Suggestions:Items

Items suggestions are made here. See Suggestions for a list of other suggestion categories.

Suggestions for Shartak are not often implemented but are always welcome. Comments on and improvements to existing suggestions are appreciated. Please don't remove suggestions you don't like.

Before adding a suggestion, please take the time to view the guidelines for advice on what suggestions are feasable, and please check existing suggestions to ensure that yours (or a very similar one) has not already been made. Please add new suggestions to the bottom of the page.

Implemented suggestions are moved to Suggestions:Implemented. Bug reports should be added to the Bugs page.

Example

To use the template, enter the following at the bottom of the page, but replace emboldened text with text appropriate to your suggestion:

===Suggestion Name===
{{suggestion|
suggest_type=Skill, balance change, improvement, etc|
suggest_scope=Who or what it applies to|
suggest_description=Full description. Check spelling and be descriptive.|
suggest_time=~~~~~|
suggest_author=~~~|
suggest_comments=
<!-- COMMENT **BELOW** THIS LINE - DO NOT DELETE THIS LINE -->
Comment here
<!-- COMMENT **ABOVE** THIS LINE - DO NOT DELETE THIS LINE -->
}}

Items

Absinth

Could have a very low chance of being found, and would display as "Bottle of absinth" (in addition to the existing "Bottle of beer" and "Bottle of water"). Would result in a distortion of game display, showing some kind of living beings (native, outsiders or animals) as another kind (a native could be displayed as an outsider or an animal), causing the intoxicated character to attack people he wouldn't have attacked otherwise, or trying to role-play with an angry elephant. --Mad Robert 03:53, 19 March 2006 (GMT)

• No reason to drink it then? --Grigoriy 23:37, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
  • I'm sure someone would drink it anyway. Could bring back some HP, of course... --Mad Robert 23:50, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
• The whole "distortion of game display" thing sounds too complicated. If it's a powerful enough hallucinogen, it could work as a teleporter to a random nearby location ("As the effects of the absinthe wear off, you realize that you have moved to a different part of the jungle."). But I think it'd be better theme-wise to introduce a plant native to the island with such an effect; also, these "strange herbs" would give outsiders something to confuse healing herbs with. — Elembis 13:24, 21 May 2006 (BST)

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Spear

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

Comments

• A spear for stabbing or a spear for throwing (i.e single use) ? --Simon 15:49, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
  • I like the idea of a spear for stabbing. We have enough single use weapons in the game, already. What would make it so different from a blowgun, if it is throwable? Which brings up another question: With a weapon that deals 3 damage and is reusable, who will bother with a blowgun?--Wifey 06:54, 29 March 2006 (BST)
• The machete is already better than the blowpipe if you've got the three melee upgrades, and the spear would represent a third melee weapon warriors like me would need to carry around (along with a knife for writing and a machete for chopping). I don't see a point, unless it's to compete with the heavy sword, in which case I'd recommend that the heavy sword be toned down. — Elembis 13:32, 21 May 2006 (BST)
• I like the idea of having the spear become the second “super” weapon in shartak, rather than increasing its damage potential its accuracy could be raised instead so that instead of 20 it could be 30 percent yet still have the same damage base of 2 like the cutlass/machete, while having other stats same or similar to the heavy sword. that would pretty much solve all the problems mentioned above--A for anarchy 04:29, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

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Head-shrinking powder

This could be either a melee or area weapon used by natives.

Comments

• What are the effects of it? Causes X HP of damage? Loss of AP? Loss of XP? Instant death? - Snarf
  • Could be used on a body to create a totem of some sort. This can then be placed in a square. People from the same village or settlement as the now shrunken head take twice as many AP to move through because of fear. Disintergrates after x number of people have moved through the square. —unsigned by Hyper tyger 17:18, March 18, 2006 (BST)

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Meat

Heals 2 HP. Used by both outsiders and tribals. It appears in your inventory when you kill a beastie. Bungalow Bill

