The Shartak Wiki - User contributions [en]

Items

2006-06-06T08:03:16Z

JonesDye: /* Melee weapons */

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Various '''items''' are scattered on the island. All items can be found by searching in the appropriate place; some tend to be found more in huts and villages, while others are more likely to be found in the jungle. All items can be [[Trading|traded]] to [[trader]]s for what they have in stock.

You can carry 71 items in your inventory. Each rifle and blowpipe takes 2 inventory spaces, while gold coins don't take up any inventory space. All other items take 1 space.

Clicking on an item in your inventory uses 1 [[AP]]. Generally, this attempts to use the item (such as a ''[[Items#Sharpening stone|sharpening stone]]''); otherwise, you get a message like: "Upon closer inspection, the knife appears to be a weapon." (1 AP is used in either case.)

For more information, see [[Talk:Items]].

== Melee weapons ==

The default weapon, the punch, deals 1 point of base damage at 10% base accuracy.

There is an unknown chance of a weapon dealing additional damage during combat. "Maybe it's luck or maybe it's skill, your attack is right on target and inflicts more damage than normal. You attack [the target] for 5 damage." There is also an unknown chance of a weapon breaking during combat, which causes you to lose that weapon. "Unlucky or just clumsy? The blade snaps off and you're left holding the handle, which you discard." See [[Special weapon event odds]] for more information.

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: solid 1px #ccc; border-collapse: collapse"
|-bgcolor="#ccc"
!colspan="6"|Melee Weapons
|-bgcolor="#ddd"
!Name !! Base damage !! Base accuracy !! [[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]] !! [[Locations]] !! Notes

|-valign="top"
|Knife
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$80
|Camps
|Required for [[Writing|writing messages]] on trees or huts.

|-valign="top"
|Dagger
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$80
|Ruins
|Required for [[Writing|writing messages]] on trees or huts.

|-valign="top"
|Machete
|align="right"|2
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$100
|Jungle
|Breakable. Required for chopping through the jungle. Can become a ''blunt machete'' when you chop vegetation; see [[Special weapon event odds]].

|-valign="top"
|Blunt machete
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$70
|Camps, Jungle
|Required for chopping through the jungle, but doesn't always succeed at doing so. Can be sharpened with a ''sharpening stone'' to become a ''machete''.

|-valign="top"
|Cutlass
|align="right"|2
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$120
|Ship
|Breakable. Required for chopping through the jungle. Can become a ''blunt cutlass'' when you chop vegetation; see [[Special weapon event odds]].

|-valign="top"
|Blunt cutlass
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$80
|Ship
|Required for chopping through the jungle, but doesn't always succeed at doing so. Can be sharpened with a ''sharpening stone'' to become a ''cutlass''.

|-valign="top"
|Heavy sword
|align="right"|4
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$5000
|Jungle (?)
|Extremely rare; only one confirmed example.There is one in some traders stock.. find him :P--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 09:03, 6 June 2006 (BST)

|}

== Ranged weapons and ammunition ==

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: solid 1px #ccc; border-collapse: collapse"
|-bgcolor="#ccc"
!colspan="6"|Ranged Weapons
|-bgcolor="#ddd"
!Name !! Base damage !! Base accuracy !! [[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]] !! [[Locations]] !! Notes

|-valign="top"
|Rifle
|align="right"|5
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$300
|Outsider ammunition huts, Outsider camps
|Needs ammo (rifle bullets). Holds 2 bullets at a time. Requires 2 inventory spaces (regardless of how many bullets are loaded). ''('''Outsiders only'''; natives require ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' to use.)''

|-valign="top"
|Blowpipe
|align="right"|4
|align="right"|20%
|align="right"|$300
|Native ammunition huts, Native camps
|Needs ammo (poison darts). Holds 1 dart at a time. Requires 2 inventory spaces (whether loaded or empty). ''('''Natives only'''; outsiders require ''[[Native Knowledge]]'' to use.)''

|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: solid 1px #ccc; border-collapse: collapse"
|-bgcolor="#ccc"
!colspan="4"|Ammunition
|-bgcolor="#ddd"
!Name !! [[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]] !! [[Locations]] !! Notes

|-valign="top"
|Rifle bullet
|align="right"|$15
|Outsider ammunition huts, Outsider camps''
|Used as ammo for rifles (which hold 2 bullets each). Found as singles or in boxes with up to 8 in a box; boxes immediately break out into individual bullets, taking 1 inventory space per bullet. ''('''Outsiders only'''; natives require ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' to use.)''

|-valign="top"
|Poison dart
|align="right"|$10
|Native ammunition huts, Native camps''
|Used as ammo for blowpipes (which hold 1 dart each). Found as singles or in bundles with up to 8 in a bundle; bundles immediately break out into individual darts, taking 1 inventory space per dart. ''('''Natives only'''; outsiders require ''[[Native Knowledge]]'' to use.)''

|}

== Healing ==

'''Consumable'''

Using a restorative item takes 1 AP and consumes the item (removing it from your inventory).

'''Application'''

Fruits and drinks can only be used on yourself. The First Aid Kit and Healing Herbs are unique in that they can also be used to heal [[animals]] and other characters (including NPC traders and shamans).

----

=== First Aid Kit ===
* '''Restores''': ''5 points'' (''10 points'' with the ''[[First Aid]]'' skill)
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$200''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Outsider camps''
* '''Used by''': Outsiders (Natives require the ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' skill)

A first aid kit will heal all wounds caused by shark bites.

Natives without the ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' skill recognize this item but are unable to use it.

A first aid kit costs $40 per 1 HP healed, or $20 per 1 HP with the ''[[First Aid]]'' skill.

First aid kits are commonly referred to as ''FAK'' or shortened to just ''kits'' by the playerbase.

=== Healing Herbs ===
* '''Restores''': ''5 points'' (''10 points'' with the ''[[Natural Medicine]]'' skill)
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$200''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Native camps'', ''Grasslands'', ''Ruins''
* '''Used by''': Natives (Outsiders require the ''[[Native Knowledge]]'' skill)

An application of healing herbs will heal all wounds caused by shark bites.

Outsiders without the ''[[Native Knowledge]]'' skill see this item as ''Dried Herbs'' and are unable to use it.

This item costs $40 per 1 HP healed, or $20 per 1 HP with the ''[[Natural Medicine]]'' skill.

Healing herbs are commonly shortened to just ''herbs'' by the playerbase.

=== Bottle of Water ===
* '''Restores''': ''5 points''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$30''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Outsider camps''

The most cost-effective healing item in the game, costing just $6 per 1 HP healed.

Natives can use this item as effectively as Outsiders, although without the ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' skill, they will recognize the item as a ''Bottle of Liquid''.

=== Bottle of Beer ===
* '''Restores''': ''2 points''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$40''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Outsider camps'', ''Beach''

A bottle of beer costs $20 per 1 HP healed.

Natives without the ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' skill see this item as a ''Bottle of Brown Liquid'', although they are able to use it normally.

=== Bottle of Rum ===
* '''Restores''': ''2 points''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$40''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Ship''

A bottle of rum costs $20 per 1 HP healed.

Presumably, natives without the ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' skill see this item as a ''Bottle of Brown Liquid'', although they are able to use it normally.

=== Tasty Berries ===
* '''Restores''': ''2 points''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$40''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Berry Bush''

Found on a berry bush (which has a tree icon).

Outsiders without the ''[[Native Knowledge]]'' skill recognize this item as ''Berries''.

When purchased in the [[Trading]] Hut, tasty berries cost $20 per 1 HP healed.

=== Banana ===
* '''Restores''': ''1 point''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$40''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Banana Tree, Jungle''

Found hanging on trees and lying loose around the jungle.

Bananas are overpriced in the [[Trading]] Hut, costing $40 per 1 HP healed.

=== Mango ===
* '''Restores''': ''1 point''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$40''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Mango Tree, Jungle''

Found hanging on trees and lying loose around the jungle.

Mangos are overpriced in the [[Trading]] Hut, costing $40 per 1 HP healed.

=== Gourd of Water ===
* '''Restores''': ''1 point''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$30''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Jungle''

Found lying loose around the jungle.

When purchased in the [[Trading]] Hut, a gourd of water costs $30 per 1 HP healed.

=== Poisonous Berries ===
* '''Inflicts''': ''-2 points''
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$20''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Berry Tree''

Found on a berry bush (which has a tree icon).

Outsiders without the ''[[Native Knowledge]]'' skill recognize this item as ''Berries''.

'''Note:''' Poisonous berries also yield 2 XP when eaten. Since characters earn XP again when healing the damage, repeated poisoning and healing is a viable method of gaining [[XP]] for non-combat characters.

== Miscellaneous Items ==

=== GPS Unit ===
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$250''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Outsider camps, Outsider medical huts''
* '''Used by''': Outsiders (Natives require the ''[[Outsider Knowledge]]'' skill)

Gives the coordinate location of your character when a signal is available in a non-dense, non-enclosed area.

Coordinates are in the form [-70.366, 26.443], where the first number is the X coordinate (longitude) and the second is the Y coordinate (latitude). Moving a single square represents a change in coordinate in that direction of 0.001.

GPS units can be found lying on the ground in an outsider village, but they are most prevalent in the Outsider Medical Huts (about 1 GPS per 50 AP searching). GPS units have also been up for trade in all three outsider Trading Huts, although they are high demand items for new characters.

=== Gold Coin ===
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$100''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Camps'', ''Jungle'', ''Beach''

Being the currency of the island, gold coins are the only items to require no inventory space, and up to ten can be given to any player in the same location via the "Give" button. Clicking on a gold coin in one's inventory flips it and gives "heads" or "tails" as a result.

=== Gem ===
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$1000''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Ruins'', ''Shipwreck's Hold''

Worth ten times as much as a gold coin when trading. Unlike gold, gems require inventory space.

=== Piece of Driftwood ===
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$70''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Beach''

A [[signpost]] can be constructed out of two pieces of driftwood.

=== Sharpening Stone ===
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$50''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Camps''

Used to sharpen ''[[Items#Blunt Machete|blunt machetes]]'' and ''[[Items#Blunt Cutlass|blunt cutlasses]]''. Click on your sharpening stone (not on a blunt weapon) to sharpen a weapon.

=== Poisonous Snake ===
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$5''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Grasslands''

Useless to everyone but traders, to whom they are only ''almost'' useless.

=== Crab ===
* '''[[Trading#Trading_Hut_Prices|Trade value]]''': ''$50''
* '''[[Locations]]''': ''Beach''

Useless but somewhat valuable nonetheless.

[[Category:Glossary]]

Bugs

2006-05-31T08:49:10Z

JonesDye: /* Possible Bugs */

This page is for adding reports of possible bugs. Once the bug has been confirmed, it can be moved into the Known Bugs section.

Before reporting a bug, you might want to check [[Bugs:Not|Not Bugs]] just in case it's actually not a bug.

Bugs that have been resolved and older than a week, can be found at [[Bugs:Fixed]].

== Example ==

Use a simple, sensible bug title. Provide information about your browser, operating system, character class, and location terrain if necessary.

To use the template, enter the following, but replace '''emboldened text''' with text appropriate to your bug report:

<nowiki>===</nowiki>'''Bug Title'''<nowiki>===</nowiki>
<nowiki>{{bugreport</nowiki>|
bug_time=<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>|
bug_author=<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>|
bug_status='''new / fixed / not a bug'''|
bug_severity='''low / med / high / critical'''|
bug_description='''Full description. Check spelling and be descriptive.'''|
bug_comments=

'''Comment here'''

}}

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== Possible Bugs ==

=== Not able to attack animals ===
I'm at [-70.358,+26.343. There's a large deer here yet I don't have the option of attacking it. For some reason it's giving me the option of speaking to it. Says "Jungle
A number of small trees here aren't that much taller than the heavy undergrowth." --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 03:00, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
*Never mind. I travelled a few squares then came back and it gave me the attack option.--[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 03:02, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
* Very odd, never heard of that happening before. Bugs like this would be pretty much impossible to track down unless I'm able to check the database at the time at which it happens. If it happens again, you could try letting me know over instant messaging before you move. Contact info on my user page. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 09:35, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
----

===Ap regenerating to quick===
I am in the jungle in the mountains, and my AP is regenerating every 8 minutes instead of 20.

[[User:Lord Jones|Lord Jones]] 19:31, 22 April 2006 (BST)
* Do you have trekking? If so, are you using 0.5AP (i.e 10m) per move (at which point it says 0AP left due to removing the .5), and then it regenerates the missing 0.5AP to give you a full AP within 10m? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 20:16, 22 April 2006 (BST)

yah i got trekking [[User:Lord Jones|Lord Jones]] 20:44, 22 April 2006 (BST)
----

===Banshee Wail village annihilation===
Not sure if this is a bug, or perhaps just bad luck, but for the past several days in York, the Pirate Ship, and Dalpok, every time I log back in to Shartak I have a screenful (or 3) of Banshee Wails, have lost a bunch of hit points, and have seen others around me keel over dead. From the timestamps it looks like you can send out 5 Wails per minute; sometimes I see 50 Wails in a row. None of my characters have Sixth Sense, so I don't know how many wailers are around -- maybe some new people are just testing the skill? If people are harvesting XP in a crowded village, though, it's probably not going to stop, and in fact will get far worse as more than just a handful of players learn how to wail. (Are the villages becoming ghost towns?) Thanks! --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 16:59, 30 April 2006 (BST)

:Logged on again, found another example:

<pre>
Since your last move:
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
Archibald turns white as a sheet, and keels over dead. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 12:29)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a haunting scream coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
Frederick turns white as a sheet, and keels over dead. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
bobblehat turns white as a sheet, and keels over dead. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:44)
Sprocket turns white as a sheet, and keels over dead. (2006-04-30 15:44)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you, and lose 4 HP from fear. You die of fright. (2006-04-30 15:45)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-04-30 15:46)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:57)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:57)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:57)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:57)
Brock Sampson turns white as a sheet, and keels over dead. (2006-05-01 05:57)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
You hear a banshee wail coming from all around you. (2006-05-01 05:58)
</pre>

--[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 07:16, 1 May 2006 (BST)

Banshee Wail is a 1AP activity, so you can do 72 every 24 hours. That's extremely nasty. [[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 09:41, 1 May 2006 (BST)

* Not unless you're only being heard by 1 person (or unless I've broken the code that calculates AP usage). Perhaps it should be considered an attack similar to using a weapon, and thus have a percentage chance of actually wailing/shrieking? It sounded like a good idea and not too powerful when I was working on it, but maybe my maths was off. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:59, 1 May 2006 (BST)
:* One problem with Ghosting is that it is stealthed and shielded - the wailer is invisible and invulnerable to new players. The most recent two characters that I created started out their lives (deaths) with a massive spam attack of unexplained banshee wails while sleeping in a hut in my own home town. That can't be encouraging for new players joining Shartak, who expect some plausible safety. Usually game mechanics counterbalance invisible strikes by reducing fire-rate and damage, but banshee wail combines invisibility with higher damage and larger area-of-effect. From the outside, it looks like a sniper rifle that autofires grenades. But I don't have the skill, so this is just from my anecdotal experience. In my opinion, banshee wail should not affect the inside of town huts or the shipwreck. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 20:49, 1 May 2006 (BST)
::*That said, shouldn't a spiteful, vengeful spirit be considerably powerful? This is why I am trying to make an [[Talk:Suggestions#Exorcism|Exorcism suggestion]]. I haven't heard enough from the other users yet, though. I've only heard from about two people.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 21:39, 12 May 2006 (BST)
:::*Well, except that every player who dies becomes a spirit, whether or not they are spiteful and vengeful. If the motivation for banshee wail were related to revenance and vengeful dead, one would think that the wail would only harm your killer, or would only be usable by someone murdered in unusual circumstances. That said, current changes seemed to have cleaned up the spamming problem... --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 08:31, 13 May 2006 (BST)
::::*This is actually leading to spirits camping around things like medical and ammo huts with no way for a player to deal with it. This has basicly become a skill that allows you to sit at important places, harvest xp, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
--[[User:Shosuro|Shosuro]
----

