Riding, Animal Husbandry, and Horses

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Lexx416
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Riding, Animal Husbandry, and Horses

Post by Lexx416 »

I was thinking about horses a bit, and something I think I'd like to see would be more use out of both the Riding and the Animal Husbandry skill.

First of all, I think it'd be reasonable if the number of horses any singular player could own at a time was limited by their skill in either Riding or Animal Husbandry, whatever is highest. For each 100 in the appropriate skill, a player can own 1 additional horse (or other beast of burden, if we get access to cool neat things like gelks or other fantasy-ish beasts down the road) - so at 100 Riding, you could own two mounts/beasts of burdens (and would maybe help people feel better about spending the full 100 in Riding instead of sitting at something lower than 100). One of my reasonings for this is I think (especially when the Artisans roll around) we could use some serious benefits out of the Animal Husbandry skill. Rewarding folks that invest to the maximum animal husbandry with more Cool Beasts and the ability to have a team of animals would be a great way to do that, while putting a very reasonable limit on people that don't/can't chose to invest heavily in either Riding or Animal Husbandry.

In addition to the above, I think we should get an automated (or semi-automated, requiring GM/Staff approval?) "buyback" system where Players can sell their mounts/beasts back (either to the Stable, or perhaps to a special booth at the Market) at a slight loss. That way people who want to buy a mule to save up for a workhorse don't feel "locked in" with a bad decision for the rest of their PCs career, especially if something cool and unique comes along. It would be extra cool if a Unique Mount (including 'normal' store bought ones with unique customizations) could be repurchased from that same Market Stall.

Finally, I think it'd be great if some percentage of Animal Husbandry (maybe half? Or even one third) could count for the riding skill, for the purposes of riding checks.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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Taliaferro
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Re: Riding, Animal Husbandry, and Horses

Post by Taliaferro »

I personally don't care for the first idea -- I know this is a game and not necessarily a simulation, but you don't need to be a skilled horseman to own a stable of horses. You just need a bunch of money. I know we have lots of other arbitrary skill-based limitations like this, and that's fine, but I think if a character who can't keep her saddle really wants to fall off of a different horse every day of the week, she ought to be able to. Not a big deal, though. I could live with it!

I do think there ought to be upkeep for owned mounts. Significant upkeep. I'm not sure how I'd implement it. I wouldn't want a PC's horse to die because the player didn't log in for a month. Maybe there could be a monthly upkeep, and if you got too far in arrears you couldn't unstable the mount until you paid up. And if you had ten horses, you'd have to pay for all ten before you could take any one out of the stable. Something like that.

And I'd love to see advanced mounts, whether they be mythical beasts or fiery steeds, that required a good deal of skill to ride.

I love your other ideas. Even if we don't have limited mount slots, we need to be able to sell mounts to the stables or the knacker. We definitely need more uses for riding and animal husbandry. I only have 400 riding, or however much it is, because I wanted the message when my character mounts his horse to be the fancy competent one. Pure vanity.

Speaking of animal husbandry, I'd like to be able to hitch a plough to a mule or horse and plough a field with it. The trouble here is that tilling even an enormous field in the game takes so little time. I don't much want to make farming harder for farmers who don't have or don't want a mule or a horse, but it really does take a very short amount of time. Would anyone be upset if the roundtime for tilling soil with a hoe were someday to be increased significantly, with the option of using an animal and a plough? Just a thought.
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Lexx416
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Re: Riding, Animal Husbandry, and Horses

Post by Lexx416 »

Taliaferro wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 9:16 pm I personally don't care for the first idea -- I know this is a game and not necessarily a simulation, but you don't need to be a skilled horseman to own a stable of horses. You just need a bunch of money. I know we have lots of other arbitrary skill-based limitations like this, and that's fine, but I think if a character who can't keep her saddle really wants to fall off of a different horse every day of the week, she ought to be able to. Not a big deal, though. I could live with it!
Well, it's less to do with needing to be skilled to physically own a horse, and moreso an unwillingness to part with a commodity that should be incredibly value unless it's to someone with the training and experience to use them - I got the idea specifically from farmland. I also think it would make people choose between getting the "cool new shiny" thing just because they have the riln to throw at it, and their trusty steed that they've had for a long while and have some kind of attachment to.

I do think there ought to be upkeep for owned mounts. Significant upkeep. I'm not sure how I'd implement it. I wouldn't want a PC's horse to die because the player didn't log in for a month. Maybe there could be a monthly upkeep, and if you got too far in arrears you couldn't unstable the mount until you paid up. And if you had ten horses, you'd have to pay for all ten before you could take any one out of the stable. Something like that.
I'd also be okay with this. I' just a big fan of opportunity costs in general, and something like monthly upkeep (maybe it gets more expensive with every mount, on top of the downside of having to pay the full amount of stabling upkeep before you can retrieve your mount). It always ends up being a bit of a bummer to me when people just BUY EVERYTHING because they have the riln for it.

I also think it'd be reasonable if the super cool and exotic mounts cost a bit more to stable as well, because they require special care/etc.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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Taliaferro
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Re: Riding, Animal Husbandry, and Horses

Post by Taliaferro »

Yeah, the farmland analogue is what occurred to me, too. That makes a little more immediate sense to me, though. Having a great big field of arable land and/or a bunch of profitable farm animals is a material benefit that should definitely require an investment in skill points and money, whereas having a whole bunch of mounts seems more like an exercise in vanity.

But I don't think it's an unreasonable suggestion at all, and, again, I could easily live with it, if it were implemented!
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