Messages

1

Solved'n'fixed bug reports / Re: Unfair death due to extremely rapid ice melting

« on: February 17, 2018, 09:53:59 AM »

  I did check the snow depth in the morning to get a feel for how much longer skis were needed, and I'd expect the elements to wear off the snow first and the ice after that, once the insulating snow layer is gone, as the melting from below is rather limited. Once the snow turns into slush it ought to eat into the ice, making it brittle.

It is supposed to work about that. But I just checked the source code, and I think you are right: there was a small logic error which causes a bug potential.

The way it is supposed to work is that the thickness of snow cover slows down the ice melting rate in warm temperatures. In some conditions those checks fail, making the ice melt quicker than intended. Sorry about that, and thank you for pointing this out! We will fix this for the next stable version release.

the water temperature should not be affected at all before the ice is gone,

That is how it works. I also checked that, no bug potential there - it is coded in such a way that the water temperature can rise above zero celcius only after all the ice is gone.

The ice thickness it tracked millimetre by millimetre, hour by hour. So that means that in a warm sunny day the ice can be safe at sunrise, but become dangerously thin after the high noon, and be safe again in the night when the temperature drops. That is how it is in real life, too. And every year a few Finnish people drown because they fail to estimate the ice thickness correctly. Well, but yes - I take your suggestions as valid suggestions; it would be wise to have a bit more ice-related feedback. I'll talk about this with Sami.

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Solved'n'fixed bug reports / Re: Unfair death due to extremely rapid ice melting

« on: February 15, 2018, 05:00:40 PM »

What was the weather like? Bright sunlight and heavy rainfall are both elements which wear down the ice rather rapidly.

3

General Discussion / Re: Attack bonus

« on: January 19, 2018, 11:04:51 AM »

I can't find any information about this one, what exactly is attack bonus

In the game, press F1 to open the built-in encyclopedia, press space to type a keyword, then type "weapon class". That should give you an overview of what attack and defence bonus is.

So, in a melee combat situation, what matters most is the ratio of "the attack bonus of attacking weapon" vs "the defence bonus of blocking weapon". Or, in case of counterstrike, it is the ratio of attack vs attack. For exampe, if your opponent attacks you with a sword, and you try a counterattack, you are in worse position for the sword can reach farther away than your knife - you have to get closer to your opponent to deliver a strike. But if you are fighting knife vs. knife, the attack bonuses are equal so the don't have that much effect.

Or, consider the situation you are sneaking from behind to stab an unaware NPC. If you want to stab with a knife you have to get a bit closer compared to thrusting a spear - so your spear attack is probably more likely to succeed before your opponent notices you. The attack bonus simulates that.

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Off-topic / Re: A new short film by Enormous Elk

« on: January 17, 2018, 09:36:35 AM »

Please, show that kantele some mercy! 

No musical instruments were harmed in the making of this film.

We took special care arranging all the scenes so that they could be filmed without risking the kantele getting damaged. In the final cut it looks more dangerous, but that is just the illusion of the motion picture doing its trick 

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Off-topic / A new short film by Enormous Elk

« on: January 14, 2018, 04:14:57 PM »

This is not strictly UrW-related, but a stand-alone production by Enormous Elk.

We made a short film called "Shaman Duel". It's a variation of a classic theme in Finnish folklore; two sages meet on a narrow path, they both refuse to give way to the other, so they end up having a magic duel to see who has to step aside.

You can watch it on Vimeo

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Bug reports / Re: (3.40) shutter alignment

« on: December 31, 2017, 09:56:15 PM »

I can remove this thread if you want.

Ah, let it be for future reference. This is one of the things which keeps on causing confusion for some new players - maybe someone else will read this thread and learn how it works.

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General Discussion / Re: Old death song?