Comments

• But you can only carry 200 pounds of meat back to your wagon. </oregontrail> --Lint 01:15, 13 February 2006 (GMT)
• Or you have to cook it, taking one AP and possibly a fire-lighting skill (who wants to eat raw monkey?).MorkaisChosen 20:12, 20 February 2006 (GMT)
  • Maybe you don't have to cook it but you get less HP and possibly lose HP to food poisoning. [DarkFerret]
• Or, to make it more, hm, tribal, you could need to bring it back to specific places in the village where it could be (instantaneously) cooked and used as a replenished "health pool" any player could use. You would still have the occasional berries to eat in the forest, but real meal would occure at a settlement. It would also provide a more efficient healing system (as currently, you roughly get to spend 50 AP to recover 4 or 5 HP, which makes death the most efficient way to restore your HP). -- Leaf
  • There is a large pot of stew cooking, it appears to be half full.
    • You eat some and feel better. After a few spoonfuls you find your friend's pocket watch. [DarkFerret]
  • Make it 1 HP per kg of meat (basing carcass size loosely on the animal's starting HP), and make each HP of carried meat fill 1 inventory space (and pretend preservation isn't a problem). Put an ever-boiling pot in each village (in a boring oudoor place; we could use more points of interest), and give people experience points whenever they contribute meat to any pot (more meat gives you more XP, and putting meat in the pot of your home village gives you extra (double?) XP). Omnipresent spices and palate differences could make food at Outsider villages inedible for Natives, and vice-versa. (Pirates ought to be able to eat from any pot, but for half the health benefit. Maybe they should even be able to eat meat raw.) Any non-meat added to the pot would simply disappear (and poison from poison berries would be broken up by the heat). This system would (1) encourage community, (2) increase realism (there's currently no realistic reason for a non-warrior to kill a non-threatening animal), and (3) provide another theme-fitting non-combat XP path. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)
    • As per Elembis. For example, a meat item could be eaten raw for 1HP per 1 inventory space, or returned to a cooking pot (imho only in native camps...). Drinking from a cooking pot could restore 2HP, until "The pot is currently empty". Non-meat items could not be added to the cooking pot -- the game menu functionality would be limited by the user interface (for example, Add Meat to Cooking Pot doesn't appear or doesn't work until you have meat in inventory, and adds meat to the cooking pot when clicked). --Tycho44 21:37, 16 June 2006 (BST)
    • We should keep in mind that eating from a pot should heal faster than searching for and applying herbs and kits, or else players in need of healing won't bother. (6 searches per FAK/herb means 7 AP per 5/10 HP healed for non-scavengers, so 2 HP per bowl of food should be fine.) Also, I think that pots should treat pirates like normal outsiders, that all camps should have pots (since outsiders are surely capable of cooking meat), that the item should be "piece of meat", that the description for a square with a pot should read something like "There is a fire here with a large pot over it.", and that the button should read "Add Meat to Pot" (or perhaps that feature should just be linked to the "meat" button in the inventory list). — Elembis (talk) 22:20, 16 June 2006 (BST)

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Radio beacon/receiver

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

Comments

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

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Holy Scriptures

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

Comments

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

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

• Such a feature would allow anyone to change class bath and forth at will by just using another of their characters of the appropriate class to effect the conversion, which makes classes virtually pointless.
• Class conversion sounds bad. Religion might be interesting, but this seems like a messy and unpleasant way to include it. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)

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GPS Unit (Redesign)

Author	Timestamp	Type	Scope
Lint	21:48, 23 February 2006 (GMT)	Item, modification	GPS unit

This is a suggestion to change the gps unit into an object that presumably fits better with the game setting. We currently have no other modern item available for use (anachronism - VOCABULARY WORD!). Perhaps we should use a sextant? And rather than reveal the position all of the time, it requires a 1 AP use in non-dense, non-enclosed area.

