The wind gets stronger...

[wildhalfling]

Lately it seems like the wind gains speed and theres a mighty gale in under 24 hours from each reboot. Is it just me or anyone else notice this?

[FuSoYa]

Sure, I noticed it.

Brandon

[jstorrie]

Perhaps it is related to recent IC events.

[Mood]

Perhaps it is related to recent IC events.

Damned global warming!

[amish overlord]

Perhaps it is related to recent IC events.

Damned global warming!

Maybe its cooling since so hot so far?

Amish Overlord 

[Folker]

The mantis pass gas in sync.

[brytta.leofa]

It's them 'gickers, ain't it.  Always them Krath-burnt northie 'gickers.

Eh. Highlord'll show 'em proper, he will.

[Armaddict]

That or maybe weather is reset after reboots or something.

So it has to 'pick back up' afterwards to what we call normal zalanthan weather.

But no.  No, I didn't notice.  I just felt like offering completely useless information, or rather completely useless lack of information, with something almost like an opinion mixed in.  But it's an opinion that means nothing to me and I don't really even know what it is.

[Dakkon Black]

Personally I'd be distraught without constant miserable weather to plague my every traveling day. It would be cool if instead of outright making my archery useless though it made it so that you got a crappy shot shooting into the wind, and a faster longer distance shot with the wind. And a crappy shot shooting aside the wind.

[Armaddict]

It would be cool if instead of outright making my archery useless though it made it so that you got a crappy shot shooting into the wind, and a faster longer distance shot with the wind. And a crappy shot shooting aside the wind.

I agree.  That WOULD be cool.

[Rhyden]

It would be cool if instead of outright making my archery useless though it made it so that you got a crappy shot shooting into the wind, and a faster longer distance shot with the wind. And a crappy shot shooting aside the wind.

I agree.  That WOULD be cool.

Definitely. I really hate that when it's windy/dark, your archery skill is useless.

What's a ranger gonna do?

[Fathi]

It would be cool if instead of outright making my archery useless though it made it so that you got a crappy shot shooting into the wind, and a faster longer distance shot with the wind. And a crappy shot shooting aside the wind.

I agree.  That WOULD be cool.

Definitely. I really hate that when it's windy/dark, your archery skill is useless.

What's a ranger gonna do?

I'd bet that particlar snippet of code was originally put into place because of Arm's failure-based skillgain system--i.e. if we don't let people fail archery by shooting upwind at docile prey in the middle of a horrible sandstorm at midnight, people won't be able to twink the skill up.

That said, I think it's silly that the code dictates what my PC would or wouldn't shoot at.

[Rhyden]

It would be cool if instead of outright making my archery useless though it made it so that you got a crappy shot shooting into the wind, and a faster longer distance shot with the wind. And a crappy shot shooting aside the wind.

I agree.  That WOULD be cool.

Definitely. I really hate that when it's windy/dark, your archery skill is useless.

What's a ranger gonna do?

I'd bet that particlar snippet of code was originally put into place because of Arm's failure-based skillgain system--i.e. if we don't let people fail archery by shooting upwind at docile prey in the middle of a horrible sandstorm at midnight, people won't be able to twink the skill up.

That said, I think it's silly that the code dictates what my PC would or wouldn't shoot at.

While that's possible, it's not my point.

You should still be able to shoot in windy/dark terrain with the realistic weather consequences and skill modifiers appropriately distributed in the code.

[manonfire]

All this talk of archery and darkness makes me want flaming arrows.

Code Select Expand


l e
The scrub plains continue.
[Very Far]
Darkness.
[Far]
Darkness.
[Near]
Darkness.

drop torch
You drop a burning dusty simple, leather-wrapped bone torch, which falls to the ground.

light arrow torch
You light the tip of a black, flint-tipped arrow on a burning, leather-wrapped bone torch.

fire arrow e far

You fire a black, flint-tipped arrow east.

l e
The scrub plains continue.
[Very Far]
Darkness.
[Far]
A black, flint-tipped arrow is here.
- it is surrounded by flames.
The level 4 sorcerer is here.
[Near]
Darkness.

