How do I?

[dartnet]

Set a derived trait to have a score equal to rank (seasoned, veteran, etc)?

[rob]

OK. To do this will require chasing down through various timing dependencies within the data files. Let's do the analysis and see if it's possible to achieve this.

The rank is maintained within the "acRank" field on the Actor component. The problem is that the rank is calculated during the "Final" phase - see the field definition for "acRank" in "actor.str" and the corresponding Calculate script.

The reason the rank is calculated during the Final phase is because NPCs need to first calculate their estimated XP rating. This is done during the Final phase via the Eval script named "calc acFinalXP" on the Actor component.

The reason for the above is that the "resLeft" field on the Resource component is calculated during the Final phase. See the Calculate script on the field within the Resource component. This script relies on both the "resMax" and "resSpent" fields.

Searching through all uses of the "resMax" field in the data files, the latest timing where the field is assigned is at Traits/4500. This is in Eval script #1 of the "resEncumb" thing.

Searching through all uses of the "resSpent" field in the data files, the latest timing where the field is assigned is at Traits/10000. This is in Eval script #2 for both the "Attribute" and "Skill" components.

Looking at both places where the "resSpent" field is assigned at Traits/10000, they are both dependent on the bounding of the "trtUser" field, which occurs at Traits/1000. This means that the timing of these scripts can be moved to as early as Traits/1001. If we move those scripts to Traits/4500, then all of the pieces will be in place at Traits/4500.

Now we need to figure out whether that will be early enough for our needs. Looking at the "Derived" component, the final calculation of "trtFinal" occurs at a priority of Traits/6000 in Eval script #1.

This means that, if we move the above-mentioned scripts to Traits/4500, we have a window of opportunity after Traits/4500 and before Traits/6000 in which to calculate what we need. So we can safely change the timing of the Eval script that calculates the estimated XP rating for NPCs to something like Traits/5000. Then we can safely change the timing of the Calculate script on the Actor that determines "acRank" to something like Traits/5100. All of our dependencies should remain satisfied with these changes.

At this point, we have our "acRank" field properly calculated in time for use within a derived trait. We can define an Eval script on our derived trait that assigns the value of "trtBonus" as equal to "acRank". The timing for this script must be after Traits/5100 and before Traits/6000. So we can pick something like Traits/5500 and everything works exactly as we want it to.

Success! :-)