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1-3 horrible!

0 (0%)

3-5 bad.

0 (0%)

6-7 mediocraty at its finest...

3 (27.3%)

7-8 good.

3 (27.3%)

9-10 great actually!

5 (45.5%)

Total Members Voted: 11

[pisskop]

Removing the silver pike from its head with a satisfying grunt, Lisid wanders back to the stockroom.  In it he finds all kinds of loot, but decides on only taking what is practical to carry.  Among the goods he obtains:

silver spear (2)
well-made copper gauntlet (2)
A bag of various gems and trinkets

This load reduced his effective speed to 672, too slow in  his opinion.  He found a solution in dropping the goods at the sewer entrance, however, and found the walk as pleasant as uneventful.

At a speed of 730, Lisid was carrying little that he wasn't wearing.  His money, ( 8 ) food, a steel shield, (2) well-made silver spears, and the blood coating his several articles of armor.

Walking back to the stockroom, he prepares to press on. . .

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Is it bad that I am at work and multi-tasking this?  My job is to help people register for college courses, so Im often spending up to a half-hour sorting out their life for them...]

[pisskop]

Opening the door, he finds another bandit warlord, this one shouting "I am Luc Gazewoman!"  who was it shouting to?  Apparently it saw the crossbowman already, for a lasher has already tasted a bolt of justice from him.  Something in the dark returned fire, missing its intended mark.  This bandit lord was not one of his marks, but it would die nonetheless.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Throwing his two spears before the crossbowman opens the door again, Lisid picks up another and lobs it at a second lasher, who is now directly to the right of Lisid!  Looking briefly around, Lisid notes that he is flanked on his right by a healthy lasher, his left by a crippled lasher, and in front by Gazewoman.  Luc Gazewoman was wielding a deadly-looking iron crossbow, something that could only be forged in the fires of war.  Lisid had little wish to engage anything with a weapon like that.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Turning slightly back to the lasher on his right, Lisid merges the silver spear with its face quite successfully.  Removing it, Lisid turns to the bandit warlord and fires the same spear.  As a reflex the bandit dodges!  Before Lisid can follow, a spearmaster and pikemaster storm out of the darkness and attack the prone crossbowman!

Sensing damger, Lisid ignores the lasher who crawls by him to retreat into the shadows.  A couple of master spear/pike men just popped up to deal their favored brand of death.  However, In running from the center of the room, Lisid finds a mace lord observing the combat from a far corner.  in a superhuman feat of strength, Lisid tosses a coffer of precious gems at the macelord, who easily sidesteps.  A quick evaluation leads Lisid to conclude he should simply GTFOD and not come back.  But how to make sure the masterful bandits aren't waiting for him to backtrack. . .

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Luckily, Lisid gets back to the doorway to see the spearmaster walking back to into the dark recesses of the room.  Perhaps Lisid would not face death at the hands of highly skilled bandits after all!

Removing his shield, Lisid creeps around the doorjamb, thankfully not seeing anything but the corpse of the crossbowman. . .  His other mark was somewhere in the sewers, but it was clear that Lisid wasn't the biggest fish in the ocean any longer. . .

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[I am done for the day.  On the plus now I can chase boogeys again, if I ignore this last damn mark...]

[pisskop]

Lisid felt despair.  He had no manly scars.  He had no companions, for they were all slaughtered by bandits.  He had nothing but a small killist and small scars.

His kidney was constantly bleeding from arrow wounds.  He felt he was better at sneaking than fighting.  He stood by and watched his last friend die while he rummaged for coffers.  Reporting his success and simultaneous failure, Lisid informs the lord of the town that he is going to the ocean, to meditate.  When he returns he is expecting to finish his job, sans help.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

With just enough concern to be polite, the lord warns him about the monsters that dwell in the night.  Sullenly, Lisid informs him that his nose and ear are from prior attempts by these creatures upon his life.  Lisid promised to return, and even mentioned a sizeable stash of goods that he had discovered, hoping to spur the soldiers in the fort to taking action without him.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Traveling to the edge of the busy street, Lisid moves quietly though the rain with no noise, not sneaking but not swaggering around drunk as he saw the last few souls awake doing.  The road terminates at a river, meaning the brave Lisid must cross it somehow.  Exiting his internal world of reflection, Lisid sees snow all around him, indicating the river may be frozen.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[pisskop]

As he suspected, the river was frozen through.  Walking a small distance past the river, Lisid decides to camp for the night.

