Page 1 of 1
bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:05 am
by Xandarius
I've been having some incredibly bad luck with the bandit seeming to constantly be awake inside the treehouse, and I'm wondering if the determining factor may be time-based rather than a random-number generator. During a recent playthrough, the bandit was awake 14 times in a row (after climbing down the ladder, leaving the tree screen, and coming back and re-ascending the ladder). Then, on my last playthough, he was awake a frustrating 37 times in a row. If I were a new player not already familiar with the original KQ3, I would be led to believe the bandit was permanently awake. Am I just having rotten luck, or is there a method to making him come up asleep?
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:51 am
by DarkKnight
I've just tried that, went up and down the ladder 3 times and the third i found him asleep. Hope this helps.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:24 am
by Xandarius
I'm going to try it again. I imagine I just had a statistically unlikely series of random outcomes. Twice. But Erpy posted in another thread that the more times you try, the more likely the bandit is to be sleeping.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:27 am
by navynuke04
You don't have to leave the oak tree screen. Simply climbing up and down the ladder will cause the game to pick if the bandit is asleep or not. That should save you some time if you run into that bad luck streak again.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:38 am
by TriniMage
I don’t know if this is a coincidence or not (like a superstition), but I became frustrated the first time I played this version with the bandit being awake in the hideout so I tried to climb the tree after descending the ladder and immediately on the next try the bandit was asleep! Tried it several times in subsequent replays and it always seemed to work! As I said I don’t know if it a coincidence...
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:43 am
by Erpy
It isn't. A counter is used that goes up each time you enter the treehouse exterior screen from the oak tree screen and as it rises your odds of the bandit being asleep rise too, all the way up to 100% after 3 tries or so. However, entering any other screen besides the oak tree or treehouse exterior screen resets that counter.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:10 am
by TriniMage
Erpy wrote:It isn't. A counter is used that goes up each time you enter the treehouse exterior screen from the oak tree screen and as it rises your odds of the bandit being asleep rise too, all the way up to 100% after 3 tries or so. However, entering any other screen besides the oak tree or treehouse exterior screen resets that counter.
I was really referring to clicking the hand on the tree before using the ladder for the first time so Guydion tries to climb the tree in the conventional way! It might seem silly as the ladder is clearly visible, but was so frustrated because after several tries up and down the ladder the bandit was still there. As I said it seems to be that if I click the hand on the tree before climbing the ladder then the bandit is asleep! Maybe a coincidence but I tried it over and over and the bandit is almost never awake when I ascend for the ladder for FIRST time.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:35 pm
by calvinfoo
Xandarius wrote:I've been having some incredibly bad luck with the bandit seeming to constantly be awake inside the treehouse, and I'm wondering if the determining factor may be time-based rather than a random-number generator. During a recent playthrough, the bandit was awake 14 times in a row (after climbing down the ladder, leaving the tree screen, and coming back and re-ascending the ladder). Then, on my last playthough, he was awake a frustrating 37 times in a row. If I were a new player not already familiar with the original KQ3, I would be led to believe the bandit was permanently awake. Am I just having rotten luck, or is there a method to making him come up asleep?
Well, actually back in the original KQ3, you can actually type "LOOK INSIDE TREEHOUSE" to check out the situation before you enter the tree house. The same applies to KQ3R. Use your EYE on the TREEHOUSE before you enter. If some activity going on, go down, come back, try again.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:33 pm
by BeerNutts
However, entering any other screen besides the oak tree or treehouse exterior screen resets that counter.
This doesn't make sense. You've added the counter to help the RNG, and that's good. But, only if the player mindlessly goes up and down the tree without leaving the bottom screen. Our player may want to go do other things, and come back later, and the RNG will keep kicking in. IMO, you should have the counter, but don't reset it if he leaves the bottom oak tree room.
It's counter-intuitive from a players perspective IMO.
Great game tho
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:45 pm
by techie775
calvinfoo wrote:Xandarius wrote:I've been having some incredibly bad luck with the bandit seeming to constantly be awake inside the treehouse, and I'm wondering if the determining factor may be time-based rather than a random-number generator. During a recent playthrough, the bandit was awake 14 times in a row (after climbing down the ladder, leaving the tree screen, and coming back and re-ascending the ladder). Then, on my last playthough, he was awake a frustrating 37 times in a row. If I were a new player not already familiar with the original KQ3, I would be led to believe the bandit was permanently awake. Am I just having rotten luck, or is there a method to making him come up asleep?
Well, actually back in the original KQ3, you can actually type "LOOK INSIDE TREEHOUSE" to check out the situation before you enter the tree house. The same applies to KQ3R. Use your EYE on the TREEHOUSE before you enter. If some activity going on, go down, come back, try again.
I didn't know you could do that. I just kept going in as a fly and the leaving if he was awake.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:54 pm
by Erpy
Yeah, you could always look through the doorway to see if the bandit was awake or asleep. Even in the original. Not many folks knew this though, even the KQ companion didn't mention it, and one reviewer of Redux actually blasted our game because he thought this thing was a luck-based puzzle.
Re: bandit sleeping/moving-around randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:26 pm
by Xandarius
Thanks for the outright explanation of the mechanism, Erpy. I have to admit that sometimes I get so immersed in these games that I tend to play them with a sort imposed story logic, so, yeah, I kept leaving the oak tree screen and doing other things instead of just climbing up and down the ladder. Three times is pretty fair, after all.
I actually did know about clicking the eye icon on the doorway, but thanks for the tip anyway. One can also turn into a fly and fly straight in, if they prefer to do it that way.