Official Answers by week

[Xsyon]

Deacon Asks:

How hard would it be to give us a destroy option for bins, baskets, backpacks, pouches, and bowls? Why doesnt bins left outside of tribe areas become public? We could clean up alot of clutter in the world if we could destroy abandoned basketry and campfires. They have one man tribe areas available, I dont understand the need to have private basketry out side of that. It would also prevent the 'drop backpack' when attacked scenario, when someone is attacked....hard to loot a dropped backpack..because it is now a private basketry...outside a tribe area.

Thanks

Setting up a destroy option for bins wouldn't be difficult, but functions do need to be revised to destroy all of the contents. This is on our list to do soon (we keep a list of small issues to do in between more major tasks).

Regarding bins outside public lands becoming public, we've planned to do this for a long time, but want to email all old players first to give them a chance to return and reclaim objects that they left as safe. This had to wait for the account system changes and we still have a few issues to fix. I hope we can send out a few emails shortly after New Year then we can remove bin permissions on public land and start totem decay.

Mactavendish Asks:

You have done well with mutants.

Question: will we ever see zombies get added back in? I know they were tried in beta, and that you needed to have them work with the new combat changes.. but When?

They will be in as soon as possible, but after some of the recently mentioned improvements (skill decay, quest revisions) are done. Currently the programmer who will finish the undead AI is still improving overall creature AI and balance. When he's done with that he will resume work on undead.

banden Asks:

Nice to see you mention the abandoned totems in the update today, I assume this means we will see some work on this in the near future? Have you settle on a mechanic for totems? Will there be upkeep? Is so, what items will we need for upkeep? Will there be expansion totems?

The plan is to first have simple decay based on whether tribes actively use the totem or not. Later we will implement totem upkeep and we have a system in place for replacing totem parts to customize your totem. After our current round of development, yes there will be expansion totems.

VeryWiiTee Asks:

1. How are Carts actually doing? Near completion? Half-way there? need to start from scratch? Somewhere in-between two of them?

Near completion, but they've been nearly completed for a while. Carts had many issues getting stuck and not properly being able to cross water. Collision functions needed to be revised and the programmer working on this decided on redoing a lot of the collison system in order to better support future features.

2. Have you noticed any increased fps lag?

I haven't personally and the last few updates have increased rendering speed slightly. If you are have lower framerates it's probably because of the larger number of trees in view.

3. Have you seen the recent lag spikes?

There were some lag spikes due to connectivity problems last week. If you are still seeing more lag spikes please make one of our Guides aware of this.

digdug Asks:

Was thinking about coming back and playing xsyon, but by the look of the forums it seems like the community is fairly dead.
How many people are online at a time? less than 100?

At a time, roughly 50 online.

Thanks for your questions!

[Xsyon]

Deacon Asks:

I've tested a high quality shovel, and moderate quality shovel when terraforming. Both seem to wear out at almost exactly same pace from condition level to condition level + or - one action. Is this working correctly? I also used a master qual shovel yesterday, and while i didnt count actions used to decay it, it seems to have done about the same or worse than two tested today.

Quality currently doesn't affect decay, but the durability of these shovels should depend also on the skill of the crafter and materials used. I will look into this further when we work on decay revisions soon.

thurgond Asks:

Will schemes, particularly in bone crafting, be modified to accept or require mutant parts?

Yes. Schemes will accept mutant parts with the next patch (early next week). I'm thinking about setting up master armor sets that require mutant parts.

To clarify my earlier question, the Xsyon launcher does not have a digital signature. Windows and sometimes my firewall complains about this. Any plans to acquire a signature for the executables?

No plans for this right now. I'm not sure what this entails but I will run it by the programmer who set up the launcher.

Now that everyone can gets a bin scheme at lvl 25 basketry, are there any plans to add value to basketry. Currently, a lower quality bin holds as much and lasts as long (forever) as a supreme bin. There are only three grass armor pieces that can take a buff including the grandmaster hat, so grass armor seems to be at a big disadvantage. As it stands, the only reason for high basketry is for higher level twine.
Ravelli

When we improve decay the quality of baskets will matter to protect the contents. Grass armor will also be improved to affect hiding and provide camouflage against creatures. These are planned improvements that will come after the current features in development that were recently announced.

Thanks for the questions. It was an easy round this week!

[Xsyon]

dem1urge Asks:

Currently, and as far as I know, the only way to build a multi-story building is to use the 'dirt method'. Is there any chance of it being able to be done outside that method soon? As in, actual stackable pieces?

Thanks for all your great work, Xsyon-team!

Yes. We started working on an easier method to create multiple story buildings and we will finish this up in the future. However, it's great that players have been using terraforming to allow them to create multiple story buildings now. It mimics ancient building methods.

brewswiller Asks:

I notice that in some crafting disciplines there is the ability to craft a hat for that school, starting from novice through to grandmaster.

