Suggestions:Implemented

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Suggestions
Items | Skills | Classes | Game mechanics | Miscellaneous

This is a page of implemented suggestions for Shartak. Please refrain from editing or deleting any of the information recorded here.

If you would like to make new suggestions, see the Suggestions page.

Implemented

Writing on the tree (or sand)

Should be able to write stuff in the sand on the beaches and carve short messages into trees in the jungle. To avoid "carve-wars" the only way to get rid of messages on trees could be to chop the jungle down and wait for it to grow again before you can write a new message. -- Snarf 22:32, 27 January 2006 (GMT)

Comments

  • FYI, currently working on this. --Simon 23:16, 20 February 2006 (GMT)
    • Done. Watch out for quirks depending on where you're writing. --Simon 15:24, 27 February 2006 (GMT)

Areas explored stat

Just add a stat in our character page that shows how any areas we have explored, use the same system that is used to determine who is in the top ten, but for everybody so we can all see how many areas we have explored(and how close to the top ten we are :). -- Daylan 00:04, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

Comments

  • Implemented, together with kill stats within profiles. --Simon 17:35, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
    • whoa! and pker's beware, everyone will now know if you killed your own at any point in your wretched past. --Frisco 17:48, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
    • Not necessarily.. what if you were killing outsiders/natives from a different camp? --Simon 18:05, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
    • Thanks simon, I thought it would be a useful thing to have. --Daylan 21:50, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
  • The area explored number refers to the number of 6*6 pixel squares you have uncovered on your map. As the map is 140*63 of these squares there are a possible 8,820 locations to uncover. A good proportion of these are inaccessible as they are mountain or ocean and the deep water locations are risky to explore because of sharks. My bet is that there are at most 4,000 locations available to be explored in this way --Dr. J 10:59, 8 March 2006 (GMT)

Pirate

Every tropical island needs pirates! Could either be Outsider or a separate grouping altogether (current pirates being more native than foreign, from the news i read). Don't know what special skills they have, maybe better at finding gold in towns, or general stuff on the beach, and any parrots they encounter follow them around (perhaps monkeys too). If agriculture is implemented, they get to grow weed and poppy. Maybe they'd be better as the Outsider NPC counterpart to NPC shamans, and raid towns every so often. --Frisco 04:14, 5 March 2006 (GMT)

Comments

I have no idea how we could implement them into Shartak, but I do like pirates... --Grigoriy 05:29, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
I have some ideas how to implement them. Just so you know, Pirates have been on my todo list for a couple of months now but I'm holding off sorting them out until I have skills and items worked out for them and have finished some of the higher priority things. --Simon 15:00, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
I really like the idea of pirates in Shartak, but I would prefer them to be NPCs. PC Pirates would have to have ships or boats, which would mean they have no reason to stick around other than bumping into the edge of the playable area. Furthermore, if PC Pirates could hop on their boats, they would have a distinct advantage in land-bound players, being able to "sleep" out on the water and mostly out of danger. I envision periodic raids of villages and towns, where the Natives and Outsiders face a common foe. They would always appear in decent sized groups, forcing players to band together or run for the jungle. --Jackel 19:27, 8 March 2006 (GMT)
Well technically you could say that for the outsiders too.. why don't the researchers and settlers just get on their boat and sail off into the sunset? --Simon 21:53, 8 March 2006 (GMT)
Well, the scientists don't WANT to leave because they are doing research. The settlers don't want to leave because they are on the island TO SETTLE. The soldiers and scouts are bound by orders. As far as their lack of boats, I was sort of going with the idea that whatever ships and boats the Outsiders arrive on dump them off at the shore of the encampments and leave. This same idea could be used for pirates, I suppose; they were kicked off their pirate ships for some reason, but they wouldn't really be pirates without pirate ships, I think.--Jackel 01:03, 9 March 2006 (GMT)
I'm a little reluctant to see a new dynamic class enter the game when we haven't quite seen how the current classes interact. However, if this is just a small part in your plans, then I will just wait and see. --Lint 23:51, 8 March 2006 (GMT)

Tracking

Anyone with the Tracking skill should be able to track where people have gone, either generic "A native passed by here recently" or more specific "Average Joe left heading north 2 days ago".

Comments

  • Should probably be a timelimit so you don't see "Average Joe left heading north 90 days ago". - Snarf
  • Could work for animals, too. How many times have you logged off near an animal, planning to pounce on it when you have more AP, only to find that, in that time, it's moved? The worst part is that it's never actually moved far; no, it definitely just moved a few squares in some direction, and you have no idea which. I like this skill idea.--Wifey 01:50, 30 March 2006 (BST)
  • Implemented. --Simon 21:58, 30 March 2006 (BST)

Ditch the AP cost of dropping something.

