Prism's big novel of suggestions

Have a new general feature to suggest, or think one should be tweaked? Share your ideas here.
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Prism
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2019 4:44 pm
Location: SHADGARD, BABEH

Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Prism »

Good afternoon!

As I've been playing here, i've thought a lot on potential suggestions and whatnot. I could sit here and muse on them in a word document all day, or I could jus post them here! This thread of mine will be where I consistently come to post my suggestions when I think them up.

So, organized by category are a few suggestions that I've thought on throughout my time here so far. Take them with a grain of salt! They aren't meant to be anything more than something to think about. We all know development priorities differ at times, and that sometimes thoughts don't end up being so good as they sounded at first. So i'm not offended by any constructive feedback offered!

Also pardon my spelling and grammar. I'm too lazy to filter through all of my errors today. Sorry.


Leatherworking and leatherworking byproducts


-It would be fantastic if when furs are used in the leathermaking process, they could retain their original color upon completion of the finished product. "A red fox fur cloak" "a fiery-orange lynx fur cloak" etc. etc. As stands, when fur goods are completed, they lose their distinguishing hue, which is sad! Furs can't be dyed currently, and this would help give them some distinguishing flavor.

-It could also be useful to add the ability for leatherworkers to attach small pelts of the same type/coloring to one another with a skein of thread or length of sinew to open up more variety for particular choice materials. That way, one could sew together, say, four medium fox pelts into one large fox pelt which could then be fashioned into a cloak. This typically isn't possible with fox pelts, to continue on with that example, as a result of their size.

-It could be neat for fat to be added to animal corpses as a resource which can be harvested and used for various purposes. Boiling it down into oil/grease for lanterns/lamps/torch pitch, lard for cooking, tallow for candles. You know, stuff people need to stay alive in a rough and tumble quarantine.

-And, you know, not to sit here and request individual leatherworking recipes or anything. But i'd sure love the ability to make fur socks, scarves, blankets, and rugs. It just seems sensable.


Mining, Metalworking and their byproducts


-It lists in the help files that one requires work gloves and a heavy apron to adequately metalwork without risk, but as things stand, that doesn't seem to be implemented. If this were the case, (much as it would make some people grumble, methinks) It would give some great value to a few items which currently just sort of take up space on the market. The occasional risk for burns or the like might also get metalworkers out and moving about a bit more-- even if the infirmary's close by and it's not much a hook. RP is RP!

-It's neat that depending on the product being made, there are different tools and steps which need to be used and undergone in order to properly create said product. It makes the metalworking process more active, and less initiate and watch results. Given that train of thought, it might be interesting to implement a process for certain goods which requires the item to be turned or flipped or angled on the anvil at certain points in the process. Nothing complex, just something that breaks up the inactive nature of forging a bit to make people feel more engaged with what they're doing? The same, of course, could be applied to grinding and other processes of a similar nature to achieve the same ends.

-I'm sure that cave ins and other mining-related hazards are in the works and planned to be implemented at some point, but they'd be really neat for the same reasons listed above. Mining has it's moments where it's a more active process, but it'd be nice if it could be more an active process somehow. Whether that be by causing mining-related events like cave ins, gas leaks and the like, or diversifying the sorts of things one could get while mining-- like gems or other oretypes, or doing something similar to the suggestion I made above where different commands need to be used to make the process more diverse somehow? Not very high priority, of course, but still would be interesting to see in the future. Maybe mining with alternative tools like a rudementary drill or some such, supporting the mine's stability, etc?


Farming, Animal Husbandry, and Construction


-I know that it's intended to be implemented at some point in the future, but animal breeding would be super cool! If only so all of the poor, poor ranchers have to decide which of their named babies to send to the slaughterhouse so that all of the squirrels don't starve out for the winter.

-The same can be said for additional animal types that are sensible, but i'm sure that's a suggestion that's been made a million times. Mine in particular is pigs. Once animals can have families of their own, let us have pigs so we can slaughter and consume said families and their delicious baconyness.

-If not already possible, it would also be pretty cool for PCs to have the ability to trade animals to one another, or put them on their own designated market. I suppose this would be more applicable if animals had "qualities" as hilarious as that sounds. But, I mean. Not all milk is the same, not all beef, not all squirrel wool, etc. With breeding comes preferrable bloodlines, and being able to see animals acquiring traits that make them unique would be neat. A goat that makes milk faster, a squirrel that grows a unique color of wool, that kind of thing.

-Given the above, it would be cool to see farmers' individual plants taking on their own qualities and traits as time goes on and they use the seeds from the same genetic line. Wheat that's more resistant to cold, blueberries that ripen more hastily, etc.

-It would also be interesting to see PC farmers have the ability to transplant certain sorts of wilderness plantlife to their farm with enough care, preparation, skill, and luck. Things like emberberry bushes, thornberry bushes, mushrooms, etc. The same for their own crops if they were to take on their own traits, as mentioned.

-It might also be beneficial to have built structures on farm plots degrade over time and require upkeep. (This might already be the case? I'm not too sure, i'm still pretty new to the system.) If it isn't, however-- replacing nails, planks, and individual components would be a good way to dump resources, riln, and time whilst pumping up your skill in a more consistent fashion aside from building endlessly.