1. Is there any bonus to that discipline whilst wearing that hat whilst crafting, or are they just for show/bragging rites.

2. If there is does the GrandMasters exceed the 100 limit or convey other advantages whilst crafting that school.

These are just for display / bragging rights right now.

Thanks for the quick round of questions!

[Xsyon]

VeryWiiTee Asks:

1. How are you doing on grass/branches spreading. I know you deactivated spreading of forest ground during spring to optimize, any improvements?

We've discussed and written down some ways to improve this, but haven't yet worked on the code. For now it will stay off.

2. How are you doing on animal distribution, especially critters vs large game? Will you put up restrictions on critters to allow for more large game?

The test server currently has a new spawn distribution with more large game and we've completely readjusted the breeding system. Now that we have the creature tracking tool the breeding patterns are much easier to observe and things look good so far. This will be patched out to the live server this week.

3. What exactly are you working on atm?

Quest system, skill and stat system revisions and ongoing creature AI primarily.

4. Will there be a check to avoid natural tree spawning from spawning a lump of trees, like there is for players?

There is a check but distances need to be increased. We need to review tree spawning at some point.

thurgond Asks:

In general creatures are behaving as they should. Creatures are rare in areas with a lot of human activity, but more remote zones are plentiful with creatures. Players have been hunting the larger game animals, so the smaller critters have bred like rabbits. Mutants abound on the edges of the green mist in hard to reach areas.

How is human activity figured? Just by distance from the lake? In some areas, I can skirt the mist for several zones and not see as much as a hamster, while in other areas there are often 3+ critters in view at the same time, even between two tribal areas.

Human activity is based simply on players online. Creatures tend to move away from players, so areas with less active population should have more creatures.

After the daily server maintenance, the bonuses on newly crafted items all display as #.00. Is this rounding a bug, a display error, or working as intended?

Please report this directly to our bugs email.

Can you give me an ETA for porches or at least more walls with doors?

Not at the moment. I really haven't been doing well healthwise the past few weeks so things are coming along a bit slowly (but steadily) right now.

[Xsyon]

Gustaph Asks:

Once revanants are in game, (I know it is still a while off), have you planned on them being mutated by the green mist the same way creatures are?

No plans for this, but I've added this to our suggestion list.

VeryWiiTee Asks:

1. While you optimize the code for forest ground to spread, would it be possible to turn on grass to forest ground conversion for trees during autumn? Btw it's nice to see that roads retreated during the forest ground spreading !

Right now, no. This will remain turned off until we can really completely optimize this surface changing system.

Crokus Asks:

I had asked for an ETA on the larger roof and floor tiles on a previous QotW post and you gave us an approximate release this first quarter. With all the of the unusual delays recently (I hope you feel better soon.), and more urgent items on your to-do list, will the new arch items be release in Q2 instead?

They should still be in during this 1st Quarter.

Once decay from the elements is patched into the game;

1) Will the roof and floor tiles prevent decay of the bins AND resources (i.e. logs, scrap, grass stalks, etc.)? Or just the bins?

Yes, they will reduce decay for both bins and resources.

2) Will the preventative benefits of the roof and floor tile require the combo to receive the benefits? Will there be a partial benefit (or no benefit at all) if you just have bins placed on a floor tile without the roof? Or resources placed under roof structures without the floor tile?

When this is first patched out, only roof parts and complete buildings such as tents will prevent decay.

3) Most roof structures are wider and deeper than the 4m squared floor tiles. Will the larger roof shield the elements outside to the 4m squared foot print? (i.e. 5m squared?)

Only the area inside will be protected.

ggnomely Asks:

I would like to know if white paved roads are going to accessible to players? Guides can make them, and it seems like an easy add.

I've put this on my list and I'll think about. I think you mean the 'asphalt' surface. Right now we're sticking to current priority tasks.

unclean666

Yes I agree with ggnomely I would think it would be an easy add (but what do i know) and would give us SO MANY more options and styles for our tribes.

On that note and same why can we pave outside our tribe areas but cant remove the paved areas it really is a pain when you want your place and the area you live in to look nice but someone went nuts paving.So any chance we can use clear/terrain on said paves?

The idea behind allowing tribes to extend roads outside of boundaries was to enable them to connect tribes with roads. If we allow players to remove someone else's roads it renders this feature useless.

You're right though, it's become a problem with some players going crazy paving. I have some ideas to resolve this problem.

These ideas include:

Allowing players to pave and remove roads based on distance from their existing tribe totem.
Allowing players to pave and remove roads only inside the region of their tribe (Round Hill / Zephyr / etc.).