You shout in sirihish:
     "I SEE YOU, BITCH!"


[Dakkon Black]

Yes please, can we have arrowonfire

[JustAnotherGuy]

Oh now that would be sexy.

[RogueGunslinger]

Oh now that would be sexy.

[brytta.leofa]

The wind whips a small brush fire to fury!
A small brush fire bends down and searches the ground for tracks.

[Synthesis]

>order fire follow fiery
A small brush fire falls in behind you.

[Rhyden]

manonfirearrows

ftw

[Fathi]

Code Select Expand

You begin watching east.

You fire a black, flint-tipped arrow east.

Far to the east: A black, flint-tipped arrow flies in from the west and strikes the tall, muscular man!

l e
The scrub plains continue.
[Very Far]
Darkness.
[Far]
The tall, muscular man is here, burning to death and illuminating the area.
[Near]
Darkness.

You shout, in sirihish:
"FUCK, SARGE, MY BAD!"

[Maybe42or54]

Don't use the phosphorous arrows. They're mean.

[Gunnerblaster]

Mmm... Coded ignitable arrows would be too cool.

Just imagine a small group of raiders wrecking havoc on a small wood-based village up north, with flame-tipped arrows.

[amish overlord]

Another arrow idea, weighted arrows. Instead doing damage they hurt stun, so can knock out animals and take to safety, or even criminals. Remember seeing that somewhere arrows used to knock targets out.

shoot quirri east

Your arrow flies east striking the quirri in the head and knocking it out.

Amish Overlord 

[Synthesis]

>hold packet
You hold a small packet of flash powder.
>i
You are carrying:
a heavy, chitin-tipped arrow
an agafari longbow
>trap arrow
You carefully pack a heavy, chitin-tipped arrow with flash powder.
>ass -v arrow
You test its weight and decide that you could use it.
It would be too small to wear on your back.
A heavy, chitin-tipped arrow seems to be a piercing weapon.
A heavy, chitin-tipped arrow is packed with flash powder.
>es bow
You hold an agafari longbow.
>ep arrow
You brandish a heavy, chitin-tipped arrow.
>fire bow duskhorn e
You steady yourself and take aim...
You fire a heavy, chitin-tipped arrow east.
You see a heavy, chitin-tipped arrow strike a graceful duskhorn's body.
You hear a loud explosion from the east!
You hear someone's death cry from nearby.
>say Bladow!
You say, in sirihish:
     "Bladow!"
>

Alternatively...

>hold powder
You hold a small packet of flash powder.
>i
You are carrying:
a heavy, hollow glass sphere
>trap sphere
You deftly pack a heavy, hollow glass sphere with flash powder.
>hold sphere
You hold a heavy, hollow glass sphere.
>l e
To the east is a crowded tavern.
[Near]
the tall muscular man is standing here.
>shout Grenade!
You shout, in sirihish:
     "Grenade!"
>throw sphere muscular e
You steady yourself and take aim...
You throw a heavy, hollow glass sphere east.
You see a heavy, hollow glass sphere strike the tall muscular man's body.
You hear a loud explosion from the east!
You hear someone's death cry from nearby.
You are now wanted!
A human soldier has arrived from the west.
A human soldier has arrived from the west.
A human soldier shouts, in sirihish:
    "Submit criminal, or there will be bloodshed!"
A human soldier attempts to subdue you, but you wrestle away.
A human soldier draws an obsidian longsword.
A human soldier draws an obsidian shortsword.
A human soldier slashes your head, nicking you.
A human soldier solidly pierces your body.
A human soldier joins a human soldier's fight!
A human soldier slashes your head.
You swiftly dodge a human soldier's pierces.
>flee w
>flee w
>flee w
>flee w

[Doppelganger]

Can I haz a tank?

[Qzzrbl]

Flaming arrows? Rambo arrows? Grenades? Stun-damage arrows?

These ideas here?

I would fuck them.

I would fuck them hard.

