Stealing/Protecting Items/Justice

[Ysh]

he may never return but maybe we could try and help and encourage rather than flame him out of here ...

This forum is like mirror into the souls of men. If you come to it with rage in your heart, it will give rage to you in turn.

[Blueberry]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I hope you find another game that you can enjoy.

[Amanda44]

he may never return but maybe we could try and help and encourage rather than flame him out of here ...

This forum is like mirror into the souls of men. If you come to it with rage in your heart, it will give rage to you in turn.

@ rainstol ... your anger and disappointment is not helping here, lol.

I was also maybe a little harsh, brought on by your initial tone ... when you come in here raging you will always get that element crop up ...

Neither of which means we shouldn't try to be understanding and calm down on the flaming a bit ... ... two sides hurling abuse at each other doesn't end well ... not that it matters now as it appears he has left anyway ....

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I hope you find another game that you can enjoy.

[Ysh]

he may never return but maybe we could try and help and encourage rather than flame him out of here ...

This forum is like mirror into the souls of men. If you come to it with rage in your heart, it will give rage to you in turn.

Neither of which means we shouldn't try to be understanding and calm down on the flaming a bit ... ... two sides hurling abuse at each other doesn't end well ... not that it matters now as it appears he has left anyway ....

Who are we to defy will of forum?

[Amanda44]

I did it to an extent myself, the last comment I made in my first post was clearly a dig ... I just felt sorry for him after his second post and made a suggestion that applied equally to myself too ... no-one has to listen if they don't want to.

[Ysh]

I did it to an extent myself, the last comment I made in my first post was clearly a dig ... I just felt sorry for him after his second post and made a suggestion that applied equally to myself too ... no-one has to listen if they don't want to.

This is fine. There are powers working on this forum that are beyond our comprehension. To get caught up with it is more natural than to not, I think.

[shadyg0d]

I was about to write up a small guide on how easy it is to get a claim/palisade in a couple days with a new character, but honestly I think somebody with such a lack of patience is playing the wrong game. I really don't feel like helping somebody with such a shitty attitude anyway. Good riddance.

I don't think that's too harsh of me at all considering the guy called the devs "lowest of the low" and the game shit etc, when he clearly just started playing and has hardly any understanding of the game to make such claims.

[strpk0]

1. A claim does many things, I will highlight in red the items that require further clarification:

What does a claim do:
- It prevents wild animals from spawning inside the claim (in the case of a personal claim).
- It prevents natural decay to structures placed inside said claim.
- It prevents players from taking items / lifting objects and stealing / misplacing them.
- It prevents players from accessing said territory unless authorized by the owner.
- It prevents the destruction of any structure placed inside the claim by the hand of unauthorized players, so long as the claim has enough "shield" left in it. (Which you can check by selecting the Inspect tool and clicking on the ground anywhere inside the claim)

What does a claim not do, or special cases that are definitely worth considering (this is the further explanations part, and likely where you could have gone wrong with your understanding):
A claim NEVER guarantees 100% immunity from the actions of other players, you are still (against the skilled-enough player) as vulnerable as you are simply sitting out in the open while inside a claim if you don't secure yourself properly. This also applies to any items / objects inside said claim, and this is why:
- The trespassing skill allows players to enter an otherwise claimed land they have no authorization to be in, and check the contents of containers / make use of tools inside said claim / enter the structures inside said claim. All of these actions are a crime and result in the player dropping a trespass scent each time they do so.
- The theft skill allows players to steal items / liftable objects from a claim they otherwise have no rights to take from. This is a more severe crime, and results in the player dropping a theft scent by doing so.
- The vandalism skill allows players to destroy any objects / structures inside a claim they otherwise have no rights to, as long as the claim has no shield remaining. Again, you can check your claim's shield by using the inspect tool on the ground inside your claim. This shield starts out very low and gradually goes up to a certain total. If the inspect tool tells you your shield is "down", that means you are vulnerable to vandalism. If the inspect tool says "up", then you should be covered against any vandalism taking place inside your claim. This is an even more severe crime, and results in the player dropping a vandalism scent by doing so.

It is worth noting that experienced players can obtain all of these skills within a very short time-span when a world starts, therefore you should always be prepared for someone to use these "crime skills" against you. For instance, this world has been up for many months now, therefore most players have access to these skills already.

