Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

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Kiyaani
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

NOTE from the Scribe: Anything in this thread from before 2019 should be considered questionable at this point. Those logs were from when COGG was going to be set about 100 years after CLOK in a future and slightly alternate timeline and so some of the discussion may no longer fit the more purely alternate-reality game version currently in progress - especially regarding references to CLOK events or characters. Other parts may remain valid. Please take anything from then with a grain of salt or expect alterations to have been made.
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Kiyaani
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

General Questions and Lore

Q: I really like that to speak on ESP, you actually have to "speak". No more hiding your color for eternity if you're around people. Do people have to speak "clearly" though, and are helmet muffles supposed to show? Or is it pure projection? I'm not sure how it works ICly.
A: I intentionally put the muffle in there. Tones and speeches apply on ESP as well, so if you have your speech set to whisper, it'll be a whisper on ESP. Also: languages. It really is just pretty much a walky-talky. It takes the sound of you talking and projects that into the minds of everyone on the network. How it "knows" to only take the sound of talking and not other sounds - well, the Deep Arcane Mysteries are shrouded in ... mystery.

They're supposed to run out after a while. They currently don't though, because they're not showing up in the loot system like they should. Once that happens, they'll no longer be an off-the-shelf purchase. I always liked that little bit of player-economy requirement.

And yes, I do plan on "pendant holders" so you can get something that looks the way you like, and just snap a pendant into it, rather than having to replace.

Q: So they mind end up a craftable resource? Are you going to keep unique tuning crystals?
A: Maybe. Right now I'm pretty set on them being an as-yet-unraveled mysterious artifact from Aetgard that hasn't been reverse-engineered. No more tuning crystals. Instead, there's an attunement service. It grants you access to the channel for a week (I think?) and then fades, so you have to go attune again. So no more getting your inside man to supply you with spying tuners and rendering all ESP channel privacy moot, because let's face it - pretty much everyone did that. And this way I can just put attunement services for organizations in their exclusive areas. Only members of Society X can enter and get their attunement, and there's no way for them to just hand off tuners to someone else outside the organization.

Q: Are the pendants going to be rare/hard to get?
A: They won't be rare. Just loot-found (both critter loot and environment loot). And some NPC treasure hunter guy might come by now and then and put a bunch up for sale.

Q: So, if pendants are going to be some old school arcane thing that is around, and organizations are offering attunement, does that mean most common people will have access to one? Or are they intended to be semi-rare in concept so it isn't the ability to use ESP that holds people back, but the fact that most can't get their hands on one?
A: Uhhh. Good question. I definitely want it to be an uncommon-among-NPCs sort of thing. Like you shouldn't assume most people around town have one. They're probably generally too dangerous to go out and acquire, or too expensive for common people to justify springing for. Roll with it.

Plus, think of how many people IRL walk around with CB radios or whatever. Phones, sure, because you can target people specifically. But a general public broadcast thing is apparently less appealing or useful.

Q: Do you imagine most people owning horses in Cogg, like most people had a horse in Clok? Like, most people had First Aid, and you imagine people will at least have rudimentary Medical.
A: Aside from the mentioned wagons and combat usage, I really don't know. Toyed with the idea of certain points on routes being considered "travel markers" or something, where you can't go back past it again within X amount of time (like if you were going from say, Porto D'esilio to Mistral Lake), and in such a case having a horse could lower the amount of time before you can go back.

I think without the wilderness thing, horses will be rarer, just because there's far less frequent need. But a lot of people also just like the idea of having a horse, even if they don't use it for much other than having a pet they can ride, so there'll probably still be a lot.

Q: Is COGG Hack and Slash or RPI? What kind of game is it?
A: I stay well away from the term "RPI". It's far too vague and nebulous, and everyone has a different interpretation. Hack and slash, though? That hurts my heart. If you want to focus on hacking and slashing, you certainly can, but it's far from the focus of the game, and combat isn't required.

Q: What time period is the game set in?
A: Time period, uhhhh ... variable? We've got firearms and budding steam/clockwork technologies (not steampunk magic technology).

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

Q: Is there a specific carving knife or will a normal knife work?
A: Any knife should work. Though it'll degrade the knife, so don't use your dedicated combat stabber.

Q: So, do we get an ability per level, or do they drop off eventually? I seem to vaguely recall a drop-off point?
A: Every 2 levels at 15, every 5 levels at 25, every 10 levels at 35. For 30 total at level 100.

Town Life

*****

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: Oh, should knappable items shatter when they reach unusable durability? I assumed there would be no way to repair them?
A: Correct, no repairing knapped items. Durability stuff isn't really in yet.

Q: What about regular repairs?
A: I do think I plan on making most things be repairable, but requiring more than just "repair <thing>" to have a middle ground between crafters continuing to be useful and people getting attached to their items. So if Smithy Stan makes you an awesome warhammer, and you eventually wear that warhammer out, you don't lose it completely. Take it to Smithy Stan (or another capable smith) and they can repair it, but might need to get some replacement pieces or more required materials.

So if it was, say, warhammer made from the rare Awesomite material, someone would have to go get some more Awesomite to facilitate the repairs. Or maybe it needs a new haft to be made. A fancy tunic might get ruined, and require some replacement buttons and thread for a tailor to restore it. Crafters still need to do their thing, additional components and gathered resources, are still required, but the item owner still gets to hold onto their sentimental value item.

Q: Are there trees in game that require higher woodcutting? And do different woods have different stats? Is that listed anywhere yet?
A: There aren't any special trees in-game yet, just your real-world stuff, none of which requires any particular skill level or ability to utilize. Different wood types do have different properties though, most notably affecting their suitability for use in crafting bows.

P.S. Don't make bows out of pine or fir or the like. They'll work, but will be penalized in both durability and power.

Q: Is Linguistics an active skill yet?
A: Sadly not.

Q: Can blacksmiths and leatherworkers repair weapons/armor as of yet?
A: Negatory.

Character Creation

*****

Guilds/Classes/Societies

Q: How do Guild Ranks matter, and how are they increased?
A: I haven't decided yet, and they're not.

Combat

Q: With follow-up punch, is it supposed to throw an actual punch when using a 2-handed weapon?
A: Yes.
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Kiyaani
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

Apologies in advance if any of these are repeats. Also if I miss something that gets answered and you feel it should be shared, please feel free to either PM me here or on Discord so I can add it next time around. I tend to just look over OOC infrequently and skim so it's entirely possible I may not catch everything. Thanks all! :)

General Questions and Lore

*****

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

Q: Have you thought about penalties for death, Rias? For those that are undying.
A: If you die and respawn, you have to live with the shame of having died.

Town Life and Travel

Q: Rias, is it okay that I still spend most of my time in Shadgard? I would much rather be in the mountains.
A: That's fine. Shadgard isn't going away, but it will probably be downsized when it comes to amenities. I want to avoid a split community, and while I can see some outliers preferring the remote outposts, Porto D'esilio is going to be the place where I want people forming a community, and therefore where all the amenities and other good stuff will be. Also keep in mind that the "temporary fairly ooc stagecoach" will be going away as soon as the land route between Portilio and Shadgard is complete, and once that happens it'll be more of a journey to travel between the two, with its share of delays and dangers.

Q: I'm curious to see what sort of distance is between the two. And the journey time.
A: I'm having evil thoughts about timed river ferries and the like. I don't want it to be terrible, but I also don't want it to be 15 seconds of scripted movement to make what should be a significant journey.

Also, highwaymen. Always bring money with you when you travel, so you have something to pay your way through toll passes. A couple ragged bandits you could fight off, but there may be occasional larger gangs that move in and people will have to swallow their pride and pay rather than fight. Until the PC fighter types group up to take out the nearby bandit camp and clear the road again for travelers.

Q: Will you have shortcuts and the like, tied to skills like Tracking? Or even maps that require linguistics that unlock hidden path access.
A: Oh, definitely shortcuts for the wildernessy types. Tracked trails, climbing-required trails, swimmable rivers. Heck, maybe even people with Trade skill could get in with some exclusive caravan alternative routes or something. All sorts of opportunities.

Careful though, as that kind of thing can go both ways. Not all Undying are civil folk. Some of the nastier ones with delusions of immortality and believing they're beyond consequences may be banding together out there in the wilds. (Translation: I'm totally making a gang of Undying highwayman NPCs.)

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: Out of curiosity, do you intend to have some abilities locked behind skills and not just guild? I assume so, just haven't seen any examples yet?
A: That's always been the plan. Just deciding on how much I want to be generally available.

Q: I'm curious about the direction you plan on taking for linguistics, and how that might play into occultism and lore?
A: Linguistics will be used primarily for learning other languages and deciphering things in less-known/dead languages. You can't uncover that lore or study that occult ritual if you can't understand the language it's written in. In addition to serving your own purposes, you could also offer to translate things for people. (Hopefully for a fee - keep the economy alive!)

