Messages

61

General Discussion / Re: Wild Animals in Villages

« on: September 07, 2017, 03:04:05 AM »

i'm pretty sure there are werewolves lurking about. twice i've gone to intercept a vagabond on the morld map, and zoomed in to wolf tracks and no sign of humans... and a strange adventurer was hanging around when wolves attacked my homestead. it's the only explanation!

Werewolves makes a lot of sense! That hadn't occurred to me. The message quests always feel very nefarious but I never know what, if any, outcome happens. It makes me wonder if you could strategically direct bears towards villages... maybe there's some arcane secret ritual I haven't discovered yet where you could summon one. That'd be pleasant.

62

Guides and tutorials / Re: Choose the starting Culture based on skills

« on: September 07, 2017, 02:07:14 AM »

Sure, but every Owl knows to bring a reindeer or two with him when out hunting, and make temporary shelters where to leave it

I actually either directly leave the meat to dry where the elk died (so many bogs in the north, no lack of water to make a temporary shelter to process the skin and dry the meat), or even just push it on a tree for later collection.

That, at least for me, is one of the big challenges in playing a pure hunter -- thinking like a nomad. There's absolutely no reason to not go far afield with a reindeer carrying cords and supplies, set up a shelter, a kota frame for drying, and process meat on the spot. Except for remembering to go back and get the dried meat. For some reason, I always get caught in the trap of "gotta get home... gotta get this home... then everything will be good". Sometimes I think the game needs a good built-in scheduling app to remind when things are done drying, when nets should be grabbed, etc. But yes, thinking like a nomad is the challenge and the true pleasure in that kind of character.

63

General Discussion / Wild Animals in Villages

« on: September 06, 2017, 07:45:53 AM »

With a previous character (RIP), I had a really crazy experience with one village. It was a village I had lots of dealings with, and I had noticed wolves on the zoomed out map in their area before. One day, I went to the village and heard fighting sounds... a pack of wolves had jumped their fences and killed every one of their reindeer. When I showed up at the battle lines I managed to kill one wolf before the rest fled, leaving dead reindeer and villagers in their wake. I, ahem, helped clean up the carcasses. I went back a couple days later and found them in the midst of battle again... my arrival caused the wolves to flee but their shaman, and possibly many others, were missing.

I hired an NPC from the village (their only able-bodied man left), as well as another NPC from a nearby village, and started a kind of Iron-Age CSI episode ("who's afraid of the big bad wolf", taking off my sunglasses to a Who song). We set up traps, followed tracks, and generally hung out guarding the village. Almost every night the wolves would attack again, generally luring me one direction, then assaulting another. One night I sent one of my henchmen against a wolf, when two others attacked from the opposite side. The henchman disappeared.

Bit by bit we managed to kill the wolves off, though hilariously two children and a maiden had been horribly crippled in attacks and laid around the south side of the village for the rest of the game. They never got better, but I periodically brought them food ("How's it going?", "Mustn't Grumble. That's what the adults tell me", said the horribly brutalized orphan).

After it was over, I explored a little in the woods a few squares beyond the village, finding stacks of dead villager clothing (and presumably my henchman's), but no bodies.

Has anyone else had an experience like this? How do NPC's react to animals generally? I've chased reindeer into villages, but I don't think the villagers ever reacted. They definitely seemed to take on aggressive animals quite readily, though this is the only time I've seen it.

Edit: Another weird part of the story. Before the attacks I did a message quest for one of their villagers where I took a message to a vagabond village. Shortly after the attacks began. The guy who gave me the message wasn't around any more, so I assumed he had died. Later on, I found him living in the vagabond village... I highly suspect his involvement.

64

Gameplay questions / Re: Quest: finding lost animal (spoiler)

« on: September 02, 2017, 03:09:08 AM »

I've only done a lost animal quest once, so I am in no way an expert. However I can think of 3.5 things that may have gone wrong, or needed to be done:

1. Is it really the last track?
2. Did you use the right material for the fire?
3. Did you wait?

The third one is important. I lit the fire, watched it burn out, and nothing happened. I waited a few minutes and then suddenly I saw the animal walking towards me.