Comments

• Yes, GPS units are indeed malapropos (another vocabulary word :D)--Grigoriy 00:33, 27 February 2006 (GMT)
• Y'know, the "GPS Unit" item has stuck out like a sore thumb to me too. I'd be very much in favor of a lower-tech replacement, if only because it makes the game more timeless. But what tools did explorers of earlier eras use to measure latitude and longitude while traveling by land, anyway? And how accurate were they? Alternatively phrased: if you were trapped on a desert island without a GPS Unit, how would you estimate where you were? Lint's suggestion for a lower-tech replacement item, requiring AP and suitable terrain conditions for proper use, appeals to me. --Berry 14:03, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
• I've done some research into this and as Lint said, a sextant is what was used. Unfortunately though, a sextant doesn't do both longitude and latitude very quickly, you need charts/tables and several hours. See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/longitude/secrets.html for info. --Simon 14:55, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
  • Ahh; yeah, I had just been checking out http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1268 myself. If I'm reading it right, it sounds like the bulk of the hours of calculation involved were due to being at sea and having to figure out what time zone you're in first as part of the equation. (Both pages mention a "chronometer" which was finally invented to try to solve that problem.) On land, though -- and especially on an island of Shartak's size -- you pretty much know where you are, and you're not likely to be crossing time zones. A quote from the Lewis & Clark page: "If time can be fixed along any meridian of longitude, then longitudinal distance can be determined by comparing time at that meridian with local time, usually based on the point at which the sun reaches its zenith." So. I wonder if we could fudge a bit with this sextant business by assuming that everyone on the island is able to determine what time it is on Shartak -- after all, we do get timestamped event messages! ;) -- and therefore we can apply that bit of knowledge to help determine longitude, overcoming the sextant's weakness. That could even go in the FAQ. I'm not really all that scientifically inclined, so please do feel welcome to correct me if if my thoughts are way off base. In closing, I still like Lint's ideas about making it cost AP and require suitable terrain. The former would represent the investment of time in setting up the equipment and doing the calculations. The latter would give players a reason to clear a square of jungle. --Berry 16:07, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
    • That all sounds good. I think there is a skill in there as well - I don't suppose a sextant is as accurate as GPS, so why not have it not produce the same result all of the time? Someone with the "Skillful Sextant Supervisor" skill gets more accurate results. --Dr. J 16:17, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
  • The AP cost of a sextant or other device could easily be added to the GPS unit by requiring that you 'use gps' to get the reading rather than it being on all the time. Whilst redesigning the GPS unit, how about thinking of something for natives to find out where they are - obviously not as accurate as a sextant, but something to guide them around or to specific locations. --Simon 16:30, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
    • Just consider it a redesigned sextant that some mythical character dropped around the island and call it "Professor Inglewood's Speedy Sextant And Nano Tables" or some other such nonesense and leave it working the same, just with a different name. As for natives, maybe they could see/read totems at different points in the jungle, indicating where resources/towns are. --Frisco 17:06, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
    • Natives divine their position with animal feces. It can be a new skill ;) Actually, in all seriousness, perhaps something involving animal bones? It would need to be something mystical, as there just isn't a more primitive method than the sextant. That way, it sort of balances; you use animal bone dice for a few minutes to divine your position accurately, and outsiders sit dow nand use a sextant.--Wifey 07:08, 29 March 2006 (BST)
    • I'm currently of the opinion that the Natives don't need a version of the GPS. It helps a little with the mapping projects and location scripts. But my Shaman was just as lost than my gps-using Settler when I was traipsing through the Jungle. --Lint 23:10, 30 March 2006 (BST)
      • So natives need a sensing skill that gives them direction and distance to the nearest village. Natives seem to flail at the beginning compared to outsiders: every outsider counterpart item/skill is stronger (especially gps, blowpipe vs rifle, and the lack of bottled water). --Tycho44 05:43, 10 May 2006 (BST)
        • How about giving Natives a 'always on' ability (like the GPS is now). They have been born and raised here, they _always_ know where they are (or perhaps it should be modified so that they always know where they are in relation to their village - ie, (201N, 34E of Wiksik). Make the GPS a sextant and require an AP to take a reading and perform the calculations. I would go so far as to suggest that it be tied to the Cartography skill or possibly an additional skill in the Cartography tree.Anothertwilight 06:20, 10 May 2006 (BST)
          • I like this idea as well as Frisco's. Rename the GPS, keep its 0 AP use cost, and give all Natives the ability to "Sense Position" for 1 AP and be told the direction and rough distance of the nearest village. ("After several minutes of attentive communion with the spirits, you sense that Raktam is about a day's journey north of here.") Maybe even take the GPS away; the Natives should know their way around better than the Outsiders. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)
• How about we just get ride of the gps unit in general and in its place have item called "a map and compass" and rather then being a 0AP cost item, it cost 1AP to tell the coordinates (exactly like an gps unit would) anywhere and gives no experience. --A for anarchy 04:41, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

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Refillable containers

Does it really make sense that after drinking something, you automatically discard the container it had been in? I propose a modification to the inventory system so bottles/gourds work similar to rifles and blowguns--they can be refilled if they are empty. Obviously, you can't just carry around spare water like you can ammo, so to refill a water container, you have to be in water. This would clearly make areas near water more popular, which I don't think is a bad thing, or without precedent. Furthermore, this could lead to new and interesting directions, such as other liquids that could be carried around, causing various effects. Off the top of my head:

• drinking too much "ocean" water will make you sick (reducing your hit % temporarily)
• a "create mysterious serum" skill the shaman/scientist can eventually learn that (along with certain ingredients) lets them create a "buff" potion.
• special healing water springs that have double the recuperative effect

This would also address one of the concerns I've had regarding healing skills. To my knowledge, there is no place in Shartak where you are more likely to consistantly find healing kits/herbs, etc. its all fairly random. By comparision, UD has certain buildings where you can only find certain items (i.e. hospitals = first aid kits). IMO, its currently too difficult/AP consuming to heal. Without a way to consistantly find/create healing items, it's not likely there will be "healers" willing to use their hard-to-find healing items on anyone else. --Jackel 22:14, 25 February 2006 (GMT)

