Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Northern Tribes

« on: November 23, 2017, 01:10:04 AM »

I think it's a complicated answer.

As I understand it, the Northern Tribes in the game are meant to represent the Sami. There's a general belief (I don't know if evidence has backed it up anywhere) that the Sami are shorter than other northern Europeans.

However, there are a lot of complications. One is that the modern Sami population is genetically complicated and shares a lot of DNA in common with their fellow Scandinavians. The degree to which this is "new" is probably very debatable.

The other is to do with historical bias and the way food effects people. The problem isn't protein vs. grain, so much as it is fat. Animals diets can work, but you need a way to get fat to supplement all that protein or you'll still be suffering from malnutrition.  It's been shown how access to consistent food sources that are high in fat will increase the average heights of populations fairly quickly, when it previously wasn't available. It's hard to tell how much of that is fat, and how much is reliability of food.

If the Sami have been shorter over the last couple hundred years, it probably has a lot to do with being later to the western food party, as well as living in places where agriculture is difficult. I don't know how much fat one gets from Reindeer milk... but reindeer themselves are decently lean. Probably seasonal access and trade for sea goods like seal fat was important to keeping their diet sound.

My point being, the relative shortness of the Sami could be a modern perspective, that we are placing into the past. Coastal Finns with grain, and access to milk and cheese, were probably as tall as anyone else. However, Finns living in the interior were probably not that different than the Sami. It's hard to say.

I'd love to populate a database full of archaeological discoveries of human bodies in Finland and figure it out. It's possible somebody already has.

Regarding darkness... well again, a lot of debate. The reality is there is a lot of variation throughout Scandinavia so I would be remiss to venture a guess as to how much darker, or whether they are darker at all, are the Sami. For some perspective, see this -- especially the talk section. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_studies_on_Sami

So yea... I'm speculating as to the motives for the description... hopefully that gives you some context.

2

Suggestions / Re: Paddles as weapons

« on: November 05, 2017, 08:17:54 PM »

Same goes for a shovel.

I suspect it's about balancing the tool vs weapon areas in the inventory.

3

Gameplay questions / Re: Prognosis for the dog

« on: November 05, 2017, 08:15:31 PM »

Is there there possibility of a dog's wound to start bleeding again after stopping?

I ask because I once had a dog get quite injured, and I thought it wasn't bleeding (but won't promise that it wasn't... it was a quick glance at how long the injury list was), I put it on the lease and led it only a few squares away before it died, which unleashes the leash.

I had a similar experience dragging a dog across water with Njerpez areas everywhere. I can imagine that might seem like drowning to someone, but I am pretty sure it was just a good hit with an arrow, then unleash when dead.

4

Off-topic / Re: Generic chat thread

« on: November 01, 2017, 03:18:42 AM »

I'm in Calgary, Alberta (Canada), so winters can be very random. It's possible to get close to -40(Celsius), but we also get Chinooks that can raise the temperature from deep minuses to positive teens within a day. Chinooks are a strange prairie/foothills phenomenon where warm winds are forced down the Rocky Mountains.

My only preparation is a transition to spending a lot of time in my shed, with an extension cord, a space heater, and too many cigars. It's wonderful playing unreal world with a howling blizzard outside.

Best music experience was definitely any night in St. John's, Newfoundland. I spent my university years in there, where there is an amazing live music scene at basically every bar. The best was probably when The Navigators dedicated the whole night to Pogues songs. That was awesome.

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Gameplay questions / Re: How do you get grain seeds when you have no grain to start with?

« on: October 26, 2017, 03:39:59 AM »

Actually the grain that you can grind into flour *is* the seeds. I'm not sure if it's always been this way... I found the wikis and old forums kind of confusing on this matter. But yes, you just plant from your bag of grains. Same goes for peas.

6

Suggestions / Re: Tracks being covered by snow

« on: October 22, 2017, 04:05:44 AM »

That makes a lot of sense. I'd go one further and say that *new*(edit) tracks should be more visible after a rainfall, though I know that it would depend on saving some kind of ground wetness value, which might be annoying to implement.

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

« on: October 17, 2017, 05:28:06 AM »

I vaguely remember starting a topic in the old forums requesting a water trap for beavers.

That would be great. It would be nice if "animals signs" gets added one day too. For this particular topic, beaver lodges. In the winter, it was somewhat easy to hunt beavers (given the right tools), simply by drilling into the lodge and hauling them out.

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

« on: October 17, 2017, 05:21:00 AM »

I've only tussled with the legendary beaver a few times (they seem ridiculously rare), but I tried one strategy and it worked each time.

