Requests for information

Requests for information are welcomed on this wiki. Any player with a question about the game should ask it on this page if articles like Gameplay, Character classes, Items and Skills don't have the answer.

About the wiki

This wiki can be used as a reference guide as you explore the island of Shartak. Players are constantly adding and improving information about all aspects of life on Shartak, but it is always possible for information to be incomplete or out of date. All visitors are invited to create an account, read Help:Editing, and improve the wiki along with us. The Main Page has a list of pages and projects you can contribute to.

Q. Are we supposed to post in the wiki or the official forum? Which one is the "main" discussion area? Which one is better for putting game ideas (more likely to be seen by the game designer/generate useful discussion/etc.)? Since I only wanted to sign up for one or the other, which one should I have signed up for? --Buttercup 21:02, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, the general practice seems to be that when you have a suggestion, then post it on the forum, as the forum has a lot more regulars than the wiki does, for discussion and improvement. If it passes through that without a huge amount of debate, then post it in its respective category here on the wiki, making any changes as needed. However, Simon watches both, so the suggestion is equally likely to be implemented from either. But as for simply discussion, the the forum is the way to go. The wiki tends to be used more as a static presentation of facts/stuff, rather than a place for discussion. For example, many people have wiki pages that have details on their character(s), while on their forum account they simply have a link to their profile(s) and a link to their wiki page. The two seem to have frequent cross-referencing. -Mark D. Stroyer 22:18, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

It depends. Some of us post our suggestions on the wiki first, then have discussion on the forums. Others get the reverse (forums first, then wiki) or just posting/discussion on one of the other. For general discussion, the forums are best. If you really want to get an idea seen by Simon (the game designer) then mentioning it to him on IRC is a sure way to get his input. --Johan Crichton 23:02, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Vital statistics

Hit Points (HP)

See Gameplay#Hit Points.

Action Points (AP)

See Gameplay#Action Points.

Experience Points (XP)

See Gameplay#Experience Points and XP.

Does Doing (X) Earn XP?

Q. Do you get XP when you travel to part of the island you haven't been to before? I don't mean chopping jungle, I mean just moving to a new place. If so, do you only get XP if you have cartography and it writes where you've been, or is exploration good enough, or would it not matter what skill(s) you have? --Buttercup 07:57, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

A. You do not gain XP for Exploring. Neil 15:32, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

IP hit limit

Q. When does the IP limit reset? I assume that it is 18:00 (CST), as that is midnight for the U.K. (which is where Mr. Amor is from/lives, if my memory doesn't betray me). --The Rev. J. Darkside 17:15, 17 September 2008 (CST)

A. IP limit resets at 00:06 UK time. --Skull Face 23:08, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I was close, though! --The Rev. J. Darkside 18:46, 17 September 2008 (CST)

Death

See Death.

Staying alive

Q. How can one avoid being hunted down when logged out? --LouisB3 00:19, 16 May 2006 (BST)

A. See Tips and tricks#Staying alive. — Elembis (talk) 02:33, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

NPC (Non-Player Character) deaths

Q. The 'statistics on kills' page [1] shows each group has killed a shaman numerous times. As I understand, there is always 1 shaman in each town/village. What are the consequences of this? Unable to be revived until one respawns? -Jackel

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

A The Shaman revives at midnight. --Neil 15:34, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Q. Do animals have a players killed listing page, where the rabid tiger of raktam can compete for top billing with the brutal biter of bonobo? --Tycho44 09:05, 13 May 2006 (BST)

A. No. Animal kills are not reported. — Elembis 02:14, 25 May 2006 (BST)

A They are now. --Neil 15:34, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Items

See Items.

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

A. Yes, melee weapons can be damaged and destroyed. Machetes can be dulled by chopping at the jungle (but sharpened again with a sharpening stone, and any bladed weapon can be broken in an attempted attack on a person or animal. Or broken by attacking a person or animal. The chances of a blade breaking or becoming dull are rare but relatively unknown (see Special weapon event odds). — Elembis 17:23, 21 May 2006 (BST)

A. As of May 2008 both blowpipes and rifles can also be rendered useless by a fumbled attack. Darts will lodge in a blowpipe, causing you to throw it away. Bullets will misfire, destroying the rifle. --Skull Face 16:23, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Q. I would like to ask for everyones help in finding more about the elusive heavy sword, like what density of jungle did you find them in, is there a hut underneath the jungle or was it a jungle square with a hut? Or if you actually find them in the jungle? THe info on them right now is shaky. Im currently going on a search-a-thon but help is greatly appreciated.