Comments

• Have you found the hut in Dalpok with all the drying herbs hanging up? Says something about a shaman being busy, I seem to have a reasonable success rate at finding healing herbs there. Not sure if there are more around. --Snarf 22:17, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
  • No, I hadn't noticed such a hut(s), I've assumed they were all pretty much the same. If certain huts are more likely to contain certain items, I've another suggestion--label them. Any opinion on my primary suggestion of refillable containers? --Jackel 22:31, 25 February 2006 (GMT)
    • I can confirm that huts may look identical on the outside, but their inside descriptions can differ significantly. Fortunately, anyone with the right tool can carve a message on a hut's outer walls, such as "Empty Inside" or "Shaman's Hut". --Berry 14:24, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
• Refillable containers? Give the user the choice to discard the container? Sure, sounds cool to me. About the water supply: I agree that ocean water (water right off the beach) would be bound to be salty and unpotable in a real-world scenario. According to the Locations page, there's a river off the south side of the mountain, which would seem to be the only known terrestrial fresh water source on the whole island. Hmm, a thought: If we were to have refillable containers, then might one also expect there to be wells in or around the villages? --Berry 14:24, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
  • There is at least one more (much shorter) river near Derby. I'll bet there is a lake or two somewhere as well. Wells are probably not a bad idea. --Dr. J 15:05, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
    • According to the uber map there are three lakes (two are close to each other) in addition to the river, and a pond by Durham. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)
• Refillable bottles and gourds added. Not sure about buff potions etc though. --Simon 19:29, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

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Remove uber sword of doom(aka heavy sword)