[X-D]

You want stun damage, get a sling. Stun arrows...Heh, weight an arrow enough that it could do more then knock over a rat and see how far you can fire it...even a crossbow bolt would be worthless.

Exploding arrows...How exactly is that supposed to work? I would not be against it as long as you had to light a wick and the wick had a random timer from 1-20 seconds.

Flaming arrows...That would be cool.

[Dakkon Black]

Exploding arrows...How exactly is that supposed to work? I would not be against it as long as you had to light a wick and the wick had a random timer from 1-20 seconds.

In the SOI code an arrow can sometimes lodge into a damage location. Depending on the type of barbed tip etc, you sometimes need a healer to even remove an arrow there.



The exploding arrow flies in from the west and lodges in your legs.

You say "Sarge... I need the doctor. Now"

An exploding arrow sizzles as it's fuse burns down.

You shout "AAAH I SAID NOW"

[Synthesis]

Well, the idea was a bit of a joke...but it would be really fucking cool, regardless of whether it was "realistic" or not.

How about this: a chunk of sodium or potassium with a small vial of water mounted behind it, attached to the arrowhead, wrapped with a small amount of flash powder.  Upon impact, the vial of water breaks, contacts the sodium, violent exothermic reaction takes place, ignites flash powder, *BOOM*.

That plausible enough for you?

[Doppelganger]

That plausible enough for you?

That construction you describe is unlikely to fly far and on target. Also, I don't believe that mini-explosion is going to hurt more than a solid impact from balanced arrow.

I don't mind the whole concept of flaming and explosive arrows much, except when people demand that a single arrow would light up desert for leagues across and impact of explosion would match that of a grenade launcher.

Considering that staff won't let us destroy buildings without interventions, the only good purpose I'd like to see these arrows implemeted for would be to scare mounts, predators and other animals. However, if they are going to change their mind about buildings (and I'd like that) I expect to see coded means to stop the fire, too.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

It always kind of irked me that you can't put out fires.

[Maybe42or54]

It always kind of irked me that you can't put out fires.

Extinguish fire/torch/flaming_mundane
Or have you tried that?

[Shiroi Tsuki]

I never realized it would work for flaming_mundane, since the helpfile doesn't mention it -.^

[Stroker]

Well, they have to be gay.

[Akaramu]

I blame the mudsexing Whirans.

[some guy]

This weather deal is starting to get ridiculous. There has been a ranger-navigation-only sandstorm for four or five RL days straight where my character is located, and he's basically unable to roleplay where he is. That's nearly a RL week where I might as well not log in because the weather code is so poor. I know it has been addressed before and everything, but I just wanted to express how disappointed I am with a code that prohibits playability to such an insane degree. I am not going to sit alone and solo RP for five days.

It seems that while the weather-changing code's echos function ("the wind slows down", "the wind changes direction" etc.), they simply do nothing once the game has been running for long enough to pick up a perpetual sandstorm (generally seems to take 24hrs). I wonder if we could have a reboot every few days instead of once a week so that players aren't restricted to playing socialites or rangers?

[Akaramu]

I don't know, but I suspect the weather is... IC. Very IC. 

Find out who or whatever is responsible, and kill them?

[some guy]

This weather pattern has existed for a long time.

[Akaramu]

Okay. Back to mudsexing Whirans then.

*squints to lurking staff*

*nods*

[Lenny Poppo]

armageddon always gets more windy starting from reboot - it`s not an IC thing

it starts at calm wind and then major storms anywhere from 24hrs to 72hrs and stays like that until reboot

not sure why it`s like this - once I saw a message about wind getting calmer and it actually got stronger, so maybe that is part of the bug

[X-D]

Recently My PC stood in an outdoor room with "terrible biting sand" And could only see 1 room away.
Then the message "the wind gets stronger"
And it went to stinging sand and you could see two rooms...not that I complained.

[Dakkon Black]

I think that's because the wind might be blowing harder, but there isn't as much dust/debris etc in the air. As in, all that loose crap that was over there, is now over here, so the wind is stronger but out of shit to throw at you.

