Weather

[jmordetsky]

A lot of people have already hit up most of these suggestions, but let me give my list.

I pretty much agree with everything in this post.

That said:

* seasons that affect weather

I'd really like to see this, and I'd like it to be common knowledge IE, documented. Every commoner should know when the stormy seasons are.

* rangers being able to predict the weather over the next 12 hours or so

Would be cool, but I mean...Do we need make rangers more powerful? Everyone knows I'm a huge proponent of makeing the ranger's ub3r l33t desert quiting and navigation skills possible to the rest of the world via subclass, so I won't go into that here....

Yes I will. Let Nomads and the like have percentage based desert nav and desert quit skills with a certain cap and then you can make storms form golems that anally rape people and I will be all for it. I'm completely down with raving storms that can masacre people. I just don't want to see the PC population as 90% rangers because those are the only people who can experience them and have a remote chance at survial.

* wandering lightning storms

Maybe, don't get me wrong, I think this would be really cool, but by making storms even more dangerous, you are essentially making rangers even more powerful. In a way, this bugs me. As much as lightening would rock, I can help but echo Rindan's sentiment that the worst thing in the game is just not being able to logout because of a storm.

* the road randomly getting covered by sandstorms and having to get dug out by PC missions

This would be really cool. 100% behind it.

[amoeba]

See this bothers me. I'm curious as to what people's reasoning is for this. Desert elves live out in the wilds more than most rangers. They are even given certain skills as a race because of it, but a human ranger from a city can navigate and deal with a storm better then your average desert elf that lives in it nearly -all- the time? This makes zero sense to me.

There are only a few classes availible to a delf aside from those that have higher karma.  A delf is perfectly capable of choosing Ranger. If fact I would say that 80 - 90% pick ranger, so much of the argument is moot anyway There are those who stay primarilly in the camps.  It would be perfectly fine reasoning that they don't travel as much as the more experienced guides of thier tribe, therefore would not have the same level of skills in navigating the desert.

To paraphrase a line from "The Incredibles" If everyone can do something special, then no one is special.

[jhunter]

As far as the negative effects from a storm, a sandstorm is mainly made up of two things...sand and wind. Why -wouldn't- a whiran or rukkian be immune to most of the negative effects of the storm? I'd just like to hear the reasoning from those who don't seem to agree. If there was damage caused by blowing sands I think those two elementalists would be immune to it. More so than any one else, ranger or otherwise.

Rephrase that to why -couldn't- a Whiran or Rukkian be immune and I might be able to agree with you. Like all other elementalists Whirans and Rukkians have links to their elements but aren't living personifications of their elements. I could accept a Whiran or Rukkian having some spells which granted them immunity or reduced damage but immunity just because of their element? No way. Makes no sense at all. Drop a ten ton rock on an unprepared Rukkian and see what happens.

Dude, we're not talking about boulders here were talking about sand and wind. I'm not saying give them immunity to boulders being dropped on them. Just the ability, which rp wise they are already supposed to have to do minor manipluations of their element.

A whiran can manipulate wind as a cantrip why not just enough manipulation to keep the sands from making contact with their skin. As for the rukkian same thing except they would be manipulating the sand as it comes into contact with them. Even the newest whiran or rukkian can manipulate their element, I never said a damned thing about them just automagickally getting it for -no- reason.  

Are you telling me that they can't manipulate their element? Are you saying that the major components of the storms aren't sand and wind? If it doesn't make sense to you that seems to me to be the only way it couldn't.

This doesn't seem any different to me than a krathi manipulating a bonfire or something like that. I don't think that would be unacceptable. It's not like they would be manipulating the entire storm just a tiny bit of it directly around them.

There are other reasons why I think it should be either an innate ability or a minor spell they would have to protect themselves from storm damage if it was implemented but I can't go into them here because of the nature of the information.

As others have stated, if storms were made worse I'd like to see a few abilities to deal with different aspects added and spread around to some non-rangers, otherwise we -will- see 99% of the pcs that are ever outside the cities be rangers. Rangers are already a bit overpowered because of the plethora of skills and special abilities they get.
I know that if it isn't done that way, I won't -ever- play an outdoor pc that isn't a ranger again. It's already really shitty when you get stuck out in a storm with a non-ranger as it is, almost to the point of no longer being fun at all for the player.

[Larrath]

It's fairly standard for sandstorms to bend around Whirans a little so they're not buffeted.  This doesn't mean they can see further than anyone else, though, nor does it give them some special nagivational ability.
Most Rukkians will probably have a hard time thinning out a sandstorm or otherwise marking the correct direction where they have to go.
Elkros, according to public helpfiles, is tied to sandstorms.  Like I posted before, I can really see an Elkran feeling much at home (or at least in control) during an outside sandstorm.

Regardless of what magick various magickers could do with sandstorms (even though the concept is pretty cool), I definitely think this shouldn't be an innate ability.  Or rather, if it IS innate, is should only be innate for Stone and Wind magickers who've reached a very high level of power.