A. Please feel free to add some data to Search odds or Search odds condensed to help in the effort to work out where to find this item and others! -- Fitzcarraldo 10:27, 26 February 2006 (GMT)

A. It is now common knowledge that the heavy sword is found in the Swamp tiles. --Neil 15:41, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Q. Ok so ive just joined and im hacking away at a parrot for some xp. Then for some unkown reason the parrot says "i know where to find the heavy sword, follow me" unfortunately that was the last thing it ever did as i was clicking attack systematically. Does this happen a lot and more to the point is the deceased parrot genuine in its statement and would have shown me if i hadnt macheted it into a fine paste. cheers --Deckard 09:56, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

A. Parrots occasionally say something - it is very doubtful that a Parrot will lead you to a Heavy Sword --Johan Crichton 10:07, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

A. Pirates can repeat what people say to them, see teaching parrots for the information. --Neil 15:41, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Q. Do poison darts poison?

A. Yes; see Items#Ranged weapons and ammunition. — Elembis 00:34, 19 June 2006 (BST)

Q. Are poisionous berries useful for anything, such as the making of poison darts?

A. All you can do is eat them and gain experience for doing so. This is actually rather common, especially among players who role-play (play their characters as they would be played in real life; a scientist, for example, would not attack other people unless provoked). — Elembis 17:23, 21 May 2006 (BST)

A. Poison berries can now be used to make juice and wine. --Neil 15:41, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

(Note that an empty bottle/gourd for salt water is now more efficient than a poisonberry bush. --Tycho44 05:22, 10 July 2006 (UTC))

Skills

See Skills.

Clan leadership

Moved from Game design on 22:44, 18 July 2006 (UTC).

Q. i needed to state this here it's the most related subject,why isn't clan leadership on the skills page?. —unsigned by Eminem1 07:40, July 6, 2006

A. Simon and I recently discussed setting a level requirement for clan leadership, and I suggested level 5. It may be that he's implemented this without anyone noticing before now. (By the way, questions like this are what the Requests for information page is for.) — Elembis (talk) 08:39, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

ok,thanks elembis :) Eminem1 11:11, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Clan Administrators and Founders

Q. How do you invite people to help lead your clan as administrators or co-leaders? --The Rev. J. Darkside 11:49, 8 September 2008 (CST)

A. I believe that co-leaders must also have Clan Leadership skill. As for administrators, I believe you have to request that Simon add those abilities to existing clan members.--Skull Face 16:19, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

-I have a clan and I want my friend(s) to have the same authority as I do. One has Clan Leadership, as do I. However, we have found no button or option to allow him to enjoy political power similar to mine. So this funtion has to be performed by Mr. Amor personally? I am to understand that that is the only way? I'm just making sure. --The Rev. J. Darkside 8:21, 9 September 2008 (CST)

Yes, ensure the recipient of admin/founder status is in the clan, and then whilst logged in as the clan leader go to the feedback page and request that the recipient is added as either an administrator or founder to the clan. --Simon 08:34, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Q. What's the difference between a Clan Founder and Administrator?

A. A clan administrator has the power to invite new members and expel members from the clan. They can also edit the "clan news" section of the clan profile. A founder has the same powers as an administrator, and can also update the description of the clan, and disband the clan completely. --Simon 08:34, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Inviting People

Q: How do you invite people into a clan? --Moctezuma 13:47, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

A. Log in with the character who is admin of the clan, go to the clan page and click on the "view membership" button. There you will find an option to invite (and ban) people. --Oktavius 14:13, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, Oktavius, I really appreciate your help. --Moctezuma 14:41, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

A. It's alot easier now to invite. All you have to do is be the Admin or Founder of a clan and look at one's profile. The option to invite them will be in there.

