The Shartak Wiki - User contributions [en]

Suggestions:Game mechanics

2006-08-02T11:43:54Z

Peg-Hand Grimm: /* Drowning */

{{Suggestions header|page_type=Game mechanics}}

== Game Mechanics ==

=== Conversion ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=|
suggest_scope=|
suggest_description=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.|
suggest_time=23:22, 16 February 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_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)

*I gave a response to this idea under "Holy Scriptures," I think, offering another idea for it that may piss a lot less people off. *points over there*--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:15, 29 March 2006 (BST)

}}

===Monsoon===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=event|
suggest_scope=all|
suggest_description=Add seasons to shartak, matching RL events. The sea level would rise by 1 square, the river would swell by 1 square, crocodiles would become plentiful, and the pirate ship would lift off of the rocks. The ship would then randomly drift around, 1 square per day, and would still be accessible but players would have to swim out to it. Deforested squares would also recover faster. The ship wouldn't be directable because 'The sail is too tattered to use.' or something. The monsoon would also match, more or less, RL duration.|
suggest_time=17:28, 16 July 2006 (EST)|
suggest_author=Aco|
suggest_comments=

*All this would be do-able without too much extra coding except for moving the pirate ship. It would however take a while to work out which bits of beach, swamp and jungle would become submerged and to do it in such a way that it's easily reversible later. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 22:39, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

=== Capturing villages ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=|
suggest_scope=|
suggest_description=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?|
suggest_time=03:41, 1 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_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 ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill, balance change, improvement, etc|
suggest_scope=Who or what it applies to|
suggest_description=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.|
suggest_time=02:34, 5 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_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)

*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)

*Pirates should have a skill to steal their fallen enemies' gold coins. Arr. Would probably result in a lot of outsider in-fighting, though, and outsiders are currently outnumbered.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:18, 29 March 2006 (BST)

*I agree with this as well. It seems Shartak is on the way to giving each class their own benefits (Soldiers/Warriors with gun skills, Settlers/Villagers with animal affinity etc.), but so far only a few have been made unique. At present there is really no point to being a scientist. He starts with 10 gold coins... what the? So I'm pushing for each class to have at least one unique skill they can purchase with XP. --[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]] 11:50, 3 June 2006 (BST)

*I feel the introduction of the unique skill system would make the game much more interesting. but i disagree with the idea that people should just start off with one, rather i feel it should be purchased like the other skills on offer. Additionally rather they have one skill strand/branch like that of the gun skill or animal affinity, it would be interesting and more fun to have a multiple skill branches in line with the specific character classes, like for instance giving the soldiers/warrior classes defensive skill strands in additional to their offensive ones. Furthermore there should be distinctions between the native & outsider classes so they’re similar yet different. Like for instance the firearm/blowpipe skill upgrades are currently identical, I hope in future they could be retooled to promote native/outsider gameplay differences. --[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 03:47, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

=== Pet System ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics|
suggest_scope=All classes|
suggest_description=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.|
suggest_time=08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_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.

* ''The following is a Pet suggestion made by [[User:Richard Rose|Richard Rose]] on 21:47, 24 March 2006:''

as the name reades, simply have "pets" as a survivor living in the jungle, my first instinct would be to find support, in this case we could add a "tame animal" button, which would be clicked to tame an animal, the starting catching % would be something like 10% and could be improved the more the animal is damaged, like at 1hp, if full health was 10hp then you'd have 55% of catching it, (i added 5% for every 10% missing from the creature's health)
this could also be improved with new skills such as

*Amateur Catching Skills (adds 10%)
**Catching Skills (adds 15%, doesnt stack)
***Taming Skills (adds 30%)
*Net (adds 10%, does stack)

certain animals could be ridden, other would do funny things or find objects for you, ex:
Mr. Bobo the monkey finds a bottle of rum in your pocket "gee i didnt know i had that"

elephants, large stags, and tigers could be ridden, small stags would haveto grow up before being ridden, after like, 10 days, or 20 kills they would mature, its all just theory...

parrots could become like flares, ex: Mr. TweetTweet flies towards you and drops a message "help, im at X, Y and there's a native village!"

the parrot could also say messages randomly, players (upon catching a parrot) would be given 10 slots and would type things into them, the parrots would randomly say one, ex:
you attack elephant, Mr. TweetTweet says "polly want a cracker"

animals could also act like extra space, like a backpack, if you will.
animals are named upon capture.

}}

=== Profile Effect Items ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics|
suggest_scope=Inventory and profiles|
suggest_description=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.|
suggest_time=08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_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)
***No, you could easily set it up so that no demands were placed on the server. For example, a recipe that required 5 parrot feathers, berries, driftwood, knife/dagger, and a tiger tooth might only activate upon clicking a tiger tooth amulet: "You try to assemble your Tiger Fetish, but you are missing 3 parrot feathers." In my opinion, there should be hidden flags for characters as well, "visited cave-in", "visited oasis", and so on, so that players would have to discover the Tiger Fetish recipe / assembly process first: by visiting some secret tunnel network, "Engraved on the stone walls is an elaborate recipe for assembling a Tiger Fetish, requiring ..." (if you are fluent at reading Native). --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 13:59, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

* 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)
**Bumping this good suggestion. Let's have some cowrie shells! (And The_Conch(tm), see next suggestion.) The barren ruins and huts seem so sad and pathetic right now, they need some wacky useless trinkets to tide us over... Maybe we need shovels to dig for treasure, too. Yarr! --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 06:06, 10 May 2006 (BST)

}}

=== Conch Shell Hunt ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics, minigame|
suggest_scope=Event|
suggest_description=''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.|
suggest_time=08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_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)
*''I'' have the conch! I'm allowed to speak! *ahem* I mean, um... >.>--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:21, 29 March 2006 (BST)
** Suggestions: (1) Skip bonus for the conch-killer and you remove incentive to zerg. (2) Have the conch break when the conch-bearer dies (respawns on a random beach) and you remove the race condition. (3) Give the conch-bearer an action to blow into the Conch. (You hear the booming echo of a conch being sounded to the south-east.) Maybe 50% chance of 1xp each time you blow the conch, just to give you incentive to attract attention to yourself. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 02:31, 23 April 2006 (BST)


}}

=== Know your foes ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=|
suggest_scope=|
suggest_description=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...|
suggest_time=15:08, March 16, 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=Leaf|
suggest_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)

*A contact list would be quite useful in Shartak. But also being able to read profiles, maybe through an "observe" button and scroll-down menu. For the moment, people just hit each other once, hoping to miss, in order to get a link to the other guy's profile. There must be a more rationnal way to quench this curiosity. -- Gone 13:36, 10 May 2006 (GMT+1)

* Basic contact list functionality added. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:08, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
** Can now edit the comments and change the type of the contact from friend to enemy or neutral. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 11:17, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

=== Forest Fire ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics, natural disasters|
suggest_scope=Terrain|
suggest_description=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).|
suggest_time=03:58, 17 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_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)
** Imagine what would happen if an ammo hut caught on fire!--[[User:Darkferret|Darkferret]] 04:32, 1 April 2006 (BST)
** 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 ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics, miniboss|
suggest_scope=Event|
suggest_description=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.|
suggest_time=03:58, 17 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_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)
***Hmm, when the elephant reappears, it should give a loud trumpet which can be heard over a certain radius to increase the chance of players coming across it. Unless of course players would prefer that it were more stealthy. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 23:25, 4 April 2006 (BST)

*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)

*I ''love'' this idea.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:08, 28 March 2006 (BST)

*Great idea!--[[User:Paradox244|Paradox244]] 21:04, 24 May 2006 (BST)

*Ah, yes! I was wanting to suggest 'rare' animals as a possible addition, to give variety to the fauna and to provide something for my clan to pursue.--[[User:John Sevier|John Sevier]] 19:17, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

=== Auto Attack ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=|
suggest_scope=|
suggest_description=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.|
suggest_time=02:34, 20 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Qberry|Qberry]]|
suggest_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)
* The impetus behind auto-attack is to lessen the chance and impact of Badness happening to your character while you're away, but auto-attack isn't the proper solution to this. Shartak's appropriate skill would be jungle hiding, though a construction skill would work too, if we want to be more like that other game. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 13:51, 4 April 2006 (BST)
* What the animals are doing now is basically what I was saying should be an option for players. In fact, now that the animals counter-attack, it's become far more safe to attack a high-level soldier than it is to attack a parrot. All the more reason to implement this feature. It will also introduce more strategy into gameplay, such as how many AP to reserve for counter attacks, etc. It could be as simple as: enable auto-attack (toggle), if enabled, select weapon (pull-down menu), select AP to stop self-defense (pull-down?). If you select 0, you'd attack until exhausted or they left. If you select some non-zero, you'd attack until you were down to that amount. I kill a lot of other players, but I still say this would be very good for game mechanics, especially considering the new animal behavior. --[[User:Qberry|Qberry]] 06:00, 1 June 2006 (GMT)
** I would only agree with that one if it was only against animals. I don't think auto-defense was a good idea ''at all'', but now that it's in, I think that ours should only work against NPCs.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 20:11, 1 June 2006 (BST)
*** Unfortunately this could only exacerbate the Banshee Wailing Spam problems. An auto-defense option is worthless against spirits, and Banshee Wails could easily be the leading cause of damage and death in Shartak (during May 2006). Implement Exorcism before worrying about AP-costs and pull-down-menus for melee parry defense systems. --20:48, 1 June 2006 (BST)
**** Exactly. Actually, I've been thinking more on this. It's really a good thing that the animals are so dangerous now. The focus should be more on the struggle between natives and outsiders. Plus, it makes Animal Affinity that much better, which gives a good reason to play a villager or a settler.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 23:48, 1 June 2006 (BST)
*I support this idea in theory, but of course it must be approached carefully. I like JonesDye's idea of not gaining XP for counter-attacks, and there are so many other factors to consider. QBerry-- you should start a thread about this in the forums to get all sides of the debate and get discussion going. This could be a great feature if implemented correctly. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 00:47, 4 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Flavor Text===

this section is where "users" add "flavor" to the game, im just suggesting that every few steps the computer say a message depending on location, here ill give a few examples:

*'''grasslands'''
**the grassy field sways under the wind's rush as you take a step.|
**something far off squaks and makes a strange throaty bellow.|

*'''water'''
**a wave crashes calmly in the distance|
**a spalsh can be heard from far off|

*'''jungle'''
**a parrot's call can be heard distantly|
**the bushes nearby are rustling from the small wildlife in them|

*'''village (outsider)'''
**the smell of gunpowder wafts into your lungs|
**the smoke comming from a nearby hut smells of fresh turkey|

*'''village (native)'''
**the shaman's voice can be heard traveling through the village|
**you step on the bones of what appears to be a rattlesnake|

*'''beach'''
**the hot sand burns your feet, yet feels wonderfully different|
**several sea shells catch your eye from far off|

please feel free to update these with more, as they are just a list (if simon decides to) that will be used for flavor.
i want to do this because the game gets kinda boring simply traversing through square after square

''Comments''
* One of the noticeable, distinct aspects of that other game are the different messages for each building; i really like this idea. A criticism, though - i'd refrain from mentioning living animals/people or useful items in the descriptions, they could be confusing to newbies. In other words, "a parrot's call can be heard distantly" isn't appropriate, and "the shaman's voice can be heard traveling through the village" might not be appropriate if the shaman is currently dead. The following could substitute: "You see a large ant colony busily rebuilding their hive" (an animal that has no game impact) and "The spirit of Shubar is felt all around you" (doesn't matter if Shubar is alive or dead). --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 14:05, 4 April 2006 (BST)
* I sort of feel like this is something that could easily be put together with a Greasemonkey script. It would be nice, but it isn't really necessary. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 05:35, 5 April 2006 (BST)
:* See the end of the list at [[The Shartak Wiki:Community Portal#Greasemonkey scripts]]. — [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 23:31, 11 June 2006 (BST)
----

===slots/ new inventory===
slots and inventory could be implemented where, a picture of a silhouette was shown, with names of equiped items in slotted areas, ex: you skin a goat, find some sharp rocks and fashion yourself some claws, you then put them on, giving you +1 damage to all melee attacks
[[Suggestions:Items#animal wearings|animal wearings]]

"Comments below"

Making Claws? and not "all melee attacks" but only punch attacks --[[User:Slith|Slith]] 06:45, 29 March 2006 (BST)

I don't see why you need item slots for this. Having a pair of claws in the inventory would just improve punch damage by 1. That said, I don't like the idea of making oneself claws. Seems a little silly, when you have actual weapons around. Seems a little silly, either way, really. Perhaps that's just my sense of aesthetics, though, and not that of the majority of the players.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 06:37, 4 April 2006 (BST)
----

===Boat Construction===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=|
suggest_scope=|
suggest_description=Boats wouldn't be able to go into The very deep water people can't go into because the tides would rip them apart but could go move in all water for only 1 AP and it also prevents sharks from biting you. Multipule people could get into a boat based on how much wood is used, like
n*.001 x 1 = People Where n = The amount of wood used.

''Edit'':

When Boats are being boarded each player may vote on who they decide should be the captain. The captian may move boat, call the boat any non vulgar name and anyone may jump off the boat at any time except the captain. Boats could only be built on a beach and automaticly once built move the person who constructed it into the nearest water square. Players may board the baot at any time by moving into the same square as it and selecting enter. When the captain moves the boat onto a land square the boat is destroyed and all people who boarded are thrown onto the beach. Players may change the captain at any time by changing there vote. Natives can not board Outsider boats and outsiders can not board native boats. What the boat looks like and is called depends on the size of it.

1 person: Raft

2 people: Large raft

3-4: Small boat

5-6: Boat

7-9: Large Boat

10-24: Huge Boat

25 and up: Gigantic Boat|
suggest_time=06:42, 29 March 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Slith|Slith]]|
suggest_comments=

*check out the skills section, i already suggested something like that.... anyway, check it out --[[User:Richard Rose|Richard Rose]]
*While the huts are handled in Richard's suggestion, I am interested in the boat aspect. I think that placing multiple players on a boat will be troublesome. Who decides where the boat goes - the server? the first player on the boat? It's also important to keep in mind that we already are offered a skill to help with moving in water - '''Swimming'''. If we are to introduce rafts, there should be some mechanics set in place to minimize their usefulness. Perhaps carrying a raft through non-water terrain doubles movement cost to discourage players from carrying one everywhere. Perhaps the raft only has a limited amount of moves in deep water before breaking up. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:44, 29 March 2006 (BST)
** Yeah I changed the suggestion based on your suggestion's :) --[[User:Slith|Slith]] 04:40, 30 March 2006 (BST)
*"Welcome to the Shartak ferry sevice. Please pay the captain your fee of 3 coins. We will be departing for the pirate ship in 3 hours. The captain has locked the destination coordinates and will not change directions unless the boat's integrity is threatend. We will arive in 50 AP + 10 AP per passenger + 5 per day due to drift. You are encouraged to help paddle the boat as this will help us arive sooner. If you decide to leave the boat at any time we will not refund you or allow you to reboard. Please do not pull out any corks or kick any boards as the boat is fragile and will sink if badly damaged."--[[User:Darkferret|Darkferret]] 05:06, 1 April 2006 (BST)
** Yeah ^^ That too --[[User:Slith|Slith]] 00:48, 3 April 2006 (BST)
* Boats sound cool. There are a lot of different ways to implement boats that aren't that complicated. Here's one example: suppose that a boat can hold 4 people. Anyone who wants to control the boat spends 4 AP to move the boat one square (larger boats move more slowly). Thus the boat could wander back and forth depending on who currently has the helm, but is unlikely to travel faster than a swimmer. Anyone (native or outsider) can dive overboard or climb onboard at any time, and the boat can be chopped up and destroyed by enough effort. ... The way I envision it, a boat never leaves the water -- the boat gets constructed on a beach square and then can only be moved onto water. It is never an inventory item. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 09:31, 2 June 2006 (BST)
**That's a good idea. I would go so far, though, as to say that it has to be constructed in shallow water.It would just make it easier. I would propose that the boat require four pieces of driftwood, plus two for every extra person. Thus a 1-man raft would be 4 pieces, a 2-man raft would be 6, a 3-man would be 8, and so on.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 18:26, 2 June 2006 (BST)
***Although there's no reason not to require, umm, a boatload of wood for construction, rather than just 2 + 2 per person. If the boat has any advantages at all over swimming, you could easily require huge quantities of wood without game imbalance. The original suggester had 1000 pieces per person, that's over the top, but why not 18 wood per person or something. That means N sailors could build an N-person boat in a single day searching at Shartak's [[Boatyard]]. Although construction might require another day of additional AP, and a hammer... --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 23:07, 2 June 2006 (BST)
****I'd be in favor of boat construction, but it should be ''significantly'' harder and MUCH more time consuming to work, really only the most hardcore players should try it. Realistically, a person should need about 20 pieces of wood to displace their own body weight, so 20 wood per person is about right. It should take at least a week of devoted searching to come up with this amount for one person, and would require a fair amount of organization to build a large craft, but come on, its a BOAT! Virtually no attacks from anyone ever! Easy access to hard-to-reach islands! It should be extremely rare and time-consuming to do this IMO.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 05:18, 3 June 2006 (BST)
* i reckon the boat idea would be great especially for the CP so we are land police of york and water police of york!,hopefully this does work out!. [[User:Riddick|riddick]] 21:17 10 June,2006 (GMT).
*If boats are implemented, wouldn't it make sense to allow pirates a special skill regarding them? After all, the pirates on Shartak were all sailors before wrecking their ship. It would only make sense if they (for instance) used fewer AP to sail or something similar. [[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]] 8:53, 11 July 2006 (GMT)
*I think that boats could add a valuable dimension to the game once more pressing issues (such as spirit exorcism/warding) are dealt with and the active population of the island grows by a few hundred (because boats would spread players out over an even larger area and make people even harder to find outside of camps). Anyway, here are my ideas.
**Regarding boat speed, realism would demand that boat travel be faster than swimming in at least some cases. At best, a boat should be able to travel from York to Derby (for example) faster than anyone could make the trip on foot (~160 AP with ''trailblazing''; see [[User:Elembis/Sandbox#Camp travel distances|my sandbox]]). Furthermore, a four-person crew should be able to outrun or at least keep up with a boat with just one person onboard. I think a boat should move for 1.5 AP regardless of how many people (up to 4) are in it. With cooperation, a full crew could make the York-Derby trip (~276 squares east to west) in 276 × 1.5 / 4 = 103.5 AP per person, or a little under a day and a half. A 1.5 AP move cost for boats would make swimming faster for a single player in shallow water but not in deep water, and a crew of two or more people would be able to outdistance any swimmer.
**The boat would have a virtual helm, and only players at the helm (captains) would be able to set the boat's course (one of the eight compass directions) and sail off-course if they desired. Non-captains would only be able to move the boat in the direction of the course or the two adjacent directions (so a NW course would only allow them to move N, NW and W). The helm could be shared, but only an empty helm could be taken (i.e., you have to kill the captain(s) first). This would keep players from climbing aboard and sailing far off-course (or perhaps to shore in hostile territory). A captain who left the boat would return as crew and would need to be promoted again by whoever had the helm.
**Boats could be entered, exited, or boarded from another boat for 1 AP. Players would leave boats (1) voluntarily, (2) by being killed, or (3) if they were not a captain and a captain forced them off for 1 AP.
**Construction would occur on the beach, as Tycho suggested. (A one-time script would flag beach squares next to water, and construction of boats would only be possible on those squares.) It would progress one piece at a time to (1) avoid unrealistic near-instant boat construction and (2) to allow multiple people to contribute driftwood to the effort. There would be a 1 AP "Build" button and a dropdown box for all boats on the square. ("[Build] <nothing / Ye Olde Boat> with a piece of driftwood.") After contributing a piece of driftwood a player would see how many more pieces the boat needed. There would also be a form for starting a new boat with one piece of driftwood. ("[Start building] a new boat named [text input].")
**Boats would be attackable with melee weapons and could disintegrate slowly (1) when they are unoccupied, (2) when they have been under construction for more than a week, and (2) as they travel. A boat would only disappear from the game if it had 0 HP and had been that way for an entire week. (A script could run every ''x'' hours to check for unoccupied boats and damage them, and a nightly script could check for destroyed and abandoned boats and delete them.) For realism and gameplay, it should be easier to kill all four passengers on a boat than to destroy the boat itself as well as more rewarding (i.e., hurting a boat would yield few XP, if any). Attacks that targeted the boat would be visible to everyone onboard just as if they themselves were being attacked. Players onboard would be attackable by anyone on the square, whether the attacker is riding in another boat or swimming. (If sailors were not attackable, natives raiding outsider camps would be able to take sanctuary in boats just offshore.) Giant squids would attack boats about as often as they attacked the people onboard (unless a passenger had attacked the squid, in which case the squid would focus on that player until they were dead). Sharks, however, would leave boats and their occupants alone.
**Most important, in my opinion, is that the best boat builders and/or repairers would be settlers, villagers and pirates. While boat construction would be too fun to not share, those three classes need unique skills. An exclusive repair skill might be appropriate; unskilled captains would push a boat until it couldn't go anywhere (or hire someone to repair it), but settlers/villagers/pirates would be able to repair boats (including any abandoned ones they found). Fully repairing a nearly destroyed boat should probably be about half as expensive, in terms of both AP and driftwood, as building a new one. Needless to say, boats could be a real chore to implement, but they would surely make the game even more distinctive and rich. — [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 20:48, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

===Poisoning===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics, status effect, balance|
suggest_scope=All classes, primarily Warriors|
suggest_description=Currently, the blowpipe can only carry 1 dart, yet weighs the same amount of inventory space as a rifle with 2 bullets. If you were to pit a fully leveled Soldier armed with loaded rifles against a fully leveled Warrior armed with loaded blowpipes, the battle is in favor of the Soldier who requires less time to reload while inbattle and dealing superior damage. (rifle's 5 to blowpipe's 4).

