High-Security Locks

- Faramir - 8 October 1998 -


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Basic Concept

In order to discourage indiscriminate hoarding and therefore lower overall item count (thus improving the game's performance), it is important that varying levels of security for locks be provided. Currently, there are two major levels: what will hereafter be called "100% secure locks," which is never pickable and completely safe, excluding bugs; and what will hereafter be called "tinker locks," which are fairly insecure in that all it takes is a lockpicker with a little time and a little skill to defeat the lock.

There must be additional levels of security between these two levels in order to allow lockpickers to have a chance without giving them a sure thing. These additional levels will be called "90% secure" and "99% secure."

Details

There can be several categories of protection:
  1. skill requirement
  2. stat loss on failure
  3. lockpicking skill loss on failure
  4. delay ("working" time)
  5. announcements (owner, resident, nearby NPC, all NPC)
  6. flags (normal criminal, "trespasser" with stat/skill loss)
  7. disallowing repeat attempts
  8. traps

One can easily imagine tweaking these parameters such that no lockpicker would ever succeed, and it would never be worthwhile to even try. On the other hand, it is equally possible to set the numbers such that success is easy and assured. Obviously, some middle ground exists...

"90% Secure": the main door of a building

  1. Master-level skill required to even attempt, 25% success at GM level
  2. no stat loss on failure
  3. chance of 1% lockpick skill loss (your wasted time on this lock has made you lose some of your ability to manipulate locks...call it frustration)
  4. use lockpick repeatedly until you get "pin 1" of 4-pin lock (each repetition takes 30 seconds); repeat until you get all 4 pins; failure at any stage may destroy the lockpick and/or force you to try that pin again, and can result in complete failure on the lock which may cost you skill; quitting (moving away from the door, or hiding) at any time causes loss of any lockpick currently in the lock and resets all the pins, but doesn't count as complete failure
  5. nearby NPCs start shouting, and house residents are messaged
  6. normal crim flag
  7. cannot try that house again for a RL week (even if successful)
  8. multiple traps may be on door and one or more may go off at any time during attempt

"90% Secure", continued: interior doors of a building

  1. as above, but 50% success rate at GM level
  2. as above
  3. as above
  4. as above
  5. as above
  6. "Trespasser" flag: stat and skill loss if killed
  7. as above
  8. as above

"99% Secure": super-secure chests ("Vaults")

  1. GM-level skill required, 10% success rate
  2. chance of 1% loss of dex and int on failure (frustration)
  3. guaranteed 1% loss of lockpicking skill on failure
  4. as above, except 99% secure locks have 8 pins
  5. nearby NPCs and house residents
  6. trespasser flag
  7. cannot try that vault again for a RL week
  8. multiple traps including traps that go off even if detected

More on the Lockpicking Process

In the examples above, a concept of lockpicking with multiple picks and "pins" is described. The way this would work is that the lockpicker uses a pick to try to get each pin, one at a time (UO lockpickers don't get to "scrub" the pins). Each attempt to "get" a pin takes a certain amount of time, say, some random number around 30 seconds or so. The lockpick can break at any time during this attempt, related to how many times the pick has been used, as well as character dexterity and Lockpicking skill. If the lockpick breaks, there is also some chance of complete failure on the lock, related to the character's Lockpicking skill. The lockpicker can also fail on a pin without causing complete failure, which just wears (and possibly breaks) the pick and forces the lockpicker to try that pin again.

Above, numbers like "10% success rate" are used. A little math, based on the number of pins, can produce that result in this system: basically, if there are 4 pins and a 10% overall success rate is desired, design for a 60% success rate on each pin.

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