I have noticed that when I drop something I lose 1 AP. Could that be changed so that I don't lose any AP when I drop somthing. --MeatPie 07:32, 23 March 2006 (GMT)

Comments

  • It does not take AP to drop stuff. --Grigoriy 17:47, 2 April 2006 (BST)
  • Sort of implemented. It was actually a bug that was created and then fixed, originally it didn't cost anything to drop an item, and then it did, and now it doesn't again. --Simon 01:45, 9 April 2006 (BST)

Changes to the Statistics Page

The "Statistics on Kills" page is a nice feature, and I think that it could be improved by the addition of two new lists: 1) A list of the "top Native-killers" among Outsiders, and 2) A list of the "top Outsider-killers" among Natives. The lists would rank the top 25 (or however many) of each group by how many of the other group they've killed. These are the most significant statistics in the game after all... as it is now we mainly see which players have killed the most animals, which is almost meaningless. Another idea could be lists of the "Top 25 turncoats" or "top 25 traitors" for each group, which would list the top 25 players that kill their own (e.g. if a Native has killed 15 Natives he would likely be #1 on the Native turncoat list right now). Since the latter list would show everyone who the "PKers" are, it would have the added benefit of discouraging PKing. -Arminius 21:11, 24 March 2006 (GMT)

  • Instead of showing 'natives killed' or 'outsiders killed' perhaps it could show which village the victms have come from. Blood fudes between native villages or fierce rivallry between outsider groups are quite common through history.
  • Quick job... http://www.shartak.com/statpkills.html - not quite what was requested I think. This is a one-off and will not be updated regularly. Send me feedback! --Simon 02:07, 9 April 2006 (BST)
  • I like 't, I got some serious killin' t' do! Arrr! --El Pirata Cofresi 15:46, 9 April 2006 (BST)
  • Very nice! It's even better than I thought it would be. -Arminius 01:07, 12 April 2006 (BST)

Accessibility For Visually Impaired Players

There are a few issues for players using screen reading software that are linked to the information on the map on the main page. The colour of each square is not identified by any text so all the screen reader will say is 'Jungle' etc. Also, the icons indicating things like Huts are not readable so limiting you to knowing what is in each square solely by entering the square and reading the description. Could it be possible to indicate what is seen in each square using text that would help VI players, some games use hidden text that doesn't interfere with what sighted players see but is echoed by screen readers - comments like 'Jungle 5' for example would be great, whilst the icons could just say what they are. ----Gubbins 16:46, 2 April 2006 (BST)

  • Is this what you're suggesting? --Grigoriy 17:43, 2 April 2006 (BST)
  • Sounds like something that could be done, except I'm not entirely sure how. The icons are done using CSS, is there a specific media type for screen readers? For hidden text, would something in a class that sets the font-size to 1pt and background/foreground colours the same, do the job? --Simon 18:21, 2 April 2006 (BST)
  • I'm afraid that I don't have much experience with this. Perhaps we could add 'title' attributes inside each table cell that specified the status of the block. So we can add to each table cell something like 'title=jungle density 5 hut' and 'title=water density 2'. w3 specs --Lint 21:52, 2 April 2006 (BST)
  • My HTML knowledge is very basic but I have had a look at some VI web sites for some pointers. It seems that screen readers don't always pick up on the Title attributes on certain elements, the one I use (JAWS) can pick up Title text on Links with a settings change. As for small font size hidden text, I don't know if there is a minimal size required, I'll have a look to try and find out. ----Gubbins 01:15, 6 April 2006 (BST)
  • The h4 tags around map block names have been replaced with span tags, and extra headings have been added on the right instead of just using bold tags. Unfortunately this has broken the greasemonkey scripts that handle mapping etc. Sorry! --Simon 01:49, 9 April 2006 (BST)
  • Icon replacement and jungle density now available as options from the Edit Profile page. --Simon 11:07, 14 April 2006 (BST)

Pirates displayed as pirates

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Arminius 14:23, 29 April 2006 (BST) Change pirate display name on map from "Outsider" to "Pirate" Pirates

If a pirate is standing on a square, the square should read "1 Pirate" instead of "1 Outsider". Even though they are outsiders, they are a also a very seperate group, and are not affiliated with any of the three Outsider colonies. They should probably be enemies of the Durham/York/Derby colonial authorities/colonists, in fact. Changing their display name on-map to "Pirate" would facilitate conflict between the two (which there should be anyway) by letting each side know who is who. Even now pirates are viewed as seperate on the statistics page, and have an entire section of their own on the stat-kills page. Speaking of the stats page: as of this posting 65% of active players are Outsiders, but if we distinguish pirates from other outsiders it pretty dramatically improves the balance to 43% Outsider, 22% Pirate, 35% Native. Currently there is no way on-map to distinguish between the two, though. Note that all I am proposing is to change how they are displayed on the game map, this is not a proposal to make pirates an entire new "faction". There should still only be two categories of player to choose from when you sign up (Outsider & Native), and pirates should still be able to speak and understand Outsider language.