-The ability to dig irrigation trenches, and an apparatus to pump water up from one's well into said trenches to hasten the field-watering process might also be appreciated by some farmers out there, I would imagine. But i'm not sure how theme-appropriate the concept is in terms of technology level and lore and all that.


Campgrounds, campsites, and how I see them functioning


-I've mentioned it on chat a few times, but I think the ability for bushcrafters and other wilderness-inclined PCs to create their own little campsite in the wilderness would be interesting and fun. That being said, none of us want bushcrafters to be even more isolated from one another, nor do we want a bunch of player-made structures randomly popping up all over the wilderness and clogging up the map. With that said, I've put a little thought into a system that might accomplish those goals whilst remaining decently player and wilderness-friendly. (Give a hoot, don't pollute!)

-Firstly, I think it would be suitable for campsites only to be set up within areas on the wilderness map which are marked as suitable "Campgrounds." For example-- Regions of woodland terrain which are located nearby a dedicated water source, free of any nearby trails, roads, or other standing structures. In this way, players won't be able to decide that they'll be placing their campsite down in every room all over the wilderness left and right. Even if it were locked to several key locations that acted as the road to the farmland in Shadgard does, that would be cool.

-I imagine the system, in practice, creating an instanced area connected to a player-made trail much like the farm plots in towns creating an instance of a player's farm when they enter the road. Rather than using riln to purchase that instanced room, however, bushcrafters and other perspective campers would have to cut out a trail, create a clearing, and conceal it from any potential interlopers. Instead of paying a weekly amount of riln to maintain your instance, one would have to consistently and actively keep nature from reclaiming their campsite. Keep the trail clear, keep the clearing open, reinforce your structures, disguise heavy scents, etc.

-One Potential benefit of such a campsite could include the ability to create a small shelter, like a teepee, leantu, platform shelter, or the like which could serve as a safe and comfortable place to logout that feels more substantive than a bedroll-- perhaps adding more of a bonus then the bedroll does for comfort?

-Other benefits could include a rudementary, size limited farming or herb plot, a temporary tanning frame/tub/trough, a cooking pit with attached spit (saving valuable skewers), the ability to construct a rudementary spinning wheel or hand-powered fiber-twisting apparatus to help cut down on some of that painful cordage weaving, and anything else other people could think of that are more bushcrafty than I am

-Such campsites and facilities could encourage more bushcrafter cooperation by being intentionally limited in it's scope. If a bushcrafter could only, say, have enough space to temporarily make leatherworked goods, whilst another camper could use their site to create an apparatus for spinning cordage, it would encourage survivalists to seek each other out to use each other's hard-built facilities. Which would, theoretically, at least, encourage networks of individuals maintaining each other's campsites, hunting with each other, cooking with each other, defending each other's land like a little druid circle-- you know, the ideal.

-That being said, it was expressed by some that this could lead to bushcrafters simply sitting inside of their campsites and crafting nonstop. One of the many joys of being a survivalist in the wilds is the unexpected encounter with another survivalist of your like. So in an attempt to keep these campsites from being too isolated from the wilds and other players around them, my suggestion is that the trails leading into such campsites be locatable via the tracking and perception skills.

-That would imply that one's campsite is never truly as "safe."or "permanant" as in-town farms are. Other bushcrafters could find your trail, sneak in, and grab your goodies and the like. A flood from your nearby river water source could potentially knock out your campsite, harsh weather could make it's facilities unuseable. An improperly maintained shelter acting as your bed could collapse, or an improperly dug firepit could cause your cooking fire to spread and consume the clearing. Though the campsites are a way of adding utility and deeppening immersion and the like, I wouldn't think them ever meant to act as permannt standing structures that players could occupy for the forseeable future unless they were truly devoted to the upkeep.

-Plus-- as much as they are more unsafe, that lack of safety can consequently encourage a tighter-knit community of primalist survivors living off of the land and protecting one another in their own little community.


Pneumatic Guns


-Given black powder can be used to blow things up, it might be more beneficial for firearm-like weapons around here to function on pneumatic principles in a more steampunk-esque fashion rather than conventional black powder flintlocks. (and I use the term gun because firearms use ignited propellant and pnuematic guns use compressed air)However, the gaslight/lower tech feel of Cogg doesn't particularly align with the asthetic of most sorts of steampunk weaponry. We want it to be neat, but we don't want it to seem too high tech to exist in the lost lands. We don't need giant steam tank backpacks, hose-fed machine rifles or anything like that, I wouldn't think.

-In addition to the details above, we also have balance to consider in terms of ranged combat and ranged weaponry. I think guns could be a nice, interesting way to give more power to non-combat focused characters in combat-centric encounters. The entire point of the gun's development, aside from the obvious killing things, was efficiency and ease of use amongst common men and minimalization of training. (I might be wrong about this generally, it's a subjective argument. Not the point. Anywho.)

-That all being said, the concept that i'm operating under is that pneumatic guns will have a more widely varying damage range than, say, bows, but given that wider range, they have the capability to do lesser damage, or higher damage depending on the roll and luck.

