07/25/2020 - Feedback Request - Mounts And Attacks - Test Server

[Xsyon]

Mounts are ready for final testing on the Test Server!

Currently bears and deer can be mounted. Later on any creatures large enough to fit a human will be mounts. That should include large coyotes, raccoons and all mutant types.

The main aspect I would like feedback on is the speed of mounts. Right now, mounted speed is about double normal running speed. The speed increase is dependent on your riding skill and associated stats (agility and spirit).

How does this feel? Should it be increased?

Also, the pet attack command is enabled. You can order your pets to attack creatures, other players and other pets. I am still working on this but feedback on this so far in welcome.

Enjoy!

[Wyry]

Riding is FUN ... Riding with a cart attached is GREAT FUN !!

1) When I ride (skill very low so have to test more), my own Energy bar decreases, the animal does not have one. I think when the mount runs, it should have its own energy bar used up. Or do you want to prevent the following scenario? I ride until the animal is exhausted, then I run myself with the animal on follow which will probably give it some energy back, until I am exhausted, then I ride again and so on. Would be great if this worked.

2) I grabbed a cart and then mounted ... this is really really fun :) The mount even seemed to be quicker than without cart. I have to test this further, could have been my riding skill increased. I had a good laugh when I rode with the cart attached, because it looks so funny. It is ok when looking from above, but funny when looking from camera on normal level. Please see screenshots. Imagine I have a very heavy cart, mount a deer with it, and the rear part of the deer would go down because the cart is so heavy. ;)
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EDIT
addition to 2): this is a screenshot from the side of the mount:
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End of edit ;)

Maybe it is possible to craft a kind of belt stuff, stretched to the draft animals to the cart (sorry needed google translate for that). This one could then be used automatically when mounting with a cart?

3) I used my bear and told him to attack a cat which was walking away and had walked a good distance. The bear was "ported" to the cat and then attacked. I think he should run the whole distance instead of being ported. I tried to reproduce this with a wild bear, but that one was too close. Bear fight was funny, too!

4) okay, this one is a bit off topic, sorry, but the screenshot with the bear shows it: I dissected the dead bear, and when having cut off the bear claws, the "foot" button is still displayed until I move away. Could be misleading.
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All in all, the riding update will add a huge amount of possibilities in the game. Looking forward to seeing this on the life servers.


EDIT: Please ignore those two thumbnails below, I seem to be too silly to delete them .... :/

[Wyry]

5) When eating while sitting on the mount, everything is ok. When I drink from a waterskin while sitting on a mount, my char stands up and is a bit inside the mount, after drinking he sits down again.
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[MrDDT]

I think the current speed ( only 6 riding skill ) is fine.

However, is there anyway to lower the weight effect while mounted? Because I think that's going to be one of the main reasons to ride a mount. As currently I can run faster than a mount but not as long (as I have to sprint).

However, I think the main purpose of a mount would be to pull carts or heavy loads, as well as long distance travel. I think with a mount it should have similar effect as using a cart, part of the load is offseting it's weight onto the cart or in this case onto the mount.

[MrDDT]

adding to the above post. Is there anyway to hook a cart up to a pet/mount that you are not riding to pull things for you?

Like hooking up mules or horses to a wagon?

[Xsyon]

Regarding mounts with carts: I was planning to have separate larger carts that mounts can pull. That would be in a second patch. Before those are ready I have two options.

1) Allow your regular cart to be attached and pulled by the mount. For this, I've already adjusted the code to position the cart better and will patch this change with the next update on the Test Server.

2) Block carts while mounted for now, until I can set up the larger carts.

Most likely I will go with number one as that's more convenient for players.

I'll post again after I make a few changes and improvements.

[MrDDT]

Sounds great to me, thanks Xsyon for all your work. Excited.

[Wyry]

Sounds great to me, too, and my favourite is number 1)

[Xsyon]

The Test Server is up with some changes:

1) Using carts while mounted should work and should display attached to the creature. Edit: I just patched some changes and carts with mounts should display to other players correctly now.

2) I fixed the drinking animation while mounted. This should work correctly on the Main Servers as well as the patched animation should affect all servers.

3) I fixed the issue with creatures teleporting to their combat target. (They should still teleport to their own if they are summoned from far away though).

I'm still going to work on a few things:

1) I plan to have your mount's energy decrease while riding. Decreased energy will affect speed.

2) Regarding encumbrance while mounted. Right now riding a mount isn't affected by your encumbrance at all. So you can mount up fully encumbered and the mount should go at full speed. At least that's how it should be working. I will check this further.

3) I think I will set up sprinting on mounts. It will decrease energy so that you can only sprint for a while, like regular sprinting.

I think that's all for now. I'm going to keep checking things out and tweaking whatever is necessary over the weekend. If I'm missing any other issues, let me know.

Thanks!

[Wyry]

Very good, 1, 2 and 3 work as intended, thank you :)

When I send my bear to attack an animal, he walks slowly towards his target, and if it flees, he follows slowly, too. I would rather expect that when I send him to attack, that he will sprint towards it.

To mount an animal I seem to be able to use the button on top of the screen, but in reality only the button of the pet icons work. This might be a bit confusing for new players. Please see screenshot.
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[Xsyon]

I'll check those issues today. Thanks!

[Xsyon]

The Test Server is up with a few changes regarding mounts and the pet attack command.

1) Pets should run towards their combat target instead of walking.

2) I removed the Mount command from the top selection menu as it's not necessary.

3) I removed all top menu commands if you have your pet selected and then mount it.

4) Your pet's combat strength is reduced in several ways right now:

- Mutant pets don't use armor absorption
- Mutant pets take double damage.
- All pets do half damage.

I'd like feedback on these changes so far. These are simpler changes than adjusting HP or other values.

5) The Test Server is running a Peace Server build for now. You should not be able to command your pet to attack other players or their pets with this build. If we can confirm that this is working correctly, I will restart the server with a War Server build this weekend.

6) Not 100% related to mounts but I fixed the situation where the top menu command for the last hunting item was not disappearing (for example Foot or whatever the last item you gathered was).

Notes

1) I am deferring any energy drain changes. I turned off regular energy drain and effects on creatures a while ago. To have riding drain your mount's energy it would make sense to turn those back on which brings another set of complications. I've put it on my todo list for a future patch.

I think that's all. Let me know if you all encounter any further issues that should be addressed before I make this patch public.

Thanks!

[Wyry]

I summoned my biggest bear today (testserver) and made it attack a coyote. Well, bad luck, the coyote killed the bear. So I thought I use at least the meat etc and dissected everything (and can confirm that your point 6 works correctly).

The body of the bear disappeared, but I still had the active pet icons available. I opened the pet menu and the bear was still active with 0 age and 0 HP. So I opened the stable, stabled the active pet and selected to show it - and oh wonder, the bear was there again with full HP. :D

I consider this as an exploit, as it means endless craft materials :) However, I was happy that I did not lose my bear just because I had forgotten to check the coyotes HP before I had the bear attack the coyote.

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[Wyry]

A bit funny was my next experience :D I rode the huge bear (400+ HP) when I saw a tiny little thing so small that I could nearly not spot it. It was a rookie coyote pup with about 49 HP. It attacked immediately and while still sitting high above it my HP decreased quickly.

I assume it is difficult to program, but maybe there is a solution which considers the riding height, too?

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