To address this, I would propose that poison darts actually cause poisoning. Poisoning would behave much like a shark bite - causing 1 HP damage per action performed until they are administered a FAK or medical herbs. A character can die if poison is left untreated. The attacker receives no additional XP for this kill or the damage dealt from poison. Poisoning would not stack, but it would be possible for a character to suffer from both poison and shark bites. The introduction of poison may require the dart's damage to be reduced to something substantially lower. Perhaps a default of 2 HP inflicted.

Up for discussion - does poisoning have a percent chance of occurring, an AP lifespan (only lasts 10 moves), and perhaps only works on non-npc characters?|
suggest_time=18:38, 6 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

*Sounds great! I've heard that some of the toxicins used to poison darts can induce illutions. It would be interesting if poisoning increases AP usage for certain actions or even better imagined enemies (that Sixth Sence could pick out).--[[User:Darkferret|Darkferret]] 08:24, 7 April 2006 (BST)
* Have you seen the size of the some of the blowpipes that certain tribes carry? They're anything from 6 to 10 foot long! It's hardly surprising that they occupy the same inventory space as a rifle :) On the other hand, poisoning from darts sounds like a good idea.. I don't know that they should poison forever though, maybe for a limited number of AP, but perhaps have the effect be cumulative up to a certain point? Get shot 5 times and you lose 1 HP for every AP used for 5 x whatever the limit is. Does that make sense? --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 21:16, 7 April 2006 (BST)
***Exactly - e.g., each poison dart that hits adds 2 AP to the poison duration, and while poisoned, you lose 1HP per AP used. The Poison Dart would eventually inflict 6 hp of damage, offsetting the extra damage and double barrel of the rifle. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 07:22, 12 April 2006 (BST)
**That might work, that way the Warrior has incentive to continue using the blowpipe multiple times on a target rather than just switch to their machete after the poison takes effect. Add to the character table a boolean flag (Poison = True) and give it a Poison Timer int. When the timer reaches 0, the Poison gets flipped to False. When the character dies or a FAK or Herb is applied, the Poison gets flipped to False and the timer gets set to 0. If the flag is True and they're poisoned again, stack the timer. I'm going to put forth this suggestion to the Forum. I don't have a lot of experience with using the blowpipe (I'm a machete guy) so they should weigh in on this. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:17, 7 April 2006 (BST)
* Or how about you can find [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_dart_frog#Toxicity frogs] and use them to put differnt posion effects on your darts? --[[User:Slith|Slith]] 04:57, 11 April 2006 (BST)
:*If we're adding poison dart frogs, I demand that they be lickable. It wouldn't be right, if you couldn't lick the poison dart frogs.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 20:14, 11 April 2006 (BST)
::* Ok... then some benifical frogs too! And people can't tell the diffrence between them unless they get some skill? --[[User:Slith|Slith]] 06:27, 17 April 2006 (BST)
*Bump! Awaiting a short lifespan (eg 4hp) additional poison effect for poison darts. And/or Native-only Poisoning skill so that Snake + Dart = uberdart that causes permanent poisoning (aka shark wound). --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 20:51, 1 June 2006 (BST)
* Short lifespan poison effect added a little while ago. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 22:43, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

}}

===PvP Protection===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics, pvp, nopvp, vs, player versus player|
suggest_scope=All Classes|
suggest_description=A full implementation of player versus player protection. This would be a nice feature for newbies allowing them time to adjust to the game without getting slaughtered. I envisage something allowing you to enable nopvp without the ability to disable for at least 100AP. Also when you hit a player who is flagged nopvp then you would get a message along the lines of "As your blade bounces off an invisible shield you suddenly notice a shamanic medicine pouch around the neck of target, they are protected, it would be pointless to continue to attack target." where target will be replaced by the players name.|
suggest_time=10:00, 13 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Iamtas|Iamtas]]|
suggest_comments=

* This is a good, well-thought suggestion. But while I don't generally like PKing, I think it is important to keep it available to those that do enjoy it. With XP penalties and easy resurrection, PKing not ruining the game from my perspective and it shouldn't be restricted further. I would not mind a method of informing players that view my character profile to see that I am flagged for pvp or not, but I am against preventing PVP without purchasing such an ability. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 21:16, 13 April 2006 (BST)
* New players already get an AP bonus and need less XP to level; I don't see the need for a newbie specific ability. I'd rather see a safe area over a moveable system - something like a sacred hut in native villages and a guard hut in outsider villages which anyone who hasn't attacked another player in 100 AP can enter and within which all PvP activity is prohibited, wastes AP, or perhaps results in HP loss only to the attacker ("Your attack has angered the mighty (spirits or guards) in the area; they smite you").--[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 04:12, 14 April 2006 (BST)
*Having both a PvP pirate and a pacifist shaman, and having been PKed on both... I don't like this idea. I like the 100AP newbie status. I don't like the "enabling" nopvp. Sorry. Death is a part of the game. If you walk into a tribe of hostile headhunters, they aren't going to just stand by and let you through--no matter how peaceful your business.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 04:27, 14 April 2006 (BST)
*I'm aware that new players get extra AP and newbie protection isn't what this is about. It is more useful for being protected from the players that sit in their home town bashing away at their own folk. Even with that said my main reason for nopvp was for another idea I have for a skill track that at the time of thinking about it I thought would require a nopvp implementation. I may post the skill track idea sometime when I have finished thinking about all the details.--[[User:Iamtas|Iamtas]] 12:07, 14 April 2006 (BST)
*How about you can't be attacked in your village/settlement by people that come from your village/settlement? --[[User:Slith|Slith]] 06:30, 17 April 2006 (BST)
*As much as I don't care for PK-ing (especially against newbies like me!), it is something many people enjoy (and I am in full agreement with [[User:Wifey|Wifey]] about how newbies could visit enemy territory and be invincible) and is an excellent way of gaining XP if you choose to do so. I second the notion of having a PvP free hut in each settlement/village; perhaps disable the attack command entirely while in there? As a penalty for using such a hut, there should be no resource items there, so that players will still need to 'risk' being in resource huts to restock. Or, at least charge 5AP to enter (you have to talk your way in or at least convince the guards to allow you entrance; thus people who 'play it safe' will need to conserve their AP as they are not taking risks). One of the hallmarks of games like this is AP managment, and most of us learned that the hard way...--[[User:John Sevier|John Sevier]] 19:28, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

===New strategic location on island===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=New location, Game mechanics, |
suggest_scope=N/A|
suggest_description=I think the addition of one or more major new "strategic" locations on the island would greatly improve the game. What exactly it would be can be worked out, all it really ''has'' to be is very valuable to occupy and far away from any village or town (i.e. far away from any shaman). Both sides would rush to occupy this location and would fight each other for control of it.

This would have 3 major benefits for the game that I can see: 1) It would get the action away from towns/villages/shamans, 2) It would make death more meaningful and make killing an enemy meaningful (all death means in towns/villages now is having to float five spaces or so to the shaman and then you get a free revive. There are no easy/free revives out in the center of the island, you would lose both location and the 50 AP to contact, unless you decide to stick around and play as a spirit), 3) It would give people a goal in the game, a major location to fight over and defend, a location that isn't pointless to fight over, as towns/villages are because they cannot be taken. All in all it would have the benefit of making the game more fun.

As far as what the new location would be exactly, one idea could be gold mine(s). They would be valuable because standing on a gold mine square would give you 1 gold coin/hr and require no AP expenditure. The specifics of this are wide open and dont even much matter, as long as the location is far from settlements and very valuable to occupy so players will flock out there and fight for control, making for an exciting time and making killing enemies non-pointless.

If implemented, it should only be one new location at first, with maybe a couple more introduced later once things get going. The location should have a name, and it should be relayed to players in the form of Game News so that everyone knows of its existance and where it is in general terms, e.g. "A gold mine was discovered just south of the mountain, Natives and Outsiders are both rushing out there for control".

''Note: One of the raisons d'etre for this suggestion has been eliminated with the shaman changes, so this suggestion is less relevant than it was and in some ways outdated. It might still be workable, though it will have to be approached differently.'' [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 00:27, 4 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_time=21:02, 22 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Arminius|Arminius]]|
suggest_comments=

* I realise it was just an example, but 1 gold per hour without any AP requirement is probably a bit much. Definitely something to expand on though. I like it. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 21:46, 22 April 2006 (BST)
** For example, award 1 gold coin to any one player at random who is on the mine for at least the full hour. Or only award 1 gold coin at random to any one player if only one side occupies the mine -- if both outsiders and nativers are present, they are fighting for control and no one is mining. Generally speaking, 24 gold coins per <s>hour</s>day fed into the entire game will not mess up the economy -- that's probably less than 75-150 AP of searching (and a trip to the trading hut). Alternatively, allow players to search the area with a <s>15%</s> 40% find rate for one gold coin, as long as none of the opposing faction are present in the square. Drawbacks: (1) This sort of high-impact location could also increase zerging/cheating, which wouldn't be fun for anyone. (2) A gold mine could rapidly devalue gold coins until they're effectively worthless, ending the "value" of the mine. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 02:22, 23 April 2006 (BST)
***Giving out small numbers of coins to only a certain percentage of the people on the mine square seems too low a reward, while the original 1 gold coin per hour is definitely too high. But unless people get something tangible every hour that they stand there, people may not bother to fight for control of the mine, which is the whole point. Here is an idea: Make a new item called "gold nugget". Every hour that you are standing on the gold mine square and your faction controls it, you get one gold nugget. Then create a hut 1 square adjacent to the mine and inside have an NPC called "gold prospector Jim" (for example), who will "cash in" your nuggets, 10 nuggets (or 5, or whatever is deemed the best number) for one coin. Gold nuggets on their own would have no value. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 14:57, 29 April 2006 (BST)
****You could achieve the same effect without creating a prospector hut just by giving a straight 10% (or 20%) chance of 1 gold coin each hour. (To me a single "prospector Jim" gets a bit sketchy if a thousand people are rushing the mine...). In my opinion, you get better scalability and realism if the gold-per-person decreases as people increase. If there are a thousand people on the mine, then each person gets only 5% chance per hour (=50gc/hour production). If there are 10 people on the mine, then each one gets a 100% chance per hour (=10gc/hour production). Gold can't be earned from the mine when competing factions are on the location, creating a contested site is the purpose of implementing this suggestion. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 09:41, 2 June 2006 (BST)
::::If there is a 10% chance to get one gold coin per hour, and if during a large portion of the day both natives and outsiders are on the gold mine square so no mining is going on, then the odds would be that the lots of people would get 0 gold coins (or very few) before being killed, a total waste of time for them, and they might not bother going back after they're killed, which defeats the gold mine's purpose as a strategic location that people will fight over. This is why I say people need something tangible every hour. In fact, that should be revised to "something tangible every AP turnover", i.e. every 20 minutes. Even if someone is there for only a short time, they should have something to show for it, which they almost certainly wouldnt with a low % chance per hour of getting one gold coin. Your idea of scaling the gold that the mine produces could be implemented by making Gold Prospector Jim give fewer gold coins the more nuggets he receives. In other words, a gold mining version of the current trading system. Since he will have received 0 gold nuggets as the mine is first discovered, one gold nugget could trade for one gold coin, and as more people start cashing in, the value of a gold nuggest would go down, to where he wants 20 or so nuggets for one gold coin. The value would fluctuate throughout the day and week as people cash in more gold nuggets. This way, scalability is achieved while continuing to be able to reward something tangible every AP turnover. Also, I would say gold nuggets should take 0 inventory space just like gold coins, since in theory 72 could be given out per day to one person, and that would fill up anyone's inventory, allowing them to not receive any more. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 00:27, 4 June 2006 (BST)

* An alternative to the gold mine would be some kind of ancient treasure hoard, so not just gold coins but also statues, ancient armour and maybe some pretty nasty weapons. However, to get the good stuff you'd have to go into the trap-filled maze and actually make it into the chamber where the treasure is. With spirit-proof doors so people don't just die, go in, find the correct route, revive and go in...[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 17:33, 24 April 2006 (BST)
**This is interesting but seems overly complicated, and seems like more of a one-shot kind of thing, but most significantly there is no real value in holding such a location. A gold mine would be a simple, straightforward, and constantly of high value to occupy. Also, once one person finds the way through the maze, soon everyone would know. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 14:57, 29 April 2006 (BST)
***Good point... Ignore my suggestion, it's not very good... [[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 12:27, 2 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Life cycle===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=balance change|
suggest_scope=NPC animals|
suggest_description=Currently the main way of leveling up is by killing things (i.e. NPCs & characters) I suggest there be some sort of life cycle for animals. For example, when there are massive amounts of tigers being killed less spawn. But if everybody leaves tigers alone, more spawn. If would look something like this:
:0-5% of animal type killed, x5 spawn rate
:6-15% of animal type killed, x2 spawn rate
:16-45% of animal type killed x1 spawn rate
:46-75% of animal type killed x0.5 spawn rate
:76-99% of animal type killed x0.1 spawn rate
:100% of animal type killed, animal is extinct
 This forces people to find alternative ways to gain Xp (possibly more lucrative ones?)|
suggest_time=03:22, 29 May 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_comments=

I have the funny feeling that animals would start going extinct, which would just be a pain. I'd rather not see this one implemented.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 15:50, 29 May 2006 (BST)
: Would work if there was a total animal population that was always kept, so if tigers start to become extinct more deer appear, but this would lead to an island of only elephants. Would also work if the animals that were extinct reemerged later on, then it would just be annoying. But the goal of "find alt ways to gain Xp" won't be realised via this manner - it would instead lead to more player vs player action. Instead of taking away our current methods, perhaps other methods of xp gaining could be added, like the agriculture skill, or some current activities could have an xp bonus (we get xp for uncovering trees, why not for finding fruits? Could trading become xp-worthy?).--[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 16:47, 29 May 2006 (BST)
:: I don't know why we should force people to find the lucrative alternative ways to gain XP. Animals are extremely rare in some areas of Shartak, and PKing and PvP is common. Banshee wailing spam, punch-heal farming, and gratuitous healer orgies are annoying enough already. Basically, the non-healing/non-harming XP paths need to be more viable: XP for exploring, chopping, discovery, contacting foreign villages, and so on. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 10:01, 2 June 2006 (BST)


}}

===Message in a bottle===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=New item, message system|
suggest_scope=All characters in Beach terrain|
suggest_description=Much like the "make signpost" action, creating a message in a bottle will only be available to players standing in Beach terrain. Unless the "Refillable containers" suggestion is implemented, to create a message in a bottle will require a bottle of beer, bottle of rum, or bottle of water and some newer items - parchment and charred driftwood or berry paint. There would be a textarea and a button, much like the existing message actions. Upon clicking the "make message" button, the items required are removed from the player's inventory and their text message is added to the database.

Although it would be neat to actually see the bottles floating in the water and following unique movement patterns, that would lead to some very cluttered areas. So instead the message in a bottle becomes a rare search result in Beach terrain.

When a player finds a message in a bottle the system generates a random number and selects the associated message to that number from the database. After reading the message, the player has the option to destroy or return the bottle. Destroying the message in a bottle removes it from the database. Returning it throws the bottle back into the sea to be found again. There should probably be a default message in the event that all the unique messages are destroyed or the search odds could be modified to reflect that there are no more messages in a bottle to be found.

Each message could also have a stat to display how many times the message was read before.|
suggest_time=05:33, 6 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

Nice idea. I'd rather have the message bottle also be rare-findable in water. I think it'd be kind of neat to have some items found in water, even if only text messages generated by other players. The suggestion does await parchment, although I think that berries alone would be sufficient for ink ("you write in berry juice") rather than requiring a separate ink item. Implementing parchment might get a bit complicated - I'd prefer a very streamlined approach so that players aren't carrying around six (or 71) different message'd parchments at once. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 21:23, 16 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Map quest===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Quest|
suggest_scope=All characters, new NPCs|
suggest_description=There is a limited usefulness for the map for those without access to the mapping scripts. There is also a limited incentive for players to explore foreign camps. This suggestion provides a simple quest for players to hopefully address both issues.

Each town will possess a new NPC (or possibly a retooled home shaman or trader) that has a fragment of a map. The fragment will display the general vicinity around the camp. After a player interacts with the NPC and acquires a map fragment, they can view map.html and see two new buttons: "view torn map" and "compare maps". "View torn map" will display the collection of map fragments acquired by the player. "Compare maps" will overlay the player's personal map on top of the torn map.

I imagine the map fragments to resemble the parchment look featured in the game logo, but each camp might use a different medium or writing implement which will give the torn map a patchwork appearance.

The map fragments will not take up any inventory space and not even be listed in the inventory. On a character's profile page it may be possible to display their progress with the quest: (1/7 map fragments).

Obviously, having just the area of the camps mapped out will leave some large missing chunks in the torn map. There could be a hermit NPC that will complete the torn map once each fragment is obtained. The complete map can also have the feature of unlocking new territory. Talking to special elder NPCs will mark the map with locations that are viewable and enterable only by those with complete, marked maps.|
suggest_time=19:53, 6 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

Sure, this makes sense to me. Ideally, the special code (possibly including search outcomes, NPC interactions, non-item flags in character data, and so forth) would be generic enough so that it could also be borrowed to implement treasure hunts, scavenger hunts, secret locations, and other future plot-lines in Shartak. A Shartak map itself, even complete, would just show the same info that can be found via web or wiki, so it is not going to harm game balance. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 21:27, 16 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Living countermeasures against spirits===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill, balance change|
suggest_scope=Everyone who's sick of the gathering of banshees in their medical supply houses|
suggest_description=As spirits become more angry and desire ever-more the blood of the mortals around them, the shamans of the island have begun to develop ways to put them to flight or at least guard their fellow islanders against the terror that these ghosts inspire. In the course of circulating this information between the villages of Raktam, Dalpok, and Wiksik, however, it has been intercepted by outsider spies and delivered to the developing scientific communities that exist in the outsiders' camps.

To be concise, we've got a ghost problem in Shartak. I'm not sure how many villages this goes on in, but it seems that the spirits of the dead have taken up residence in the healers' hut of my beloved village of Wiksik. There are many living men and women also inside of this little abode, and all of us suffer from the shrieks and howls of the angry spectres, day after day. Some of our most skilled medicine-men have even lost their lives, struck dead from horror while they slept.

So, my suggestion?

I'm thinking about something around the lines of "spirit exorcism" skill that can be learned and used by shamans/scientist to banish spirits from whatever urban areas they inhabit. In order for this to be used, the individual must be in the same square as the spirit, in the village or camp that he/she originated from, and sense the spirit's presence. When used, the spirit will be flung out of the village/camp a long ways, perhaps 10 or 20 squares. This, I think, would be a reasonable answer to ghosts that find no better purpose in the afterlife than to haunt important huts in villages and try to scare the inhabitants to death...

(FYI, the Wiksik healing hut has 2 such spectres, and they're getting to be kinda irritating.)

Another such idea would be a "spirit ward" skill, also only usable by shamans and scientists, that would slow a spirit's movement and reduce the effectiveness of its attacks in the presence of a the shaman who holds the skill.

Another idea is that such a skill would allow the user to create wards out of certain types of items, that would be placed like a signpost in a square and produce a similar effect as above. This would last a finite amount of time before falling apart, and could be destroyed by mortals.|
suggest_time=19:54, 1 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Tenebrys|Tenebrys]]|
suggest_comments=


YES. I like this one. Spirits are annoying. [[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 17:27, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

: Yes, 100%. To clarify: (1) Banshee wailers are unlikely to earn even 90 xp per day since the xp nerf, so spirit abuse isn't the problem. (2) Mortals who spend an AP or two each day to STEP OUTSIDE THE HUT take no damage from wailing (shaman chanting protects them), so "suffering" by mortals too lazy to spend 2 in each 72 AP protecting themselves is not the problem. (3) Living characters who spend their entire lives in the Medical Hut searching for FAKs (Healing Herbs) and healing each other easily earn 150 xp per day with no risk and no interaction. (Even death is nothing but a 30 AP inconvenience.) My adventuring character has visited Dalpok with GPS units but gained no XP, while my Medical Hut XP Farmer has gone nowhere, done nothing, and gained 5 experience levels in 2 weeks. Solution 1: Scientists/Shamans get an Exorcism skill to blast spirits 20 away in a random direction. Solution 2: Advanced spirits get an AP-intensive skill that allows them to prohibit use of healing items in their current location. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 18:24, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

:: Banshee wailers don't really contribute anything to the game, as most of the ones I have seen simply spam the wail. I'm honestly not sure what purpose they serve beyond providing a lot of spam and some opertunity for an alternate way to gain XP besides combat. I would also disagree that healers do not interact, as there is often times conversation being held as well as healing other characters. Many times there remains no one to be healed in herbal/medical huts, so healers with take a trip outside to heal anyone they can find injured in the village. Honestly, I see it as a lot more interactive than simply running around and killing animals. So the question is, what role are spirits supposed to have in the game? Are they supposed to be a substainable pseudo-class or are they supposed to be a diversion from the living side of the game? I'm fine with either one, but if they are supposed to be a pseudo-class then I think they need something more than just a skill-branch which allows you to annoy people, as well as there would need to be a means by which living characters can forcibly deal with them. --[[User:Shosuro|Shosuro]] 3 July 2006

Ok, so does exorcism:
* banish just one spirit from the location?
* have a fairly high chance of banishing each spirit?
* have a fairly high change of banishing one spirit?
Whilst I can see shamans having this skill, and scientists having a similar skill with the same effect, would characters need to find an item such as a bible or a charm as well as having the skill in order to perform the ritual?

