Messages

91

Suggestions / 3.80 (beta) Add "quests" to the quest menu (F2) for ordered goods

« on: April 26, 2023, 07:30:55 PM »

I've commissioned the construction of a broad axe from a blacksmith, and it will take two weeks to make it. That's a fair bit of time if your character is active (rather than performing tasks that take a long time in game, but only a little time for the player, such as construction or active fishing), and it gets even worse if you need to set the game aside for some time (business trips or other real life obstructions).

It would be useful if longer time tasks could be logged in the quest log and then be removed when completed (rather than cluttering the log with completed tasks). I've lost at least one hide due to forgetting to check the very long dehairing process, and quite a few tanning skins because I forgot they were in process when I pick up the game after saving. Net fishing is another task that may be tricky to remember the timing for.

However, the main aim of this suggestion is for ordered goods that may take quite some time to produce, be it current blacksmithing products or (hopefully) future precious woolen socks and mittens.

92

Gameplay questions / Re: Snares need yarn now?!

« on: April 26, 2023, 06:05:26 PM »

Light lever traps can catch birds without bait when placed in lines (and you're lucky).

There are a few advantages to catching birds:
- You stave off starvation: I suspect it can actually keep you in the semi starved state indefinitely if you get enough and spend all your time processing the birds (if you were lucky enough to catch that many).
- Bird skin provides Hide working training (and also some small amounts of leather).
- It's a passive hunting that provides some base supplement which is important when you haven't got any means of preserving the meat off of large kills.

I generally start by setting up a bunch of lever traps and then try to find a large animal to kill (and bears satisfy the large part, but probably not the "to kill" one). With a little bit of luck I'm able to dry some meat off the side of the shelter before it gets too warm. After than excess meat can be roasted and sold to villagers living within a reasonable distance, or left to spoil and be used as dog food for when you get a dog. Note that roasted meat can be traded for preserved food

93

Gameplay questions / Re: Does snow depth effect npcs combat abilities?

« on: April 26, 2023, 05:56:14 PM »

War camps are indicated on the F6 map when the cultural overlay is enabled. After some time you may find small circles of the Njerp culture color where there wasn't anything before.
My current character has two of those somewhat nearby during the first winter (starting in spring), one of which is largely in the Reemi territory (if I remember the cultures correctly). My character is settled in between the Njerps and civilization. I haven't seen any Njerps yet, though.

94

Suggestions / Re: exclude unavailable items on apply(a) UI

« on: April 26, 2023, 09:57:17 AM »

I agree it would be useful to get feedback on what you can and can't apply.

However, I'd rather have the unavailable items greyed out than removed, as removal may lead to confusion as to whether the items have gone missing. I would like to see the applicable items (i.e. those that can be applied) at the top of each section.

95

Gameplay questions / Re: Snares need yarn now?!

« on: April 26, 2023, 09:52:36 AM »

I don't think you'd be able to make a snare from withes, as that's just a somewhat flexible twig without any ability to make a slide knot.
As for leather, I would guess a leather cord might be too thick and stiff to really function well as a snare. Birch bark similarly isn't supple enough to make a suitable string (I'd guess it might be similar to trying to make a snare out of cardboard).

The lightest lever trap is aimed at the same game as the snare and doesn't use anything you can't just collect by spending efforts searching the surroundings (although twigs can also be harvested without tools).

It can also be noted that the behavior was the same in 3.72.2 (and probably was introduced when yarn was introduced).

96

Gameplay questions / Re: [Spoilers?] Bird Thief Quest question

« on: April 26, 2023, 09:42:10 AM »

If you did the ritual correctly you shouldn't have to redo it, but I would expect that you could reuse them if it came to that.

As far as I have seen, there are typically two snare locations in the trap tile, so there might be additional feathers to pick up if needed (and another snare), which is what I would look for in case of a new attempt.

It can be noted that it can take a surprisingly long time for the ritual to actually advance things (5 or so days, at a guess), so patience may be needed.

It can also be noted that you've already passed the tedious parts of the quest at this point (managing to get the old bugger to talk about the ritual and finding the trap location).

97

Bug reports / 3.80 (beta). Blacksmith wording (minor)

« on: April 25, 2023, 12:02:36 PM »

"No, there are no blacksmiths around here. You will have to find elsewhere." (I marked the troublesome word in bold.)

I would either replace "find" with "look" or "find them".

98

Solved'n'fixed bug reports / [Fixed] 3.80 (beta) hangs on setting change (minor issue)

« on: April 25, 2023, 09:34:49 AM »

I downloaded and installed the new version (Lifetimer), copied my character, ancestors, "mod" portraits, and a couple of tile replacements (various missiles in brighter colors to make it easier for me, the player, to find them) to the new version (I don't think any of that is relevant, but mention it for completeness).

