Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

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Aureus
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:13 pm

Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by Aureus » Mon Nov 14, 2022 12:49 am

We are adding the ability to build campfires to the game. These are primarily designed as a way, outside of combat, to regen faster. We especially had low-numbers abs players in mind with this, since a lot of time is spent as an abser regaining HPs on your own, especially relative to stabbers and channelers. But it will help anyone who wants to regen faster, or those in group situations who don't have ready access to Healing weaves.

They function like this: first, it requires Level 5* Survival to build a campfire. (*Final number subject to change! We may make it higher-rank in Survival.)

You cannot build a campfire in a city or otherwise inside -- these are designed for when you are out adventuring. However, we are adding a new environment type, "ruins", which functions similarly to city environments, but which you can build campfires in (sidenote that you can track and charge in them, as well - unlike cities). We'll review many of the existing locations like the City in the Blight, Shadar Logoth, etc. that are currently cities and revise them as appropriate.

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* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh > build campfire
You aren't carrying enough wood; you need at least two freshly-cut logs.
Well, okay then. You actually need to acquire wood first. Fortunately, you will be able to "chop" it from the corpses of tree-type mobs, similar to how you can butcher meat from animals.

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Your blood freezes as you hear the ancient tree's death cry.

* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh > chop
You need to wield an axe for that!

<ok, I find my axe somewhere>

* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh > chop
You lean over and chop a freshly-cut wood log from the corpse of the ancient tree.
You get a freshly-cut wood log from the corpse of the ancient tree.

* HP:Healthy MV:Full >
Of course, this can go wrong, too...

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You lean over and chop a freshly-cut wood log from the corpse of the ancient tree.
Ack! You curse your incompetence as your blow splinters a freshly-cut wood log into useless chips.
Such is life. More skill in Survival makes this less likely to happen. Also, you'll notice that chopping is tiring and costs moves. The number of moves it requires is based on your Strength and Constitution, whichever is lower. And these logs are rather heavy to lug around, as well, so if you are a dodgy type they will likely not be your friend. They also decay over time. Being a lumberjack is hard work! Though it's worth noting chopping wood requires less Survival than being able to actually build a campfire, so groups can distribute the labor.

Ok, now we have two pieces of wood:

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* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh > build campfire
You gather some wood and start to build a campfire...

+
You build a crackling campfire, which warms your weary bones.
Smoke from a campfire gently drifts into the sky.
This takes about two rounds, and can be interrupted. You'll also notice the smoke that it's created. This is a zone-wide outdoors message, and also it shows up to people checking their location:

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* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh > where
Players in your Zone
--------------------
Aureus               - A Narrow Valley
Smoke from a campfire gently drifts into the sky from somewhere nearby.
It's somewhere nearby because I'm in the room, but to others nearby...

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* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh > where
Players in your Zone
--------------------
Aureus               - Somewhere South of a Narrow Valley
Smoke from a campfire gently drifts into the sky from the north.
So you have to be careful that you don't draw unwanted attention by building a campfire.

It's also worth saying that the weather conditions can play a role in creating a campfire -- it's harder to sustain a campfire in the rain and snow.

Now that we've built a campfire, we can rest or sleep there to gain a bonus to our regeneration rate:

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* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh > rest
You sit down and rest your tired bones.
The flames of a campfire burn merrily, warming you.

* HP:Healthy MV:Fresh >
You warm yourself in the glow of a campfire.
The regen builds up over time, but you won't actually get the benefit until the next tic or half-tic. In that, it functions similarly to resting or sleeping. Campfires are, of course, light sources. Unfortunately, not everyone loves and is comforted by the light: fades receive no benefit from resting at a campfire. Trollocs, however, do.

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* HP:Healthy DP:Bursting MV:Fresh > rest
You sit down and rest your tired bones.
The light from the bright campfire irritates your pale, waxy skin.
They can argue amongst themselves whether they should strike a warm and friendly campfire or skulk around definitely-not-melodramatically in the shadows, shivering cold. Though fades can always use darken to extinguish a campfire, so they may have the upper hand in that argument.

Campfires will die naturally over time, but you can also douse them to end the effect early. This can be used by both the campers, and by enemies who don't appreciate your woodcraft. Dousing is instantaneous, and requires having a liquid container with something in it.

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* HP:Healthy MV:Full > douse campfire bucket
You douse a campfire with water from a wooden bucket.
The campfire hisses in a cloud of ash and smoke, dying to smoldering embers.

* HP:Healthy MV:Full > look
A Narrow Valley
[ obvious exits: S ]
The dim, glowing embers of a campfire linger here, offering no comfort.

* HP:Healthy MV:Full > where
Players in your Zone
--------------------
Aureus               - A Narrow Valley
Smoke from a campfire gently drifts into the sky from somewhere nearby.
You'll notice the smoke is still present: smoke persists for a tic after the campfire goes out. This happens naturally over time, too. Campfires go from burning to "embers", when they are still releasing smoke but confer no regen benefit for resting or sleeping at them. Then they finally fade to ashes, at which point they no longer release smoke either.

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* HP:Healthy MV:Full >
The last glowing embers from the embers of an old campfire fade into gray ashes.

* HP:Healthy MV:Full > look
A Narrow Valley
[ obvious exits: S ]
The gray, ashen remains of a campfire lie here, cold and abandoned.
What this means is that if you are resting happily at your campfire, and you suddenly notice enemies in the zone (such a Warder sensing them, or a trolloc sniffing out horses), you can douse your campfire but the smoke won't immediately go away -- your recent presence will still be revealed.

