Down With Sandstorms.

[Anonymous]

I am sure the staff have discussed this in the past.  Maybe the code is a mess and it's real tetchy to muck with or something.  Either way, I'm sure Morg will hit it and the criminal code, too, eventually ;)

[Maybe42or54]

Well, the animals have evolved to deal with sandstorms, so their hide and chitin is probably really tough. So, most of the time, the most sand would do to a treated hide is clean it.

[Anonymous]

Well, the animals have evolved to deal with sandstorms, so their hide and chitin is probably really tough. So, most of the time, the most sand would do to a treated hide is clean it.

Not necessarily.  There are a lot of animals who burrow, for example, or who migrate days before a sandstorm is set to hit a particular area because of that bizarre sixth sense that only animals have.

You would also have to consider the difference between a scaled hide and a "cured" hide which is often not quite the same.  Although I'm mostly with you here.  Since Zalanthan norms don't allow much more robust than hides in most cases, they would have to be enough to make it through sandstorms, or else none of the nomadic desert cultures would exist.

[Intrepid]

I don't want sandstorms to end.  In fact, I want even more weather interferences.

:arrow:  Saltstorms.  These should have a distinction from sandstorms in that you're
obviously covered in salt.  Nitpicky?  Not really.  Compare the two substances
directly sometime.  They look very different.  The grime accumulation code would
love it too.  Imagine that wizened old ranger coming in covered in both sand and
salt.  Yay.

:arrow:  We have Elkros as one of the eight elements but no manifestations of it.
This makes me so sad.  Let's bring in heat lightning.  You heard me.  Heat lightning.
And maybe even electrical discharges in the dry, thin air that Zalanthas is so well known
for.  Give the Elkrans something rejoice for!

:arrow:  Rain.  No, hear me out.  I'm not talking torrential downpours or anything.  I
mean the type of rainfall that evaporates before it hits the ground.  Talk about teasing
those poor nomads.  Look, it's water!  Water in the sky!  It's coming right at you!  So
MUCH of it!  Rejoice!  It...it...it didn't even hit the ground...that's so sad.  It's like the
imm--err, the god--err, the sorceror kings are laughing at us.

:arrow:  Siltstorms.  Same as sand and salt, but reserved for the coastlines.
Also for grime accumulation.  Yes, the substances are different.

:arrow:  Ashstorms.  If you have to ask why, it's too ic for me to tell you.  Sorry.

:arrow:  Tornadoes.  They're just the meeting of high and low pressure systems
really.  We could put them in the wilderness around Gol Krathu.

And for the love of all that's holy: Keep the sandstorms.

[Anonymous]

Having recently been playing again and playing outside it seems like the storms aren't lasting for days and days anymore which is a positive change and really the only one I think needs to be made to sandstorms for playability reasons.

[Synthesis]

I can't believe this generated 2 pages of discussion.

Suckas.

[Cegar]

Doesn't it make you sick?

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

Way to troll guys.
No, seriously. You're way cool.

[EvilRoeSlade]

Debate, poll, discuss.. all you want.

But we're definitely not getting rid of them.

Don't you think that repeating this statement every three threads without really contributing anything might rub some people the wrong way?

[Halaster]

Debate, poll, discuss.. all you want.

But we're definitely not getting rid of them.

Don't you think that repeating this statement every three threads without really contributing anything might rub some people the wrong way?

While I don't really care if it rubs people the wrong way, it's also definitely not my intention to do so, and I apologize.  I'm just trying to save people the time of debating when this is for sure something we're not doing.  There's actually not a lot of things I can say that about (that we will never do it), but this is one of them.  However, I hadn't realize I repeated it every three threads.  Feel free to email me and show how every third thread I've said "we're not changing this", beacuse I have a hunch you're exaggerating a little.

[diealot2l2l]

I totally agree with whoever it was that mentioned heat lightning and tornados.  I would -love- to type l north and see 'a glowing ball of energy hovers here, darting and blinking'.  Ball lightning, due to heat/atmospheric phenomenon would be awesome.  As would random (RARE) lightning strikes to people walking around in a sandstorm.

As for tornados?  C'mon, how badass would it be..

watch n
>
You begin watching to the north.
>
A Gith walks in from the east, far to the north.
>
A whirlwind blasts in from the west, far to the north.
>
The whirlwind has lifted the Gith.
>
think Fecking Whira.
>
A Gith has entered from above!
>
l
>
You are in the desert <NESW>
Its a desert!  It has sand!
A Gith is lying here, looking confused, it is mortally wounded.

