Sunback lizards are really, really slow.

[Good Gortok]

Sunback lizards are unbelievably slow. I tested it, and their walking speed is literally slower than a human character sneaking on foot in the wilderness. The movement delay for a walking sunback is approximately five seconds, more than twice as much as a war beetle's. It doesn't seem intentional to me, so I figured it was worth bringing up. Is there any reason or purpose to this that I've missed?

[Armaddict]

Not sure, used to piss me off too.

They're still worth using though.  Last I checked, they made up for it in other ways.  (And no, to all you old school people, I am not talking about anything combat related.)

[FantasyWriter]

They're still worth using though.  Last I checked, they made up for it in other ways. 

[Yokunama]

   In the wild, these long-necked lizards are scavengers and small-prey
hunters that appear to be more docile, or more intelligent, cousins of the
raptors. They are very maneuverable as mounts, but few have the strength,
raw quickness, or lasting power of a kank. But, being hunters by nature,
they tend to adapt better to mounted combat, the better trained among them
able to tactically utilize their heavy tails like a great whip. Desert
tribes may keep a few, but their appetites are large compared to their
overall usefulness, relative to kanks.

The helpfile needs to be updated, but I think it answers the question. If you are looking for speed, you always have the option of trying other mounts.

[musashi]

I wonder if that "better suited to mounted combat" translates into anything ... since the mounts typically don't ever actually attack anything other than their riders from time to time due to typos.

[Kronibas]

I wonder if that "better suited to mounted combat" translates into anything ...

I think it's making a reference to the fact that you once could type "pull reins" while riding a sunback and make it whip an enemy with its tail.  This feature was eventually done away with due to abuse, if I recall correctly.

[Angela Christine]

Yeah, I loved "pull reins".  If you weren't in combat when you used it, it would make the mount do an emote.  It depended on the mount, but you'd usually get something like rearing up or flashing eyes.  That was my favorite part.  It made me feel like I was the Lone Ranger.  "Hiho Silver, away!"     And then some kank buggering, code abusing assholes ruined it for everyone.   


It was also somewhat useful in combat.  Not overpowering, but a little something extra for the "combat trained" mounts.  It gave you an excuse to use mounted combat, instead of everyone dismounting at the first sign of trouble, which was nice if you were trying to be cavalry rather than infantry.  It also gave you an excuse to use an exotic combat mount, rather than just using a kank like everyone else.  It was separate from charging, because that requires a highly skilled rider, not a highly trained mount.  If you used the command on calm, passive mounts not trained for combat, they wouldn't do anything more deadly than wiggling their antenna.  You still had to be a good enough rider that you wouldn't simply fall off your mount in combat in order to use it effectively, a terrible rider wouldn't get the chance to use it.  But it was a nice perk for "good" riders that were not the kind of "expert" riders that can use charge and ride without using their hands.



The command seems like it probably was a factor in the "balancing" of the mounts that had it.  Once it was removed, it became really hard to justify using anything but kanks.     Charge doesn't do much to help with erdlu and sunbacks, because  despite their species ferocity they are relatively small mounts that aren't intrinsically good at trampling things.

[RogueGunslinger]

I don't get what the difference between spamming 'pull reins' and spamming 'kick' is.

[Angela Christine]

Well, if you spam pull reins they take a neat feature away from everyone.  If you spam kick they just cut off your legs.

[Cavaticus]

You probably shouldn't spam kick either.

You probably shouldn't spam anything.

[X-D]

Pull reins had no delay, and I do not think it ever missed. Some person/people not only figured it out but then abused it. Sure, the damage was small, but if somebody made a macro of "pull reins 50X".........

[Semper]

Someone idea this IG. 

[Clearsighted]

IMO, mounts should do auto-attacks in combat, much like certain bracers or gloves do, and have it depend on your riding. With nothing really to distinguish mounts beyond what they can carry (except in a one or two specific cases related to climbing), the removal of kanks just made everyone move to the mount with the next most stamina.

[Dar]

Could be other benefits to them ? higher stamina, better climb, higher strength for packed bags, whatever. Maybe there is a good side to them, that make sunbacks stand out from 'other' mounts. Personally ... I havent found any.

[Semper]

...based on the skill of the mount.  

So the longer you've been with the mount in combat situations, the better the mount will be, independent of your own riding skills. Of course, your own riding skills would be important.

[Synthesis]

The charge skill is basically the updated version of 'pull reins' anyway.

Although, I've seen some equally ridiculous shit with charge.

I think I saw someone on a war beetle trample a mekillot once. 

[deviant storm]

I've often wished the mounts had some sort of attack that went with their trample/charge coding, dependent on the mount. War beetles would pinch or bite with those wicked mandibles of theirs. Oxes would gore (they have those nice horns, why not make use of them?). Sunbacks could tailwhip on their own, if the rider was good enough with that particular skill. Inixes could headbutt. Or something along those lines.

[RogueGunslinger]

You probably shouldn't spam kick either.

You probably shouldn't spam anything.

My point was that the delay given to kick is there for a reason. And I assumed that it's to give a buffer and keep people from 'twinking' it, but now I'm guessing I was wrong.

Are the delays there to keep people from spamming? Or simply to give a representation of how long the action would take?


Sorry for the derail of the derail.

[Twilight]

With the changes to ride...

I'd like to see different modifiers to your character's ride skill based on which kind of mount you are on.  In the case of a sunback, it could give enough +ride that a normal, below average wisdom dwarf warrior or whatever could ride without using any hands.  A war beetle/inix might be harder to control in combat, and thus give less of a +ride.

[Clearsighted]

The charge skill is basically the updated version of 'pull reins' anyway.

Although, I've seen some equally ridiculous shit with charge.

I think I saw someone on a war beetle trample a mekillot once. 

There's nothing ridiculous about slamming a one ton+ beast into the single leg of a bigger beast to throw it off balance.

[Semper]

The charge skill is basically the updated version of 'pull reins' anyway.

Although, I've seen some equally ridiculous shit with charge.

I think I saw someone on a war beetle trample a mekillot once. 

There's nothing ridiculous about slamming a one ton+ beast into the single leg of a bigger beast to throw it off balance.

As long as it's role played accordingly...

[brytta.leofa]

As long as it's role played accordingly...

> say (whooping and hollering as ~beetle scrambles up %mekillot massive flank and careens down ^mekillot broad back) Get a-LONG li'l GORTOKS!
> change hands etwo ep (leaning down halfway out of the saddle to rake ~bastard across %mekillot back as ~beetle scuttles along)
> remove surmac [as ~beetle tumbles over %mekillot shoulder, miraculously landing rider-side up]
> es surmac [fanning it in the air]
Someone says, a little puff of dust rising where something seems to stir on the sunblasted flats, in an unfamiliar tongue,
  "Oyu rae neo rzayc hsotr-gle, kimosabe."

[Semper]

02/03/2009: War beetles now have echoes -- Raesanos

Hah. Hah. Hah.

[X-D]

Yes, and the first time mine did it I was like Woot!

[musashi]

The charge skill is basically the updated version of 'pull reins' anyway.

Although, I've seen some equally ridiculous shit with charge.

I think I saw someone on a war beetle trample a mekillot once. 

I used to charge things on an erdlu with one of my older characters; didn't matter if they were bigger or smaller I didn't think.

If they were small, I RP'ed as if the erdlu had literally trampled over them.

If they were big, I RP'ed as if the erdlu had slashed at one of their legs and ham-stringed them.

If they were REALLY big, I probably ran away.