And now for the .5. Is your character a jerk? I remember the shaman saying you had to have a good heart or something... not sure if that can really effect it.

65

Gameplay questions / Re: Help finding a treasure

« on: August 31, 2017, 06:10:14 AM »

Yea, also as future reference. I've had maybe 5 or 6 treasures in crevices. Wounded Adventurer is the most common, but I also got one from an escort mission once ("are you by chance travelling to your homeland?" or similar). I'm pretty sure the treasure has been in 1x1, 1x2 and possibly a 1x3 hole in the ground. Depending on what the treasure is it can be easy to miss visually, so I've learned to only search in the daytime, otherwise it hurts the eyes too much.

66

General Discussion / Re: Culture Poll

« on: August 31, 2017, 06:02:52 AM »

The two favourites I picked are mostly for their role-playing value.

Seal Tribe:
I, also, enjoy how the northern tribes transcend just Finland and can feel very much like northern indigenous cultures throughout the arctic (URW has inspired me to start designing a game in my free-time set in North America's northern plains/parkland/boreal forest, early fur trade era, largely for that reason). The seal tribe is my favourite in that regard because of their mixed food-base (ocean, big game, small game). They are also conveniently located, if using rafts/punts, to make voyages to the south for fancier supplies. I have to admit, I think I also just like playing as far away from the Njerps as possible.

Sarto:
They are good enough in a lot of areas, but I really just enjoy their description from the game. Makes me think of them as very clannish, and I enjoy that from an role-playing perspective.

Honourable Mentions:

Kuikka: It's sad to see they don't have votes yet. I like them for a lot of the same reasons as the Seal Tribe, but I also really enjoy their placement. It's fun travelling a bunch of the world by rivers and big lakes, (unsuccessfully) hunting lake birds and fishing for salmon. They feel so far away from it all in an endless sea of trees, lakes, and bogs.

Reemi: They just have a lot of strengths in areas I make characters for (building skills especially). My most successful characters tend to be Reemi or Kiesse.

67

Gameplay questions / Re: Atypical Build

« on: August 28, 2017, 01:05:33 AM »

As PALU says, there aren't really any avenues for trading for profit. Somewhere, you have to be creating primary goods. In that regard I can think of three options:

1. Food: You hunt/trap loads of animals, turning most hides into cords, and produce quality food for the people.
Skills: Cooking, and a cluster in either hunting or trapping

2. Hides: You trap for the quality fur-bearing animals and turn out hides in exchange for food and tools.
Skills: Hideworking, trapping, something to escape Njerps -- speed/stealthiness, timbercraft also useful if you're not strong

3. Woodworking: You create traps, boards, bowls, etc.
Skills: Timbercraft, carpentry... probably want good dexterity, endurance, will in the base skills

I think 1 is out for you, because you want to trade for food to survive.

3, as PALU mentions, can be repetitive. Also, if your character isn't big and strong it can be difficult to do well.

2 seems like the best option for me. If you just never trade for a shovel then trap fences are out (and the only consistent trapping method where you get lots of food), plus being small when digging holes is annoying anyway. Having a good supply of furs means moving around a bit and having traplines in various regions. Plus, the "trapper/fur trader" character is very satisfying from a role-playing perspective. In a recent game I had a "fort" by the Driik and another by the Seal Tribe, and would make seasonal trips trading fur for tools in the south and tools for fur in the north. Doesn't make you rich, but feels very satisfying.

Edit: Added skill listings to more answer direct question.

68

Gameplay questions / Re: How to hunt seals?

« on: August 24, 2017, 05:55:58 AM »

Yea I've seen them on the zoomed-out map first now that my character isn't half blind, and I'm paying attention. I still feel like there is something funny about vision at work though. The most common situation for me spotting them is when I've zoomed into an ocean square, then quickly zoomed out again. Usually, I'll notice them in other ocean squares in the area.

I've definitely found they like to keep spawning in similar areas though. In my current game, I'm hanging out in the south, and from just 3 areas (a couple squares of coastline) I've already bagged, I think, 10 seals so far. It's a spring start, and I'm in midsummer now.