When I noticed them, I saw where they liked to go to land. I backed off a bit (just outside of being able to see them, when I've zoomed out the map), started sneaking, hid behind a tree and let an hour or so go by.

When I burst back into that area I always found them quite far inland (about the centre of the tile area), then instead of going towards them, I moved to between them and the water. Every time for me, they panicked and tried to run past me. I found them slow and was able to club them fairly easily. One time, one of the beavers made it past (I got distracted watching their movement), but the next day it was back to the same area and was an easy kill.

It's possible I've been lucky... but I suspect that, similar to seals, they have a favourite shore they like to use.

Edit: Regarding tracking. One of my characters was good enough to see the tracks and that was easy. Other times, I used my seal strategy, which is to spot them on the water (on raft or punt), back off, let them move around, back off if they get close again, repeat. You might have to zoom out and come back again in an hour, but usually you get a sense of where they like to go.

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Gameplay questions / Re: Harassment by a seal

« on: October 15, 2017, 06:07:04 AM »

Unless you have a pressing need, I suggest leaving the traps there and set. I've noticed that anytime I've had more than one seal returning to an area, more will spawn later. Usually at least two groups a summer.

10

Suggestions / Re: Building type: Soddy

« on: October 12, 2017, 06:26:16 AM »

I'm happy to be corrected if anyone has any experience with this, but I don't think soddies were that much easier to build than log cabins. It was generally that there wasn't enough good log wood in the area.

To be fair, it's a hard comparison to make because a log cabin could be anything from a dirt floor shanty with some stacked wood, to a precision-built home that could last for generations. Similarly, a well built, and maintained, soddy could be a work of art that had surprising durability, and could be boarded in, painted, and maintained. I think a crappy version of each would be a similar effort (cutting and moving sod can be an awful pain). In quick googling, it it said it would take about an acre of land to build a house the size of a 2x3 game cabin, and could be as many as 3000 bricks (about 4 inches thick, 2 feet x 2 feet in size).

In the prairies, people would upgrade (as you say), if they could afford prepared wood to be hauled in, after their first good harvest year. A lot of it has to do with the Dominion Land Survey (in Canada), and the Public Land Survey (in the US), because properties were arbitrarily placed and wood would be difficult to get in. The Metis (as well as Cree and Assiniboine), tended to property near waterbodies so it would be easier to float in timber.

When wood was available and people wanted something quick, they would built a "shanty", which means a really crappy wood framed building. Usually, there was no floor, and the timbering could be very random. If it is suitable to the game, a step below cabin could be a shanty-style building made out of boards, with a few logs.

I think I'm going to do some research on housing in Iron Age Finland, and see what was available. Regardless of how useful cabins (or other buildings) are, I really enjoy the feel of building in the game, and think it adds a lot to immersion to see people living in different dwellings. Therefore, if there were soddies (Islanders' area seems possible), then it would be an awesome addition.

Regarding maintenance: I think it would be an excellent addition one day to have things fall apart. It would be very cool if shelters collapsed frequently, and cabin walls or ceilings could fall apart periodically. I know Sami has talked about including storms one day, which could be bump up the likelihood of that occurring.

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Suggestions / Re: More Signs of Robber's Camps in Overland Maps

« on: October 11, 2017, 06:17:36 AM »

As huge as the reward is, it's only as good as the wealth of the village that gives it to you. I did two robber quests in a row for the same village in Kaumo, but had taken everything of value from them (except their food, saving it for needier times) at three quarters through the first reward.

That is a good point. I did it on behalf of the Driik, so I ended up with a lovely Masterwork Crossbow and had credit to spare (I think). I can't imagine how sad it would feel doing it on behalf of the seal tribe (for example).

It's a bit of an odd situation too. To do the quest safely you need to hire people, feel confident in your armour and weapons, and have the necessary food to go traipsing around the forest forever. By that point in the game a large "goods" reward isn't necessarily that exciting.

I wonder if there was something creative that could be done instead (or in tandem with a smaller goods reward). Maybe the village could give you a title, haha.

"Oh Marshal, it's so lovely to see you again."
"That's right; I'm a Marshal."

If they ever bring marriage into the game, it'd be a great quest to get the family's permission for marriage.

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Suggestions / Re: More Signs of Robber's Camps in Overland Maps

« on: October 09, 2017, 04:15:59 AM »

Yea, this is a "hard" quest... in the sense of being hard for real-life reasons, rather than game reasons. I had quite the annoying adventure with it: https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=841.0

Things like smoke are good ideas generally for the game, but probably wouldn't be something added just for this quest. Once in the game though, it would be really good.

