Rethinking horses?

[Xcom]

Forbidden animal was mentioned a few times to many in this thread. Why was it even put into the game... jorb should be banned for this.

[cpt1silencer]

might as well throw in different horse colors, people would be looking to tame a rare black or white one, maybe have a new breed like the Clydesdale or more simply a draft horse and having the current fast light horses.

Humans domesticated horses and needed them to perform a variety of duties. One type of horse-powered work was the hauling of heavy loads, plowing fields, and other tasks that required pulling ability. A heavy, calm, patient, well-muscled animal was desired for this work. Conversely, a light, more energetic horse was needed for riding and rapid transport. Thus, to the extent possible, a certain amount of selective breeding was used to develop different types of horse for different types of work. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_horse

[Poger]

So your solution to my fear of tamed horses is to introduce tamed horses?

I realize that taming horses would be neat, but it is precisely the permanent access to horses that scares me. Wildhorses at least have a limited duration.

Yes, because taming will reduce horse oppness when it includes decent amount of sacrifice to achieve. I still don't think, that giving those game-dedicated lategame guys new possibilities is bad. Don't bring it to the moment, when you will be afraid of adding anything, as it will improve the gameplay of already strong players.

If riding a horse would require skills, time, equipment and all that shit, it would actually limit their usage. You would need to pay attention, feed it, all that stuff. Yet when you go for ride horse obviously has to have his own stamina, which also needs to be regenerated. Now i can just get some clover and cover large distances just hoping from horse to horse. You know, they are pretty easy to find. I would say that actually we have more "permament" acces now, than we would do with taming. Also, players obviously should be able to kill a horse, that someone is riding on (probably knocking down player, and giving them also some dmg?), this would limit their usage a bit, as you would run into risk of loosing your horsee. But such things probably need more thinking, and development of a new weapon, like a spear, or something.

Maybe I'am not proposing directly a risk/reward system, alright. But it's work/reward system, which is also good. And by the way. Want some risk? Hey, you have a tamed horse on your claim. Let me just take it with my thieft... You know. It's all taught to ride, having saddle, I don't need to do anything, you've done all work. Or even better. How about luring the horse out of claim with clover. No need for theft. No need for anything but clover. You have a horse? Have some frickin' stable or palisade, otherwise you might have not. Isn't that risk?

[Infinitus]

As a game developer myself I tend to approach such problems with a certain attitude, trying to balance between lore friendliness, difficulty and fun provided by my solutions. Even if that attitude, understanding and experience gives me some advantage over more ordinary players, I still cannot understand Jorb's fear of horses. Current situation isn't lore friendly nor properly difficult, although it gives a lot of fun (which H&H isn't particulary aiming for, atleast not in this form). Riding a horse requires only a clover, and horses are so common, that riding on their (bare) backs for a whole day isn't really a problem. Hearthlings don't even need to be taught any skills to do this. Real-life riding requires a lot of skill, even if you have the whole horse equipment mentioned in the posts above.

My idea is to make some really tiny steps towards making horseriding a thing. First of all, devs should think of adding some early-available-yet-expensive skill for riding horses without saddles. It could work even if added immediately, no other changes needed (so clover madnesss could stay there for a while). Then they could add some drawbacks of riding like this, for example certain wounds (like butt bruises and chafed thighs) or higher stamina usage (do you think that rider doesn't use up his stamina?). These could be prevented by using proper horse equipment. Horse taming should be added in the meantime, separating those tamed from those untamed. Untamed horses fed with clover could be used for only an hour, when tamted horses could be used without any limitations (not considering horse stamina and energy, refilled with water and food). It leaves some space for newbies to ride a horse and gives more powerful hearthlings a great reward for their contribution. When it's all done we could all think of horse fighting, shooting and breeding.

Well, that's something that popped up in my head while I was reading this topic, but I assume that Jorb would simply reduce amount of horses spawned in the world.