===Tapran in the middle of the jungle===
{{bugreport|
bug_time=08:15, 9 May 2006 (BST)|
bug_author=[[User:Shosuro|Shosuro]]|
bug_status=new|
bug_severity=high|
bug_description= Tapran, the shaman for Wiksik has respawned outside of wiksik in the middle of the jungle. Not sure if this was a one time occurance or if he keeps respawning there|
bug_comments=

Rumor has it that village shamans are wandering due to xp harvesting abuse (aka dalpok vs the pirates) -- an intentional code change. I still think there should be a 50 AP or 75 AP button to teleport you to your home shaman, in addition to the closest shaman for 25 AP. Seems to make stylistic sense -- and to give a better sense of territory and belonging. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 08:35, 13 May 2006 (BST)
:(Changed/in flux) Looks like 50AP to teleport to the nearest shaman, 25AP to go home. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 00:03, 17 May 2006 (BST)

}}

===Rifles and Blowpipes can't be bought in Trading Hut===
{{bugreport|
bug_time=20:50, 26 May 2006 (BST)|
bug_author=[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]]|
bug_status=new|
bug_severity=high|
bug_description=Rifles and blowpipes are broken in the trading huts. The trader can't seem to figure out a price, then offers you a short supply price when you're selling them to him. He acts like he's glad to sell you some rifles and blowpipes, but then "Hang on! I'm out of them." A minor point: There are still ways to lose 1AP without accomplishing anything in the trading screens. The AP loss is irregular - sometimes when you reject a trade, you are awarded back the spent AP (else I did that right on a clock tick). Usually, however, you lose an AP when attempting to repeat a trade that requires recomputation, then declining that trade or having it fail. Another minor point: I'm fairly sure that not all of the short stock messages are being displayed. Harry blithely tried to sell me "some berries" for my gem, without alerting me that this was a ripoff caused by only 1 berries in his stock. I'll try for some repeat occurrences, so I can see which short stock messages I believe are being suppressed, but I've seen some ridiculous offers without requisite warnings. Otherwise, the trading seems to work great. One of my characters lost nearly $3000 trying unsuccessfully to short-stock GPS units and gems.
|
bug_comments=

* Rifles and blowpipe trading now fixed. "some berries" is simply how it appears, as an item I guess it's a little confusing because it's not a single berry, but a handful or bunch of them. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 02:36, 29 May 2006 (BST)
:* That isn't the bug, the bug is that Harry usually says "Because they're in short supply, I'll want a higher price. I've only got 3, come back later for 49" BUT when he only has 1 in stock, he routinely ignores that message and simply says, "I'll give you 1 for a gem" as if 1-1 were a normal price. I haven't verified rifle/blowpipe yet (off killing monkeys) but thanks for the rifle fix! --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 04:38, 29 May 2006 (BST)

}}

===Minor inventory errors===
{{bugreport|
bug_time=01:22, 29 May 2006 (BST)|
bug_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
bug_status=new|
bug_severity=low|
bug_description=I decided to waste a little AP flipping a gold coin, but despite the fact that I clearly have gold coins in my inventory, clicking on the item only produced a "You don't have a gold coin." message. I tested this behavior several times on my shaman and my settler and got the same result.|
bug_comments=

* Changing the title of this error as it apparently also appears for rifles and blowpipes. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 01:25, 29 May 2006 (BST)
* Fixed gold coin bug. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 01:52, 29 May 2006 (BST)
* Fixed rifle/blowpipe bug (and anything else that has a limited number of uses in the future). --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 01:57, 29 May 2006 (BST)

}}

{{bugreport|
bug_time=10:22, 31 May 2006 (BST)|
bug_author=[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]]|
bug_status=new|
bug_severity=low|
bug_description=After this "You attack the wild boar and miss.
Unlucky or just clumsy? The blade snaps off and you're left holding the handle, which you discard." i still have the possibility of doing an attack (in the dropdownlist) , but i don't have a machete..confirming the attack it doesn't do nothing.. but maybe the loading event that fills your inventory should be after the attack result, not before..|
bug_comments=
}}

Royal Expedition

2006-04-19T14:53:05Z

JonesDye:

{{Clanbox|
clan_name=Royal Expedition|
clan_image=[[Image:Untitled-1 copy.jpg]]|
clan_abbrev=RE|
clan_leaders=None yet|
clan_membership=Friday the 13th|
clan_goals=Increasing our numbers for now|
clan_recruit=Just add your name to the list and sign up for the forum|
clan_contact=http://s9.invisionfree.com/Royal_Expedition/index.php|
}}
When Clans are implemented we'll be there. 
The RE will be a group of all outsiders of all class. 
Whether you're from York, Derby, or Durham, doesn't matter. 
Positions? Not a problem yet. 
We're ironing out the details right now.

If you're interested in joining then just add your name below and sign up for the [http://s9.invisionfree.com/Royal_Expedition/index.php Forum]

Old Comments can be found at the [http://wiki.shartak.com/index.php/Talk:Royal_Expedition Talk Page]
 
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=547 Urban Me]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=647 Morgan Freelance]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=447 Otis the Red]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=713 Grigoriy]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=878 Gandhi]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=771 Less Than Lethal]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=1079 domokun]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=191 Ownslaught]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=1223 Provisional Recruit-M Tek]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=87 Malphas]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=1521 techker7]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=809 Robert Hooke]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=936 Elena Barton]
 
[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=669 Jones Dye]
 

== News ==
=== April 16th, 2006 ===
New member, Elena Barton
=== April 1st, 2006 ===
New member, Robert Hooke
=== March 30th, 2006 ===
[http://s9.invisionfree.com/Royal_Expedition/index.php Forum] established
=== March 19th, 2006 ===
New member, techker7
=== March 18th, 2006 ===
New member, Malphas
=== March 12th, 2006 ===
New member, Provisional Recruit-M Tek
=== March 6th, 2006 ===
New member, Ownslaught
=== March 3rd, 2006 ===
New member, domokun!

[[Category:Clans]] [[Category:Clans for Outsiders]]

Requests for information

2006-04-18T14:08:57Z

JonesDye: /* Life and death */

{| cellpadding=10 align=right
| __TOC__
|}

== About the wiki ==
The wiki can be used as a reference guide as you explore the island of Shartak. Several players are contributing often to add factual information about locations, items, and classes. You can easily participate and lend a hand.

Other activities:
*Create or update your personal user page to inform others about your Characters or Interests. (Simply click your name at the top of the page to begin).
*Create or update a page dedicated to informing others about your [[:Category:Clans|Clan]].
*Develop [[suggestions]].
*Report [[bugs]].
*Discuss the [[Game Design|game]].
*Ask a game or wiki-related question '''on this page'''.

=== Editing ===

Q. This wiki thing is odd and filled with odd people! I am frightened!

A. That's not a question! But never fear, the wiki is a great tool that only gets better with more participation and information. Here is the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents Mediawiki Handbook] for detailed information on how things work. The [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing Help:Editing] section is a handy reference for beginners.

=== Signature ===

Q. Typing all that code to sign my posts is tiresome. Is there a better way to do this?

A. At the top of the edit field, you'll see a series of icons. The second to last icon resembles a partial signature. http://wiki.shartak.com/skins/common/images/button_sig.png Simply click on this icon and it will generate the code to sign your posts.

=== Clan pages ===

Q. How do I list my uber l33t clan page like the others?

A. Edit your clan page and add "<nowiki>[[Category:Clans]]</nowiki>" (no quotes). If you also want to
be listed as a specific type of clan, also add "<nowiki>[[Category:Clans for Outsiders]]</nowiki>" or "<nowiki>[[Category:Clans for Natives]]</nowiki>" or "<nowiki>[[Category:Clans for both]]</nowiki>".

For example, an Outsider-only clan would have: <nowiki>[[Category:Clans]] [[Category:Clans for Outsiders]]</nowiki>.

Q. How do I make the information box that appears on clan pages?

A. Follow the instructions listed on the [[Template talk:Clanbox|Clanbox talk page]].

Q. How do I make a clan page in the first place? 21:00, 9 March 2006 (GMT)

A. I find the easiest way is to use url in the address bar and replace anything after '''index.php/''' with the name of your clan. Then click the '''edit''' tab at the top of the page to begin working on your clan page. Once you are finished, click '''Show preview''' to make sure things look correct. After everything looks the way you want, click '''Save page'''.

If you are having difficulty getting the url to work, you can also use the search bar on the left side of the page and enter your clan page. Then click the "this exact title" link in the first sentence of the search results page. This will take you directly to a page where you can begin working on your clan page.

== Your vital statistics ==

=== Hit points (HP) ===

Q. I've only just started playing. How do you recover your HP?

A. Food and drink are your friend! You can find food and water by searching, and also the odd med-kit and healing herbs. Watch out for berries, some will restore you and others take it out if you! More information on recovery items are noted on the [[Items]] page.

=== Action points (AP)===

Q. How does AP replenish?

A. You get an extra AP every 20 minutes, up to a maximum of 75. It is reputably possible to have negative AP if you perform an action that takes alot of AP.

=== Experience (XP) ===

Q. How do you gain experience?

A. All sorts of ways, but most notably by killing animals, or people! Chopping down the jungle seems to also yield amount of XP. More information on methods of earning experience points are noted on the [[XP Gains]] page.

== Life and death ==

===Character deaths===

Q. What happens when you die? --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:26, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

A. You are dead, and you can still walk around, as a spirit. You cannot talk, but some of the skills can help with that. You retain your items but cannot use them. If you go to a shaman he will bring you back to life, or you can use 50 AP to have your spirit moved home (e.g. York, Derby, Dalpok) and revived instantly.

Q. How much XP is awarded for a player kill? Is it different for killing within your own group (Native killing a native)? Is it relative to the level of the other character?--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 14:28, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

A.

Q. There is a constant Outsiders Respawning at Dalpok.. they kill natives, the natives resurrect at 1 AP cost , they kill the outsiders , they resurrect at 1 AP cost and so again , and again, and again, and again... the question is "Do really people need to do XP like this?"
--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 15:08, 18 April 2006 (BST)

A.

=== NPC's (Non Player Characters) deaths ===
Q: The 'statistics on kills' page [http://www.shartak.com/statkills.html] shows each group has killed a shaman numerous times. As I understand, there is always 1 shaman in each town/village. What are the consequences of this? Unable to be revived until one respawns? -[[User:Jackel|Jackel]]

A. If the shaman of your town/village dies, you cannot be revived. Attempting to contact the shaman of your town/village while he "a spirit" yields this message: ''You sense that XX wishes you to be patient and ask again later as he is a spirit as well and is trying to return to his body so he can help others.'' It is unknown how long it takes for a shaman to be revived.

==Items==

Q. Can items that you are carrying be destroyed or damaged? Specifically, can a machete ever be broken or become dull with use requiring sharpening? Is there any reason to carry around more than one machete? -[[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 01:59, 24 February 2006 (GMT)

A. For the record, my machete just became dull after chopping some vegetation. ''You chop down some of the vegetation. Your machete blade becomes dull from the chopping.'' --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 00:11, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
::A. I was attacking another outsider (I was going to heal him, honest!) when my machete broke...

Q. I would like to ask for everyones help in finding more about the elusive heavy sword, like what density of jungle did you find them in, is there a hut underneath the jungle or was it a jungle square with a hut? Or if you actually find them in the jungle? THe info on them right now is shaky. Im currently going on a search-a-thon but help is greatly appreciated.
:: Please feel free to add some data to [[Search Odds]] or [[Search Odds Condensed]] to help in the effort to work out where to find this item and others! -- [[User:Fitzcarraldo|Fitzcarraldo]] 10:27, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

Q. Do poison darts poison ?
A.

Q. Are poisionous berries usefull for anything? Making poison darts for example.

A. You get experience for eating them.

A. Not that it is a very economical way of getting experience of course ;-)

=== Gold ===

Q. What is gold good for?

A. Hmm.. good question. Also mentioned on [[Items#Gold_Coins|the items page]] as you get more gold by searching and finding gold coins.

A2. The only use so far is to trade it at one of the trading huts. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 02:59, 26 March 2006 (BST)

==Locations==

===Jungle===

Q. Do chopped jungles ever grow back? 
A. Yes. --[[User:Murk|Murk]] 17:05, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

Q. If so, how long is the growth rate? 
A. Not sure, but it's highly noticable if your not in an area which is being constantly tramoked by NPC's and players. --[[User:Murk|Murk]] 17:05, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

Q. Would jungles grow while you were standing in one? 
A. Yes. This happened to me many times. --[[User:Murk|Murk]] 17:05, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

Q. Are search rates changed by the density of the jungle? 
A. Not sure. The amount of searching i've done over time I could probably answer this, If i'd been at all observant of such details.. but I havn't. Your best help is probably [[User:Fitzcarraldo|Fitzcarraldo's]] [[Search Odds Condensed]] page. --[[User:Murk|Murk]] 17:02, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

==General Gameplay==

Q. What time period is the game based in? Excepting the GPS, the choice of items available impies anywhere from the 1600's to the early 1900's. The GPS unit seems a little out of place but implies that the time period has to be present day. Maybe i missed some other items or note about the date? --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 21:52, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

A1. I'm not sure there is really an answer to this as such.. or perhaps many answers.. but.. the whole thing has a kinda lost world feel to it I think. Natives cut off from civilisation. Outsiders from the modern world stranded. Such an idea could explain almost any range of technology, except something like a satellite dish or long range radio transmitters that would allow outsiders to broadcast their distress and get rescued of course.

Q. Today my level 7 soldier attacked a parrot with a machete (normally 3 damage) and got the following message:
:Maybe it's luck or maybe it's skill, your attack is right on target and inflicts more damage than normal.
:You attack the parrot for 5 damage. It dies.
Is this new, or just very uncommon?--[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 16:26, 16 March 2006 (GMT)

A. Uncommon. Same thing happend while I was attacking a monkey. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 01:54, 21 March 2006 (GMT)
* And today my pirate got this message while wielding a cutlass:
:You attack the monkey and miss.
:Unlucky or just clumsy? The blade snaps off and you're left holding the handle, which you discard.

== Animals ==

=== Easy Elephant ===
Are elephants easier to hit? I attacked and killed one with it's full 60 hp and missed only once. I have a 45% hit rate with my machete and deal 3 dmg per succesful blow. I did not get one of those flavour texts and did 3 dmg each time. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 02:15, 21 March 2006 (GMT)

* There's no way that an elephant would have been that easy to kill.. 21 attacks with only 1 miss is 95% hit and you certainly don't get that! I guess the RNG (Random Number God) smiled on you. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 14:44, 21 March 2006 (GMT)

Suggestions:Items

2006-04-10T07:42:27Z

JonesDye: /* Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword) */

{| cellpadding=10 align=right
| __TOC__
|}

{{Suggestionsnav}}

Suggestions for Shartak are always welcome, although there's no guarantee that anything will be added. Comments on or modifications for any of the suggestions below can be added by editing this page. Please be considerate and don't just remove ideas that you don't like.

Bug reports should go on the [[Bugs]] page.

This is the suggestions page for [[Items]]. See also the [[Suggestions]] page for other suggestions.

 

== Example ==

To use the template, enter the following, but remove '''emboldened text''':

<nowiki>===</nowiki>'''Suggestion Name'''<nowiki>===</nowiki>
<nowiki>{{suggestion</nowiki>|
suggest_type='''Skill, balance change, improvement, etc'''|
suggest_scope='''Who or what it applies to'''|
suggest_description='''Full description. Check spelling and be descriptive.'''|
suggest_time=<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>|
suggest_author=<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>|
suggest_comments=

'''Comment here'''

}}

== Items ==

=== *Absinth ===
Could have a very low chance of being found, and would display as "Bottle of absinth" (in addition to the existing "Bottle of beer" and "Bottle of water"). Would result in a distortion of game display, showing some kind of living beings (native, outsiders or animals) as another kind (a native could be displayed as an outsider or an animal), causing the intoxicated character to attack people he wouldn't have attacked otherwise, or trying to role-play with an angry elephant. --[[User:Mad Robert|Mad Robert]] 03:53, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
:No reason to drink it then? --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 23:37, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
::I'm sure someone would drink it anyway. Could bring back some HP, of course... --[[User:Mad Robert|Mad Robert]] 23:50, 19 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Spear ===
It could be the native warriors main weapon, give it a base damage of 3, same to hit as machete but it wouldn't cut through jungle -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 11:02, 17 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
:A spear for stabbing or a spear for throwing (i.e single use) ? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:49, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
::I like the idea of a spear for stabbing. We have enough single use weapons in the game, already. What would make it so different from a blowgun, if it is throwable? Which brings up another question: With a weapon that deals 3 damage and is reusable, who will bother with a blowgun?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 06:54, 29 March 2006 (BST)

=== Head-shrinking powder ===
This could be either a melee or area weapon used by natives.

