Talk:Chest/Drop research

Range

I was quite surprised when I tabled the data that it broke down into two distinct ranges (12-27 and 48-63). Dunno what triggers the different range of gold from the chest though but now that I know it exists I'll have to keep an eye out. :) -- Fenyx4 15:42, 24 March 2011 (PDT)

Just for those curious, this came from the guy at [LairWare], who ported Ultima III to Mac, using the original Apple II version's data files:

The contents of a chest is not determined until it is opened, thus this isn't really related to original data files -- but like most everything else in my port of Ultima III the behavior is taken directly from a disassembly of the original Apple II version. Some wacky 8-bit CPU logic, but here's the gist:

"Get" (Dexterity) vs. "Appar Unem" (Wisdom) only affects the likelihood of a trap being set off, not in any way the contents of the chest. Chests randomly contain between 30-99 gold pieces, with amounts less than 60 somewhat more likely. 25% of the time, an item might also be included:

First, a 50% chance for a weapon. Weapon type is anything from Hands up to 2 Handed Sword, with a sort-of logarithmically decreasing likelihood as you go up. If it ends up choosing Hands, it doesn't include a weapon after all.

If no weapon is included, there's a similar process for choosing Armour starting at 50% probability, from Skin logarithmically up to Chain. Likewise, if Skin is chosen it doesn't include any armour in the chest. It would be kind of disturbing to find hands and skin in a chest, I suppose ...

Thought this might be interesting to some, including myself. --polygoncount (Polygon Dragon -==(UDIC)==-) 23:54, 27 January 2012 (PST)

Thanks! I wonder if the DOS and Apple versions do it differently. Or if I just need to gather more data and the two distinct ranges I see will disappear. -- Fenyx4 07:12, 28 January 2012 (PST)

I wouldn't be surprised if they differed... I seem to recall the numbers feeling slightly higher in the Apple version. --polygoncount (Polygon Dragon -==(UDIC)==-) 17:54, 28 January 2012 (PST)