-Simply put, If bows do more consistent, reliably predictable damage and and are more difficult to aim and use on average, pneumatic guns are less predictable and consistent, easier to aim and use, and are capable of doing less or more damage on average by comparison.

-Guns, like any other weapon, would require material components for assembly by a gunsmith. The stock, the barrel, the trigger, the pneumatic well (for loading pressurized steam), the firing chamber, and the pneumatic hammer which operates the firing mechanism. My research points to brass being the most useful sort of alloy for such as a result of it's strength, weight, heat resistance, and other qualities. (Please correct me if i'm wrong. I didn't go on as deep a dive as I could have.)

-Ammunition for these guns would also require their own crafting process, requiring a slug (the shot), a casing, an oilcloth or similar pressure seal, and lubricant of some sort. (Oil, grease, etc.)

-Lastly, for the guns to fire, they require a mixed canister of compressed air and steam to be loaded into the guns seperate of their ammunition to act as a propellant. Also craftable-- requires a metal canister, a pressure seal made of oilcloth or other similar substance, and a gauge to measure the steam contained within. (Maybe not the gauge.)

-I invision 5 classes of gun in this category. Derringers, repeating derringers, muskets, repeating carbines, and Scatterguns. Don't immediately crucify me. My intention isn't to somehow rationalize the use of multiple attacks or anything like that. Each gun type would serve a particular purpose.

NOTE: This isn't meant to suggest the concept of multiple attacks with no round time. It's meant to suggest the concept of a powerful weapon which has a typical roundtime in between shots which incurs additional roundtime to be fully reloaded. Think guns in the other game. You have powderhorn ammunition resources, the ammunition itself, and the gun. This is the same concept, just different implementation. More roundtime in between shots in exchange for a potentially more powerful weapon and potentially lower aiming threshold.

-bows would still be useful and valued by comparison because they never have the reload roundtime likeguns do and have a more consistent and predictable damage threshold to offset their lesser aiming capability. Plus, they can be used more effectively from a stealthy position. Guns are loud.

That being said, onto the categories.

Derringers: Small, single capacity concealable guns which are meant for self defence. They hold One, sometimes two rounds, and can be quickly reloaded. Their range is short, and they have a reliable amount of stopping power for their size and construction.

Repeating Derringers: Small, concealable guns with an extended ammunition capacity. Between four and six shots can be fired off in a semi-rapid succession with judicious use of the single-action hammer, but it's extended ammunition capacity cannot compensate for the limited capacity of it's pneumatic well. In exchange for the extra shots, each individual shot has less steam to propell it, resulting in individual shots with comparatively less stopping power than a typical derringer.

Muskets: Long single capacity rifles with a perpensity for range and extreme stopping power. More unwieldy and difficult to aim, but equally as hard to ignore if hit. Longer, more complicated reload compared to derringers as a result of design; the firing mechanism needs to be realigned with each successive loading as a result of recoil. Accomplished via bolt action.
SIMPLE EXPLANATION: : Point musket. Shoot musket. Miss your target. Reload slug, pull back bolt-- aim and miss again.

Repeating Carbines: light, snub-nosed rifles which make clever use of an expanded chamber to increase ammunition capacity whilst reducing the individual effectiveness of each fired slug. More powerful than repeating derringers as a result of their size and construction, but harder to handle as a result. Doesn't pack as much punch as a musket as a result of similar failings to repeating derringers. Individual slugs are loaded into the chamber via crank action after being manually fed into the cylinder by hand.
Simple Explanation: Hand-load cartridges into ammunition cylinder. Crank handle like cowboy to load cartridge into chamber. Yee-haw, cowboy guns

Scatterguns: Employing a similar concept to the pneumatic musket, pneumatic scatterguns are long, single-capacity rifles designed specifically to fire cartridges loaded with a handful of tiny, intricately rifled balls which disperse in a cone-like shape as they exit the barrrel. Particularly intricate models feature dual-barreled, break action designs. Expensive, difficult to maintain, Not effective at extended ranges, and Half of the pneumatic well is required per firing.

So, aside from being cool, and different, and more asthetic. How would these weapons be worth the expense? How can they offer non-combat focused characters more utility in a combat situation in exchange for a steeper resource sink? My proposal is that their use can allow their wielders to have a chance to trigger a particular "ability" associated with each weapon. These "special attacks" as it were, wouldn't be as effective as, nor as reliable as the warrior abilities they are similar to. But they would offer more utility-- take the following examples.

-Allow those wielding a derringer to half half of the aiming bonus associated with combat precision (non-stacking, of course)

-Allow the chance for scatterguns to inflict a ranged cleave, hitting up to two targets.