Q: The blurb for linguistics mentions that "Some say that the better grasp of language, the more influence can be wielded through it." Does this mean linguistics will be the primary skill for certain spells? I suppose my main question is how useful linguistics will be for practicing occult on its own, or if its more supplementary?
A: Oh, that would be useful for occultism based specifically on language. Things like (to use references from CLOK) the Mummer words of power, or Templar chants, or something like bard songs. Some (relatively small) minimum amount of Linguistics skill will probably be required to learn such abilities, and more skill will play into their effectiveness. But outside those types of circumstances, Linguistics wouldn't figure into occultism in general as far as power/effectiveness. Only to the types that are based specifically around language. All that to say: Unless the occultism you're practicing is language-based, you wouldn't necessarily need the skill.

Q: Is there an ability to forage up branches/tinder to make a makeshift torch or something?
A: No, there's not. But that's a good idea. To-doed!

Character Creation

*****

Guilds/Classes/Societies

Q: Can we get hints as to what's planned for scholars?
A: Scholar guild will include some magic-y types, but not all will be focused around occultism.

Q: Just to clarify, the scholar's guild isn't implemented at all yet?
A: Correct. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please do post them. I have a some things in mind for the guild already, but I'd like to see it more filled out.

Combat

Q: Is pie-hurling implemented yet?
A: No hurling (pies or otherwise) yet.

Q: P1: Have you also considered variable roundtime as a method to try and balance some combat styles as Cogg doesn't have the multiple-attacks per? P2: I thought lighter weapons DID have smaller RT. But as it stands I've found there's currently no reason to NOT use the biggest weapon I can hold while still using a shield.
A: As for things like daggers vs larger weapons - in basic open toe-to-toe combat, yes, a falchion or warhammer or something heavy will serve better than a dagger. I think that's the natural order of things. But when it comes to things like ambush attacks or utilizing chinks in armor, the dagger is going to reign supreme. Don't bring a knife to a swordfight, unless the other guy doesn't know you're there and you plan to slip the blade through the gap between his breastplate and vambraces, in which case: certainly do.

Q: Is there an advantage to using a smaller weapon?
A: Pressing in close with a small weapon against someone with a larger weapon - particularly ones that only have a small striking area, like most hafted and polearm weapons, is a planned thing for those familiar with the particular combat style.

Q: Is using the dodge command the same as using stance dodge for five seconds or do they stack?
A: Dodge/parry/block commands don't currently do anything useful. They're left over from earlier forms of combat. Balance affects the ability to fend off attacks via weapon reach. (So does roundtime. If you're busy doing something else like just having made your own attack, you have less ability to fend off incoming attacks.)

Q: So to be most effective at combat, you want to be making your attacks right after your opponent as often as possible?
A: Correct. Which is the best way to manage your stance anyway, falling back to defensive stance before slower foes can retaliate.

Q: Is it possible in code to allow certain abilities to activate only if roundtime is low enough, without necessarily requiring no roundtime? Abilties that, for example, let you switch stance a little early despite roundtime could be neat and help certain heavily armed and armored players keep up with much quicker ones
A: That's definitely possible.
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Kiyaani
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

No-question-related Answers:

Rias: Random tip/reminder: You can SIGN a letter after it's already been written on to add your name and mailbox number to it.

General Questions and Lore

Q: So it isn't really understood how pendants operate on a fundamental level, but we know enough to do things like tune them to a certain channel, right?
A: Correct. They're a sort of lost technology dug up in Aetgard. Nobody seems to know how to duplicate them, but some people have figured out enough to be able to tune them to specific channels.

Q: Are players ever going to have the possibility of learning skills like that?
A: By discovering records/manuals/artifacts/diagrams/workshops/etc. out in the ruins and figuring them out? Absolutely.

Q: Is the majority of previous Hillfolk lore still applicable? Mainly stuff regarding the Fey Forest?
A: It is.

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

Q: Is there a curve for XP per level?
A: It increases by the same amount (250) every level.

Q: It doesn't look like my character was reset. Did resets happen already?
A: The official reset hasn't quite happened. I just updated how levels were calculated, which affected everyone who started at a level higher than 1. It's now 100% based on your amount of experience. Good news being, if I ever lower the amount of experience required per level, characters will likely see their level go up. Bad news if I ever increase the amount of experience required per level, since peoples' levels would then go down. P.S. I don't anticipate the latter happening.

Q: Would it be possible to maybe differentiate the name list between NPCs/PCs?
A: Yes, but it'd require a ... hrm. A change to the structure of how that data's stored, but that's not a bad idea. And I should be able to auto-update it rather than making people re-name everyone. (To-doed!)

Q: Is there a way to sell certain types of items in backpacks? I keep trying to sell a backpack full of gems only to have to take out other items to do so without losing them.
A: Hmmm, I think I already set up the transfer command to be able to parse out gem types (via TRANSFER GEMS FROM X TO Y), so it shouldn't be difficult to apply that to selling as well.

Q: How are you going to differentiate between heavy/light armor to go medium fighters like the Marauder?
A: I'll probably resurrect the medium armor class/skill, and have all armor skills sort of uh ... "cross train" so they still apply somewhat to other armor types as far as the basic numbers. I see medium armor as primarily brigandine (leather with metal rings/plates/studs/scales) and chain.

Q: Is it going to be CLOK like, where there are certain abilities that help armor ability and such as long as you wear light enough armor?
A: Yes, some abilities will require that you be wearing the appropriate armor type (or at least that you're NOT wearing armor that is an incompatible type)

Q: Will armor class be based on a heaviness rating or some other criteria? You could have light/medium/heavy armor be classified as thresholds. So, like... >30 Heaviness is light armor, 31-60 is medium, 60+ is heavy, etc.
A: I have a rough calculator that looks at what you're wearing, the armor class, and which slot it's in, and then determines which "armor level" you're at. So you might get away with wearing some heavier class boots or something, but a heavier class torso armor, no.

Q: Are some skills going to cap out earlier than the max - like if they don't have recipes or abilities associated with them necessarily (armor skills, climbing, swimming etc.)? I could potentially see where there's just not really a point in dumping more into them past a certain level. I'm trying to picture why something like armor would ever benefit from going super high in skill unless it's some kind of % less detriment from wearing it to rolls or something similar.
A: Right now I'm planning to have the ever-increasing chance to bypass the encumbrance penalties like it was in CLOK, though I'm not sure how well that'll translate. Admittedly, armor skills are harder than most to come up with benefits for the higher amounts. Especially since I'm not making people work from like light leather to plate, since there's a skill for each armor class.

I think when it comes to light armor, most of higher skills will be for people who want negate the stealth penalties. Heavy armor, primarily to negate extra energy fatigue when using it. Medium armor, to negate maneuverability penalties (dodge, and penalties to various ability-based maneuvers). All will have some level of maneuverability penalties to be trained off, though. I see the medium armor people moving around surprisingly well in their medium armor, while still enjoying the significant damage reduction. But stealth and some more deft maneuvers are out, that would be available to light armor people. The light armor people with decent skill are going to be running around unhindered as if they weren't wearing any armor at all. Zoooom.

Q: Will you be impacted negatively if you don't level something like your armor choice very highly?
A: I mean, right now there's very little reason to train armor at all. Penalties are virtually non-existent, simply because I haven't gotten to them yet. But my hope is to have an at least moderately-enticing reason to train up armor to higher levels, for those who want to get the most out of armor. (Which is my hope for every skill, really - I don't want any skill where everyone knows you stop at, say, 200, because there's no point in going further)

Q: Wait, going back to your heavy armor combat. You'd realistically expect people with any heavy armor skill to wear plate then? Not, progression? Like, going from say brigandine, to heavy chain, to plate, to heavy plate?
A: Rigid leather armor is considered the "starter" heavy class armor. So there's still progression there, yes, I wouldn't imagine someone starting in metal plate. But it's not spanning every armor type.

Q: So are you hoping to have different levels of each armor type then as well to have progression within that type as well as roll impact?
A: Correct. Each armor class will have different levels and multiple options. For example: Light armor currently consists of quilted cloth and pliable leather.

Town Life and Travel

*****

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: So is dying and the recipes for it going to be under any particular skill?
A: I don't think there needs to be any skill for that. When it comes to using dyes, I'll probably just keep that to workshops, and we can assume there are people there to help you with the process if needed. When it comes to producing dyes, there are various means. The easiest is to just sell dye-producing items to the market, and wait for those crafty invisible NPCs to convert it into a dye at some point (which can then be purchased from the market). I also plan to add dye-crafting recipes to Bushcraft and Herbalism (or whatever the latter may end up as), maybe even Masonry/Metallurgy for those derived from stone and ores and the like.

Q: Is hunting based on stealth as well as tracking?
A: Tracking is required, stealth is not. But when it comes time to actually take down your prey, you'll want some stealth.

Q: Is there a way to learn cooking?
A: No cooking yet. The current cooking system is 100% the worst and I need to fix it.

Q: Do cloaks have the option to add a hood when you tailor them?
A: No, but I could add a tailorable hood that you could attach to various things. To-doed!

