Random number generation in Baldur's Gate
The_New_Romance
Member Posts: 839
A few minutes ago, I came across this thread at Bioware Social: http://social.bioware.com/forum/Baldur039s-Gate-1-and-2/Baldur039s-Gate-2-and-Throne-of-Bhaal-Official-Campaigns-Spoilers-Warning/Serious-question-Loaded-dice-or-deliberately-overpowered-enemies-13594951-1.html
Basically, the question they're asking is whether the game really uses a random dice rolling system, or whether the dice (or basic game statistics) are skewed. They mentioned BG:EE in one of those post, so I wondered whether it'd be possible to get a statement from the guys that were allowed to look under the hood: How is dice rolling handled in BG? Is it random and "fair", or are there weird things going on?
Basically, the question they're asking is whether the game really uses a random dice rolling system, or whether the dice (or basic game statistics) are skewed. They mentioned BG:EE in one of those post, so I wondered whether it'd be possible to get a statement from the guys that were allowed to look under the hood: How is dice rolling handled in BG? Is it random and "fair", or are there weird things going on?
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Maybe somebody here will know something about it, though.
It does not exist.
Everything is pseudo-random. It might use an algorithm for a random sequence that seems random, but it will repeat again after a while. It might use things like numbers based on current time, speed, memory, etc. and try to turn it into a random number.... But none of them are true random, and most of the time they will be skewed.
The problem is that if the player feels that the game is unfair, even if it's meant to improve gameplay, they will be repulsed and resent any unfairness.
Can't provide a link but I remember that this was addressed.
The difference here is that the poker games have a reason to rig the game, wheras baldurs gate does not. If you don't pay for chips for a long time, you will find yourself losing more, but buy some chips and bet on some crappy hands right after and watch the cards catch.
Though this isn't true of all poker rooms, it's been a big problem on the internets http://www.learn2holdem.com/poker-strategy/is-online-poker-rigged.htm
not the best article, can't find the main one. But do some research.
Assuming this isn't just some perceptual bias, I'm guessing it has something to do with the initial seed value for the pseudo-random number generator (I'm assuming BG uses the standard C++ rand() function). So how you long you have to reroll before getting a decent score might be a function of whatever the random seed was when you started up the game.
I remember seeing an interview with Sid Meier of Firaxis and he was talking about the early development of the Civ games. He said that eventually, they decided to nerf the AI's ability to get good rolls in certain situations. Because if the computer got lucky during an invasion or siege, the player suspected it was cheating and became significantly less invested in the game.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Infinity Engine was designed the same way.
It's most commonly observed on some persistent worlds.