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

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

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

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

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

Comments

• The math looks sound. And I agree that having everyone run around with Heavy Swords would make for a plain game. However, I don't see why it needs to be removed completely. Is there anything we can do to the sword mechanics to make it more even with the existing weapons? --Lint 01:04, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
• I agree. The machete with maxed out melee skils is arguably better than any other weapon, and the heavy sword makes that look like a butter knife. Yank it or make it so rare it would be like winning the lottery twice. --Jackel 01:49, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
• I disagree with some of the logic in this argument. If the heavy sword were a common weapon, then I could understand the concern; however, the "über sword of doom" is hardly of such availability. As far as I know, only one player has the sword. Having rare items like it add a new dimension to the game - a sort of treasure hunting aspect. I would even propose that even more superior weapons are "hidden" around the island, possibly protected by superior animals. --Gandhi 00:34, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
  • One player on the Game design page has commented on how he has acquired 3 Heavy Swords. Don't get me wrong, some weapons should be better than others to allow for diversity (that's why there's knives, daggers, and whatnot). However, as it stands, the Heavy Sword to our knowledge is the single best weapon available. Everyone is going to be running around with it and if you don't have one, you won't be able to compete. It'd be like playing Rock-Paper-Scissors-Nuclear Bomb and Nuclear Bomb always wins. --Lint 00:52, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
• Are these even real? I mean, how many people claim to have gotten them? one? This almost looks like a pretty funny joke. Also, Simon has stayed silent on this, implying some sort of uber sword conspiracy, so perhaps we shouldn't rock the boat. (Cue up suspenseful music) -BananaBear 06:02, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
  • i have 3 swords ,but i'm reading it's really rare. I feel really lucky :). Oh , and i think it's too powerful compared to other weapons. Maybe there must be other rare ranged weapons (like some 6 or 7 o 8 damage rifle) or something like this --JonesDye 09:38, 27 March 2006 (BST)
  • I thought I'd made them fairly rare (after the initial burst of finding them) but I think I made them too rare perhaps. There are still only 4 people with them, looks like the same 4 who had them originally. --Simon 00:01, 8 April 2006 (BST)
  • Do you even have one Simon? --Grigoriy 00:17, 8 April 2006 (BST)
  • Nope. No heavy sword for any of my characters. --Simon 11:18, 8 April 2006 (BST)
• The original poster is correct about rifles/blowpipes being too weak. The rifle's AP/damage ratio is actually much lower than even the machete's, let alone the mysterious heavy sword. The rifle's accuracy is its edge, but 60% maximum accuracy really isn't *that* high or that much of an advantage over the 45% machete accuracy. The introduction of two new skills to the firearms skill tree, "Marksmanship" and "Expert Marksmanship", each of which would add 10 or 15% to rifle/blowpipe accuracy, would help to solve this problem I would say (I dont know if anything like this has been proposed before). Dont remove the heavy sword, just make rifles more powerful. -Arminius 01:29, 8 April 2006 (BST)
• With the addition of the forgotten blowpipe skills, that should help the blowpipe ratio, and I'd say ignore the heavy sword since it seems so rare that you'll be lucky to get one unless someone trades one in for some essential supplies. Not sure about 80% accuracy with either of the ranged weapons - would those skills be available to all or just as an extension to firearms/blowpipe training? What happens to the blowpipe damage if the poisoning suggestion is implemented and the poison effect is added that takes away 1-5 HP over the next 5 AP unless you use serum or first aid kit (damage numbers not definite, just a rough figure)? --Simon 11:18, 8 April 2006 (BST)
  • I was thinking that the new skill(s) would be part of the ranged weapon skill tree (how can one be a marksman if he does not have firearms training). I like the idea of making a ranged skill available to all though. A maximum accuracy of 20% for all non-soldier/warrior characters seems very low. Maybe the first skill in the tree should be available to all, but the next 2 or 3 skills only for soldiers/warriors? Just an idea. -Arminius 02:50, 12 April 2006 (BST)
• I think adding one skills for rifle and one for blowpipe is really cool. Marksmanship is a nice name , but not to add accuracy, but to add +2 to damage. Poisoning for blowpipe go well too. Oh, and one of my swords is gone ç__ç. And about trading, i tried to trade one of them , but the trader didn't have 49 gold coins..and i think you can add some powerful and rare rifle--JonesDye 08:42, 10 April 2006 (BST)
• Currently the rifle (w/both skills) gets only 0.75 damage/AP total (searching, loading, and shooting) based on my calculation, and 3 damage/AP in combat (only shooting). The machete (w/all three skills) gets 1.35 damage/AP and obviously requires no searching or loading. I think that new skill(s) for the rifle/blowpipe to get their damage/AP ratio closer to (but not equal to or past) the 1.35 machete ratio would be the best way to go. If a new skill or two increases ranged damage by 2 as JonesDye suggested, the result would be a ratio of 1.05 total damage/AP, and 4.2 damage/AP in combat. (If skills are added to increase maximum accuracy to 80%, the result would be 1 total damage/AP and 4 damage/AP in combat.) This, I think, would be a better balance. Ranged weapons should be superior to the machete in combat, and they are, but currently they are only 2.2 times better (3 vs. 1.35). The proposed new combat ratio of ~4 damage/AP would be three times better than the machete in combat, although still inferior in total damage/AP ratio. (Note that the combat ratios mentioned above are exact, but the total damage/AP ratios are not exact because I do not know the % chance to find ammunition. The total damage/AP numbers used above assume that a total of 5 bullets can be found in 10 searches on average, which may be a liberal estimate but seemed accurate based on my experience.) -Arminius 02:50, 12 April 2006 (BST)
  • Still, 3 damage per AP isn't that bad. You can track someone down, kill someone outright in ~25 AP with a rack of rifles, and run far away -- whereas a machete might take 60 AP to cause ~81 damage. The blowpipe needs a lot of help: you can only carry half as many loaded pipes, and so you have to waste time in combat reloading. I believe that blowdart poison could cause another 1 dmg/turn for 4 turns (8 damage total if they don't heal) and it still wouldn't be overpowered. 20% to hit is totally useless, though. I would suggest something like a 20% -> 35% marksman upgrade for all classes, then 35% -> 50% -> 65% for soldier/warrior. Unless a non-soldier can attain a 35% or 40% to-hit rate with a rifle (higher with a blowpipe), the weapon serves absolutely no purpose -- it is just a glorified 1/3-gem. And if the heavy sword has the same break rate as other blades in the game, then there is no problem with a 1/3000 find rate or whatever. --Tycho44 05:59, 10 May 2006 (BST)
• As long as the heavy sword is extremely rare and quite powerful, why not replace it with a single "elephant sword", or something with a similarly grand title. There would only be one on the island (or one per village: "The Elephant Sword of York", etc.), its carrier would not be able to drop it (or, if dropped, it would be given to the next player revived by that village's shaman), players would get a special message upon being attacked by it, and it would change possession to the player who would kill its carrier. Also, its carrier should get a movement penalty so they'll be easier to catch. (And perhaps every person should have a sixth sense to divine the location of their village's Elephant Sword.) In short, if the sword is going to be rare, make it special. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)
• I personally like the idea of having super weapons in shartak but rather than just being able to find it lying around, you should only be able to get by doing something specific (as reward for quests perhaps). Personally I like the idea a secret shop(s) (see my secret shop suggestion) where you could purchase a heavy sword and/or other hard to get items at hyper-inflated prices in the range of 100 to 1000 gold coins for one.----

Ranged weapons

I never used a rifle, but the blowpipe feels quite useless at the moment indeed (unless it poisons). I was wondering if a ranged aspect could be added to those weapons to make up for their poor hp/ap ratio and their ammo requirement (and their lack of poison?). In practice, that would mean that once the rifle (or the blowpipe (I wonder if it poisons)) is selected from the attack drop-down menu, the target drop-down menu would include the entities from the surrounding squares. That would allow for some slightly safer attacks, especially in difficult terrain, or for around four minutes of triumph for having attacked someone from the distance (and poisonned him?), before being machetted to death anyway. That is: not much, but the satisfying feeling to have used a special weapon, with its own pros. -- Leaf

