Topics

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Stories / The Oath [Vegetarian/Pacifist challenge]

« on: August 25, 2021, 10:50:28 AM »

The youth gazed in mute disbelief at the charred and mutilated bodies, laid out as if in rest by the blackened ruin.  Six of them.  Even the youngest sister, three years old.  Serene and unwounded but dead nonetheless.  Bad air?  How could this happen?  The youth stared at his wounds, his bloodstained clothes...his hands, his bloodstained hands, and tried to remember.  Dreams.  Nightmares.  A drunken father, a battered mother.  Terrible words.  An argument - demands to leave the cabin, to seek fortune elsewhere.  Away from everything and everyone they knew?  Defiance.  A son's fists raised in defense.  Knives drawn, then worse.  Brother fighting against father.  Sister against brother.  Then blood. So much blood.  And flame.

Six bundles of sticks gathered and laid out like beds.  The smoke stinging his eyes brought relief; for at last he could cry.  Let their spirits join the air, the forest, the waters.

Crying still, he tried to wash away the bloodstains from his hands, his clothing; but to no avail.  "I did this," he thought.  He would have thrown away or burned his tattered clothing, but some semblance of survival instinct stayed his hands.  Around the ruined homestead, the snows of winter still gripped the land; though the buds of new leaves had started to grow.  He would not survive, naked and foodless in the snow.  "No more.  No more blood.  No more hands raised in violence, save perhaps in the direst need of self-defense or defense of my animals.  No more will I draw blood nor eat the flesh of human nor beast nor fowl nor fish.  And if I starve, let it be the spirits' judgment upon me."

And he wondered when at last he left, "Could the sweat of my brow ever wash away the blood?"

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Bug reports / [3.70b3]Stuck Beavers (Pathfinding?)

« on: August 23, 2021, 02:20:47 AM »

Have had three instances now of beavers seemingly unable to move while a couple steps away from safety and water now.  Beavers were not wounded or visibly fatigued to the point of immobility.  I THINK what's going on is that the beaver pathfinding script is trying to make them move down a double-slope but not accepting alternatives.

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General Discussion / Beavers. And guilt.

« on: August 21, 2021, 01:42:11 PM »

I just killed a family of six beavers.  They came inland far enough that I could run and cut them off, clubbing them to death while they waddled slowly toward the water.  Two of those six ran afoul of slopes and bad pathfinding.  I seem to recall beavers being almost impossible to hunt effectively?  Is this something new?

Of course, now I feel a bit sad and guilty (IRL) for the greed-based massacre 

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General Discussion / Forget seals, anyone know good strategies for hunting beavers?

« on: October 14, 2017, 09:42:42 PM »

I never seem to see them in the winter, can't track them in the summer (at least maybe without very high tracking skill) to see where they like to land.  Meat doesn't work as bait.  Lumber doesn't work as bait (yes, I've tried).  Do vegetables?  Does anyone know which traps can take them?  Small deadfall?  Light lever?  Is there a good way to attack them without completely ruining the hide?  Blunt arrows?

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General Discussion / Blocking Weapons and Assorted Combat Discussion

« on: October 04, 2017, 01:14:56 AM »

For you combat gods out there -
I've long avoided blocking attacks with weapons because it degrades weapon quality.  Recently, I've started to revisit the tactic on low-dodge characters as I've started to realize that there is plenty of wealth to replace that high-end spear and survival is much more valuable.  Anyway, I was wondering whether certain weapons tend to be much more resistant to taking damage while blocking?  It has seemed like the spears I've used to block have often seemed to degrade quickly; but some of the swords seemed like they lasted a bit longer. 

I've also been playing around with death blow and other target locations.  What I think I've noticed - skull attacks seem to do comparatively little damage, but also deal little damage to an animal's pelt.  Slashing and piercing attacks against the neck seem to bleed a lot.  Abdomen attacks deal a lot of extra damage, but also damage pelts.  (And blunt attacks against the abdomen often cause bleeding).  Not sure what good targeting the thorax does?  Bleeding/extra damage from piercing attacks?

It seems like head-based attacks might have an increased chance to knock a foe unconscious; failure, though, frequently hits the shoulders, which rarely has any special effect.  Any critical (groin/eye/thorax/abdomen) seems to be able to knock an enemy unconscious on an attack.  Arm attacks obviously can make an opponent drop their weapon and hinder their counterattacks, which might be beneficial if they're wielding something nasty, like a big sword or axe.  Leg attacks seem to be able to knock an enemy down, which has its uses (may give you a turn as they get up or help keep fleeing prey animals from running away).  Body attacks seem to be the easiest to land, and generally what I target first.

Anyone with relevant experience in the matter who can support or refute these ideas?  Or targeting advice in combat?  Maybe the main targeting consideration should just be which areas are more lightly armored...