GenCaravan(Builder)

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This page is for constructing GenCaravans. For GenWagons, please see the ITEMS page.

GenCaravans are special portals connected to a series of rooms with special CARAVAN commands. GenCaravans can be purchased, sold, and traded like Property(CoffeeMUD). GenCaravans can be damaged using the seige combat system.

Creating a GenCaravan

As with all things in CoffeeMUD there are two ways to create, through the Command Line (CL) and through the MUD Grinder.

CL Method

Go to a room in which you are creating the caravan. You may wish to create the caravan in a room that it may normally travel in, such as a road or plains room. This room may be a restricted room.

  • CREATE ITEM GENCARAVAN
  • EDIT the item fields:
    • Name
    • Display
    • Description
    • Price
    • Base Value
    • Weight
    • Moves per Tick
  • SAVE ROOM
  • ENTER (caravanname)
    • Modify rooms on the caravan.
    • Make sure you create an exit by using LINK (room number that the caravan was created in) BACK. Most doors are on the BACK side of the caravan. You can link to any room outside of the caravan, really...it is just creating the dynamic link to exiting the caravan.
    • CREATE ROOM FORWARD to create a room in front of the exiting room (you are on a caravan, so you need to use caravan directions).
    • You can link internal rooms to each other by referencing their room numbers.
  • EXIT your caravan
  • SAVE ROOM again, just in case.

MUD Grinder Method

Go to a room in which you are creating the caravan. This room may be a restricted room (non-player room, just to contain the inventory which you will use elsewhere later).

  • Under items, click the NEW button.
  • On the Item Screen, select GenCaravan. Modify information and save the item.
  • Edit the item, completing the following items:
    • Name
    • Display
    • Description
    • Price
    • Base Value
    • Weight
    • Moves per Tick
    • Click EDIT ROOMS button
      • This will open up a new area editor with the base room. Caravan should generally be laid out in a North-South configuration. The NORTH exit in the editor is the same as FORWARD on the caravan.
      • Make sure at least ONE room links to an external area. This will become an exit for the caravan, and link to the room the caravan is currently in.
      • After you are finished creating and modifying rooms, finish out of the area.
    • Save the GenCaravan
  • Save the Room
  • You can now add the caravan to any other room or shopkeeper inventory for as long as the caravan remains in the item queue.