Q: Is storytelling implemented yet?
A: Sadly not. I'm hoping to make it slightly more robust than its previous implementation, where you have to (or at least, you should, to get a good reception) spend some time judging the local mood and listen to the ongoing conversations to see what the current crowd is into. Then you can choose your storytelling elements based on that information and get a better reaction when you finish the story, because you told a story in line with the crowd's interests and mood. I also want to have a similar sytsem for playing music. So skilled musicians can do performances in the same types of gathering spots and play songs to get some riln. And of course, combine both to sing a story while playing appropriate music for the best effect and reaction.

Q: Will there be support for telling stories with custom text while still falling under the system?
A: Surely, Curly.

Q: Can crushing thornleaf be changed to the steps system of crafting instead of a huge RT chunk to do it all at once?
A: Bushcraft recipes will generally be tougher, fiddlier, and slower than other crafting methods. It's whole schtick is making things by hand or with primitive/simple tools. For more efficient acquisition of thread, I would recommend the Weaving skill and using wool (and, in the future, other stuff like cotton that will also be spinnable at a spinning wheel). However, it and a few other older crafting processes (like crushing ores and hammering metal on an anvil) are in the same boat and all due for an update to the repeating system rather than one huge dose of roundtime. Seeing as the system does work as it is now, though, those updates are pretty low in priority.

Q: Is plate forging in?
A: Yes, you can forge plates, as well as forks and spoons and knives. Get yourself an entire dinnerware set! (P.S. No forging of plate armor yet. That's going to be an ordeal for crafters.)

Q: Is that the same for chain armor?
A: Yeah, no metal armor is craftable at this time.

Character Creation

*****

Guilds/Classes/Societies

Q: Are mummers planned to be in the game, if they aren't already? If not with the same focus of storytellers and troubadours, but the same drive to understand the relation between the occult and the mind, a la ESP?
A: I've actually been considering renaming Bards to Mummers, both because I like the Mummers and to dispel reluctance on the part of people who worry about the unfortunate reputation the word "bard" has accumulated in gaming history. My vision of bards has always been seasoned travelers with a desire to experience the world and learn its history and stories. The singing and music and recitation and acting and whatnot all strike me more as a supplementary skill to better remember and relate said history and stories, and earn a meal or place to stay while traveling, rather than being the core of what they are and do.

Q: So mummers as an independent organization aren't planned to be a thing?
A: I've considered the Mummers as a Society, but I never really imagined them as a particular large or cohesive group. I see them occasionally getting together in camps and troupes or whatever, but largely going about their own busines and only getting together when chance happens to put them in each others' paths.

Q: The mummers sound like a great company, then? Not gunna lie here, I just really like mummers.
A: Having even a collective of companies under the umbrella term of Mummers could be cool. If there were the population for it, anyway.

Q: Ah, I get it. More encompassed by the adventurer's guild than anything else. That makes sense. What about the Twilight Eye, then? Will that be a joinable thing so I can live out my dream of being a steampunk journalist?
A: Twilight Eye is not joinable, as they are privvy to knowledge and secrets that players were never meant to be privvy to. They're the ones that do the ESP attunements, for instance. And how exactly DO they so effectively retrieve lost and registered items? What exactly does "registering" an item entail? Hmmmmmm.

Q: Will physickers get their own guild?
A: I may make them a class of the Scholar guild, rather than being a guild all their own of extremely narrow scope. Stil mulling it over. If so, it wouldn't mean there couldn't be multiple medical/healing related classes. Medical sciences are plenty scholarly, and the scholar guild needs more non-magic branches.

Q: So I would be in the scholar guild training down the medical line of abilities and skill? That would open up somethings for me to learn other than just being in a medic guild.
A: Correct. Scholar guild, medical specialist class. Still have exclusive training and abilities for that class. But yes, also able to branch out a bit into the general guild offerings.

Combat

Q: Are we able to hurl pies?
A: Pies are not currently hurlable. I plan to add that property to them, but know that throwing pies at unwilling targets will be grounds for justice charges (maybe hooliganism?) if the targets wish to press them. Can't get away with "It was a prank, bro!" just because it was a pie. Since I know there are plenty of characters that would -not- be amused by being hit with a pie. So have fun, but only when everyone's in on the fun.
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Kiyaani
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

No-question-related Answers:

Rias: Also, for anyone who didn't notice: I added a couple sit-down meals to the still-to-be-named inn in Porto D'esilio.

General Questions and Lore

Q: Are there degrees of faded for the crystal?
A: Opaque, slightly faded, somewhat faded, mostly faded.

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

Q: Is my farming equipment in danger of being janitor'd if it's on the ground at my farm?
A: Nope, it's safe there. That might not always be the case - I'd like to implement constructed toolsheds and stuff instead, to make it so farms aren't treated as locker space. But for now, leave anything you want on the ground on your farm.

Q: Anyone know what a chicken eats? And/or how to feed it?
A: You can experiment with what they'll eat by simply dropping food items and seeing which ones they eat when they're hungry. I'd eventually like to have it so you put their food in their associated shelters, but for now they just eat anything edible that they like that's on the ground.

Town Life and Travel

Q: Is there a post office in Porto?
A: It's in the Town Hall lobby for now. Pending a move to its own post office building. (Rias Edit: There's a dedicated post office in Town Square now, so Town Hall no longer serves as a post office.)

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: Are bandoliers in game?
A: Nope, but that would make a great suggestion.

Q: Consider them suggested! And maybe different types? I don't think it makes a lot of sense for a bandolier to be able to hold two different types of weapons very well, but some that hold throwing axes, some that holds knives, some that sit on the shoulders, and some that sit on the waist?
A: As far as shoulder/waist, I can set them up like quivers where you can use the MODIFY command to swap between the two inventory slots.

Character Creation

Q: Do Khaldeans have race info?
A: Just a small blurb at the moment. I'm all burnt out on code and bugs and mechanics at the moment, so I'm going to work on some lore on the races for a while.

Guilds/Classes/Societies

*****

Combat

Q: Is archery supposed to have a round time of 10? I believe I only saw it in melee range, and had a shortbow.
A: Rias: Ultimately, no. For right now, while it's still being worked on, yes. Ranged combat is in a weird semi-developed state yet.

Q: Do bones have a use yet?
A: You can hit things with the larger ones.
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Kiyaani
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

Sorry for the delay on some of this - OOC chat has been a bit quieter lately so I was waiting for there to be enough to post:

No-question-related Answers:

Note: Occult diagrams don't necessarily need to be activated by the ones who draw them. Hence the ability to provide buffs to others with them. Some might have more restrictions, though.

General Questions and Lore

Q: So, is occult not exactly the same as arcane? Is arcane going to be usable without ability points on occult stuff?
A: I should really straighten out the difference between the terms. Let's say for now that "occult" covers pretty much any observable supernatural phenomena that can't be sufficiently explained or is attributed to largely unverifiable or unknowable sources (like inherent supernatural powers of nature, ley lines, the Immortals, etc.). "Arcana" covers the study of methods that attempt to trigger or control such things. The terms "occult" and "arcane" as adjectives are commonly interchangeable in conversation, though the former typically conveys more mystery and awe, the latter a more practical and studious feeling on the subject.

Q: That almost sounds like elemancer vs rook but I'm guessing you don't mean that in terms of how it functions. But more in style?
A: In a nutshell: Arcana is the study and attempted control of occult phenomena. To explain the semantic preferences between the two terms: I'd say the more scholarly types that are believing they can harness these powers for themselves and control them, studying and experimenting with glyphs and diagrams, crediting themselves more than mystical sources, would prefer the term "Arcana." Those tending to credit (and invoke) other forces or entities, who are more in the camp that they are simply triggering these powers or acting as conduits to greater powers, prefer the term "occult".

Q: What will occult include to start with?
A: Occult stuff is going to start out simple, with some basic diagrams that confer buffs and some other effects. I've got a few different intros-into-diagrams abilities. One for Nightblades, one for Rangers, and one shared by all Scholars and Bards. Hoping people enjoy the new approach. Diagrams are like the easy-access method of harnessing occult power, while straight channeling is more advanced. I've been considering restricting channeling to Societies, except for sorcery. Since sorcery is the easier-but-riskier stuff. I'm really excited about the diagram system. A lot of potential for modifiers and stuff to be thrown in and alter the effects of a ritual.

Q: What will druidry be like?
A: I will say one thing we've talked about and clarified regarding druidry is that it isn't happy peaceful balance harmony power. It's rooted strongly in the concepts of nature and the natural way of the world outside the influence of man. It's a primal, wild, unforgiving kind of thing. That nature tends to balance itself out in the end is a testament to the resilience of life and the power of adaptability, not a sign that nature is all about balance and peace and harmony.

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

*****

Town Life and Travel

***** Goodbye Porto D'esilio (at least for now) *****

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: Shouldn't there be a way to get bark from fir trees that doesn't require chopping a whole tree down?
A: You can FORAGE FIR BARK in a room with fir trees.

Q: How do you continue to work partially-shaped clay? I can't seem to figure out the syntax.
A: Just type SHAPE <ITEM> to continue working on it if you've stopped for whatever reason. I updated some stuff for the command to better priotize where to look, and to give clearer error messaging when it matches with something, but that something can't be shaped.