''Comments''
* What are the effects of it? Causes X HP of damage? Loss of AP? Loss of XP? Instant death? - [[User:Snarf|Snarf]]

:Could be used on a body to create a totem of some sort. This can then be placed in a square. People from the same village or settlement as the now shrunken head take twice as many AP to move through because of fear. Disintergrates after x number of people have moved through the square.

=== Meat ===
Heals 2 HP. Used by both outsiders and tribals. It appears in your inventory when you kill a beastie. [[User:Bungalow Bill|Bungalow Bill]]

''Comments''
* But you can only carry 200 pounds of meat back to your wagon. <nowiki></oregontrail></nowiki> --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 01:15, 13 February 2006 (GMT)
* Or you have to cook it, taking one AP and possibly a fire-lighting skill (who wants to eat raw monkey?).[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 20:12, 20 February 2006 (GMT)
** Maybe you don't have to cook it but you get less HP and possibly lose HP to food poisoning. [DarkFerret]
* Or, to make it more, hm, tribal, you could need to bring it back to specific places in the village where it could be (instantaneously) cooked and used as a replenished "health pool" any player could use. You would still have the occasional berries to eat in the forest, but real meal would occure at a settlement. It would also provide a more efficient healing system (as currently, you roughly get to spend 50 AP to recover 4 or 5 HP, which makes death the most efficient way to restore your HP). -- Leaf
**''There is a large pot of stew cooking, it appears to be half full.''
''You eat some and feel better. After a few spoonfuls you find your friend's pocket watch.'' [DarkFerret]

=== Radio beacon/receiver ===
A radio beacon/receiver for outsiders to pinpoint specific locations of interest.

''Comments''
* What's wrong with using the GPS co-ordinates of a specific location? - [[User:Snarf|Snarf]]
*Perhaps a way to have GPS waypoints or markers IN one own's GPS? --[[User:Wcervantes|Wcervantes]] 19:39, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

=== Holy Scriptures ===
Used to convert Natives into Ousiders. Requires "Religious Devotion". Most likely found around Outsider settlements --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:22, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
*Nobody wants to have a class change againt their will. -Grigoriy
*Noone wants to die against their will either, but it does happen ;-) Might be irritating, but also might be quite interesting. It would have to be possible both ways of course, natives to outsiders and outsiders to natives. Perhaps the outsiders can convert natives to outsiders with holy scriptures using the religious devotion skill and natives can convert outsiders to natives with a bottle of beer using the seduction skill! ;-) --[[User:Murk|Murk]] 12:28, 4 March 2006 (GMT)
*Class conversion gets awfully mucky, when you consider available skills. I would say that a better idea would be for use of Holy Scriptures on a native to prompt the natives with an invitation to change sides--without changing class. This would make them see outsiders by name, make natives anonymous, and cause them to show up on the map as "1 convert" to outsiders (as opposed to "1 native") and as "1 traitor" to natives. Converting back would require a shaman with an equivalent skill (which can, of course, offer outsiders an opportunity to be accepted into native communities).

:Note, though, that I have no idea how difficult that would be to write in, given the existing code.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:01, 29 March 2006 (BST)

=== GPS Unit (Redesign) ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Item, modification|
suggest_scope=GPS unit|
suggest_description=This is a suggestion to change the gps unit into an object that presumably fits better with the game setting. We currently have no other modern item available for use (anachronism - VOCABULARY WORD!). Perhaps we should use a sextant? And rather than reveal the position all of the time, it requires a 1 AP use in non-dense, non-enclosed area.|
suggest_time=21:48, 23 February 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* Yes, GPS units are indeed ''malapropos'' (another vocabulary word :D)--[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 00:33, 27 February 2006 (GMT)
* Y'know, the "GPS Unit" item has stuck out like a sore thumb to me too. I'd be very much in favor of a lower-tech replacement, if only because it makes the game more timeless. But what tools ''did'' explorers of earlier eras use to measure latitude and longitude while traveling by land, anyway? And how accurate were they? Alternatively phrased: if you were trapped on a desert island without a GPS Unit, how would you estimate where you were? Lint's suggestion for a lower-tech replacement item, requiring AP and suitable terrain conditions for proper use, appeals to me. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 14:03, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
* I've done some research into this and as Lint said, a sextant is what was used. Unfortunately though, a sextant doesn't do both longitude and latitude very quickly, you need charts/tables and several hours. See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/longitude/secrets.html for info. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 14:55, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
** Ahh; yeah, I had just been checking out http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1268 myself. If I'm reading it right, it sounds like the bulk of the hours of calculation involved were due to being at sea and having to figure out what time zone you're in first as part of the equation. (Both pages mention a "chronometer" which was finally invented to try to solve that problem.) On land, though -- and especially on an island of Shartak's size -- you pretty much know where you are, and you're not likely to be crossing time zones. A quote from the Lewis & Clark page: "If time can be fixed along any meridian of longitude, then longitudinal distance can be determined by comparing time at that meridian with local time, usually based on the point at which the sun reaches its zenith." So. I wonder if we could fudge a bit with this sextant business by assuming that everyone on the island is able to determine what time it is on Shartak -- after all, we do get timestamped event messages! ;) -- and therefore we can apply that bit of knowledge to help determine longitude, overcoming the sextant's weakness. That could even go in the FAQ. I'm not really all that scientifically inclined, so please do feel welcome to correct me if if my thoughts are way off base. In closing, I still like Lint's ideas about making it cost AP and require suitable terrain. The former would represent the investment of time in setting up the equipment and doing the calculations. The latter would give players a reason to clear a square of jungle. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 16:07, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
*** That all sounds good. I think there is a skill in there as well - I don't suppose a sextant is as accurate as GPS, so why not have it not produce the same result all of the time? Someone with the "Skillful Sextant Supervisor" skill gets more accurate results. --[[User:Dr. J|Dr. J]] 16:17, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
** The AP cost of a sextant or other device could easily be added to the GPS unit by requiring that you 'use gps' to get the reading rather than it being on all the time. Whilst redesigning the GPS unit, how about thinking of something for natives to find out where they are - obviously not as accurate as a sextant, but something to guide them around or to specific locations. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 16:30, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
*** Just consider it a redesigned sextant that some mythical character dropped around the island and call it "Professor Inglewood's Speedy Sextant And Nano Tables" or some other such nonesense and leave it working the same, just with a different name. As for natives, maybe they could see/read totems at different points in the jungle, indicating where resources/towns are. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 17:06, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
***Natives divine their position with animal feces. It can be a new skill ;) Actually, in all seriousness, perhaps something involving animal bones? It would need to be something mystical, as there just isn't a more primitive method than the sextant. That way, it sort of balances; you use animal bone dice for a few minutes to divine your position accurately, and outsiders sit dow nand use a sextant.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:08, 29 March 2006 (BST)
***I'm currently of the opinion that the Natives don't need a version of the GPS. It helps a little with the mapping projects and location scripts. But my Shaman was just as lost than my gps-using Settler when I was traipsing through the Jungle. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 23:10, 30 March 2006 (BST)

}}

=== Refillable containers ===
Does it really make sense that after drinking something, you automatically discard the container it had been in? I propose a modification to the inventory system so bottles/gourds work similar to rifles and blowguns--they can be refilled if they are empty. Obviously, you can't just carry around spare water like you can ammo, so to refill a water container, you have to be in water. This would clearly make areas near water more popular, which I don't think is a bad thing, or without precedent. Furthermore, this could lead to new and interesting directions, such as other liquids that could be carried around, causing various effects. Off the top of my head:
* drinking too much "ocean" water will make you sick (reducing your hit % temporarily)
* a "create mysterious serum" skill the shaman/scientist can eventually learn that (along with certain ingredients) lets them create a "buff" potion.
* special healing water springs that have double the recuperative effect
This would also address one of the concerns I've had regarding healing skills. To my knowledge, there is no place in Shartak where you are more likely to consistantly find healing kits/herbs, etc. its all fairly random. By comparision, UD has certain buildings where you can only find certain items (i.e. hospitals = first aid kits). IMO, its currently too difficult/AP consuming to heal. Without a way to consistantly find/create healing items, it's not likely there will be "healers" willing to use their hard-to-find healing items on anyone else. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 22:14, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
::Have you found the hut in Dalpok with all the drying herbs hanging up? Says something about a shaman being busy, I seem to have a reasonable success rate at finding healing herbs there. Not sure if there are more around. --[[User:Snarf|Snarf]] 22:17, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
:::No, I hadn't noticed such a hut(s), I've assumed they were all pretty much the same. If certain huts are more likely to contain certain items, I've another suggestion--'''label them'''. Any opinion on my primary suggestion of refillable containers? --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 22:31, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
::::I can confirm that huts may look identical on the outside, but their inside descriptions can differ significantly. Fortunately, anyone with the right tool can carve a message on a hut's outer walls, such as "Empty Inside" or "Shaman's Hut". --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 14:24, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
::Refillable containers? Give the user the choice to discard the container? Sure, sounds cool to me. About the water supply: I agree that ocean water (water right off the beach) would be bound to be salty and unpotable in a real-world scenario. According to the [[Locations]] page, there's a river off the south side of the mountain, which would seem to be the only known terrestrial fresh water source on the whole island. Hmm, a thought: If we were to have refillable containers, then might one also expect there to be wells in or around the villages? --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 14:24, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
:::There is at least one more (much shorter) river near Derby. I'll bet there is a lake or two somewhere as well. Wells are probably not a bad idea. --[[User:Dr. J|Dr. J]] 15:05, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword) ===
I don't even have a heavy sword yet but I can already tell(from the item page) that it makes a lot of things utterly useless.Just for reference the heavy sword is(when maxed attack skills) 45% hit, 5dam= '''2.25dam/ap'''. What does it make useless, well let me begin. 

1.Rifle skills- reason: the ap you spent getting the xp for those skills was better used searching for a heavy sword. 

2.Rifle- reason: the dam/ap for the rifle is lower than a the heavy sword '''before''' factoring in the search for ammo part. The math: the rifle is 5 dam,60% hit,1.5 ap/shot( 3ap per 2 shots i think)= (5*.6)/1.5 =3/1.5 = '''2ap/dam NOT FACTORING IN SEARCHING FOR AMMO'''.

3. The blowpipe- reason: the blowpipe sucks as it is, the machete makes it pointless(unless they actually poison) and the heavy sword just makes it absolute garbage(even if they poisoned). The math: 4 dam, 20% hit, 2ap/shot(assuming you have to reload after every shot i don't use the blowpipe so I wouldn't know)= (4*.2)/2=.8/2= '''.4 dam/ap NOT FACTORING IN SEARCHING FOR AMMO'''.

Conclusion- I realize there are problems with the blowpipe but as far as I can tell with the rifle there are none. The knowledge of there even being a heavy sword is enough to discourage those that would take rifles training as a skill. The sword is just too powerful to balance in game as the only way to balance it would be to add another item that is just as crazy powerful, making it rare does nothing to the balance as people can still find it and it makes those few ,whom the RNG loves, ridiculosly overpowered. If the RNG loves somebody they should get multipul hits in a row not the ability to destroy everybody who can't/doesn't want to waste the ap to gain that ability. And after all just because it is rare doesn't mean we all can't find it, I know eventually we would all find one and there would be no variaty whatsoever in battle. Take urban dead for example they balanced the shotguns,pistols, and fireaxe evenly so there is no superior choice its about how you want to play. With the heavy sword it makes all other items pale in comparison BEFORE search rates are keyed into calculations, in urban dead it is AFTER that they are about even. This suggestion to remove something doesn't punish anybody because as of right now we do not know where to find the heavy sword, the only ones were stumbled across randomly so nobody would really have "wasted" the ap to find it(unless they have but I know after reading a bit I didn't for the fun reducing factor everybody having one would bring). Also don't bring up things about how I don't know how it works ingame because unless it takes 6ap to attack the math shows it is unbalanced. Please Simon fix this unbalanced weapon by removing it, not by making everything else oh so much better. ANybody who is with me sign in the comments please.

'''Comments'''

*The math looks sound. And I agree that having everyone run around with Heavy Swords would make for a plain game. However, I don't see why it needs to be removed completely. Is there anything we can do to the sword mechanics to make it more even with the existing weapons? --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 01:04, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
*I agree. The machete with maxed out melee skils is arguably better than any other weapon, and the heavy sword makes that look like a butter knife. Yank it or make it so rare it would be like winning the lottery twice. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 01:49, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
*I disagree with some of the logic in this argument. If the heavy sword were a common weapon, then I could understand the concern; however, the "über sword of doom" is hardly of such availability. As far as I know, only one player has the sword. Having rare items like it add a new dimension to the game - a sort of treasure hunting aspect. I would even propose that even more superior weapons are "hidden" around the island, possibly protected by superior animals. --[[User:Gandhi|Gandhi]] 00:34, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
** One player on the [[Game Design]] page has commented on how he has acquired 3 Heavy Swords. Don't get me wrong, some weapons should be better than others to allow for diversity (that's why there's knives, daggers, and whatnot). However, as it stands, the Heavy Sword to our knowledge is the single best weapon available. Everyone is going to be running around with it and if you don't have one, you won't be able to compete. It'd be like playing Rock-Paper-Scissors-Nuclear Bomb and Nuclear Bomb always wins. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 00:52, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
*Are these even real? I mean, how many people claim to have gotten them? one? This almost looks like a pretty funny joke. Also, Simon has stayed silent on this, implying some sort of uber sword conspiracy, so perhaps we shouldn't rock the boat. (Cue up suspenseful music) -[[User:BananaBear|BananaBear]] 06:02, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
**i have 3 swords ,but i'm reading it's really rare. I feel really lucky :). Oh , and i think it's too powerful compared to other weapons. Maybe there must be other rare ranged weapons (like some 6 or 7 o 8 damage rifle) or something like this --[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 09:38, 27 March 2006 (BST)
**I thought I'd made them fairly rare (after the initial burst of finding them) but I think I made them too rare perhaps. There are still only 4 people with them, looks like the same 4 who had them originally. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 00:01, 8 April 2006 (BST)
**Do you even have one Simon? --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 00:17, 8 April 2006 (BST)
**Nope. No heavy sword for any of my characters. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:18, 8 April 2006 (BST)
*The original poster is correct about rifles/blowpipes being too weak. The rifle's AP/damage ratio is actually much lower than even the machete's, let alone the mysterious heavy sword. The rifle's accuracy is its edge, but 60% maximum accuracy really isn't *that* high or that much of an advantage over the 45% machete accuracy. The introduction of two new skills to the firearms skill tree, "Marksmanship" and "Expert Marksmanship", each of which would add 10 or 15% to rifle/blowpipe accuracy, would help to solve this problem I would say (I dont know if anything like this has been proposed before). Dont remove the heavy sword, just make rifles more powerful. -[[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 01:29, 8 April 2006 (BST)
* With the addition of the forgotten blowpipe skills, that should help the blowpipe ratio, and I'd say ignore the heavy sword since it seems so rare that you'll be lucky to get one unless someone trades one in for some essential supplies. Not sure about 80% accuracy with either of the ranged weapons - would those skills be available to all or just as an extension to firearms/blowpipe training? What happens to the blowpipe damage if the poisoning suggestion is implemented and the poison effect is added that takes away 1-5 HP over the next 5 AP unless you use serum or first aid kit (damage numbers not definite, just a rough figure)? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:18, 8 April 2006 (BST)
* I think adding one skills for rifle and one for blowpipe is really cool. Marksmanship is a nice name , but not to add accuracy, but to add +2 to damage. Poisoning for blowpipe go well too. Oh, and one of my swords is gone ç__ç. And about trading, i tried to trade one of them , but the trader didn't have 49 gold coins..and i think you can add some powerful and rare rifle--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 08:42, 10 April 2006 (BST)

=== Ranged weapons ===

I never used a rifle, but the blowpipe feels quite useless at the moment indeed (unless it poisons). I was wondering if a ranged aspect could be added to those weapons to make up for their poor hp/ap ratio and their ammo requirement (and their lack of poison?). In practice, that would mean that once the rifle (or the blowpipe (I wonder if it poisons)) is selected from the attack drop-down menu, the target drop-down menu would include the entities from the surrounding squares. That would allow for some slightly safer attacks, especially in difficult terrain, or for around four minutes of triumph for having attacked someone from the distance (and poisonned him?), before being machetted to death anyway. That is: not much, but the satisfying feeling to have used a special weapon, with its own pros. -- Leaf
* Ranged weapon skills for warriors to boost the blowpipe are in the pipeline. Seems I missed a section from my notes when adding skills. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:12, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
* Sweet --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 06:34, 14 March 2006 (GMT)

===studded leather & war gear===
both items have the same effect, except one is for outsiders and one is for natives, upon looking at the names, i cant really tell which would be for who, but that doesnt matter.
theese items could act likee flak jackets, but could (possibly) have the chance of inflicting damage upon being hit, as per, a guy with tons of knives on him being punched would probably cut up his assailant's hands.