[amoeba]

I totally agree with whoever it was that mentioned heat lightning and tornados.  I would -love- to type l north and see 'a glowing ball of energy hovers here, darting and blinking'.  Ball lightning, due to heat/atmospheric phenomenon would be awesome.  As would random (RARE) lightning strikes to people walking around in a sandstorm.

I suggested this via email once after being buffeted by a dust devil at home, and seeing an article on the dust devils on mars.

a quoute from this site http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/14jul_dustdevils.htm

You were caught in one just yesterday--and a devilishly terrifying experience it was. This was no little Arizona desert whirlwind, only a few tens of meters high and a few meters across and past you in seconds.

No, what hit you yesterday was a monster column towering kilometers high and hundreds of meters wide, 10 times larger than any tornado on Earth. Red-brown sand and dust whipping around faster than 30 meters per second (70 miles per hour) dropped visibility to zero, scouring your faceplate, driving dust into every fold and wrinkle of your spacesuit. For 15 minutes you huddled and endured the buffeting. The scariest part was the incessant crackling and flashing of miniature lightning bolts nipping at you and your rover, and the loud static on your radio that prevented you from calling for help.

I would love to see something like this.

[Intrepid]

I totally agree with whoever it was that mentioned heat lightning and tornados.  I would -love- to type l north and see 'a glowing ball of energy hovers here, darting and blinking'.  Ball lightning, due to heat/atmospheric phenomenon would be awesome.  As would random (RARE) lightning strikes to people walking around in a sandstorm.

Why thank you!  That was my suggestion, actually.  

While I'm no meteorologist (add meteor showers!--err, ahem don't), tornadoes are
basically just pockets of very low and very high pressures meeting and doing a sexeh
tango before burning out...which sounds like my last relationship.

The scariest thing you might ever witness in the desert is the grim realization that
you're the tallest thing for leagues in the salt flats...your hair is beginning to stand on
end.  ZORCH!

[jmordetsky]

I voted yay, but i meant nay.

Desert quit skill?

What? Who?

Shut up jmordetsky! You're a skill!

No you!

[amoeba]

I totally agree with whoever it was that mentioned heat lightning and tornados.  I would -love- to type l north and see 'a glowing ball of energy hovers here, darting and blinking'.  Ball lightning, due to heat/atmospheric phenomenon would be awesome.  As would random (RARE) lightning strikes to people walking around in a sandstorm.

Why thank you!  That was my suggestion, actually.  

While I'm no meteorologist (add meteor showers!--err, ahem don't), tornadoes are
basically just pockets of very low and very high pressures meeting and doing a sexeh
tango before burning out...which sounds like my last relationship.

The scariest thing you might ever witness in the desert is the grim realization that
you're the tallest thing for leagues in the salt flats...your hair is beginning to stand on
end.  ZORCH!

Tornados and dust devils are different in their formation. Dust devils are a desert phenomon resulting from the heat, tornadoes are very rare in dry desert climates. From the site I quoted above:

Dust devils on Mars form the same way they do in deserts on Earth. "You need strong surface heating, so the ground can get hotter than the air above it," explains Lemmon. Heated less-dense air close to the ground rises, punching through the layer of cooler denser air above; rising plumes of hot air and falling plumes of cool air begin circulating vertically in convection cells. Now, if a horizontal gust of wind blows through, "it turns the convection cells on their sides, so they begin spinning horizontally, forming vertical columns--and starting a dust devil."

Hot air rising through the center of the column powers the whirling air ever faster--fast enough to begin picking up sand. Sand scouring the ground then dislodges flour-fine dust, and the central column of hot rising air buoys that dust high aloft. Once prevailing horizontal winds begin pushing the dust devil across the ground, look out!

They don't occur during high winds like with a tornado, rather they appear out of the blue during a otherwise perfectly calm day. I've experienced this first hand a number of times.  Also the flatter the landscape the more common they would be. Think of the salt flats.

The electrical dischages are different than a normal storm. When in a normal storm you get a high difference of electrical potential between the cloud overhead and the ground below,  so you get ground to cloud discharge. If memory serves me right it goes from the ground to the cloud.  In a dust devil, the electrical discharges are within the dust devil itself.  If you look at this video of a live one on mars, you can see the electrical activity.  http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/images/dustdevils/dustdevilmovie_med.gif

[Intrepid]

That's why I suggested Gol Krathu for the tornadoes.