Scavenging

Q. The scanvenging skill for settlers and villagers says that it "Assists in finding things within certain areas." What are these 'certain areas', and how much does having the skill improve your search odds? Arminius 03:31, 24 April 2006 (BST)

A. I don't know! Please post your Search Data to Search odds condensed or Search odds, and help us find out. You don't need to be a Scavenger to post your Search Data -- we need more data to determine the baseline search odds. --Tycho44 08:46, 29 April 2006 (BST)

It appears that, in herbal huts, settlers with scavenging have a one-in-two total find rate and a healing herb find rate of one-in-three, while people without scavenging have a one-in-three total find rate and a healing herb find rate of only one-in-five. (this info was recently added to Search odds condensed) Arminius 21:14, 30 April 2006 (BST)

In-game clan data

Q. Can the in-game clan page (the one you are sent to when you click "form a clan" be edited after writing? I would assume the answer is yes but wanted to make sure. --AlexanderRM 8:26 PM, 25 Febuary 2007 (EST)

A. I got tired of waiting for an answer and created VLN anyway... turns out the answer is yes. --AlexanderRM 3:09 PM, 11 March 2007 (EST)

Exorcism

Q. So I've exorcised once before, and it worked. Next time I tried it though, I got a message saying it failed and maybe there wasn't any spirits nearby. I check my location and there was one spirit. Is there a failure rate, or is this a bug? --Wulla-mullung 17:54, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

A. No bugs, Its like exorcism is a weapon and you just missed. You spilled your holy water or snapped your magic stick --Rozen 07:39, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Ah I see. Thank you kind sir. Perhaps the failure rate should be lower, though.--Wulla-mullung 17:51, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

The failure rate for exorcism isn't fixed - it also depends on how powerful the shaman is vs how powerful the spirit is. --Simon 08:36, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Locations

See Locations.

General gameplay

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

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

Q. Today my level 7 soldier attacked a parrot with a machete (normally 3 damage) and got the following message:

Maybe it's luck or maybe it's skill, your attack is right on target and inflicts more damage than normal.

You attack the parrot for 5 damage. It dies.

Is this new, or just very uncommon?--Frisco 16:26, 16 March 2006 (GMT)

A. It's an uncommon bonus. Another uncommon event resulting from an attack is that a melee weapon will break and become useless. See Special weapon event odds for more information. — Elembis 17:23, 21 May 2006 (BST)

Q. Has anyone experienced the luck/skill effect while using their fists?

A. Well, there we go. My lucky hit dealt a target 4 damage (with Body Building). --Lint 00:23, 23 May 2006 (BST)

Maybe it's luck or maybe it's skill, your attack is right on target and inflicts more damage than normal.

You attack the elephant for 4 damage. It drops to 41 HP.

Good thing you didn't break your fists! --Tycho44 18:16, 31 May 2006 (BST)

Q. Has anyone experienced the luck/skill effect while using a rifle or blowpipe?

A. Yes. --Skull Face 15:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Q. Are knives and daggers breakable?

A. Yes. --Skull Face 15:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Q. Is there a way to make the curse thing go away?

A. Yes: if you don't continue to anger the spirits they will lift the curse after a few days. See also the FAQ. A curse will wear off automatically unless the zerging continues.

Q. How do I get rid of my cursed accounts? Can I delete my zerged characters?

A. If you want to remove a character from Shartak, stop logging in to that character. After a week, that character will become inactive, and will essentially disappear from the Shartak world. If you want to keep using a character but free yourself from the ancients' curse, simply move that character away from all your other accounts. It is rumored that mild curses will disappear in a couple of days. Be patient.

Thank you very much who ever you are i will use your advise very wisely!

