Messages

496

General Discussion / Re: Smoked fish spoiling

« on: July 31, 2020, 06:06:51 PM »

Fire was changed in the latest version, and that includes smoking. Smoking now requires a daily fire of some size (I don't think the exact requirements have been figured out yet). If you're marginal you'll get some worsening of the result, and as the fires get smaller and more intermittent you lose more and more.

However, if it's winter you can dry fish instead. It takes longer but results in a somewhat lighter preserved piece of food with less work. Drying only works during the colder portion of the year, but you're told when trying to initiate it if it's out of season (you won't just find that everything spoiled).

497

Off-topic / Re: How to Sauna in the Finnish way?

« on: July 31, 2020, 09:00:55 AM »

A technical reason for prohibitions against throwing water on the stones is that there are electric sauna heaters where the heating elements get damaged if you throw water on them repeatedly. That type typically has a small trough for pouring water in, though, but I guess you can't expect ignorants to use it properly.

Also, there are jerks who just throw water on the stones repeatedly to drive everyone else away (I'd prefer to prohibit the jerks from the sauna rather than the water from the stones, though, if it was my decision).

The "sauna shift" mentioned is the same as sharing other common resources, such as e.g. washing machines. You claim a time slot, and if you don't show up in time to use it you've lost it, as someone else has the slot after yours, so it's not a traditional culture thing, nor tied to saunas specifically.

498

Gameplay questions / Re: Animals will climb over the fence, how should I guard against them?

« on: July 31, 2020, 08:46:58 AM »

Dogs do nothing against birds (they'll bark when predatory ones are around, but won't actually do anything. It's is really annoying with the barking when there are real threats around as well as there's no way to distinguish between the causes of the barking).

My previous character did surround the homestead by a "palisade", but it required a huge number of logs (I built on the very outermost tile of the homestead's world tile). The logs were largely provided by NPCs who, over the years, had cut down a lot of trees in the general area.

499

Gameplay questions / Re: Animals will climb over the fence, how should I guard against them?

« on: July 30, 2020, 02:37:24 PM »

No, they don't. Humans do, but small animals (up to and including wolf size) can run through them, with the big ones preferring openings when present. Bears can smash fences.

It's been said that a double layer of fences confound animals, although I haven't tried myself. I line the inside of the fence guarding my fields with fox pawboards and/or snares. I still get some birds and hares in them, though, but the somewhat larger animals tend not to walk through small traps, even when they can (large animals can walk through small traps without taking any harm, while still triggering the traps. Humans can intentionally dismantle traps and pass through them without triggering them (assuming they know the traps are there).

500

General Discussion / Re: I encountered a merchant entering the village tile today

« on: July 29, 2020, 06:19:04 PM »

Armor, weapons, etc. are turned over but a much slower rate than the rest of the items.

The part about "branch" doesn't make any sense to me, so I assume it has been lost in translation.

501

General Discussion / Re: Companions won't fell trees, why?

« on: July 29, 2020, 06:15:38 PM »

DON'T give them ranged weapons. They're horrible with them, in that they don't care if anyone is in the line of fire, so those buggers have probably caused as much damage to their own team as they have to enemies (I've had my characters shot in the back multiple times before I learned the lesson to never to hire anyone with a bow).

502

Suggestions / Re: Ice Checking

« on: July 28, 2020, 02:32:17 PM »

My method for testing potentially unsafe ice is to load down my character with as much junk as it can carry, take off the skis, and then try to move out onto the ice on the overland map. If I don't get a warning then it ought to be safe to use the ice with normal encumbrance while wearing skis. Obviously, the check is valid only for a limited period.

A method for explicitly checking the thickness/safety of the ice would be very welcome, though.

503

Suggestions / Re: Route Points On Wilderness Map

« on: July 26, 2020, 02:41:29 PM »

Just reserve one color for your lookout points (which really are what you want to move to anyway), another for hostile sightings, a third one for meat left behind when you couldn't carry all of it, etc.

504

Bug reports / Re: [3.63] Arrows drown in water?