[yozzik]

As a game developer myself I tend to approach such problems with a certain attitude, trying to balance between lore friendliness, difficulty and fun provided by my solutions. Even if that attitude, understanding and experience gives me some advantage over more ordinary players, I still cannot understand Jorb's fear of horses. Current situation isn't lore friendly nor properly difficult, although it gives a lot of fun (which H&H isn't particulary aiming for, atleast not in this form). Riding a horse requires only a clover, and horses are so common, that riding on their (bare) backs for a whole day isn't really a problem. Hearthlings don't even need to be taught any skills to do this. Real-life riding requires a lot of skill, even if you have the whole horse equipment mentioned in the posts above.

My idea is to make some really tiny steps towards making horseriding a thing. First of all, devs should think of adding some early-available-yet-expensive skill for riding horses without saddles. It could work even if added immediately, no other changes needed (so clover madnesss could stay there for a while). Then they could add some drawbacks of riding like this, for example certain wounds (like butt bruises and chafed thighs) or higher stamina usage (do you think that rider doesn't use up his stamina?). These could be prevented by using proper horse equipment. Horse taming should be added in the meantime, separating those tamed from those untamed. Untamed horses fed with clover could be used for only an hour, when tamted horses could be used without any limitations (not considering horse stamina and energy, refilled with water and food). It leaves some space for newbies to ride a horse and gives more powerful hearthlings a great reward for their contribution. When it's all done we could all think of horse fighting, shooting and breeding.

Well, that's something that popped up in my head while I was reading this topic, but I assume that Jorb would simply reduce amount of horses spawned in the world.

Yes, yes, colleague, special skill, saddle and horseshoes (horse might be useless and slow without them) are all good ways to increase the curve.

[burgingham]

So your solution to my fear of tamed horses is to introduce tamed horses?

I realize that taming horses would be neat, but it is precisely the permanent access to horses that scares me. Wildhorses at least have a limited duration.

You would need some kind of counter to cavalry. Spear units or maybe hidden stakes in the ground that impale horses and riders...

But that probably is very hard to introduce to the game in a good and balanced way.

[Asgaroth22]

Sorry to necro the thread, but have you considered implementing something similar to travel weariness to counter the possibility of having constant access to tamed horses? I.e. When the bar is full you can't mount a horse (or sit in a chair ).
It'd even the odds between those with 1 horse and those with 20 full stables.

The addition of horse stamina that regenerates over time, that is having to rest it after each ride, and possibly a random injury system would further limit the constant use of horses.

Saddles could be used for reducing your 'travel weariness'. Saddlebags for extra inventory space, and to store horse's fodder on longer trips. Possibly a hitching post that you can tether the horse to, that would act somewhat like a claim, needing theft skills to steal the horse. For those long trips that may take some time, so that the horse might rest on the road.

Tamed horses would really add reality to the game, and would liven up the trade a bit. I understand that it is the horse's impact on combat that you're most concerned with, but currently getting a horse requires minimal effort, and they are already used in combat. I'm either deaf or there weren't any cries about them unbalancing combat.

[CaptainMidget]

I realize that taming horses would be neat, but it is precisely the permanent access to horses that scares me. Wildhorses at least have a limited duration.

Make them feedable with carrot to restore duration and it will be ok. Or even special stable building where they will regen energy over time. People will be able to not 'hunt' new horse every hour, but they will still have limited radius where they can use horses and not loose them.

Carrots are WAY to abundant. Why not just refeed another clover to regain 25% horse power?
If we go the direction of carrots, Id say 5% horse power per carrot. Considering I have over 1000 carrots stockpiled..

[Jackwolf]

But are you going to carry those 1000 carrots out with you on the road?

Clovers can be picked while on the go, making it to easy to refuel.

[Asgaroth22]

But are you going to carry those 1000 carrots out with you on the road?

Clovers can be picked while on the go, making it to easy to refuel.

I'd be against refueling, it would make things far too easy. Wild horses would stay as they are, and tamed ones would need to rest over time.