• Ranged weapon skills for warriors to boost the blowpipe are in the pipeline. Seems I missed a section from my notes when adding skills. --Simon 10:12, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
• Sweet --Daylan 06:34, 14 March 2006 (GMT)
  • A bit of poison on that blowdart (1 hp dmg per move for 4 turns e.g.) would be nice. The current blowpipe is totally hopeless as a weapon, even for warriors. --Tycho44 22:22, 20 May 2006 (BST)

• bump - like the poison added the other day then. --Simon 12:44, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

• Yep, Blowpipe is not longer useless. If you wanted to add a limited benefit of range, you could have the Blowpipe and the Rifle deal damage to Animals as a ranged effect. In other words, the elephant couldn't trample you because you're hiding in the Jungle with your ranged weapon (still in same square). In fact that might make more sense than (or in addition to) a 6 damage blowpipe vs NPCs - NPCs don't get to use Reactive Attacks against a Ranged Weapon. (Although perhaps the Huts/Villages are too small to get true Range on the Trader or Shaman...) --Tycho44 14:33, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

• (Game designer has implied that ranged weapons do indeed reduce the chance of being reactively attacked by an animal. --Tycho44 23:24, 10 July 2006 (UTC))

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studded leather & war gear

both items have the same effect, except one is for outsiders and one is for natives, upon looking at the names, i cant really tell which would be for who, but that doesnt matter. theese items could act likee flak jackets, but could (possibly) have the chance of inflicting damage upon being hit, as per, a guy with tons of knives on him being punched would probably cut up his assailant's hands. —unsigned by Richard Rose 04:59, March 29, 2006 (BST)

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

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animal wearings

such as teeth and hide could be added to one's inventory or slot for extra damage, accuracy, etc.. —unsigned by Richard Rose 04:59, March 29, 2006 (BST)

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

• It would be a psychological effect. A tribesman who believes that the spirit of the tiger is strengthening his arm through the use of a magic talismen will fight harder. —unsigned by Naomi 19:56, April 10, 2006 (BST)

• I still think it's a huge stretch.--Wifey 01:08, 11 April 2006 (BST)

• Yah, shamanic magic being able to cause or prevent damage is a stretch, tell that to the dozens of spirits farming xp in my hut. --Tycho44 22:25, 20 May 2006 (BST)

Apparently this has been implemented - I just got a tiger tooth amulet from the pirate trader. He doesn't have any others, alas... *brag* Ssarl, 12:19, June 16

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Messenger Pigeons

Author	Timestamp	Type	Scope
One of many doctors	22:23, 9 April 2006 (BST)	New item	All outsiders

Allows Outsiders to send messages over long distances. Just type up the message and enter the recepient's name and the bird flies off. You watch your pigeon fly off and hope it doesn't get intercepted.
Pigeons must be captured with an unamed skill and may be intercepted with a separate skill.

Comments

• How would you handle said "interception?" Would you be notified of pigeons sent off within a certain number of squares, and offered a chance to stop it? Would it show up as an actual animal that one could kill? I would say that the idea of sending a messenger pigeon along as a new, low-hp NPC with a specific destination is neat, but I don't know how hard it would be on the server.--Wifey 08:35, 10 April 2006 (BST)
• Moving an npc pigeon wouldn't be difficult as long as there were only a limited number of them in play at any one time. How would you specify the destination though - pigeons need to know the destination don't they (not sure how homing pigeons work)? --Simon 14:38, 10 April 2006 (BST)
  • Mmm. Maybe one would need to specify a GPS coordinate? Actually, I'm fairly certain that birds have been taught to find specific people that they are familiar with. Perhaps once we have a contacts list (do we? If so, I haven't been able to add anyone) we can send it to those listed on it? Then it would be rather like the mobile phone of UD... except that it takes time to travel, and could be killed for EXP by other players :) What kind of limit would you have in mind, by the way? I mean, I can't imagine a whole lot of people using this often enough for it to really be a problem, but as the game grows... You never know.--Wifey 01:12, 11 April 2006 (BST)
  • I would say that you would have to have a the person on a contact list before you can send them a messenger pigeon. The pigeon would move like 1 square per 5 mins and would appear as an attackable animal. The limit is that there are only so many pigeons in Shartak. You would have to have a skill to capture one without killing it. This skill could also be used to capture a messenger pigeon without killing it in order to "intercept" the message. Or perhaps tehy are different skills? Pigeons would be reusable. --One of many doctors 01:27, 11 April 2006 (BST)
• Capturing and intercepting pigeons seems quite unrealistic. Instead, maybe you could give each village a communications hut with infinite pigeons, available to people from that village. Pigeons in inventory could be sent up with a message, and after some time they'd appear in their home villages and their messages would be held for their recipients. I like the drum idea better, though. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)