Comments

  • I am a pirate, and I approve of this message. Arrr.--Wifey 18:30, 29 April 2006 (BST)
  • Would this mean that the description panel on the right shows "Here is Mr Outsider. There is a pirate here. Also here is a native" or would it still show "Here is Mr Outsider and Mr Pirate. Also here is a native." of course complete with the dropdowns for attacking "a pirate" rather than specific pirates? --Simon 21:20, 29 April 2006 (BST)
    • I would say that soldiers, settlers etc should still be able to see pirates names, because if it appears as "a pirate", then an entire new "faction" has been created, which is not what we want I dont think. But the whole point is that we should be able to distinguish between pirate and non-pirate outsider on the game-map, so maybe what could be done is this: Say an outsider soldier named Peter, a pirate named Paul, and a native named Mary are standing on a square. It would display the following to an outsider scientist who wanders on to the square: "Here is Peter and the pirate Paul. Also here is a native." (the links being their profile links) Also, I think natives should not see any difference, they should still see them all as outsiders . Arminius 17:39, 30 April 2006 (BST)
      • Huh. It looks like it's been implemented. Neat stuff. Thanks, Simon. :)--Wifey 03:36, 5 May 2006 (BST)
        • Yup, check the tooltips on the "2 outsiders" bits on the map as well. If there are outsiders and pirates in the same area, the local description (on the right) should list the outsiders first, pirates last. --Simon 19:00, 5 May 2006 (BST)

Trading Fix, allowing you to trade down

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Tycho44 09:22, 29 April 2006 (BST) Improve trading mechanics Traders

The player currently is prevented from trading when the Trader doesn't have enough items in stock to meet his 'fair' price. Instead, I suggest that the Trader should offer you a reduced deal when he isn't carrying enough of the desired item: "Your Gem is worth 3 GPS Units, but I only have 1 GPS Unit in stock. Would you be willing to accept 1 GPS Unit in exchange for your 1 Gem? (accept/reject)" That would be a win/win, since the trade value of the goods in the Trading Hut would increase if the player agreed to this trade. The player knows what they're getting into, so they won't feel ripped off. In my opinion, increasing the number of successfully executed trades is a good thing. Edit: It would also be cool if the trader could offer you a reduced deal when you can't fit them in inventory. "Your Gem is worth 199 Poison Snakes, but you can't carry that many. Would you be willing to accept 47 Poison Snakes in exchange for your 1 Gem?"

Comments
In such a situation the button to take the trade should not read "Accept this trade", but should be (something like): "Accept this rip-off" to make it clear in no uncertain terms that they are taking a hit by accepting the trade. Arminius 14:10, 29 April 2006 (BST)

I agree 100%. But it is frustrating that my desired trades are blocked by artificial constraints. For example, the single Poison Dart sitting in the hut is impossible to acquire: Trader Harry isn't willing to trade his Poison Dart for anything (other than a Bullet or Poison Snakes), because he'll make too much profit. That stretches credulity -- if this were a real life trader, we could reach favorable terms in a heartbeat. He'd get my extra sharpening stone, and I could happily reload my blowpipe. --Tycho44 20:19, 2 May 2006 (BST)
Also, for better or for worse, this would allow players to track the stock levels in the trading huts much more simply (i.e. offering a Gem). Currently, to track how many pieces of driftwood Harry has in stock, the player has to offer a gem, reject, offer a rifle, reject, offer a GPS, reject, offer a FAK, reject, and so on, putting IP load on the server. --Tycho44 20:19, 2 May 2006 (BST)

Looks like this has been implemented :) --Wifey 02:50, 26 May 2006 (BST)

Only the first part - the bit where you don't have enough space to carry that many items isn't done. --Simon 08:31, 26 May 2006 (BST)

Supplies in settlements

Could there perhaps be some kind of a more reliable way to get things in villages, apart from randomly finding them? Coming across abandoned items in jungles, evaquated police departments and such makes sense, but going on an epic quest for a machete under someone's carpet in an active village just seems a bit out of place.

So, if it's not too much of a hassle, which it most likely is, I suggest there to perhaps be put some kind of trader characters in settlements, who could exchange all kindsa things for random junk you've found lying around in other places, or maybe you could get these fellas to make items for you free of charge, which you could go and pick up after a period of time?