Q:Will glyph discovery use Lore skill and have you decided how the Lore and Arcana skills are going to advance in ranks?
A: Some might be discoverable through lore, others just straight studied and based on Arcana skill alone. Some could be permanent in specific areas and knowledge could spread on where to go to learn them, others will be found on loot drop scrolls and the like. And all sorts of other possibilities, too. As far as getting practice ranks up, uhh ... good question? Probably a mix of use and limited use of a study command and tasks.

Character Creation

*****

Guilds/Classes/Societies

Q: Where will the scholar's guild be located?
A: They'll have a little spot in the town library once that's a thing, but I was thinking they'd have a proper facility maybe near where the CLOK University was. I do want to avoid it coming across as, uh ... Hogwarts-y.

Q: Will physickers and alchemists be totally separate?
A: I'm thinking physickers will probably have some overlap with the alchemists as far as producing various enhancives. Since they're all into studying the human body and how things can affect it. I see a lot of them as almost like mad scientists. Out in the Lost Lands, not a whole lot holding you to ethical standards. I'm sure there's some very shady experimentation going on. Not that there aren't some who do fight for standards of ethics and some "do no harm" creed, but that's a whole political battle to be fought amongst their peers.

Q: Have you started working on the scholar's guild facilities?
A: [I'm] working on the scholar guild facility so you scholarly types can go be scholarly. It's going to be a guild-restricted portion of the public-accessible library/museum in the highlands of the southern Balkr Mountains. The public area will serve as a nice neutral place for people to go study lore findings, as well as submit writings or relics to be put on display for all to see.

Q: What do you mean by relics on display? Players able to submit rare items to just be put on a pedestal? Until they want to retrieve it, or what?
A: I think it'll be nice to have a place where PCs can send their nifty finds to be seen and studied, rather than just leaving them to gather dust in their lockers. (And be publicly credited for the find, of course.) As well as being able to write up their own papers or books or whatever and submit them for display. Though there'll need to be a screening process for that.

Q: So that would be lore specific finds? Like, a rare/artifact lore find that has nothing to it beyond the lore factor?
A: Right. And maybe even some that do have uses, but the PC doesn't feel the need to constantly have it by their side. I could easily make it so the items can be retrieved again.

Combat

Q: Do mobs use scaling defense?
A: Yes, but they still cheat and have a higher minimum defense. (6/26 update: Changelog-Combat: NPCs no longer have a higher minimum defense than PCs.)

Q: Are the minor injuries healing with time likely to remain a thing?
A: I've been going back and forth with the auto-healing wounds. I think I might lower the ceiling on that a tad. For more serious wounds, and other various medical conditions in general, my plan has been that the immediately life-threatening stuff can be tended by NPCs and healed up fairly quickly. Bleeding wounds, pretty much. Aside that though, the idea is that you can have conditions like fractures, infections, muscle damage, diseases, poisons, and all that fun stuff that linger and inconvenience you to varying degrees, but don't outright prevent you from continuing to play the game. That's where the PC healers keep their value - they can treat things like that, which NPCs cannot. So you're not resigned to death if you get a bad bleeder and no PC healers are on. But if you get a nasty infection or suffer from a lingering poison or disease, you're still capable of continuing on playing without any immediate threat of death, but you're going to want to seek out a PC healer.

Q: Regarding the recent no-stance change to combat - does this mean roundtime inducing maneuvers will also lower defenses, or does that defensive drop only come from if the player makes an "offensive" attack/maneuver themselves?
A: Correct, roundtime at all affects defense, regardless of the cause. So if a maneuver inflicts roundtime on a target, their defenses will suffer as a result, yes.
User avatar
Kiyaani
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 3:16 pm

Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

No-question-related Answers:

Tip: Don't enter an occult circle if you don't know and trust the person who drew it! I do plan to add a timer to them, though, after which they'll fade. So we don't just have a zillion diagrams all over the place. With some exceptions for specific long-term types. There'll be a glyph for that, and some means of preventing an overabundance. Cue the glyph that makes the diagram hidden except to the caster like the hidden lockblade traps. Also, I'm going to set up a way to submit glyph ideas. I don't necessarily want them posted on the BBS, because I'd like many of them to be discoverable and require figuring out. Some may seem useless. Some have trivial effects. Some seem trivial but actually have a non-obvious use that's quite effective.

General Questions and Lore
Q: Are skill reset events usually posted about on the discord or only in game?
A: A skill reset would be announced on the BBS as well as in-game, both of which echo to Discord.

Q: Will treasure in COGG be easily shareable with others or have the ability to be displayed and later retrieved by the finder?
A: Yep. You can always put items in the museum every now and then just to share, then retrieve them when you want to go back to using them yourself.

Q: So, isn't Nether nearly always a corrosive substance? Wouldn't any lasting effect from Warlock's Binding Tendrils slowly eat away at whatever it is stuck around and cause DoT? The most dangerous area would be to get it around the neck of course, due to the suffocation and the Nether burning at your throat?
A: Nether can be made to take a relatively non-harmful form. Animated nether-constructs aren't taking constant damage from the animating nether, demons are made of more solid and non-damaging nether. The Binding Tendril spell is meant to be a disabler rather than a direct harming/killing method. Sometimes a sorcerer wants to stop someone from acting without doing significant harm. Or just be extra intimidating, with that choke effect.

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

On Death:
On a more serious note though, working on death stuff. You take a hit to your morale, sanity, and experience. Additionally, your gear is left on your remains wherever you died, and you have to go back out and reclaim them. P.S. Nobody else can claim gear from your remains, so no worries about theft or PvPing to steal peoples' stuff. Though some sepcfically-flagged items might be exceptions to that and just drop near the remains to be taken by whoever wants it. For contested special event items, capture the flag, what have you. I'm mainly just trying to get a death mechanic in for now that isn't healing you back up on the spot. Don't want people getting used to that. It'll definiteliy be an ongoing adjustment.

Q: Are people able to move the body and if so - do you get a way to sense where it was moved to?
A: Currently, no. Since there's no resurrection mechanics in place. Once a body becomes movable, that does open up a new avenue of people adding insult to injury by hiding the body, or taking it somewhere inaccessible, or whatever.

Q: Right, but also allows people to bring the body somewhere safe for you as well. Would that be a consideration?
A: Some kind of way to do restricted access to dragging might be nice. The big thing for me is finagling in some supporting lore.

Q: Huh. So there won't be like Monk raising and such? You're dead, you dead. That corpse is done?
A: There will be, it's just not in at the moment.

Brainstorming. I believe most here are familiar with the Deathknell. So how about this time, the spirit retains a link to its old corpse, resulting in among other things A) Whenever you trigger the Deathknell, it shows recipients the corpse's current location. B) If you end up back in a new body, you can grab a deathknell tuner and still trigger that link every now and then to see where your corpse is. That could cut down on frustrations with people dragging corpses.

Q: If you trigger it while alive will it only show to you so it doesn't spam people?
A: Yes. Then you could just tell anyone helping you what you see.

Q: Out of curiosity, does the XP from studying scale? I've not been paying attention to it. Due to it being such a limited, once a day action, personally, I think it should scale.
A: It doesn't, but I'm open to suggestions.

Town Life and Travel

*****

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items
Q: Is the limit of known glyphs going to be based on Arcana skill?
A: Yes. I'm going to make it so you can go through a process to forget a known glyph and free up space, but I don't want it to be a trivial hotbar swap. And some glyphs will require higher skill levels to understand.

Q: Will forgetting glyphs impact your sanity negatively?
A: Oh, it will.

Q: Is there currently a way to increase linguistics or arcana? (Or lore)
A: Practice levels, not yet. I need to add in a boring little study thing on a cooldown as a baseline.

Q: What's the (individual skill) cap? 1000?
A: No individual skill can be greater than 700.

Q: Any plans for allowing totally original item builds? I'm imagining someone spending IRL years to craft a COGG planepacked item.
A: I mean ... bugs have produced some stuff like that. I recall a huge large large small tiny copper bloom. But if you mean intentionally, not so much? I'm not sure how they'd be explained in-character.

Q: Re: Occult Shapes - Will we eventually be able to add 3 (glyphs) to circles?
A: There are some yet-to-be-released occult shapes that allow for 3, 4, and 5 glyphs.

Q: Will studying things like Sorcery and Arcana give experience?
A: Okay, like lore studies, studying a scholar skills gives you a decent chunk of experience and practice for that skill, and is on an 11-hour cooldown. But that cooldown is per location. So if you know of 3 different places where you can study sorcery, you can study at them all and have a different cooldown for each. So if you're a super scholarly scholar with all the scholar skills (alliteration combo!), you could get a lot of your experience just by studying all your things. Go academics!

Q: Is this how you intend practicing to be for linguistics and such as well?
A: Yeah, it'll work for pretty much all the scholar skills. In addition to other things, but this will always be a fallback.

Q: Have you considered alternative circle materials for druidic and sorcerous diagrams? I was thinking stuff like blood for advanced Rook rituals would be cool. And being able to make a paste from animal fat + chalk for druid stuff.
A: Yeah, different components for different types.

