Two riders, one mount-

[Dan]

I was just thinking, why can't two people ride on one mount? I think it would be a pretty cool addition.  I mean, if two humans can ride one horse in real life, why can't a couple humans ride a giant ant-like mount on Zalanthas?

Good/bad idea? Comments.

[Stroker]

I think the reason is quite obvious - the second person will just keep on sliding off the shell. Oh, and then there's the coded restrictions.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

Other than coded restrictions, a lot of mounts, ICly, wouldn't be able to cope with two riders.

The truth is, even with reduced gravity/tiny proportions/super-light chitin, whatever your explanation, giant insects like war beetles and kanks are not supremely well-balanced. Giant insects could not exist in RL; they'd crumble beneath their own weight. But in Zalanthas, they do, and can carry not only themselves but a rider and whatever junk that rider is making the poor bug drag along. Forcing another rider (and his clothes, and whatever he's carrying) onto the same beetle would be overkill. I've always seen kanks and war beetles as not being slow-moving because their are sluggish, ponderous creatures, but because they're hauling your fat ass around, and therefore have to pace themselves. If another character jumped on to ride shotgun, that could very well be the last straw to break the kank's back, so to speak.

Erdlus... Not only do they lack the endurance and strength to support the weight of two riders, I also never saw them as having a lot of room on their back. One of the two riders would probably keep falling off the erdlu's tail once the thing started moving. Of course, it would be rather funny to see a couple of dwarves try and maneuver themselves on to a squawking, irate erdlu, heh. The same pretty much applies to sunback lizards, I'd imagine.

Inixes... Maybe. They can support half-giants, so it seems reasonable for them to support to moderately heavy humans. However, I think the space issue comes into play. It's my understanding that inixes have a shell, and slightly domed one at that. This means the back rider would have to either cling tightly with his legs (rather uncomfortable, espicially if the rider is male), or risk sliding off the shell, bouncing off the inix's tail, and slamming face first into the sand. Once again, something that would be fun to watch.  :lol:

Meks should be able to fit two people, easily. But we don't have to worry about that... How many people own meks anyways? And if they did, they'd probably rather strap a wagon to them and be done with it, instead of trying to craft a mek-sized saddle.

Just some quick thoughts. Not saying I oppose your idea, just that a lot of mounts were domesticated with the idea of them being only for one rider, so two wouldn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

Kanks don't seem very strong.  Mine can't always carry the bags I try to strap to it and I'm just a lowly 8 ten-stone PC.

[Flaming Ocotillo]

I'm sure most of the common mounts are ICly capable of handling more than one rider. For whatever reason, the game hasn't been coded to support it.

Long ago I think I witnessed someone subdue a wounded PC and then mount a kank before riding off, RPing having slung the wounded PC across the front of the kank. If I actually witnessed this, and it is still supported by the code, you may try subduing someone and then riding with them to emulate two people riding. The lack of being able to wield a weapon could be interpreted as having not enough space on the mount when two people are riding.