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Drug Addiction Updated
Check out the latest on drug addiction

Hey Everyone -

I've been reviewing the drug feedback threads and talking with players on OOC-Chat. I took a deep dive into the drug system on Sindome today and made some pretty large changes.

1. We had two systems for drugs.

One was the old system from literally 20 years ago (1999) and that was managing your addiction state, and it used to manage withdrawals and hallucinations and a bunch of other stuff. This was the thing that decided if you were an addict, for how long, and fed data to @stats and a bunch of other things. The code was old, hard to understand, and annoying to deal with.

The new system which I wrote about 10 years ago and have been updating since (with Johnny's help), which manages your withdrawals, experience scripts, overdosing and was also tracking addiction in its own way.

We now have one system. The new system. It manages everything it used to like your very recent hits (the kind that make you OD) and your overarching addiction (the kind that makes you get withdrawals). I removed 20+ verbs and several props from the old system that were so old. Some of them were being called but doing nothing (old hallucinations). The code was overly complex given what the system was currently doing and it really didn't need to be that way. So it's now completely gone-- or so I hope. It's possible I missed a reference here or there so if that's the case please xhelp if you encounter a bug or traceback.

2. Addiction was supposed to expire over time the same way withdrawals do, but the code that was expiring it wasn't working right. As such, some folks were addicts that shouldn't have still been addicts-- forever. Everything is using the new system now which meant I had to basically clear addiction records so everyone is starting from scratch addiction wise. That does NOT mean you won't get addicted on your next hit. More on that later. Suffice to say, moving forward, if you become addicted to a drug, and STOP using it completely, after a period of time (could be a month, could be less, could be more, depends on the drug as it's configurable) you will no longer be addicted. You will be like you never took a hit of a drug-- free to use it a little bit without becoming addicted again, but heavy use will put you right back into addiction. If you are addicted and take another hit, you are just extending your addiction, resetting the timer as it were.

3. Every drug had a certain amount of 'free uses' before you would be eligible for addiction. These numbers have been updated to be a bit more realistic. Instead of your first puff of TH-2c, maybe you get addicted on your third joint. You will still get addicted fairly quickly to drugs, depending on what kind of drug it is, but generally speaking you can expect to have to use a few joints, or a few vials of v202 or a few full packets of mRc before you're straight up ELIGIBLE to be addicted.

4. Despite what many think, there is a roll to decide if you get addicted to something. This roll has been updated slightly, but it is and has always been a roll of certain stats, against an ever increasing difficulty the more of a drug you do. Now I mentioned 'free uses' these are like the lead in, you get to use the drug a certain amount before your body starts to develop the potential for addiction. These won't count toward your possibility of being addicted. Still, after your free uses, it's totally possible to get addicted right away.

5. Addiction and withdrawals are now cleared when you go through detox. Previously, only withdrawals were cleared. In the interest of balance, and preventing people from abusing the detox code to completely negate addiction and withdrawals, the price for this at a doctor has been raised SIGNIFICANTLY. Sorry not sorry.

6. Everyone is now 'not addicted' to anything. If you check @stats you will see this. However, I didn't reset the counter on how many of a drug you've taken-- that was part of the new system, and the new system is now governing addiction. That means if you are a regular user of a drug, your next hit could very well addict you. That seems fair.

This should put to bed some of the issues and concerns of drug addiction that were brought up in other topics and on OOC-Chat.

At this point, what we need to do is wait and see how this plays out. Maybe the updated numbers and rolls and free uses are an over correction that will need to be scaled back-- it'll take a few weeks for us to see, as people begin using drugs and getting addicted and such. Maybe folks will begin using drugs more now that the system is a bit more rational.

7. Drugs are still VERY addictive. I've tweaked the numbers a bit, and cleaned things up, and also made them clear out over time and reset, but you'll still be getting addicted if you use drugs a fair amount. However, the casual person who takes a hit from a joint every now and then will probably have a better experience in that they won't become addicted RIGHT away.