..probably too complicated for something that's rather useless. Oh well. --Ismo Kuikka

Comments

There's a trading post in one of the huts in Dalpok, can't get anything there though. Perhaps a sign of things to come? --Snarf 10:33, 17 February 2006 (GMT)
there is,in one of the outsider villages, an ammo cache where you can find ammo reliably in the native villages in the trading posts you can find barely anything(or nothing like my reward for 30AP of searching) -- Daylan 00:01, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
Suggestion = adopted: Trading huts appear fully implemented. --Tycho44 22:29, 20 May 2006 (BST)

Informational messages

You should be able to see what other people have done since your past turn. Much like the skill above, except for most actions that take place. Such as '[09:34]Joe used a medkit on Roger' or '[05:23]Dan Attacked a Boar and missed'. If this is implemented, there should be a menu that you can use to toggle certain bits of information, to reduce or stop spam. Durja 18:14, 6 February 2006 (GMT)

Comments

I don't want to see when people miss attacks, that's just too much information (unless it's me that they're attacking!) - Snarf
Would be useful to see when kills are made in the same location eg. Dan killed a boar or Joe killed Roger - Snarf
How about making a list of "informational messages" that might be required? - Snarf
  • PlayerX killed PlayerY.
  • PlayerX killed animal.
  • PlayerY died from eating some poisonous berries. (self-inflicted death)
  • Implemented to a certain degree, the first two anyway... if you kill yourself eating berries or from wounds then you just fade away quietly. --Simon 14:12, 27 March 2006 (BST)

Wiki Button

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Wifey 23:01, 2 June 2006 (BST) New Button Wikiphiles, players in general

So, uh... I don't know why but there's no button leading directly from the game ot the wiki. I just kind of noticed that difference between Shartak and UD. Kinda silly, no? I mean, as far as I can tell, the only place that a URL is given is on the FAQ (which I'm sure many don't read).

... Ok, yeah. I'm not really bothered that players need to read the FAQ to find the wiki. It'd be neat if there was a button on the game interface, though, like there is for News and Statistics.

Comments

  • There should be a button labelled "Help" on at least the main pages. This points to the wiki. It used to say Wiki but I figured people might not know what it was.. perhaps I should change it back so that people think "what's a wiki?" and click it.. --Simon 23:52, 2 June 2006 (BST)
    • Oh. Well that's silly of me. Ok then. Your call, entirely. I'll leave this here so that people can give an opinion on whether it should be "Help" or "Wiki," I suppose.--Wifey 00:23, 3 June 2006 (BST)
      • "Wiki", for Simon's reason. --Tycho44 06:46, 8 June 2006 (BST)
      • "Help", since new users (who need help the most) will be even less likely to know what a wiki is. — Elembis (talk) 10:07, 9 June 2006 (BST)
      • "Help/Wiki", as a compromise :) --Simon 12:14, 9 June 2006 (BST)

Rename tamdal Tack "Tak"

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Elembis 12:58, 9 June 2006 (BST) Cosmetic One NPC trader, Tack

All native NPC and camp names but this one use a "k" for the k sound instead of "ck" (e.g., "Dalpok", "Raktam", "Wiksik", "Jakota", "Movak", "Tik", etc.). Thus, for consistency, "Tack" should become "Tak". (Also, I think "Toe" looks more native and less anglicized as "Toh", but that's a minor point in comparison.)

Comments

  • Good point. Tamdal Tak is it. Not sure about Toe/Toh. --Simon 01:08, 11 June 2006 (BST)
  • Yeah, I don't like "Toh" either now, so scrap that. Thanks for renaming Tak. — Elembis (talk) 05:31, 11 June 2006 (BST)

Make "healing herbs" singular

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Elembis 23:49, 10 June 2006 (BST) Cosmetic One item's name

"Some healing herbs" is vague, and "one bundle of healing herbs" is too long. I recommend that the name be "healing herb", as in "one healing herb", "two healing herbs", and so on, just like "one first aid kit", etc.

Comments

  • Yes, this sounds ok to me. Done. --Simon 01:09, 11 June 2006 (BST)

Capitalize skill names consistently

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Elembis 20:54, 11 June 2006 (BST) Cosmetic Skill names

Most skills, like Basic Tracking, are capitalized fully in-game, but some, like Body building, are not. If the first word in a skill is always capitalized ("You have Body building..."), why shouldn't subsequent words be capitalized, too? Skill capitalization should at least be consistent, and I recommend that consistency be attained by capitalizing the few not-fully-capitalized skills (which also include Native knowledge, Ghostly whisper, and a couple others).