GenCaravan fields

  • 1. Name - Note, using the bracketed [NEWNAME] parameter will allow players to specify the name of the caravan. IE. Battlewagon [NEWNAME] would prompt a player to input a name after they purchase he caravan from a shopkeeper. If they input ABRAMS , then the caravan name would become the BATTLEWAGON ABRAMS.
  • 2. Display - This is the short text seen by others in the room of the caravan. Again, using the bracketed [NEWNAME] will allow the caravan name to be displayed in the display.
  • 3. Description - This should be the general description for a caravan of this class. Generally, the name of the caravan is not used in the description, but using the bracketed [NEWNAME] will allow the caravan name to be displayed.
  • 4. Level - caravan level is only significant for picking up vessels (which is not recommended) and for recipe designs. A player may own any level of caravan.
  • 5. Rejuv/Pct - 0 for never, which player caravans should not rejuv. Enemy caravans should be set to 100.
  • 6. Capacity - This is the external capacity of the caravan, which they could only get access to from outside the caravan. Internal capacity will be on a room-by-room basis.
  • 7. Can Contain - Leave set to ANYTHING. Again, true capacity is set on a room-by-room basis.
  • 8. Owner - This field contains the name of the player or clan that owns the caravan. An Owner name that starts with the "#" character denotes a special property that should be treated as owned for certain legal purposes, but not by any real Clan or Player.
  • 9. Price - Total price=cost + price + sum of all items costs on the caravan.
  • 10. Has a lid - leave set at FALSE. This works similar to capacity, and is only significant if capacity is greater than 0.
  • 11. Material Type - This determines what materials will be received if the caravan is scrapped. Setting to NOTHING will effectively prevent the caravan from being scrapped (great for ghost-caravans), but this should generally reflect the nature of the caravan.
  • 12. Secret Identity - Not generally used.
  • 13. Base Value - Total price=cost + price + sum of all items costs on the caravan.
  • 14. Uses Remaining - This is how damaged the caravan is (percentage).
  • 15. Weight - I recommend at least 1000 pounds per room. This is significant for clever players who scrap the ship (what a waste!). I have used a more complicated formula for caravans in the caravanbuilding skill (see Caravan Room Design below)
  • 16. Dispositions - Set these dispositions as desired to make invisible, hidden, etc. Do not set IS FLYING, IS CLIMBING, IS SWIMMING = TRUE.
    • The "Is Unattackable" disposition will prevent players and mobs from attacking this caravan, which is useful for public service vessels.
  • 17.
    • IS GETTABLE - Leave set to FALSE for normal use. It is not a good idea to enable the caravan to be picked up (lots of potential unexplored conflicts with players in rooms in other players inventories), although builders may wish to temporarily allow this so they can put caravans in specific locations and then modify the flag again to disable GET.
    • IS DROPPABLE - Leave set to TRUE
    • IS REMOVABLE - Leave set to TRUE
    • NON-LOCATABLE - Set to TRUE if you desire the ship to avoid detection (such as scrying).
    • BLEND DISPLAY - Set to TRUE if you desire the ship to not show up in the room (perhaps police frigates or some such). Normally leave as FALSE.
    • CONTENTS ACCESS - Leave set to FALSE. This field would allow access to items stored inside the ship's capacity (6) to be usable by a character holding the ship (like a key ring allows keys to be accessed). Has no effect if 6 is set to zero OR IS GETTABLE is set to FALSE.
  • 18. There is no 18. Don't modify.
  • 19. Assigned Room IDs - This is autogenerated. To change the caravan's area, first enter the caravan and MODIFY AREA, changing the name. Then return to this CL editor and edit this field to point to the new area name. If using the [NEWNAME] function as the caravan id from option 1 and 2, then do not modify this field.
  • 20. Behaviors - Any behaviors you wish applied to the caravan object. Normally, you will want the behaviors on the mobs inside the caravans.
  • 21. Effects - Any effects you wish applied to the caravan itself, such as prop_scrapexplode to prevent a particular caravan from resulting in materials when scrapped.
  • 22. Rideable Type - Leave set as ENTER-IN (otherwise there are different items that you desire)
  • 23. Number of MOBs held - Leave set at 1. This would be significant if you modified the RIDEABLE TYPE to be something else, but really makes no sense.
  • 24. Exit Direction - The title of the door used to enter/leave the caravan.
  • 25. Exit Closed Text - Caravan entries may use doors, so this would be the entry display when closed, like "a closed door" or "a shut gate".
  • 26. Mount Strings - A list of slash(/) delimited descriptors for entering/exiting the caravan.
  • 27. Moves per Tick - This is the combat speed of the caravan. A value of 1-5 is recommended. Having too large of a value will make siege combat too unpredictable.
  • 28. MXP Image filename - The filename of the MXP graphic.

Creating Multiple Caravans

Since GenCaravans are basically miniature areas, some care should be taken when creating multiple caravans. Similar to areas, each caravan should have it's own area name (ideally, matching the caravan name, so when players are on the caravan, they will see that in the appropriate commands). Creating multiple caravans is similar to creating multiple ships, which are discussed on under GenSailingShips.

Caravan Room Design

Due to the various designs of caravans, different styles of caravans may result in dramatically different material costs/weights to build the caravan. Therefore, the caravans in the caravan making skill use the following format for determining weight:

Size Total Rooms Weight Cost
Small 2 600 100
Medium 3 1200 150
Large 4 2400 250
Huge 5 3600 1000
Massive 6+ 4800 2500

Notes:

  • for battle-platforms (caravans that carry siege weapons), I would frequently make the caravan only 2 rooms total, but increase the weapon capacity limits on the caravan to reflect that a heavier siege weapon required more space (although just a single room). Mounting a Trebuchet to a horse-drawn frame that you could fire the Trebuchet from while moving requires significant engineering!
  • Double Decker caravans would double the non-bench rooms available on a caravan, so a large double-decker would have (4-1=3) three coach rooms.