I think we're now at the point where this is likely to be the next thing added so get the ideas in! Wasn't there another section with a similar theme somewhere? Perhaps they should be merged. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 12:25, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

:Items necessary to perform an exorcismal ritual? Yes, I think so. At least -something- should have to be scrounged up or traded for, if shamans/scientists are to have such powers over the supernatural world...

:Looking around, I hadn't seen any articles that had similar such intentions, though. At any rate...

:As long as the items are available, exorcism should have a pretty high chance of getting rid of a spirit that is haunting an area. The odds should be such that a single spirit usually won't require more than two attempts at being cast out. If there is more than one spirit in the area, it might take multiple attempts before they're all gone; otherwise, as long as the exorcist is in the vicinity of ghosts and has the correct exorcismal supplies, he/she won't have all that much trouble getting rid of them.

:I can see this skill taking a good deal more than just one AP, though. Maybe three or five...

:As for the specific items? A bible and a candle or two would be sufficient for men versed in the religions of western civilization to carry out their duties when it comes to driving away supernatural beings. Natives, however, have different methods of dealing with ghosts and spectres they find -- their ceremonies may well make use of healing herbs burnt as offerings, driftwood used for talismans to ward off the dead, and even maybe a poisonous snake to help adorn a witch-doctor during ritual dances.

:Not sure if I'm going too far here, though... I haven't thought TOO deeply into the specifics of this skill. Others, especially shamans and scientists, feel free to add on... but stay rational. Not sure if I did the same... --[[User:Tenebrys|Tenebrys]] 22:22, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

:My preference would be to let a scientist or shaman exorcise one random spirit from their location for 1 AP and with a chance of reduced effectiveness (displacement of the spirit). The exorcism could be more effective if it took place near the exorciser's home camp and less effective if it took place near the spirit's home camp. (E.g., ''if (rand() > distToExorciserCampShaman/(distToExorciserCampShaman+distToSpiritCampShaman)) success=true''. This plays into myths of ghosts having homes/haunts that they prefer. I suppose displacement could be non-random and based simply upon the ratio just mentioned in italics, but the mysterious nature of an exorcism would practically demand unpredictability.) I wouldn't require any items and would certainly not cause items to be used up by exorcisms, because I think it makes less sense for spirit-world interaction to be a matter of potions and incense than for it to occur in a certain mental state (reached through intense concentration by scientists and chanting by shamans; the skill would be the same, but the flavor text would differ).

:I suppose I should mention that I'm trying to imagine spirits as existing in an alternate, simultaneous realm, not as misty apparitions capable of bumping things in the night and creating sound waves. (I guess that means screams, shrieks and wails damage a player's health by damaging their psyche and thus weakening their spirit-body connection, or something.) If anyone can provide a consistent (if fantastic) explanation of spirits in classical and/or Caribbean mythology, this might be a good place to do so. — [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 04:40, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

The previous discussion was tucked away on the Suggestion Talk page where it wasn't very visible. [[Talk:Suggestions#Exorcism|Exorcism]]. I'm not sure if merging is necessary, but some of the discussion there can carry over here. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 00:02, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

:The AP cost of Exorcism can be compared to Success-Likelihood * Number-Affected * Distance-Displaced. Sending a spirit 15-40 squares away in a random direction seems like a good idea (imho they should land out of sight of the camp). This will cost the spirit 15-40 AP to recoup. To charge the same amount to the scientist/shaman, we could use an AP cost of (e.g.) 4 per Exorcism combined with a 25%-10% chance of Exorcism success. Unless Exorcism gives an XP reward, tho, there isn't much incentive to use it ... So with no XP reward, I'd be happier with a cheaper and more effective Exorcism skill. For example, cost could be 3-5 AP, and effectiveness could be 40%-50% (for example, 40% chance on one spirit, then if successful 40% chance on another spirit, and so on, if you want a very slight chance to banish multiple spirits). Certain charms (such as the Silver Cross for Outsiders/Outsider Knowledge) could either be necessary pre-requisites, or perhaps greatly increase the ritual's effectiveness. Perhaps the charm or cross is used to bless fresh water, which in turn becomes able to be consumed in Exorcism. I support more complex item interaction -- Shartak would benefit from item-dependent skills. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 05:09, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

::It'd be least jarring for players if successes seemed related to the odds of utter failure (i.e., no "failure, big success, big success, failure" stuff); for example, the odds might be 20% for a complete miss, 20% for a displacement of 1 to 3 squares, 20% for a displacement of 4 to 8 squares, 20% for a displacement of 9 to 15 squares, and 20% for a displacement of 16 to 25 squares. To get such an exponential distribution, get a random number from 0 to 5, square it, round it down, and displace the spirit by that number. In practice, this would mean a displacement of 20 or more squares would occur just 10% of the time, and the (mean) average displacement (if I did the integration properly) would be about 8 squares. Since exorcism will be the only way for a living player to harm a spirit, and assuming there will be no XP gain for using the skill, I think a cost of 1 AP per exorcism will be fine. — [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 03:18, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

:::Elembis gives another good method of implementing exorcism (Equivalently, you can generate a random number 0 to 1, then multiply by 25, then round down). From my perspective: In fine literary (movie?) tradition, I was envisioning an exorcism as an event that either works spectacularly or fails utterly (on any particular spirit). I can't think of many exorcism examples where the spirit is driven out of the bedroom into the stairway or the breakfast nook. So I'd be happier with an exorcism that kicked 15+ squares (or none at all). --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 05:59, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I personally like the idea of ghosts and what not, but I hate the fact that as the living we have no effect on them. So I propose in the interest of gameplay distinction we only give the exorcism skill (the ability to banish spirits to a random location) to only the outsider scientist class and for the shaman class (given their nature) create a new “revive/raise” skill which like the NPC shaman’s in the game “return spirits to a body”, the percentage chance of success should be low (5%), with an XP reward of 5 or 10 (anymore would encourage farming) while everything else remains the same as a normal revive, this means shamans can force revive annoying spirits and/or promote party/group explorations as they don’t have to start over since it reduces the need to contact shamans (as long as the shaman is alive that is). To maintain fairness additional gameplay distinction may include the newly revived having only a half life (30HP instead of max HP) and/or more AP cost to stand up. Furthermore this new skill maybe tweaked to allow shamans to have a new avenue in necromancy powers over dead bodies like perhaps zombies.--[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 02:52, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Scientists are men of reason and thus I do not believe they are the type who would use exorcism to banish spirits. I think they should use cameras (a suggested item) to capture the spirits and carry them away from the camp to a shaman.--[[User:Darkferret|Darkferret]] 04:41, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

''Moved from [[Suggestions:Skills]]:'' I feel that powerful native Shamans should have a greater degree of power over spirits. The skill would be in the same branch as the Sixth Sense and Seance abilities and would give Shamans the ability to exorcise a single identified spirit from the area for 5 AP. It would work by automatically moving the spirit a number of sqaures in a random direction (east, west, northwest etc). The power of the skill would be dependant on the level of the Shaman using it - the number of sqaures the spirit is moved will be equal to the level of the Shaman. For example, a level 15 Shaman with this skill would be able to use the skill on a spirit in the same area and send it 15 squares in a random direction. I feel this skill would do a great deal to make things more interesting for spirit players.
I think generally that the natives should have a greater degree of power over spiritual things than the outsiders (although they would have different advantages) --[[User:Zeff|Zeff]] 18:01, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

:Indeed mystery commenter, I must admit though that I like the idea of using the Shaman's level to determine how many squares to send the spirit. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 20:26, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

:Very good. Displacement depends on the shaman's level while the chance of success (assuming success isn't guaranteed) is static (around 40%, perhaps, with a 2 AP use cost) or dependent on the distances to the two parties' home camps (see my comment above) if that's feasable. — [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 22:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

===Identification of strangers===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Ability|
suggest_scope=Identification of strangers|
suggest_description=As a native, I would like an "Identify an outsider" button when standing on the same square as one or more outsiders I can't recognize. (Outsiders would have the same thing for natives, naturally.) It's unrealistic that the best ways to identify people are to attack them or give them gold. It's also bothersome; gold coins are hard to find in the wilderness, and a cheapskate may attack a stranger only to regret the attack upon discovering that their target was a peaceful person. If you're the sort of player who likes to attack every stranger you meet, that's fine. However, many people do discriminate between strangers, and it shouldn't be unduly hard for them to simply figure out who someone is.

Identification would cost 1 AP. Flavor text could be something like
:You examine an outsider until you're able to tell them apart from all the others. They are {{profile|6|Leaky Bocks}}.

I estimate that this change will have the following effects:
# Identification before an attack will be easier and thus more attractive to moderately peaceful players, resulting in less "gratuitous cross-class violence" (as [[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] [[Talk:Identify_Friend_or_Foe|put it]]) at the hands of players who wish to avoid it.
# [[Identify Friend or Foe]] [[:Category:IFF supporter|supporters]] will no longer be subject to the current "peace tax".
# Non-participants in the IFF initiative will neither receive gold from curious players nor see who has identified them. However, after they are identified they may still be given gold or even spoken to (which I prefer from a roleplaying perspective) if cheaper identification makes people more willing to interact with those they identify. I know I'd rather spend 1.5 AP to identify someone and speak to them than 1 AP and a coin to merely identify them.

Since it's already possible to identify a stranger in ways that help them (by giving gold) or hurt them (by attacking), why shouldn't there be a more direct middle path?|
suggest_time=06:18, 28 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Elembis|Elembis]]|
suggest_comments=

I'm looking for a flaw in the reasoning here, but I can't find one. I support this. 18:40, 31 July 2006. [[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]]

}}

===Drowning===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Game mechanics|
suggest_scope=Environment|
suggest_description=Perhaps there should be some rules for drowning? Many players in Shartak (including my character, Zeff) like to camp/sleep in the water. I feel there should be a risk of drowning when a player spends a long period of time in deep water - shallow water would not apply. Perhaps something like this - If a player spends over 2 hours in the water "drowning damage" comes into effect (regardless of whether or not the player has the swimming skill) and every futher hour 10 damage is dealt to the player - either "drowning damage" or instant drowning after 3 hours - with a message "you have drowned".
Another additional possibility is have the character drift in the water - especially if they go into deep water - I like the idea of leaving a character in the water when you log out, and when you log back in they are washed up on another part of the island with most of their hit points missing. Although that might be a bit complicated to do...|
suggest_time=22:10, 1 August 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Zeff|Zeff]]|
suggest_comments=

* Nice. Drifting could be done, although it may make things complicated if you drift too quickly. I certainly don't think you'd move very far in a few hours otherwise it would be far too easy to lose sight of the giant squid you were attacking (for example). There would probably have to be some kind of data in the map that says where you drift to from that square, even if the drifting changes slightly. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 22:39, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
* Sounds like a good idea. Also, driftwood could possibly be incorporated into this, perhaps giving a lower chance of drowning, lower drowning damage, or maybe making the player drift further. -[[Peg-Hand Grimm]]

}}

Suggestions:Skills

2006-07-31T10:36:29Z

Peg-Hand Grimm: /* Melee buffs for intoxicated pirates */

{{Suggestions header|page_type=Skill}}

==Skills==

===Planting/agriculture===
Both outsiders and natives with this skill should be able to plant trees (mango, banana) on fertile land. By clearing away jungle, and applying an example of the fruit of the tree you wish to plant, you could sow the seed. A tree of that type would then sprout X days later. This would open up for plantation, and help feed the villages/settlements. --[[User:DKChannelboredom|DKChannelboredom]] (2 March)

''Comments''
:Interesting idea, perhaps only a chance that a tree will grow, and to ensure a tree grows you have to plant a certain number of fruit of the same kind on the same block. Of course, does this mean that existing trees should occasionally die off, say if they get surrounded by 8 blocks of highest density jungle and the tree block is also highest density jungle.. maybe explained as something to do with lack of sunlight reaching the tree because of the amount of jungle around it. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 09:47, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
::Why not treat existing trees and planted trees separately? My initial thought is that if I did not have this skill, I would still like the opportunity to gather resources from a dependable source. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
----

=== Weapon Skills ===
The Warrior/Soldiers class should get weapon skills, like spear skills for the warrior and rifle skills for the soldier, make the soldiers skills make the rifle have better to hit then the natives spear but the rifle requires the searching of ammo, this makes the difference between natives and outsiders warrior classes more than the blowpipe and rifle (blowpipes do 1 less damage) EDIT: I ahnotice that the outsiders do indeed have rifle training, freshly added to the wiki I guess.-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 11:07, 17 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''

We have been doing some research(see the talk page in character classes) and it appears that warriors are no better at fighting(unless you count 10 extra hp as being really great) than any other class, correct me if I'm wrong but if there is no warrior only fighting skill what makes them warriors and not shamans w/ blowpipes(pardon the pun but they "blow") and +10hp? and if that is all they are how come soilders get extra skills? -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:55, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

Also, if you've got a machete and the three melee skills, there's never any point in using a blowpipe (unless you've got 1AP left and a victim with only 4HP remaining). There should be a skill that increases the chances of hitting with a blowpipe, to at least 30% - especially since you have to search for darts. Viveca Lindfors, 6 March 2006, 17:25 GMT

It should be over 30% as even at that it still makes blowpipes worse than the heavy sword(which while apparently being really rare itdoesn't mean everybody can't search and find one and 5 dam 45%[2.25 dam/ap] outclasses even 4 dam, search ammo, 2ap per shot, 80%![approaxamitly 1.6 dam/ap not counting search ap] anyday, hell the heavy sword is the uberest weapon in the game![the rifle is 5 dam, 1.5 ap/shot,60%=2dam/ap not counting searching!]) I think you should at least be able to make them have the same to hit as the rifle, It would be balanced by the fact you can only load a single dart at a time(i think),they have lower damage, but you can find darts in more places (check the regular search odds page you'll see they were found in d10 jungle!) I could see this fact alone justify the lower damage and single shot load, but not the lower to hit chance. Unless of course poison darts actually poison(has anybody checked this out?) then I see why they have a low to hit, you can dart somebody, run away then they would die trying to find you, But even if they do poison, outsiders can use them too(with a skill) so I still believe native warriors should be more effective at darting then any other class to balance the superiority of rifles.But all in all problems are solved if blowpipes get some skills to raise to hit% and the heavy sword is removed for being too uber(just cause it is rare doesn't mean we all can't/won't find it!) --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 23:09, 9 March 2006 (GMT)

Maybe there can be a skill to create blowpipe darts (with poison berries or snakes)
----

=== Religious Devotion ===
Required to use "Holy Scriptures" --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:22, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
----

=== Jungle Skills ===
The jungle environment has great potential to add significant dynamic to this game. These could be a set of skills to reflect this.
: Jungle Lore: Player has x% chance of discovering item/artifact. Might work in conjunction with search skill.
: Make/Detect Traps: Spikes, Pits etc... Not sure this is possible and what would be need to time degrade this.[[User:Nankilstlas|Nankilstlas]]
: Some kind of "hiding" skill where you can spend AP to conceal yourself in fauna, so you can't be seen by passersby. Visually, it could take the form of "reforesting" a block to dark green, and someone who chops through would "uncover" you, perhaps getting some XP? --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 19:34, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
:: A 'trapping' skill looks like it would be exploited by greifers (surrounding someone with traps, for example), but I like the 'Hiding' and 'Jungle Lore' ideas.--[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 02:26, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
:: The hiding skill shouldn't conceal you from animals or someone with the Sixth Sense, Exploration, or Jungle Lore skills, otherwise the player would be invincible.--[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 21:15, 27 February 2006 (GMT)
:::Agreed, hostile animals should be able to sniff out hidden players, and Sixth Sense makes sense as well. Hidden players have to remain motionless to stay hidden, using items, searching, etc, would "unhide" the person. I was also thinking how the "reforesting" aspect could be abused to create vast areas that needed to be chopped down, so maybe a player could only hide in an already dark green area, (getting a message like ''there is not enough foliage to suitable hide in'' when trying in a cleared area) limiting its effect somewhat, and creating a little extra tension when on the run from someone and trying to find an overgrown area to hide in. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 22:37, 27 February 2006 (GMT)
:::: I like the hiding skill, maybe with different AP required depending on jungle density. Also, first hidden could make you invisible from 2 squares away, while hiding further would hide you from any adjacent square, and a third hide would keep you hidden on the same square unless they chopped. --[[User:Qberry|Qberry]] 3/29/06
::::like the hiding thing as well, maybe it could work in that if you use it then you are only visible if they are in the same square as you? it would certainly keep you quite hidden anyway. -- [[User: fitzcarraldo|fitzcarraldo]]|[[User talk:fitzcarraldo|T]] 15:42, 28 March 2006 (BST)
:i think jungle skills could be great as class specific skills, so that only some of the classes can use them like perhaps explorers. Or maybe they could made to favor native classes (due their affinity for the land and what not) more so than the outsiders, thus making gameplay more interesting.--[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 04:19, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

----

=== Skinning ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition|
suggest_scope=All classes|
suggest_description=This is a skill that does not have a pre-requisite. Upon coming across an area where a dead animal is present, the player is given an opportunity to skin the animal. The process of skinning costs 1 AP and has a chance of producing items such as '''Animal Hide''' or '''Animal Tooth''' or '''Animal Feathers'''. These items can be traded to an NPC found in villages and exchanged for Gold Coins. This skill should be available to all classes to grant them all with an equal opportunity of earning Gold.
* Extend skinning to killed players? No, that's just wrong. We are civilized.
* Make skinning have a pre-requisite of '''Exploration'''? Perhaps.
* Make skinning always produce an item, rather than chance? No, I like a good challenge.
* Perhaps it could be tied to the Meat suggestion? Possibly.|
suggest_time=21:48, 23 February 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* Good idea, perhaps natives don't have a pre-requisite, but outsiders need exploration? *cough* --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 02:12, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
** While that may be a more realistic way to handle it - since natives would conceivably be more experienced with such matters - I think that changing the skill tree for such a minor skill would upset the general sense of game balance between the two sides. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 02:43, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

}}

=== Animal Spirit ===
(native only) Upon gaining this skill, an animal type is associated with the player. Any attacks by the player on that animal result in negative xp, but the animal is less likely to attack the player. Additionally, if the player dons the skin of the animal (perhaps via the Skinning skill) then a bonus is given to the player, such as faster movement, hit bonus, damage bonus. Bonus could be dependant on animal. Upon player death, there is a chance the player's animal spirit will change. --frisco

''Comments''
*Suggestions like this usually make me cringe. Can't really explain why. Could you elaborate, though, on the bonuses gained?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 17:06, 3 May 2006 (BST)
----

=== Build Training ===
(Outsiders only) They gain the ability to build walls around the outsider settlements. There would be different levels like reinforced, light, massive, etc. Whoever can attack them and destroy them. Maybe there would be a skill for building gates? --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 03:33, 1 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* Natives should be able to make walls too - think King Kong, plus if there are native ruins on this island, then they must still have some decent construction knowledge lingering around. However, Outsiders should have an "Advanced" skill that allows for stronger walls. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 04:41, 1 March 2006 (GMT)
:Yes, any human should be able to build, and they should ONLY be able to build in certain areas, so as not to have some group lay claim to a section of the island with key resources (assuming there are some). Also, it should take a LOT of AP. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:18, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
* If this is implemented, would there be holes/platforms to fire from? If so, there would need to be an alteration in rifles and blowguns, as those can be fired from said platforms, or they can be fired at defenders on said platforms. Initially, at least, it would be probably be best if the stockades acted like UD barricades. Those inside can't fire without going outside, but are safe until those outside break down the barricades. --[[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]] 12:41, 11 July 2006 (GMT)
----

=== Trap Laying ===
(Native only) They can place one time use traps that dmg outsiders only. This skill can only be used in the jungle. Maybe a skill to be able to detect traps? --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 03:36, 1 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* Again i'm thinking Outsiders could make traps too - some of them must have been hunters in the Old Country - but perhaps an Advanced skill for natives, leading to higher success rate, since they are more used to the environment. This skill seems dangerous, though, possibly leading to clans just laying traps in every single square of jungle, making it ridiculous for the other side. Perhaps a trap can only be made in certain jungle types, and only lasts until the jungle changes in level (either growing up naturally or down by the same character type chopping it). --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 04:53, 1 March 2006 (GMT)
:This was already proposed in the "jungle skills" section. I agree, it seem too easy to abuse by griefers.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:18, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
----

===Comment Cartography===
Applies to Natives & Outsiders, most likely best applied only to the classes, scouts & explorers. I am thinking that it would be great to get more out of the map. This skill would allow those who have it to be able to add a limited number of short comments to their maps. These comments could work as references so as to be able to use the map to help find points of interest at some other time. I could see this probably difficult to implement, but perhaps it could work in that one could click in a quadrant on the map which would reload the page and allow you to add a text comment / description to a form. This text comment on a save would place a reference number on that quadrant of the map and the text would be listed to the right or below the map with accompanying reference number. -- [[User: fitzcarraldo|fitzcarraldo]]|[[User talk:fitzcarraldo|T]] 17:05, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
*This is a great idea, I am not an explorer/scout but I am all for class-specific skills, that are in character, because as of right now there aren't too many differences(which I'm guessing will change.-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]]00:37, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