*Hm. I don't like the idea of inflicting damage on the assailant. I think that's a bit of a stretch. I could see outsiders coming over with breastplates and whatnot (a la John Smith, be it the noble stud from ''Pocahontas'' or the weaselly entrapeneur from history). Natives, though, would be unlikely to have that much. Perhaps, though, a wooden, oblong, leaf-shaped shield. Perhaps it would give a small (10%?) chance of blocking a melee attack. Thus, both sides would have a form of protection, but they would be ''different'' forms of protection, serving to distinguish the two sides.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:31, 10 April 2006 (BST)

===animal wearings===
such as teeth and hide could be added to one's [[inventory]] or slot for extra damage, accuracy, etc..

*Honestly, this just seems silly. Why would I suddenly hurt you more for having a tiger tooth in my pocket?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:32, 10 April 2006 (BST)

===Messenger Pigeons===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=New item|
suggest_scope=All outsiders|
suggest_description=Allows Outsiders to send messages over long distances. Just type up the message and enter the recepient's name and the bird flies off.
''You watch your pigeon fly off and hope it doesn't get intercepted.''
 May be intercepted by other players with a yet unnamed skill.|
suggest_time=22:23, 9 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_comments=

*How would you handle said "interception?" Would you be notified of pigeons sent off within a certain number of squares, and offered a chance to stop it? Would it show up as an actual animal that one could kill? I would say that the idea of sending a messenger pigeon along as a new, low-hp NPC with a specific destination is neat, but I don't know how hard it would be on the server.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:35, 10 April 2006 (BST)

}}

===Drum===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=New item|
suggest_scope=All Natives|
suggest_description=Allows all Natives within a specified area to hear the senders message. Any Outsiders hear random drum beats unless they have the Expert Language skill.
''You hear random drumming in the distance.''
 Requires a drum beating skill to utilize.|
suggest_time=22:35, 9 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_comments=

*A drum language? Neat. I would make it a native-only skill, though (how difficult would it be for an outsider to learn ''of'' the language, let alone the language itself?), and only one skill. Also, to show the difficulty of true articulation in such a language, it would be good to lower the character limit on drum messages. This way, long messages will be broken up, and will require a bit more AP.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:40, 10 April 2006 (BST)

}}

Suggestions:Items

2006-04-10T07:42:08Z

JonesDye: /* Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword) */

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{{Suggestionsnav}}

Suggestions for Shartak are always welcome, although there's no guarantee that anything will be added. Comments on or modifications for any of the suggestions below can be added by editing this page. Please be considerate and don't just remove ideas that you don't like.

Bug reports should go on the [[Bugs]] page.

This is the suggestions page for [[Items]]. See also the [[Suggestions]] page for other suggestions.

 

== Example ==

To use the template, enter the following, but remove '''emboldened text''':

<nowiki>===</nowiki>'''Suggestion Name'''<nowiki>===</nowiki>
<nowiki>{{suggestion</nowiki>|
suggest_type='''Skill, balance change, improvement, etc'''|
suggest_scope='''Who or what it applies to'''|
suggest_description='''Full description. Check spelling and be descriptive.'''|
suggest_time=<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>|
suggest_author=<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>|
suggest_comments=

'''Comment here'''

}}

== Items ==

=== *Absinth ===
Could have a very low chance of being found, and would display as "Bottle of absinth" (in addition to the existing "Bottle of beer" and "Bottle of water"). Would result in a distortion of game display, showing some kind of living beings (native, outsiders or animals) as another kind (a native could be displayed as an outsider or an animal), causing the intoxicated character to attack people he wouldn't have attacked otherwise, or trying to role-play with an angry elephant. --[[User:Mad Robert|Mad Robert]] 03:53, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
:No reason to drink it then? --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 23:37, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
::I'm sure someone would drink it anyway. Could bring back some HP, of course... --[[User:Mad Robert|Mad Robert]] 23:50, 19 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Spear ===
It could be the native warriors main weapon, give it a base damage of 3, same to hit as machete but it wouldn't cut through jungle -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 11:02, 17 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
:A spear for stabbing or a spear for throwing (i.e single use) ? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:49, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
::I like the idea of a spear for stabbing. We have enough single use weapons in the game, already. What would make it so different from a blowgun, if it is throwable? Which brings up another question: With a weapon that deals 3 damage and is reusable, who will bother with a blowgun?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 06:54, 29 March 2006 (BST)

=== Head-shrinking powder ===
This could be either a melee or area weapon used by natives.

''Comments''
* What are the effects of it? Causes X HP of damage? Loss of AP? Loss of XP? Instant death? - [[User:Snarf|Snarf]]

:Could be used on a body to create a totem of some sort. This can then be placed in a square. People from the same village or settlement as the now shrunken head take twice as many AP to move through because of fear. Disintergrates after x number of people have moved through the square.

=== Meat ===
Heals 2 HP. Used by both outsiders and tribals. It appears in your inventory when you kill a beastie. [[User:Bungalow Bill|Bungalow Bill]]

''Comments''
* But you can only carry 200 pounds of meat back to your wagon. <nowiki></oregontrail></nowiki> --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 01:15, 13 February 2006 (GMT)
* Or you have to cook it, taking one AP and possibly a fire-lighting skill (who wants to eat raw monkey?).[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 20:12, 20 February 2006 (GMT)
** Maybe you don't have to cook it but you get less HP and possibly lose HP to food poisoning. [DarkFerret]
* Or, to make it more, hm, tribal, you could need to bring it back to specific places in the village where it could be (instantaneously) cooked and used as a replenished "health pool" any player could use. You would still have the occasional berries to eat in the forest, but real meal would occure at a settlement. It would also provide a more efficient healing system (as currently, you roughly get to spend 50 AP to recover 4 or 5 HP, which makes death the most efficient way to restore your HP). -- Leaf
**''There is a large pot of stew cooking, it appears to be half full.''
''You eat some and feel better. After a few spoonfuls you find your friend's pocket watch.'' [DarkFerret]

=== Radio beacon/receiver ===
A radio beacon/receiver for outsiders to pinpoint specific locations of interest.

''Comments''
* What's wrong with using the GPS co-ordinates of a specific location? - [[User:Snarf|Snarf]]
*Perhaps a way to have GPS waypoints or markers IN one own's GPS? --[[User:Wcervantes|Wcervantes]] 19:39, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

=== Holy Scriptures ===
Used to convert Natives into Ousiders. Requires "Religious Devotion". Most likely found around Outsider settlements --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:22, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
*Nobody wants to have a class change againt their will. -Grigoriy
*Noone wants to die against their will either, but it does happen ;-) Might be irritating, but also might be quite interesting. It would have to be possible both ways of course, natives to outsiders and outsiders to natives. Perhaps the outsiders can convert natives to outsiders with holy scriptures using the religious devotion skill and natives can convert outsiders to natives with a bottle of beer using the seduction skill! ;-) --[[User:Murk|Murk]] 12:28, 4 March 2006 (GMT)
*Class conversion gets awfully mucky, when you consider available skills. I would say that a better idea would be for use of Holy Scriptures on a native to prompt the natives with an invitation to change sides--without changing class. This would make them see outsiders by name, make natives anonymous, and cause them to show up on the map as "1 convert" to outsiders (as opposed to "1 native") and as "1 traitor" to natives. Converting back would require a shaman with an equivalent skill (which can, of course, offer outsiders an opportunity to be accepted into native communities).

:Note, though, that I have no idea how difficult that would be to write in, given the existing code.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:01, 29 March 2006 (BST)

=== GPS Unit (Redesign) ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Item, modification|
suggest_scope=GPS unit|
suggest_description=This is a suggestion to change the gps unit into an object that presumably fits better with the game setting. We currently have no other modern item available for use (anachronism - VOCABULARY WORD!). Perhaps we should use a sextant? And rather than reveal the position all of the time, it requires a 1 AP use in non-dense, non-enclosed area.|
suggest_time=21:48, 23 February 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* Yes, GPS units are indeed ''malapropos'' (another vocabulary word :D)--[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 00:33, 27 February 2006 (GMT)
* Y'know, the "GPS Unit" item has stuck out like a sore thumb to me too. I'd be very much in favor of a lower-tech replacement, if only because it makes the game more timeless. But what tools ''did'' explorers of earlier eras use to measure latitude and longitude while traveling by land, anyway? And how accurate were they? Alternatively phrased: if you were trapped on a desert island without a GPS Unit, how would you estimate where you were? Lint's suggestion for a lower-tech replacement item, requiring AP and suitable terrain conditions for proper use, appeals to me. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 14:03, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
* I've done some research into this and as Lint said, a sextant is what was used. Unfortunately though, a sextant doesn't do both longitude and latitude very quickly, you need charts/tables and several hours. See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/longitude/secrets.html for info. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 14:55, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
** Ahh; yeah, I had just been checking out http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1268 myself. If I'm reading it right, it sounds like the bulk of the hours of calculation involved were due to being at sea and having to figure out what time zone you're in first as part of the equation. (Both pages mention a "chronometer" which was finally invented to try to solve that problem.) On land, though -- and especially on an island of Shartak's size -- you pretty much know where you are, and you're not likely to be crossing time zones. A quote from the Lewis & Clark page: "If time can be fixed along any meridian of longitude, then longitudinal distance can be determined by comparing time at that meridian with local time, usually based on the point at which the sun reaches its zenith." So. I wonder if we could fudge a bit with this sextant business by assuming that everyone on the island is able to determine what time it is on Shartak -- after all, we do get timestamped event messages! ;) -- and therefore we can apply that bit of knowledge to help determine longitude, overcoming the sextant's weakness. That could even go in the FAQ. I'm not really all that scientifically inclined, so please do feel welcome to correct me if if my thoughts are way off base. In closing, I still like Lint's ideas about making it cost AP and require suitable terrain. The former would represent the investment of time in setting up the equipment and doing the calculations. The latter would give players a reason to clear a square of jungle. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 16:07, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
*** That all sounds good. I think there is a skill in there as well - I don't suppose a sextant is as accurate as GPS, so why not have it not produce the same result all of the time? Someone with the "Skillful Sextant Supervisor" skill gets more accurate results. --[[User:Dr. J|Dr. J]] 16:17, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
** The AP cost of a sextant or other device could easily be added to the GPS unit by requiring that you 'use gps' to get the reading rather than it being on all the time. Whilst redesigning the GPS unit, how about thinking of something for natives to find out where they are - obviously not as accurate as a sextant, but something to guide them around or to specific locations. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 16:30, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
*** Just consider it a redesigned sextant that some mythical character dropped around the island and call it "Professor Inglewood's Speedy Sextant And Nano Tables" or some other such nonesense and leave it working the same, just with a different name. As for natives, maybe they could see/read totems at different points in the jungle, indicating where resources/towns are. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 17:06, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
***Natives divine their position with animal feces. It can be a new skill ;) Actually, in all seriousness, perhaps something involving animal bones? It would need to be something mystical, as there just isn't a more primitive method than the sextant. That way, it sort of balances; you use animal bone dice for a few minutes to divine your position accurately, and outsiders sit dow nand use a sextant.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:08, 29 March 2006 (BST)
***I'm currently of the opinion that the Natives don't need a version of the GPS. It helps a little with the mapping projects and location scripts. But my Shaman was just as lost than my gps-using Settler when I was traipsing through the Jungle. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 23:10, 30 March 2006 (BST)

}}

=== Refillable containers ===
Does it really make sense that after drinking something, you automatically discard the container it had been in? I propose a modification to the inventory system so bottles/gourds work similar to rifles and blowguns--they can be refilled if they are empty. Obviously, you can't just carry around spare water like you can ammo, so to refill a water container, you have to be in water. This would clearly make areas near water more popular, which I don't think is a bad thing, or without precedent. Furthermore, this could lead to new and interesting directions, such as other liquids that could be carried around, causing various effects. Off the top of my head:
* drinking too much "ocean" water will make you sick (reducing your hit % temporarily)
* a "create mysterious serum" skill the shaman/scientist can eventually learn that (along with certain ingredients) lets them create a "buff" potion.
* special healing water springs that have double the recuperative effect
This would also address one of the concerns I've had regarding healing skills. To my knowledge, there is no place in Shartak where you are more likely to consistantly find healing kits/herbs, etc. its all fairly random. By comparision, UD has certain buildings where you can only find certain items (i.e. hospitals = first aid kits). IMO, its currently too difficult/AP consuming to heal. Without a way to consistantly find/create healing items, it's not likely there will be "healers" willing to use their hard-to-find healing items on anyone else. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 22:14, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
::Have you found the hut in Dalpok with all the drying herbs hanging up? Says something about a shaman being busy, I seem to have a reasonable success rate at finding healing herbs there. Not sure if there are more around. --[[User:Snarf|Snarf]] 22:17, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
:::No, I hadn't noticed such a hut(s), I've assumed they were all pretty much the same. If certain huts are more likely to contain certain items, I've another suggestion--'''label them'''. Any opinion on my primary suggestion of refillable containers? --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 22:31, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
::::I can confirm that huts may look identical on the outside, but their inside descriptions can differ significantly. Fortunately, anyone with the right tool can carve a message on a hut's outer walls, such as "Empty Inside" or "Shaman's Hut". --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 14:24, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
::Refillable containers? Give the user the choice to discard the container? Sure, sounds cool to me. About the water supply: I agree that ocean water (water right off the beach) would be bound to be salty and unpotable in a real-world scenario. According to the [[Locations]] page, there's a river off the south side of the mountain, which would seem to be the only known terrestrial fresh water source on the whole island. Hmm, a thought: If we were to have refillable containers, then might one also expect there to be wells in or around the villages? --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 14:24, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
:::There is at least one more (much shorter) river near Derby. I'll bet there is a lake or two somewhere as well. Wells are probably not a bad idea. --[[User:Dr. J|Dr. J]] 15:05, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword) ===
I don't even have a heavy sword yet but I can already tell(from the item page) that it makes a lot of things utterly useless.Just for reference the heavy sword is(when maxed attack skills) 45% hit, 5dam= '''2.25dam/ap'''. What does it make useless, well let me begin. 

1.Rifle skills- reason: the ap you spent getting the xp for those skills was better used searching for a heavy sword. 

2.Rifle- reason: the dam/ap for the rifle is lower than a the heavy sword '''before''' factoring in the search for ammo part. The math: the rifle is 5 dam,60% hit,1.5 ap/shot( 3ap per 2 shots i think)= (5*.6)/1.5 =3/1.5 = '''2ap/dam NOT FACTORING IN SEARCHING FOR AMMO'''.

3. The blowpipe- reason: the blowpipe sucks as it is, the machete makes it pointless(unless they actually poison) and the heavy sword just makes it absolute garbage(even if they poisoned). The math: 4 dam, 20% hit, 2ap/shot(assuming you have to reload after every shot i don't use the blowpipe so I wouldn't know)= (4*.2)/2=.8/2= '''.4 dam/ap NOT FACTORING IN SEARCHING FOR AMMO'''.

