Learning skills/mental cap?

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Pickles
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Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 7:03 am

Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Pickles »

Hi,

I have heard of this thing called a mental/learning cap, and It has been difficult to find clear cut answers so far regarding how it works specifically. To be fair it seems fairly complex. I have read little bits and pieces around the forums and is seems to have been best explained as a constantly re-filling bucket or pool that you draw on while doing tasks related to skill gain such as fighting with a sword, or cooking etc. The fullness of the bucket effects how quickly you learn skills, and as it empties your skill gain slows, and the only way to re-fill it is to wait or do non-skill related tasks for a while like role playing. (please correct me if any of this information is incorrect so far)

What I was hoping to find out, is how much time actually needs to spent doing non-skill related tasks for a character's learning speed to return to normal?
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Kugar
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Re: Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Kugar »

If your skill gain has come to a halt, try playing the game for the equivalent of a couple hours a day for a week (with no skill gain related activity whatsoever) and on your return to skill gain you should find it easier. Otherwise you'll just waste many hours grinding. Short bursts of skill gain. Unless ofcourse you're skilling a weapon at level 99. Then enjoy your many many hours of tears and heartache :wink: .
Pickles
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Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 7:03 am

Re: Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Pickles »

Thanks for your response! Hm, yeah I will definitely have to give that approach a go. It's unfortunate that things aren't more transparent though. I like structured, ridged rules so I can plan my characters/their skills/training... but whatcha gonna do?

Level 99...? Ohh yay I can't waaaiitt... :roll: haha!
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Estralis Seborian
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Re: Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Estralis Seborian »

Hello,

please ignore the initial response. Your "bucket" analogy is quite fitting. But better consider a pool with a tap and a sink. The water level in the pool determines how much you learn per action. Each action you do drains a little water through the sink. But the less water there is in the pool, the more water pours out of the tap! The pool never gets empty. That means that if you do actions constantly, the water level is also constant. If you act in a more cyclic way (work - break - work - break) all that changes is that the water level is sometimes high, sometimes low. In average you win nothing (and lose nothing) over a constant pattern. In conclusion: You can play in whatever style you like. There is no way to "speed up" skillgain as in skill/total time nor a style that is not giving as much skill as any other. The reason why people do this "work - break - work" might be because they think it is faster - because they do not count the waiting time!

Concerning transparency, you can read the code here: https://github.com/Illarion-eV/Illarion ... /learn.lua
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Kugar
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Re: Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Kugar »

If you act in a more cyclic way (work - break - work - break) all that changes is that the water level is sometimes high, sometimes low. In average you win nothing (and lose nothing) over a constant pattern. In conclusion: You can play in whatever style you like. There is no way to "speed up" skillgain as in skill/total time nor a style that is not giving as much skill as any other.
The point is not that it is faster. The point is that you're not just grinding skills for hours of your life but instead doing other more interesting things in the mean time. Its short burst skill gaining because long constant skill gaining is boring af.
Pickles
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Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 7:03 am

Re: Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Pickles »

Okay. So from what I'm reading there really isn't any way to "optimist skill gain", and you should just play as you like because it all evens out in the end?
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Hew Keenaxe
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Re: Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Hew Keenaxe »

Pickles wrote:Okay. So from what I'm reading there really isn't any way to "optimist skill gain", and you should just play as you like because it all evens out in the end?
No, It doesn't.
If I grind for hours, I gain the same as one that doesn't, that is true.
But I have used much more resources than the one that learned faster. Resources cost..in time or coins. It is better to wait until you know you can learn.
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Estralis Seborian
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Re: Learning skills/mental cap?

Post by Estralis Seborian »

That last statement is completely true. In Illarion, you don't have to grind all day long to get anywhere. There is no need to hoard thousands of resources or to craft items for the junkyard. But if you do - because your customers ordered many items, you need some money or you just enjoy beating up monsters and sell the loot - there is no drawback. So any minute spent playing comes with a benefit. Whether you chat with other players, attend a ceremony, work or just explore the map - you don't waste time, skill gaining wise. Just inactive ideling does not do any good.
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