Comments
Agreed. Cosmetic, but consistency is useful (especially when working with greasemonkey scripts or the wiki). --Tycho44 21:30, 16 June 2006 (BST)

  • Sorted, except after some discussion, I went the opposite way to the above - Body building was already right, Advanced tracking is now right. --Simon 21:51, 16 June 2006 (BST)

Use UTC for server times

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Elembis 16:43, 19 June 2006 (BST) Time zone standardization Timestamps

UTC (a.k.a. "Greenwich Mean Time"), the worldwide standard, is the time zone people are most accustomed to converting times to and from. In comparison, British Standard Time (BST), which is currently used, moves the clock ahead of UTC by one hour in March and keeps it that way until October. UTC is better for wiki timestamps (since a later time will always correspond to a later edit) and gives anyone converting a timestamp only one DST ("Daylight Saving Time") setting to take into account: their own.

Comments
If this is for the wiki itself, you can change your timezone in the preferences. --Simon 21:20, 19 June 2006 (BST)

Wiki default timezone updated to UTC. In-game events are actually in GMT. --Simon 20:56, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Simon and I found that BST was the default time zone for wiki users as well as the time zone used for death times. Both of those are fixed now, and according to Simon the only part of the game that still uses BST is the "Been on the island since" field, which doesn't really need to be accurate to the hour. — Elembis (talk) 02:28, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Timestamp the Shartak Interface

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Tycho44 22:52, 19 June 2006 (UTC) Interface improvement all

Put a small timestamp on the main Shartak interface screen, in addition to the current timestamping of messages, game events, last death, and so on. This would be a huge improvement for screenshots -- for example, tagging up checkpoints in marathon races or swims, capture-the-flag and other in-game games, verifying PKs, RP meeting attendance, etc. In addition, the timestamp would help those of us who don't use GMT to figure out the delta on game event messages. You could put the timestamp in the stats bar, or above or below the map, or above or below location description, or 

Possible Actions: (22:52, 19 June 2006 (UTC))

... almost anywhere on the interface screen really. Trivial to implement and a major benefit for some of the roleplaying.

Comments
Done. Simon put this just below the HP/XP/AP/Gold text in a <div> tag that the game's CSS hides by default. You can see the server's time by editing your profile and checking "Include the server time on the main page?". — Elembis (talk) 02:28, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Moving through fully chopped down or overgrown jungle

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Xintlaer 22:15, 1 June 2006 (BST) Movement change Every character in the game

I sugget a change in the movement mechanics. It may not be approved by you, but I think it's logical. I wouls like to see a change that allows to reduce movement on fully chopped (d0) squares of jungle (I think that a reduction to 0,5 AP/move (0,25 AP/move with Trekking skill), and an increase on (I think) squares ranging from d7 to d9 to 2 AP/move (1 AP/move with Trekking). D10 squares stay impossible to pass, until chopped. The logic says that when you have nothing under your feet except for ground you move faster, and in dense growth areas you walk slower. Such a change as I proposed may also need an adjustment in the jungle growth speed.

Comments

  • I like this, except the part about the trekking skill giving the ability to move 4 d(0) squares in one AP, that should definitely not be done. Maybe this: trekking should only apply to d(1) and up (the skill description says "faster movement through the jungle" anyway), and on d(0), all characters, whether trekking or not, should expend 0.5 AP to move onto another d(0) square. (note that if both of those changes are made it would not harm trekking-people, their AP-usage would be same as it is now.) One benefit of lowering movement cost on d(0) squares as far as game dynamics is concerned, is that it would make roads, the upkeep of roads, and the upkeep of towns (keeping towns free of jungle overgrowth), actually meaningful in a practical sense, by allowing for quicker travel. Arminius 22:41, 1 June 2006 (BST)
    • Exactly what I was going to say, Arminius. Trekking on a road would be absolutely incredible... so we just don't give trekkers any added bonus there.--Wifey 23:52, 1 June 2006 (BST)
      • Understood, agreed, changing--Xintlaer 09:13, 2 June 2006 (BST)
  • 0.5 AP per square on roads (still 0.5 AP with Trekking). 2 AP per square on heavy jungle (1 AP with Trekking). Creates tangible effect for the Highway Society - Preservation Front conflicts. An absolutely brilliant suggestion. --Tycho44 10:06, 2 June 2006 (BST)
  • Nice idea. Tap tap tap.. try that.. I think it should be pretty much what you've said. --Simon 19:40, 2 June 2006 (BST)
Anyone agree that this has now been implemented and as such can be moved to Suggestions:Implemented ? --Simon 12:15, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Moved from Suggestions:Game mechanics at 08:00, 20 July 2006 (UTC) by Elembis.

Trading Hut Prices That Reward Foreign Travel

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Tycho44 01:19, 11 July 2006 (UTC) trading hut item pricing change trading hut item prices

Problem: the Trading Huts reward characters who sit at home, and penalize characters who travel to foreign encampments. It is well-established that a character can earn 36+ gold coins per day by sitting at home and dumping at the local trader. Since camps are several days journey apart, foreign camps have to promise +72 gold coins of extra profit -- not just trade value, but trade value over and above the trade value in the local trading hut.