I concur about the heavy deadfall bear trap as well. Whenever I spot seals now, I move a little bit away to let them live "naturally" and I watch which parts of the skerries they like to sit on. Then I come back, set a trap, and in a day or two I've usually got them. Next time I see a seal I move the trap and repeat.

Since you've put so much time into this, maybe you should write up a quick guide in the guides section? Seal hunting is ridiculously satisfying, and, it turns out, a great way not to starve on my turnip plantation.

69

Gameplay questions / Re: How to hunt seals?

« on: August 22, 2017, 08:01:30 AM »

Another Update:

I created a few stealthy, good sight characters, and was hoping to see how they fared against seal, but I've never really got the hang of stealthy hunting in general, so I ended up in my "well I'm starving, better kill village livestock" cycle. Died being kicked by a sheep one game... but that's another story.

My new current character is an attempt to get good at agriculture but he is fairly quick, has decent eyesight, and is moderately stealthy. I'm on the south coast near the Reemi, and have been seeing a fair number of seals. I've managed to kill 2 without projectiles or traps.

The first one was lucky, saw a seal on the zoomed out map, zoomed in on the near shore, and was placed within 2 spaces of the seals. I ran to close the gap and killed it on the spot.

The second one I saw while walking along the shore. I was about 12 or so spaces away when I saw it, went into stealth mode and got within 6, then ran before it could get to the water. If I was smart I would have taken one more step to get between it and the sea, but rather stood there and hit it with my sickle 6 times. It was prone, but managed to roll itself into the sea. I must have caused some bleeding wounds because I found it 3 days layer floating dead in the area, after running into it several times between.

So, in conclusion, I think there is actually a fairly reasonable way to hunt seals without traps if your character has the right skills, and you aren't desperate enough that you can wait for the odd seal encounter.

70

Suggestions / Re: Combat injury awareness

« on: August 17, 2017, 08:30:29 AM »

F7 will show you your injuries without using the physician skill. That being said, I've never tried it in combat and maybe it prevents it?

71

Guides and tutorials / Re: Kaumolaiset to drik Board makeing GET RICH FAST

« on: August 17, 2017, 08:23:39 AM »

Although I see why it may feel pointless to work the game to "get rich quick",

Please don't misinterpret my reply, This is a valid method to get a leg up as well as a valid role playing philosophy.

Was really a friendly reply to Mati256, and just pointing out "a point" I saw. I edited my answer to make that clearer.

72

Gameplay questions / Re: Do Single-Tile Islands Generate Animals?

« on: August 17, 2017, 08:18:53 AM »

I often live on small islands and have definitely noticed animal "arrivals". I am not sure if I've ever seen it on a single square island but I believe it could happen. It's probably just a matter of math... If you are on a 4 square island, then it is 4 times more likely to have an animal spawn than a 1 square island (ignoring all the other spawning factors). Because animals move around you are quite likely to run into that animal on either island, making islands larger than 1 square seem to have more spawning.

73

Gameplay questions / Re: Short Questions/Quick Answers

« on: August 17, 2017, 08:15:15 AM »

Lone settlements are easy prey, as long as there is no road to other settlements.

Do roads have some effect on this? I've noticed neighbouring villages sometimes know my evil deeds, but never thought to consider whether there was a road factor.

74

Guides and tutorials / Re: Kaumolaiset to drik Board makeing GET RICH FAST

« on: August 12, 2017, 05:39:49 AM »

I don't really see the point in this approach. If you want to be rich, instead of grinding your way trough boards and living off milk, just mod the game and turn rocks into expensive things.

Although I see why it may feel pointless to work the game to "get rich quick", I definitely think some people need to feel in control of a game when they are first starting out, just to learn the basics. Pseudo-exploits (board trading, smoking in saunas, pit-trapping villages) will stop some people from getting frustrated and quitting before they get into it, so I think a guide like this is cool.

I know, one day, I will take the training wheels off and make a character who sucks at fishing and manages to survive the early game. One day...

Edit: Added quote.

75

Gameplay questions / Re: How to hunt seals?

« on: August 11, 2017, 06:45:10 AM »

Hah well that will teach me for faith-based gaming.

Perhaps it becomes more likely to see them after spooking them on the shore, forcing them out into open water more. Not sure.