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Drum

Author	Timestamp	Type	Scope
One of many doctors	22:35, 9 April 2006 (BST)	New item	All Natives

Allows all Natives within a specified area to hear the senders message. Any Outsiders hear random drum beats unless they have the Expert Language skill. You hear random drumming in the distance.
Requires a drum beating skill to utilize.

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

Awesome. A great idea to help underpowered natives (no bottles of water in native villages, terrible blowpipe, no gps, outnumbered, etc.) and also a cool new rare item. Doesn't appear abusable. --Tycho44 22:27, 20 May 2006 (BST)

I like this idea and think it should be open to Natives only, for the reasons Tycho44 gave. Also, it stands to reason that Natives should have some kind of communication advantage, being Natives on the island and everything. Messages should have to be extremely short, or else there should be increasing AP costs for longer messages (1 AP per character, perhaps?). Think of Morse code. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)

I'm thinking that drums could be to natives what GPS units are to outsiders in terms of cost, usefulness, and skill requirements. Here's how it works in my mind:

1. All natives, and outsiders with Native Knowledge, can drum a message for 1 AP per character. Outsiders without Native Knowledge either (1) have their beats carry a shorter distance or (2) have a 20% chance of breaking their drum. (I prefer the second option, assuming drums would be expensive items. I'd rather have drums be completely off-limits for such outsiders, but I can't think of a realistic reason for them to be unable to bang on a drum.)
2. Only natives, and outsiders with Native Knowledge, can determine the direction of a beat. (Bass noises are the hardest to pinpoint.)
3. Only players on the same side as the drummer, and players on the other side with language skills, can interpret beats, as with all other communication in the game. (Unskilled listeners hear "random drumming" instead of "<garbled message>", since extremely short messages will be quite common and language obfuscation doesn't touch the first letter of a word. Basic Language gives a 33% chance to interpret the message, Advanced Language 66%, and Expert Language 100%.)
4. Every beat is audible to everyone in the 13 by 13 square with the drummer at its center. (13 by 13 is just large enough to cover an entire camp, and camps should be communication hubs, after all.)

In general, this item would benefit natives about as much as GPS units benefit outsiders. The hearing radii and AP costs of messages could be changed easily if drums became too powerful, annoying, or ineffective. And yes, I've played Urban Dead. =)

— Elembis (talk) 22:54, 9 June 2006 (BST)

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Hammer

Author	Timestamp	Type	Scope
Throgonuts	06:18, 1 May 2006 (BST)	New Item	Available to all characters

A basic hammer. This item seems necessary for potential future building skills such as roads or huts or hut fortifications. Hammers could also be used as offensive weapons. They could also be subject to random breaking like machetes.

Comments

• I don't think we need another weapon until there's an actual niche for it to fill. I think hut-building would be great — require that all 8 surrounding jungle squares be cleared before one can be built, make huts destructable by melee weapons or by growing jungle in the immediate area, and turn standard medical/ammunition/trading huts into indestructable stone structures — but we don't need a hammer now. — Elembis 15:41, 21 May 2006 (BST)

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303

type: new item.

scope: availible to only outsiders.

description: a 303's nickname is actually: elepahant rifle,[in real life],a 303 is able to blow a elephants head of 1 shot in the neck i am suggesting this for the further success of the CP against the reefer terror cell,though it could turn against us if lord paul reefer get's his hands on it or one of his group members!.

Damage: 15, special dmg: 16.

Time stamp: 15,25, 17 June, 2006 (EST).

Author: Riddick

Comments:

• No. Hell, I can scarcely understand what you're trying to suggest here. I can see that it's ridiculously powerful, though.--Wifey 01:01, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

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Berries to Increase AP

Author	Timestamp	Type	Scope
Arminius	00:47, 21 June 2006 (UTC)	Change item's effect	Tasty berries (or similiar item)

There are so many HP-healing items in the game, most of which heal only 1 or 2 HP so are not cost-effective to use (In terms of AP-spent-per-HP-healed), therefore are not used at all by wise players. To make some of these items more valuable and add an interesting dynamic to the game, I suggest that the effect of eating berries should be to increase your AP level rather than you HP level. Eat some tasty berries, they invigorate you and you gain 2 AP (you spent one AP eating them, net gain of 1 AP). All of the long-time players have been in the situation I'm sure (and most newer players too), where we are about to kill an elephant or tiger or an enemy player for that matter, but we run out of AP just as the target is at 3 HP, then we have to go off-line and cant wait about for 20 minutes to finish the target off, as we have real-life obligations (while we are gone the target invariably escapes, is killed by someone else, or kills you!). So carrying around 5 bunches of tasty berries could give you 5 free AP when you really need them. Thus berries would become a very valuable item in the game too, rather than a superfluous item