Dropping down into a sneak before sleeping (to lower his speed, I have a theory about that - lower speeds = more frequent attacks), Lisid promptly falls asleep, despite not being very tired.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lisid wakes up to this (or rather doesn't wake up).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

W.T.F?  Gores? How anticlimatic and unusual.  Gooddamnit the horned ones are always the most fun.

[I shall save scum and hope to survive a horn to the body this time.  Tomorrow.]

[pisskop]

[Sorry, Tonight I'l run an experiement and tomorrow I'll post.]

[Pirate Bob]

If you want to fight lots of bogeys, have you considered sleeping during the day and fast traveling around at night?  If you let them catch you in your sleep it's going to end badly for you more often than not, as you will start stunned and on the ground with one of them already attacking you.  Better yet, just become a vampire etc, and don't sleep at all.  I've definitely run into plenty of bogeymen while fast traveling at night, and with decent armor, skills, and tactics they can be defeated reliably, without the need for savescumming. 

[pisskop]

[Yeppers, was my mistake to sleep for the hell of it.  Kinda rushed it, actually.]

No, Lisid is dead, the savescum is to contribute to something.

[pisskop]

I did some testing.  I am curious on when and why boogeymen appear. I've noticed discrepencies. . . and shown them to you briefly.  This one test is where I sneak-waited 8hours.  I changed position slightly to help differentiate the trials, but it seems in about 7/10 or so, boogeys showed up.  About half the time horned ones pop in to say hi.  Although I am unsure if anyone knows the formula used to gen boogeys. . .

Pics/text incoming.


SNEAKWAIT TRIAL

The idea is to eventually shed light on when and how Boogeys attack.  I used his point of death to conduct the experiment.  He is literally less than 300 tiles to the shore.  I will sneak and wait 8 hours to see how often they come.  An animal of some kind can see Lisid unless he hides directly east of a tree, indicating one or more creatures to the west.  All of this was conducted at about midnight in a snowy-covered hill.

Sneak speed is 372
Walking speed is 754

Spoiler: Trial_01 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_02 =Boogey, Horned (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_03 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_04 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_05 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_06 =Boogey, Horned (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_07 =Boogey, Horned (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_08 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_09, Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_10, Boogey, No Horn (Let off steam) (click to show/hide)

CONCLUSION

70% of the time, 5 boogeymen appeared. 
3/7 of that time, one had a horn.  The horn obviously was decisively lethal, although Lisid was not trying to live, rather stumble ahead.
The tests around the tree where no animal could see him seemed to yield the best chances for no boogey attacks.

Further testing should be done, on another character in another biome, with controlled creature LOS settings.  Higher speeds and sleeping must also be tested.  Also recommended is attempting to 'sleep until dawn'.

I will test the rest after this meeting.  I plan to use a not-sneaking waiting trial.

[pisskop]

This time I repeated the same methodology as above, but I waiting without sneaking.  I expected to see more boogeys because I was not sneaking, but completely forgot to factor in bandits who would see me.  Bandit attacks always occured at or near dawn.

Walking speed 754

Spoiler: Trial_01 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_02 =Bandit (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_03 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_04 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_05 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_06 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_07 =Bandit (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_08 =Boogey, Horned (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_09 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_10 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

CONCLUSION

I found that Lisid's life was put at risk 7/10 times, the same as above.  However, bandits (much more dangereous than boogeys) came twice, presumably spotting him when on patrol.  Each time the bandits were from a different faction.  To note I did tinker with bandit populations in the raw\objects\civ.txt file, usually raising it.
  Only 1/10 times was Lisid confronted with a horned boogeyman, although one boogeyman did give him a nasty kick to the head before I could ascertain the status of the boogeys.
  It seems that the danger rate stayed about the same overall, with bandits taking the place of horned boogeymen 66% of the time.  Overall, Lisid could expect to be safe 3/10 times, in attacked by boogeys 4/10 times, and in danger 3/10 times.  Positioning seemed to have less to do with this trial.