« on: July 26, 2020, 02:38:56 PM »

Arrows can travel very far over open terrain, which means it can be hard to find them again, but that doesn't cause them to disappear. It's not unusual for me to find arrows much later when I happen to be on the zoomed in map where the arrow actually landed. Dispersion also ensures they won't land in a neat pile, but rather spread out over a large area.

505

Gameplay questions / Re: How far will you shoot your first arrow?

« on: July 26, 2020, 02:35:03 PM »

@skyleaf: 50. I also try to make a note on the world map indicating the direction I fired so I can try to collect them later, should the enemy flee or my character retreat (to tire the enemy).

506

Gameplay questions / Re: How far will you shoot your first arrow?

« on: July 26, 2020, 10:02:24 AM »

If I'm trying to hunt a non predatory animal I want to be as close as possible, but I still expect to miss most of the time. For Njerps I want to be as far away as possible (i.e. basically max visible range) and expect to have to fire lots of arrows before hitting. Often the buggers don't react to being fired at until hit, so it does work, but I tend to have to rest up a bit every few shots to keep the hit chance up.

507

General Discussion / Re: How to build a sniper

« on: July 25, 2020, 11:00:16 PM »

An enemy with a bow can actually be engaged safely with a bow, assuming he's alone and you don't need skis. Running is usually not a good idea as you tire, but if the enemy tires faster than you it might work. However, running when equipped for battle means you're probably heavily encumbered and can slow your running speed down to your walking speed in a very small number of tiles.

I don't fight Njerps in spruce infested forests because of the horrible visibility, and when trying to engage them (or investigating "adventurers") I walk in from the neighboring tile using a search pattern in the hope that I'll see them early enough to leave without them catching up. So far I haven't encountered "real" Njerp groups (two close to each other, but not acting together).

508

General Discussion / Re: How to build a sniper

« on: July 25, 2020, 06:51:00 PM »

- Sometimes you run into Njerps and robbers without any warning.
- You either have armor to hope to not get too injured when getting attacked, or no armor and hope to be able to run away, not both.
- One shot kills are rare. However, if you can cause a sufficient injury the enemy will tire very quickly, allowing you to get away from an enemy that's normally faster than you, allowing you time to reload. If that enemy is a wolf pack you're in trouble, though...
- I've actually never used broadhead arrows, as I assume they're not particularly effective against armored opponents, but I guess they'd be good against animals. I never fight large predators unless I have to, though, but they'd probably be useful against elk as well.
- Yes, NPC night vision can be extremely limited, so it's actually possible to kill off a Njerp warband in the escaped slave starting scenario (after actually succeeding to escape...) using just thrown rocks under the cover of darkness (can't be used that way during summer). You usually can't afford to make a single mistake, though.

Attacking bow wielding enemies can be very dangerous, but it's possible to do safely if you can exploit the game system. However, there is no room for slipping up (as my one shot killed former character could have attested to).

Also note that it's very hard to hit from a long range, you you need to fire a lot of arrows to score a single hit even if your character is a master of the weapon (and nobody starts with much of a skill with crossbows). When going Njerp hunting I bring 50 arrows, although many are fired from a distance at the unconscious enemy to train the skill.
Also, each shot racks up fatigue, and you need to rest from time to time to let that go away.

509

General Discussion / Re: I encountered a merchant entering the village tile today

« on: July 25, 2020, 06:34:51 PM »

They're hard to find. You tend to have the best luck in Driik territory.

510

General Discussion / Re: I encountered a merchant entering the village tile today

« on: July 25, 2020, 02:16:24 PM »

I don't believe UrW simulates any exchange of goods between villages and merchants except in very abstract terms: their goods change with the season for farm goods, and other stock is slowly turned over over time.

Merchants are said to be foreign traders from the west, even though their names suggest they're from the southwest. Because of that, their stock doesn't change depending on which customers they visit.

It seems merchants only carry "weapons" and armor, but not "tools" (I'd consider a woodsman's axe to be a tool primarily, but whatever). Since the traders are foreigners selling goods from their home, they won't carry local merchandise.