-Quick-draw snapshots/reaction shots with repeating weapons

-The chance for landed musket shots to induce staggering/knockdown, ala staggering blow



Anyway, this was really long. I'll shut up for now. Thanks for reading my novel!
"The sky, above the clouds; A rainbow that fate has devoured
I gave up Hope
But I'm not going to be lost tomorrow; Even if it is hell
I'm gonna' crawl. "
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Rias
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Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Rias »

There are a lot of great ideas in here! It will make my dreaded to-do list even longer. While I won't comment on every individual thing, I did want to mention that pneumatic guns are actually coded in. They're not available to players because I'm still fiddling with the mechanics, but you can take them and fill them at the Steamworks, and they lose pressure with each shot until you eventually have to refill them. I've toyed with the idea of being able to lug some pressure canisters around for refilling to strike a convenience balance. The more you bring the longer you can keep firing, but you have to consider the weight encumbrance involved. I really like the proposed idea of having some more rapid pre-loaded shooters but with the downside of each progressive shot doing less damage (and maybe being less accurate as well?) - I think that'd be a great way to help balance out the concept of some rapid-firing guns, and it makes sense with the pneumatic pressure concept.

I also like the idea of guns (and probably crossbows to a lesser extent) being made somehow an easier-to-pick-up weapon type for people who aren't investing in combat skill, but still want -some- means of self-defense when they find themselves in a bad situation. More RNG luck involved with them than skill to start, while those who invest in Ranged Combat skill could of course make them far more reliable with rolls like other weapons. On the other end of the spectrum we could have things like slings, chained weapons, and to a lesser extent possibly swords, where they're tougher to individually start out with but can become extra effective with some innate bonuses or moves being unlocked as skill increases.
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
<Fellborn> NO
Prism
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Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Prism »

Rias wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:54 pm There are a lot of great ideas in here! It will make my dreaded to-do list even longer. While I won't comment on every individual thing, I did want to mention that pneumatic guns are actually coded in. They're not available to players because I'm still fiddling with the mechanics, but you can take them and fill them at the Steamworks, and they lose pressure with each shot until you eventually have to refill them. I've toyed with the idea of being able to lug some pressure canisters around for refilling to strike a convenience balance. The more you bring the longer you can keep firing, but you have to consider the weight encumbrance involved. I really like the proposed idea of having some more rapid pre-loaded shooters but with the downside of each progressive shot doing less damage (and maybe being less accurate as well?) - I think that'd be a great way to help balance out the concept of some rapid-firing guns, and it makes sense with the pneumatic pressure concept.

I also like the idea of guns (and probably crossbows to a lesser extent) being made somehow an easier-to-pick-up weapon type for people who aren't investing in combat skill, but still want -some- means of self-defense when they find themselves in a bad situation. More RNG luck involved with them than skill to start, while those who invest in Ranged Combat skill could of course make them far more reliable with rolls like other weapons. On the other end of the spectrum we could have things like slings, chained weapons, and to a lesser extent possibly swords, where they're tougher to individually start out with but can become extra effective with some innate bonuses or moves being unlocked as skill increases.
Just wanted to quickly say i'm glad suggestions were appreciated/good ones!

I totally get the to do list, though. And i'm also glad I wasn't too far off on the concept for pneumatics- Super cool stuff!
"The sky, above the clouds; A rainbow that fate has devoured
I gave up Hope
But I'm not going to be lost tomorrow; Even if it is hell
I'm gonna' crawl. "
Prism
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2019 4:44 pm
Location: SHADGARD, BABEH

Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Prism »

It's me again, crystal refracting light man

So, today's post is about some weirdness i've noticed while leatherworking in my time here. Particularly in regard to the weirdness of size in regard to some recipes, and the way that the laetherworking system treats different sized pelts.

The way the system seems to be intended to function is that, if your pelt is too large for the product that you are currently making, that it will leave leftover material when the cutting portion of the leatherworking project is complete. For example.

If you're making a pair of leather gloves with a large wechuge pelt, upon completion of thec utting step, you'll set aside a medium piece of wechuge leather. This is because gloves only require a small pelt.

That said, the gloves are the only leatherworking recipe which seems to actually account for the size and leave leftover material in the correct capacity. A leather helmet, for example, requires a medium pelt-- but if one uses a large pelt to make a leather helmet, there is no leftover material in the end. It's simply a "large" helmet instead of a "medium" helmet which offers no functional difference so far as I am aware. This is the case with all of the recipes so far as i'm aware, with the exception of gloves and gorgets. Gloves and gorgets resize properly.

In addition to this, some of the sizes required for certain recipes seem to be weird in a contradictory sort of way. This one might just be the way my head space works, but, follow me.
-A pair of leather vambraces requires a medium pelt
-A pair of brigandine leather vambraces requires a large pelt
-A cuirass requires a large pelt, but overcoats, longcoats, and dusters, which are worn over a cuirass and often function as "longer" garments only require a medium pelt

If the system could perhaps be peeked at and adjusted slightly, it would be sincerly appreciated by all of us leatherworkers. Specifically in this capacity:

-Allow recipes to properly leave leftover material of the proper size if a leatherworker uses a larger-than-needed pelt for a project, as is currently possible with the leather gloves recipe
-Look at some of the recipes, like vambraces, greaves, etc. and consider adjusting the size of the pelt required for their assembly to allow greater variety and flexibility?
-Perhaps add a recipe for different sizes of pelts which allows leatherworkers to sew pelts of the same type together into larger pelts. 2 small rabbit pelts make a medium rabbit pelt, two medium make a large, etc.
-Perhaps consider allowing leatherworkers to cut hides and pelts in halves using the cut command. Cut a larger pelt into two mediums, a medium into two smalls, etc.