My goal here is to get people using drugs, becoming reliant on their bonuses, and then for drug addiction to take place, after people are used to using the drugs and have come to rely on them. This is more like an accelerated version of what happens in real life-- giving you the benefits without the cost for a period of time, then hitting you with the back taxes of your new addiction.

Go out and buy some drugs in game, mess around with them, enjoy the various things they offer, mix and match, experiment, and have fun with the consequences.

As always, please report issues or discrepancies.

-- S

This is an AMAZING update, Slither.

Thanks for putting the love into the system.

Hot diggity shit, this is an incredible overhaul. Thanks, Feng, this is really cool.
I was already in love with the candy system before, can't imagine what's gonna happen now.

candy addicts and overlords everywhere rejoice.

Slither you are taking step one to Making Drugs Great Again! Bravo.
He cures our addictions, just to get us hooked twice as hard. Typical slangin' tactic!

Thank you for listening and taking action so quick. This is awesome.

https://youtu.be/oSPT27XyY1U
This is amazing. Finally I can have a character try out a drug once in a while because they felt like it, and then not end up addicted after one hit. Thank you!
Yesssssss I'll try drugs now.
This update gave me the courage to not meta and try some fucking drugs finally.

WE LOVE YOU SLITHER!

Just posting to say that after some testing I'm really digging all of this stuff Slither. Drugs are now a pretty integral part of my SD life and have introduced a lot of fun new wrinkles to situations that used to be more straightforward.
Seconding Vera: already loved drugs, love them even more now. I think these changes have been very positive for a lot of things. Thanks for the tweak!
Think the only issue I've run into so far is that the withdrawal for neva hits way too quickly. Not gonna say anything more about it here though.
I've updated the nevadone timing.
Whoooo!
nice
Are humbolt bubblers working as intended? They may not have any negative effect that I can see, but that may also be for IC reasons.
It is definitely working as intended. I tested and see the negative effects. You may be missing them due to existing negative effects from helmets or armor or other drugs.
Yep, def on my end. Nevermind!
So, it's been quite a while - how much post-implementation review has this gotten? I don't want to say too much and I'm not sure there's a @bug, but I feel like there could very well be.

I guess I'll @bug it and maybe it'll get closed as "working as intended".

@beandip

I agree. This could probably use a review. It seems bugged.

I don't know what we are talking about here. Both the last posts were super broad and could be referencing anything. I've not seen anything to indicate things are off, but feedback and bug submissions are the manner in which I'd have a flag raised to me about it.
I've confirmed with several players and via coded commands that people are addicted to drugs, and they are experiencing withdrawals.

Keep in mind the following:

1. the message that says someone is haggard and needs a fix is gone (AFAIK anyway, correct me if you have seen it lately)

2. Getting addicted is -harder- than it used to be (making drugs a bit more useful)

3. Addiction fades over time on a curve.

4. You get a message at the start of a withdrawal that you are craving X.

5. Taking X during a withdrawal cancels it.

6. More withdrawals are internal, and only some are visible outwardly.

That being said, I will create a poll on if we should make drugs more addictive. Maybe they are too easy to not get addicted to now.

I have seen the haggard and needs a fix message relatively recently. Also, I think it's a good message, I'd hate to lose it!
I've seen the haggard message recently, but IIRC only on NPCs.
I have seen 'haggard and needs a fix' on players.
I personally think that drug addiction is in a good place.

If you hit drugs hard, you'll get addicted to them. If you want to RP playing an addict, it's not difficult to do. I'm even seeing characters that who would not normally be as susceptible to addiction suffering from it from heavy use. Seems just fine.

In the recent poll I @voted that drugs should be more addictive.

Something that I just learned ICly makes me reconsider that vote.

I think that the current drug addiction settings are fine.

This is just my opinion, but I think the cost of drugs combined with the potential to get addictive puts them in the perfect sweet spot. That sweet spot for me is that they are available when my character needs that extra little boost to perform very well. But, they are expensive enough that I cannot keep my character high all the time to permanently benefit from the boosts. And even if I could, the likelihood of becoming addicted outweighs the benefits (for me).

Major kudos to the staff for giving this aspect of the game such thoughtful, considered and well balanced love over the last 6 months or so.