Season Thoughts

[Peter]

I know that seasons are at least vaguely defined in the future of H&H, so this is not a suggestion of "add seasons" and more of a discussion of what effects seasons may have and how they are implemented. My thoughts:

Even though a hDay takes only 8 rHours (that is, a haven-&-hearth-Day = 8 real-world-Hours), this still works out to four rMonths for each full cycle of seasons in the game. I think this may end up being a little slow. Ideally, one would be able to play a single character for several hYears, so the lifespan of a normal character will put a limit on the length of the hYear. I would suggest one hYear = 4 rWeeks as a rough estimate- spending a week in each season.

Beyond speeding the day up more, one could instead make the year consist of fewer days or months. If we kept the same length hDays as we currently have and had week-long seasons, each hSeason (3 hMonths) would consist of 21 hDays, and each hMonth would be 7 hDays long.

We can, of course, assume that the Hearth-Solar-System is convienient enough to keep the Moon in step with these seasons.

The main obstacle to seasons, I think, is going to be weather, which is going to be slowed because pretty much all large items will need to have different graphics for when it has a little or a lot of snow on it, for when it is baked in heat and for when it's flooded with rainwater, and so on. In fact, it might be that tying weather to seasons directly and having the weather effects be the only direct influences on gameplay may be the way to go.

For example, instead of having Arctic Foxes spawn only during winter, have them spawn only in snow tiles, which form whenever it snows, which only happens during winter. This way, if it's a mild winter (the RNG deigns to have less snow than average), then there will be fewer Arctic Fox spawns than in other years.

Other weather effects:
Seasonal Crops (No wheat in snow) : Flooding (Might be tough, probably work like snow tiles): Snowed-in roads (If there are snow tiles, easy to make them slow carts and PCs): Icebergs (besides tiles, the other enemy of boats) : Wildfires (Summer hates you) : Animal Behavior (Good news; it's bear mating season!) : Long-term crops (Plant crops in spring, harvest in fall) : Temperatures (Too cold, need more clothes, die/Too hot, need more stamina and beer, die)

[ZestyLemons]

Wait till summer, jack all of that persons gear

Wait till winter, jack all their bread and food

There's holes in your idea

[sabinati]

yeah as much as i like realism, this will really suck as far as gameplay.

[g1real]

I find that a bit too fast for season changing.

And the effects dont need to affect you harshly either.

[Jackard]

bay12rs

[Hamel]

I welcome anything that will make the game tougher, it's waaay too easy as is.

The best part about hostile weather and seasons is that they would kill off poorly protected throw-away alts. It would also make playing a hermit harder, and encourage people to live in villages, where there is always (probably) a nice, warm, toasty tavern. Where you can warm your frigid feet by the fire, and drink ales for your ails. Not to mention villages would probably be warmer in general, with all of the cabins (with fireplaces, and chimneys) and people.

[Delamore]

The best part about hostile weather and seasons is that they would kill off poorly protected throw-away alts.

Wow and best of all it does this without killing newbies who have just started causing them to quit and losing prospective players, oh wait it doesn't.

[Shadowbreak]

I welcome anything that will make the game tougher, it's waaay too easy as is.

The best part about hostile weather and seasons is that they would kill off poorly protected throw-away alts. It would also make playing a hermit harder, and encourage people to live in villages, where there is always (probably) a nice, warm, toasty tavern. Where you can warm your frigid feet by the fire, and drink ales for your ails. Not to mention villages would probably be warmer in general, with all of the cabins (with fireplaces, and chimneys) and people.

note to self, 1)Build a tavern asap, 2)Suggest devs for a fireplace to be built in said tavern 3)Stock up on beer and food in cellar 4) Put up a sign to indicate said tavern in said village 5)???? 6)Profit!!!1

[Potjeh]

The best part about hostile weather and seasons is that they would kill off poorly protected throw-away alts.

Wow and best of all it does this without killing newbies who have just started causing them to quit and losing prospective players, oh wait it doesn't.

It could work if there were multiple climates in the world. RoB latitude could have a very mild climate (what we have now), and by going further north you'd get harsher and harsher winters. So if someone wanted protection from alts, he could move far to the north and get it at the cost of a shorter growing season and generally harsher conditions.

[Delamore]

The best part about hostile weather and seasons is that they would kill off poorly protected throw-away alts.

Wow and best of all it does this without killing newbies who have just started causing them to quit and losing prospective players, oh wait it doesn't.

It could work if there were multiple climates in the world. RoB latitude could have a very mild climate (what we have now), and by going further north you'd get harsher and harsher winters. So if someone wanted protection from alts, he could move far to the north and get it at the cost of a shorter growing season and generally harsher conditions.

That is alot more reasonable, it allows people to opt into the harsher ends of weather.