This is all i've got for now-- but thanks for the consideration! Any input from othe rleatherworkers greatly appreciated
"The sky, above the clouds; A rainbow that fate has devoured
I gave up Hope
But I'm not going to be lost tomorrow; Even if it is hell
I'm gonna' crawl. "
Gorth
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Location: Michigan

Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Gorth »

I'm in absolute favor of being able to stitch pelts together...give me my wolf fur cloak, please! Scratch that, I just want everything made of wolf fur.
The process would probably take a whole lot of thread, though, maybe to balance it out a little? I don't know, I don't balance things, I just come up with ways to break the balance.

If the size thing is fixed, I probably wouldn't bother with the sawing pelts in half part, mostly because my leatherworker prefers the pelts to be as cleanly cut and organic looking as possible, and it's hard to cut through fur like that, so it'd probably not look very nice...but then again, I don't know what things look like.
:undm_scales_key: :shagerd:
Proud owner of the ten thousandth post.
Prism
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Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Prism »

here's a random clump of suggestions i've been musing on or were brought up previously. Feedback appreciated!


~~~Character Voice system~~~

Currently, When characters are hidden and speak, it displays a series of numbers which correspond to the unique speaking voice that the character has. It works-- but it's a little bit simplistic. Here were a few thoughts on how this system could be expanded.

The idea is to divide a character's speech profile into two or three individual parts. Noun, adjective, and accent. When a character is otherwise unable to be seen, whether hidden or obscured in some capacity-- their vocal description would accompany their words much as the numbers do as present.

These would be selected from pre-defined lists to come up with a unique voice for the character. Examples of each, and resulting combinations are listed below.

Noun: Deep, gruff, bright

Adjective: Gravelly, breathy, melodic

Accent: Based on race/birthplace.

Combination I: A deep, gravelly voice with a Giganti Accent ominously warns, "Stop."

Combination II: A gruff, breathy voice with a Carnathian accent dryly says, "Pull the other one."

Combination III: A bright, melodic voice with a Fasa accent cheekily suggests, "Try not to die."

The key here is that these would only display if your character was hidden or obscured to avoid spam. But in this way-- everyone would still have a distinct profile even though they're hidden.

An additional step would be a system which allows one to gradually recognise a voice as being associated with a particular person through knowledge of their name. The longer you have someone's name memorized or the more often you see them, the more likely or able you'll be to associate their voice with their name freely even if they sneak up on you. That kind of thing.

~~~Housing, Group Crafting Projects, and Non-Combat events~~~

So, the first phase of character housing, when implemented, will be pretty straightforward and streamlined for ease on staff. They'll likely be one or two room affairs with pre-set descriptions and pre-set facilities that are easy to roll out for all of us to enjoy.

After things are in a nice place, and thoughts are given toward player housing in an additional capacity, I had the following thoughts in relation to player homes and a few professions.

Recently, a suggestion was made in regard to group crafting recipes, and I thought this would be particularly appropriate for large-scale things, such as housing, and things related to housing and town upkeep. So-- this is what I invision the home-buying process for the game being in a dreamy, idealized state.

1) Shadgard Sam, having been a citizen of Shadgard for 3-6 months, is now eligible to put in his stake on a little section of the canyon he can call his own. He goes to the housing office in town hall, and applies for a home.

2) After it is decided where Sam's property will be located (Either from a pre-selected list of available plots or via GM designation) A deed of ownership is made and given to Sam to indicate that he owns his little piece of the canyon, so long as he makes his initial investment, maintains good standing with the town of Shadgard, and pays monthly taxes on his plot of land.

3) Sam's given a list of types of craftsman that could help, and the sorts of components he's going to need. The list corresponds to a crafting recipe for the home. It lists the individual material components he'll need, how long it'll take, just like any old crafting recipe. The difference being-- the spot itself also acts as a spot where the required components can be deposited and digitized. So-- Sam brings a handcart full of planks and nails and things to his house plot, deposits the planks and nails and things in the plot-- and when he views the house recipe again, it lists the amount of components he has out of the total so far until it's ready to be built.

4) Once all of the material components are assembled and gathered at the crafting location, one (or more) craftsman are assembled by Sam to do the work and put it all together, much in the same way farm structures are built. This opens up the base room of the interior of the house with a base description, and several more recipes that can be added on for additional resources and effort so long as one has the required space.

5) Sam goes through similar steps to 3-4 in assembling what he needs within his house. They assemble the materials for a fireplace and hearth, and build it. They assemble the materials for a drain that leads outside, and build it. Etc. etc.

I know this one's a little rambly-- but I love the idea of it. It makes building homes a community effort that takes a lot of resources and a lot of effort. Brings people together, does a lot with a lot of the items currently floating around, and makes sure that the build up of said items in the process of building the house doesn't put too much strain on the system by constantly digitizing them along the way.