Not viable: Changing the First-Aid Kit find rate in the Medical Hut is not a solution. Local dumping can be performed from the Medical Hut, the Ammo Hut, the Treasure Hold, a Mango Tree, or even by recycling the Trader's inventory. Reducing particular find rates will harm the game in various ways, but will never improve the desirability of foreign travel. (Unless certain desired items are not locally available at all, such as GPS Units, Gems, Charms, the Heavy Sword, and so on.)

Not viable: Tweaking short-stock and long-stock pricing is not a solution. Stock-based pricing makes foreign travel vastly more risky and undesirable -- characters are encouraged to stay at their home camp and take advantage of known shortages, rather than risk carting stock overland for days to a foreign camp, only to have a single character dump enough to destroy the demand-inventory. And in order to obtain profit levels that would justify a two-day journey, demand prices would have to be absolutely ridiculous -- surely 10 or 20 times the normal pricing.

Solution: Prices in the Trading Hut should reward you based upon the distance you've traveled. By directly addressing the issue, the solution is guaranteed to work. Here's how it happens:

(1) Characters who are new to a foreign Trading Hut receive a very beneficial exchange rate, perhaps for a full day or so. "How exciting! It's not often that I see a new face around here. Do you have any items that you'd like to trade?"

(2) After a character has spent several days in the same Trading Hut, even in a foreign camp, the local trader becomes bored, and the trade rate returns to normal. This encourages the trading character to move on. "You're becoming a familiar sight around here. Haven't I already seen what you have to offer?"

(3) Characters who farm the Medical Hut in their home encampment and repeatedly dump items to their own trader receive the poorest exchange rate. "You do realize that there's an entire island out there to explore, don't you?"

This entire process could be implemented using a single hidden character flag, that contains a time-stamp and a camp name. Whenever the character interacts with a different Trader (in a new camp), the flag updates. If the player is newly interacting with a foreign trader (timestamp <24 hours old), the trade rate is Favorable. If the player is interacting long-term with the same foreign trader (timestamp >24 hours) or is newly interacting with their home camp (timestamp <24 hours), the trade rate is Normal. If the player is interacting repeatedly with their home trader (timestamp >24 hours), the rate is Unfavorable.

Although these favorable/unfavorable trade values might not be sufficient to make travelers wealthy, at least implementing this suggestion will encourage travel and reward greater interaction in Shartak.

Note that this suggestion could be stacked on top of the current long/short and language-based pricing systems. Or this suggestion could fully replace the long/short pricing rules.

Comments
I quite like this idea. Farming behavior is not much fun for anyone, and games that encourage it can suffer in popularity simply because the best course of action for the character is the most boring one for the player. Also, since player interaction is the whole point of multiplayer games, all antisocial behavior should perhaps be discouraged and should certainly not be profitable. We can always use more active (and interacting) players. — Elembis (talk) 05:14, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree. It gives you a reason to, you know... Move? It would really liven the game up a bit. MorkaisChosen 18:51, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Happily, this suggestion seems to have been implemented. Shouldn't it be moved to the implemented suggestions page? Black Joe 7:35, 20 July 2006 (GMT)

Moved from Suggestions:Game mechanics at 08:00, 20 July 2006 (UTC) by Elembis.

Sharks bite bleeding players more

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Elembis 03:28, 8 August 2006 (UTC) Animal mechanics Shark bites

At the moment it's best for a shark-bitten player to wait several moves before healing their wound so that they have a chance of healing multiple wounds with the same expensive healing item. (This is especially true for players with natural medicine or first aid, since they cause herbs or kits to heal 10 HP instead of 5.) This is clearly unrealistic — swimming through shark infested water with a bleeding wound is an extremely poor idea in real life — so I say sharks should bite bleeding players more frequently, perhaps even every time they move to deep water.

Comments

  • This has always been the case, however I've just tweaked how much bleeding affects the chances of being bitten so it should be somewhat more obvious now. Consider this implemented. --Simon 23:35, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Profile Effect Items

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Lint 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT) Game mechanics Inventory and profiles

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.

Comments

  • I like this suggestion. How about finding the pieces of the masks and making your own - combine the baubles with mini-quests? --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. --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). --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."). --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. 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. --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! --Tycho44 06:06, 10 May 2006 (BST)

Moved to Implemented. We've had charms and amulets for some time now. --Frisco 18:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Know your foes

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Leaf 15:08, March 16, 2006 (UTC)

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...