What can I do to protect myself, then? Am I 100% screwed as soon as someone shows up?
You can build a palisade, as others have mentioned. Make alternate characters and store the core palisade materials in them (except wood, of course), or do whatever is within your reach to protect said materials until you are ready to build it.
After you have built a palisade, it will be weak and destructable provided the attacking player has the vandalism skill, and your claim shield is currently down (or you accidentally place the palisade outside of your claim, therefore rendering it very vulnerable to attacks and require no vandalism skill to be destroyed). It will, however, gradually "set" and become stronger over the course of 3 days, after which it will ALWAYS be indestructible by hand (no matter how strong or advanced the attacking player is), requiring catapults, battering rams or wrecking balls instead to do any damage to them. Simply get your palisade up, make sure all parts of your palisade are within your personal claim, wait for the palisade to set and make sure to watch out for any siege weaponry being placed near it by another player to attempt to attack you (this should be rare, most players won't be willing to go through the trouble of employing siege weaponry unless you give them a good reason to do so. Play smart and be logical and you should be 100% fine.)

Of course, all of this is an overly careful and paranoid method of playing the game. Most of these, let's call them "asshole actions", can be avoided simply by settling far far away from any other player. The world is massive, and as long as you pick a direction and walk in it until you stop seeing any signs of civilization, you may never even encounter another player, let alone one that wants to screw you over. This is the strategy I employ whenever I start playing a world from scratch, and thus far I have never had any experiences of being attacked by another player. Again, this does NOT guarantee 100% safety, but atleast massively lowers your chances of running into some asshat that wants to ruin your day.

Any scent left by an offending player (excluding trespassing) can be collected and used for nidbane summoning (which you can learn more about here). A nidbane is a type of monster that can be summoned by victims to exact revenge on criminals, the strength of the summoned nidbane depending on both the stats of the criminal (yes, this means that the stronger the criminal, the stronger the nidbane that will show up to go for them), and also the severity of the crime committed (severity ranking in theft->vandalism->battery->murder). When a nidbane is summoned, it will shortly start moving towards the criminal, wherever they happen to be hiding at in the world, starting out with a very low speed and gradually becoming faster as time passes). If a nidbane is succesful in murdering its target, it will harvest the skull of the criminal and leave it at the dolmen where you summoned it from. If it is not, the fetter used to summon it will break, signaling failure.

So as you can see, a claim is less of a laziness enabler, and more of a provider of tools for the land owner. It doesn't guarantee you anything, but rather provides the claim owner with the means to defend his territory and belongings from other players, to some extent.

2. About the discovery of recipes (or why it isn't clear what items you require to build objects).
You are 100% on the right with this one. It was perhaps the intention of the developers (at the time of implementing this mechanic) to allow for a more natural flow of discovery for the player, so as they discover the items, they discover what they can do with them, instead of being bombarded with many new things at the same time. It is arguable however, that in some cases (like yours) it only results in confusing the newer players, and should perhaps not be in place for something as immediately critical as self-defence. For the future, however, consulting the haven and hearth wiki can easily answer what materials you need discovered in order to access certain recipes.

3. About tracking
Read this for a good explanation.

This reply I write solely with the sentiment of teaching, so if I come off as rude or condesending at any point it was completely unintentional on my part.

Finally, do note that "griefing" is, for the better or worse, a core part of this game. A player will enjoy this game if they accept this fact wholeheartedly, and learn to be smart and prepared to react when shit inevitably hits the fan. If griefing was not in the game, its gameplay would lose a lot of its current value to the player. If you still, after learning as much as possible, cannot accept this, then the only good option is to find another game (again, I write this with honesty in mind, rudeness not intended, I'm sure everyone here wants more players to join in, but they do need to accept that this game will kick their ass if it decides to do so). The devs never promised (nor ever will provide) aid to anyone on the basis of them being griefed, as it is simply a given and almost a necessity in this type of a game.

Hope this helps, and best of luck if you do decide to stick around.

[MrPunchers]

^

[shadyg0d]

Heh, glad to see you back. I knew you could not resist teh hafen

One thing the other guy missed(I'm pretty sure but somebody correctly me if I'm wrong):
The claim shield only protects against siege weapons which are used to break walls(catapult/ram/etc...). Walls cannot be broken by hand, therefore in order for somebody to break your walls they must first lay siege against your claim shield. All damage to structures by siege weapons is diverted to the claim shield until it reaches 0. Only then can siege weapons be used to vandalize your stuff.

The shield itself does not protect against theft/vandalism by hand. Anything that isn't inside a palisade/brickwall can still be stolen/vandalised by those with the skills.


Also let me explain the "visitor" mechanic:
As long as your claim still has presence you can leave your gates open and nobody will be able to steal or vandalize. This was added for people to "visit" villages and use barter stands etc... Anyone who passes through your gate will be given the "visitor" buff preventing them from doing anything bad. They will not be able to steal/vandalize even with skills, without first breaking your wall. Basically any time you pass through a gate on a claim you will become a visitor.