Dev diary: Ritual, Skills, Wyrd

[Lothaudus]

You feeling the groove, kids?

OH GOD I THINK I JUST CAME.

Really love the idea of tying social activities (knocking on doors, afternoon tea) into it all.

[jorb]

I'm not sure about marching either. I had a little vision and I thought I'd share it. I'm not happy about how travel/logins work right now, and I would like a better solution, but I promise to tread lightly.



Drew a few more.

[Jackard]

those look nice but i dont understand their meaning

first is campfire ritual? fourth is burning trees?

[Manson]

I'm pretty sure the third is meat hanging from a tree.

[Avu]

Like Odin!

[RaptorJedi]

Idea for expansion on the funeral pyre thing. Norse funerals had grave offerings, kind of like in Egypt.

"It was common to leave gifts with the deceased. Both men and women received grave goods, even if the corpse was to be burnt on a pyre. The amount and the value of the goods depended on which social group the dead person came from. It was important to bury the dead in the right way so that he could join the afterlife with the same social standing that he had had in life, and to avoid becoming a homeless soul that wandered eternally."

Anyway, when burning a person, objects they are burned with (probably just one) could have benefits for the ancestor of that person, such as burning them with a bow could give the ancestor archery at the cost of wyrd from the people at the funeral, or sending him/her off with a scythe or blacksmithing hammer would have that ancestor start with a point in either nature or industry, again, probably at the cost of wyrd of those at the funeral.

[sabinati]

or maybe the item would be in their starting chest? idk probably a bad idea

[Winterbrass]

or maybe the item would be in their starting chest? idk probably a bad idea

If something like a funeral pyre was implemented, it would be nice if the character's equipment and inventory were tossed into the starting chest to replace the noob equips. I really wouldn't consider that too overpowered.

[Lothaudus]

I'm not sure about marching either. I had a little vision and I thought I'd share it.

Keep marching but make it less God-like. "Marching" should simply allow you to run (at the current run speed) along any terrain without tiring. Obviously it would drain Wyrd instead of Stamina. Then add some animals that require the "run them down" method to catch and kill them (I dunno. Sabre Tooth Tiger or some type of bird or some shit) and Marching becomes a useful mechanic for hunters to catch all the fraidy bears. I like the idea of being able to run at run speed for a reasonable distance. CAVEAT: It must be coupled with a larger map area. Like another 9,437,856,194,342 supergrids.

This type of Marching I imagine would not be able to be done with a cart or when lifting anything. It is simply a manner in which an individual may traverse large distances across land (IE: It becomes like boats are today, a reasonable method of travel - only without the bonus option of taking much with you as it would tire you). It doesn't need any group mechanics. If a group is running, then each person in the group just makes sure they have enough Wyrd or they can go fuck themselves.

Also I suggest renaming "Greeting a Friend" and "Welcoming A Guest" to "Greeting an Alt" and "Welcoming An Alt".

I'm not happy about how travel/logins work right now, and I would like a better solution, but I promise to tread lightly.

I agree with the others who say remove instant fast-travel. A few ideas have of course been thrown around before but they're worth bringing up again:

1. Add Deep Water. Shallow (as it is now), Water (as it is now) and Deep Water. Deep Water is for oceans, seas, the middle of lakes and wide rivers.

2. Add horses. Horses obviously have a trot and a gallop speed. Galloping should allow you to travel good distances quickly. Say the edge of the current world to Brodgar in under hour easily (see above about adding supergrids). You should be able to store about a cupboards worth of goods in a horse (IE: You can right-click and choose 'open' to get to their inventory). Horses can gallop through shallow water but can only trot through Water. They cannot swim through Deep Water. This allows them to cross rivers but not oceans, lakes or very wide rivers (the Oceans which will of course come in the next map reset).

3. Add Covered Wagons. Require 2 horses to be pulled. Opens like a boat or cart (in that you can store chests and other items in them) but has a phenomenal amount of room. Say, enough for 24 chests. It moves at a horses Trotting speed. It can carry 2 people (someone gets to ride shotgun). Again, it can cross rivers but not Deep Water. It should be able to get from the edge of the known world to Brodgar in about the same time as it would take someone in a boat to get there and back again.

4. Add Barges. Water based transport. Store as much as a covered wagon (maybe more). Are of course limited to only being on water and wide rivers. About the same speed as a covered wagon.

What does all this do?

1. Distance matters. People who settle out in the nether-beyonds should have a harder time trading with others who are far away. If you want to settle out in the middle of nowhere because you're a paranoid fuck, you should learn to deal with the consequences of that.

2. It allows for larger areas of land. At the moment, there really are A LOT of rivers about the place and they're not far apart from each other.

3. Small trades can be done quickly and easily with horses (I can imagine a bunch of traders simply ferrying items back and forth on horseback between various towns).

4. People who want to get from A to B can March or be picked up via a horseman and taken there in a reasonable time-frame (much the same way my community used to ferry people from Brodgar to Codexia via boat). I think 2 supergrids in under an hour is reasonable as it provides plenty of chance for people to settle far enough away and have enough space to spread out.

5. Large-scale trading is still possible and of course requires some co-ordination to pull off. No more 'pop' and you're done. So people will make more effort to trade for the goods they need. People can pack-up all the shit they own and go out on a Barge to sail the Oceans and setup camp somewhere else.

I will add I think people think the map is smaller than it is. I don't know if loftar and yourself can look at where people are but I know I've been through entire supergrids without finding signs of life.

[Winterbrass]

If deeper water is going to be added, I would recommend adding some shallower places in rivers. It doesn't need to be complex. Simply have the shallow water extend from one side of the river to the other in places, so people can walk across it. That would alleviate a lot of the 'OMG WE NEED A BRIDGE NAO' chatter and act as a placeholder.