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. --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. --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. --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. --Simon 11:17, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Implemented. Conact list enables a player to identify a specific character in a group. --Frisco 18:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

The Ghost Elephant

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Lint 03:58, 17 March 2006 (GMT) Game mechanics, miniboss Event

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

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! --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. --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. --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. --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. -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! --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. --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! --Malphas 15:52, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
  • I love this idea.--Wifey 07:08, 28 March 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.--John Sevier 19:17, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Implemented. We have occurences of rare animals: Giant Squids, Easter Rabbits, Man-Eating Tiger. --Frisco 18:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Poisoning

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Lint 18:38, 6 April 2006 (BST) Game mechanics, status effect, balance All classes, primarily Warriors

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?

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).--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? --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. --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. --Lint 22:17, 7 April 2006 (BST)
  • Or how about you can find frogs and use them to put differnt posion effects on your darts? --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.--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? --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). --Tycho44 20:51, 1 June 2006 (BST)
  • Short lifespan poison effect added a little while ago. --Simon 22:43, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Implemented. --Frisco 18:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Living countermeasures against spirits

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Tenebrys 19:54, 1 July 2006 (UTC) Skill, balance change Everyone who's sick of the gathering of banshees in their medical supply houses

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.

Comments
YES. I like this one. Spirits are annoying. 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. --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. --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. --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... --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. — 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. Exorcism. I'm not sure if merging is necessary, but some of the discussion there can carry over here. --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. --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. — 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). --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.--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.--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) --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. --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. — Elembis (talk) 22:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Isn't the repulsion of spirits against the Free Lunch principle? If a spirit player donated to be exempt from the action limit(though this can be done with an action limit), they could have a team of shamen pursue their spirit character to move them without using any of the spirit's AP. Even if movement is random they would find opportunities to scare frequently enough.--Darkferret 23:03, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Wouldn't that evoke the "curse" upon them for working together? At any rate I like the idea of being able to stick it to the spirits. Try one night in the York medical hut and you'll see what I mean. --One of many doctors 00:42, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
I've been tormented by ghosts and I think that we need to capture them with cameras, forcing them to revive instead of letting them wander back into town.--Darkferret 02:33, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Implemented. Shaman has "Exorcism" skill. --Frisco 18:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)


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)

Moved to Implemented. Bottles/gourds are refillable, salt water damages. --Frisco 19:04, 27 October 2006 (UTC)


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))

Moved to Implemented. Poison darts poison, ranged weapons lessen chance of being hit by animal. --Frisco 19:04, 27 October 2006 (UTC)


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
yeah, why does everyone have amulets but me???--Badhammer 02:32, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Implemented. We have amulets/charms now. --Frisco 19:04, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

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.-- 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? -- 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!) --Daylan 23:09, 9 March 2006 (GMT)

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

Moved to Implemented. Warriors/Soldiers have special skills for weapons, poison darts poison. --Frisco 19:15, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Emergency medicine

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Black Joe 08:47, 11 July 2006 (UTC) Skill Scientist

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?

Comments
Comment here

Moved to Implemented. Scientists have "Emergency First Aid" skill. --Frisco 19:15, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Villager/Settler

Lint recently made a very salient point with respect to Class Balance. Namely, there are very few players (4% currently) choosing to be (Outsider) Settlers or (Native) Villagers. Realistically, these should be the most abundant classes, so clearly (aside from trival starting inventory) these classes clearly lack any definable appeal. I propose that these 2 classes (due to their years of plying and scavenging their surroundings) are more adept at searching then their peers. As such, they have a +20% bonus in base search percentage. There is precedent for this in UD, with the "consumer" class getting an immediate advantage in searching, and though the nature of that game (i.e. constant heavy barricading of Malls) makes it difficult for consumers to realize their advantage, this would not be the case in Shartak. This change will undoubtedly make these overlooked classes more attractive to new players.--Jackel 00:25, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

Comments

I wouldn't say that it's completely a bad thing that the Settler and Villager populations are low. (Wouldn't you say that the Consumer population is the lowest in "that other game"?) However, I do agree that this class doesn't appear to be getting the same respect as the others. The search bonus or perhaps the Agriculture suggestion might be justifiable. --Lint 08:40, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
I think your idea is good, Jackel. I'd make it a +50% base search percentage, and I'd also make the "Animal Husbandry" skill guarantee that no animals but sharks, alligators and tigers will attack without provocation. "Years of passive behavior around animals have taught you how to avoid their aggression." Furthermore, I recommend that the scream/shriek/wail skills become villager-only (with "Ghostly Whisper" available to everyone); non-villagers with those three skills could have their XP refunded, or perhaps just left alone. Villagers are underrepresented by far. — Elembis 18:09, 21 May 2006 (BST)