[staggerlee]

armageddon always gets more windy starting from reboot - it`s not an IC thing

it starts at calm wind and then major storms anywhere from 24hrs to 72hrs and stays like that until reboot

not sure why it`s like this - once I saw a message about wind getting calmer and it actually got stronger, so maybe that is part of the bug

Absolutely it's an ic thing.  Just because it's represented by the code doesn't mean it's not ic, in fact I'd go so far as to suggest that it being represented by the code means that it absolutely is an ic thing. 

[psionic fungus]

In most cases, I agree.

However, it appears that the weather code does not really function as intended...

Still, it has to be taken IC, as it effects so much of the world...

So, I guess, the way I look at is this:

The weather is IC.

The weather pattern is not.

[Lenny Poppo]

armageddon always gets more windy starting from reboot - it`s not an IC thing

it starts at calm wind and then major storms anywhere from 24hrs to 72hrs and stays like that until reboot

not sure why it`s like this - once I saw a message about wind getting calmer and it actually got stronger, so maybe that is part of the bug

Absolutely it's an ic thing.  Just because it's represented by the code doesn't mean it's not ic, in fact I'd go so far as to suggest that it being represented by the code means that it absolutely is an ic thing. 

??

I don't understand your reply (can't figure out what it means), but I was saying like psionic fungus said, the weather going crazy is not because of an IC thing, it's just code not working properly. so yeah you got to act it out in the game like it is very stormy, but it's not very stormy because of any special IC reason like magic people making storms.

maybe you are saying that if the code says something then it must be IC, but can you say that the code making doubles of NPCs is absolutely an IC thing? you and me know that's a load of feces

[staggerlee]

Your causality is flawed:

"The visible weather appears to be tied to MUD resets, therefore weather is an ooc architect and not tied to ic events."

The weather may be related to MUD resets.  And it sound like it has been for quite some time.
That does not necessarily mean it is an accident or that the staff don't intend for the weather ic to get increasingly worse in cycles.

It's always safe to assume that there's an ic reason for things like that.  When you start blowing things off because you believe they're entirely ooc constructs and not ic, the game starts falling apart.

And like I said, the causality there is all flawed.  Maybe my character has a weather device, and I'm sitting on the temple of the dragon cackling - every time the mud crashes, the damn thing gets reset back to zero and it's mild out again?   You don't have enough data to draw any actual conclusions about the weather, all you know is that it gets worse the longer the MUD is up, based on personal experiences in whatever areas.

Psionic Fungus defined the difference well. Take it all ic, because it is ic.  But your character probably shouldn't start basing weather predictions off the mud crashes.  That'd be hard to justify ic.  The pattern you're perceiving is ooc.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

.. I'd be in heaven if I could take it OOC.  The mud crashes and then BAM.  Suddenly all the ice in my driveway melts and the weather is suddenly 'nice'.  It has reset to late spring.

I'd crash the mud all winter long.

[Lenny Poppo]

Your causality is flawed:

"The visible weather appears to be tied to MUD resets, therefore weather is an ooc architect and not tied to ic events."

The weather may be related to MUD resets.  And it sound like it has been for quite some time.
That does not necessarily mean it is an accident or that the staff don't intend for the weather ic to get increasingly worse in cycles.

It's always safe to assume that there's an ic reason for things like that.  When you start blowing things off because you believe they're entirely ooc constructs and not ic, the game starts falling apart.

And like I said, the causality there is all flawed.  Maybe my character has a weather device, and I'm sitting on the temple of the dragon cackling - every time the mud crashes, the damn thing gets reset back to zero and it's mild out again?   You don't have enough data to draw any actual conclusions about the weather, all you know is that it gets worse the longer the MUD is up, based on personal experiences in whatever areas.

Psionic Fungus defined the difference well. Take it all ic, because it is ic.  But your character probably shouldn't start basing weather predictions off the mud crashes.  That'd be hard to justify ic.  The pattern you're perceiving is ooc.

[LauraMars]

Sandy desert world with sandstorms = IC.  It's a desert world.  There's sandstorms.  That makes sense.