The Bench Room: Each caravan should have 1 bench as the FORWARD-most room. The Bench is where the caravan driving commands are normally issued from. As such, the bench should be a DECK room and MAY have an exit to the LEFT or RIGHT (or both) for ease of dismounting. Bench room weights are "free" WoodenDeck rooms (no additional cost or weight, but do count as 1 room). Each bench seats up to 3 people. I use the Prop_ReqCapacity settings of (people=3 mobs=2 weight=50 items=5) to reduce the likelihood of a caravan becoming undriveable due to inadvertently filling up the room with NPC mobs.

Room Type Weight Cost Props Notes
Coach Wooden 1000 1000 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=12 mobs=11 weight=2000 items=100) This is a basic people-hauler room.
Library Wooden 2000 2500 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=4 mobs=3 weight=2000 items=1000) This room is designed to hold more items than a coach. Consider adding built-in bookshelves.
Wooden Spa 4000 5000 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=4 mobs=3 weight=1000 items=100) This room is designed to hold a bathtub, which must be added separately.
Luxury Wooden 2000 5000 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=6 mobs=5 weight=3000 items=200) This is intended to serve as a living room feature. Consider adding 1 or two window-type exits and nice seating like sofas or lounges.
Wooden Chapel 1200 1250 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=12 mobs=11 weight=2000 items=100), Prop_NoTelling, Prop_NoChannel, Prop_HereSpellCast(Skill_Shush) This is a quite-space room.
Kitchen Wooden 2500 3000 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=4 mobs=3 weight=5000 items=1000) This room is reinforced to hold heavy furniture such as a stove, sink and/or fridge, which must be added in separately. Cabinets for holding dishes, and a table for preparing items are nice additions.
LSW ShipLightGunDeck 2000 2000 This open platform has hardpoints for mounting a light siege weapon.
MSW ShipMediumGunDeck 3000 2500 This open platform has hardpoints for mounting a medium siege weapon.
HSW ShipHeavyGunDeck 4000 3000 This open platform has hardpoints for mounting a heavy siege weapon.
Ice Wooden 3000 5000 Prop_IceBox, Prop_ReqCapacity(people=12 mobs=11 weight=2000 items=100) This is a refrigerated room for preventing items from spoiling.
Freight Wooden 2000 1500 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=4 mobs=3 weight=10000 items=1000) This is a basic cargo-hauler room.
Tanker IndoorUnderWater 5000 2500 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=12 mobs=11 weight=2000 items=100) This room is full of water, ideal for transporting large quantities of water and water creatures. Due to the nature of this room, entry to the caravan is to a side-exit of the Bench room, and a BACK exit leads to the tanker room. This way, players won't drown trying to get to the driving station of the caravan.
Smithy Wooden 6000 2000 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=3 mobs=2 weight=4000 items=1000) This is a reinforced room to hold a forge and storage bins for crafting, which must be included separately.
Vault Wooden 6000 7500 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=6 mobs=5 weight=4000 items=500), Prop_NoSummon, Prop_NoTeleport(nosummon=true) This is a treasure room. Consider adding a lock to the caravan door to make it more difficult to access.
Troop Wooden 1500 500 Prop_ReqCapacity(people=12 mobs=11 weight=2000 items=100), Prop_RoomView(LONGLOOK ATTACK;OUT) This is basically an uncomfortable coach room with arrow-slits.

Sailing Ship Guidelines

These guidelines are specific to the Original CoffeeMUD server. Other administrators may use different values.

  • Sailing ships should be designed in a north-south fashion. The bow of the ship should be the northern most room, the stern of the ship the southern-most room.
  • Sailing ships should be longer north-south than they are wide east-west.
  • Sailing ships should have at least 1 deck room, since all current siege weapons require an open deck to shoot from.
  • Deck rooms should have weight limits, to control how many siege weapons can be placed on them.
    • The WoodenDeck locale is the basic room type for ships. It provides a flat, open-air surface upon which players may fish from (if adjacent to water) and siege weapons may fire from.
    • Non-weapon deck rooms should have prop_reqcapacity(items=20 weight=300 siegeweapon=0). This is the default setting for the ShipDeck room locale.
    • Light-Weapon deck rooms should have prop_reqcapacity(items=20 weight=400 siegeweapon=1). This is the default setting for the ShipLightGunDeck locale.
    • Normal Weapon deck rooms should have prop_reqcapacity(items=20 weight=600 siegeweapon=2). This is the default setting for the ShipMedGunDeck locale.
    • Heavy Weapon deck rooms should have prop_reqcapacity(items=20 weight=1000 siegeweapon=3). This is the default setting for the ShipHeavyGunDeck locale.
  • Any Cargo hold rooms (woodroom or stoneroom, generally below deck) should have prop_req(items=1000 weight=10000). This is the default setting for the ShipHold locale. This creates a large hold, but helps limit the overall carry capacity of the ship, making larger ships more useful for hauling big cargos.
  • Any other enclosed (wood/stone) rooms should have prop_reqcapacity(items=100 weight=1000). This is the default setting for the ShipQuarter locale. This allows players to create a variety of rooms without worrying directly about weight.
    • The ShipMagazine is an enclosed wooden room with prop_reqcapacity(items=200 weight=1000). The intent is for this room type to be located next to a ShipHeavyGunDeck with no other links, to provide a storage location for ammunition.
  • Ship Moves per Tick should be between 1 and 5 inclusive. Larger values will make combat between two very fast ships too random.

