Brand new Sandstorm Code by Xygax the Highlord.

[Gaare]

After that great code by Xygaz, as he said, there will be a lot of rangers around..

I can not keep myself thinking of Scrabs, waiting greedly for the their new fresh preys: lone rangers... but..

What else will it change? So.. Every desert group will be led by a ranger? What do you think of its affects in game good or bad.. or will not change anything at all?

I personally liked most, there won't be a lot of D-elf magickers running one side of the world to other...

Edit: Opps.. Xygax.. not Xygaz

[Cuusardo]

Who is this Xygaz you speak of?  

[Cenghiz]

Believe it or not, d-elf magickers still do run through the known world, Gaare.  

[Bestatte]

Believe it or not, d-elf magickers still do run through the known world, Gaare.  

...and they will eat your brainz almost as fully as the imms do!

Bwahahahahahahhaha

(d'elf magickers are fun. On all ends of the spectrum from what it appears. Fun to play, fun to run away from, fun to die to, fun to kill. It doesn't get any better than that!)

[Dan]

Im wondering if the reason people are such big fans of this is because they havn't experienced it yet. I was a little annoyed when I could see three rooms away yet couldn't walk to the landmark that was -right there-. For about a half hour, it seemed like 90% of the time in a storm you will just aimlessly wander around and occasionally try to go down and not go anywhere at all. For the other 10% you are resting, or slamming your keyboard in frustration because you just can't quite reach that quit safe room.

[Cenghiz]

I experienced that... It was.... Yes you're right.. I was hardly gritting my teeth trying to reach to the non-stormy area. Still, I believe it's a logical assignment. I just wonder if wind elementalists and shadow elementalists are immune to this effect, but I guess I will have to find out IG.

[Seeker]

The best part is how a storm separates nobles, templars and and other snooties from their guards and escorts, instantly scrambling and isolating them into easy pickings.  

Although I wonder if the walled outposts should suffer the full delightful force of this addition.

Seeker

[Ghost]

The best part is how a storm separates nobles, templars and and other snooties from their guards and escorts, instantly scrambling and isolating them into easy pickings.  

Although I wonder if the walled outposts should suffer the full delightful force of this addition.

Seeker

It never happens in the cities.  And so I doubt it will ever happen in the Outpost.  And no noble and templar will ever get out of town without a ranger guide, from now on.
Conclusion:  It will never separate noble/templars from their guards, unless there is some extreme case.  (Like a magick bamf user wants to play mud golf with them)

[Seeker]

Conclusion:  It will never separate noble/templars from their guards, unless there is some extreme case.

I disagree, but only in terms of frequency.

I would say, rather:
Conclusion- It will always separate nobles/templars/others from their guards, in certain, probably rare, circumstances.

I have seen it happen more than once already.

I bet you a quarter it scrambles some Byn expedition or House transport mission into a royal tangled knot before the next month starts.

Seeker

[John]

I was a little annoyed when I could see three rooms away yet couldn't walk to the landmark that was -right there-. For about a half hour, it seemed like 90% of the time in a storm you will just aimlessly wander around and occasionally try to go down and not go anywhere at all.

Well hopefully these storms won't suddenly come out of nowhere but will pick up. That way we can look at the weather, oh it's pretty bad, better get to safety now. Rather then "this is naught but a drizzle" mode (I've only seen the storm once and I walked into it).

Also in a previous carnation of this code you couldn't see room descriptions, so unless told otherwise I'm going to roleplay it being very difficult to see my hand in front of my face. Now when you desperately need to quit, it's very tempting to ignore that, but in any other circumstance, I meant.

[Delirium]

I bet you a quarter it scrambles some Byn expedition or House transport mission into a royal tangled knot before the next month starts.
Seeker

I like it. No, I love it. Opportunity for chaos abounds. Being prepared from a supply and a training standpoint becomes that much more necessary. It's a step toward making the desert, and not just the creatures in it, the thing to fear. Just about any step in that direction is a good one.

I would suggest that merchants, due to their knowledge of trade routes, be able to find their way through storms just like a ranger could.

[sjanimal]

I already lost a character to it.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I've had far cheezier deaths than dying in sandstorms.  I guess I'm okay with it.  And on the brightside, it will prevent noobs from just running around everywhere the hell they want without careful planning.

[sacac]

Only real fear I have now is this..
When we have those storms that last for RL days, I'm really not going to be able to do anything. Which will probably kill a few pc's until they can get to the point where they know how to get 'sid and stay alive doing it.
I think I'll have a problem with it if I want to start inde and stay inde, seeing as how It will be incredibly hard for a few days a month to make any coin to eat and buy water.

[wizturbo]

I just don't believe rangers should be the ONLY people who can navigate.  The addition of Merchant's being able to navigate would be VERY good.  I'd also like the stone and wind mage classes to either be able to navigate them naturally, or receive spells early in their career that enables them to do so.  Nothing would be more lame, then a nomadic earth elementalist being trapped by the sand of Father Ruk.  And a wind elementalist, being hindered by WIND seems a bit unrealistic. Whether or not these abilities should be carried over to other magicker classes i'll leave to the staff to determine, but those two definitely cry for abilities to be able to negotiate this enormous new threat.


