Suggestions:Items

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

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

Bug reports should go on the Bugs page.

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

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)

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)

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.

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]

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)

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)

GPS Unit (Redesign)

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. --Lint 21:48, 23 February 2006 (GMT)

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)

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)

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)

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)