Character Creation

*****

Guilds/Classes/Societies
Q: Is the warrior area going to move, or is that a future unlock with the port (town)?
A: I'll probably move it. It'll still be remote (not in/particularly near town). Clarification: Move it so it's accessible from the current areas.

Q: Have you settled on the different scholar specialties Rias?
A: Just that we're going to have the physickers, alchemists, sorcerers, druids, and arcanists. Not sure on what else to add to that mix, but I think that'll be a good start. And really, considering putting sorcery and druidry back in as skills, since they're different from arcane diagrams and such (though can include those as well). Cue collective groan from people struggling to find enough points to go around.

Q: Do you intend rogues to pretty much be light armor users, or do you think there will be some viability to heavy-plate ones, even if they don't have specifically designed abilities to go with them like warriors?
A: Anyone can put on any type of armor really, but a lot of roguely abilities would be hampered by it. And keep in mind that as an adventurer class rogues aren't going to be particularly geared for combat ability-wise. The more typical rogue type character in games that's a backstabbing murder machine would be the Nightblade class of warrior in COGG.

Q: Are you gonna release Scholar guilds as you finish them, or release them all in one batch when they're all done, Rias?
A: One by one as they're ready. Warlocks are pretty much good to go for testing, once I add a sorcery focus to a shop for them. They don't have a whole lot to do yet as far as tasks and stuff, but they've got, let's see ... 8 abilities to play with.

A: Also, I think I forgot to announce it, but sorcery and druidry are going to be their own skills again.
Q: So there's going to be Druidry, Sorcery, and Arcana?
A: Right. And sorcerers or druids could get by completely without arcana, if they didn't feel the need to mess with diagrams and the like.

Combat
Q: So with the changes to combat stances/rt, any thoughts on ambush from hiding? It leaves you incredibly vulnerable unless you knock your opponent down as they can turn round immediately and smack you.
A: Regarding ambushing form hiding: Hrm. While not really different from the old stance model (people would have been ambushing in stance offense for peak effectiveness anyway), there should probably be some way of at least trying to avoid being immediately counterattacked.

Q: How will studying work with ambushing?
A: I was thinking a study first to increase successful ambush and armor chink chances, then maybe some kind of "distract", followed by some RT induced by the surprise attack itself.

Q: So you're seeing it as a once a fight thing not constant hide/ ambush/ repeat ad nauseam?
A: Yeah. I think it's kind of goofy to be constantly re-hiding during a prolonged fight with a single opponent. Outside some abilities that would allow a re-hide mid-combat. For those who want to constantly attack from the shadows, ranged attacks are the way to go. But even then you should have a backup plan for when you get discovered, even if that's just to escape and then sneak back in. Also, I think just hiding directly in front of people isn't going to be particularly viable unless you're in a room with a crowd to blend into, thick fog, that kind of thing. Like you'll still be able to hide, but if there's only a couple other people in the room, they're very likely to see your hiding spot unless they're somehow distracted or you use some kind of ability/effect to prevent them from just watching you.

Q: At what sort of gap does Dodge/Block actually start being better than Melee for defenses?
A: I'm not sure what's being asked on the second one. But note that some attacks can't be parried, but can be dodged or blocked, so those additional forms of defense are useful for that alone.

Q: Are weapon types going to be better/worse for ambushing? Or can I go around ambushing with a 2-handed sword?
A: I think the benefit of an ambush attack with, say, a two handed sword, would just be pushing your enemy's defense down. That's going to work regardless of weapon. But extra benefits for things like daggers will be increased aim and armor chink.

Q: I'm assuming you're expecting casters in COGG to wear at least like, basic light leathers? Or something similar?
A: I'm expecting pretty much anyone who goes willingly into hostile situations to wear some kind of protective gear, yes.

Q: Can you infuse (attacks) with flares like in CLOK?
A: Nope, but some kind of flaring thing might be fun.

Q: Probably a good idea to also maybe have stuff like armor reducing the choking chance/damage (on Binding Tendril)? The Nether can't constrict as much, or something?
A: Yeah, I need to make neck armor help resist the choke effect.

Q: Is there a chance of having the "binding" effect an open roll so we can see how we failed/why?
A: It should happen on every hit to an applicable body part.

Q: Is armor supposed to make me drop channels, ala CLOK?
A: It's planned, but I haven't decided how I want to implement it yet. I'm trying to think of a possibly less-RNG-frustration way to go about it. But I should probably do that soon, one way or another.
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Kiyaani
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 3:16 pm

Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

No-question-related Answers:

*****

General Questions and Lore

Q: Are there techuatl (sp) here?
A: The Huecatn are still a thing, yes.

Q: Will there be any new metals in COGG?
A: I've got one metal with extraordinary properties coded in, though not currently obtainable. Hopefully it satisfies to say that I'm excited to put out various extraordinary materials, both natural ones (natural alloys/treatments/etc.) and others that can be enhanced via occult means. And so there's something for people to hope to acquire beyond celestium.

Q: Is it possible to make a character that's good at magic and crafting, to the point where you can craft magic items? That'd be fun, I think, and I have a bit of an idea for what the backstory of such a character would be like.
A: Yes. PCs being able to craft and create all sorts of stuff is a huge part of my design goals for this project. Crafting occult artifacts is definitely a high priority, though not implemented at all yet. Occultists may want to buddy up with a particularly skilled crafter to combine their skills and produce particularly awesome such artifacts. I hope to allow this kind of synergy of occult and mundane crafting with just about any of the crafting skills. Some may have differing advantages or uses than others.

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

Q: Are there any general, anyone-can-get abilities?
A: Feint and Basics of Occult Diagrams are both available to anyone.

Q: Am I understanding right that for group therapy I am in a group and then I can use "medical motivation group" and apply a motivation "buff" to the group?
A: Correct. Yay for group buffs.

Q: How do I ask NPCs for details or information about them?
A: You can generally ASK NPC ABOUT/FOR <subject>. Some will respond multiple ways when you ask them about "chat" which can give you cues for more things you might ask them about.

Q: How do I pay my debt at the infirmary?
A: You pay it to the NPC that patched you up via PAY <NPC> <AMOUNT>. You can also do ASK <NPC> ABOUT DEBT to see how much you owe.

Q: Does magic in this universe dislike metal? Does channeling in armor cause channels to drop? Are you able to imbue items with magic (fire-swords)?
A: Channeling as you're familiar with: Yes, it has trouble the more dense a material gets. But metal (or other particularly dense materials) does not mean it cannot have extraordinary/occult properties applied to it. There's a whole new set of magic here that has to do with occult diagrams and glyphs that opens up a lot of new doors.

Town Life and Travel

Q: Aside from civil service, what other options are there for riln?
A: Beat up humanoids outside town and loot their corpses, or the ever-popular foraging for herbs. Take up a trade skill and sell the stuff you make at the market. Take up storytelling and hope the people at gathering spots tip you well. Save up enough to rent some farmland and buy some seeds, a trowel, and a watering bucket. Start a produce empire. Invest in the Artifice skill and steal your fortune from others. (Not recommended if you want to have friends/be welcome in town for long.) Put points in the Skinning skill, hunt some prey, skin and butcher it, and sell the produced meat and pelts at the market.

Q: Have you considered scaling the experience for some of the town tasks? Also, the lamp cleaning seems really good in comparison to the others. Should they be looked at for more balance between them?
A: I'm embarrassingly terrible with numbers, I have to admit. That's why I always hound people for feedback. I also might increase the cooldowns on those tasks, once there are more of them. [But] they're supposed to be more supplementary, while-you're-bored things, than a primary means of getting experience or riln. But while means of experience among various playstyles is still a bit wonky or being developed, I'm leaving it

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: Out of curiosity, how does making a crafting-focused character work in COGG without the Western Coalition? Are there any crafting groups in their place yet?
A: There will be a crafting-focused guild alongside the guilds of Warriors, Adventurers, and Scholars. Keeping to the boring naming scheme so as not to make anyone feel they will be oppressed by any kind of creed or ideology or expectations, it will likely be called something like "the Artisan Guild".

Q: The skill system seems a lot... different than what I'm used to. It seems I'll have to be even more careful making a long-term character build here than I was with CLOK. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's a thing I'll need to be mindful of.
A: Yeah. I plan for unlearning opportunities, so if you end up not liking or not using some skills, you can spend those points elsewhere instead. Just trying to come up with a good way to make it as un-gameable as possible.

Q: Are there craftmarks in this game? What about magemarks?
A: Yes, there's a request system to get your own personalized crafting mark. You have to specifically apply it, so it isn't automatically applied to everything. In case you want to do some stuff anonymously. Some of the occult effects will reflect your aura/ESP color. Additional customization for the vain magey-types is always fun! Happy to take suggestions.

Q: Does the Brewing skill cover only alcoholic beverages, or will it have some tie-in with potions later on?
A: Brewing - which is not yet implemented at all, but I have been quite poked over it lately - will cover alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages, and beverages with some spiffy properties that could be considered potion-like.