I -really- like how this limits warriors however.  Being a warrior should NOT mean your just a ranger with tons more skill in combat, and a little less desert survival skills.

[Delirium]

If you want to survive off the desert..

Make a ranger. ;)

Edit: Yeah, what Wiz said.

[Cenghiz]

Err... To confess, according to the helpfiles the experienced rukkians should be perfect travel mates.. But with the new code.... Of course I know only a minority of the Rukkian spells. (Maybe a minority.. Is it IC to learn how many spells in the average an elementalist gets?)

[sacac]

Or heh, use a subclass.. like.. (Taken from helpfiles)
Caravan guides? (Caravan guides are skilled in desert travel)
Foresters? (know their way in and out of its trails_
Nomad? Since they are Nomads, and nomads move around outside of cities often.
Hunter? (who have made their living hunting) Iffy
Scavenger? (skilled in surviving the wilds, particularly ruins such as those of Tuluk)

What about those? If you don't have a ranger, then it makes those a little bit more useless.

[Xamminy]

Subclasses are hobbies more than anything else.  Don't expect a hobbyist to be as good as the real deal.

[Dracul]

Subclasses are hobbies more than anything else.  Don't expect a hobbyist to be as good as the real deal.

Wah lah?

But yeah, good addition. I like.

[Koala]

I think, at least we should observe the sandstorm before we enter that room. Lets assume I am standing at the western gates of Allanak and I can see three leagues to west when I type <look west>. Then I type <weather> and see that there is no storm going around. I ride my kank to west, suddenly I find myself in a sandstorm and I even cannot see the square that I am in it. So, I am lost and cannot turn back to the city gates if I am not a ranger. Another example is the case that in some areas although you can see your target place, you are not able to go there because of the constant storm. I know that I am not the master of desert but at least I should be able to realize the storm when I get close to it, not when I found myself in it.

If you ask me, the new sandstorm code is a good addition and will bring more RP opportunities, which is very good. In the meantime the new code is going to slay many characters (obviously non-ranger ones) just because we cannot see -codewise- the fierce sandstorm that is taking place in the next room, which is a little bit unrealistic.

I suggest there should be at least a warning -when you look at the sandstorm that is in the next room, which you cannot observe- saying that there is a sandstorm, are you sure to go there? If you are sure then you can go there by typing walk/ride <direction>  (like the shield wall).

[Xygax]

That's why I added the new weather code.  (which is now active since the last crash).

-- X

[Ghost]

That's why I added the new weather code.  (which is now active since the last crash).

-- X

Hmm..Have not checked the new weather code yet though...  But could you (if you have not already) add something as a warning for the constant storm areas Xygax?  
For example..

I was riding with someone.. It was all good weather and such.  But one more league we go into, and we realize we are are in a different -region- which is a constant storm area.  I hit to return where we come from, but instead I go into a random direction.  And I am lost.  Realistically though, I should be able to see that harsh of a storm from miles away.  So codewise, (again I do not know if this is in already, it was not last time when I checked it) could we have a warning like thing for it?  Perhaps there can be addition to the room names like:

Instead of:

>l south
To the south, Sandy Barrens
Very far Nothing
Far Nothing
Near Nothing

We get:
>l south
To the south, a harsh sandstorm picks up over the Sandy Barrens
Very far Nothing
Far Nothing
Near Nothing

Or perhaps, the boundaries of constant sandstorm areas may not be coded as "stormy" so that the traveler enters the room, sees the room description and has a chance to go back or ride into the storm?

I dont know, there can be other options as well.

[Tlaloc]

Its amazing how far checking the helpfiles which cover commands that have recently been changed will get you:

Help Weather.

[Anael]

I believe what Ghost means is:
Most people keep looking around (at least in the direction they're going) when they're out of the city - to avoid bumping into a mek or riding over a cliff, things like that. Now, if they want to make sure they don't get lost in a sandstorm, they'll also need to do another thing with each move: weather <direction>. (ie, more commands with each move. I don't think that is a problem. Also, if you use some decent client you can set up an alias to look and check weather in a single command... it's easy like that)
Good job there, Xygax!

[jmordetsky]

I was a little annoyed when I could see three rooms away yet couldn't walk to the landmark that was -right there-. For about a half hour, it seemed like 90% of the time in a storm you will just aimlessly wander around and occasionally try to go down and not go anywhere at all. For the other 10% you are resting, or slamming your keyboard in frustration because you just can't quite reach that quit safe room.

Ugh...yea...not to be the negative, but this sounds god awful. Harsh storms yes, but being able to see three ticks and still stumbling east instead of north? I'm not a fan. Not even a little.

For 1 tick or less visibility, I think it's great. Anything else and it's a bit extreme.