Conclusion- I realize there are problems with the blowpipe but as far as I can tell with the rifle there are none. The knowledge of there even being a heavy sword is enough to discourage those that would take rifles training as a skill. The sword is just too powerful to balance in game as the only way to balance it would be to add another item that is just as crazy powerful, making it rare does nothing to the balance as people can still find it and it makes those few ,whom the RNG loves, ridiculosly overpowered. If the RNG loves somebody they should get multipul hits in a row not the ability to destroy everybody who can't/doesn't want to waste the ap to gain that ability. And after all just because it is rare doesn't mean we all can't find it, I know eventually we would all find one and there would be no variaty whatsoever in battle. Take urban dead for example they balanced the shotguns,pistols, and fireaxe evenly so there is no superior choice its about how you want to play. With the heavy sword it makes all other items pale in comparison BEFORE search rates are keyed into calculations, in urban dead it is AFTER that they are about even. This suggestion to remove something doesn't punish anybody because as of right now we do not know where to find the heavy sword, the only ones were stumbled across randomly so nobody would really have "wasted" the ap to find it(unless they have but I know after reading a bit I didn't for the fun reducing factor everybody having one would bring). Also don't bring up things about how I don't know how it works ingame because unless it takes 6ap to attack the math shows it is unbalanced. Please Simon fix this unbalanced weapon by removing it, not by making everything else oh so much better. ANybody who is with me sign in the comments please.

'''Comments'''

*The math looks sound. And I agree that having everyone run around with Heavy Swords would make for a plain game. However, I don't see why it needs to be removed completely. Is there anything we can do to the sword mechanics to make it more even with the existing weapons? --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 01:04, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
*I agree. The machete with maxed out melee skils is arguably better than any other weapon, and the heavy sword makes that look like a butter knife. Yank it or make it so rare it would be like winning the lottery twice. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 01:49, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
*I disagree with some of the logic in this argument. If the heavy sword were a common weapon, then I could understand the concern; however, the "über sword of doom" is hardly of such availability. As far as I know, only one player has the sword. Having rare items like it add a new dimension to the game - a sort of treasure hunting aspect. I would even propose that even more superior weapons are "hidden" around the island, possibly protected by superior animals. --[[User:Gandhi|Gandhi]] 00:34, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
** One player on the [[Game Design]] page has commented on how he has acquired 3 Heavy Swords. Don't get me wrong, some weapons should be better than others to allow for diversity (that's why there's knives, daggers, and whatnot). However, as it stands, the Heavy Sword to our knowledge is the single best weapon available. Everyone is going to be running around with it and if you don't have one, you won't be able to compete. It'd be like playing Rock-Paper-Scissors-Nuclear Bomb and Nuclear Bomb always wins. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 00:52, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
*Are these even real? I mean, how many people claim to have gotten them? one? This almost looks like a pretty funny joke. Also, Simon has stayed silent on this, implying some sort of uber sword conspiracy, so perhaps we shouldn't rock the boat. (Cue up suspenseful music) -[[User:BananaBear|BananaBear]] 06:02, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
**i have 3 swords ,but i'm reading it's really rare. I feel really lucky :). Oh , and i think it's too powerful compared to other weapons. Maybe there must be other rare ranged weapons (like some 6 or 7 o 8 damage rifle) or something like this --[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 09:38, 27 March 2006 (BST)
**I thought I'd made them fairly rare (after the initial burst of finding them) but I think I made them too rare perhaps. There are still only 4 people with them, looks like the same 4 who had them originally. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 00:01, 8 April 2006 (BST)
**Do you even have one Simon? --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 00:17, 8 April 2006 (BST)
**Nope. No heavy sword for any of my characters. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:18, 8 April 2006 (BST)
*The original poster is correct about rifles/blowpipes being too weak. The rifle's AP/damage ratio is actually much lower than even the machete's, let alone the mysterious heavy sword. The rifle's accuracy is its edge, but 60% maximum accuracy really isn't *that* high or that much of an advantage over the 45% machete accuracy. The introduction of two new skills to the firearms skill tree, "Marksmanship" and "Expert Marksmanship", each of which would add 10 or 15% to rifle/blowpipe accuracy, would help to solve this problem I would say (I dont know if anything like this has been proposed before). Dont remove the heavy sword, just make rifles more powerful. -[[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 01:29, 8 April 2006 (BST)
* With the addition of the forgotten blowpipe skills, that should help the blowpipe ratio, and I'd say ignore the heavy sword since it seems so rare that you'll be lucky to get one unless someone trades one in for some essential supplies. Not sure about 80% accuracy with either of the ranged weapons - would those skills be available to all or just as an extension to firearms/blowpipe training? What happens to the blowpipe damage if the poisoning suggestion is implemented and the poison effect is added that takes away 1-5 HP over the next 5 AP unless you use serum or first aid kit (damage numbers not definite, just a rough figure)? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:18, 8 April 2006 (BST)
* I think adding one skills for rifle and one for blowpipe is really cool. Marksmanship is a nice name , but not to add accuracy, but to add +2 to damage. Poisoning for blowpipe go well too. Oh, and one of my swords is gone ç__ç. And about trading, i tried to trade one of them , but the trader didn't have 49 gold coins..and i think you can add some powerful and rare rifle

=== Ranged weapons ===

I never used a rifle, but the blowpipe feels quite useless at the moment indeed (unless it poisons). I was wondering if a ranged aspect could be added to those weapons to make up for their poor hp/ap ratio and their ammo requirement (and their lack of poison?). In practice, that would mean that once the rifle (or the blowpipe (I wonder if it poisons)) is selected from the attack drop-down menu, the target drop-down menu would include the entities from the surrounding squares. That would allow for some slightly safer attacks, especially in difficult terrain, or for around four minutes of triumph for having attacked someone from the distance (and poisonned him?), before being machetted to death anyway. That is: not much, but the satisfying feeling to have used a special weapon, with its own pros. -- Leaf
* Ranged weapon skills for warriors to boost the blowpipe are in the pipeline. Seems I missed a section from my notes when adding skills. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:12, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
* Sweet --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 06:34, 14 March 2006 (GMT)

===studded leather & war gear===
both items have the same effect, except one is for outsiders and one is for natives, upon looking at the names, i cant really tell which would be for who, but that doesnt matter.
theese items could act likee flak jackets, but could (possibly) have the chance of inflicting damage upon being hit, as per, a guy with tons of knives on him being punched would probably cut up his assailant's hands.

*Hm. I don't like the idea of inflicting damage on the assailant. I think that's a bit of a stretch. I could see outsiders coming over with breastplates and whatnot (a la John Smith, be it the noble stud from ''Pocahontas'' or the weaselly entrapeneur from history). Natives, though, would be unlikely to have that much. Perhaps, though, a wooden, oblong, leaf-shaped shield. Perhaps it would give a small (10%?) chance of blocking a melee attack. Thus, both sides would have a form of protection, but they would be ''different'' forms of protection, serving to distinguish the two sides.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:31, 10 April 2006 (BST)

===animal wearings===
such as teeth and hide could be added to one's [[inventory]] or slot for extra damage, accuracy, etc..

*Honestly, this just seems silly. Why would I suddenly hurt you more for having a tiger tooth in my pocket?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:32, 10 April 2006 (BST)

===Messenger Pigeons===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=New item|
suggest_scope=All outsiders|
suggest_description=Allows Outsiders to send messages over long distances. Just type up the message and enter the recepient's name and the bird flies off.
''You watch your pigeon fly off and hope it doesn't get intercepted.''
 May be intercepted by other players with a yet unnamed skill.|
suggest_time=22:23, 9 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_comments=

*How would you handle said "interception?" Would you be notified of pigeons sent off within a certain number of squares, and offered a chance to stop it? Would it show up as an actual animal that one could kill? I would say that the idea of sending a messenger pigeon along as a new, low-hp NPC with a specific destination is neat, but I don't know how hard it would be on the server.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:35, 10 April 2006 (BST)

}}

===Drum===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=New item|
suggest_scope=All Natives|
suggest_description=Allows all Natives within a specified area to hear the senders message. Any Outsiders hear random drum beats unless they have the Expert Language skill.
''You hear random drumming in the distance.''
 Requires a drum beating skill to utilize.|
suggest_time=22:35, 9 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_comments=

*A drum language? Neat. I would make it a native-only skill, though (how difficult would it be for an outsider to learn ''of'' the language, let alone the language itself?), and only one skill. Also, to show the difficulty of true articulation in such a language, it would be good to lower the character limit on drum messages. This way, long messages will be broken up, and will require a bit more AP.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 08:40, 10 April 2006 (BST)

}}

Talk:Character classes

2006-03-31T09:01:22Z

JonesDye: /* Class and Skill Chart */

==Class and Skill Chart==

:Maybe we should have a page that says what skills each class can get, like a big table with the skills going down the side and the classes going across the top. So we can figure out what the differences are between the classes besides hp and starting items as it is starting to become clear not every class can use some skills. We will have to wait a bit to get the confirmation on some of the classes but we can already find out(mostly) what the scientist and warrior class get which is a good start. We don't even have to level a guy up of each class ourselves, the way the profiles and stats page are set up we could just copy down the skills that we see the highest level of each class has -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]]

:Here's a rough draft. I'm using '''X''' to represent a confirmed skill that is available on my skill page. I haven't listed any skills that I do not personally have. I think we need to level each class up rather than basing a chart on assumptions. For example, while the shamans receive "Natural Medicine" it hasn't been determined if outsiders receive it as well. I suspect that "Natural Medicine" doesn't fit with the scientist character, it would be more fitting to be listed as "Surgery" or something. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 19:56, 24 February 2006 (GMT)

::'''Nice going''', I was going to propose a "skill chart" just like this! I've added to the confirmed skills.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 17:47, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

Wow sweet, I'll add some and when we get it finished we can finally see what the differences are..... BTW a good source of info is the stats on kills page, that is where I got all the info that I added -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:50, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
:NEW SKILL CONFIRMED!!!! SCIENTISTS GET FIRST AID(Murk has it from stats page)!!! You were right Lint,also updated the chart, turns out the class "warrior" is misleading they can't fight any better than anybody else! they do seem to get a lot of the other skills BUT from what I see they are exactly the same as a shaman(cept hp/starting item ) unless out of the blue there appears some crazy warrior-only melee skill-o-death. Also, Lint, your a shaman right? can you get languge skills next to confirm if there are any differences between warriors and shamans?(I can't see language skills being too different,well cept for shamans getting expert language and warriors not)-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:10, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::Added. There's a dotted spot underneath it, presumably for Expert Language, but we'll know for sure in a couple days. :P --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 17:25, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

: I have the swimming skill and I'm a Soldier. [http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=547 Urban Me]--[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:03, 25 March 2006 (GMT)

: I ,[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=669 Jones Dye], have all the scientist skill except one. I updated the chart adding Haunting Scream .--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 09:32, 27 March 2006 (BST)

: I am a soldier and have the basic tracking skill.--[[User:Gandhi|Gandhi]] 00:57, 31 March 2006 (BST)

: I am a Settler and I posess swimming and basic tracking. Also, I have first-hand knowledge that Shamans and Pirates have access to basic tracking. By using profiles listed on the stats page, I have determined the following information: added Scout - haunting scream, added Scout - natural medicine, added Soldier - first aid, added Pirate - advanced language. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:44, 31 March 2006 (BST)

===Chart===
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:90%;border-collapse:collapse;"
|  || colspan=4 | Natives || colspan=5 | Outsiders
|-
| 
|style="width:8%;"|Scout
|style="width:8%;"|Warrior
|style="width:8%;"|Villager
|style="width:8%;"|Shaman
|style="width:8%;"|Explorer
|style="width:8%;"|Soldier
|style="width:8%;"|Settler
|style="width:8%;"|Scientist
|style="width:8%;"|Pirate
|-
|Outsider Know... || X || X || X || X || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _
|-
|Native Knowledge || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Basic Language || X || X || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced Lang... || X || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || X
|-
|Expert Language || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Close quarter... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced clos... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Body building || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Stamina || X || X || _ || X || X || X || _ || X || X
|-
|Sixth Sense || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Ghostly whisper || X || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Haunting scream || X || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Exploration || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Cartography || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Trekking || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Swimming || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Basic Tracking || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced Trac... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Triage || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Natural Medicine || X || X || X || X || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _
|-
|First Aid || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || bgcolor=#CCCCCC | _ || _ || X || X || X || _
|-
|Animal Affinity || _ || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _ || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _
|-
|Scavenging || _ || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _ || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _
|-
|Firearms Trai... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Advanced Fire... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Blowpipe Trai... || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
|Advanced Blow... || _ || bgcolor=#EEEEFF | X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|}

==Starting AP==
Starting AP may be 175 for all types. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:20, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

Trading

2006-03-28T14:25:14Z

JonesDye: /* wikisik */

Trading is a new feature added on the 23rd March.

=== Raktam ===
The trading post is at [-70.319,+26.472]. The traders name is Tamdal Tik.

As an outsider, I exchanged a rifle for 5 bananas. I have no idea what he was saying though as it was all gibberish, I asked to trade rifle for bananas and got the Accept/Reject buttons. Clicking Accept made 5 bananas appear in my inventory. Also managed to trade for a first aid kit, but when I tried it a second time, I got some kind of error (spoken in native) and first aid kits were off the list of things to trade for. --[[User:Snarf|Snarf]] 12:57, 26 March 2006 (BST)

You ask to trade your gold coins for his healing herbs.
Tamdal Tik makes you an offer, "Ick wiknik tameck gaklal coonik fal sikmog hokackickgak hokbak"

Once accepted:

Tamdal Tik says, "Gakack, hokrak'sik 1 hokackickgak hokbak fal 3 ock yakuck gaklal coonik"

It cost me 3 gold coins for 1 healing herbs!
--[[User:Snarf|Snarf]] 13:14, 26 March 2006 (BST)

===wikisik===

i was in wikisik the other day and traded one gold coin for around 32 poison darts, when i traded a second time, he gave me only 12... is that a bug?

and also, this is getting really confusing, some things are just far too overpriced, even poisonous berries cost me... i think 5 mangos...

i think the price are based on what the trader have. I tried to sell one heavy sword for 49 gold coins , but the trader said me it haven't so much money..--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 15:25, 28 March 2006 (BST)

=== Durham ===

I am an outsider, and went to the trading hut in Durham (-70.649,+26.347). There I recieved 5 Rifle bullets for 1 gold coin, 4 Rifle bullets for a knife (repeated 3 more times) and 3 Rifle bullets for a blunt machete (repeated twice). [[User:Anothertwilight|Anothertwilight]] 00:15, 28 March 2006 (BST)

Talk:Character classes

2006-03-27T09:20:02Z

JonesDye: /* Class and Skill Chart */

==Class and Skill Chart==

:Maybe we should have a page that says what skills each class can get, like a big table with the skills going down the side and the classes going across the top. So we can figure out what the differences are between the classes besides hp and starting items as it is starting to become clear not every class can use some skills. We will have to wait a bit to get the confirmation on some of the classes but we can already find out(mostly) what the scientist and warrior class get which is a good start. We don't even have to level a guy up of each class ourselves, the way the profiles and stats page are set up we could just copy down the skills that we see the highest level of each class has -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]]

:Here's a rough draft. I'm using '''X''' to represent a confirmed skill that is available on my skill page. I haven't listed any skills that I do not personally have. I think we need to level each class up rather than basing a chart on assumptions. For example, while the shamans receive "Natural Medicine" it hasn't been determined if outsiders receive it as well. I suspect that "Natural Medicine" doesn't fit with the scientist character, it would be more fitting to be listed as "Surgery" or something. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 19:56, 24 February 2006 (GMT)

::'''Nice going''', I was going to propose a "skill chart" just like this! I've added to the confirmed skills.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 17:47, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

Wow sweet, I'll add some and when we get it finished we can finally see what the differences are..... BTW a good source of info is the stats on kills page, that is where I got all the info that I added -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:50, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
:NEW SKILL CONFIRMED!!!! SCIENTISTS GET FIRST AID(Murk has it from stats page)!!! You were right Lint,also updated the chart, turns out the class "warrior" is misleading they can't fight any better than anybody else! they do seem to get a lot of the other skills BUT from what I see they are exactly the same as a shaman(cept hp/starting item ) unless out of the blue there appears some crazy warrior-only melee skill-o-death. Also, Lint, your a shaman right? can you get languge skills next to confirm if there are any differences between warriors and shamans?(I can't see language skills being too different,well cept for shamans getting expert language and warriors not)-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:10, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::Added. There's a dotted spot underneath it, presumably for Expert Language, but we'll know for sure in a couple days. :P --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 17:25, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

: I have the swimming skill and I'm a Soldier. [http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=547 Urban Me]--[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:03, 25 March 2006 (GMT)

: I ,[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=669 Jones Dye], have all the scientist skill except one. I updated the chart adding Haunting Scream .--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 09:32, 27 March 2006 (BST)

===Chart===
{| border="1"
|  || colspan=4 | Natives || colspan=5 | Outsiders
|-
| 
|style="width:8%;"|Scout
|style="width:8%;"|Warrior
|style="width:8%;"|Villager
|style="width:8%;"|Shaman
|style="width:8%;"|Explorer
|style="width:8%;"|Soldier
|style="width:8%;"|Settler
|style="width:8%;"|Scientist
|style="width:8%;"|Pirate
|-
|Outsider Know... || X || X || X || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
|Native Knowledge || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Basic Language || X || X || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced Lang... || X || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Expert Language || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Close quarter... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced clos... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Body building || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Stamina || X || X || _ || X || X || X || _ || X || X
|-
|Sixth Sense || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Ghostly whisper || X || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Haunting scream || _ || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Exploration || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Cartography || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Trekking || X || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Swimming || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || _ || X || X
|-
|Triage || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Natural Medicine || _ || X || X || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
|First Aid || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Animal Affinity || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _
|-
|Firearms Trai... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Advanced Fire... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Blowpipe Trai... || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|}

==Starting AP==
Starting AP may be 175 for all types. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:20, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

Suggestions:Skills

2006-03-27T09:12:00Z

JonesDye: /* Weapon Skills */

Suggestions:Game mechanics

2006-03-27T09:05:13Z

JonesDye: /* Auto Attack */

{| cellpadding=10 align=right
| __TOC__
|}

{{Suggestionsnav}}

Suggestions for Shartak are always welcome, although there's no guarantee that anything will be added. Comments on or modifications for any of the suggestions below can be added by editing this page. Please be considerate and don't just remove ideas that you don't like.