*I think this is a great idea too, and very much the way a real cartogragher would operate, making small notations as they explored and surveyed.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:49, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

*I've been spoiled by the GPS and haven't really found myself lost enough to need this skill. However, with the random revival change I can imagine that getting lost in the jungle is becoming frequently more common for new players. I had a difficult time accepting the point-and-click location feature. I'm not sure how that could be handled simply. I also considered allowing the player to input X and Y coordinates directly, but that seemed out of character for Natives. One possibility that I settled on was a simple "Add Location" button on map.cgi to document the current location. It would change that map.cgi square to a different color and prompt the player to input a description. Ten location points with unique colors and descriptions will be listed under the map to serve as a key. You could either make this listing a queue (pushing out the oldest entries) or locked at 10 until one of the locations are deleted by the player. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 09:01, 11 May 2006 (BST)
----

=== Revive skill ===
Applies to doctors and shamans, a skill to revive spirits, would require Sixth sense (obviously). It is simple enough premis: a skill that revives dead players similar to the regular shamans instead of requiring them to go to town shamans, the revive players aren't as skilled at the craft so the revived players would have only 80% of there hp when revived by other players. --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 00:43, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* Does raise a risk of multi-abuse, but I agree that player shamen should have this ability. Maybe it requires a special powder or item in order to do?--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:49, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
* I am trying to think of some cost right now but can't decide. I do know that the xp gain rate should be comparable to fighting(and healing when there are more players) so players will want to be a revive player. --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 01:41, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
*I don't like the idea of Doctors getting the ability to revive the dead, but that's definitely within the rights of a shaman. Sixth Sense as a requirement, and you must be standing in the same area as a spirit. Give either a 100% chance to work and a relatively high AP cost (10?) or a lower chance to work and lower AP cost. Blam. There you go. Player shamans can now do their part.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:18, 28 March 2006 (BST)
*Haven't been around in a bit..... anyways I was just thinking that it seems mighty easy to get levels by "camping" the "enemy" shamen and getting hordes of xp and tonnes of native/outsider kills this seems like an exploit of the current system of revives. If a player aided revive method is put into place the main shamans should be removed, or you can only be revived by your home shaman by the call shaman(or whatever it is called) button to prevent this xp farming. I thought of this because my level 3 pirate has got all his xp from doing this and it is mighty easy and with the Ubermap and stuff it is even easyer to do, though pirates will need a way to get revived by there own.....lol I just realized I put doctor instead of scientist doctor=scientist - [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:51, 4 April 2006 (BST)
----

===Polymorph===
Requires Animal Spirit. Allows character to take the form of an animal. Perhaps one skill per animal, and each transform requires the use of an (AP expensive) animal mask. Upon transforming, people around you cannot tell it is you. If you die as an animal, you turn back to human, having lost half the HP the animal lost. To allow polymorph for outsiders, maybe a skill like "Ancient Reading" with the presumption that this allows them to read the right glyphs in the ruins would give them the ability to learn this skill. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 03:52, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* I like the idea of having some kind of weird supernatural kind of skill for the natives... But, I think that if you get killed while in animal form, you should be dead and have to seek the assistance of a shaman. Because all the natives would do when logging out is morph into an elephant. That's a boat load of HP for someone to whittle down and kill, only to have the human pop out and have to be hacked away at. Granted, nobody will KNOW outright that the person has assumed the guise of an animal. Would you propose that if someone "kills" the animal form they get the XP bonus of killing an animal? -- [[User:Schmeckel|Schmeckel]] 06:09, 11 March 2006 (GMT)
*Special masks that turn you into animals? They'd need to be quite hard to make, maybe special wood from a certain type of tree, a bit of the animal and something to stick it together. It'd have to be harder to get the ones for better animals. [[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 12:19, 11 March 2006 (GMT)
----

===Will o' the Wisp===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition|
suggest_scope=Spirits (all classes)|
suggest_description=Will o' the Wisp (can't think of another name) is a potentially simple skill to give a little more incentive to play as a spirit for a bit. It is a sub-skill of '''Ghostly whisper'''. If a player possesses this skill, then as a spirit they will have an option to "Wisp" for 30 AP. Wisping operates on a similar mechanic as the Flare guns and Feeding groans in Urban Dead. Any players posessing '''Sixth Sense''' within a 5x5 range of the spirit will be informed: ''A faint flicker of light catches your eye (x blocks east/west), (y blocks north/south). (timestamp)''.

This skill also has the potential to stack. More spirits on the same square will produce a brighter effect. Possibly in base 5. Ranging from faint flicker, slight illumination, to brilliant flash.

Fixes that I made last minute: reduced the Wisp range and upped the Wisp cost in an attempt to reduce spamming, also making Sixth Sense a prerequisite for recognizing Wisps as it would otherwise nerf the skill to a degree.|
suggest_time=07:53, 25 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* I like it. The AP cost might be a bit on the high side, but there may be other alternatives to reduce spamming. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:44, 25 March 2006 (GMT)
* What's the point of it? Or is there something I'm missing? I mean, is it just to light up for kicks? Wll o' the Wisps in folklore always attempted to lead travellers into dangerous parts of bogs, where they would find their doom. Since that isn't really an option (and since people, noticing this, would just stop paying attention to them), is there any practical use for this? Still neat, if there isn't, but better if there is.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:25, 28 March 2006 (BST)
** As a Shaman with Sixth Sense, I've only come across 1 spirit. I sought a means to encourage the realm of the living and the dead to interact more. It is admitedly mostly aimed towards flavor and roleplaying than mechanics. The most practical application would be to attract people to revive points (in the possibility that they are created). In retrospect, I now see that this suggestion overlaps with the '''Haunting Scream''' description to a fair degree. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:33, 28 March 2006 (BST)
::* Does it overlap? I haven't seen a Haunting Scream in action, yet. I'm all for flavor and RP skills, I just doubt that people woud bother with them too often without some mechanical benefit, which would be a shame. I'll admit, though, that I hadn't thought of attracting shamans to get yourself revived.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 06:48, 29 March 2006 (BST)

}}

===Construction===
construction points, would be implemented and would act like exp, but players earn it by setting up camp, ex: 5exp everytime a player sets up his/her cabin, costs 10ap to set up, to keep from spamming and getting free exp.
*'''construction'''allow players to build 1(one) single hut per GAME that is collapsable, non collapsable, players out in the jungle would have to cut down the jungle to re-construct the hut
this would give players a reason to stay out in the jungle,

simply what it says, first off, we could/should have different buildings because i find it annoying to have to look around at the same picture not knowing where the trading post is. im implying that new icons be put in for huts, like the pirate ship, have different pictures, ex:
there is an armory hut, it's icon would be a hut with a silver tip/ sword on the roof
and etc...

SKILLS:
*'''hut maitenance'''
can change hut 1(one) time into another kind of hut ex: armory hut, extra chance of finding wpns etc
**'''cupboard''' accesible inventory in hut that players can "lock" and recieve a "key" item, other players could break open the "lock" for x amount of AP
*'''bed''' players in hut are shown the "get into bed" option which heals 2 hp every hour they arent logged in
**'''fluffy bed''' heals and extra 1-2 hp
*'''running water'''
if the hut is within x amount of squares to water, they can refill gourds and bottles (i think someone suggested we keep empty bottles, this would require that to be implemented)
*'''fire-pit''' players can cook meat (as suggested, only used if implemented)
*'''craftmanship'''players can see the hut's creator, ex: Richard's Hut, if skill isnt aquired, players see the hut as "dishevelled hut" or "ragged hut" etc.
*'''hut upgrade 1''' hut is given one extra ring of squares
**'''hut upgrade 2''' hut is given extra floor
***'''hut upgrade 3''' hut second floor is enlarged, door locks are given
****'''hut upgrade 4''' hut is given a basement

the use of hut upgrades is to help people hide, when upgrade 3 is given, and locks are attained, players can "lock" their houses up, requiring a devastating amount of AP to open, suggesting around 60-70 AP

*'''house trap 1''' spike trap, inflicts 1 wound
**'''house trap 2''' heavy spike trap, 1 wound and 3 dmg
*'''house trap 3''' blast trap, 7 hp
**'''house trap 4''' heavy blast trap 14 hp

traps are triggered upon breaking into a house, players can attain a new skill:
*'''lockpick''' breaking in only costs 30 AP
with this skill, traps are disabled

*'''animal cage'''
if animal trapping were implemented, then this would keep them from running away when u died,
**'''animal care''' animal care section of the house, determining your pet's status ex:
Richard clicks the button "give pet food" mr whiskers smiles and gobbles it up. it could also just be flavor text, and a way to get rid of meat.
*'''attack animal'''
player buys skill animal now acts like trap, player types in names of people allowed to be in house, anyone not on the list is attacked by animal, animal is treated as "wild" to intruders, as per, it will follow them several blocks away from the house before returning, and can be killed, but is also agressive no matter what breed. ex: mr.parrot attack john doe for 2 dammage and returns home.
**'''rabidity''' animal is now "rabid" and has a 20% chance of "infecting" (wound) the intruding player

other tidings can be added, ex:
*'''taxidermy''' players can pick up dead bodies and mount them in their house ex:
in the second story of richard's hut is a grey elephant head, mounted on oak

my finale,
*'''garden''' allows players to plant a tree/ bush 1 square away from their house, planting requires, 5 of the said fruit and the plants disappear when the hut is packed up, players also have the ability to "kill" the plant and re-grow a different one.
**'''green thumb''' allows players to garden for only 3 fruits
**'''verdant thumb''' allows players to change to growths around their house, ex: a house surrounded by dirt can be changed to light undergrouwth or heavy forest
**'''spade''' allows player to dig a "cellar" 1-3 squares away from house to "hide" or store items.
skill also allows players to loacte any tunnels within 5X5 of the checked area. players can only check within a 3X3 area around the house

house experience does not raise everytime a skill is bought, but the price is set at 100-200 (your choice)

"comments Below"

Sounds like it would be a good idea if the island was bigger but otherwise a 3x3 would be gigantic if everyone had one--[[User:Slith|Slith]] 21:40, 29 March 2006 (BST)
*not really, but the huts are still the same single square size on the outside, it is the inside that changes. --[[User:Richard Rose|Richard Rose]]

I think it would be better to implement this skill while implementing clans - i.e. having clan camps. One way to implement this would be to establish camp/ a hut automatically when a certain number of players from a given clan stand on a single square. This would reward organization and prevent individual players from spamming. In addition, I think that having all those additions as skills is unnessacary. I just adds uneeded complexity. Again, clan based operation seems to be the best way to do this.--[[User:Gandhi|Gandhi]] 00:47, 31 March 2006 (BST)
----

===Plunder===
{{suggestion|
suggest_time=07:15, 30 March 2006 (BST)|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Pirates|
suggest_description=So. Pirates have been added, at long last. We all love pirates. They're swarthy, greedy people. Like mobsters, only with eyepatches, bandanas, peg legs, parrots, and the clap. There's something lacking in the pirates on Shartak, though. To get a better idea of this, let's look at the check list.

[x] 1. Pirate ship

[x] 2. Swarthy attitude

[x] 3. Pirate lingo

[x] 4. Murder

[ ] 5. Plunder

Aha! So we've identified the problem: a distinct lack of plunder. For this reason, I've come up with the idea for a plunderin' skill. Now, when you kill some poor sap, you take one coin out of his inventory per level--his level, that is. This keeps it a little balanced, in that you won't be taking away the life savings of some poor little level 1 when you kil him. Unless he happens to have only 1 coin, but that's neither here nor there. Now, of course, if you kill a level 5 who only has 4 coins, you'll only get those 4 coins. If he has 6 coins, however, you'll only get 5 of them.

Is it overpowering pirates to give them this class-restricted skill? Not really. I mean, despite being a combat class, they can't really get any good with rifles. Pretty much all of their kills are made with a cutlass. And what's the real usage of the gold coins? Typically, to buy ammunition. Obviously, the pirates won't be using it on that, as they're terrible shots. They'll just buy themselves some medical supplies, some back-up weapons, and hoard the rest. I can't say I know that many players who hold onto the coins, anyways, though I'm sure there must be some. Still, they generally tend to be spent pretty quickly. Really, I just think that this could lend pirates a little more depth; sure, they're fellow outsiders, but can you trust them? How quickly will they cut your throat for you wallet?

So... Thoughts? Agreement? Death threats?|
suggest_author=[[User:Wifey|Wifey]]|
suggest_comments=

*'''Keep/Change''' (Yarr) I agree that this fits with theme and perhaps rightfully rewards Pirates in that they do not have a Trader NPC at the shipwreck (at least that was the case when I left it several days ago). And I'm glad that this is being presented as a purchasable skill (I believe?) rather than an inherent one. I do generally follow one of the basic tenets of UD - "Don't <del>Tread On Me</del> Mess With My Inventory!" But gold appears to have become fairly plentiful with the Trader NPC; having more gold than your current level is a fairly easy feat and losing gold won't lead to an entirely unpleasant gaming experience. However, I would like a few more mechanics set in place to minimize the avenues to zerging, griefing, and general abuse that this suggestion would open up. The only simple amendment I can think of may be to give '''Plunder''' a percent chance of success. Perhaps allowing for degrees of advanced plundering skills. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 20:07, 30 March 2006 (BST)
**'''RE:''' A very good point. Very good points from both of you. I had thought of a % chance when I was originally writing the suggestion, but I realized that the nwe'd be dealing with an X% chance to get Y% of the other player's coins, and I thought it might be a little more work on the server than necessary. I thought, perhaps a chence of getting only 1 coin, but that seemed just silly. Perhaps we could limit the pirate to only 1 plunder per day (or maybe a few more, if people feel that 1 is too few)? For example, if you killed John Smith the level 1 Explorer and took 1 coin from him, then killed Mr. Moneybags the level 16 with more coins than you can shake a stick at, you would get no coins from him. If you were to wait a day, though, and kill Mr. Moneybags ''then'', you would get 16 coins--and no more from anyone else for the rest of the day. Additionally, you would not be able ot get money from the same person twice in a row. So if, after killing Mr. Moneybags and taking half of his coins, you killed him the next day, you would get none. You might as well have gone for poor little John Smith. That eliminates griefing, and all it would need to do is keep track of the ID of the last person you killed, checking it the next time you kill someone 24+ hours later..--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 23:29, 30 March 2006 (BST)
*i agree with both of them, and with you, id love to see this flavor added, and the trader NPC at the pirate camp has yet to be found, so they would have to go to another village to use it. the closest village (where my pirate is) is dalpok, which, is, as you know native. this hostility would mean pirates would REALLY have to work to hoard medical supplies and weapons, thusly this would be well balanced. i also want to discuss the % success rate. as pirates are VERY good at "plundering" the % chance success rate should start at a reasonably high %, such as 50% and above. as putting it any lower would simply be ridiculous. there could be several level ups to raise the % but if there are no advanced levels then i suggest putting the starting % at around 75%. --[[User:Richard Rose|Richard Rose]]

*'''Plunder''' could be made a search skill (concievably the second skill in the plunder grouping). Rather than having it be merely equivalent to scavenging the plunder skill could only be used in villages (it wouldn't matter if they were native or outsider villages). Scavenging could similarly be changed to a jungle-only skill. Repeatedly plundering a square would deplete it much like chopping down a square of jungle, and squares would replenish over time much the same way. Whether this affects the search odds for other players is open to debate. I'd hate for the pirate class to be burning every other class in the game by plundering all the villages to the point nobody could find a rifle. The odds of finding a broken item should increase while plundering. The more refined the item the greater the chance it would be broken when a pirate plunders it (GPS, first aid kits, rifles, dart guns and any other delicate manufactured items to come being more likely to be broken). It would give people on the island something to do other than filling out the map and hunting game. Since we could then expect groups of pirates moving from village to village it would also increase player interaction (violently or otherwise). Having a wider range of broken items could necessitate a repair skill for players or a similar service that could be provided by a trader adding another level to the game's economy. -[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=242 Tyler Whitney]

*With the new "stuff breaks/crit hit" along with traders gold has a major use, instead of searching for that cutlass(or machete both break) you can go trade your hard earned gold coins for a weapon, why stop at just coins? pirates could get this skill and should just take away 1 random item (any item) plus a few gold coins, as we all know pirates didn't just take gold they took anything of value. Though level ones should be completly immune to this and the maximum value of the item you take(based on how many gold coins it takes to trade for the item) should be equal to there level, or some other method all I know is items should get stolen along with coins, you can only get killed once (as of right now) before going back to a village so it doesn't do too much, I mean 1 item? even if it was my machete(whom I call Mary) I wouldn't mind, sure my ghost would scream and haunt the bastard who took her away from me that would just add a new level of fun to the game. As a native(with a pirate alt) I support this skill, though it would entail a new top ten richest in the statistics page so the pirates would know who to hunt.... mwahaha -[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 03:09, 4 April 2006 (BST)
**Now there's an interesting idea. Perhaps, though, there should then be a hierarchy of items in the eyes of a pirate? For instance, you take 1 item (which might be a gold coin) and one gold coin on the side. The gold coins on the side would increase with one's level. What would the item be, though? Probably first would be a gem. They're shiny and valuable--a pirate's favorite words (aside from "Arrrr!")! Next? A gold coin. Not enough coins? Probably a cutlass or machete. None of those? Rifle. No? Rifle bullet, then. None of those, either? Probably go with a first aid kit. Ah, but those are out, too? Bottle of water. And so on down the list. Bottle of water -> bottle of rum -> gourd of water/banana/berries -> knife/dagger. I doubt a pirate would bother with a blowgun or darts, nor would he yearn for his enemies' driftwood. Once again, just throwing an idea out, though.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 06:28, 4 April 2006 (BST)
*** To a Pirate, Rum would be more interesting than Water...[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 11:40, 28 May 2006 (BST)
**I think plundering items crosses into making this skill much to powerful. It lessens the need for the Pirate class to spend AP searching. They may lose a cutlass or two choppping another player to bits, but then they earn a machete in the kill and can continue on their way. Gold coins can be argued to be powerful, but the lack of a Trader at the shipwreck means they have to make their way to other Villages in order to spend them. After some further thinking, I feel that there should be a plundering cap of 10 coins regardless of level (otherwise it would be unfair to classes with class-specific skills that make them a higher level than others). And it is random chance after the kill produces no coins or some coins or all coins. If the player doesn't have enough coins, the Pirate plunders what he can and is given extra flavor text to reward them on their evil little victory. "Yo ho ho! You have taken all (Player)'s booty." --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 07:00, 4 April 2006 (BST)

*Plunder sounds nice. How about this formula: a pirate's chance of plundering someone equals 4 times the pirate's level minus 2 times the victim's level and always returns the lesser of half the victim's level in gold (rounded down) or all the victim's gold. In other words, if a level 10 pirate plunders a level 1 scientist with 10 gold, the pirate has a 38% chance of getting 0 gold, and if a level 10 pirate plunders a level 13 warrior with 2 gold, the pirate has a 14% chance of getting 2 gold. This simulates higher level non-pirates being more adept at hiding coin purses on their body, and prevents griefing on newbies. I agree with above comments that plunder should be a one time immediate event upon killing a character, based on a percentage chance, and limited to gold - anything else makes the skill too complex and/or powerful. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 13:39, 4 April 2006 (BST)
*I wouldn't support this unless pirates could be plundered ''from'', too, which kind of defeats the point. It's not like pirates are a weak class; the shipwreck has a trader now, and they start with 65 HP. I really like being able to count on having a static inventory while I'm logged out, and I think "Yarr, a pirate has killed you and plundered 1 gold coin" would get old very fast. I think it'd be quite cool if pirates were healed by 1 HP more for drinking beer or rum, but taking gold from their kills is too much. — [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 16:42, 28 May 2006 (BST)
*Yarr and Keep. I say this is a good addition. I believe all the classes should have some skill specific to them. I have a pirate and a scientist, and neither of them have anywhere special go to in terms of skills, thus making the distinction of them being scientists and pirates useless. Especially the scientist... 10 gold coins? What the? --[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]] 10:53, 30 May 2006 (BST)
*Would it damage game balance much to have the pirate gain gold as described, but ''without'' taking gold from the victim? That way we have the benefits of the skill, without the annoyance of losing your gold. And it wouldnt be an easier way to get money than searching in huts, so it shouldnt unbalance the game too much. --Gitboy 17:26, 3 July 2006
*I like the idea of plunder, and given that pirates don’t have class specific skill it would only be fitting to have it as our first. Rather then trying to create overly complicated system for plunder we should just follow in the tradition of final fantasy more specifically making plunder into a 3 level skill much in the vain of steal (a small chance of taking a random item from opponent’s inventory (maybe 5%)) rob (a greater of chance than the above (10%)) and finally mug (the same chance rating as “rob” with the addition of damage if successful(something like 2 or 3).--[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 04:13, 22 July 2006 (UTC)


}}

===Diagnosis===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition, class-specific|
suggest_scope=Shaman and Scientist|
suggest_description=This is an attempt to create additional variety within the classes. Diagnosis would be a sub-skill of Triage available only to the Shaman and Scientist classes. It behaves much like Triage does, but it would detect Shark Bites and other possible future maladies and status ailments. Shark Bite victims could be identified with an asterisk next to their name. 
I believe that this skill's net benefits will be minimal. It would fit with the theme of the class, while not over-powering them. I also believe that since this is a sub-skill, that there should be additional class-specific skills for Shamans and Scientist.|
suggest_time=18:21, 6 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* If Triage truly only does reveal one person's HP then the skill tree should be expanded for Advanced Triage as well. Where Advanced Triage would display the HP of everyone in the current area - rather than just the most wounded. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 01:55, 29 April 2006 (BST)
* Corrected usage of Doctor. I hope that this skill can still be considered in-character for Scientists. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 23:11, 11 May 2006 (BST)

}}

===Alchemy===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition, class-specific|
suggest_scope=Scientists|
suggest_description=Allows Scientists to convert seemingly useless items (such as driftwood) into valuables such as a gold coin. Another possibility is crabs into gems (don't ask). This would, of course, cost about 25 AP per use. This would give Scientists a key role in the game because they would be needed to convert intems.|
suggest_time=23:24, 8 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_comments=

*While I like the basic idea of this, it should be limited a little. That said, I don't know how one would appropriately limit its use. Perhaps you could turn a bottle of rum into a more refreshing bottle of water? How, precisely, would you envision the implementation of this?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 01:18, 10 April 2006 (BST)
*I like it! It gives us something unique to do as scientists! Would you make it so you turn a specific useless item into a specific useful item, or what?[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 15:24, 10 April 2006 (BST)
**I imagine that eventually every class will have atleast one unique skill to separate it from the others and give a reason for choosing that class. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 01:30, 11 April 2006 (BST)
*I could accept this if it was presented differently. As it stands, it sort of conflicts with my expectation that the Natives are the more mystically-inclined and the Outsiders are more advanced technologically. I just don't envision men and women of science practicing alchemy. I have no objection to the scientist manufacturing items, but not in this manner. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:37, 11 April 2006 (BST)

}}

===Spirit Substantiation===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Sprits (all classes)|
suggest_description=The spirit has learned to partially substantiate its form, becoming more physical, and can now float on the winds to move at double the normal rate (i.e. .5 AP per move), but only in the direction that the wind is blowing. Note that this requires the game element of wind, which can either be a uni-directional constant (e.g. always blows west) or changes over time (perhaps dependant on location?). If wind direction changes, the game's user interface will need a mechanism to display wind direction, either via game.cgi or added to map.html.