Q: Will brewing, fermenting, etc., go as in depth as to include unique strains of cultures and yeasts.
A: I mean, if people want to give me some succinct and game-info-oriented dummy's guides to brewing, that would help. I know virtually nothing about how brewing actually works.

Q: Will cooking have enhancives like brewing might?
A: Cooking, like brewing, will also potentially be able to produce some useful enhancives beyond just yummy morale-impactive food.

Q:What sort of things can Arcana do? Is it combat, non-combat, what?
A: Arcana is intended to be very broad in application, but not as immediately applicable to ranged combat pew-pewing as sorcery. You might use it to prepare some kind of occult attack enhancive ability and then use that once prepared, but with pure arcana you're generally not going to be able to suddenly whip out attacks at a moment's notice in a sudden encounter.

Q: From the small amount of information I've seen on the forum, Arcana seems to be split up into a lot of sub-disciplines - can I get a list of those?
A: Right now some of the focused branches of Arcana - though Arcana is by no means limited to these - are as follows: Lumourgy (light-based), Sonourgy (sound-based), Fortourgy (force-based), and uh ... I could swear there was another one. Maybe I axed it. Hrm. I'm generally avoiding conjuration of physical matter, because that always gets fiddly.

Q: So it'll be mostly centered on physical forces rather than objects that forces are applied to?
A: If you mean I'll be avoiding conjuration and manipulation of physical matter, and instead focused more on manipulation of less-tangible forces and energies, then yes. Sorcery being one of the greater exceptions, as it conjures nether, which is (at least partially/situationally) a physical substance.

Q: Another question: Once Arcana has been more fleshed out, what skills would The Best Arcanist Ever need in order to be... that? Arcana, of course, but what ancillary skills will aid an Arcanist directly or indirectly?
A: It largely depends on how you want to go about it. Lingustics can be useful for deciphering records and learning new things. Lore can similarly occasionally extract useful info in addition to the historic/flavor. You might want to invest some in Climbing or Swimming if you want to be able to get out to those remote locations with ancient records of some kind that can't just brought back or copied by someone else. Combat skill could also help in getting out to remote ruins containing lost arcane knowledge. Artifice for sneaking records or arcane objects from their hostile or jealous keepers. Meditation for those wonderful Boring Bonuses I mentioned before, for when things go wrong and your mind starts to break from the fallout. That design intent in the end is that there's not just one "build" were you have all your bases covered. People will different builds will have different advantages, and hopefully both feel a bit more special because of that as well as occasionally depend on others for assistance.

Q: Does the Arcana skill cover all magic, with other magic being governed by abilities that key off of Arcana, or are Sorcery and Druidry separate skills that aren't on the wiki's skill list?
A: Sorcery and Druidry are separate skills. They were briefly removed, then put back, because I'm a waffle. I'll get them added back to the wiki.

Q: Will there be things like graviturgy and temperature-urgy too?
A: Considered temperature stuff. Lots of handy applications for that.

Q: Does Bushcraft skill help with herb gathering for herbalists?
A: Bushcraft does help with gathering of many herbs. Some may require special knowledge, however. Which is to say: Having a high Bushcraft skill does not equate to being a dedicated herbalist.

Q: So if you need certain Herbalism knowledge to even get certain herbs, does that mean one can't expect non-herbalist bushcrafters to be able to gather all of the herbs a herbalist needs?
A: Correct. Just like a buschrafter may cobble together some serviceable leather armor, but if you want that fancy set of quality leather you'd go to a dedicated leatherworker.

Q: So one would need to be a herbalist AND a bushcrafter to be able to get enough of the special herbs to do much of anything with?
A: No, you wouldn't need bushcraft if you're just wanting to be able to gather herbs. Bushcraft is like a generalist's survival skillset. You use it to get a variety of basic survival skills. It doesn't stack with dedicated things. So in your example, you'd just take herbalism itself. Bushcraft is there for the people that want to be able to get by out in the wilderness, without having to spread themselves thin by investing into a bunch of dedicated skills. So you wouldn't take both Bushcraft and Skinning if you just wanted to be really good at skinning. They don't stack and the system would take the better of the two, and investing in Skinning is much more efficient in this case because only a fraction of Bushcraft skill would go toward Skinning.

Q: What's the Meditation skill for?
A: Meditation is little more than some Boring Bonuses at the moment to resisting negative mental effects and sanity loss.

Character Creation

Q: It was tough to make 1000 riln stretch between paying for basic tools, food, and training ranks to get started. Would it be possible to have this looked at and maybe offer some additional starting gear to help out?
A: I'll look at the starting cash vs tool costs. I did include the one tutorial task about taking odd jobs for people to earn up some additional starting money with.

Q: I think one of the things that really helped when you were starting Somnium was you started out with basic supplies based on the skill goals you set during creation. Maybe there could be something similar for COGG since we're all characters who had lives pre-game. Maybe not as extensive as what was given in Somnium, but one or two things might be helpful and let players get started without having to worry about spending all their riln right away. Like maybe you could have a list of items and you get to choose two from a list of basic adventurer's gear or whatever. For example: 2 tools, 2 weapons, or one of each. Not good quality so people are encouraged to get new ones, but enough to start with something. Would something like that help alleviate the problem?
A: Oooh yeah, being able to pick a starter gear set would be neat. To-doed!

Guilds/Classes, Societies, Companies

Q: Can one player lead multiple companies?
A: Regarding Companies and one person leading multiple: My preference is to keep it to founding and leading one per person. I'd prefer to have people able to focus on something and do it well, rather than split themselves up too much. I'd also prefer to avoid one person "hoarding" a bunch of different company leadership roles. And additionally, I'd worry quite a bit about a bunch of samey and therefore competing companies if people could create/lead more than one. All that said, I won't say it's a 100% impossibility that someone might, in rare and exceptional circumstances, possibly end up maybe temporarily leading two. My heart and gut are of one mind against it, but I hesitate to say "never".

Q: Would you ever consider an Arcana-based Society? Or is that sort of thing going to be the Scholar Guild's purview?
A: If there was a movement, ideology, or creed with a strong and focused enough motive that it merited one, then maybe. Guilds are for teaching skills and abilities. Societies are for movements and purposes. We'd have to ask: "What would an Arcana-based Society do that the Arcanist class of the Scholar Guild does not?" It really just needs to be an idea that really grabs me enough to want to build something around it. I need to really like it, or I won't be able to justify spending the time on all the extra (and constant) effort Societies require. Unlike Guilds, I can't just make a Society and check it off the list to move on to something else. The more Societies there are, the greater drain on my pool of mental, creative, time, and attention resources. I guess I hammered on that a bit much, but I do want it to be clear how much effort Societies take, and that I don't intend to make additional ones lightly or to necessarily fill every niche.

Combat

Q: How does combat magic work if much of Arcana is prepared beforehand? How does an Arcanist fight?
A: The idea (which has yet to be implemented) is that you use a diagram to prepare a specific type of ability. Let's say a farturgy ranged punch type of thing. So you draw your diagram, activate it, and now you're all vooped up with your ranged force punches while the effect lasts. Though Arcanists aren't necessarily expected to fight. They can choose to, but they won't be keeping pace with someone from the Warrior Guild.

Q: Are all Scholar Guild magics inferior to all Warrior Guild fighty-stuff, then? Or is there any way to be a viable combat-mage, should one want to be such a thing?
A: Viable, yes. But I'd still generally bet on the one who went to the School of How To Fight And Kill Things over the one who went to the School of How To Do All Sorts Of Nifty Stuff, Some Of Which May Be Applicable In A Fight. P.S. Warrior Guild is not strictly physical combat. Warriors can learn occult powers as well.

Q: I imagine if you wanted to be a combat heavy flash super fighting mage, it'd be a good idea to either go with a specialization that has channeling, or do one of the adventurer / warrior specializations. I think nightblades and duelists have access to arcana and diagrams?
A: They do, yes. Marauders also pick up a few occult tricks, in their ongoing pursuit of pragmatically stacking the deck in their favor by any means possible. Also, literally anyone can stop by the classroom at the Library of Qamar to pick up the most basic of arcana knowledge and diagrams. (Just like literally anyone can stop by the barracks for the most basic knowledge of combat and a few moves.)
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Kiyaani
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

No-question-related Answers:

NOTE: There was a discussion in today's voice chat about a move back to Porto D'esilio as the main city and starting point in COGG. There will be changes to Shadgard where it will be somewhat downsized into a smaller town. The move to Porto should be considered IC and you can roleplay that you used to be in Shadgard without issue. There will be an IC reason for both Shadgard's shrinkage as well as people leaving. Anything from Shadgard should be moved to Porto automatically, much as it was when we moved from Porto to Shadgard. There is no set date for the move.

General Questions and Lore

Q: Can someone explain why we all have to move to said quasi-pirate town? Like... Can't we walk back and forth between both towns anyway? Or not?
A: Eventually you'll be able to, but the journey between the two is meant to be long and arduous, and has not yet been created.