The fact that the weather restarts from clear every time the mud does = OOC.  Zalanthas doesn't get rebooted.  Only the game gets rebooted.

[Ghost]

Sandstorms should not last more than a couple hours though

[Kiara]

Aww, it's a fun way to get lost and confused though. In a way it should last a couple of hours IN GAME, but maybe 15 min RL. *shrug*

[Lenny Poppo]

I want to say if the weather didn't get clear on reboot, Zalanthas would be storming forever

this is a code problem

this is how it is every reboot, it's not weather devices or magic

zalanthas is not real and not everything is IC

[Ghost]

Find out who or whatever is responsible, and kill them?

by this token we have to beat the code

come on folks we can do it

[staggerlee]

You guys are missing the point here.

You're assuming the intensity of the weather in zalanthas is an accident, and that if the code was functioning properly it would work the way you feel it should.

Rather than assuming that, why not assume that the staff know what the weather is like in the mud, and are content with it the way it is?

It isn't like anyone can change it, so I suppose it doesn't matter.  But assuming something is broken because it doesn't work the way you feel it should is a bad road to go down.

[Dakkon Black]

Agreed. The point of this game isn't to be able to walk outside and kill mobs to increase your loot with Kadius. It's harsh-desert-survival. Harsh-desert. Harsh. Desert. Desert of harshness.

[Ghost]

Rather than assuming that, why not assume that the staff know what the weather is like in the mud, and are content with it the way it is?

Well actually, I do remember staff themselves posting about the weather code for more than one occasion.  And it is somehow difficult to fix, to the point, the rumor goes that the weather code is a giant black hole, and sucks in whoever mess with it.  So everybody is kind of staying away.

[psionic fungus]

Not only have the staff themselves stated that this is a known bug... It's utterly unrealistic that a sandstorm would make you incapable of seeing -yourself-, let alone the ground around you, -unless- it were a moonless night and you were without a light source (and yes, I know... torches aren't going to function in a sandstorm).

[LauraMars]

I don't want an endless sandstorm on the game, because it's a game, and an endless sandstorm is dumb.

[Salt Merchant]

Not only have the staff themselves stated that this is a known bug... It's utterly unrealistic that a sandstorm would make you incapable of seeing -yourself-, let alone the ground around you, -unless- it were a moonless night and you were without a light source (and yes, I know... torches aren't going to function in a sandstorm).

I've never been in a true sandstorm, but I have been in a snowstorm where the snow was little pellets of stinging ice and the wind was fierce, blowing it horizontally. I could see well enough when I looked well away from the direction of the wind, but trying to look into the wind or close to it was hopeless without goggles or glasses.

That was with water. With sand, I can imagine that your eyes quickly would become irritated to the point where you couldn't see much of anything.

[Dakkon Black]

I don't want an endless sandstorm on the game, because it's a game, and an endless sandstorm is dumb.

I've been playing for a lot of years. I've never seen an endless storm. In fact during that long 6 day uptime I was certain the wind went back and forth from faster to slower.

If you want a game with no sand storms, play SOI.

[Dalmeth]

I play a character who consistently goes out into the wilds, for hours at a time, and I can say that the weather is not constantly in full blown sandstorm.  It moves back and forth, with certain areas more consistently in storm than others.

If anything, it's improved since what it used to be.  There was a time when the wind was always gale-force before each reboot.

[Mood]

Just out of idle curiosity... does anyone actually enjoy the near-constant sandstorms Zalanthas is plagued with? For me, it does more to hurt playability than it does to add atmosphere.

[Dakkon Black]

We're at 2 days of uptime, the winds are down to a breeze from storms earlier on. I still fail to see the problem. And yes mood, I rather do enjoy the sandstorms, they make it seem like there's a mercyless desert out there.

[Voular]

Storms hamper the players who have limited or selective playtimes. Getting hit with full blazing storm 2/4 times you can play in a week would really hurt a collecter or hunting type of character. However, you could always take that IC and say that those professions shouldn't "pay off" - but it comes down to survival of your character and enjoyment off the game (although getting stuck in a storm if fun every so and so session) - this kind of weather would detract people from playing outdoors types (if not highly aware of the storm mechanics and how they function and so on) which would lead in the resurgance of such roles which I have read that people do not want to see.