This could be the first in a series of new spirit skills. I see the aforementioned Will o' the Wisp being under this tree, as well as another skill to move .3 AP per move but still only in the direction of the wind. Perhaps some poltergeist type skills can be added as well - allow dead pirates to plunder, any spirit to write messages, any spirit to still map out the area, etc, etc.
|
suggest_time=16:40, 14 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Frisco|Frisco]]|
suggest_comments=

* Nice idea, what would happen to moving against the wind? Would that then require 2AP and 1 AP to move at 90 degrees to the wind direction :) --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 17:33, 14 April 2006 (BST)
** I was thinking of substantiation as being a conceptual (not a user toggle switch, something the game system automatically determines) on/off capability of the ghost, so the ghost could have no form and thus no penalty for moving into the wind, then take form and move with the wind. But that's mostly because i don't like the idea of skills that negatively affect a character. I definitely think wind should adversely affect other things, like pigeons taking longer to deliver if the recipient is upwind. It's all more math for you! --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 17:49, 14 April 2006 (BST)

}}

===Marksmanship===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill modification and new skill|
suggest_scope=Anyone who uses a ranged weapon|
suggest_description=A few problems that I see with regard to rifle use: 1) Non-soldiers' extremely low maximum rifle accuracy making rifles useless to non-soldiers, 2) Loading rifles takes up a tremendous amount of AP since it costs one AP to load one bullet, leading to a very low damage-to-total-AP-spent ratio, 3) A closely related problem to #2 is the fact that people are carrying around 20 or 30 rifles/blowpipes, which is ridiculous and unrealistic, and a by-product of the AP cost to load. I dont know if the following idea for a solution to both of these problems can realisitically be implemented, but here goes: Change the Advanced Rifle Training skill to make loading rifle bullets cost 0 AP (advanced training would thus mean the abiliy to load rifles very easily and quickly, as opposed to untrained people who take much longer. We are in the time period when it took a long time to load rifles after all). Institute a new skill called Marksmanship in the firearms skill tree, which gives +__% rifle accuracy <s>(I would say +30%). Let marksmanship be a skill that can be acquired by anyone, while rifle training and advanced rifle training remain soldier-exlcusive. If Marksmanship gives +30%, it will improve non-soldiers' maximum accuracy from 20% to 50%, knocking out problem #1 above. Soldiers with the entire proposed rifle skill tree would have max accuracy of 70% and would not have to waste an AP to load, knocking out problem #2. Natives would get the same changes for blowpipe
note: It might be better to have two skills, Marksmanship and Expert Marksmaship, each giving +15% accuracy, and possibly make these two a seperate skill tree. If they were in the rifle training tree, they would have to come after the two rifle training skills, but non-soldiers cannot get rifle training, so it would look awkward.</s>

'''NOTE: [[User_talk:Arminius#Proposal_for_new_rifle_skill_tree|Revised proposal and statistical analysis of current vs. proposed damage-to-AP ratios, click here]]'''|
suggest_time=05:34, 13 May 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Arminius|Arminius]]|
suggest_comments=

*From a gameplay point of view, i don't see that guns/blowpipes need to be any stronger. It's already possible to take someone out in one go, why the need to kill quicker? The proposed change means with one gun and a full load of bullets, one soldier in one day causes an average of 75 * .7 * 4 = 210 HP damage - that's 2.4 pirates with stamina, or 4.2 beginner shamans. It would make the game a lot less fun to be able to die that much quicker and that much more often. Maybe i wouldn't object as much if these old school guns were also subject to backfiring, causing them to blow up in the owner's hands and resulting in owner HP loss and gun destruction (similar to machete/cutlass blade snapping). By the way, elsewhere there's been debate on the timeperiod of the game since we also have GPS units. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 20:00, 13 May 2006 (BST)
::You are calculating ''combat'' damage-to-AP ratio, the proposed modification of the advanced rifle training skill would not affect combat-damage-to-AP ratio very much (it would affect it not at all for people with lots of rifles), it would only affect the rifle's currently very low total overall damage-inflicted-to-AP-spent ratio. (With 28 fully-loaded rifles a soldier can already kill two 85-HP pirates in only 56 AP.) The rifle's total-damage-to-AP ratio today is 0.48 by my calculation, the machete's is 1.35. With the proposed changes, the maximum total-damage-to-AP ratio for a rifle-wielding soldier would be 0.7 (still far lower than machete). Non-soldiers max rifle total damage-to-AP ratio would improve from 0.16 (weaker than a level 0 character with a blunt machete) to 0.4. I like your suggestion of rifles possibly blowing up too, Simon should definitely consider that. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 20:28, 13 May 2006 (BST)

*I'm not sure how I feel about the skill yet, but I will correct you, Frisco, in that the GPS unit is not an adequate argument about the game's time period. Simon has already said that he doesn't like the name "GPS Unit" because it is anachronistic, and was considering another one.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 01:03, 14 May 2006 (BST)

* I don't quite see why rebuilding the skill tree is necessary. You could accomplish the same thing by introducing two new skills - one for accuracy which builds upon the existing accuracy skills and one for reloading. Make the first accuracy skill available to all classes (adjusting to 30%), but restrict the secondary accuracy skills to Warriors and Soldiers. But even then, I'm not completely sold on the fact that these skills are necessary. I have no problem with my non-Soldier not depending on a rifle. If I wanted to use a rifle, I can easily make a Soldier character. And while reducing reloading cost might bring rifles and blowpipes more evenly with machetes, increasing the damage or introducing the ranged attack suggestion might solve the problem without providing free lunches. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 02:31, 15 May 2006 (BST)
::Yes of course it's fine to make them new skills. I suggested it in the way I did because learning to load quickly would fall under rifle training I would say, and we already have the two rifle-training skills in the game. One of the accuracy-improving skills would fall under Marskmanship (or marskmanship/expert marksmanship). How they are added to the game is almost immaterial, the point is to let soldiers be able to acquire a skill which gets rid of their need to waste more than half their daily AP loading their 20 rifles, and get rid of the need to carry 20+ rifles in the first place. I dont see how a skill allowing for a 0 AP cost to load is a "free lunch" at all, it just reduces the price of a ridiculously high-priced lunch, i.e. 1 AP to load 1 bullet/dart (plus I feel it improves the realism of the game, in part by eliminating the need to carry around 25 rifles or blowpipes). The point of the Marksmanship skill (available to all) is not to put non-soldiers on the par with soldiers in firearms capability at all, but to make rifles non-worthless to everyone else. Currently non-soldiers are literally far better off ''punching'' enemies than using a rifle when it comes to damage-inflicted-per-AP-spent, which is just ridiculous. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 03:37, 15 May 2006 (BST)
:::I do like the idea of making rifle and blowpipe usage more accessible to other character classes. But I continue to have a difficult time accepting the 0 AP reload cost. Currently there is no action in the game that costs 0 AP besides rejecting a trade, speaking in empty area, healing someone at full health, and dropping an item (all non-actions). Would 0.5 AP would be an acceptable change? But before it is considered, there must be other alternatives before lowering AP cost to make the ranged weapons more balanced. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:27, 27 May 2006 (BST)
::::How about this-- modify advanced rifle training skill so that instead of "Gain another 20% on firearms attacks", it says "lets soldiers load and fire faster" (0.5 AP to load and to fire with that skill), in other words a rifle version of trekking. This would cut down on the excessive AP costs of rifle usage and be an interesting skill to balance rifles rather than another "add 20% accuracy" or something like that. Then two new skills, Marksmanship (+10% accuracy), Expert Marskmanship (+20% accuracy), both of which would be available to all character classes. I would envision the two marskmanship skills as the first two skills in the firearms tree (the only two available to non-soldiers), and then the rifle training skills would come afterwards. -[[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 20:00, 30 May 2006 (BST)
:::::'''UPDATE:''' To see a revised version of my suggestion '''[[User_talk:Arminius#Proposal_for_new_rifle_skill_tree|Click Here]].''' I worked out the current and proposed damage-to-AP ratios, and I invite everyone to take a look. It is far too long and complicated to copy here, so I wrote it up elsewhere. -[[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 01:44, 2 June 2006 (BST)
:*As discussed elsewhere, ''carrying loaded rifles as backup allows you to lock in the kill bonus'' on a much wider range of (remaining-AP/remaining-victim-HP) situations. Since the '''kill bonus is more than a third of total XP for combat''', this throws the naive XP=damage comparisons way out of whack. Anecdotally at least, my Soldier has clearly done better than my other characters in jungle XP-harvesting, because kill-steals and dying while asleep are so common. So while the Rifle (and especially the Blowpipe) needs help, I think that nearly doubling combat-time damage to 2x 50% 5 damage for 1 AP (5.0) instead of 1x 60% 5 damage (3.0) is not an ideal way to proceed. I support Free Reload or Rapid Reload as a Soldier-Only Skill. I also think that an all-available accuracy upgrade for Rifle/Blowpipe (to at least better than Machete) would be great. For example: Base 20% (+General Accuracy +15%) (+Soldier-only Accuracy +15%) (+Soldier-only Accuracy +15%). Or maybe Base 10% (+General Accuracy +25%) (+Soldier-only Accuracy +25%) (+Soldier-only Rapid Reload), and increase Rifle Bullet base damage to 6. Two shots per AP just seems too big a jump to me; imho implementing true range (firing from adjacent square and/or without provoking return melee attacks) is a better way to proceed. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 03:56, 2 June 2006 (BST)
::*Yes the blowpipe needs help even more than the rifle. That limited-AP poisoning skill, along with these proposed boosts to accuracy, would even things out there. I also like the idea of making ranged weapons truly ranged, but that seems difficult to implement and perhaps impractical (for one thing we cant see the names of people on adjacent squares). If any version of QBerry's "auto attack" is ever implemented for players, though it seems unlikely with so much opposition, the "range" of the ranged weapon could come into play by not allowing a person without ranged weapons/ammo to back. This was discussed on the forums in the "Aggressive Animals" thread. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 06:01, 2 June 2006 (BST)
:*NB about Free Reload: Incidentally, Free Reload obviously solves the "realism problem" by allowing a Soldier to carry only one Rifle and a huge pile of Bullets, with '''no increase''' in Soldier combat-time damage-per-AP (still 3.0 max avg per AP) nor Soldier field-capacity damage-per-inventoryfull (still 72 shots) since 2 Bullets loose take up as much space as a Loaded Rifle. People who think that 0AP reload is imbalancing have been smoking too much of the dried herbs. As for realism of 0AP reload, the Soldier's "1AP to fire" accounts for time necessary to both reload and fire. I can discuss and reject 160 exchanges with the Trader and or attempt to heal a signpost in the same amount of time. The real-time form submission and IP hit creates a perceptible time-increment. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 03:56, 2 June 2006 (BST)

After thinking about this, it seems to me that the best thing to do is as follows: No new skill, instead simply a change in the game mechanics so that all players take 0 AP to "load" by deafult. The AP cost to fire would thereby represent the time to load and fire, as Tycho44 said above. (Load was in quotation marks there because the load button in-game would thus really represent selecting the bullet to use, the actual action of loading would be included in the 1 AP to fire). This would eliminate the 30 rifles problem straight away (and for all character classes), it would ''not'' increase the combat damage-to-AP ratio at all, and it would be an interesting way to increase the damage-to-''total''-AP-spent ratio (which we need) without having to add any new skill. As for the accuracy boosts, those can be worked out later (non-soldiers need a boost in that department we all agree, perhaps soldiers merit a slight one), but 0 AP to "load" is definitely a sound change to make, I see no argument against it. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 23:11, 3 June 2006 (BST)

The reason why I keep pressing for alternatives is because I never saw this as a solution in other browser-based games. Shouldn't the route be to increase the damage dealt to reduce the impact of the reload cost? --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 18:52, 14 June 2006 (BST)

:My earlier arguments notwithstanding, I '''strongly oppose''' universal 0AP reload. A 0AP reload for everyone simply destroys the reloading game mechanism in its entirety, making the 2-bullet chamber of the rifle identical to the 1-dart chamber of the blowpipe identical to the 70-bullet drum of a hypothetical gatling gun. The blowpipe is distinguished by its Poison damage, which can in turn be offset by a Reload Penalty, if we keep that game mechanic. Keeping the reload mechanic enhances the separate-but-equal factions. In my humble and uninformed speculation, tweak up the accuracy on ranged weapons (say 20% base / 35% marksmanship-universal / 50% warrior-only / 65% advanced-warrior-only) and things will work fine. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 23:54, 17 June 2006 (BST)


}}

===Hut Construction (Simplified) ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill, item, action|
suggest_scope=Every player|
suggest_description=This is a bit similar to the Construction suggestion, but much more simplified. I agree that we should be able to set up little camps, to have bases away from bases. I'll explain the flavour aspect after I've explained the mechanics. 
A skill can be purchased called, "Construction", which allows you to erect a hut on land that has been chopped down to 0 density. The hut would have a bit of AP weight to build, say 10ap cost so that full constuction on a 10 dense jungle sq would have a total of 20ap. The hut that you build is at first a regular empty hut. Once you have bought the second skill in the set, "Stock Hut" (or something like that), the hut becomes a mini trade-post, stocking no more than 5 types of items at any one point. The first 5 items are randomized, and then as people trade, they change. Thus, it's a mixed bag of what you could get. These artificially erected huts can be sacked and destroyed. Keep in mind I'm not a coder, so if you know what I'm describing is difficult, but know how to do something similar, please say so. 
Flavour: This gives people the feeling of being able to set up their own little base camp for their own clan, without making a whole new village. The fact that each hut can only stock a small number of items, and also that it can be destoryed, means things don't get out of hand and make the original villages defunct. Each hut can also be plauged with low-demand items like crabs or mangoes, making the idea even for grifers, natives, enemies, outsiders and pirates.|
suggest_time=12:05, 3 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]]|
suggest_comments=

Building a hut could also require a certain number of driftwood pieces. --[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]] 12:08, 3 June 2006 (BST)

Ability to create minor base camps away from settlements is good (but for what practical purpose?), but the idea that the island would be flooded with "huts" all over, with the same icon and name as huts in settlements, I dont like that. This is supposed to a wild myseterious island, having huts all over would hurt that ambiance I think (Lower-tech base camps of some sort would not hurt it though.) If hut construction is implemented it would have to be very costly to avoid littering the entire map with them that's for sure. The other thing is, We have to be clear about what the purpose of these base camps would be, what practical benfit would they have. Would they have defense value? Could the builder elect to keep people out unless they are members of clan X or unless they are natives or unless they are Derbyites, etc? [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 00:59, 4 June 2006 (BST)

:I agree wholeheartedly with your points. It is indeed important to make it difficult to build huts. As I mentioned, the huts would have very small capabilities as a trade point, thus making them a tactical advantage in a seige. Allow me to explain; My clan wants to lay seige to Dalpok. We erect a small camp near the village and stock our huts with bullets through trading. Then we load up, attack, come back to our makeshift camp and take the bullets from our huts. As for the wild, mysterious island element, you're right, but is it not normal for humans to tame and civilise the jungle? And vice versa for humans to destroy one another's homes? With this new skill(s) we can simulate seiges and sackings, but still keep our 7 original villages/bases. I don't think you could exclude people from entering your hut. It's the luck of the draw, and if enemies infiltrate, too bad. makes it all the more exciting. I also agree that making a hut should be very costly, but that's up to Simon as to how he'd like to implement such a cost. Finally, the only variation I can see might be to make huts not a mini trade post, but maybe a small storage area of say 15 slots, to keep bullets or med kits from the main towns...? --[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]] 02:30, 4 June 2006 (BST)

:Here are my thoughts on the matter:
:#To encourage clustering of huts (instead of unsightly and unrealistic random scattering), hut-builders should be required to chop the hut's eventual square ''and'' all surrounding squares (that don't have huts on them) to d0. After all, construction requires some space. This would encourage players to build next to existing huts, since every adjacent hut is a square that doesn't need chopping.
:#For realism's sake, driftwood shouldn't be required to build or repair a hut, because it'd be silly to make a player in the middle of a huge jungle travel all the way to the beach to find wood. Jungle wood could be introduced as an item, but I think it's better to require AP alone.
:#Hut health could be managed by giving each new hut 5 HP (Hut Points =)) and removing 1 HP every 24 hours (obliterating any hut that reaches 0 HP). A hut would require 50 AP to construct (in addition to AP for chopping the surrounding jungle) and 10 AP to repair by 1 HP. Repairs wouldn't require cleared jungle; once a hut is built, jungle growth outside doesn't matter.
:#Special features for huts, such as trade and storage abilities, should be put on hold until buildable huts are already in the game. Not only do huts provide shelter from animals, they hide players inside from anyone not willing to spend a few AP to move to the hut and enter it, so additional features shouldn't be necessary to make hut-building worthwhile.
:— [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 04:52, 4 June 2006 (BST)
}}

=== Spirit Transfer ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill, action|
suggest_scope=Warriors, Shamans|
suggest_description= This suggerstion was inspired by polymorph. Warriors and Shamans can get a new skill that allows them to transfer their spirits into the bodies of a dead animal nearby. Animals won't be able to speak, use items, search, or use any human skills. The player will have the Hp and attack power of the type of animal you possessed. Other players on the map will see you as just another animal, not as a native. Transferring spirits will result in the death of their human form (if it is not already dead) but grants them access to the animal's innate abilities. Eg. Alligators can attack twice but have decreased movement through land, Monkeys can search and use some simple items, Parrots move faster throught all terrain. When the body of the animal possessed dies the player will be in spirit form but wont have a corpse. It will also be possible to leave the animal's body at any time but the trauma would be the same as having the body killed by an outside force. In order to not break the game, certain special animals can not be possessed ( like that giant squid )|

suggest_time=11:37, 3 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Stcfg|Stcfg]]|
suggest_comments=

: I would like to suggest a skill for being able to detect possessed animals but that is for another day. --[[User:Stcfg|Stcfg]] 11:40, 3 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Hunting Prowess===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Tracking skill tree|
suggest_description=It would be interesting for serious trackers to be constantly aware of recent tracks without spending AP. I propose adding this skill after ''Expert Tracking''—it doesn't have to be called ''Hunting Prowess'' but that seemed like a fitting name. Players with this skill would still have to use the 'Look for tracks' button to see anything but the most recent tracks. One possible limitation is to apply this only to animal tracks, but I definitely intended to include player tracks as well.|
suggest_time=13:17, 9 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Vtbassmatt|VTBassMatt]]|
suggest_comments=

:Tracking is currently a bit weak. On the other hand, I don't mind seeing quite a few mild/weak skills, because some players are already looking for more ways to spend XP. Certainly Tracking should top out at stronger than 1AP per attempt. My suggestion was ''Master Tracking'' above ''Expert Tracking'' to reduce time to 0.5AP per attempt. I agree that it would be neat to have the skill ''Hunting Prowess'' as a 0AP ability for only the single most recent track, but I think this skill would be a prime candidate to limit to '''Explorer/Scout-only.''' (Sorry!) 1. Tracking perfectly fits the Explorer/Scout class archetype, 2. Shartak needs better class differentiation, 3. Explorer/Scout is a bit weak, 4. Explorer/Scout currently has no dedicated skills. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 08:19, 15 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Emergency medicine===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Scientist|
suggest_description=At the moment, scientists have no significant advantages. They start with 10 gold coins which, while it's nothing to sneeze at, doesn't really fit with their name. Perhaps they could learn a skill that allowed them to heal without the use of a first aid kit. First aid would be a prerequisite. However, the skill would not allow them to heal as many HP as using an FAK would. For example, they might only heal 2-5 HP. This would allow scientists to wander in the jungle for long periods of time without resupplying, giving them a real advantage over other classes. However, using an FAK would still heal more and allow more XP per AP, so FAK's would not become obsolete. Would this be difficult to code?|
suggest_time=08:47, 11 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]]|
suggest_comments=

Comment here

}}

===Give explorers/scouts their own tracking skill===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Explorers and scouts|
suggest_description=While ''trailblazing'' has given explorers and scouts an edge over other players, they need more if they are to compete with the soldier, warrior and pirate classes for the attention of new players. I suggest that ''tracking mastery'' be combined into ''expert tracking'', which will be restricted to explorers and scouts. Any non-explorers/scouts with one or both of those skills would be refunded enough XP for their next skill (or two, if they have both) so they aren't punished. (The refund would occur ''after'' the skills were restricted and actively taken away from any non-explorers/scouts with them. This would let their levels and next-skill costs drop ''before'' the next-skill XP awards were given so that extra XP would not be accidentally awarded.) Full disclosure: I don't have any tracking skills, and I'm not sure how ''advanced tracking'' and ''expert tracking'' differ at the moment, but I think a good 1.5 AP tracking skill for everyone and an excellent 0.5 AP tracking skill for explorers and scouts will give those two classes a notable advantage in what should be one of their fortes. |
suggest_time=22:29, 18 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Elembis|Elembis]]|
suggest_comments=

: Shouldn't this be added to the "Hunting prowess" skill entry? http://wiki.shartak.com/index.php/Suggestions:Skills#Hunting_Prowess [[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]] 7:00, 19 July 2006
:: Yep. ''Tracking mastery'' is kind of handy, but I still think that it should be a universal skill, and that ''hunting prowess'' should be the scout/explorer-only skill. ''Hunting prowess'', at the top of the tracking tree, would cause scouts to receive basic tracking information passively (for 0 AP) at every step. Oooo, neat. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 17:30, 19 July 2006 (UTC)


}}

===Melee buffs for intoxicated pirates===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Pirates under the influence|
suggest_description=Pirates are traditionally portrayed as rum-guzzling brawlers, so it would be fitting to encourage pirate players to drink (and drink to excess). I think imbibing a beer or rum should give a pirate a 1 HP damage bonus for all melee attacks in their next 5 AP. A machete (or cutlass) hits 2.25 times in 5 AP, on average, for a skilled user, so drinking for 1 AP would translate to around 2.25 HP of damage beyond what a machete would normally do. This is comparable to the combat damage dealt by blowpipes (2.4 HP/AP) and rifles (3 HP/AP).

