Talk:KA (Knowledge area)

Venalan - I'm writing a more expansive KA page here for now. I'll move it over once done.

Knowledge areas (KAs) are responses that NPCs can make when you ask them something in the free text box or using the /tellnpc command. KAs generally contain helpful information about a variety of subjects with some being the only place that information can be found in game. They are generally useful for helping you learn more about the game settings; descriptions and locations of characters, objects and places; and other aspects of the world of Yliakum.

How to use KAs

You can talk to an NPC either by typing /tellnpc [message] with the NPC targeted (this is the same as typing a message directly into the NPC chat with the NPC targeted) or by right-clicking on the NPC and the TALK/LIPS icon to bring up the chat-bubble interface and typing a message into the free text response bubble.

How does talking with an NPC work?

The KA system uses a native language system. The most important thing you need to realize is its limitations; in that you need to ask simple direct questions. An example is;

“What can you tell me about Laanx”

Once you have chosen an NPC to talk to and said something to them the server takes what you have asked the NPC, simplifies it, and tries to match it against the prewritten triggers that NPC is set to respond to.

If you decided to ask “What can you tell me about Laanx” the server is set to simplify “What can you tell me about” to just “about” so the server sees your question as “about laanx”. The server searches the responses and if it finds a match the NPC tells you the answer.

What this means is that if you asked “What can you tell me about the god Laanx” despite this being a very similar question it would be simplified to “about the god laanx”. This trigger is not the same as “about laanx” so will not match it, or any other triggers so the NPC will respond with an error message. Something along the lines of “I don’t understand try using simpler sentences.”

So be careful with what you ask, or, just immediately use the "about ...." trigger to make sure you have the best success. If you find an NPC which you feel really should know the answer to a question you put to them then you can post your comments on the PlaneShift forum. [add link to community KA suggestion thread.]

What can I ask about?

There is a vast range of topics you can ask an NPC about.

Who and where they are. Magic and the Ways. Different places. Where different people are. The NPCs family. Gods. Training and what the NPC might help you train. Or even just “gossip”, certain bartenders have a habit of chatting quite a lot.

Some more specific examples of what you can ask an NPC are “How are you” “Who are you” “What do you train” “Who is Harnquist”