Feedback Request 12/23/2014 Creatures + Combat

I'm resuming work on creatures and combat this week. We'll keep this thread open for feedback on what's in progress.

Here is a list of what's on the agenda:

1) Creatures currently run full speed up slopes. Terrain needs to affect creatures as it does players.

2) Creatures sometimes go through walls. This is due to the path finding blocking system which needs to be improved.

3) Creature stats need to be balanced again.

4) Creatures are not growing in power fast enough. Too few creatures are reaching max legendary power.

5) Creatures that reach old age but not enough power will die of old age to enable more creatures to breed.

6) Creature names need to display more information so that players know what they are up against (for example an old age legendary chicken is going to be tougher than a normal run of the mill chicken. It's size is not enough of an indicator of its power).

7) Creatures need proper collision on ramps.

8) Creatures need to either attack players on boulders or run away, avoid them and reset.

9) Creatures should not be able to attack players on walls above them.

10) Ranged combat needs to be implemented.

11) Any desynch with creatures needs to be dealt with as best as possible. Desynch is well explained in a link provided by one of our players here

12) Ranges need to be adjusted. Most likely we need to go with less realistic melee ranges in favor of more playable ranges (like in many other games).

Our overall strategy for creatures is as follows:

- Small wild creatures will be easy to kill but will avoid players and should be hunted with ranged weapons.

- Small city creatures (rats) will be easy to kill and will be attracted to towns. They will mob players in groups.

- Mid size domestic creatures (cats and dogs) will be attracted to towns. They will pose a medium threat in a fight and will be easy to tame.

- Mid size wild creatures will often attack and pose a medium combat threat. They will be a primary target for melee hunters.

- Raccoons will be attracted to towns and scrap piles. They will pose a medium to strong combat threat but will often avoid combat.

- Deer will primarily need to be chased and hunted and will attack only when they feel very threatened.

- Bear and coyotes will be aggressive and tough in combat. The largest legendary specimens should require a group of players to kill.

- Mutants will range in behavior but in general they will be difficult in combat. The larger mutants should require a group of players to kill.

For now, this is mostly to keep you all informed. If you know of any other major issues with creatures, feel free to post them. This is not a thread to start discussions or debates. When changes are ready to test, I will request specific feedback.

Thanks!

Thread temporarily locked while being cleaned up.

Survivors,

This thread is being cleaned up and removed. The thread is being divided into three different threads to deal with specific issues relevant to creature combat issues. These will be for Desynch, Technical Issues and General Discussion. Once the other three threads are established, this thread, in its entirety, will be removed.

I stress that you notice none of these threads is titled Insults or Attacks. If your posts are not on topic and constructive towards dealing with the topic of the thread, they will be removed. Only information pertinent to the thread topic will be retained.

Our goal is to correct issues and improve the game. The time wasted on sifting through meaningless insults and off topic attacks does nothing but waste the time of the staff and negatively impact forward progress. If you want to be a part of the solution and help Xsyon move forward, please feel free to post, in those threads, on topic and with due respect to other players, information relevant to the issues so that the development team can work to make the game better for all players.

These threads are not for you to judge the play styles of other players or to address issues other than the topic of that particular thread. Please understand this and adhere to this as failure to do so WILL result in your posts being removed. Only on topic posts will be retained.

Please understand, we do value your input, perceptions and concerns. There are places in the forums to voice all of these things. Please also understand that with our limited development staff, the time wasted sifting through and dealing with all of these issues greatly detracts from the development team moving forward with coding, testing and implementing changes to improve the game.

Thank you all for being a part of Xsyon and caring enough to try to help improve the game. I wish you the best of luck in your attempts at Survival. Keep up the good work.