Multiple drinks would extend the duration of the effect but not its intensity. To encourage actual drunkenness instead of casual beer-sipping, a drink taken by a pirate with beer already in their gut could give 7 more buffed AP instead of 5, which is effectively 6 AP (and 2.7 HP of damage) when you consider that 1 drunken AP must be wasted on taking another drink. The skill could be called ''brawling'' or ''drunken fist'' (which is the literal Chinese title of the classic Jackie Chan movie ''Drunken Master'') and would be placed with ''stamina'' under ''body building'' (to keep melee skills together and to avoid starting another tree).

I'm proposing this cautiously because pirates are already tougher and more popular than any other class. However, considering that beer and rum are harder to find and more expensive than darts and bullets (and should probably be even more expensive if this skill is implemented), I don't think this skill would make pirates stronger than warriors and soldiers, and it would improve both the diversity of the classes and the depth of the game's theme.|
suggest_time=06:24, 22 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Elembis|Elembis]]|
suggest_comments=

RE: Beer and Rum becoming more expensive if the skill is implemented- I completely agree, and the increase in price would also represent supplies of booze at the pirate camp running out, which I guess would then lead to outsiders trading beer and rum with the pirates, and adding another dimension to gameplay- [[Peg-Hand Grimm]]

}}

===Technical “spell” skills ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Scientist/Shaman|
suggest_description=I would like to see the introduction of “tech spells” to the “magician class” of Shartak (scientist/shaman) much like the blue magic of final fantasy XII which rather than doing out right damage produces technical effects like haste, poison or blind. An illustration of this would be giving the shaman class an AP cost skill (let’s call it curse) that produces the same effect as wounded/bleeding (1HP loss per action) on their opponent. But given the nature of such spells the percentage chance of success should be inversely proportional to the strength of the spell or have their effects tuned down, so to retain fairness. As side note I like to see this skill given to NPC shamans to discourage people from attacking them.|
suggest_time=09:33, 22 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]]|
suggest_comments=

"curse" might be confused with what the ancestors spirits do to zergers. This causes actions to cost more AP than normal. I would imagine that this would be a shaman only skill as scientists don't have magical powers! --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 22:35, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
*i agree with the statement that scientist don't and shouldn't have magic powers, so how about this instead; give them "tech" skills but have them named within a scientific context, for instance the above "wounding" spell could be named "drug" or "poison" instead of say "curse" or whatever. --[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 04:01, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

===Haggle===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Everyone|
suggest_description=You can haggle with the traders and get stuff cheaper. When they are pissed off at you (for being there too long) the prices would become normal.|
suggest_time=20:20 EST 28/07/2006|
suggest_author=Aco|
suggest_comments=

Comment here

}}

Suggestions:Skills

2006-07-31T10:34:59Z

Peg-Hand Grimm: /* Melee buffs for intoxicated pirates */

{{Suggestions header|page_type=Skill}}

==Skills==

===Planting/agriculture===
Both outsiders and natives with this skill should be able to plant trees (mango, banana) on fertile land. By clearing away jungle, and applying an example of the fruit of the tree you wish to plant, you could sow the seed. A tree of that type would then sprout X days later. This would open up for plantation, and help feed the villages/settlements. --[[User:DKChannelboredom|DKChannelboredom]] (2 March)

''Comments''
:Interesting idea, perhaps only a chance that a tree will grow, and to ensure a tree grows you have to plant a certain number of fruit of the same kind on the same block. Of course, does this mean that existing trees should occasionally die off, say if they get surrounded by 8 blocks of highest density jungle and the tree block is also highest density jungle.. maybe explained as something to do with lack of sunlight reaching the tree because of the amount of jungle around it. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 09:47, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
::Why not treat existing trees and planted trees separately? My initial thought is that if I did not have this skill, I would still like the opportunity to gather resources from a dependable source. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
----

=== Weapon Skills ===
The Warrior/Soldiers class should get weapon skills, like spear skills for the warrior and rifle skills for the soldier, make the soldiers skills make the rifle have better to hit then the natives spear but the rifle requires the searching of ammo, this makes the difference between natives and outsiders warrior classes more than the blowpipe and rifle (blowpipes do 1 less damage) EDIT: I ahnotice that the outsiders do indeed have rifle training, freshly added to the wiki I guess.-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 11:07, 17 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''

We have been doing some research(see the talk page in character classes) and it appears that warriors are no better at fighting(unless you count 10 extra hp as being really great) than any other class, correct me if I'm wrong but if there is no warrior only fighting skill what makes them warriors and not shamans w/ blowpipes(pardon the pun but they "blow") and +10hp? and if that is all they are how come soilders get extra skills? -- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:55, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

Also, if you've got a machete and the three melee skills, there's never any point in using a blowpipe (unless you've got 1AP left and a victim with only 4HP remaining). There should be a skill that increases the chances of hitting with a blowpipe, to at least 30% - especially since you have to search for darts. Viveca Lindfors, 6 March 2006, 17:25 GMT

It should be over 30% as even at that it still makes blowpipes worse than the heavy sword(which while apparently being really rare itdoesn't mean everybody can't search and find one and 5 dam 45%[2.25 dam/ap] outclasses even 4 dam, search ammo, 2ap per shot, 80%![approaxamitly 1.6 dam/ap not counting search ap] anyday, hell the heavy sword is the uberest weapon in the game![the rifle is 5 dam, 1.5 ap/shot,60%=2dam/ap not counting searching!]) I think you should at least be able to make them have the same to hit as the rifle, It would be balanced by the fact you can only load a single dart at a time(i think),they have lower damage, but you can find darts in more places (check the regular search odds page you'll see they were found in d10 jungle!) I could see this fact alone justify the lower damage and single shot load, but not the lower to hit chance. Unless of course poison darts actually poison(has anybody checked this out?) then I see why they have a low to hit, you can dart somebody, run away then they would die trying to find you, But even if they do poison, outsiders can use them too(with a skill) so I still believe native warriors should be more effective at darting then any other class to balance the superiority of rifles.But all in all problems are solved if blowpipes get some skills to raise to hit% and the heavy sword is removed for being too uber(just cause it is rare doesn't mean we all can't/won't find it!) --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 23:09, 9 March 2006 (GMT)

Maybe there can be a skill to create blowpipe darts (with poison berries or snakes)
----

=== Religious Devotion ===
Required to use "Holy Scriptures" --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 23:22, 16 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
----

=== Jungle Skills ===
The jungle environment has great potential to add significant dynamic to this game. These could be a set of skills to reflect this.
: Jungle Lore: Player has x% chance of discovering item/artifact. Might work in conjunction with search skill.
: Make/Detect Traps: Spikes, Pits etc... Not sure this is possible and what would be need to time degrade this.[[User:Nankilstlas|Nankilstlas]]
: Some kind of "hiding" skill where you can spend AP to conceal yourself in fauna, so you can't be seen by passersby. Visually, it could take the form of "reforesting" a block to dark green, and someone who chops through would "uncover" you, perhaps getting some XP? --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 19:34, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
:: A 'trapping' skill looks like it would be exploited by greifers (surrounding someone with traps, for example), but I like the 'Hiding' and 'Jungle Lore' ideas.--[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 02:26, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
:: The hiding skill shouldn't conceal you from animals or someone with the Sixth Sense, Exploration, or Jungle Lore skills, otherwise the player would be invincible.--[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 21:15, 27 February 2006 (GMT)
:::Agreed, hostile animals should be able to sniff out hidden players, and Sixth Sense makes sense as well. Hidden players have to remain motionless to stay hidden, using items, searching, etc, would "unhide" the person. I was also thinking how the "reforesting" aspect could be abused to create vast areas that needed to be chopped down, so maybe a player could only hide in an already dark green area, (getting a message like ''there is not enough foliage to suitable hide in'' when trying in a cleared area) limiting its effect somewhat, and creating a little extra tension when on the run from someone and trying to find an overgrown area to hide in. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 22:37, 27 February 2006 (GMT)
:::: I like the hiding skill, maybe with different AP required depending on jungle density. Also, first hidden could make you invisible from 2 squares away, while hiding further would hide you from any adjacent square, and a third hide would keep you hidden on the same square unless they chopped. --[[User:Qberry|Qberry]] 3/29/06
::::like the hiding thing as well, maybe it could work in that if you use it then you are only visible if they are in the same square as you? it would certainly keep you quite hidden anyway. -- [[User: fitzcarraldo|fitzcarraldo]]|[[User talk:fitzcarraldo|T]] 15:42, 28 March 2006 (BST)
:i think jungle skills could be great as class specific skills, so that only some of the classes can use them like perhaps explorers. Or maybe they could made to favor native classes (due their affinity for the land and what not) more so than the outsiders, thus making gameplay more interesting.--[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 04:19, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

----

=== Skinning ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition|
suggest_scope=All classes|
suggest_description=This is a skill that does not have a pre-requisite. Upon coming across an area where a dead animal is present, the player is given an opportunity to skin the animal. The process of skinning costs 1 AP and has a chance of producing items such as '''Animal Hide''' or '''Animal Tooth''' or '''Animal Feathers'''. These items can be traded to an NPC found in villages and exchanged for Gold Coins. This skill should be available to all classes to grant them all with an equal opportunity of earning Gold.
* Extend skinning to killed players? No, that's just wrong. We are civilized.
* Make skinning have a pre-requisite of '''Exploration'''? Perhaps.
* Make skinning always produce an item, rather than chance? No, I like a good challenge.
* Perhaps it could be tied to the Meat suggestion? Possibly.|
suggest_time=21:48, 23 February 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* Good idea, perhaps natives don't have a pre-requisite, but outsiders need exploration? *cough* --[[User:Grigoriy|Grigoriy]] 02:12, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
** While that may be a more realistic way to handle it - since natives would conceivably be more experienced with such matters - I think that changing the skill tree for such a minor skill would upset the general sense of game balance between the two sides. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 02:43, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

}}

=== Animal Spirit ===
(native only) Upon gaining this skill, an animal type is associated with the player. Any attacks by the player on that animal result in negative xp, but the animal is less likely to attack the player. Additionally, if the player dons the skin of the animal (perhaps via the Skinning skill) then a bonus is given to the player, such as faster movement, hit bonus, damage bonus. Bonus could be dependant on animal. Upon player death, there is a chance the player's animal spirit will change. --frisco

''Comments''
*Suggestions like this usually make me cringe. Can't really explain why. Could you elaborate, though, on the bonuses gained?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 17:06, 3 May 2006 (BST)
----

=== Build Training ===
(Outsiders only) They gain the ability to build walls around the outsider settlements. There would be different levels like reinforced, light, massive, etc. Whoever can attack them and destroy them. Maybe there would be a skill for building gates? --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 03:33, 1 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* Natives should be able to make walls too - think King Kong, plus if there are native ruins on this island, then they must still have some decent construction knowledge lingering around. However, Outsiders should have an "Advanced" skill that allows for stronger walls. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 04:41, 1 March 2006 (GMT)
:Yes, any human should be able to build, and they should ONLY be able to build in certain areas, so as not to have some group lay claim to a section of the island with key resources (assuming there are some). Also, it should take a LOT of AP. --[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:18, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
* If this is implemented, would there be holes/platforms to fire from? If so, there would need to be an alteration in rifles and blowguns, as those can be fired from said platforms, or they can be fired at defenders on said platforms. Initially, at least, it would be probably be best if the stockades acted like UD barricades. Those inside can't fire without going outside, but are safe until those outside break down the barricades. --[[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]] 12:41, 11 July 2006 (GMT)
----

=== Trap Laying ===
(Native only) They can place one time use traps that dmg outsiders only. This skill can only be used in the jungle. Maybe a skill to be able to detect traps? --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 03:36, 1 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* Again i'm thinking Outsiders could make traps too - some of them must have been hunters in the Old Country - but perhaps an Advanced skill for natives, leading to higher success rate, since they are more used to the environment. This skill seems dangerous, though, possibly leading to clans just laying traps in every single square of jungle, making it ridiculous for the other side. Perhaps a trap can only be made in certain jungle types, and only lasts until the jungle changes in level (either growing up naturally or down by the same character type chopping it). --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 04:53, 1 March 2006 (GMT)
:This was already proposed in the "jungle skills" section. I agree, it seem too easy to abuse by griefers.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:18, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
----

===Comment Cartography===
Applies to Natives & Outsiders, most likely best applied only to the classes, scouts & explorers. I am thinking that it would be great to get more out of the map. This skill would allow those who have it to be able to add a limited number of short comments to their maps. These comments could work as references so as to be able to use the map to help find points of interest at some other time. I could see this probably difficult to implement, but perhaps it could work in that one could click in a quadrant on the map which would reload the page and allow you to add a text comment / description to a form. This text comment on a save would place a reference number on that quadrant of the map and the text would be listed to the right or below the map with accompanying reference number. -- [[User: fitzcarraldo|fitzcarraldo]]|[[User talk:fitzcarraldo|T]] 17:05, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
*This is a great idea, I am not an explorer/scout but I am all for class-specific skills, that are in character, because as of right now there aren't too many differences(which I'm guessing will change.-- [[User:Daylan|Daylan]]00:37, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

*I think this is a great idea too, and very much the way a real cartogragher would operate, making small notations as they explored and surveyed.--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:49, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

*I've been spoiled by the GPS and haven't really found myself lost enough to need this skill. However, with the random revival change I can imagine that getting lost in the jungle is becoming frequently more common for new players. I had a difficult time accepting the point-and-click location feature. I'm not sure how that could be handled simply. I also considered allowing the player to input X and Y coordinates directly, but that seemed out of character for Natives. One possibility that I settled on was a simple "Add Location" button on map.cgi to document the current location. It would change that map.cgi square to a different color and prompt the player to input a description. Ten location points with unique colors and descriptions will be listed under the map to serve as a key. You could either make this listing a queue (pushing out the oldest entries) or locked at 10 until one of the locations are deleted by the player. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 09:01, 11 May 2006 (BST)
----

=== Revive skill ===
Applies to doctors and shamans, a skill to revive spirits, would require Sixth sense (obviously). It is simple enough premis: a skill that revives dead players similar to the regular shamans instead of requiring them to go to town shamans, the revive players aren't as skilled at the craft so the revived players would have only 80% of there hp when revived by other players. --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 00:43, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* Does raise a risk of multi-abuse, but I agree that player shamen should have this ability. Maybe it requires a special powder or item in order to do?--[[User:Jackel|Jackel]] 00:49, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
* I am trying to think of some cost right now but can't decide. I do know that the xp gain rate should be comparable to fighting(and healing when there are more players) so players will want to be a revive player. --[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 01:41, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
*I don't like the idea of Doctors getting the ability to revive the dead, but that's definitely within the rights of a shaman. Sixth Sense as a requirement, and you must be standing in the same area as a spirit. Give either a 100% chance to work and a relatively high AP cost (10?) or a lower chance to work and lower AP cost. Blam. There you go. Player shamans can now do their part.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:18, 28 March 2006 (BST)
*Haven't been around in a bit..... anyways I was just thinking that it seems mighty easy to get levels by "camping" the "enemy" shamen and getting hordes of xp and tonnes of native/outsider kills this seems like an exploit of the current system of revives. If a player aided revive method is put into place the main shamans should be removed, or you can only be revived by your home shaman by the call shaman(or whatever it is called) button to prevent this xp farming. I thought of this because my level 3 pirate has got all his xp from doing this and it is mighty easy and with the Ubermap and stuff it is even easyer to do, though pirates will need a way to get revived by there own.....lol I just realized I put doctor instead of scientist doctor=scientist - [[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 02:51, 4 April 2006 (BST)
----

===Polymorph===
Requires Animal Spirit. Allows character to take the form of an animal. Perhaps one skill per animal, and each transform requires the use of an (AP expensive) animal mask. Upon transforming, people around you cannot tell it is you. If you die as an animal, you turn back to human, having lost half the HP the animal lost. To allow polymorph for outsiders, maybe a skill like "Ancient Reading" with the presumption that this allows them to read the right glyphs in the ruins would give them the ability to learn this skill. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 03:52, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

''Comments''
* I like the idea of having some kind of weird supernatural kind of skill for the natives... But, I think that if you get killed while in animal form, you should be dead and have to seek the assistance of a shaman. Because all the natives would do when logging out is morph into an elephant. That's a boat load of HP for someone to whittle down and kill, only to have the human pop out and have to be hacked away at. Granted, nobody will KNOW outright that the person has assumed the guise of an animal. Would you propose that if someone "kills" the animal form they get the XP bonus of killing an animal? -- [[User:Schmeckel|Schmeckel]] 06:09, 11 March 2006 (GMT)
*Special masks that turn you into animals? They'd need to be quite hard to make, maybe special wood from a certain type of tree, a bit of the animal and something to stick it together. It'd have to be harder to get the ones for better animals. [[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 12:19, 11 March 2006 (GMT)
----

===Will o' the Wisp===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition|
suggest_scope=Spirits (all classes)|
suggest_description=Will o' the Wisp (can't think of another name) is a potentially simple skill to give a little more incentive to play as a spirit for a bit. It is a sub-skill of '''Ghostly whisper'''. If a player possesses this skill, then as a spirit they will have an option to "Wisp" for 30 AP. Wisping operates on a similar mechanic as the Flare guns and Feeding groans in Urban Dead. Any players posessing '''Sixth Sense''' within a 5x5 range of the spirit will be informed: ''A faint flicker of light catches your eye (x blocks east/west), (y blocks north/south). (timestamp)''.

This skill also has the potential to stack. More spirits on the same square will produce a brighter effect. Possibly in base 5. Ranging from faint flicker, slight illumination, to brilliant flash.

Fixes that I made last minute: reduced the Wisp range and upped the Wisp cost in an attempt to reduce spamming, also making Sixth Sense a prerequisite for recognizing Wisps as it would otherwise nerf the skill to a degree.|
suggest_time=07:53, 25 March 2006 (GMT)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* I like it. The AP cost might be a bit on the high side, but there may be other alternatives to reduce spamming. --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 10:44, 25 March 2006 (GMT)
* What's the point of it? Or is there something I'm missing? I mean, is it just to light up for kicks? Wll o' the Wisps in folklore always attempted to lead travellers into dangerous parts of bogs, where they would find their doom. Since that isn't really an option (and since people, noticing this, would just stop paying attention to them), is there any practical use for this? Still neat, if there isn't, but better if there is.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 07:25, 28 March 2006 (BST)
** As a Shaman with Sixth Sense, I've only come across 1 spirit. I sought a means to encourage the realm of the living and the dead to interact more. It is admitedly mostly aimed towards flavor and roleplaying than mechanics. The most practical application would be to attract people to revive points (in the possibility that they are created). In retrospect, I now see that this suggestion overlaps with the '''Haunting Scream''' description to a fair degree. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 08:33, 28 March 2006 (BST)
::* Does it overlap? I haven't seen a Haunting Scream in action, yet. I'm all for flavor and RP skills, I just doubt that people woud bother with them too often without some mechanical benefit, which would be a shame. I'll admit, though, that I hadn't thought of attracting shamans to get yourself revived.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 06:48, 29 March 2006 (BST)

}}

===Construction===
construction points, would be implemented and would act like exp, but players earn it by setting up camp, ex: 5exp everytime a player sets up his/her cabin, costs 10ap to set up, to keep from spamming and getting free exp.
*'''construction'''allow players to build 1(one) single hut per GAME that is collapsable, non collapsable, players out in the jungle would have to cut down the jungle to re-construct the hut
this would give players a reason to stay out in the jungle,

simply what it says, first off, we could/should have different buildings because i find it annoying to have to look around at the same picture not knowing where the trading post is. im implying that new icons be put in for huts, like the pirate ship, have different pictures, ex:
there is an armory hut, it's icon would be a hut with a silver tip/ sword on the roof
and etc...