Begin a new item with a * and "sign" your suggestions using <nowiki>-- ~~~~</nowiki> so we know who to blame ;)

Bug reports should go on the [[Bugs]] page.

This is the suggestions page for game mechanics. See also the [[Suggestions]] page for other suggestions.

== Game Mechanics ==

=== Conversion ===
When an Outsider/Native dies they are reborn as a Native (don't really understand the spirit thing too well). The Outsiders then get a new class/skill, "Religious Conversion" that requires a "Holy Scripture". This allows a "Priest" to convert one native into a Outsider". The converted native would most likely start off as a Settler. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:22, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* I believe that Natives are reborn as Natives and Outsiders are reborn as Outsiders, but I could be wrong. From a game balance perspective, I am not in favor of type-swapping skills unless Natives are presented with an ability to counter or convert Outsiders as well. It does fit nicely with the theme though. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 23:41, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

* That would probably be the shamans job, however it may have worked for Urban Dead but I don't think it will work in this game as whichever group has the most players to begin with will, once conflicts begin to arise, dominate by switching people from the side they are on the side the priest/"whatever the natives use" side making you able to graph one groups population by looking at the graph pop=(1/2)^x. Also since there wouldn't seem to be a way, short of finding a converter player to switch you back, to go back to playing as you once did would make the amount of people on one side quickly die off (even though thats what would happen in real life, favouring the outsiders) it would be a very unfun aspect of the game. And really these are HOSTILE natives, or so it seems, why would they let some devilman outsider tell it how it is? They wouldn't, they would simply spear them and laugh! In short all the converting ideas suck, I know I wouldn't want to log on to find I'm playing for the wrong side. -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 10:55, 17 February 2006 (GMT)

* So that means if my soldier dies, he's reborn as a native? Not only that, but to become an outsider again, first I would have to find a priest (which would be next to impossible with such a small number of players), and then he could convert me into a settler. That means I'll never be able to be a soldier again, which is a real punch in the throat for RPers. -- Grigoriy

*All valid points. I guess this wouldn't really work we have the same number of players as Urban Dead. But this would be a great way to balance out the sides later on. Say there are too many natives, you just drop more "conversion items" and balance out the sides. Too many Outsiders? Just drop the number of conversion items. Doubt it would catch on though. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 02:44, 19 February 2006 (GMT)

*Conversion doesn't have to be forced. It could require action on both sides, like a native doning a religious item and an outsider using the skill on that native. After all, conversion isn't real without true faith. The native counter to this could be similar, requiring an outsider to die holding a packet of that headshrinking powder while a shaman uses the Zombification (ala Haitian witchcraft) skill. -- frisco

*You don't change class or anything when you die. --[[User:Murk|Murk]] 12:31, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Capturing villages ===
Since this is like some war between Outsiders and Natives I thought this appropriate. If all the (say) Outsiders are killed in York and there are none left, then it becomes a Native village and vice versa. Probably needs harder requirements to capture settlements though. Maybe each side could have one permanent place that can never change hands? --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 03:41, 1 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
:Not sure about this - what about all the idle players within the village? They might "wake up" after a couple of weeks to find they're in enemy territory. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:00, 1 March 2006 (GMT)

:You could have it so idle players goto the nearest friendly village-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:58, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

:Turf control in a limited AP browser game like this just invites lame zerging behavior. I don't like it. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:00, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

:Not villages, perhaps 3x3 square 'forts'? --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 01:10, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

:I do like the idea, but I think Jackel's observation hits a key point. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

:Agreed with Jackel and Lint and Simon. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 13:32, 7 March 2006 (GMT) Additionally:
::* Please don't impose your assumption that Shartak is at heart a "war between Outsiders and Natives" on the rest of us. That is not the only possible direction in which this game can go. For example, an Outsider village might turn out to be populated by a trading company that views the other Outsider villages as competitors whose extermination would be good for business, but it could just as easily develop into a peaceful scientific outpost, a pirate haven of drunken debauchery, or a missionary settlement devoted to finding the Natives and learning their language (gotta spread that old time religion). I believe it would be better to keep the objectives more freeform, and let the players create the course of history. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 13:32, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
::* On a hopefully more helpful and positive note, one could simulate/approximate capturing a village by amassing an army of suitable size, carving messages of ownership all over the territory of the village in question, killing all members of the village, and repeatedly killing the village shaman so they can't get back as easily. (Ouch. I hope no armchair megalomaniacs out there have been taking notes.) --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 13:32, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Unique skills ===
I think that each class should start off with one unique skill that the others may never aquire. That way it stops all the classes from becoming too generic. For example Settlers could have a "farming" skill, Soldiers could have a "bravery" skill, etc. Or mabey they could just have a attribute like Soldiers have an extra 10% chance of striking the target, Warriors have an extra 10% chance of finding animals, Settlers have an extra 10% chance of finding an item, Scouts have a 3% chance of recovering 1 HP per AP spent, etc. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 02:34, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
*Perhaps a Research skill of some kind for the Scientist, maybe allowing them an advantage when doing things with dead animals (would need something to do with dead animals, obviously!).[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 16:09, 16 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
:I am in favor of this (if it is not in effect currently). We'd have to work out the details to make sure each class is getting their fair share, but something that encourages players to try other classes or team up with other players using different classes for a better playing experience sounds good to me. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
:I am in favor of each class being able to acquire (but not necessarily starting off with) a unique skill or attribute that the others may never acquire. Sounds to me like the kind of thing that would be unlocked as one's reward for a rite of passage, rather than granted as a right of birth. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 12:53, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Pet System ===
I will combine aspects of the '''Animal''' and '''Pirate''' suggestions and propose a pet system that allows you to tame one of the animals on the island. First, you have to weaken the animal. Then you throw a sphere device at it and shout "SHARTAK SPHERE! GO!" for 1 AP. There's a slight chance that you have captured and tamed the animal. The more powerful the animal, the less success chance. You earn no XP for taming an animal. Players can only have 1 pet at a time. They can release a pet whenever they want. If the owner dies, the pet runs away. Pets have fixed HP, attack, and accuracy based on the type of animal they are (ie. they do not level up or heal, just to keep it simple to design). They follow the player around and only attack when the player attacks. It would be nice if they attacked while you were not playing, but auto-defense mechanisms are unnecessary. Enemy animals randomly determine whether they are attacking the owner or the pet. Other players will have an option for targeting the owner or pet. There is no XP gained for attacking or killing a pet to deter any attempts at farming pet killing (I can't believe we even have to consider preventing such a thing). For added flavor, owners can name their pets. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
:ROTFL. Sounds a bit like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh (don't worry, I'm not a fan, I have kids that were!). Perhaps instead of spheres, you could keep the monkeys on a leash, heal a tiger or elephant to make it less likely to attack you, tame deer by feeding them, etc. Some animals like the wild boar would have to be pretty difficult to tame. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:14, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
:I was with you right up until you got to the "sphere device" bit, and I rejoined you afterwards. ;) The rest of your suggestion otherwise seems to be pretty well thought out. Personally, I'd prefer to attempt to tame the animal into becoming a pet purely by offering it food, rather than "weakening" it by other means. Especially since food is scarce enough that offering it to an animal would be a real sacrifice and therefore an interesting decision for the player to make. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 14:49, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
::I will confess that I had a lot of fun with the references. The problem I have with using an existing item to tame a pet is how to implement it. The player can't click on the fruit, because that will just heal themselves. And I think it is unecessary to redesign fruits like First Aid Kits and Medical Herbs, just so they can feed it to an animal. And a database check to see if the player possesses a fruit before providing a "tame" command seems awkward. Perhaps there is just one item called "animal bait" (from the Trade Hut most likely). It works much like a FAK or Herb, but can only be applied to animals (though there will be a "Yourself" option by default for those players that decide they enjoy the taste). Animals will then have a value called "tame count" in the database. For each successful feeding, this number is incremented. When a specific number is reached, the monster is successfully tamed. If a monster is killed, the number is reset to 0. Acquiring a pet should not reduce the population of animals on the island (ie. one should respawn to take its place). Furthermore, those with '''Animal Affinity''' should have a better taming success rate. (This is another attempt to give Villagers and Settlers a little boost.) --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 17:32, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
:::This idea, while somewhat interesting, is not very realitic. The animals of the island are wild. In reality, tigers, elephants, deer, "WILD boars" etc can only be made LESS WILD by extensive and careful training and handling when they are young, not be tamable by any means, certainly not enough to follow a person around and fight on their behalf. Maybe it would be possible with parrots and monkeys, but if Simon is going to implement changes, I'd rather see some of the more believable ones first. I do agree with Lint that it would give more value to '''Animal Affinity'''. Animal attacks, even from a tiger or elephant (which would realistically be very dangerous) are hardly to be feared, making this skill currently seem pretty useless.

=== Profile Effect Items ===
These are useless baubles that take up 1 unit of a player's inventory space, but if anyone views their profile they will see that the players possesses the item. Using the item won't accomplish anything and merely produce flavor text. However, if a player is in the presence of another player, using the item would show it off. As with all items, there's no way to trade them with other players. We can have eyepatches and peglegs. We can have tribal masks and warpaint. Maybe some clans would require a certain dress code. Maybe they need 30 pieces of flair. I think it provides an outlet for the less serious gamers. Problems: Serious gamers might be plagued with finding such items and dropping them, wasting (in their opinion) AP and Page Hits. Also, arguing over what items fit with the theme of Shartak will be a headache-inducing process. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* I like this suggestion. How about finding the pieces of the masks and making your own - combine the baubles with mini-quests? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:18, 8 March 2006 (GMT)
:For example, to make the sacred warrior mask of Raktam, you must find 5 parrot feathers, a tiger tooth, some berries and a piece of driftwood that can be carved into the appropriate shape with a knife or dagger. Once you have all those items, you get a "create mask" option which then removes the required items and the mask appears in your inventory (and profile).
::Having the database check to see if they have all the ingredients seems a bit unwieldly. After every action or inventory use it might have to run the check to verify that they are alive, still have the items, etc. I'd just settle for having them take the items to a specific NPC. But yes, a mixing quest would be fun. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 18:02, 8 March 2006 (GMT)

* I just hope that this idea motivates players to try new things ("I'm going to join a clan that wears such-and-such a mask and attack the others! Yarr!") and not feel that the game is just about collecting items ("Well, I got all the masks. I guess I'm done with the game."). --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 18:02, 8 March 2006 (GMT)

*Maybe the different masks have different effects, from some simple ones (attracting/scaring animals, making them less likely to attack or easier to hit) to the downright blatavt video game reference that turns you into a huge brown rocky guy who can punch boulders apart. OK, maybe not the second one. [[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 20:53, 9 March 2006 (GMT)
:I think that's something to be worked on in a separate suggestion. The point of this suggestion is to make useless "fancy hats" that neither add or take away from the established gameplay. However, in the eyes of certain players, they may be invaluable because of how they can incorperate such items into their goals and roleplaying. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 23:52, 9 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Unique Item Hunt ===
'''Event''' ''Capture the Flag''-ish minigame. Somewhere on the island is a single conch shell item. It can be found by searching anywhere. It takes 1 inventory space and appears when anyone views their profile. When the conch holder is in the presence of other players, flavor text is added to the area description to inform the others that the conch holder is in the area. If the person in possession of the conch drops it, dies, or is idle for more than 5 days, the conch returns to the system. The person who holds the conch the longest gets recognized in the statistics. Killing the conch holder earns special bonus XP. Adept conch holder killers may also be recognized in the statistics. Problems: Someone with multiple characters could take advantage of having the conch on one character and reap the XP and fame with another. There will be a point where a race condition will occur and might result in multiple conches and a broken game. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* This kind of thing has been on my ideas list, although this is much more detailed version than the one-liner I had. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:05, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Know your foes ===
As a native, I get killed a lot by outsiders, but I just can't strike back when I come back to life, as nothing allows me to identify my agressors amongst the outsiders I meet. I expected some basic language skill to give me access to clickable outsiders profiles, but it doesn't. So. I don't like much the fact that, in this game, the only alternative you have is "attack random outsiders" or "attack none". I'd like to be able to protect myself without being too unfair to peaceful outsiders (and being part of some snowball effect).

This would be partly solved by some profile access (allowing to check people's amount of human kills), or some limited displayed info on the present players (it would make -almost- sense for natives to automatically carry visible scalps or shrunken head of their victims, but I'm not sure how to justify the kills display in the case of outsiders, despite of the fact white men were actually quite fond of indian scalps at some time). Another useful tool would be some urban-dead-like contact list.