If a tribe is abandonded, others would be able to pave over the remaining roads.

It will be a while before we have time to implement these changes, but we do realize this is an issue and it will be dealt with in time.

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

Gustaph Asks:

I know that both bows, and thrown weapons are planned. Is there any possibility of having slings in game. I would think slings would be easy to implement, with a similiar mechanic to power swings. You hold down the button and your character starts swinging the sling around, when you realease you release your shot.

I just think with the simplicity of making slings, and the simplicity of the ammunition, that slings would be an obvious missile weapon for surviviors to create. And although I wouldnt try taking a bear on with one, they would be perfectly usable against smaller game, and in pvp.

It's possible, but not planned for now. We'll add bows first since we have the artwork and animations done for this.

masterqgj Asks:

is there anything planned like rails for fast travel / carrying loads between tribes?

Not for a long time, but I definitely want to add the ability to lay down a rail system in the future.

What about the future plans? Any great ideas you or Jordi or whoever can talk, even if its just an idea and not scheduled or even not sure if it works with the engine?

I am Jordi. The big future plan is to expand the game to different areas of the world. Each expansion would bring to life the architecture, history and mythology of the region. The first big expansion of this type would be Egypt. Xsyon will have to grow a lot for this to happen, but this is the original dream!

fatoy21007 Asks:

I noticed the graphics settings need a good fix me up, where some u cant even notice their effects and others may cause a crash or lag ya. dont get me wrong, i love the look. But when can we see this fixed up? , Also, Whats next after totem decay, when is bridges and porchs coming? and 1 finaly question, did ya sleep yet?

One of our programmers is working now on optimizing graphics. If you can reproduce a crash by changing specific settings please email me.

During the totem decay phase we will be adding the current features in progress (real estate, stat and skill revisions, quest revisions etc.). After totem decay we will have a round of new architecture parts including bridges. Next up we want to finally get cooking in and ranged combat. Really we'll see how things go in February. Yes, I am finally getting normal sleep the past week and we're making good progress now that my health is better.

thurgond Asks:

Help settle a bar bet (well, it would be a bar bet if you'd put in brewing). Are mutants normal animals that wander into the mist and mutate, or do they spawn as mutants?

Mutants are normal animals that wander into the mist and mutate. Did you win the bet?

Will we get an activity that will raise charm any time soon?

We'll see. While I am revising stats and skill I was thinking of having luck rolls affect charm (charm affects luck now, luck is a hidden stat but it has a small influence on many activities).

What's the reasoning for not allowing items to be dropped into water?

Because they can drop to the bottom and then can't be retrieved. When we have time to add the ability to dive and swim under water this will be changed.

Deacon Asks:

1. ) Because we get no feedback from bugs section, I'll post it here and ask if it's intended to be changed, or will be left as is.

Currently, when tribe leader unchecks his box for dismantle projects in privleges, and apply's it, it doesnt take....he still gets dismantle button every time he clicks on structure in tribe area.

This is quite dangerous with all the clicking going on, as well as annoying...can't look around a tribe area without getting the dissmantle option constantly.

Yes the tribe leader does get an override on this. I made a note to look into this this week. If it can be changed without affecting anything else I will do it.

2. ) I know gate/doors were not intended to be above the ground. But, some of have built structures several levels high. But...when using a gate as a door, there is a considerable gap, even with the thinest gate, which is difficult to pass over without falling thru to the ground, especailly if encumbered. Will we get doors that prevent this, or is it possible to put a lower sill on gates that would also prevent this ?

This is also a good idea and I've made a note for the artist who is working on new architecture parts to add sills to doors with the next batch of parts.

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

MrDDT Asks:

I know you can give us a date, but when do you plan on seeing ranged combat?
What are your plans for dodging?

Ranged combat is planned for in the next round of combat changes, after the current round of work in progress. Dodging may be part of that as well. I don't have a set plan for reimplementing dodging but most likely it will give the player a speed boost to enable faster quick movements in combat.

Do you see advanced skills that use more than 1 craft (like wainwright) being put into the game?

Yes and some recipes such as furniture will require second crafts depending on materials used(bone, leather etc).

Do you see advanced sub skills being put into the game (IE. bladecrafting sub skill to weaponcrafting)

Possibly, but this isn't planned right now.

Whats the status on bonuses for items? Like AGI working, or Damage.

This will be looked into after our optimizations and current round of tasks (real estate etc.) are finally done.

Niburu Asks:

How do you think about Autocraft and Autogathering abilities ? To reduce the amount of clicks and giving macro users less of an advantage the GUI could support auto harvesting 4 grass for example or the ability to craft 100 exemplars of one itme depending on ressources in your backpack and space left.