And there you have it - campfires! We're looking forward to you enjoying the great outdoors even more in the future.

Prykor
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:56 pm

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by Prykor » Mon Nov 14, 2022 1:58 am

Is this "axe" requirement similar to other mobol things that require a "hammer", which is a very specific item as opposed to any or all club based weapons which could do the job well enough?

While it is true that combat axes are designed and function very differently from wood chopping axes to the extent that a combat axe is not suitable to chop limber, that would be the first item I would recommend to vote quality of life for those who use axe weapons (give some additional non-combat utility to those!). Perhaps some 'axe' weapon skill factoring into the ability to chop wood into useful pieces vice a pile of scrapped wood that isn't worth picking up, or at the very least, more useful.

All that to ask why the existing saw mill mobol/mechanics for lumber and wood poles couldn't be used to near guaranteed get some wood to build fires, or chop an empty wagon into firewood? or the use of a tinderbox or a torch (ignore the part where neither are needed to light the torch in the first place) to light the campfire without needing any knowledge of survival (survival being at lvl 5-7 on nearly all characters anyway so this wouldn't make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things)

Also, does a campire in the room impact the ambient temperature of the room?
Will these new ruins rooms that are indoor where "you have no sense of the weather" be impacted by the rest of the zone being stormy or heavy snow?

On another note, I'm very happy to see some love for low-number smobbing where you need to get off the smob and heal up for 10-15 minutes after killing a couple of the minions! this sort of amplified regen that scales up over a few tics makes this a lot more viable, likewise for xp expiditions. Adding something like this to rest up near the xp mobs much quicker as an alternative to heading into a city to afk in a relatively safe no-hide room is a very welcome change!

Aureus
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:13 pm

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by Aureus » Mon Nov 14, 2022 2:06 am

Re chopping: any axe-type weapon. It can be a handaxe, woodcutter's axe, enormous double-bladed battleaxe, a dark grim axe, etc. If you're not an axe-user I imagine you'll just grab the cheapest/most available axe from the nearest shop or mob, but if you are then you can use your primary weapon.

Re: tinderboxes, I did consider that. But then I thought channelers would want to light them with Fire for RP, and it starts to get more complex to implement. You could of course vary the messages based on the person's class, but then what about male channelers, people hiding their ability to channel, people RPing a block, etc. So no tinderbox items, flint, Fire weaves, etc. If it's popular enough then maybe in the future.

The mills/etc could certainly be updated to provide wood that could be used in campfires, though generally I wanted it to be fairly low barrier to entry and also something you can do anywhere if you're out in the middle of the wilderness (mobol isn't great at that sort of thing): hence the chopping tree mobs.

Aureus
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:13 pm

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by Aureus » Mon Nov 14, 2022 1:32 pm

Some players have asked about the regen bonus. The numbers are subject to change before any final release, but currently it works exactly as resting or sleeping does.

For example, for a 19 con character, this is your HP regen each tic:

Standing: 28
Resting: 32 (+5)
Sleeping 39 (+11)

If you rest at a campfire for the entire tic, you will similarly get an additional +5 hps, so 37 hps total (28+5+5) instead of 28 standing. If you sleep for the entire tic, you will get +11, so 50 hps total (28+11+11). If you rest or sleep for a partial tic, you will get a partial amount of that bonus.

The way regen also works, you lose regen if you are fighting during the tic. So if you spend part of the tic fighting, and part resting at a campfire, your bonus will not be the same as if you had spent part of the tic standing and part resting at a campfire. (This is how normal regen works, btw.)

The goal here is to speed up the process of regen, generally for those outside of PK. This will help with low numbers (absers in particular -- who spend a lot of time regaining relative to more traditionally solo-oriented setups) doing things like CTFs, brigands, other quests or easier smobs in a group of 1-2, XP, etc.

David
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2022 9:54 am

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by David » Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:08 pm

Maybe I missed it, but what is stopping me from creating a campfire in every outdoor room in a zone?

Aureus
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:13 pm

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by Aureus » Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:17 pm

David wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:08 pm
Maybe I missed it, but what is stopping me from creating a campfire in every outdoor room in a zone?
You'll be haggard; it costs moves + time + wood to build a campfire. I suppose you could go wild with chugging vials to make this happen if you're incredibly bored. If you did it in a zone with enemies this is a great way to get killed.

David
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2022 9:54 am

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by David » Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:33 pm

I don't know, might be a good use of moves to build some red-herrings. I think I could simply rest at my campfire while waiting to build other campfires.

Eol
Posts: 704
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:34 pm

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by Eol » Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:47 pm

I like the originality of it and the attempt to intermingle it with balance. Also the idea of "ruins" being a terrain with its own specific virtues.

If a month from now we find out that "regen" was the carrot and you're bringing back "wildfires" as the stick I will laugh.

My only small vice that is irrelevant, but still something I wonder about - if sitting around a campfire gives more hitpoints/regen - shouldn't sitting in a bar or something like that give a benefit. And the answer is - its irrelevant. Consistency is good but getting people out of cities / making them more functional is better.

Aureus
Posts: 968
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:13 pm

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by Aureus » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:21 am

Eol wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:47 pm
If a month from now we find out that "regen" was the carrot and you're bringing back "wildfires" as the stick I will laugh.
No wildfires! I promise! :lol:

werf
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2019 2:44 pm

Re: Preview of upcoming ability: campfires

Post by werf » Sat Dec 10, 2022 12:14 pm

anything that gets people outside of cities and not in no hide rooms is good for the game. you heard it here first! :D

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