Krathi can emote lighting campfires with a glance, and that's awesome but it has no coded advantage because anyone can type "light torch" in the middle of nowhere.  I don't see Krathi getting an innate ability to make everyone's torches and lanterns suddenly begin to burn, let alone directing all of the fire in a given room so it creeps and kills a character.

Anyway, a full sandstorm is also a lot bigger and a lot wilder than a bonfire.  Backing away from this subject, I do think roads getting covered in sand would be a great thing, as long as it didn't happen every other day.  A road could be made so that each room gets sand in it during bad storms.  For each bad storm that passes through, but not more than once every two IC days, the room will go up a notch in being covered in sand.

It would look like this:

Code Select Expand


North Road
This is the North Road.  We call it North Road because it goes north.  No, it doesn't go south.  Wiseass.  Anyway, it's made of white stuff and there's sand and it's hot and get your ass moving already and stop reading this room description or you're going to get raped by a gith soon.
There is a heavy layer of sand covering the road.

There could be, say, four degrees of sandiness: completely clear (no extra message), lightly sandy with no penalty at all, sandy which would give a small mv penalty, heavily sandy that would give a hefty mv penalty, and completely covered in sand that would make the room act like a normal desert room - both in MV costs and in the chance of wandering off of it.

[jstorrie]

I would like to see the danger of heavy sandstorms implemented in a slightly different way. Non-rangers should have a lot of difficulty outside, but in a more interesting way than just not being able to move in a straight line. The danger level of sandstorms is currently appropriate, but not handed out in a way that is particularly player-friendly or, really, fun.

[Boggis]

There are other reasons why I think it should be either an innate ability or a minor spell they would have to protect themselves from storm damage if it was implemented but I can't go into them here because of the nature of the information.

Your initial post said why wouldn't a Rukkian or Whiran be immune to the damaging effects of a sandstorm? This led me to believe that you felt this should be an innate ability which I did not agree with. Make it a spell and, as I said in my original post, I would agree with this ability as of course they can manipulate their element but preventing a massive, raging sandstorm from causing them harm shouldn't be a passive ability in my opinion. It should take an effort on their part which is -all- I said in my original post. If you believe that such an ability is only a minor cantrip then we'll have to agree to disagree.

[jstorrie]

Make it a spell for defilers and templars.

Make it an innate ability for the proper elementalists, an ability whose power is related to the elementalist's own level of spellcasting; then make them have to actually suppress it if they don't want people to know that they're obviously foul magickers.

[jmordetsky]

I think its reasonable for rukkians and whirans to have spells that allow them to navigate storms. I'm not sure I agree the ability should be innate.

Whirans can manipulate winds to allow them to fly. But, that doesn't mean they should be able to fly right out of the box.

[Maybe42or54]

What Rindan said.

The bars are alive with echos. It'd be awesome if the desert started doing weird shit.


As the wind picks up, sand is blown off the tops of the dunes.

%n (where that is your mount)
%n turns to face the direction that the wind is blowing.

Your cloak snaps in the building wind.

And shit like that would be fun.

Avian creatures start disappearing underground, the scarce plantlife bending in the wind.

[Seeker]

The bars are alive with echos. It'd be awesome if the desert started doing weird shit.


As the wind picks up, sand is blown off the tops of the dunes.

%n (where that is your mount)
%n turns to face the direction that the wind is blowing.

Your cloak snaps in the building wind.

And shit like that would be fun.

Avian creatures start disappearing underground, the scarce plantlife bending in the wind.

The staff has -asked- players to help with just that.  There is an open invitation for anyone to assist by sending in room echoes to make Zalanthas more alive.   Read about it here .  Look for Mekeda's October 24th entry:  Bringing the World to Life.

If there was a way to link certain echoes to upcoming weather conditions (like an echo about a particular type of animal seeking cover or somesuch), it would give an alert player a chance to watch the enviroment to understand the upcoming conditions.

If it were possible to link certain room echoes to be visible to only certain guilds of PCs, the possibilities are pretty entertaining.  

Seeker

[Maybe42or54]

Mmm. Spiffy.

[chrisdcoulombe]

Lets talk weather some more.

A weather buffer could make predicting storms possible.
Randomization could take place 4.5 hours in advance or 3 ig days.

[Jozhole]

While playing I've noticed sometimes you can be inside a farm or something and there will be a sandstorm, then if you were to leave it would be completely clear, no sandstorm. Other times when walking in the desert I've run into tremendous sandstorms or fierce storms because I failed to use the weather command to check the next room. I think the weather command should be able to be used in the same way the look command can be used, so that typing weather east would give you three rooms or so of weather in that direction. Alternatively it might be cool if look and weather commands were combined, and a person could just look to see how the weather was, or if there was a sandstorm a few leagues off in the distance.

[Harmless]

Lets talk weather some more.

A weather buffer could make predicting storms possible.
Randomization could take place 4.5 hours in advance or 3 ig days.