After that I started the game, changed settings to the ones I want (in particular full screen, although activating the grid and maximum night brightness (squinting is no fun...) might also be graphics related. Music off, and metric units, auto enter homestead off (the bug reported a long time ago about zooming in that way and returning to a tile to the side of the one used for leaving remained in 0.72.2)).

After changing the settings I then activated Quit, at which time the game hang for a minute or so until I gave up waiting and killed it. When starting again the settings appear to be as they'd been changed to (haven't actually loaded my character), which is why I consider it a minor issue.

When changing the setting the music turned off immediately, while changing to full screen mode didn't take effect (and my suspicion is that the hanging is caused by the game trying to exit from full screen mode while actually still in windowed, although that's just a guess.

I haven't tried to revert and repeat, but I'm prepared to play around with things (including re-installation) if desired.

99

Gameplay questions / Re: Having trouble with trapping.

« on: April 17, 2023, 04:28:04 PM »

I've never had any impression of traps resulting in spawning of animals, but I'm also far away from having played UrW for a decade. As far as I understand, it used to work that way, but was changed a long time ago.
I fence up my base camp and add bear traps in the fence to protect against bears showing up, but they're rare and they've never arrived close to the trap construction time.

I believe milk weed roots and turnips are liked by both hares and elks (and I think there was a thread a couple of years ago about what baits worked and didn't back then: that's probably still mostly relevant. Loop snares and the smallest lever traps can catch hares.

The only thing I know eats prepared food is dogs, but I haven't tried to use it as bait.

I've accidentally killed a foreign trader in a trap once (it was a stand alone trap somewhere constructed long before they showed up, probably in an attempt to catch something that appeared nearby). Njerps and adventurers have always detected trap lines and trap fences for me, with Njerps intentionally triggering traps to bypass them. Adventurers can be incredibly stupid and cut down a tree next to a trap that formed a part of a trap line, and then proceed to step into it as it somehow no longer was visible (the bugger claimed everything was fine for every day of the month it took him to heal up). As I'm not trying to kill humans I don't add stakes to pit traps, as those are bound to damage the skin of the trapped animal, negating a large part of the reason for trapping it in the first place.

Edit:
I've just had an elk first pass through and triggering a bear trap without taking damage, and then later get caught in the same trap (after it had been reset), so bear traps aren't useless with elks: they're just unreliable (which makes sense). They're probably better is good bait.

100

Gameplay questions / Re: Having trouble with trapping.

« on: April 17, 2023, 09:27:04 AM »

Building on @Bert Preast's comments:
- Traps generally need appropriate bait (for what you're trying to catch), although trap lines can catch small game if they're long/numerous.
- As mentioned, it's very uneven, so it can go a month without you even seeing a bird, and then suddenly you catch a lot of them over a short period of time.
- Traps have been reworked comparatively recently. One of the changes I've seen is an increased chance that a trapped animal manages to free itself and escape, in particular if you're able to see the animal getting into the trap. The chance of finding a triggered but empty trap when visiting traps is a lot lower. For that reason I have my character face away from the homestead small game traps while performing activities.
- Another change is that I've seen birds pass through/over small game traps without triggering them.
- Another change is that large game now ignore and trigger small game traps (i.e. just runs straight through them).
- I've also had recent issues with an elk running straight through a bear trap without triggering it, both while I was passing to the other side of the trap fence via the overmap (it was on the other side when I moved, but had moved to the starting side when I "landed"), as well as while chasing it. This has led me to question the effectiveness of bear traps against large herbivorous game, which is a real concern for my current character, both because it's winter so no digging can be done, and the whole region is mire, so there's nowhere I can dig a pit trap.
- It does seem that you need to refresh the wildlife near your traps. I try to visit the traps once every day on a short tour, which can cause you to (occasionally) find animals in them when you return. I disable traps further away when I don't want to spend the effort to check them as a role playing measure: capturing animals and then not collecting them is "wrong", even if nothing is actually generated in the area by the game (but you can never know if something was generated on your last visit and then entered the trap while/shortly after you'd left).
- When it comes to the smallest lever traps, I place them in lines (i.e. one next to the other) as some kind of trap fence to block the passage of birds, hares, and foxes to increase the change of something being trapped even when they're not baited. That's crucial in the early game when there's nothing to bait traps with.
- You can use "natural" bait in the form of berry shrub by placing traps on them hopefully luring berry eating animals into those traps. You can also pick berries and bait traps with them, and you can also bait traps with e.g. fat (using bark for tanning instead) to try to catch carnivores. Most of the time bait spoils before anything is caught, though.
- Trapping skill probably plays a role. However, my characters are usually poor at trapping, and it's a skill that doesn't increase much through normal use (i.e. to become good at it you probably have to perform dedicated training by setting, triggering and resetting traps repeatedly).
- One method that can be used is to set up a baited trap in an area where you've seen an animal. That sometimes work. Note that using that method to try to trap bears and wolves may result in you getting attacked while working on the trap or checking it. That's a particular danger with wolves, as your trap may catch one wolf, but the rest of the pack is then ready to greet you (lost my last character to this when the pack was far too close to the homestead so I had to take some action)...