I suspect the staff has weighted their decision about the weather and its code, we'll have to take it IC somehow. Pray to the Highlord, you heathens!

[Lenny Poppo]

"getting caught in a storm" doesn't really happen anywhere in the game except near red storm, though people keep bringing up how cool it is to be caught in a storm

what REALLY happens is you log in and you can't leave where you are because there's a storm, and it stays like that until reboot, OR.. you see good weather outside when you log in, and make sure you quit out somewhere that isn't boring because you're gonna be stuck there in the days of sandstorm to come

and no, if it's storming in the allanak zone for 4 RL days but it's clear in the grey forest, that doesn't mean the weather code is working fine, please be smart

[X-D]

For me, Sure, I do not find the way weather works to be very realistic, and I definitly  hate the blinding thing...its silly.

But for the most part storms are only a minor annoyance so I rarely bitch about it.

What I do hate is that storm travel is not a skill.

Sure, give rangers the innate ability to travel in pitch black and all that...and I don't think anybody else should get it.

But man, if you have a PC who lives 1800 hours of the 2400 hours you have played him outdoors in the storms and traveling through them. He should learn SOMETHING about not getting turned around in the sand during the day.

It makes me want to scream.

[psionic fungus]

I've never been in a true sandstorm, but I have been in a snowstorm where the snow was little pellets of stinging ice and the wind was fierce, blowing it horizontally. I could see well enough when I looked well away from the direction of the wind, but trying to look into the wind or close to it was hopeless without goggles or glasses.

I was raised in Minnesota and I know exactly what you're talking about... However... Ever use a scarf over your face while you were walking to school (up-hill both ways)?

That was with water. With sand, I can imagine that your eyes quickly would become irritated to the point where you couldn't see much of anything.

Sandstorms happen in real life.  People really walk around in them.  Where sandstorms are frequent, the populace usually has some type of traditional covering protecting their eyes.  Even without such, they may have to squint, or look away from the wind... But humans -really- do walk around in sandstorms. Of course, people really get stuck, unable to see properly or travel, in them as well... It's just not as common as what we see on Zalanthas.  Even in a bad storm, within city walls you should be able to see pretty much everything.

But, as I said, I can see some bad sandstorms (especially at night) blinding travelers.  It just seems like the frequency of such storms is a bit too high and there is no IC way to combat getting virtual sand in your eyes.  Wearing sunslits and/or a facewrap has no benefit but almost certainly should...

Anyhow.  I would like to see storms handled better... And I'm almost certain the current pattern of weather is (still) an OOC phenomena.  But it may have been fixed... I couldn't say for sure.

[Dakkon Black]

I really like the idea of seeing a more leniant storm skill that applied to more than just rangers. Allthough that brings down the value of a ranger some, until it gets to a blistering maelstrom of doom, a 30+ day vetran of the sands should have at least a good storm skill.

[Gunnerblaster]

No matter how bad the weather gets, NPC's can still fuck the shit out of you with their all-knowing vision.

>Blinding, biting sand surrounds you!
>A figure has arrived from the east.
>A figure has arrived from the north.
>A figure has arrived from the south.

think "Oh shit."

>A figure bites you, wounding your head.
>A figure bites your body, dealing horrendous damage.
>A figure solidly claws your neck.

[Shoka Windrunner]

It seems like it is part of the regular type of weather that Zalanthas gets.  I can remember when the wind wouldn't blow for RL weeks, and then it wouldn't stop sandstorming for weeks RL.  I don't worry about it, cause it will go to the other extreme and then Rangers will complain cause they don't have sandstorms that only they can navigate and now the desert has to many people in it and the cities are empty.

Always happens.

[LittleLostThief]

I think if it was an intentional bit of code, and the staff wanted it to be sandstorming always, when the mud booted it wouldn't be clear.

It would still be storming.