SKILLS:
*'''hut maitenance'''
can change hut 1(one) time into another kind of hut ex: armory hut, extra chance of finding wpns etc
**'''cupboard''' accesible inventory in hut that players can "lock" and recieve a "key" item, other players could break open the "lock" for x amount of AP
*'''bed''' players in hut are shown the "get into bed" option which heals 2 hp every hour they arent logged in
**'''fluffy bed''' heals and extra 1-2 hp
*'''running water'''
if the hut is within x amount of squares to water, they can refill gourds and bottles (i think someone suggested we keep empty bottles, this would require that to be implemented)
*'''fire-pit''' players can cook meat (as suggested, only used if implemented)
*'''craftmanship'''players can see the hut's creator, ex: Richard's Hut, if skill isnt aquired, players see the hut as "dishevelled hut" or "ragged hut" etc.
*'''hut upgrade 1''' hut is given one extra ring of squares
**'''hut upgrade 2''' hut is given extra floor
***'''hut upgrade 3''' hut second floor is enlarged, door locks are given
****'''hut upgrade 4''' hut is given a basement

the use of hut upgrades is to help people hide, when upgrade 3 is given, and locks are attained, players can "lock" their houses up, requiring a devastating amount of AP to open, suggesting around 60-70 AP

*'''house trap 1''' spike trap, inflicts 1 wound
**'''house trap 2''' heavy spike trap, 1 wound and 3 dmg
*'''house trap 3''' blast trap, 7 hp
**'''house trap 4''' heavy blast trap 14 hp

traps are triggered upon breaking into a house, players can attain a new skill:
*'''lockpick''' breaking in only costs 30 AP
with this skill, traps are disabled

*'''animal cage'''
if animal trapping were implemented, then this would keep them from running away when u died,
**'''animal care''' animal care section of the house, determining your pet's status ex:
Richard clicks the button "give pet food" mr whiskers smiles and gobbles it up. it could also just be flavor text, and a way to get rid of meat.
*'''attack animal'''
player buys skill animal now acts like trap, player types in names of people allowed to be in house, anyone not on the list is attacked by animal, animal is treated as "wild" to intruders, as per, it will follow them several blocks away from the house before returning, and can be killed, but is also agressive no matter what breed. ex: mr.parrot attack john doe for 2 dammage and returns home.
**'''rabidity''' animal is now "rabid" and has a 20% chance of "infecting" (wound) the intruding player

other tidings can be added, ex:
*'''taxidermy''' players can pick up dead bodies and mount them in their house ex:
in the second story of richard's hut is a grey elephant head, mounted on oak

my finale,
*'''garden''' allows players to plant a tree/ bush 1 square away from their house, planting requires, 5 of the said fruit and the plants disappear when the hut is packed up, players also have the ability to "kill" the plant and re-grow a different one.
**'''green thumb''' allows players to garden for only 3 fruits
**'''verdant thumb''' allows players to change to growths around their house, ex: a house surrounded by dirt can be changed to light undergrouwth or heavy forest
**'''spade''' allows player to dig a "cellar" 1-3 squares away from house to "hide" or store items.
skill also allows players to loacte any tunnels within 5X5 of the checked area. players can only check within a 3X3 area around the house

house experience does not raise everytime a skill is bought, but the price is set at 100-200 (your choice)

"comments Below"

Sounds like it would be a good idea if the island was bigger but otherwise a 3x3 would be gigantic if everyone had one--[[User:Slith|Slith]] 21:40, 29 March 2006 (BST)
*not really, but the huts are still the same single square size on the outside, it is the inside that changes. --[[User:Richard Rose|Richard Rose]]

I think it would be better to implement this skill while implementing clans - i.e. having clan camps. One way to implement this would be to establish camp/ a hut automatically when a certain number of players from a given clan stand on a single square. This would reward organization and prevent individual players from spamming. In addition, I think that having all those additions as skills is unnessacary. I just adds uneeded complexity. Again, clan based operation seems to be the best way to do this.--[[User:Gandhi|Gandhi]] 00:47, 31 March 2006 (BST)
----

===Plunder===
{{suggestion|
suggest_time=07:15, 30 March 2006 (BST)|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Pirates|
suggest_description=So. Pirates have been added, at long last. We all love pirates. They're swarthy, greedy people. Like mobsters, only with eyepatches, bandanas, peg legs, parrots, and the clap. There's something lacking in the pirates on Shartak, though. To get a better idea of this, let's look at the check list.

[x] 1. Pirate ship

[x] 2. Swarthy attitude

[x] 3. Pirate lingo

[x] 4. Murder

[ ] 5. Plunder

Aha! So we've identified the problem: a distinct lack of plunder. For this reason, I've come up with the idea for a plunderin' skill. Now, when you kill some poor sap, you take one coin out of his inventory per level--his level, that is. This keeps it a little balanced, in that you won't be taking away the life savings of some poor little level 1 when you kil him. Unless he happens to have only 1 coin, but that's neither here nor there. Now, of course, if you kill a level 5 who only has 4 coins, you'll only get those 4 coins. If he has 6 coins, however, you'll only get 5 of them.

Is it overpowering pirates to give them this class-restricted skill? Not really. I mean, despite being a combat class, they can't really get any good with rifles. Pretty much all of their kills are made with a cutlass. And what's the real usage of the gold coins? Typically, to buy ammunition. Obviously, the pirates won't be using it on that, as they're terrible shots. They'll just buy themselves some medical supplies, some back-up weapons, and hoard the rest. I can't say I know that many players who hold onto the coins, anyways, though I'm sure there must be some. Still, they generally tend to be spent pretty quickly. Really, I just think that this could lend pirates a little more depth; sure, they're fellow outsiders, but can you trust them? How quickly will they cut your throat for you wallet?

So... Thoughts? Agreement? Death threats?|
suggest_author=[[User:Wifey|Wifey]]|
suggest_comments=

*'''Keep/Change''' (Yarr) I agree that this fits with theme and perhaps rightfully rewards Pirates in that they do not have a Trader NPC at the shipwreck (at least that was the case when I left it several days ago). And I'm glad that this is being presented as a purchasable skill (I believe?) rather than an inherent one. I do generally follow one of the basic tenets of UD - "Don't <del>Tread On Me</del> Mess With My Inventory!" But gold appears to have become fairly plentiful with the Trader NPC; having more gold than your current level is a fairly easy feat and losing gold won't lead to an entirely unpleasant gaming experience. However, I would like a few more mechanics set in place to minimize the avenues to zerging, griefing, and general abuse that this suggestion would open up. The only simple amendment I can think of may be to give '''Plunder''' a percent chance of success. Perhaps allowing for degrees of advanced plundering skills. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 20:07, 30 March 2006 (BST)
**'''RE:''' A very good point. Very good points from both of you. I had thought of a % chance when I was originally writing the suggestion, but I realized that the nwe'd be dealing with an X% chance to get Y% of the other player's coins, and I thought it might be a little more work on the server than necessary. I thought, perhaps a chence of getting only 1 coin, but that seemed just silly. Perhaps we could limit the pirate to only 1 plunder per day (or maybe a few more, if people feel that 1 is too few)? For example, if you killed John Smith the level 1 Explorer and took 1 coin from him, then killed Mr. Moneybags the level 16 with more coins than you can shake a stick at, you would get no coins from him. If you were to wait a day, though, and kill Mr. Moneybags ''then'', you would get 16 coins--and no more from anyone else for the rest of the day. Additionally, you would not be able ot get money from the same person twice in a row. So if, after killing Mr. Moneybags and taking half of his coins, you killed him the next day, you would get none. You might as well have gone for poor little John Smith. That eliminates griefing, and all it would need to do is keep track of the ID of the last person you killed, checking it the next time you kill someone 24+ hours later..--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 23:29, 30 March 2006 (BST)
*i agree with both of them, and with you, id love to see this flavor added, and the trader NPC at the pirate camp has yet to be found, so they would have to go to another village to use it. the closest village (where my pirate is) is dalpok, which, is, as you know native. this hostility would mean pirates would REALLY have to work to hoard medical supplies and weapons, thusly this would be well balanced. i also want to discuss the % success rate. as pirates are VERY good at "plundering" the % chance success rate should start at a reasonably high %, such as 50% and above. as putting it any lower would simply be ridiculous. there could be several level ups to raise the % but if there are no advanced levels then i suggest putting the starting % at around 75%. --[[User:Richard Rose|Richard Rose]]

*'''Plunder''' could be made a search skill (concievably the second skill in the plunder grouping). Rather than having it be merely equivalent to scavenging the plunder skill could only be used in villages (it wouldn't matter if they were native or outsider villages). Scavenging could similarly be changed to a jungle-only skill. Repeatedly plundering a square would deplete it much like chopping down a square of jungle, and squares would replenish over time much the same way. Whether this affects the search odds for other players is open to debate. I'd hate for the pirate class to be burning every other class in the game by plundering all the villages to the point nobody could find a rifle. The odds of finding a broken item should increase while plundering. The more refined the item the greater the chance it would be broken when a pirate plunders it (GPS, first aid kits, rifles, dart guns and any other delicate manufactured items to come being more likely to be broken). It would give people on the island something to do other than filling out the map and hunting game. Since we could then expect groups of pirates moving from village to village it would also increase player interaction (violently or otherwise). Having a wider range of broken items could necessitate a repair skill for players or a similar service that could be provided by a trader adding another level to the game's economy. -[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=242 Tyler Whitney]

*With the new "stuff breaks/crit hit" along with traders gold has a major use, instead of searching for that cutlass(or machete both break) you can go trade your hard earned gold coins for a weapon, why stop at just coins? pirates could get this skill and should just take away 1 random item (any item) plus a few gold coins, as we all know pirates didn't just take gold they took anything of value. Though level ones should be completly immune to this and the maximum value of the item you take(based on how many gold coins it takes to trade for the item) should be equal to there level, or some other method all I know is items should get stolen along with coins, you can only get killed once (as of right now) before going back to a village so it doesn't do too much, I mean 1 item? even if it was my machete(whom I call Mary) I wouldn't mind, sure my ghost would scream and haunt the bastard who took her away from me that would just add a new level of fun to the game. As a native(with a pirate alt) I support this skill, though it would entail a new top ten richest in the statistics page so the pirates would know who to hunt.... mwahaha -[[User:Daylan|Daylan]] 03:09, 4 April 2006 (BST)
**Now there's an interesting idea. Perhaps, though, there should then be a hierarchy of items in the eyes of a pirate? For instance, you take 1 item (which might be a gold coin) and one gold coin on the side. The gold coins on the side would increase with one's level. What would the item be, though? Probably first would be a gem. They're shiny and valuable--a pirate's favorite words (aside from "Arrrr!")! Next? A gold coin. Not enough coins? Probably a cutlass or machete. None of those? Rifle. No? Rifle bullet, then. None of those, either? Probably go with a first aid kit. Ah, but those are out, too? Bottle of water. And so on down the list. Bottle of water -> bottle of rum -> gourd of water/banana/berries -> knife/dagger. I doubt a pirate would bother with a blowgun or darts, nor would he yearn for his enemies' driftwood. Once again, just throwing an idea out, though.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 06:28, 4 April 2006 (BST)
*** To a Pirate, Rum would be more interesting than Water...[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 11:40, 28 May 2006 (BST)
**I think plundering items crosses into making this skill much to powerful. It lessens the need for the Pirate class to spend AP searching. They may lose a cutlass or two choppping another player to bits, but then they earn a machete in the kill and can continue on their way. Gold coins can be argued to be powerful, but the lack of a Trader at the shipwreck means they have to make their way to other Villages in order to spend them. After some further thinking, I feel that there should be a plundering cap of 10 coins regardless of level (otherwise it would be unfair to classes with class-specific skills that make them a higher level than others). And it is random chance after the kill produces no coins or some coins or all coins. If the player doesn't have enough coins, the Pirate plunders what he can and is given extra flavor text to reward them on their evil little victory. "Yo ho ho! You have taken all (Player)'s booty." --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 07:00, 4 April 2006 (BST)

*Plunder sounds nice. How about this formula: a pirate's chance of plundering someone equals 4 times the pirate's level minus 2 times the victim's level and always returns the lesser of half the victim's level in gold (rounded down) or all the victim's gold. In other words, if a level 10 pirate plunders a level 1 scientist with 10 gold, the pirate has a 38% chance of getting 0 gold, and if a level 10 pirate plunders a level 13 warrior with 2 gold, the pirate has a 14% chance of getting 2 gold. This simulates higher level non-pirates being more adept at hiding coin purses on their body, and prevents griefing on newbies. I agree with above comments that plunder should be a one time immediate event upon killing a character, based on a percentage chance, and limited to gold - anything else makes the skill too complex and/or powerful. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 13:39, 4 April 2006 (BST)
*I wouldn't support this unless pirates could be plundered ''from'', too, which kind of defeats the point. It's not like pirates are a weak class; the shipwreck has a trader now, and they start with 65 HP. I really like being able to count on having a static inventory while I'm logged out, and I think "Yarr, a pirate has killed you and plundered 1 gold coin" would get old very fast. I think it'd be quite cool if pirates were healed by 1 HP more for drinking beer or rum, but taking gold from their kills is too much. — [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 16:42, 28 May 2006 (BST)
*Yarr and Keep. I say this is a good addition. I believe all the classes should have some skill specific to them. I have a pirate and a scientist, and neither of them have anywhere special go to in terms of skills, thus making the distinction of them being scientists and pirates useless. Especially the scientist... 10 gold coins? What the? --[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]] 10:53, 30 May 2006 (BST)
*Would it damage game balance much to have the pirate gain gold as described, but ''without'' taking gold from the victim? That way we have the benefits of the skill, without the annoyance of losing your gold. And it wouldnt be an easier way to get money than searching in huts, so it shouldnt unbalance the game too much. --Gitboy 17:26, 3 July 2006
*I like the idea of plunder, and given that pirates don’t have class specific skill it would only be fitting to have it as our first. Rather then trying to create overly complicated system for plunder we should just follow in the tradition of final fantasy more specifically making plunder into a 3 level skill much in the vain of steal (a small chance of taking a random item from opponent’s inventory (maybe 5%)) rob (a greater of chance than the above (10%)) and finally mug (the same chance rating as “rob” with the addition of damage if successful(something like 2 or 3).--[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 04:13, 22 July 2006 (UTC)


}}

===Diagnosis===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition, class-specific|
suggest_scope=Shaman and Scientist|
suggest_description=This is an attempt to create additional variety within the classes. Diagnosis would be a sub-skill of Triage available only to the Shaman and Scientist classes. It behaves much like Triage does, but it would detect Shark Bites and other possible future maladies and status ailments. Shark Bite victims could be identified with an asterisk next to their name. 
I believe that this skill's net benefits will be minimal. It would fit with the theme of the class, while not over-powering them. I also believe that since this is a sub-skill, that there should be additional class-specific skills for Shamans and Scientist.|
suggest_time=18:21, 6 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Lint|Lint]]|
suggest_comments=

* If Triage truly only does reveal one person's HP then the skill tree should be expanded for Advanced Triage as well. Where Advanced Triage would display the HP of everyone in the current area - rather than just the most wounded. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 01:55, 29 April 2006 (BST)
* Corrected usage of Doctor. I hope that this skill can still be considered in-character for Scientists. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 23:11, 11 May 2006 (BST)

}}

===Alchemy===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill addition, class-specific|
suggest_scope=Scientists|
suggest_description=Allows Scientists to convert seemingly useless items (such as driftwood) into valuables such as a gold coin. Another possibility is crabs into gems (don't ask). This would, of course, cost about 25 AP per use. This would give Scientists a key role in the game because they would be needed to convert intems.|
suggest_time=23:24, 8 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]]|
suggest_comments=

*While I like the basic idea of this, it should be limited a little. That said, I don't know how one would appropriately limit its use. Perhaps you could turn a bottle of rum into a more refreshing bottle of water? How, precisely, would you envision the implementation of this?--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 01:18, 10 April 2006 (BST)
*I like it! It gives us something unique to do as scientists! Would you make it so you turn a specific useless item into a specific useful item, or what?[[User:MorkaisChosen|MorkaisChosen]] 15:24, 10 April 2006 (BST)
**I imagine that eventually every class will have atleast one unique skill to separate it from the others and give a reason for choosing that class. --[[User:One of many doctors|One of many doctors]] 01:30, 11 April 2006 (BST)
*I could accept this if it was presented differently. As it stands, it sort of conflicts with my expectation that the Natives are the more mystically-inclined and the Outsiders are more advanced technologically. I just don't envision men and women of science practicing alchemy. I have no objection to the scientist manufacturing items, but not in this manner. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 03:37, 11 April 2006 (BST)

}}

===Spirit Substantiation===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Sprits (all classes)|
suggest_description=The spirit has learned to partially substantiate its form, becoming more physical, and can now float on the winds to move at double the normal rate (i.e. .5 AP per move), but only in the direction that the wind is blowing. Note that this requires the game element of wind, which can either be a uni-directional constant (e.g. always blows west) or changes over time (perhaps dependant on location?). If wind direction changes, the game's user interface will need a mechanism to display wind direction, either via game.cgi or added to map.html.

This could be the first in a series of new spirit skills. I see the aforementioned Will o' the Wisp being under this tree, as well as another skill to move .3 AP per move but still only in the direction of the wind. Perhaps some poltergeist type skills can be added as well - allow dead pirates to plunder, any spirit to write messages, any spirit to still map out the area, etc, etc.
|
suggest_time=16:40, 14 April 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Frisco|Frisco]]|
suggest_comments=

* Nice idea, what would happen to moving against the wind? Would that then require 2AP and 1 AP to move at 90 degrees to the wind direction :) --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 17:33, 14 April 2006 (BST)
** I was thinking of substantiation as being a conceptual (not a user toggle switch, something the game system automatically determines) on/off capability of the ghost, so the ghost could have no form and thus no penalty for moving into the wind, then take form and move with the wind. But that's mostly because i don't like the idea of skills that negatively affect a character. I definitely think wind should adversely affect other things, like pigeons taking longer to deliver if the recipient is upwind. It's all more math for you! --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 17:49, 14 April 2006 (BST)

}}

===Marksmanship===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill modification and new skill|
suggest_scope=Anyone who uses a ranged weapon|
suggest_description=A few problems that I see with regard to rifle use: 1) Non-soldiers' extremely low maximum rifle accuracy making rifles useless to non-soldiers, 2) Loading rifles takes up a tremendous amount of AP since it costs one AP to load one bullet, leading to a very low damage-to-total-AP-spent ratio, 3) A closely related problem to #2 is the fact that people are carrying around 20 or 30 rifles/blowpipes, which is ridiculous and unrealistic, and a by-product of the AP cost to load. I dont know if the following idea for a solution to both of these problems can realisitically be implemented, but here goes: Change the Advanced Rifle Training skill to make loading rifle bullets cost 0 AP (advanced training would thus mean the abiliy to load rifles very easily and quickly, as opposed to untrained people who take much longer. We are in the time period when it took a long time to load rifles after all). Institute a new skill called Marksmanship in the firearms skill tree, which gives +__% rifle accuracy <s>(I would say +30%). Let marksmanship be a skill that can be acquired by anyone, while rifle training and advanced rifle training remain soldier-exlcusive. If Marksmanship gives +30%, it will improve non-soldiers' maximum accuracy from 20% to 50%, knocking out problem #1 above. Soldiers with the entire proposed rifle skill tree would have max accuracy of 70% and would not have to waste an AP to load, knocking out problem #2. Natives would get the same changes for blowpipe
note: It might be better to have two skills, Marksmanship and Expert Marksmaship, each giving +15% accuracy, and possibly make these two a seperate skill tree. If they were in the rifle training tree, they would have to come after the two rifle training skills, but non-soldiers cannot get rifle training, so it would look awkward.</s>

'''NOTE: [[User_talk:Arminius#Proposal_for_new_rifle_skill_tree|Revised proposal and statistical analysis of current vs. proposed damage-to-AP ratios, click here]]'''|
suggest_time=05:34, 13 May 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Arminius|Arminius]]|
suggest_comments=