I like the idea of being able to ask nearby villagers a lot. I actually went to a village to try this, hoping it was part of the quest. I would prefer it if quests could be solved different ways depending on a character's strengths. Getting information, or even someone to lead you to them should cost you some goods. That works for a talented craftsman/trapper. Alternatively, more tracks (as you say) should be good for the skilled woodsman type character. It should be about using game skills, not trying your patience in the real world.

Similarly, the robbers should be moving around more looking to rob someone. I mean, they *are* robbers. That would leave more tracks.

All that being said, the reward for the quest is huge... so if it is made a little bit easier, I wouldn't mind if the reward was cut a bit. Also, the annoyingness of it, made it feel very satisfying.

13

Suggestions / Re: Scene pics for time of day

« on: October 07, 2017, 01:21:02 AM »

Sounds like a job for crowd-sourcing. If Sami wanted to add the code to handle time-of-day pictures, he could mobilize some of us (preferably in Finland) to go snap some appropriate pics.

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Suggestions / Re: Anachronistic swords

« on: October 07, 2017, 01:13:58 AM »

I definitely like the idea of bringing weapons more in alignment with the historical period and place.

In university I specialized in early medieval military history (my thesis was on the "supply side" of the Carolingian slave trade, but I mostly was interested in the Eurasian steppe, making Finland somewhat peripheral). Certainly, sword use was no where near as important as historical dramas (and sagas) would have us belief, but held value as status items. That being said, I think swords as long as the bastard swords would not be completely out of place in Finland, but would be incredibly rare and costly (this is a bit late, but interesting: http://www.medievalists.net/2013/11/grave-of-12th-century-warrior-discovered-in-finland/). The battlesword is probably ridiculous.

Nowadays I look more at early North American history, but the story is always the same everywhere. Spears, spears and more spears. Not only would I like to see more spear types, but I think combat would be improved a lot if spears did things differently.

For example, an Ango ran through a shield should make that shield largely useless, but the ango itself would also be dropped by the user.  More variety in javelins as well, from hunting javelins, javelins designed for disarming shields (like the Frankish Angon, which is more in keeping with the traditional ango), longer range javelins meant to unnerve opponents, and short heavy javelins (darts) for bird hunting.

I don't know much about glaives, but generally long, heavy polearms were used in groups and designed to disarm and disrupt the enemy. It could fit, but like I say, I don't know much about it.

A lot of the difficulty is that in this period you had three major physical cultures happening. The coast had a lot of influence from Scandinavian designs and ideas (hence the viking burials and coin hordes), the north tended to avoid fighting if possible and focused on hunting tools, and the interior had a blend of the two. There's a saga where a Viking leader goes into the interior of Finland and is harassed by the locals (using bows primarily) until it got too annoying and left. At the same time there are artifacts from the interior that blend Scandinavian and local designs.I will say "physical" culture though, because there is lots of evidence that Finns joined and possibly led a lot of the Rus activity. So even things that seem too fancy, such as nice swords, crossbows, etc. are still likely to have been present (though rare) in what we call "Driik", "Reemi", etc.

A "weapon" I'd love to see, especially once there are horses, is the lasso. That, and nets, were the common armaments of slave raiders... the Njerps. Something about being run down and lassoed by a Njerp seems horrifying.

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General Discussion / Re: Blocking Weapons and Assorted Combat Discussion

« on: October 05, 2017, 11:10:49 PM »

(presuming one lives)

This is the important part for me, I make no qualms about essentially playing this game wrong, but that's the best part about it! I pretty much just pick fights with anyone Spiritually safe to do so with, pile up the loot and farm animals, trade for food til I have the basic smokehouse and trap fence, and see how long I can go before I drown or something else stupid (of me). I pretty much don't die in fights anymore, I used to easily and early with better set up characters, so it's worth practicing. My one save scummed character was a really great way to experiment, kept testing the same situation for better and better outcomes until I could handle it safely anytime it comes up.

Meh, wrong is in the eye of the beholder. It's a high risk/high reward start and that's cool in its own right.

Sometimes when I am making a character, I will mess something up in the build, or decide against some choice I made. But because I can't go all the way back, I'll play the character with the escaped slave start just to practice. I once made a character where something went wrong (don't remember what), so I annoyedly put skills in random things, and started.

For some reason, luck was on my side that day, and I managed to get the whole Njerpez village fighting each other. They all killed each other one by one while I hid. I grabbed a scimitar, came out of hiding and killed the last one who was pretty hobbled. Suddenly I had hundreds of squirrel hides worth of goods, and a village to myself. The character was so random, that it felt weird playing it, so I just saved and left it there, with the plan of coming back one day. It was one version back so I probably never will. Still... the violent starts can be ridiculously wealthy, if you don't die.