. And much more in line with gameplay.
I'll spell it out. Let's say the person is starting at (x1,y1) and teleports to (x2,y2).
The horizontal distance "dx" is dx=abs(x2-x1) and the vertical distance "dy" is dy=abs(y2-y1), where "abs()" is the absolute value function.
IMHO, the MP cost "C" should *not* be : C = dx + dy, as explained above.
By "taking the diagonal", the cost is properly figured as:
C = max(dx,dy), where "max()" is the maximum function.
Lacking a max() function, this may be expressed equivalently as:
C = ( (dx+dy) + abs(dx-dy) ) / 2
If jorm (or whoever) needs to represent the cost equation in terms of the starting and ending point, just substitute for dx and dy above with abs(x2-x1) and abs(y2-y1).
--Nwfanboy 13:45, 17 July 2006 (CDT)
Posted the above to the "Suggestions" thread on the NW forum
Jorm responded:
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No.
This removes one of the only limitations to the skill, which is that you have to choose either to spend extra MP to do the trip in one hop *OR* extra AP to do it in two.
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and the suggestion was thrown into Suggestion Dump and locked before I could respond.
jorm is missing my point entirely.
I am not addressing the issue of proper MP-per-distance, here. The issue is the *definition* of distance. Right now, this skill costs a straight 1-to-1 MP-for-AP in moving along either the N-S and E-W directions. But along the diagonals, it costs instead a 2-to-1 MP-for-AP because of the weird way the distance is computed.
So this makes the effective "range" of teleport to appear as a (weird) diamond on the map, rather than square as is the case for all other movement types.
This has nothing to do with the *size* of the range, but the *shape* of the range. I'm arguing that the *shape* of the range should be no different than the other movement-type actions : walking, flying, wisping, etc. None of those "overcharge" for moving along diagonals. Then why should teleporting? If jorm wants to make teleporting expensive in MP, say 2-for-1, then he should apply that equally for diagonal or non-diagonal travel. Rather than the existing situation, where it's twice as cheap to teleport N,E,S,W than it is NE,NW,SE,SW.
Here's hoping that jorm will see this response, someday.
--Nwfanboy 17:10, 17 July 2006 (CDT)
For the record, that "diamond" is a square rotated 45 degrees (draw it using points instead of "squares").
Perhaps there's some reason fundamental to the nexus why you can't teleport NW/NE/SW/SE? Traveling along ley lines or some such. At the very least, I think the skill is useful enough and you would double its usefulness (the area of the diamond is half the area of the square it's inscribed upon) with this change. You could reduce the max distance in any direction but that would make it less useful in some types of overland travel. Macabre 00:58, 26 August 2006 (CDT)
[edit] Stronghold wards
"The Nexus Champion cannot teleport into a square if there is a ward erected that would normally prevent him from entering the location (such as one provided by a faction stronghold)."
How could a stronghold ward affect this skill if it always places you outside the destination? Vroxayl 03:23, 4 December 2007 (CST)
- It can't. I've just edited that bit out of the Tattoo of the Wandering Way page. Stronghold Wards don't affect it at all - the only wards that affect teleportation are Cast Wards, such as Greater Wards vs Neutral, and only when cast on the outside of a tile. So, for example, if your Evil Nexus Champion attempts to teleport to a tile where there is a Greater Ward vs Evil cast on the outside of that tile, he will be unable to (he'll still have to pay the price of the jump though. Think of it as teleporting as normal - with it's attendant MP cost - but then hitting a Ward and ricocheting back to where you started). --SerialKillaSmile 04:42, 4 December 2007 (CST)