« on: December 27, 2017, 02:42:22 PM »

YouTube is your friend 

8

General Discussion / Re: Doing Research

« on: December 26, 2017, 05:36:02 PM »

Let's think about it this way: to know the population at certain land area requires that there is someone keeping a record of inhabitants. Central government or some such entity performing caucuses and writing documents. Well, did any of that exists in Finland during 800 - 1066 AD? Nope. So, the reason you aren't finding the population numbers is most likely because of nobody knows. Guesses based on archaelogic findings are wildy inaccurate, at best.

9

General Discussion / Re: Northern Tribes

« on: November 25, 2017, 10:44:27 AM »

Will this be implemented in the game?

Well, at the moment the development situation is about this:

- Sami is busy working towards a beta release of the upcoming version 3.50
- Once the beta is out, the focus will be mainly on bug fixing
- Eventually there will be a stable release of 3.50
- After that it is time for a short break, as the version-release and bughunt phase is always a somewhat energy-consuming sprint
- And while the players are enjoying the new version, Sami and me will have the next version on the drawing board, deciding the major new features to be implemented in that version.

So, because of the general psychology of the game development cycle, at the moment the answer to any and all "will a feature X be implemented in some future version?" is and will be "we don't know as at the moment we are fully focused on getting the beta release out".

Put in other words; if there isn't an answer from the development team, it typically means that we are busy developing. Going into too detailed discussions about possible future features often just takes time away from the actual development.

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General Discussion / Re: Northern Tribes

« on: November 23, 2017, 01:42:41 PM »

Did you read the article linked by spamgoose?

The genetic origins of Saami people is a puzzle not quite solved by modern science.

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General Discussion / Re: Northern Tribes

« on: November 23, 2017, 12:04:16 PM »

A short clarification as it might not be otherwise obvious:

And why are they darker(darker skin or hair?)as it is usually that people from northern areas are usualy blonde (vikings?) 

We are mainly talking about hair colour here. In real life, as most of the Finns tend to have either blonde or sand-brown hair, the Saami people often have darker brown hair. But, all in all, I'd guess this is a rather minor detail, isn't it?

Also, just a reminder; although the game world is based on roughly 1000 - 1200 AD Finland, the cultures and tribes aren't intended as 100% historically accurate. We decided to allow ourselves some artistical freedom - that makes game development easier; we can dig into historical facts and sources as much as we like, and when we find conflicting or missing data we can just use our imagination, sometimes also combining different elements and blending them into our imaginary vision of UnReal World.

(I think the other have already pretty much described the reasons why we imagine the semi-nomadic northern tribe members to be somewhat smaller than the southern folks)

12

Gameplay questions / Re: Roads

« on: November 20, 2017, 12:02:09 PM »

Can someone post a link about historical fact of this.

I don't know if there are any online sources about this. It is just common folklore in Finland, passed down from a generation to another. Sleeping on a path, or camping on a road spells bad luck. Don't know where it comes from, to me it seems like an obvious part of 'cultural subconsciousnes' - folks just know it to be like that, but can't say how they know it 

Also, I'd guess this is not strictly spesific to Finnish folklore. Something similar seems to be going on with crossroads.

EDIT: fixed the link

13

General Discussion / Re: Crossbows

« on: November 19, 2017, 09:44:05 PM »

I repeat my question:

Twezzk stated that UnReal World models a world about 1000-800 years BC,
and I asked where does that news come from.

As that certainly is news to me. As a part of the development team I've always been under the impression that the game models Iron Age Finland, roughly 800 - 1200 A.D. (as said, for example here.) But is it that I've been wrong?

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General Discussion / Re: Crossbows

« on: November 19, 2017, 01:44:32 AM »

  and the game features 1000-800 years BC

Where does that information come from?

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General Discussion / Re: Urw. Population

« on: November 08, 2017, 07:50:24 PM »

do all cultures have same number of villages or is it completly random. 

neither. Each culture has a different number of villages, and on each map generation the amount of villages is randomized between max and min values, which are different for each culture. So it is not completely random, but randomized within limits.

What comes to total number of NPCs generated, I really can't say. It is a long time since I coded the random world generator. Also, since the world generation is based on variables, and those variables can be adjusted from a version to another, it means that any number given might not be accurate for the future versions.