Of course, ideally (but absurdly) the most useful stat to be able to see would be the number of kills of people without human kills at the moment of their death, but... -- Leaf

''Comments''
Perhaps seeing the profile of someone on the opposite side if you or they have the advanced language skill would be good, it would be cool to hang around with some natives without worrying about aggressors. --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 21:30, 18 March 2006 (GMT)

If you had a contact list and some way to target individuals on your list ala Urban Dead, I'm guessing that would probably help. Not so sure about the scalp display approach. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 23:36, 18 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Forest Fire ===
'''Event''' This is a potential temporary minigame that will either lead to players to band together and save the island or perhaps just lead to all-out chaos. A fire script is created which designates one block as fire (it is identified by a little fire.gif in the background). Every 20 minutes the fire script will check if there is <del>Grassland or</del> Jungle nearby with density from 1-10. If there is, it spreads to the next block. It will not spread to any other terrain (including villages and ruins). Thus, the best way to prevent the spread of the fire is by chopping vegetation down to 0. The initial fires will be placed randomly around the island. Actions performed in a fire occupied space deal 2 damage. For this event to be more devious, there should be a means to quickly restore vegetation (dropping driftwood, planting fruit, watering with gourds). --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:58, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
*I like some things about this suggestion, I think it could work really nicely if there was also a rain algorithingamajig, so that maybe, if some part of the island dried out, wildfires could break out, or if it rained too much villages could flood and get swamped. Its a neat idea. -[[User:BananaBear|BananaBear]] 04:55, 17 March 2006 (GMT)
* I like the idea of rain and fire, however there's no telling if the server would handle the database access/calculations required when the number of players gets into the range that Urban Dead has. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:17, 17 March 2006 (GMT)
** I thought it might be a bit much. Ah well. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 19:32, 17 March 2006 (GMT)
** Not the idea of fire itself, that may well be quite feasible. I meant having rain causing flooding, or not enough rain leading to fires might be a bit awkward.. unless I can think of some way to reduce the work that needs to be done regularly. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 23:38, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
* Maybe fires could also destroy huts, and then there could be a skill to rebuild them. Maybe even give people the ability to start their own fires. It might make for interesting tribal wars. -[[User:BananaBear|BananaBear]] 18:22, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
** I kind of wanted to restrict fires to the Jungle (removed my Grasslands comment from the original suggestion) since a lot of Huts provide resources for starting players and players that have just been revived. I think it would be unfair to prevent them with the opportunity to gather supplies. As a tactic, it may also be unfair. Native villages appear to be completely surrounded by burnable Jungle, while Outsider villages are bordered by the Beach. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 19:46, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
** Good point. The pirates would be completely free of burning too. I still think a way to temporarily damage structures could be fun -[[User:BananaBear|BananaBear]] 19:59, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
** As a general rule, real world jungles don't burn terribly well, although there are a few notable exceptions (such as the Indonesian forest fires in 1997-98). Grasslands, however, burn quite regularly, and in fact such fires are necessary for the good health of the grass. Fire kills off sapling trees in the area which would otherwise grow to the point that they overshadowed and killed the grass. I don't know whether the game has any grasslands large enough to make this kind of thing interesting, though. --[[User:Jackdaw|Jackdaw]] 15:55, 25 March 2006 (GMT)

=== The Ghost Elephant ===
'''Event''' Somewhere on the island is an animal that exists purely as a temporary event. The Legendary Ghost Elephant - in reality, an aggressive albino pachyderm of incredible size - is said to roam the island of Shartak. Some Natives revere it, others desire to be recorded as the one who slayed it. Some Outsiders wish to study it, others desire to have it as a trophy. It behaves much like any other elephant on Shartak. However, it has a different label, an unfathomable amount of HP, and deals horrific damage. If you heal the Ghost Elephant with a FAK or Herbs, you receive double XP. And to further serve a challenge, don't place an HP cap on the Ghost Elephant, just give it a starting amount. If possible, a log of all actions performed on the Ghost Elephant should be kept by the server and revealed in the event that it dies. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:58, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''

Ha! I like this one, Lint, and simple to implement. It should really have a boatload of HP, as I think few will consider expending valuable healing items on it, when its far easier (and more rewarding) to hack away at it for 40 AP then make a run for it! --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 16:42, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

Arr! I would ride that ghost beast like a horse jus' fer fun, then slay 't t' sell its tusks t' them outsiders an' th' meat t' them natives. --[[User:El Pirata Cofresi|El Pirata Cofresi]] 17:46, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

In the Congo they refer to it as Mokele Mbembe - he who stops the flow of rivers - and it is rumoured to be a lost dinosaur. The island could do with some cryptozoology. Would this creature be able to disappear or hide or move incredibly fast? If not, then once one person finds it, they can just call everyone over to the same square. This kind of defeats the mythical aspect as well as adding potential server problems. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 18:24, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

I should make the animals attack back in near-realtime first (as in you attack them and they may or may not get an attack in).. just to add a bit of interest to it and stop people running up to the creature and hacking and then running away. Making an animal with an almost unlimited number of HP would be possible.. I guess probably start it with at least double a normal elephant and max of about a thousand HP to prevent people healing it to the point where it'd be impossible to kill. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 18:37, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

It could be cool, especially if it moved around in a way that made tracking it possible, maybe by destroying the foliage, or moving in a pattern. Also having it move might help keep people from all winding up in one square beating it up. -[[User:BananaBear|BananaBear]] 18:41, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

:I've tried to offset the game's focus on combat by encouraging healing (double XP may be too much of a reward, so I'm willing to remove that), but that alone will most likely be not enough to counter the horde of blood-thirsty savages! Healing with the Herbs and FAKs may actually be seen as healing the Ghost Elephant spiritually rather than merely physically, which is why it's health can grow high. I don't see a problem if it became near-unkillable. I like keeping some myths and legends around. I thought that it would be best if it traveled like an elephant, but it is true that it limits the people that are able to participate in the event. Perhaps it should "teleport", after a certain amount of time in an area - "A wall of fog sweeps in through jungle. When it fades, you see that the Ghost Elephant has vanished as well." I requested for a log of actions to determine who killed it, who attacked it the most, who healed it the most, and who got hurt the most. Also, rather than a recurring animal, I thought it would be best to release it as an event that occurs every now and then. Or maybe only once! --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 19:32, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

I like it. And of course, you needn't stick to land animals; a mysterious sea creature that patrols the island waters and is reported to be 30ft long could prompt more people to vernture into the waters for a glimpse/trophy etc. Sharks will also be a problem for those searching! --[[User:Malphas|Malphas]] 15:52, 19 March 2006 (GMT)

=== Auto Attack ===
I've never liked the fact that while I am away from the game, things can happen to my character, like being chewed on by a tiger or slashed with a machette. How about a setting where you can turn your character on to auto attack anything that hits you. It should, of course, be user selected. This would change the game mechanics a bit, as you could no longer move in on a target and attack it withough fear of a counter-strike. To me this is far more realistic, in that even if you are sleeping, when somebody hits you, you're going to wake up and do something about it with whatever engery you have left.

An alternative selectable action might be an auto-run. You can pre-specify the direction you want to run and how many squares upon being hit. A character with trekking could stay alive just by running a few square whenever they are hit.
--[[User:Qberry|Qberry]] 02:34, 20 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* The main problem with this is that players will be discouraged from attacking other players, as this will become extremely dangerous, and the native warrior who wants the outsiderts out will effectively be penalised.[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 15:47, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
* Sorry, but I don't like this. I feel that that this will lead to interactions with players that are no different than interacting with an NPC. Could someone theoretically max themselves out by just leaving this option on and checking in every now and then to make sure they haven't become a spirit? --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 17:28, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
* Yeah, I'm not a fan of being able to do something by not doing something, such as fighting or running without being there to fight or run. Also, would it be free of AP and IP hits, or would it be possible to come back and have no AP or hits left? It seems like these problems would wreck any sort of auto action. I can understand not enjoying being macheted while away, but I don't see any way around this. -[[User:BananaBear|BananaBear]] 18:20, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
* I must admit that I don't like the idea all that much, but if it was implemented it would probably be something that was user configurable. I don't think running away would make sense, but fighting back does. For example, no more than X AP to be used fighting back until you next log back in, and they wouldn't be used unless you had more than Y AP left. This way you could set X to 10 and Y to 6 and if you ran out of AP, set those values, it would be 2 hours (6 x 20m) before you were likely to attack, and it would use no more than 10 AP fighting back. Because the values are configurable, it would be hard to know who would fight back and who wouldn't. Setting X to 0 would disable the feature. I think probably the attacks would gain XP if successful, same as normal, but because you wouldn't be able to set the number of AP to use to more than your max AP value, it would be impossible to level up a character by simply leaving them alone (not to mention you would disappear from the map after being idle for a bit). --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 21:01, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
* i like the idea of counterattack , but with some limits. You have only a % of counterattacking someone (25%?) , you don't consume AP , you don't get XP. But , whit wich weapon do you attack?--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 10:05, 27 March 2006 (BST)

Suggestions:Items

2006-03-27T08:52:05Z

JonesDye: /* Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword) */

Suggestions:Items

2006-03-27T08:45:46Z

JonesDye: /* Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword) */

Suggestions:Items

2006-03-27T08:38:54Z

JonesDye: /* Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword) */

Talk:Character classes

2006-03-27T08:32:14Z

JonesDye: /* Class and Skill Chart */

==Class and Skill Chart==

:Maybe we should have a page that says what skills each class can get, like a big table with the skills going down the side and the classes going across the top. So we can figure out what the differences are between the classes besides hp and starting items as it is starting to become clear not every class can use some skills. We will have to wait a bit to get the confirmation on some of the classes but we can already find out(mostly) what the scientist and warrior class get which is a good start. We don't even have to level a guy up of each class ourselves, the way the profiles and stats page are set up we could just copy down the skills that we see the highest level of each class has -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]]

:Here's a rough draft. I'm using '''X''' to represent a confirmed skill that is available on my skill page. I haven't listed any skills that I do not personally have. I think we need to level each class up rather than basing a chart on assumptions. For example, while the shamans receive "Natural Medicine" it hasn't been determined if outsiders receive it as well. I suspect that "Natural Medicine" doesn't fit with the scientist character, it would be more fitting to be listed as "Surgery" or something. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 19:56, 24 February 2006 (GMT)

::'''Nice going''', I was going to propose a "skill chart" just like this! I've added to the confirmed skills.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 17:47, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

Wow sweet, I'll add some and when we get it finished we can finally see what the differences are..... BTW a good source of info is the stats on kills page, that is where I got all the info that I added -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:50, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
:NEW SKILL CONFIRMED!!!! SCIENTISTS GET FIRST AID(Murk has it from stats page)!!! You were right Lint,also updated the chart, turns out the class "warrior" is misleading they can't fight any better than anybody else! they do seem to get a lot of the other skills BUT from what I see they are exactly the same as a shaman(cept hp/starting item ) unless out of the blue there appears some crazy warrior-only melee skill-o-death. Also, Lint, your a shaman right? can you get languge skills next to confirm if there are any differences between warriors and shamans?(I can't see language skills being too different,well cept for shamans getting expert language and warriors not)-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:10, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::Added. There's a dotted spot underneath it, presumably for Expert Language, but we'll know for sure in a couple days. :P --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 17:25, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

: I have the swimming skill and I'm a Soldier. [http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=547 Urban Me]--[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:03, 25 March 2006 (GMT)

: I have all the scientist skill except one. I updated the chart adding Haunting Scream .--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 09:32, 27 March 2006 (BST)

===Chart===
{| border="1"
|  || colspan=4 | Natives || colspan=5 | Outsiders
|-
| 
|style="width:8%;"|Scout
|style="width:8%;"|Warrior
|style="width:8%;"|Villager
|style="width:8%;"|Shaman
|style="width:8%;"|Explorer
|style="width:8%;"|Soldier
|style="width:8%;"|Settler
|style="width:8%;"|Scientist
|style="width:8%;"|Pirate
|-
|Outsider Know... || X || X || X || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
|Native Knowledge || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Basic Language || X || X || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced Lang... || X || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Expert Language || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Close quarter... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced clos... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Body building || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Stamina || X || X || _ || X || X || X || _ || X || X
|-
|Sixth Sense || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Ghostly whisper || X || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Haunting scream || _ || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Exploration || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Cartography || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Trekking || X || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Swimming || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || _ || X || X
|-
|Triage || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Natural Medicine || _ || X || X || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
|First Aid || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Animal Affinity || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _
|-
|Firearms Trai... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Advanced Fire... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Blowpipe Trai... || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|}

==Starting AP==
Starting AP may be 175 for all types. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:20, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

Talk:Character classes

2006-03-27T08:28:23Z

JonesDye: /* Chart */

==Class and Skill Chart==

:Maybe we should have a page that says what skills each class can get, like a big table with the skills going down the side and the classes going across the top. So we can figure out what the differences are between the classes besides hp and starting items as it is starting to become clear not every class can use some skills. We will have to wait a bit to get the confirmation on some of the classes but we can already find out(mostly) what the scientist and warrior class get which is a good start. We don't even have to level a guy up of each class ourselves, the way the profiles and stats page are set up we could just copy down the skills that we see the highest level of each class has -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]]

:Here's a rough draft. I'm using '''X''' to represent a confirmed skill that is available on my skill page. I haven't listed any skills that I do not personally have. I think we need to level each class up rather than basing a chart on assumptions. For example, while the shamans receive "Natural Medicine" it hasn't been determined if outsiders receive it as well. I suspect that "Natural Medicine" doesn't fit with the scientist character, it would be more fitting to be listed as "Surgery" or something. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 19:56, 24 February 2006 (GMT)

::'''Nice going''', I was going to propose a "skill chart" just like this! I've added to the confirmed skills.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 17:47, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

Wow sweet, I'll add some and when we get it finished we can finally see what the differences are..... BTW a good source of info is the stats on kills page, that is where I got all the info that I added -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:50, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
:NEW SKILL CONFIRMED!!!! SCIENTISTS GET FIRST AID(Murk has it from stats page)!!! You were right Lint,also updated the chart, turns out the class "warrior" is misleading they can't fight any better than anybody else! they do seem to get a lot of the other skills BUT from what I see they are exactly the same as a shaman(cept hp/starting item ) unless out of the blue there appears some crazy warrior-only melee skill-o-death. Also, Lint, your a shaman right? can you get languge skills next to confirm if there are any differences between warriors and shamans?(I can't see language skills being too different,well cept for shamans getting expert language and warriors not)-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:10, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::Added. There's a dotted spot underneath it, presumably for Expert Language, but we'll know for sure in a couple days. :P --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 17:25, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

: I have the swimming skill and I'm a Soldier. [http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=547 Urban Me]--[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:03, 25 March 2006 (GMT)
===Chart===
{| border="1"
|  || colspan=4 | Natives || colspan=5 | Outsiders
|-
| 
|style="width:8%;"|Scout
|style="width:8%;"|Warrior
|style="width:8%;"|Villager
|style="width:8%;"|Shaman
|style="width:8%;"|Explorer
|style="width:8%;"|Soldier
|style="width:8%;"|Settler
|style="width:8%;"|Scientist
|style="width:8%;"|Pirate
|-
|Outsider Know... || X || X || X || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
|Native Knowledge || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Basic Language || X || X || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced Lang... || X || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Expert Language || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Close quarter... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Advanced clos... || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Body building || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Stamina || X || X || _ || X || X || X || _ || X || X
|-
|Sixth Sense || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Ghostly whisper || X || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Haunting scream || _ || X || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Exploration || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Cartography || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Trekking || X || X || _ || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Swimming || _ || X || _ || X || X || X || _ || X || X
|-
|Triage || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X || X
|-
|Natural Medicine || _ || X || X || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
|First Aid || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _
|-
|Animal Affinity || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _
|-
|Firearms Trai... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Advanced Fire... || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _
|-
|Blowpipe Trai... || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|}

==Starting AP==
Starting AP may be 175 for all types. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:20, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

Game design

2006-03-07T10:08:26Z

JonesDye: /* Class Balance */

{| cellpadding=10 align=right
| __TOC__
|}

This an open forum to discuss game design. These are neither [[Bugs]] nor [[Suggestions]] (though they may lead to bug reports and game proposals), but points to consider for maintaining balance and consistency.

