Taxi System Dev

The goal of the Taxi System is to provide players with a means to move across large sections of Sluggyville and Rodanthe quickly. A Bus System exists, however it takes multiple minutes to reach a destination. The taxis, while not free like the busses, will get players to their destinations in less time.

What makes them go

The taxis are based on TheFool76's excelent Wander Parent. They have a number of routes covering the various zones in Sluggyville and Rodanthe. The taxis achieve their higher speeds by reducing the wait between room changes from a minute to only seconds. The time to the destination is determined by the distance, or number of rooms.

Taking a Taxi - Step by Step

The first step in taking a taxi is to hail it. To hail a cab a player says, "Taxi!" If the taxi is in the free state, it will stop the wandering process and indicate to the player that it is stopping for them. Once the taxi enters this waiting state, the elock is removed and it will wait for a full 60 seconds before resuming the wander process.

Once the player has entered the taxi, the driver will ask the player where he or she wishes to go. If a response is not recieved withing 120 seconds, the player will be @tel'ed out of the taxi and wandering will resume. Once the player has chosen the destination the elock and llock are engaged and the taxi enters the occupied state. At this point the meter is enganged and the route is selected. If any of the passengers calls out "Stop!" at any point in the ride, the cab will stop moving and provide the player with the option of paying for the distance traveled and leaving. If the driver is not paid withing 15 seconds, the cab will resume motion towards the destination.

When the destination is reached, the cab ceases motion and the total owed is calculated. The driver presents the passengers with the total and keeps the doors locked until fully paid. Tips are always appreciated . Once paid, the llock is removed. The elock is removed, the cab enters the free state, and wandering begins after all passengers have exited. At this point the entire process can begin again.

Zoning and rates

The taxis charge a fixed rate per room, as well as an additional cross-zone charge. Each driveable section of the MARE is divided into zones. The reason for this is that the Wander Parent makes use of the path() function, which has a limit of 100 rooms. The zones are generally smaller than the path() limit, but this is because they are divided logically among the cities.

Sluggyville

Sluggyville has not yet been zoned.

Rodanthe Proper

The Rodanthe Proper zone encompasses all of downtown Rodanthe. It is borderd by Southgate Drive on the North side, the end of Bold Dune Drive on the East side, the edge of the Residential area of Plank Shore Drive on the South side, and Manteo Avenue on the West side. All of the businesses on these streets are also included in the zone, with one exception. The Cube Store falls within the zone, but the rest of Cube Services LTD falls outside of the zone. This is not a problem because vehicles are not allowed inside of the Cube Store anyway. It should also be noted that the first block of Plank Shore Drive falls within this zone as well.

Rodanthe Residential

The Rodanthe Residential zone is comprised of the Rodanthe Residential Area. This includes the majority of Plank Shore drive, excepting the Northern-most block. Currently there are no other streets within the zone.

Rodanthe Extended 1

The areas North of Rodanthe make up the Rodanthe Extended 1 zone. It covers all of Rodanthe-Sluggyville Road and Cube Services LTD. The only exception is the first block of Rodanthe-Sluggyville Road, on the North side of Southgate Drive. This block is still within the Rodanthe Proper zone.

Rodanthe Extended 2

Seabreeze Road extends East out of Rodanthe. Because of its length and the fact that it leaves the city limits, it falls in the Rodanthe Extended 2 zone. Any future development along or around Seabreeze Road will likely fall within this zone as well.

Comments

Any thoughts or comments on this system or its design are welcome!

-- SluggyQBFreak - 05 Nov 2006