Updating Caravanbuilding Skills

To create a specialized listing of available ship:

  • Create each of your ships individually in your design room.
      • Be sure to include a gangplank from your ship (an exit off of the ship), which may be linked to your ship building room. The Shipbuilding skill will change this link to reference wherever the ship is located at the time.
    • Save the room and then EXPORT ROOM ITEMS (your ship saving directory).
    • Repeat for each ship desired to be added to your list.
  • Create a text file called Shipbuilding.cmare
    • Copy the files from each exported ship into your Shipbuilding.cmare text file.
    • Delete the ITEMS tag from the start of each ship file, and the /ITEMS tag from the end of each file.
    • When you are done adding ships, make add in an ITEMS tag at the start of the file and a /ITEMS tag at the end of the file.
    • Save your Shipbuilding.cmare file.
  • Delete the Shipbuilding.cmare file in /Resources/Skills
  • Delete the shipwright.txt file in /Resources/Skills
  • Using the command line, UNLOAD RESOURCE SHIPWRIGHT.TXT
  • Using the command line, UNLOAD RESOURCE SHIPWRIGHT
  • On any character with shipbuilding or clanshipbuilding, do the SHIPBUILD LIST command to see your new ships.

Other Caravan Tricks

These are builder hacks for designing a better caravan:

  • If you don't want your caravan to be controlled by a player, then create your bench room in your caravan with the captain in it, and remove the link to get there. Provide Prop_NoTeleport and Prop_NoSummon to this room so players can't access it. Make your captain have a Prop_SafePet, as an extra precaution (and to keep him from being counted as the base-area population).
  • If you don't want a caravan to be attacked, there are three ways to do this. You can set the caravan's Is unattackable flag to TRUE. You could give the caravan Prop_SafePet. Or you could grant every mob on the caravan Prop_SafePet. The first two methods are the best, overall.
  • Caravans are basically miniature areas. As such, players enjoy seeing custom decorations, loot, and other scenery on the caravan. Try to add a little uniqueness to each caravan.
  • Once you have your captain (MOB with SAILOR behavior with peacemover), you caravan will try to escape your build room. To avoid this, have an archon with SYSMSGS on in the build room or prop_ReqNoMOB on the area(s) that the room leads to (and probably the area the room is in, if that is different). You can also land-lock your caravan room by making adjacent rooms non-traversable room types (like water rooms, mountains or in-the-air).
  • It is best to keep the primary exits from rooms in a FORWARD/BACK directions for future compatibility. Having exits to the LEFT or RIGHT are fine for internal rooms, but the bench should always be most FORWARD, and the main exit should be most BACK.
  • If you IMPORT a caravan and save it in a room, you must enter the caravan itself and modify some internal aspect of it before it will establish it's "gangplank" primary exit to the existing room the caravan is traveling through. Otherwise the internal area won't link externally, and entry into the caravan will be one-way.
  • Unlike sailing ships, caravans don't have their own independent locomotion. In order for a caravan to move, it must be pulled by a mountable GenMob (hereby referenced as a HORSE). The horse must be attached to the GenCaravan with a GenGangline. If the horse doesn't have enough strength to pull that weight of a caravan, multiple horses can be mounted together with multiple GenGanglines.
    • For this reason, it is highly recommended that sellers of caravans also sell Ganglines and/or horses, or are located near a vendor that sells those commodities.
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