Further testing should include higher or lower speeds, sleeping, and possibly postitioning and creature status.

[pisskop]

In this next experiment, I shall sneak and sleep for 8 hours, recording the reactions to this in ten trials.  I expect to see more boogeymen based upon my earlier theory that lower speeds equal more attacks.  I do not expect any ambushes.

Sneak speed 372
Stunned waking speed 251
crawling speed 331

Spoiler: Trial_01 = Raven ambush (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_02 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_03 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_04 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_05 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_06 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_07 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_08 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_09 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_10 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

CONCLUSION

5/10 of the time, Lisid was safe.  Whether or not his ambush skill had anything to do with it is unknown.  No horned boogeymen attacked, but Lisid was ambushed by wildlife 1/10 times, suggesting that it sleeping is safer than waiting.  4/10 times generic boogeymen attacked Lisid.  This ruins the polite little coorelation I had established in the first two trial, albeit Lisid was not sleeping in those.

  Repeating this experiment to confirm accuracy, and in another biome with more dangereous creatures is recommended.  A novice adventurer and a master ambusher should ideally repeat this experiment.

As an amusing sidenote, Lisid launched the ravens consistenly into the air and a couple tiles away.

[pisskop]

In this final test of the night, I shall not sneak but still sleep for 8 hours.  I expect attack frequency to be higher at this point, due to hampered mobility and not having the 'sneaking' status.  However, the previous experiments suggest otherwise.

Speeds here as the same as listed in above experiements.

Spoiler: Trial_01 =Bogey, No horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_02 =Bandit (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_03 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_04 =Bandit (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_05 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_06 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_07 =Boogey, No Horn (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_08 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_09 =No Boogey (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trial_10 =Boogey, Horned (click to show/hide)

CONCLUSION

3/10 of the time Lisid was safe to sleep the night away. 1/10 of the time a horned boogey attacked, and 2/10 bandits attacked, totaling 3/10 together.  4/10 of the time generic  boogeys attacked.

From these 4 rather simple experiements, I would venture to say that sneaking is safer than not sneaking, whether you are also sleeping or not.  Sleeping is also somewhat dangereous to do, and opens onesself up to a greater range of ambushes.  Sleeping in the day and traveling manually (not fast traveling) at night while sneaking should prove the safest thing of all to do, if these are to be believed.

Overall, you have between a 30% - 40% chance of avoiding trouble if you stop at night.  If you stop, you should expect 'Fun' trouble ~1/3 of the time, and simple generic trouble the final third.

Speed should be tested still.  I suppose another day I'll strip Lisid naked again and let test for speed variables.  The safest place to sleep seems to be somewhat unclear at the moment, but I think as hidden as possible and as enclosed as possible would be the best.  Maybe in a ditch somewhere or againt the river or a grove of trees.  It is certainly advantageous for defense, at least.

Many flaws were present in the design of this experiment, especially since I didn't go too far out of my way to ensure a stable enviornment:

-Sample size was relatively small.
-Speed was not tested.
-Sleep until dawn was not tested
-I did not start this at dusk, but rather during a night.
-I moved around slightly (1-5 tiles) during each test in every experiement.
-Different worlds with different conditions were not tested.
-Different adventurers were not tested, nor where any special status afflicitons.
-Different biomes were not tested.
-Skills were not taken into account.
-Different nights were not sampled.
-[insert flaw here]

However, there seems to be a certain coorelation between the experiements.  Perhaps further tests will clarify this before Toady does something rash like limit boogeymens or gives them a pop-cap. . .

[Pirate Bob]

That's some nice science there!  I'd never heard that sneaking before sleeping reduces bandit ambushes, but you have some fairly convincing statistics saying that it does.  I usually don't sleep outside at all if I can help it, but maybe I will try sleeping during the day after sneaking in the future to see if I can confirm that this eliminates bandit ambushes.

Might I ask what level of ambusher Lisid had when doing this?

[pisskop]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)