>Which says:
>
>Turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell. They
>have been known to be able to smell carrion from over a mile
>away which is very unique in the bird world. The turkey
>vulture has the largest olfactory (smelling) system of all
>birds.
>
>Then again, I have smelled carrion from over a mile
>away (roadkill). Carrion stinks.

--Vultures can smell it from a lot farther away.

>And I've known people with much better senses of smell than I
> for example, being able to smell someone who was smoking
>while walking by on the sidewalk outside a house -- 30 yards
>away, and I didn't smell a thing).

--You are not a vulture, you are not a panther, you are not a deer,
you, my friend, are not a shark. Our senses are crap compared
to those animals'.

>>Note that having a sensitive sense of smell should also
>be
>>a weakness in some contexts.
>>
>>And then there's the "fade out with time" issue. Plus, to do
>>it right, there'd have to be effects from perfume, rotting
>>corpses and so on.
>>
>>Both of those comments only make me like the idea better.
>
>Ok, but that's getting into complex data structures strewn all
>about the mud. Lots of detailed smearing of data about
>characters onto rooms as they pass through seems like it would
>add a lot of bulk data for what is a minor end.

--Details are what make this game great.


>I thought blood trails were already getting a boost where
>animals are concerned?

--Uhh, this is about a completely different thing (being the skill
"smell", which I first posted.)

>>It might be plausible to introduce some utility form with
>>this as its utility ability, but I suspect this involves way
>>too much work for the gain.
>>
>>That completely contradicts the idea, which was to give ALL
>>animal forms somewhat "heightened" sense in this area, where
>they
>>should be.
>
>It sure does contradict the idea. On the other hand, I'm not
>sure about the "should"?

--Animals "shouldn't" be represented as having senses
that are superior to those of a human? Hmm, can't say I agree.

>Let's take sharks for instance. In real life, sharks can
>"smell blood trails" from a long way away, and can similarly
>sense thrashing about. In the game, swimto>captures most of this ability (though a
>"(wounded)" indicator which shows up on
>where/scan (and maybe on
>who if they've been in water in the shark's area
>in the last tick) might also be appropriate). But it doesn't
>make a lot of sense for sharks to know specific things about
>morale, etc. ... unless you're trying to make people harder
>for sharks to find if they're being calm and quiet?

--the only purpose a shark would have for using "smell" in an area,
rather than on an individual, would be to detect hidden water forms,
or improved invis'd invokers. Duo'd characters would be beyond detection.

>Ok, maybe it makes sense for people to have extra lag on a
>shark's swimto if they're not wounded and if they've held
>still for the last tick... but that seems kinda pointless.
>What's the difference between this lag after the command was
>entered and all that lag before the command was entered? Can
>you imagine anyone saying this feature rocks?

--Uhhh....what? I never said any of that.

Bizarro I'm helping!