Why not? +1

While playing I've noticed sometimes you can be inside a farm or something and there will be a sandstorm, then if you were to leave it would be completely clear, no sandstorm. Other times when walking in the desert I've run into tremendous sandstorms or fierce storms because I failed to use the weather command to check the next room. I think the weather command should be able to be used in the same way the look command can be used, so that typing weather east would give you three rooms or so of weather in that direction. Alternatively it might be cool if look and weather commands were combined, and a person could just look to see how the weather was, or if there was a sandstorm a few leagues off in the distance.

nod, this is because areas are modeled as zones in an oldass DIKU codebase. You just went from zone A to zone B. now loading zone B weather pattern.

Village belongs as a child to another zone nearby, or it is a zone all to itself. In any case, it has its own weather right now, whereas the Vrun Driath, East zone has a storm going on.

Welcome to armageddon btw

[Morrolan]

rangers being able to predict the weather over the next 12 hours or so

If this were a skill, I'd like to see rangers have some skill in it. (say 50%)

I'd like to see half-elves and elves get bonuses (+10%), and dwarves (-15%) and muls (-10%) penalties. Humans and half-giants get neither bonuses nor penalties.

I'd like to see an additional bonus based on starting location, where the farther north you're from, the less of a bonus you get.

Red Storm: +20%
Allanak: +15%
Luir's: +10%
Blackwing: +5%
Tuluk: 0%

[bcw81]

I can tell you the weather in Red Storm just by the scent of a tregil's arse at high noon.

It's storming.

[Delirium]

With a chance of scattered sand in the afternoon.

[Barzalene]

I can tell you the weather in Red Storm just by the scent of a tregil's arse at high noon.

It's storming.

My friend. The time has come for us to speak quietly. This tregil sniffing. It's not a good look for you. Really, time to find another hobby.

[razorback]

I pretty much like every idea being kicked around, but I do worry about the random lightening storms, especially if they're made to kill PCs. I absolutely think it would be cool to be fried on the spot, but I'm also thinking it could make some players just decide to stay inside where its nice and safe more often, to avoid that possibility.

Maybe it could be made where such *mantis head* affects only happen outside the cities, villages, posts, etc.? Although, be honest, walking with your buddy down the street to the local tavern and suddenly have him/her turned into a flash fried steak sounds pretty damn cool.

[Morrolan]

I was grazed by lightning once. I was in a high place (atop a building) as a storm came in much faster than expected.

It started with an electrical pulsing feeling at the top of my head. As I had already programmed my mind to react to such an occurrence, I had enough time to drop as low as I could, curve my arms over my head, and shout "down!" (though my wife was already under cover). That two feet of distance probably saved me from a nasty burn or worse.

Most of the bolt split between the two lightning rods, one behind me and one on the building across the way.

Bolts out of the blue (or red) aren't necessarily the whole story. One can, in a sense, dodge lightning. Sometimes.

[razorback]

Most of the bolt split between the two lightning rods, one behind me and one on the building across the way.

On that, if a lightening storm were to hit somewhere like Allanak...wouldn't Tektolnes Tower pretty much keep everyone below it safe? Especially when you consider there's nothing that even resembles a skyscraper anywhere.

[Marauder Moe]

So, the odds of being struck by lightning (in the real world) are on the order of 1/1,000,000 per year.

This figure may be lower than a "natural" chance due to all our metal structures, lightning rods, and general habits of not going outside in thunderstorms.

Of course, most Earthly lightning storms are the wet kind.  I'm not sure what the relative frequency of lightning strikes from sandstorms is like.

Let's say that sandstorms are less likely to produce lightning, and assume that it cancels out the adjustments due to modern technology/knowledge, and say that in Zalanthas too, the chance of being struck by lightning is 1/1,000,000 per year.

Going digital now, that's a 0.000001 chance.

With an average active playerbase of around 250 (or are we closer to 300 these days?  Let's stick with 250 because it's a cleaner number to work with) that's 250/1,000,000 chance per year that SOMEONE will be struck by lightning, or 0.00025.

On average, with a population of 250 players, that's about only once in every 4000 years that a PC will be struck by lightning.  This isn't even taking into account that we only play a small portion of our character's lives.
(EDIT: 4000 game years, 500 real life years)

The realistic likelihood of a PC being struck by lighning is so low that even considering an automated system to make it happen is ludicrous.


I'm cool with making Armageddon weather generally more realistic and/or predictable, though.


EDIT 2: I totally just noticed that this thread was necro'ed from 2005.  WTF?

[Riya OniSenshi]

EDIT 2: I totally just noticed that this thread was necro'ed from 2005.  WTF?

A spam-bot posted to it and then Nyr removed it, but that still cycled it up to the top page of the board.

[chrisdcoulombe]

Is that what happened?  Because i was thinking about making a thread about the weather prediction and then searched to see if it had been done and then posted in this thread after I found it because it had alot of the what I was thinking already there.

[Riya OniSenshi]

Or it could have been that, but I know the spam-bot did it to several threads before it got Nyrred.

Really, though, one shouldn't necro a thread that is eight years old... A new thread with a link would have been a better idea.