Q. How heavy are heavy swords? Do they dull or break?

A. Heavy swords are notorious at breaking much quicker than your average machete. They do not dull because they are not used to chop jungle. And I believe that they use one inventory slot, just like a machete or cutlass, although I could be wrong on that. -Mark D. Stroyer 00:37, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Q. How does outsider perceive it when a native uses emotes (/me) and vice versa how do Natives see it when outsider uses emotes - specifically if they don't have any language skills? --Big Kahuuna 07:48, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

A. I think you answered it here. Short version: it's garble if you don't have the language skills. – Wulla ^(talk) 13:48, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Q. How do I know if I'm cursed? --Jsrbrunty 22:25, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

A. It should say you're cursed. – Wulla ^(talk) 13:48, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Dammit! That means that this is just normal hit- and search-rates! hehe Thank you very much, I was starting to think that perhaps since I had my alt in a neighbouring building, doing many of the same activities that I might be cursed. Thank you. --Jsrbrunty 22:05, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Animals

See Animals.

Easy elephant

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

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

"Shargle"

Q. Not sure if this goes here, but that's really what I'm asking... In the weapon hut in raktam:

Also here is the body of a shargle.

Very simple question: what's a shargle? --AlexanderRM 23:25, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Oh, oddly enough, the etching for that area was “You can find Shargle Eggs up the mountain”. Is it maybe that giant bird thing from awhile back?--AlexanderRM 23:27, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

A. See Shargle. The body is probably from an egg that was brought down from the mountain and hatched. --Wulla-mullung 01:57, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

"elf"

Q. On the total kills stat page, one of the sections is "elf". They appear to be/have been very rare (6 outsider kills, 3rd lowest, and 2 native kills, all-out lowest), but apart from that, all I can tell is that they aren't/weren't natives/outsiders/"special" animals. So, uh... --AlexanderRM 00:07, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

A. When the ? called Santa visited the Island last December 25, he came with a number of elves. Some visited Santa to receive a gift when perhaps they should have been given a lump of coal - as there purpose was to test these elves in combat. --Johan Crichton 01:50, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

In addition to elves you will also see Easter bunnies and undead stags / deer. They are all unique NPCs / animals that pop up on special occasions.--Skull Face 14:53, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Don't forget about giant squids. I've read the animals page and was even here for easter, but elves weren't on the list. Hmm... yeah, elves wouldn't go on the animal page, but they're NPCs. Where should they go? --AlexanderRM 23:14, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

And also, one of them apparently had the purpose to test Santa himself in combat. --AlexanderRM 22:01, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

• Apparently I've killed 2 shargles and an Easter bunny. I don't remember this happening, ever. Now I'm confused... --V2Blast 01:45, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

Werewolf

Q. Not again... someone on the top killers list has 1 werewolf kill. Is this another halloween event that people forgot to mention? Hmm... looking further, 1 Santa kill, 2 more werewolves... and that's all for the top killers. --AlexanderRM 18:14, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Common edits

Clan pages

Q. How do I make a clan page?

A. In the search box on the left side of the page, enter your clan's name and click "Go". If the page doesn't exist, you will then see a notice at the top of the page that reads "No page with this exact title exists". Clicking on "this exact title" will allow you to edit that page, and when you save your edit the page will be created.

Please categorize your clan by including "[[Category:Clans]]" (no quotes) somewhere on the page, as well as "[[Category:Clans for outsiders]]", "[[Category:Clans for natives]]" or "[[Category:Clans for both]]" so people will know who your clan accepts as members. Clans are strongly encouraged to use the Clanbox template to present their information in an orderly fashion.

Linking profiles

Q. How can I link my game profile?

A. If you know your ID number (which is at the end of the URL of your profile) you can use Template:Profile to link to your profile. Simply enter {{profile|6|Example}}, where "6" is your ID and "Example" is your name, to get Example as the result.

Creating Templates

Q. How do you make templates, like the IFF template?

A. It can be complicated. For those who don't know, putting {{ExampleTemplate}} on a page results in that text being replaced by the content of Template:ExampleTemplate. Wikimedia's quick guide to templates is a good starting point for people making templates, and I can be contacted with specific questions. — Elembis (talk) 02:55, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Clan Questions

Q. How do you leave a clan ? A buddy I know has joined the same clan three times and really wants a secondary clan... Peaches169

A. First, click on your profile, then the clan you want to leave. There should be a button called 'leave this clan'. Click. There you go! :) – Wulla ^(talk) 05:24, 22 February 2008 (UTC)