Q: Hey, are the pendants a Mummer/Rook collaboration in this universe as well? Or is it different here?
A: If I recall correctly, in CLOK Rooks were only involved in the murky deathknell crystals, not the pendants in general. Regarding ESP artifacts here: They're a discovered technology not yet fully understood. They were apparently fairly common in Aetgard, as several have been found in the ruins to be sold and used by Lost Landers today.

Q: Do cactuses exist? I want to know if I can suggest Cactus-Green as a color.
A: If it's a common plant in the real world, it's safe to assume it exists somewhere in-game. Er. Somewhere in-universe? Not in-game. I have not coded up every common plant from the real world in-game.

Q: Another stupid question - are flamingos a thing in this universe?
A: Maybe. Pass on it for now.

Q: All current color names are either one word, or two hyphenated. I'm guessing future colors have to stick to that format? No robin-egg-blue or anything?
A: Yeah, let's stick to that.

Q: I won't get zapped for playing off non-magic as magic, will I?
A: I'll leave that to your peers and the NPCs of the world that know better. But don't go around emoting use of magic when your character can't do it, or something like that.

Q: Can I use an emote to add flavor to my occult effects? Things like adding interlaced runics and occult filigree for flare.
A: I'd prefer to avoid using emotes to describe occult effects doing things they don't specifically do.

Q: Also, question - Shadgard dislikes sorcery in CLOK, is that the case here? And also, do they also dislike arcane workings like diagrams?
A: I think towns in general are going to be wary of diagrams being drawn in town, because there's no way for most people to know if that diagram is going turn someone's hair pink, or if it's going to detonate and take out half a city block.

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

Q: What currently-implemented ways are there for getting XP? Is it just fighting and tasks?
A: Regarding means of earning experience: Generally speaking, any action that causes roundtime, consumes energy, and utilizes a skill you have points in should put some experience in your bucket. For combat specifically, instead of per-swing it's per enemy defeated, so no more trying to draw out a fight as long as possible. On the contrary: be as lethal as possible. And if you notice actions that don't seem to produce experience but you think should, go ahead and bug it, or post on the BBS if you're not sure if it should be or not.

Q: So, just to be clear - level = how awesome you can be at maximum. You still need to grind to get to that maximum?
A: Right, you need to get specific skill practice in order to keep raising it higher. So you could level all the way to 100 by cleaning street lamps in town, but you'd still have to practice combat skills every few points of increase or so and take that effort, rather than instantly going from 0 to 700 Melee, for instance.

Q: Then about this bucket. Does the bucket's capacity for XP increase with level?
A: It doesn't.

Q: The bucket's a rate-limiter, but even when it's full you still get a bit of XP outta the deal, yeah?
A: You won't get anything if it's 100% or higher.

Q: Does the expensive magi... occult chalk that Qamar Library sells need replaced after being used enough? Or is it just a Thing That Exists that you don't necessarily have to micromanage?
A: I may have forgotten to have it use up a dose each time. They definitely have a counter for how many uses they have left.

Q: Does raising affinity with one thing lower affinity to other things?
A: Raising an affinity will lower other affinities within that same category. So you're not going to be able to get every weapon type to 100% affinity. More melee skill will allow for more melee weapon affinities to be raised before it starts lowering others.

Q: Could there be a command to toggle what we're training affinity for then?
A: Sure.

Q: It'd be especially nice if we could decide where affinity drains from when raising another affinity. So, if our example character was an Awesome Sword Guy and an Okay Whip Guy, and they wanted to be an Okay Axe Guy instead, it'd be nice to have a way to say "hey, keep the Sword stuff as-is, take away the Whip affinity". Or, "hey, I want to be only-okay with Sword, Whip, and Axe, so drain the Sword affinity and raise the Axe one".
That sort of thing.
A: I don't know that I want to allow such fine-tuned affinity manipulation. The more skill you have, the more you'll be able to raise affinities in its related category, so you won't be stuck with just a single "good" affinity and risk ruining that by messing with anything else. Also, there are some affinities I don't think should be allowed to be manipulated that are based on what types of actions a character takes. I'll keep the concern in mind though, as it is definitely a valid one.

Q: Do I need therapy every time I get killed?
A: Not strictly required, but it'll help your sanity and morale recover a lot more quickly.

Q: Speaking of therapies - would it be possible to get a petting zoo that works similarly to "study"? Once every eight hours you can hug a fuzzy which increases morale/sanity.
A: I could see adding some minor morale bonus for petting a cute fluffly critter, but it wouldn't be anything like a dependable source of morale management or sanity recovery - more a fun little "oh, that's neat" bonus.

Q: Can you use tone and speech via the ESP network in COGG? What about languages? Do they work in emotes/actions?
A: Yes. [You can use Tone and Speech on the ESP network and] languages do apply to emotes. Emote-speak to your heart's content. It applies to anything in double quotes. You can also @ target as many people as you want in emotes.

Q: Are players going to be able to offer training to others? Even if it's at less skill?
A: Not planned at the moment, but I'm happy to hear arguments for or against. It's a bypass to one of the more effective money sinks. And I know plenty of people that can do things at peak skill level, but couldn't teach it to someone else to save their lives. And if it ends up a complicated system beyond "teach bob X" that's that much more development time. In my experience, people in MUDs tend to be overly generous and give things away for free, or at extreme discounts. Plus, money exchanging hands between PCs isn't a riln sink, since it's staying out there rather than poofing into the void that is NPC pockets.

Q: Will deathknell crystals be a thing here? Or how will rescuing work?
A: Something very similar to them, at least. The plan is that triggering it reveals the current location of the corpse, rather than only the location of death. This should make locating corpses far less frustrating.

Q: Is it alright to use triggers in this game?
A: Using triggers is fine, as is scripts. Just don't do so while AFK to automate progress when you're not actually at your computer. Rias: (Oh, and also avoid using complex scripts in public places please, as they can make a lot of "noise" and be disruptive.)

Q: What's this B:0 on the status line?
A: B: is your Balance. It has combat applications, mostly. Above 0 is good, below 0 is bad. Type HELP BALANCE for more info.

Town Life and Travel

Q: The bank in this universe is the best, by the way. Will there be other ways to organize or expand within them given there are floor-space limits?
A: Hint: Put some storage containers in there. Particularly for larger stuff - stuff it all in a barrel or crate or the like, and it's more space-efficient. Also, paid vault size upgrades are going to be a thing.

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: For farming, are there different mechanics involved for crops during the winter and so forth (like if snowfall negatively impacts or prevents things from growing)?
A: It's all temperature-based at the moment, and ignores weather. There are a few winter crops just because it would be awful to not be able to grow anything for several IRL months. But all rooms have a max amount of floor space, so yes: Hoarders beware.

Q: Is there a way to examine a particular plant to see what forageable item is in/on it so we know what the syntax is to actually forage for it?
A: There is not. Might be a neat perk for experienced bushcrafters or herbalists at some point.

Q: What counts as a proper thing to trace on? Can i just get a parchment and let it rip?
A: You trace the pattern on the cloth you're going to use for your tailoring.

Character Creation

*****

Guilds, Societies, Companies

Q: What exactly are guilds? Do they have goals or a purpose RP-wise?
A: Guilds are like vocational schools. You go to one to learn skills. Why or to what end doesn't matter.

Q: So if there was a druidic society that my berserker was a member of, would that mean some very basic druidry could be available to them (for just simpler abilities/rituals and stuff) or just generally some of the other societal perks?
A: A druidic society could potentially teach a few abilities, yes. But generally speaking you'd join it because you're already aligned with it, rather than to become so. Societies do their own recruiting more than taking applications.

Q: So say I become a scholar to achieve the magics I'm after. I don't want to only ever be able to do scholar abilities. I'd rather have half of it completely blocked off so I can split into warrior abilities so I can mix the minor of two than have the mastery of one. The in-game way to do that (I theorize) would be a scholar as a guild but, get into a very warrior-like society. Would that work?
A: I'm already a little worried about societies being viewed as means to get further abilities or to 'multiclass'. I'm tempted to remove abilities potential altogether and make them strictly roleplay, facilities, and items. That would ruin a couple of concepts I like, though.

Combat-related Mechanics

Q: I'm not sure what to do about stealth, Rias. It's pretty much suicide once things start using weapons.
A: Yeah. My ideas on stealth are A) to have a successful one cause a brief stagger on the target, and B) to have some kind of disrupt/distract ability you lead with to put them into roundtime so you can then leap out without fear of immediate retaliation while your pants are still down.

Q: Are spells considered ranged launchers? Or are they ranged... not-launchers?
A: No, launchers have an actual item as a launcher (i.e. a bow) in addition to a projectile (i.e. an arrow). Hurled weapons and cast spells are not included.

Q: What is a crit threshold?
A: If a single instance of damage dealt is equal to or greater than the crit threshold percentage of a vital hit location, it will result in the instant death of the target. Example: a PC's head, which is a vital hit location, has 100 potential damage total. Bludgeon damage has a crit threshold of .7, or 70%. So if you take 70 or more bludgeon damage to your head in a single hit, you're dead, even though your head would have 30 remaining. Tip: Armor is good to wear. For CLOK veterans: Armor is generally more protective here than it was in CLOK - particularly the lighter types.