It could even be used as a reoccuring town task that the local artisans can work toward on a regular basis which seems like it's actively contributing to players and NPCs (NPC houses obviously poofing and acting as more thematic than not)

A similar sort of system could be used to facilitate town-based non-combat events at large, really. The forge broke down, and needs replacement components. The gate's old, and we need to carve out some new heavy planks and bindings for it and mount it to the gatehouse. The waste management system is corroding and needs upkeep and replacement parts. The barge's hull is taking on water and the exterior needs resealed and winterized. The streets need recobbled. The minecart tracks need replaced. The walls need reinforcement. A new trail needs to be blazed through Timberpine.

All of these could be tasks that occasionally are placed in the community list by staff or pop up on a timer-- even if that timer's set for a few months at a time before one pops back up, like on a seasonal basis. It'd give non-combat focused people something more active to do and work toward that falls in line with their chosen loops, it incorporates a lot of different professions, it encourages roleplay between people through active cooperation, and it puts lingering resources in the marketplace and people's farms/vaults/etc. to work and use.


~~~~Task Suggestions~~~

The following are non combat related tasks which could be implemented that I think would be substantive in their loop in the way they offer satisfying result, give xp and practice, and keep the market from getting too inflated in the process. I'll break them down by category- some are more general, some are more focused on professions. Categories can be quickly found doing a ctrl + f search for the + symbol.

+General Tasks
(These aren't too different than the ones that currently exist. All of them involve handcarts that are task-functional only and don't have actual capability to hold contents aside from those relative to the task in question. That way they can't be exploited.)

-Local Handcart transport tasks.
Details: A handcart with a description that says it's fulll of <insert thing here> is generated for transport to a pre-determined location. "Bring this cart of planks from the sawmill to the carpentry shop."

-Empty the trash barrels
Details: "Empty the trash barrels around townn and haul it outside the walls for disposal." A handcart is spawned in for holding garbage, you pull it around, empty barrels into the handcart, and when you've hit all the barrels-- you pull the handcart outside of the gate, where's it's hauled off for burning/whatever by the townsfolk.

-Make charcoal flux for the forges/boiler
Details: Starting at the sawmill, you take a handcart full of branches to the workyard. Once there, you find the charcoal kiln, and look at it to understand it's apparatus. You open it up, transfer the contents of the handcart to the racks, light it, close it, and work the bellows. As the flames rise, smoke vents from the top in a thick plume that gradually thins as the process continues. After you work the bellows enough, the smoke venting from the top eases up to indicate that the process is complete. Then, you open it back up, transfer the charcoal from the racks to the handcart, then deliver it to the storage annex.

-Fuel the boilers
Details: Starting at the storage annex, you take a handcart of charcoal to the steamworks. On arrival, you locate the boiler, and look at it to understand the apparatus. push a lever to seal the loading hopper's bottom. Then, you open the hatch on the loading hopper,, clean the charcoal residue on the racks, and once complete, transfer the charcoal from the handcart to the racks. Close the hatch, pull the level on the loading hopper, and the loading racks slide into place and the boiler's been fueled. The handcart's turned in on completion.

+Farming/Animal Husbandry Tasks

NOTE: A good few of these would act as a good way to get that initial 100 in farming/animal husbandry. It gives them an idea of what both skills look like, and whether or not they're going to want to commit to them. If implemented, i'd suggest they'd be implemented alongside a change that requires the initial requirement for ownership of farmland be either 100 farming or 100 animal husbandry respectively.

Then, every 100 skill afterward, as current, you'd be able to purchase additional plots. Basically I just think it'd be a good idea to raise the threshold from 0 to 100 to both save on some item bloat, and give people a better idea of what they're commiting to in the ranching game before they've already spent their riln and built their structures and bought their animals.

-Forage Pinecones/Grass for Farms
Details: "Go look for a good place, then forage up some pinecones/bluestem grass for the ranchers' farms."When task is taken, flag one of several pre-set rooms to display a unique message upon being surveyed. Upon finding the right room-- forage task-generated pinecones/bluestem grass/whatever until a pre-determined amount is obtained, transport it back to the home location, and deliver it to the stockade.

Weed/water Fields
Details: "<task generated name> needs some help on their farm today. Go find their plot on the road and tend to their fields." Generates an instanced farm accessible by either the farmland rode, or a task-specific farmland trail. Go down trail, weed/water field until completion, checkin at stockade.

Clean Hutches/Sheds
Details: As above, but with cleaning animal hutches, sheds, and barns instead of weeding/watering fields.

Till/plant fields
Details: As above, but with tilling/planting fields instead of weeding/watering them. Seeds provided.

Harvest/Store Crops
Details: As above, but on arrival, one harvests a field of crops, performs any other additional steps needed, then transfers those goods into in-room structures or containers for storage. Check in at stockade for completion.

Shear/milk Animals/crush honeycomb
Details: As harvest task, but with shearing/milking animals/making honey instead. Liquid containers provided for milk/honey.


+Mining/Metalworking Tasks

-Mine X amount of resource
Details: Go to mine, mine X amount of requested resource using a task-provided minecart/handcart. Deliver container to destination upon completion.

-Crush stone
Details: Crush task-provided metal-rich stone into powder for processing. Deliver in proper container upon completion.

Cast/Forge X
Details: Using task-provided materials, use those materials to cast/forge a predetermined amount of goods which are digitized in the trough upon final cooling and completion.

Repair X
Details: As above, but with repairs of objects damaged to miscellanious extents. Task completed when objects are fully cooled in the trough and digitized.

Sharpen Weapons/Tools
Details: As above, but with the sharpening process, ending in the trough.

Assemble weapons/tools
Details: Assemble base components into completed weapons/tools and deposit them in the proper container upon completion. Materials provided.


+Skinning/leatherworking tasks


-Hunt X
Details: Find the correct room from a list of flagged rooms in a certain area using the track command. As with the forage pinecones/grass task, but with track instead of survey. Correct room is indicated by a unique series of animal tracks tied to the task that is listed in the track results. Upon locating them- hide and hunt the animal you're tasked to hunt. Upon tracking completion, task generates animal, animal is killed, skinned, and butchered, resulting materials are delivered to pre-determined location upon completion.

-Treat pelts into hide/fur
Details: Self-explanatory. Task distributes pelts to be worked into leather/fur as requested. Tannin for tub provided.

-Leatherwork X
Details: Using task-provided materials, leatherwork the requested piece into the finished product, then deposit within proper container upon completion.

Repair X
Details: As above, but with repairs of goods damaged to miscellanious capacities using provided materials.