==Mechanics==

===Slow Combat===
*Base accuracy for a weapon is higher than a fist, which is arguably unrealistic. One assumes that you would be less skilled with a weapon than your own hand. (I recall reading a similar comment to this, but I can't find it at the moment.) --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
**All characters appear to have a 10% chance to deal 1 damage with punching.
**Knives and Daggers appear to have a 20% chance to deal 1 damage.
:maybe it is just the punch only has a ten percent chance to actually doing damage(the text does say missed however), I know if i fought somebody who has a knife(or dagger) in RL they would do more to me than me to them, even if niether of us have any training,ex. Fists are a strange weapon and to actually do any damage with a punch(mainly only at the strongest point in your swing) you have to have some good timing.-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:02, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::I see what you're saying... how about punch 50-70% with a 20-30% chance of inflicting 1 damage after a successful hit, 0 damage otherwise (making it 10-21% but with 3 different messages - miss, hit but don't do damage, hit and do damage). --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:56, 4 March 2006 (GMT)
:Let me point out that this isn't really a problem. It's just something that a die-hard realist would try to press. On one hand, you can have Fists as the most accurate weapon until you get weapon skills (which will make the the first levels incredibly painful). On the other hand, you can have weapons as more accurate than fists (which allow new users to quickly become involved in the game). I don't know if I'd have the patience if it took me 70 AP to kill a parrot. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 16:12, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

===Contact Shaman===
*It is likely to be more efficient to die than to search for items and heal yourself. (Based on an observation was made by Leaf on the [[Suggestions]] page.) --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:I think this observation is based on the false perception that ''one needs to be fully healed at all times''. There is no fundamental difference in performance when at less than ideal health. Remember, this game is set on an unexplored, remote island, not a heavily populated British suburb *coughUrbanDeadcough* its arguably more realistic to not be at peak health all the time, and for healing items to be somewhat scarce. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:12, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::I guess my problem is that death can be used as a tool rather than a game experience. Say you're at 2 HP. You can spend the next few days scrounging for enough recovery items to heal and continue on or you can get killed and begin playing with full HP the next day. Say you're 100 squares away from your hometown and want to get back, if you can get something to kill you (perhaps even kill yourself with poisonous berries), you will have potentially saved AP. I think we should be discouraged from taking advantage of death somehow. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 18:20, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
:::This is a very good point.. what form of discouragement would be enough to make this less useful? Loss of AP and XP instead of 50AP (if so, what values for each)? Loss of a random skill? Loss of some of your inventory? Maybe you get summoned to the nearest (or random) camp of the same type rather than to your home camp? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:56, 4 March 2006 (GMT)
::::I do see your point, Lint, and agree, Death should not be so much useful as it is annoying, nor should it be too annoying. One thought I had (aside from simply making it easier to stock healing items with [[Suggestions#Refillable_containers|refillable containers]]) was to make coming back from the dead progressively harder. I don't simply mean heaping onto the AP cost of getting ressurected, but maybe the shaman can send the dead on quests or punishments or something beyond simply waiting for your AP to recover?--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 01:29, 6 March 2006 (GMT)

::::It's difficult to suggest something to dissuade death while not motivating griefing. I kind of like the camp idea and quests idea, but I'd need to get more familiar with the death experience before I can truly say anything. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 16:12, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

:::::Requiring that a dead person (spirit) must travel to a shaman to be 'resurrected' rather than just hitting the 'spend 50AP - go home' button would stop people using death as a teleporter. Making 'Town Shamans' have to recharge between resurrections (with the amount of time being tweaked depending on player numbers), potentially forcing a spirit to have to hang around and check in on a regular basis to see if the Shaman was ready, would make resurrection less of a sure thing. Another alternative to increase the uncertainty, and hence make death a gamble, not a strategy, would be to give the Town Shamans a %chance to resurrect and a set amount of AP. If too many people tap the Shaman looking for resurrections, they are 'asleep' 'til they recharge. Both would also increase the value of player shamans (whom I presume can also resurrect if they have the right skills). [[User:Anothertwilight|Anothertwilight]] 22:58, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
::::::"Recharging" Shamens sounds like a reasonable idea.
::::::: I like the idea of the spirit having to find the shaman to ressurect him; in addition to the AP cost, they have to wander around the jungle, find their bearings, etc. It also segues nicely for the player shaman to have a skill allowing them to ressurect. Zerging risk here, having a player run a shaman and a "fighter", keeping them close so the shaman PC can quickly revive the fallen fighter. Also, this might create imbalance the two factions, as the PC shamen may not want to revive Outsiders.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 01:37, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
::::::I believe that the purpose behind "Contact Shaman" feature is so players that haven't a clue where the nearest village is (ie. ME) don't spend the rest of the game as a lost spirit. I think I'd just create a new character if I wasn't presented with the option to contact a Shaman. Another alternative that I've considered is perhaps the Town Shaman's power isn't as strong over long distances. If a spirit choose to contact a Shaman, they would respawn where they originally died, but with reduced HP. Perhaps a greater distance from the hometown results in less HP. This would put an end to teleportation and make taking advantage of death to gain full health slightly less advantageous (at least if the player is not within reasonable walking distance of a Town Shaman). However, I can see problems if some animal or PKer is camping the corpse, waiting to clobber them when they return. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 02:32, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
:::::::A fair point, what if the player received a message from his "home shaman" if he was he was too far away, and needed to move xx squares in direction X, xx squares in direction Y to be "in range". That player could also choose to go to another shaman if he thought one was closer. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 02:39, 6 March 2006 (GMT)

====Summary====
*To summarize: Contacting a Shaman can currently be taken advantage of to bypass Traveling and to bypass Recovery. Both are presumably essential experiences to how the game is played.
**We can prevent the teleportation element by removing the option to contact a Shaman altogether.
***However, to provide a user-friendly game experience it probably needs to be kept in place.
****We can reduce our dependency for this option by increasing the number of available respawn locations.
*****Reduces the established punishment of having to cover lost ground.
**Rather than the Hometown Shaman, players contact the nearest Town Shaman.
***This will reduce excessive teleportation, but does not eliminate it.
**Allow the Shaman to be contacted but the player respawns where it was rather than hometown.
***Reduces teleportation, but also reduces the established punishment of having to cover lost ground.
**We can artificially represent the act of Traveling and Recovery by extending the time and/or AP spent before resurrection can occur.
***Increasing AP cost
***Quests
***Queues
***Chance
**Or apply penalties after resurrection.
***Reduced HP
***Temporarily Reduced Actions (only movement and inventory; no combat, speech, writing)
****Temporarily Reduced Accuracy
**Or apply penalties to discourage dying in general.
***Loss of XP
***Loss of Skill
***Loss of Item

==Outsider/Native Balance==
'''Axiom''': Outsiders and Natives should not have a complete advantage over the other. 
'''Axiom''': Different, but equal.

*Natives by default can determine the difference between "Tasty" and "Poisonous" berries. Outsiders by default cannot. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)

*Outsiders by default can use a GPS unit. Natives by default presumably cannot. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)

==Class Balance==
'''Axiom''': No class should have a complete advantage over the other.

*According to the [[Talk:Character Classes|chart]], Soldiers have a slight advantage over other classes in regards to skills. Add to that their high HP, gives them even more of an edge. The only disadvantage they face is the process of searching and reloading ammunition. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:Assuming that chart is accurate, the soldier isn't even the most advantageous class among his own group! The scientist has more total skills available then a soldier, and if you give more preference to being able to shoot a gun, then it is important to note how low search rates are, and that ammunition is even more rare. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:27, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::The chart isn't complete. I did make some assumptions in possible skills based on what we know about the skill trees, but I don't think that it was wholly inaccurate to do so. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 00:40, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

*Shamans supposedly don't start with any items and have the lowest HP.
**Counterpoint: Shamans and their outsider counterpart, Scientists, are among some of the highest ranking characters at the moment. Something is obviously working. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:What shamen may lack in starting inventory they more than make up for in overall skill potential (seemingly the most of any class). What good is starting with a banana or a few extra bullets by comparison? --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:27, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

*According to the statistics, there is a lack of interest in Villagers and Settlers. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:I agree, at this point there doesn't seem to be any overiding appeal for these classes, which logically should be the most abundant, at least with regards to villagers. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:27, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

*Are there any game mechanics (besides HP, starting inventory, and available skills) that are influenced by your character class? Should there be? --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
**Inventory size
**Base accuracy
**Base damage
**Search odds
**AP limit

*I have 3 characters and i have more higher search odds with the scientist (3 heavy swords) than the others .. i don't know if it's only a matter of luck or not..--[[User:JonesDye|JonesDye]] 10:08, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

Game design

2006-03-07T10:07:39Z

JonesDye: /* Class Balance */

{| cellpadding=10 align=right
| __TOC__
|}

This an open forum to discuss game design. These are neither [[Bugs]] nor [[Suggestions]] (though they may lead to bug reports and game proposals), but points to consider for maintaining balance and consistency.

==Mechanics==

===Slow Combat===
*Base accuracy for a weapon is higher than a fist, which is arguably unrealistic. One assumes that you would be less skilled with a weapon than your own hand. (I recall reading a similar comment to this, but I can't find it at the moment.) --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
**All characters appear to have a 10% chance to deal 1 damage with punching.
**Knives and Daggers appear to have a 20% chance to deal 1 damage.
:maybe it is just the punch only has a ten percent chance to actually doing damage(the text does say missed however), I know if i fought somebody who has a knife(or dagger) in RL they would do more to me than me to them, even if niether of us have any training,ex. Fists are a strange weapon and to actually do any damage with a punch(mainly only at the strongest point in your swing) you have to have some good timing.-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:02, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::I see what you're saying... how about punch 50-70% with a 20-30% chance of inflicting 1 damage after a successful hit, 0 damage otherwise (making it 10-21% but with 3 different messages - miss, hit but don't do damage, hit and do damage). --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:56, 4 March 2006 (GMT)
:Let me point out that this isn't really a problem. It's just something that a die-hard realist would try to press. On one hand, you can have Fists as the most accurate weapon until you get weapon skills (which will make the the first levels incredibly painful). On the other hand, you can have weapons as more accurate than fists (which allow new users to quickly become involved in the game). I don't know if I'd have the patience if it took me 70 AP to kill a parrot. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 16:12, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

===Contact Shaman===
*It is likely to be more efficient to die than to search for items and heal yourself. (Based on an observation was made by Leaf on the [[Suggestions]] page.) --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:I think this observation is based on the false perception that ''one needs to be fully healed at all times''. There is no fundamental difference in performance when at less than ideal health. Remember, this game is set on an unexplored, remote island, not a heavily populated British suburb *coughUrbanDeadcough* its arguably more realistic to not be at peak health all the time, and for healing items to be somewhat scarce. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:12, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::I guess my problem is that death can be used as a tool rather than a game experience. Say you're at 2 HP. You can spend the next few days scrounging for enough recovery items to heal and continue on or you can get killed and begin playing with full HP the next day. Say you're 100 squares away from your hometown and want to get back, if you can get something to kill you (perhaps even kill yourself with poisonous berries), you will have potentially saved AP. I think we should be discouraged from taking advantage of death somehow. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 18:20, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
:::This is a very good point.. what form of discouragement would be enough to make this less useful? Loss of AP and XP instead of 50AP (if so, what values for each)? Loss of a random skill? Loss of some of your inventory? Maybe you get summoned to the nearest (or random) camp of the same type rather than to your home camp? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:56, 4 March 2006 (GMT)
::::I do see your point, Lint, and agree, Death should not be so much useful as it is annoying, nor should it be too annoying. One thought I had (aside from simply making it easier to stock healing items with [[Suggestions#Refillable_containers|refillable containers]]) was to make coming back from the dead progressively harder. I don't simply mean heaping onto the AP cost of getting ressurected, but maybe the shaman can send the dead on quests or punishments or something beyond simply waiting for your AP to recover?--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 01:29, 6 March 2006 (GMT)

::::It's difficult to suggest something to dissuade death while not motivating griefing. I kind of like the camp idea and quests idea, but I'd need to get more familiar with the death experience before I can truly say anything. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 16:12, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

:::::Requiring that a dead person (spirit) must travel to a shaman to be 'resurrected' rather than just hitting the 'spend 50AP - go home' button would stop people using death as a teleporter. Making 'Town Shamans' have to recharge between resurrections (with the amount of time being tweaked depending on player numbers), potentially forcing a spirit to have to hang around and check in on a regular basis to see if the Shaman was ready, would make resurrection less of a sure thing. Another alternative to increase the uncertainty, and hence make death a gamble, not a strategy, would be to give the Town Shamans a %chance to resurrect and a set amount of AP. If too many people tap the Shaman looking for resurrections, they are 'asleep' 'til they recharge. Both would also increase the value of player shamans (whom I presume can also resurrect if they have the right skills). [[User:Anothertwilight|Anothertwilight]] 22:58, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
::::::"Recharging" Shamens sounds like a reasonable idea.
::::::: I like the idea of the spirit having to find the shaman to ressurect him; in addition to the AP cost, they have to wander around the jungle, find their bearings, etc. It also segues nicely for the player shaman to have a skill allowing them to ressurect. Zerging risk here, having a player run a shaman and a "fighter", keeping them close so the shaman PC can quickly revive the fallen fighter. Also, this might create imbalance the two factions, as the PC shamen may not want to revive Outsiders.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 01:37, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
::::::I believe that the purpose behind "Contact Shaman" feature is so players that haven't a clue where the nearest village is (ie. ME) don't spend the rest of the game as a lost spirit. I think I'd just create a new character if I wasn't presented with the option to contact a Shaman. Another alternative that I've considered is perhaps the Town Shaman's power isn't as strong over long distances. If a spirit choose to contact a Shaman, they would respawn where they originally died, but with reduced HP. Perhaps a greater distance from the hometown results in less HP. This would put an end to teleportation and make taking advantage of death to gain full health slightly less advantageous (at least if the player is not within reasonable walking distance of a Town Shaman). However, I can see problems if some animal or PKer is camping the corpse, waiting to clobber them when they return. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 02:32, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
:::::::A fair point, what if the player received a message from his "home shaman" if he was he was too far away, and needed to move xx squares in direction X, xx squares in direction Y to be "in range". That player could also choose to go to another shaman if he thought one was closer. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 02:39, 6 March 2006 (GMT)

====Summary====
*To summarize: Contacting a Shaman can currently be taken advantage of to bypass Traveling and to bypass Recovery. Both are presumably essential experiences to how the game is played.
**We can prevent the teleportation element by removing the option to contact a Shaman altogether.
***However, to provide a user-friendly game experience it probably needs to be kept in place.
****We can reduce our dependency for this option by increasing the number of available respawn locations.
*****Reduces the established punishment of having to cover lost ground.
**Rather than the Hometown Shaman, players contact the nearest Town Shaman.
***This will reduce excessive teleportation, but does not eliminate it.
**Allow the Shaman to be contacted but the player respawns where it was rather than hometown.
***Reduces teleportation, but also reduces the established punishment of having to cover lost ground.
**We can artificially represent the act of Traveling and Recovery by extending the time and/or AP spent before resurrection can occur.
***Increasing AP cost
***Quests
***Queues
***Chance
**Or apply penalties after resurrection.
***Reduced HP
***Temporarily Reduced Actions (only movement and inventory; no combat, speech, writing)
****Temporarily Reduced Accuracy
**Or apply penalties to discourage dying in general.
***Loss of XP
***Loss of Skill
***Loss of Item

==Outsider/Native Balance==
'''Axiom''': Outsiders and Natives should not have a complete advantage over the other. 
'''Axiom''': Different, but equal.

*Natives by default can determine the difference between "Tasty" and "Poisonous" berries. Outsiders by default cannot. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)

*Outsiders by default can use a GPS unit. Natives by default presumably cannot. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)

==Class Balance==
'''Axiom''': No class should have a complete advantage over the other.

*According to the [[Talk:Character Classes|chart]], Soldiers have a slight advantage over other classes in regards to skills. Add to that their high HP, gives them even more of an edge. The only disadvantage they face is the process of searching and reloading ammunition. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:Assuming that chart is accurate, the soldier isn't even the most advantageous class among his own group! The scientist has more total skills available then a soldier, and if you give more preference to being able to shoot a gun, then it is important to note how low search rates are, and that ammunition is even more rare. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:27, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
::The chart isn't complete. I did make some assumptions in possible skills based on what we know about the skill trees, but I don't think that it was wholly inaccurate to do so. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 00:40, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

*Shamans supposedly don't start with any items and have the lowest HP.
**Counterpoint: Shamans and their outsider counterpart, Scientists, are among some of the highest ranking characters at the moment. Something is obviously working. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:What shamen may lack in starting inventory they more than make up for in overall skill potential (seemingly the most of any class). What good is starting with a banana or a few extra bullets by comparison? --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:27, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

*According to the statistics, there is a lack of interest in Villagers and Settlers. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
:I agree, at this point there doesn't seem to be any overiding appeal for these classes, which logically should be the most abundant, at least with regards to villagers. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:27, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

*Are there any game mechanics (besides HP, starting inventory, and available skills) that are influenced by your character class? Should there be? --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
**Inventory size
**Base accuracy
**Base damage
**Search odds
**AP limit

I have 3 characters and i have more higher search odds with the scientist (3 heavy swords) than the others .. i don't know if it's only a matter of luck or not..