*From a gameplay point of view, i don't see that guns/blowpipes need to be any stronger. It's already possible to take someone out in one go, why the need to kill quicker? The proposed change means with one gun and a full load of bullets, one soldier in one day causes an average of 75 * .7 * 4 = 210 HP damage - that's 2.4 pirates with stamina, or 4.2 beginner shamans. It would make the game a lot less fun to be able to die that much quicker and that much more often. Maybe i wouldn't object as much if these old school guns were also subject to backfiring, causing them to blow up in the owner's hands and resulting in owner HP loss and gun destruction (similar to machete/cutlass blade snapping). By the way, elsewhere there's been debate on the timeperiod of the game since we also have GPS units. --[[User:Frisco|Frisco]] 20:00, 13 May 2006 (BST)
::You are calculating ''combat'' damage-to-AP ratio, the proposed modification of the advanced rifle training skill would not affect combat-damage-to-AP ratio very much (it would affect it not at all for people with lots of rifles), it would only affect the rifle's currently very low total overall damage-inflicted-to-AP-spent ratio. (With 28 fully-loaded rifles a soldier can already kill two 85-HP pirates in only 56 AP.) The rifle's total-damage-to-AP ratio today is 0.48 by my calculation, the machete's is 1.35. With the proposed changes, the maximum total-damage-to-AP ratio for a rifle-wielding soldier would be 0.7 (still far lower than machete). Non-soldiers max rifle total damage-to-AP ratio would improve from 0.16 (weaker than a level 0 character with a blunt machete) to 0.4. I like your suggestion of rifles possibly blowing up too, Simon should definitely consider that. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 20:28, 13 May 2006 (BST)

*I'm not sure how I feel about the skill yet, but I will correct you, Frisco, in that the GPS unit is not an adequate argument about the game's time period. Simon has already said that he doesn't like the name "GPS Unit" because it is anachronistic, and was considering another one.--[[User:Wifey|Wifey]] 01:03, 14 May 2006 (BST)

* I don't quite see why rebuilding the skill tree is necessary. You could accomplish the same thing by introducing two new skills - one for accuracy which builds upon the existing accuracy skills and one for reloading. Make the first accuracy skill available to all classes (adjusting to 30%), but restrict the secondary accuracy skills to Warriors and Soldiers. But even then, I'm not completely sold on the fact that these skills are necessary. I have no problem with my non-Soldier not depending on a rifle. If I wanted to use a rifle, I can easily make a Soldier character. And while reducing reloading cost might bring rifles and blowpipes more evenly with machetes, increasing the damage or introducing the ranged attack suggestion might solve the problem without providing free lunches. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 02:31, 15 May 2006 (BST)
::Yes of course it's fine to make them new skills. I suggested it in the way I did because learning to load quickly would fall under rifle training I would say, and we already have the two rifle-training skills in the game. One of the accuracy-improving skills would fall under Marskmanship (or marskmanship/expert marksmanship). How they are added to the game is almost immaterial, the point is to let soldiers be able to acquire a skill which gets rid of their need to waste more than half their daily AP loading their 20 rifles, and get rid of the need to carry 20+ rifles in the first place. I dont see how a skill allowing for a 0 AP cost to load is a "free lunch" at all, it just reduces the price of a ridiculously high-priced lunch, i.e. 1 AP to load 1 bullet/dart (plus I feel it improves the realism of the game, in part by eliminating the need to carry around 25 rifles or blowpipes). The point of the Marksmanship skill (available to all) is not to put non-soldiers on the par with soldiers in firearms capability at all, but to make rifles non-worthless to everyone else. Currently non-soldiers are literally far better off ''punching'' enemies than using a rifle when it comes to damage-inflicted-per-AP-spent, which is just ridiculous. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 03:37, 15 May 2006 (BST)
:::I do like the idea of making rifle and blowpipe usage more accessible to other character classes. But I continue to have a difficult time accepting the 0 AP reload cost. Currently there is no action in the game that costs 0 AP besides rejecting a trade, speaking in empty area, healing someone at full health, and dropping an item (all non-actions). Would 0.5 AP would be an acceptable change? But before it is considered, there must be other alternatives before lowering AP cost to make the ranged weapons more balanced. --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 22:27, 27 May 2006 (BST)
::::How about this-- modify advanced rifle training skill so that instead of "Gain another 20% on firearms attacks", it says "lets soldiers load and fire faster" (0.5 AP to load and to fire with that skill), in other words a rifle version of trekking. This would cut down on the excessive AP costs of rifle usage and be an interesting skill to balance rifles rather than another "add 20% accuracy" or something like that. Then two new skills, Marksmanship (+10% accuracy), Expert Marskmanship (+20% accuracy), both of which would be available to all character classes. I would envision the two marskmanship skills as the first two skills in the firearms tree (the only two available to non-soldiers), and then the rifle training skills would come afterwards. -[[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 20:00, 30 May 2006 (BST)
:::::'''UPDATE:''' To see a revised version of my suggestion '''[[User_talk:Arminius#Proposal_for_new_rifle_skill_tree|Click Here]].''' I worked out the current and proposed damage-to-AP ratios, and I invite everyone to take a look. It is far too long and complicated to copy here, so I wrote it up elsewhere. -[[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 01:44, 2 June 2006 (BST)
:*As discussed elsewhere, ''carrying loaded rifles as backup allows you to lock in the kill bonus'' on a much wider range of (remaining-AP/remaining-victim-HP) situations. Since the '''kill bonus is more than a third of total XP for combat''', this throws the naive XP=damage comparisons way out of whack. Anecdotally at least, my Soldier has clearly done better than my other characters in jungle XP-harvesting, because kill-steals and dying while asleep are so common. So while the Rifle (and especially the Blowpipe) needs help, I think that nearly doubling combat-time damage to 2x 50% 5 damage for 1 AP (5.0) instead of 1x 60% 5 damage (3.0) is not an ideal way to proceed. I support Free Reload or Rapid Reload as a Soldier-Only Skill. I also think that an all-available accuracy upgrade for Rifle/Blowpipe (to at least better than Machete) would be great. For example: Base 20% (+General Accuracy +15%) (+Soldier-only Accuracy +15%) (+Soldier-only Accuracy +15%). Or maybe Base 10% (+General Accuracy +25%) (+Soldier-only Accuracy +25%) (+Soldier-only Rapid Reload), and increase Rifle Bullet base damage to 6. Two shots per AP just seems too big a jump to me; imho implementing true range (firing from adjacent square and/or without provoking return melee attacks) is a better way to proceed. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 03:56, 2 June 2006 (BST)
::*Yes the blowpipe needs help even more than the rifle. That limited-AP poisoning skill, along with these proposed boosts to accuracy, would even things out there. I also like the idea of making ranged weapons truly ranged, but that seems difficult to implement and perhaps impractical (for one thing we cant see the names of people on adjacent squares). If any version of QBerry's "auto attack" is ever implemented for players, though it seems unlikely with so much opposition, the "range" of the ranged weapon could come into play by not allowing a person without ranged weapons/ammo to back. This was discussed on the forums in the "Aggressive Animals" thread. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 06:01, 2 June 2006 (BST)
:*NB about Free Reload: Incidentally, Free Reload obviously solves the "realism problem" by allowing a Soldier to carry only one Rifle and a huge pile of Bullets, with '''no increase''' in Soldier combat-time damage-per-AP (still 3.0 max avg per AP) nor Soldier field-capacity damage-per-inventoryfull (still 72 shots) since 2 Bullets loose take up as much space as a Loaded Rifle. People who think that 0AP reload is imbalancing have been smoking too much of the dried herbs. As for realism of 0AP reload, the Soldier's "1AP to fire" accounts for time necessary to both reload and fire. I can discuss and reject 160 exchanges with the Trader and or attempt to heal a signpost in the same amount of time. The real-time form submission and IP hit creates a perceptible time-increment. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 03:56, 2 June 2006 (BST)

After thinking about this, it seems to me that the best thing to do is as follows: No new skill, instead simply a change in the game mechanics so that all players take 0 AP to "load" by deafult. The AP cost to fire would thereby represent the time to load and fire, as Tycho44 said above. (Load was in quotation marks there because the load button in-game would thus really represent selecting the bullet to use, the actual action of loading would be included in the 1 AP to fire). This would eliminate the 30 rifles problem straight away (and for all character classes), it would ''not'' increase the combat damage-to-AP ratio at all, and it would be an interesting way to increase the damage-to-''total''-AP-spent ratio (which we need) without having to add any new skill. As for the accuracy boosts, those can be worked out later (non-soldiers need a boost in that department we all agree, perhaps soldiers merit a slight one), but 0 AP to "load" is definitely a sound change to make, I see no argument against it. [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 23:11, 3 June 2006 (BST)

The reason why I keep pressing for alternatives is because I never saw this as a solution in other browser-based games. Shouldn't the route be to increase the damage dealt to reduce the impact of the reload cost? --[[User:Lint|Lint]] 18:52, 14 June 2006 (BST)

:My earlier arguments notwithstanding, I '''strongly oppose''' universal 0AP reload. A 0AP reload for everyone simply destroys the reloading game mechanism in its entirety, making the 2-bullet chamber of the rifle identical to the 1-dart chamber of the blowpipe identical to the 70-bullet drum of a hypothetical gatling gun. The blowpipe is distinguished by its Poison damage, which can in turn be offset by a Reload Penalty, if we keep that game mechanic. Keeping the reload mechanic enhances the separate-but-equal factions. In my humble and uninformed speculation, tweak up the accuracy on ranged weapons (say 20% base / 35% marksmanship-universal / 50% warrior-only / 65% advanced-warrior-only) and things will work fine. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 23:54, 17 June 2006 (BST)


}}

===Hut Construction (Simplified) ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill, item, action|
suggest_scope=Every player|
suggest_description=This is a bit similar to the Construction suggestion, but much more simplified. I agree that we should be able to set up little camps, to have bases away from bases. I'll explain the flavour aspect after I've explained the mechanics. 
A skill can be purchased called, "Construction", which allows you to erect a hut on land that has been chopped down to 0 density. The hut would have a bit of AP weight to build, say 10ap cost so that full constuction on a 10 dense jungle sq would have a total of 20ap. The hut that you build is at first a regular empty hut. Once you have bought the second skill in the set, "Stock Hut" (or something like that), the hut becomes a mini trade-post, stocking no more than 5 types of items at any one point. The first 5 items are randomized, and then as people trade, they change. Thus, it's a mixed bag of what you could get. These artificially erected huts can be sacked and destroyed. Keep in mind I'm not a coder, so if you know what I'm describing is difficult, but know how to do something similar, please say so. 
Flavour: This gives people the feeling of being able to set up their own little base camp for their own clan, without making a whole new village. The fact that each hut can only stock a small number of items, and also that it can be destoryed, means things don't get out of hand and make the original villages defunct. Each hut can also be plauged with low-demand items like crabs or mangoes, making the idea even for grifers, natives, enemies, outsiders and pirates.|
suggest_time=12:05, 3 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]]|
suggest_comments=

Building a hut could also require a certain number of driftwood pieces. --[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]] 12:08, 3 June 2006 (BST)

Ability to create minor base camps away from settlements is good (but for what practical purpose?), but the idea that the island would be flooded with "huts" all over, with the same icon and name as huts in settlements, I dont like that. This is supposed to a wild myseterious island, having huts all over would hurt that ambiance I think (Lower-tech base camps of some sort would not hurt it though.) If hut construction is implemented it would have to be very costly to avoid littering the entire map with them that's for sure. The other thing is, We have to be clear about what the purpose of these base camps would be, what practical benfit would they have. Would they have defense value? Could the builder elect to keep people out unless they are members of clan X or unless they are natives or unless they are Derbyites, etc? [[User:Arminius|Arminius]] 00:59, 4 June 2006 (BST)

:I agree wholeheartedly with your points. It is indeed important to make it difficult to build huts. As I mentioned, the huts would have very small capabilities as a trade point, thus making them a tactical advantage in a seige. Allow me to explain; My clan wants to lay seige to Dalpok. We erect a small camp near the village and stock our huts with bullets through trading. Then we load up, attack, come back to our makeshift camp and take the bullets from our huts. As for the wild, mysterious island element, you're right, but is it not normal for humans to tame and civilise the jungle? And vice versa for humans to destroy one another's homes? With this new skill(s) we can simulate seiges and sackings, but still keep our 7 original villages/bases. I don't think you could exclude people from entering your hut. It's the luck of the draw, and if enemies infiltrate, too bad. makes it all the more exciting. I also agree that making a hut should be very costly, but that's up to Simon as to how he'd like to implement such a cost. Finally, the only variation I can see might be to make huts not a mini trade post, but maybe a small storage area of say 15 slots, to keep bullets or med kits from the main towns...? --[[User:Rip Purr|Rip Purr]] 02:30, 4 June 2006 (BST)

:Here are my thoughts on the matter:
:#To encourage clustering of huts (instead of unsightly and unrealistic random scattering), hut-builders should be required to chop the hut's eventual square ''and'' all surrounding squares (that don't have huts on them) to d0. After all, construction requires some space. This would encourage players to build next to existing huts, since every adjacent hut is a square that doesn't need chopping.
:#For realism's sake, driftwood shouldn't be required to build or repair a hut, because it'd be silly to make a player in the middle of a huge jungle travel all the way to the beach to find wood. Jungle wood could be introduced as an item, but I think it's better to require AP alone.
:#Hut health could be managed by giving each new hut 5 HP (Hut Points =)) and removing 1 HP every 24 hours (obliterating any hut that reaches 0 HP). A hut would require 50 AP to construct (in addition to AP for chopping the surrounding jungle) and 10 AP to repair by 1 HP. Repairs wouldn't require cleared jungle; once a hut is built, jungle growth outside doesn't matter.
:#Special features for huts, such as trade and storage abilities, should be put on hold until buildable huts are already in the game. Not only do huts provide shelter from animals, they hide players inside from anyone not willing to spend a few AP to move to the hut and enter it, so additional features shouldn't be necessary to make hut-building worthwhile.
:— [[User:Elembis|Elembis]] ([[User talk:Elembis|talk]]) 04:52, 4 June 2006 (BST)
}}

=== Spirit Transfer ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill, action|
suggest_scope=Warriors, Shamans|
suggest_description= This suggerstion was inspired by polymorph. Warriors and Shamans can get a new skill that allows them to transfer their spirits into the bodies of a dead animal nearby. Animals won't be able to speak, use items, search, or use any human skills. The player will have the Hp and attack power of the type of animal you possessed. Other players on the map will see you as just another animal, not as a native. Transferring spirits will result in the death of their human form (if it is not already dead) but grants them access to the animal's innate abilities. Eg. Alligators can attack twice but have decreased movement through land, Monkeys can search and use some simple items, Parrots move faster throught all terrain. When the body of the animal possessed dies the player will be in spirit form but wont have a corpse. It will also be possible to leave the animal's body at any time but the trauma would be the same as having the body killed by an outside force. In order to not break the game, certain special animals can not be possessed ( like that giant squid )|

suggest_time=11:37, 3 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Stcfg|Stcfg]]|
suggest_comments=

: I would like to suggest a skill for being able to detect possessed animals but that is for another day. --[[User:Stcfg|Stcfg]] 11:40, 3 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Hunting Prowess===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Tracking skill tree|
suggest_description=It would be interesting for serious trackers to be constantly aware of recent tracks without spending AP. I propose adding this skill after ''Expert Tracking''—it doesn't have to be called ''Hunting Prowess'' but that seemed like a fitting name. Players with this skill would still have to use the 'Look for tracks' button to see anything but the most recent tracks. One possible limitation is to apply this only to animal tracks, but I definitely intended to include player tracks as well.|
suggest_time=13:17, 9 June 2006 (BST)|
suggest_author=[[User:Vtbassmatt|VTBassMatt]]|
suggest_comments=

:Tracking is currently a bit weak. On the other hand, I don't mind seeing quite a few mild/weak skills, because some players are already looking for more ways to spend XP. Certainly Tracking should top out at stronger than 1AP per attempt. My suggestion was ''Master Tracking'' above ''Expert Tracking'' to reduce time to 0.5AP per attempt. I agree that it would be neat to have the skill ''Hunting Prowess'' as a 0AP ability for only the single most recent track, but I think this skill would be a prime candidate to limit to '''Explorer/Scout-only.''' (Sorry!) 1. Tracking perfectly fits the Explorer/Scout class archetype, 2. Shartak needs better class differentiation, 3. Explorer/Scout is a bit weak, 4. Explorer/Scout currently has no dedicated skills. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 08:19, 15 June 2006 (BST)

}}

===Emergency medicine===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Scientist|
suggest_description=At the moment, scientists have no significant advantages. They start with 10 gold coins which, while it's nothing to sneeze at, doesn't really fit with their name. Perhaps they could learn a skill that allowed them to heal without the use of a first aid kit. First aid would be a prerequisite. However, the skill would not allow them to heal as many HP as using an FAK would. For example, they might only heal 2-5 HP. This would allow scientists to wander in the jungle for long periods of time without resupplying, giving them a real advantage over other classes. However, using an FAK would still heal more and allow more XP per AP, so FAK's would not become obsolete. Would this be difficult to code?|
suggest_time=08:47, 11 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]]|
suggest_comments=

Comment here

}}

===Give explorers/scouts their own tracking skill===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Explorers and scouts|
suggest_description=While ''trailblazing'' has given explorers and scouts an edge over other players, they need more if they are to compete with the soldier, warrior and pirate classes for the attention of new players. I suggest that ''tracking mastery'' be combined into ''expert tracking'', which will be restricted to explorers and scouts. Any non-explorers/scouts with one or both of those skills would be refunded enough XP for their next skill (or two, if they have both) so they aren't punished. (The refund would occur ''after'' the skills were restricted and actively taken away from any non-explorers/scouts with them. This would let their levels and next-skill costs drop ''before'' the next-skill XP awards were given so that extra XP would not be accidentally awarded.) Full disclosure: I don't have any tracking skills, and I'm not sure how ''advanced tracking'' and ''expert tracking'' differ at the moment, but I think a good 1.5 AP tracking skill for everyone and an excellent 0.5 AP tracking skill for explorers and scouts will give those two classes a notable advantage in what should be one of their fortes. |
suggest_time=22:29, 18 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Elembis|Elembis]]|
suggest_comments=

: Shouldn't this be added to the "Hunting prowess" skill entry? http://wiki.shartak.com/index.php/Suggestions:Skills#Hunting_Prowess [[User:Black Joe|Black Joe]] 7:00, 19 July 2006
:: Yep. ''Tracking mastery'' is kind of handy, but I still think that it should be a universal skill, and that ''hunting prowess'' should be the scout/explorer-only skill. ''Hunting prowess'', at the top of the tracking tree, would cause scouts to receive basic tracking information passively (for 0 AP) at every step. Oooo, neat. --[[User:Tycho44|Tycho44]] 17:30, 19 July 2006 (UTC)


}}

===Melee buffs for intoxicated pirates===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Pirates under the influence|
suggest_description=Pirates are traditionally portrayed as rum-guzzling brawlers, so it would be fitting to encourage pirate players to drink (and drink to excess). I think imbibing a beer or rum should give a pirate a 1 HP damage bonus for all melee attacks in their next 5 AP. A machete (or cutlass) hits 2.25 times in 5 AP, on average, for a skilled user, so drinking for 1 AP would translate to around 2.25 HP of damage beyond what a machete would normally do. This is comparable to the combat damage dealt by blowpipes (2.4 HP/AP) and rifles (3 HP/AP).

Multiple drinks would extend the duration of the effect but not its intensity. To encourage actual drunkenness instead of casual beer-sipping, a drink taken by a pirate with beer already in their gut could give 7 more buffed AP instead of 5, which is effectively 6 AP (and 2.7 HP of damage) when you consider that 1 drunken AP must be wasted on taking another drink. The skill could be called ''brawling'' or ''drunken fist'' (which is the literal Chinese title of the classic Jackie Chan movie ''Drunken Master'') and would be placed with ''stamina'' under ''body building'' (to keep melee skills together and to avoid starting another tree).

I'm proposing this cautiously because pirates are already tougher and more popular than any other class. However, considering that beer and rum are harder to find and more expensive than darts and bullets (and should probably be even more expensive if this skill is implemented), I don't think this skill would make pirates stronger than warriors and soldiers, and it would improve both the diversity of the classes and the depth of the game's theme.|
suggest_time=06:24, 22 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:Elembis|Elembis]]|
suggest_comments=

RE: Beer and Rum becoming more expensive if the skill is implemented- I completely agree, and the increase in price would also represent supplies of booze at the pirate camp running out, which I guess would then lead to outsiders trading beer and rum with the pirates, and adding another dimension to gameplay.

}}

===Technical “spell” skills ===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Scientist/Shaman|
suggest_description=I would like to see the introduction of “tech spells” to the “magician class” of Shartak (scientist/shaman) much like the blue magic of final fantasy XII which rather than doing out right damage produces technical effects like haste, poison or blind. An illustration of this would be giving the shaman class an AP cost skill (let’s call it curse) that produces the same effect as wounded/bleeding (1HP loss per action) on their opponent. But given the nature of such spells the percentage chance of success should be inversely proportional to the strength of the spell or have their effects tuned down, so to retain fairness. As side note I like to see this skill given to NPC shamans to discourage people from attacking them.|
suggest_time=09:33, 22 July 2006 (UTC)|
suggest_author=[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]]|
suggest_comments=

"curse" might be confused with what the ancestors spirits do to zergers. This causes actions to cost more AP than normal. I would imagine that this would be a shaman only skill as scientists don't have magical powers! --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 22:35, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
*i agree with the statement that scientist don't and shouldn't have magic powers, so how about this instead; give them "tech" skills but have them named within a scientific context, for instance the above "wounding" spell could be named "drug" or "poison" instead of say "curse" or whatever. --[[User:A for anarchy|A for anarchy]] 04:01, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

}}

===Haggle===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill|
suggest_scope=Everyone|
suggest_description=You can haggle with the traders and get stuff cheaper. When they are pissed off at you (for being there too long) the prices would become normal.|
suggest_time=20:20 EST 28/07/2006|
suggest_author=Aco|
suggest_comments=

Comment here

}}