~~~Just some tiny stupid things~~~

-I'd sure love it if we could forage seaweed and driftwood and kelp in beach environments. It'd be neat if we could burn them into ash, too. It'd be equally neat if that driftwood could be used for carving and burning down into ash.

-It'd be cool if we could somehow see smoke on the horizon from people's campfires. Or.. Wildfires?

-It'd be likewise cool if we could see our reflection in still enough water in clear enough weather.

- Fur scarf and leather/fur duffle bag/waistcoat recipes maybe?

-I support the previously asserted idea of skipping rocks in other threads

-Let me wear a flag on my back so I can further descend into my cosplay of Ulysses from Fallout: NV

-It'd be neat if we could style our hair, somehow. Hell, it'd be cool if our hair grew and we had to cut it every now and again or face the crippling reality of having absolutely sick rad rockstar lockes.

-Really, a barber would just be a nice start.

-Use the grafiti wall in Shadgard as the new designated "This is where we spread rumors and talk sh!t on people anonymously" board. Put something likewise in Mistral that is very obviously monitered heavily by our overseers and used against us.

-It'd be awesome if somehow, skilled craftspeople could get access to NPC shop repair inventories to expedite repairs. Go on duty, make the repairs in the back room where the damaged stuff players left there are waiting-- if the items are fixed by the player craftsman, make it immediately available for pickup by the player in question.

I have way more ideas to add to this list still, and way more to write about. particularly in regard to tasks, a brawling system, and other non-combat focused loops and activities In particular-- i've some ideas regarding artisan-centric abilities similar to medical certification that allow artisans to do comission and repair work without overtly affecting the market.

But i'm getting tired and it's getting late, so this is all you get for now. Feedback, as always, appreciated.
"The sky, above the clouds; A rainbow that fate has devoured
I gave up Hope
But I'm not going to be lost tomorrow; Even if it is hell
I'm gonna' crawl. "
Tessa
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2022 12:25 pm
Location: Frolicking in the ocean

Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Tessa »

I like a lot of these, truly, especially tasks related to picking up professions.
I wanted to throw in some more creative expression for tailors. We have players with amazing clothing descriptions. Perhaps give the tailors some creativity to modify a description of an item, add some pizzazz, take the figurative pair of scissors to an outfit and make something new.
Jewelry???????


Ability to brew coffee/tea/cocoa from resources found in the wilds? Yes thornleaf tea, or blueberry/blackberry/iceberry tea.
I can probably add more but I'll be good.
"The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can't." — Christopher Paolini
Gorth
Posts: 581
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2021 11:53 am
Location: Michigan

Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Gorth »

I'm doing the obligatory bump. I hate that I have to script to know who's voice is who. I also really like the idea of gating Farming behind 100 skill. I also really like the idea of more general Great Hall tasks. However, if we end up having so many, perhaps it's simply on a timer, instead of having them all on seperate cooldowns, so that people can't just do infinite tasks.
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Proud owner of the ten thousandth post.
Prism
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2019 4:44 pm
Location: SHADGARD, BABEH

Re: Prism's big novel of suggestions

Post by Prism »

Good evening Ya'll!

As I'm doing something in particular that involves this mechanic for the first time, it occurs to me that we've got an awful lot of trails hanging around that never get upkeep.

I know the original, and likely current intention is to someday flush out this system a bit more so that trails will grow back into regular ol' wilderness rooms unless they're regularly maintained-- I just wanted to mention that I like the idea of this, still.

I don't want to blaze trails myself, really. But I sure would love a reason to pay bushcrafty rangery types to blaze a trail for me, and keep it well-maintained so I can keep using it when I need to. I'm really excited to hire a few folks to blaze the trail for me-- but I know i'm going to be sad when it's done and they have no maintenance to do to continue the relationship afterward.