101

Gameplay questions / Re: Yarn

« on: April 10, 2023, 08:23:57 AM »

Adding to @JP_Finn's comments about swimming:
Worn clothes contributes less to encumbrance than carried ones. This means you can wear a small amount of clothing while still having 0 encumbrance (swimming in clothing is very cumbersome in real life, but that's not modeled in UrW). Also, you can carry a small amount of items with you at an encumbrance of 1 (Very useful if you play a challenge start where you have to swim between islands in the archipelago to get somewhere where you can acquire a paddle to switch to using water crafts).

102

Gameplay questions / Re: Yarn

« on: April 09, 2023, 10:15:11 AM »

When asking a question, it's not a good idea to then just say "never mind, I've found it/figured it out", as it's more than likely that someone else has the same question. It's better to say "never mind, I've found out that it's like this...".

As mentioned, harvest nettles (and flax/hemp, but you'll have to grow those yourself) using s-a-h or the new (and much appreciated) s-a-i. This can be done somewhat early, before the plant is ready for "real" harvest, but I don't think it can be done in spring. You'd then have to process the ret, dry, and thresh the plants with the Textile craft actions (under the "M" menu, not the "s" one), and then spin the yarn (after making a spindle) from the same menu. Note that both retting and drying take significant time.

As mentioned, a village is the source if you're in a hurry, but there is no guarantee it's present in any particular village, and there may be cultural restrictions as well. Of course, that requires that you have something to trade, as well as sufficient food to go on a village exploration tour.

If I recall correctly, nettles grow along cliffs, water, and in groves (the UrW wiki probably contains somewhat up to date info). I think it may also grow along mountains and on hills. I can't say if it's restricted to the southern part of the world, but wouldn't think so.

103

Bug reports / Aggressive adventurer attacks bird in my trap

« on: April 05, 2023, 02:39:39 PM »

Sorry for this being a bit rambling, but I'm trying to provide as much context as possible...

It's midnight late autumn, so visibility is zero, i.e. I can't see what's in the tile next to me. I've just woken up and tried to move out to the overmap to continue work on my future farm fields, but can't due to local activity. I drew the conclusion that a bird probably has been caught in one of my "bird" traps and moves to investigate, and I eventually find that there is indeed a bird caught by trying to move into it, but I can't attack it as I can't see it, so I try to light a fire (I don't have any torches). While trying to do so, an adventurer known to roam the area shows up in the distance (by the virtue of NPCs wearing light vests), disappears, and then reappears angry, so I abort my last attempt to light a fire and retreats. He then move up to the trap and kills the bird, immediately after which he calms down. I approach, greets him, and pick up the bird carcass (lit by his light vest).

I don't think NPCs on non hostile terms with the PC should steal catches from traps by killing animals caught in them (he didn't steal it strictly, as he had several turns to pick up the carcass before I reached him, but didn't do so, but still).

104

Gameplay questions / Re: Master Fisherman can't catch no fish!

« on: April 05, 2023, 08:39:06 AM »

As @Privateer said, the fishing difficulty has been increased, and bait seems to be almost required now (which makes real world sense). Also note that bait is used up even if you fail to catch something (larger bait is nibbled upon, while smaller ones, such as bird fat, is lost in a single attempt).

105

Gameplay questions / Re: How to turn"fistfuls" into "bunches"

« on: April 04, 2023, 08:48:43 AM »

I expect those to be intended to mean the same thing. Have you tried to talk to him and offer 60 fistfuls of the leaves (of whatever the requested plant is, of course)?

As far as I've seen all such quests have been for leaves, and those can just be picked even when immature. Mature plants can be harvested and then have to be "threshed" to extract the useful parts from them. Apart from this typically yielding more than just picking, it also tends to provide additional parts of the plants, and thus is the better option when available (which it isn't when the quest is given before the plants have matured).