Moved to Implemented. Villagers/Settlers have "Animal Affinity" and "Scavenging" skills, and now account for 11% of active characters. --Frisco 19:28, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Animal Levelling

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Frisco 20:26, 13 May 2006 (BST) balance change NPC Animals

Each time an animal kills a PC, the animal should have its stats increase: increased HP (possibly also reset to max), more damaging attacks, better chance of hitting, faster movements, possibly a more aggresive nature? There probably aren't that many animals out there that have actually killed more than one or two humans before being killed themselves, but this would increase that chance, leading to the natural formation of the mythical beasts that have been mentioned in other suggestions. And if it doesn't happen naturally, i'm sure it wouldn't be too long before animal cultists start sacrificing themselves to animals in order to create their gods.

Characters with the animal affinity skill should be able to identify stronger creatures:

"Also here is a man-eating tiger"
"Also here is an extremely large man-eating alligator"
"Also here is an extremely large man-eating elephant that is barreling towards you"
"Also here is an extremely large man-eating parrot that is barreling towards you with claws the size of cutlasses"

Comments
... That's a mite scary. I don't know how this would affect server load, but that would be my only complaint here.--Wifey 01:06, 14 May 2006 (BST)

  • Sounds neat. Will there be a leveling cap? --Lint 01:45, 15 May 2006 (BST)
    • Probably should be a cap, though a rather high one. Time limitations would prevent animals from growing too powerful before someone takes them out, but a dedicated group of cultists could go crazy creating an invicible creature. Or perhaps once an animal reaches a certain level, it gets named (a monkey might be "King Kong" at high enough stats), and this one creature per animal type can continue advancing while all others are capped at that level (can't have more than one King Kong running around). —unsigned by Frisco 02:38, May 15, 2006 (BST)
  • Awesome. --Tycho44, Cultist of the Man-Eating Parrot 22:57, 15 May 2006 (BST)
  • So let me get this straight - if an animal kills a PC, they gain hp, and accuracy of their attack, and possibly damage as well. say hp + 2, accuracy + 10%, damage + 1, up to a certain level (accuracy can only go up to 100% of course). Easy enough so far. If they get killed, they reset to the normal hp/accuracy/damage and start afresh as a normal level animal? I must say, I quite like this idea. If this is correct, then there's no server load issue. --Simon 09:33, 28 May 2006 (BST)
    • This sounds very good. I recommend that you let each animal reach 100% accuracy and cap damage at base damage + 5 (a 9x100% elephant would be plenty lethal enough, I think). PC deaths to animals are probably rare enough that you could be more generous with HP bonuses: increase an animal's current HP and max HP by base health / 3 + 1 for each of its kills. You could cap max HP (after five increases?), but I wouldn't. An animal should be restored to base health if its HP bonus wouldn't get it there (so an elephant, with a 20+1 HP bonus, would go from 32 HP to 60 and have 81 max HP, or go from 42 to 63 and still have 81 max HP). In theory, after five kills you could see an elephant with 165 HP that dealt 9 damage at 100% accuracy, but only if it got those kills without being harmed at all. Such a beast would be incredibly intimidating, but also incredibly rare. — Elembis (talk) 22:25, 28 May 2006 (BST)
What about new players? They go into the forest for the first time, log out, log in only to discover that "an extremely large man-eating parrot that is barreling towards you with claws the size of cutlasses" has killed them in two moves. Nobody naturally gets stronger by dying and this would only prevent low level characters from leveling up.--One of many doctors 03:13, 29 May 2006 (BST)
The idea is that there wouldn't be that many of these, because they'd be rather difficult to make even a little better, anyways.--Wifey 15:49, 29 May 2006 (BST)
Simon has it right. hp + 5 (or +10%), accuracy + 10%, damage + 1, with only a few upgrades possible. Or, for example, promote to level 1 after 1 kill, level 2 after 2 more kills (3 total), level 3 after 3 (6) kills, and so on. If a max-upgraded parrot is only as strong as a level 0 tiger, this is nowhere near "kill-in-two-moves" monstrosity. This would add excitement and flavor to the game without any downside. I doubt any animal in Shartak has more than two kills. As the 300-hp Squid shows, any attention-getting animal will get torn to bits by PCs. --Tycho44 23:14, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
  • Implemented, but with slightly less elaborate titles (and the maths isn't quite the same either)! --Simon 12:48, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Implemented. Some animals grow after player kills (though i haven't seen any in a while). --Frisco 19:35, 27 October 2006 (UTC)


Haggle

Author Timestamp Type Scope
Aco 20:20 EST 28/07/2006 Skill Everyone

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.

Comments

  • Implemented. --Simon 17:40, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Impemented. There is now a Haggling skill. --Frisco 14:08, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

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