About Those Specialist Promotions

Discussion in 'General Archive' started by Geflin, Oct 26, 2014.

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  1. Geflin

    Geflin User

    Maybe it's just that I am a paralegal and used to ferreting out minute details and over analyzing everything...but: have seen several comments and questions about the "specialists" and the specialty extra training they can get (to become Medic/Captain/Fire Marshall etc.). Many seem frustrated by the "random" system and duplication of existing specialties or difficulty in obtaining certain specialists.
    Even in a chaos state, there are patterns. Translation: random is not truly random if you can figure out what the random generation program is based on for its variables. Like counting cards in Vegas. That being said, there are ways to influence the "random" specialty offers to get what you want most of the time. Even when you decline one offer, getting a different one can be fairly easy albeit time consuming. I had a rookie offered Medic three times which I turned down because I needed a Diagnostician. That same rookie is now a Diagnostician.
    I achieved that result by sending that rookie on every "Diagnostician" emergency, even if it meant failure. This usually gets rookies the desired specialty, eventually. You just send them out on jobs consistent with the specialty you desire (like sewage spills for a Contamination Expert). Allocation of skill points also affects this selection process, as the offers change for where skills are. Pay attention when first training a specialist (where their Bronze/Silver/Gold tabs are) and what extra characteristics filling these gets them. Different combinations seem to make it easier for them to train for one specialty as opposed to another. Sorry if this was long winded. I do hope it helps somehow. Am interested in hearing others' thoughts too :)
     
    TellusXIV and marylis like this.
  2. *kimmi*

    *kimmi* User

    Exactly my experience to ... and I'm not the only one

    Need an engineer for fire department
     
  3. Geflin

    Geflin User

    Cool...I thought I was on to something, thank you for confirming:D Getting ready to test my theories #2 and #3: #2 is you need a Nuclear Power Plant L38, in order to get the Biohazard specialist missions for Hospital specialists and #3 is that Biohazard/Undercover PD/Fire Chief only get offered to a specialist with completely filled skill bars. Has to be something, because in all my time playing I have never seen these missions pop up ever. I want one of each so.....wish me luck and will post how I get them if and when I do.
     
  4. billyjim

    billyjim User

    You do not need a Nuclear Power plant for a Biohazard Specialist, I have one and do not have a Nucleat Power Plant. Also have Undeercover PD/ Fire Chief with out filled skill bars. What I finally got is a Detective to complete my stable. But now have no Rookies and they are getting expensive to maintain.

    PS level 45
     
    Geflin likes this.
  5. Arsuru

    Arsuru User

    I've denied rookies to try get what I need several times, and it doesn't always work. Sending them on missions consistent with what you desire doesn't always work. If it were that simple there wouldn't be so many people complaining, I think. I wouldn't expect that they would dedicate the code to traits dictating specialty, or even which missions you send them on. The only thing that training seems to apply to is how soon they are likely to get promotions. Generally, the more trained they are in the academy the longer it takes, in my experience.

    I'd be surprised if they used anything other than the built-in random function in something this simple. Really, out of only four possible promotions, it shouldn't be surprising that the randomness seems skewed in either way or that your input actually matters. It's a 25% chance at minimum if the chances are actually even. In practice it's higher since there are only three possible promotions currently. The other specialists don't exist in-game yet. If they did there would be missions for them, as otherwise they wouldn't be any better than rookies most of the time, I assume. Filling all bars would be an incredibly unrealistic requirement since not even at level 10 are you guaranteed to have all bars full, even having given the most training possible.

    Of course it's not truly random. It's probably a floating point and the range is high enough that any pattern in it is insignificant for this purpose. I'd blame the perceived skewed results or ability to manipulate them predictably on having a low pool of possible outcomes (specializations), and perhaps any biasing in the actual chosen numbers that random compares to in the code to determine an outcome. Additionally, observational bias is a potential factor. A common seed is system time, but I have doubts that you could get any kind of meaningful predictability even if you could determine the seed because chances are, you couldn't replicate the state in actual play. For all intents and purposes, it's random.

    It's like how rolling a die or even flipping a coin can seem biased if you try to measure each outcome. There are few possible outcomes and you sometimes have to repeat the action an incredible amount of times before results even out to the theoretical probabilities. Randomness isn't chaos and chaos isn't infinitely predictable, even if there can be short-term observable patterns.

    This is the first time I've seen anyone mention having them. The FAQs don't name them. Some languages even specifically state they are not yet in the game. Always seemed like something planned for the future.

    Got some proof?

    Not that it would be entirely surprising that I've never seen them in over a year of playing, given my luck with boosters.
     
    TellusXIV likes this.
  6. marylis

    marylis User

    It is soooo irritating. I mean, no matter how “random” the system is, if you reject a specialty, that specialty should not reappear, at least not immediately. On the contrary, it is not rare that you are offered the same specialty, again and again and again. :confused:
    It took me 8(!!!) months to get my first diagotician, I don’t think I will ever fire him no matter how expensive he gets. :p
    Geflin, thanks for your suggestions, I will try them, hoping for better results...
     
    Geflin likes this.
  7. Geflin

    Geflin User

    Thank you for the info....and back to the drawing board I go on this one. Wonder why I have never had those three specialties offeredo_O
     
  8. Geflin

    Geflin User

    You are welcome and I wish better results for you so good luck :)
     
    marylis likes this.
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