Comments
Comment here

I like the idea! You're probably going to end up with a net loss of APs on them anyway, but it's kinda like storing APs... This could work well. -MorkaisChosen 10:54, 21 June 2006

Exactly, you would definitely have a net loss of AP finding them. There would also be net loss of AP buying them in the trading hut, and once people catch on to how valuable they are they would become tremendously expensive (demand would overwhelm supply), making for an even bigger net loss of AP buying them. Arminius 00:40, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

I could certainly see it getting out of hand. You'd need to cut it off at a certain point. Maybe 5 is about right.--Wifey 01:03, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Why would there need to be a cut-off? Even if someone is carrying 50 bunches of berries (which they will have spent many days worth of AP searching for on berry-bush squares), they will get their 50 extra AP and then it's all gone. With a full 75 AP and with 50 bunches of berries, a person could use 125 AP within a few minutes. If theoretically two 80-HP enemies are standing on the person's same exact square, odds are he can kill both with 5 AP to spare, but now all his berries are gone. I would agree that carrying 50 bunches of berries is pretty ridiculous, but again the person will have spent many days searching for them, a tremendous net loss of possible damage inflicted if he had just used all those hundreds of AP he spent searching, attacking. And even in that extreme example all he can do is inflict 160 damage and then his berry supply is used up, So I dont think it is necessarily "out of hand". Besides, anyone who does such a thing (spends days finding 50 berries and goes and uses them all at once) is an idiot and a very poor player, the berries would be valuable to be used when you really desperatrely need them, when you are out of AP about to get a kill or maybe in some other limited way (as MorkaisChosen said, it is a way to store AP), not in that way. If you are worried about people camping berry bushes to get lots of AP-boosting berries, see below (and remember that some people do the same for first aid kits anyway). Arminius 00:40, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

The above remarks would be accurate if the AP-booster item was "invigorating herbs" found with an 8% rate in the Grasslands or something. However, berries have a 55% find rate (perhaps higher for villager), so 50 berries take at most two days to collect. Unless your character is a PKer who can attack anything that moves, the berry-buff would become very valuable for increasing combat efficiency. --Tycho44 17:37, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

A comment I have is that this would make berry bushes genuinely valuable, but it is probably not desirable to have everyone camp the berry bushes, that's boring. Fortunately this problem is already solved by something Simon implemented very early on--berry bushes dry up and new ones are discovered all the time (it might be advisable to increase the rate at which they dry up and new ones pop up for this). Arminius 00:40, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Not sure where you got this idea from, bushes are static.. for now! --Simon 01:00, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, as pointed out, it would take two days of camping a berry bush to get 70 berries, the maxiumum that can be stored (unless the idiot's walking around with no weapons). However, you'd only get one day of extra combat from it. You're actually losing time that way. If you're really worried, make bushes drop two types of berries, HP restorers and AP restorers. Lower the find rates for both to match the current find rate. I assume this wouldn't be hard. Huts already drop multiple varieties of items. I'd also like to point out that this system is already in place in KoL. They just set a maximum you can eat before you get full to keep the system from being abused. Would that be hard to code? --Black Joe 14:18, 13 July 2006 it's not worth it,eating a berry costs one action point(s),and every berry gives you 1 AP so really you would just be left on the same AP you were on before you ate the berry! Eminem1 01:03, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

• Personally i like the idea getting free XP item so how about this; have one and only one item (say buncha berries) gives 1XP costs 1AP, but you can eat it whenever you want. this would pretty much reduce the number of people who are going to farm (as the chance of getting that one item consistently is comparatively low), it would make a welcome change to searches.--A for anarchy 05:14, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

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Camera/Spirit box

Author	Timestamp	Type	Scope
Darkferret	04:11, 23 July 2006 (UTC)	Ranged weapon	Those plagued by banshees and those interested in scaring natives

In just about every meeting of natives and cameras it is believed that the cameras are able to steal some of their spirit. On Shartak this is for sure and it also works on the dead. The camera is able to capture some of a person's spirit causing 3 points of damage. If the shot kills them they are trapped in the camera until they escape for X AP. If the user has Sixth Sense they may capture a spirit in the same way. The camera uses rolls of film with 5 shots each. Scientists have special photography skills increasing their chance of capture.

Comments
Comment here

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