07/25/2020 - Feedback Request - Mounts And Attacks - Test Server
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.
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.
EDIT
addition to 2): this is a screenshot from the side of the mount:
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.
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 .... :/
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.