It'd be great if some flavorful junk were created as a part of this process, too. (Ick, I know, item bloat.) But the idea of having to build campfires or the like to dispose of weeds/useless pieces of kindling/brambles seems reasonable and realistic, so long as it doesn't end up dragging people down. I mean, if it did-- you could always just let the janitor get it. Just seems thematic and cool for the trailblazing process.

I also wanted to chime in about a sort of bushcrafty temporary campsite ability tied to campfires again, too. It'd be as simple in my brain as, "As long as there is a lit campfire in this room, the janitor time of this room will be suspended for the duration of the campfire's fuel + 15 minutes."

In this way, wildfolks can be wilder-er. And rob each other. That'd be fun, too. Wilderness druid robbery. Druid wars? That's a digression all it's own.

Lastly, I was thinking about rope, more. I'm going to expand on my rope-related thoughts later, but I wanted to start with something that connects directly to the changes we've now seen with climbing.

So, a big problem people are inevitably going to have is that they're going to want to get valuable resources out of a place that they need to climb into. But now, they're too heavy with resources to climb back down safely. This is an obvious trade-off that one should consider, of course. But what if there was some additional preparation one could do to more easily facilitate these resource-intensive climbing outings?

Tie a rope off to your backpack/tied up bundle of armor/crate of pelts. Use your strength and energy to lower that tethered object down the climb to the ground-- or climb up with the rope, tie it off at the top, and pull the tethered object from the ground to the top.

You still wouldn't be able to lift anything you're not physically strong enough to lift yourself, and if your rope's too frayed, it'll snap, and risk damaging the container/objects within. You still have to be able to climb up there to pull your item up-- and you have to leave yourself vulnerable and unprotected while you do so. Plus invest energy to move it on up.

Perhaps a group of folks could work together to lift or lower particularly heavy objects block and tackle style, too. Hard to say, hard to say. I'm not really good at balancing these sorts of things in my head and don't really know where to draw the line. I just have cool thoughts, and communicate cool thoughts. I let other folks balance for me.

I know none of these are high priority by any means, but I still wanted to fire it out there into the ether in the event it's something that could be implemented rather easily. It'd give us all something else to do, too. Which is always great. I don't know anything about the code side of this and how complex it is. You know how it goes-- better to say something than not say it and all that!

Thanks for hearing me out, as always, and hope the rest of you have a wonderful day. Any feedback on this particular thought from other folks would be appreciated, too-- do you think these would be fun features? The sort that end up being more annoying than fun? Interested to hear opinions.
"The sky, above the clouds; A rainbow that fate has devoured
I gave up Hope
But I'm not going to be lost tomorrow; Even if it is hell
I'm gonna' crawl. "
Prism
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2019 4:44 pm
Location: SHADGARD, BABEH

A few combat ability suggestions

Post by Prism »

I was randomly thinking about these, so figured i'd shoot them out there while they're fresh in my mind. A few have been suggested before, a few haven't.

Grappling: Self-explanatory, I think. We'd all love to grapple people. Whether similar to combat abilities that exist currently-- or it's own independent sort of subsystem that falls in line with combat, I think it'd be neat either way. Were it just a single ability, I'd point toward the old grapple command in clok for reference as to how the ability might work in practice.

Were it a bit more in depth, I think in an ideal world, you'd initiate a grapple to get someone in a "grappled" state, and then be able to move forward with a few different options to induce different effects. For example, a takedown to-- well, take them off of their feet and to the floor alongside you. A choking maneuver that allows you to-- well, choke them, and try to knock them out that way. Perhaps a hip or shoulder toss that physicly *throws* them out of the grapple and onto their back, leaving you on your feet, but your target on the ground.

Headbutt: Also self explanatory. Use your head to injure people-- best applied directly to the opponent's forehead in return. Maybe causes a momentary stagger/stun on yourself as well as the target? Maybe causes some minor damage to the user as well as the target if not wearing a helmet?

FootStomp: Stomp on their toes. When used on a target-- stomp your foot down on their toes in an attempt to briefly stun, stagger, or-- better yet-- reduce maneuverability.

GroundStomp: Stomp your target into the dirt. When used on a prone target, does exactly that-- stomps them violently for effect, with an increased chance to fracture bones in the afflicted locale.

Groinkick: I miss kicking people in their respective groins. Bring it back like it was in clok, but let it affect both genders this time. Chance for stun, stagger, and light damage, and disrupt channeled occult effects.

Splintering Blow: As staggering blow, but instead of inducing a stunned or staggered effect-- is an attack with an increased chance to induce a fractured bone upon successful hit.

Gutpunch/Uppercut: Let us punch someone in the gut specifically, or uppercut them in the chin specifically for added effect.


I have to stop and go eat dinner for now, but if you bother me enough, I might come back and post my ranged ability suggestions, too. And maybe some other stuff.

P.S: You know you want that cover system, Rias.
"The sky, above the clouds; A rainbow that fate has devoured
I gave up Hope
But I'm not going to be lost tomorrow; Even if it is hell
I'm gonna' crawl. "
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