Q: Have you considered hitting an XP giving mob to give a small percent of XP instead of just on the kill? With a limit though per mob.
A: I think this could be a thing. It's been discussed a bit - something like experience per hit for a few hits, and the rest needs to be gained by defeating the target. And whether it takes several hits or a single blow, you'll get the same amount in the end for defeating the target, to avoid the weirdness of keeping your prey alive as long as possible to maximize gains.

Arcana and Glyphs

Q: Is it possible for one person to draw 2 Arcana-diagrams in the same room, or does it have to be 2 people drawing 2 diagrams "for reasons"?
A: We'll say you have to keep focus on your occult circle, or it loses its power and poofs. Focusing on a second circle would then not work. Bam.

Q: But can't we draw circles in multiple rooms?
A: It's been brought up before. I need to get to that. Outside exceptional circumstances, I'd rather not the world be littered with occult circles.

Q: I like the idea of an Arcanist drawing a circle somewhere for emergencies and then running to it to activate it later. Will that still be possible?
A: I do too, but I'd like to limit that. So [there might be] a particular "lasting" glyph that makes them last a long time, with a cap. And even another glyph of permanence (until activated), also capped.

Q: "Capped" in what sense?
A: You can only have so many out there. Have too many out there and their tenuous links with their creator starts to do weird things with your mind and breaks your sanity. (I love the Sanity stat.)

Q: Does Distyr emit light? Like, proper mechanically-present light? Or is it just described as making you glow?
A: It emits visible spectrum, room-affecting light. Yes, it's weird for people who have black aura colors.

Q: Out of curiosity, will / are there different bases besides the small circle, later on?
A: Large circle, for group effects. Nothing beyond that at the moment.

Q: Would it be possible to have different base shapes that do different things besides single or multi-person? For example: Base shape: "pentagram". Targets the original drawer of the diagram, as long as they're within the same geographical area as the diagram when it goes off. That way you could set up some self-buff diagrams in advance, and tell an ally to trigger 'em for you.
A: I'm not keen on remote effects outside a diagram's drawn area, but feel free to try and convince me

Q: Wait, there are blood samples, right? Maybe have it target whoever's blood it is.
A: Now you're talking sorcery.

Q: What about a glyph that makes the rest of the glyphs do nothing for 60 seconds at maximum? Essentially a "sleep(60)" for magic.
A: I have a "wait" glyph.

Q: Does this still apply: "Occult diagrams were designed to make specific occult effects more easily accessible without the need for arcane channeling."?
A: I had a bad habit for a long while where I'd use "arcane" and "occult" interchangeably. Arcana is very much intended to be strictly using diagrams and the like, not active channeling like sorcery or druidry. While there are purportedly people who can use channeling to do what others do with arcane diagrams, that's the realm of, say, Nuumic arcane masters and the like.

Q: Will my character ever be able to do the same things as the legendary "Nuumic arcane masters?"
A: This here is my Spirit Crusher. I use it to crush the spirit of players by telling them "No, your character will never be able to do that." I subscribe to the idea that there should be some things that the PCs of a game just cannot do. There's always a bigger fish. There's always someone with a trick up their sleeve that you can't replicate. And in the case of MUDs, not everything I come up with in lore can translate well into game mechanics.

Q: But if there's a whole smattering of people in this universe that can do it - at least to the point where you start to refer to them as a group instead of by individual names - then that becomes a little... weird, doesn't it?
A: What's weird about there being a secretive circle of Nuum NPCs that have supernatural powers that can't be obtained by PCs? There are kings in lore, but I'm not about to let a PC somehow end up king of the Lost Lands. Same kind of thing. [The difference here being] diagrams [versus actual channeling]. We're talking about channeling to achieve the same or similar things as said diagrams. Completely different method. Regardless: I'm strongly of the opinion that PCs should not feel entitled to be capable of any skill or ability ever held by any other figure in the game's lore. PCs are special when compared to NPCs, and enjoy numerous unique advantages over them. I feel there should be some special NPCs out there, too.
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Kiyaani
Posts: 68
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Re: Questions from Discord - Ongoing Thread

Post by Kiyaani »

No-question-related Answers:

*****

General Questions and Lore

Q: Yo Rias, do you know how on earth to pronounce half these race names? Just like a fun question.
A: I do!

Q: Can there be an OOC way to show people when you're typing so that those of us who use emotes with speech can have more time to keep up with those using SAY?
A: I'm not a fan of an OOC say system for reasons Whisk stated. (Whisk's statement: I like the idea of an easy command that warns something along those lines. But not an ooc say, as it enourages people to talk oocly [as it] breaks immersion.) I feel like getting frequent canned pings of "[Bob is writing an emote ...]" would have a similar issue. I'm of the opinion that those who write particularly long emotes take the risk upon themselves that some people simply might not be as patient, and that we shouldn't insist that others put off their own actions or schedules to wait if an emote is taking minutes to write out. Er, I'd also rather not have the global OOC channel be a place for individual emote announcements. The TELL command should serve.

User Interface and General Gameplay Mechanics

Q: I have 2 shoulder slots, but a backpack, quiver, and longbow. Is there a way to manage that better?
A: For now you could MODIFY your quiver to be the belt type.

Q: How much of a pain would it be to add a thing that makes the EXP command show how much experience is actually IN the bucket, rather than just a percentage?
A: None of a pain, but I like it how it is. If I put everything up there in plain sight, you'd have none of your figuring to do!

Q: Is there a helpfile on tones? I got the symbols all wrong.
A: Dollar sign ($) for speech. # is for tone (happily, angrily, etc.) and $ is for speech (interject, suggest, comment). It does need a help document. But if you type SAY by itself, it'll give you examples.

Q: Are tones and speeches coming from a list?
A: Tones and speeches are freestyle. No choosing from a list. Just remember to type the tone how it would appear. "hastily" instead of "hasty".

Q: Can I get charcoal in the wilds?
A: Charcoal is left over from campfires. Best to add a few logs to them, then let them burn out and they'll produce lots of charcoal.

Q: What regens energy?
A: It regens on its own over time, and sitting/laying makes it regenerate twice as quickly. You do need nutrition to regenerate energy from though, so don't let yourself get to Starving status!

Town Life and Travel

Q: Is there a timeline for moving to the new town?
A: Hoping to do so within the next couple months.

Q: Wait a min here, if there's minecarts out there in town, someone's been mining? We buy minecarts?
A: The minecarts are meant for public use, and are stuck to their tracks.

Q: Is the general store the only place where you can get seeds?
A: Right, only seeds at the general store. I might have to have some merchants stop by with some unique ones sometime.

Q: Wait, so if you leave things on your farm land, do they disappear?
A: They don't, but I do plan to have stuff left out in the open to have a chance to disappear or get ruined, which will give a purpose to toolsheds and silos and the like.

Skills, Professions, and Crafted Items

Q: Will I need a lot of points in mining to be able to supply myself if there are no actual miners around?
A: Honestly, you could give yourself a few points in mining and mine for yourself when you don't have a supplier around. It'll be inefficient, but at least you'll have a backup plan. Unless it's something you specifically don't want your character to do, which is okay too. I see a good amount of sandstone with copper ore at the market at the moment, though. Not that expensive. Hint: Do LIST SEARCH TRACES to look for stone with traces of ores at the market.

Q: What is a craftmark?
A: You can add it to the items you craft via the MODIFY command. Use CRAFTMARK REQUEST to request one. Do keep in mind it needs to be fairly generic, as it can be applied to several different types of material. So then in the market it would say for instance: a frilly pink tutu (branded with <your craftmark here>). And it would show up when you LOOK at the item as well. Then people can know your brand and recognize your work and request your gloriousness. Another tip on craftmarks: Keep them fairly short and sweet. You can change your craftmark at some point if you want. It just has to go through the approval process again.

Q: Are the bandages woven by people like me better than the ones we can buy from a store?
A: Nope.

Q: Can you tailor a towel?
A: Yep.

Q: So besides planting things, is there any other way to get farming practice up?
A: Tilling, weeding, harvesting, threshing, and winnowing all count toward farming practice.

Q: Can we swap recipe points around?
A: Not at this time. I plan on some kind of limited and laborious process to do so in the future, but I don't want people swapping recipes willy-nilly or it defeats the purpose of the recipe points system.

Character Creation

*****

Guilds, Societies, Companies

Q: Is there a place to get recruited for the Adventurer's Guild outside of the Port city?
A: The lobby of the Hanged Man Inn is currently a recruiting spot.

Q: Is there a guild for farming and the like?
A: Farming will be included in the upcoming Artisan Guild.

Combat-related Mechanics

Q: Does fury lower over time or will there be "fury spenders" for different abilities and such?
A: Fury doesn't affect offense/defense at the moment, and not sure how I want to do that. And since I did add the strength/damage bonus instead. As you've probably seen now, it does lower on its own at 1 point per 5 seconds. But there will also be Fury-spending moves.

Arcana and Glyphs

*****
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