I will consider this and just added it to my request list.

The ability to remove safezones is planned for the near future. What will the bonuses look like if i remove the safezone ?

Better scavenging and resources on tribe land to begin with.

Do you still have one guy dedicated to work on the combatsystem only ?

No. The main combat programmer is currently working on optimizations and continuing animal AI revisions.

ETA on 2 hand weapons and shields ?

Soon after the current tasks are done. Shield artwork is in progress. 2 handed weapon artwork has been done for a long time now but we need all new animations since we changed the combat system.

I noticed some players had problems with activating there accounts and it had to be done manually by Guides. Are you aware of that problem ?

Yes, I had to activate the accounts. This was a problem with the account system for a few days that has been fixed.

H3atmiser Asks:

Does the development team have any plans at all to install an item system to where you can drop any item (ie: shows up on the ground where you drop it)?

No. This was our original system (to allow players to drop and throw any item) but we quickly changed this as it was too massive of a task for our team and would cause a lot of strain on rendering scenes.

Hodo Asks:

Any idea on when spears, shields and ranged weapons may go into the game?

Ranged weapons and shields should come in the next round of improvements, which I will announce once the current round is done.

And why didnt you go with the combat damage system out of Roma Victor?

I never considered it. I had no input in the design of Roma Victor and honestly have no idea how the damage system worked. I worked only on the client side.

Lastly...

Mounts or draft animals, will they be in sometime this year seeing as we have carts?

Mounts, yes. Draft animals, doubtful as this would be a much bigger task.

Deacon Asks:

Some animals are growing quite large...like IS' deer....would it be possible to increase amount of resources from them as they get older, bigger, and tougher?

Thanks

Yes, this is planned for the near future.

thurgond Asks:

I did win my previous bet on mutant spawning. Now we need you to settle another bet. Based on your earlier statement, we will need to scavenge away from our save zones to find rare items. This is what the guides recommend and what I have experienced, but MrDDT says he finds rare items within 10 m of his safe zone. Is this the way it is intended to work? Can having over 100 perception or an exceptionally large tribe effect the results?

The size of the tribe doesn't matter, but over 100 perception does increase the chance of finding rare objects. It should not be impossible to find rare objects withint 10 meters of a safe zone, but it should be much harder than at a distance. I will look into this.

The February 1 patch notes mention:

Animal AI improvements for pack behavior and creature aggression.

I've seen herds of deer and a pack of coyotes, but more often I've seen groups like a deer, rat and kitten together. That's the sort of group that should walk into a bar at the beginning of a joke. Is this working as intended?

No. We will look into this. Only animals of the same species should group. However, the animals that you mention do tend to ignore each other so they may seem to be in a group when the AI is not actually grouping them.

Currently, in PvE the only armor pieces that take damage are shirts and pants. Will this change?

Yes, when we get back to combat revisions.

Critters pass right through low platforms. Should they, and if not will this be fixed?

We are aware of this and it will be fixed, but it's not an easy thing to fix so it will take some time.

wrangler Asks:

Hey guys just want to say first you have made a awesome game iv been looking for this type of open world for years. Decided to buy the game even if it wasn't finished to just support you. I'm sorry if this has been asked but do you plan on having any boats in the game?

Not for a while. Boats would only really be useful in the lake. Boats are part of the original design though.

masterqqj Asks:

I heard, that some mining is planned. Is there any eta yet? It would be awesome if players were able to dig tunnels through the mountains to connect tribes using them.

Mining would just allow for gathering of more rock resources. We won't have tunneling any time soon as it would require a complete revision of the ground system.

Together with that question:
If there's really some mining coming someday, are there any plans to increase the crafting by, lets say, smelting different ores and alloys, make your own nails and such?

This, yes and we will have blacksmithing with metal armor sets (these sets have been designed but not made yet).

Drevar Asks:

A while back you made a pass at stackable items, increasing stack sizes for a lot of stuff, but some items (newer leather and fur types among them) were left out. Could we get another stackables pass, and could this include making schemes, patterns, and blueprints stackable (I know this was already on your to-do list)?

This is easy to do so and makes sense, so I've added it to my todo list for this weekend.

Also, any plans for multi-threading the launcher? It takes so long with analyzing files that restarting is a real pain (only adds to the loading pain once you try to get into the game). As the analyzer finds files it needs to update it can pass them to the DL thread and begin DLing immediately, instead of waiting until it is finished checking all the files.

Is there any way to add a client/server version check on the launcher for the Test server? We can see if its up or not, but not whether the test client we have is useable on the current build of Test. Having to go through the long analyzing (see above suggestion) and second login only to find out you can't get on because the client is incompatible is really annoying.

We don't have any plans to further revise the launcher right now. We just don't have the man-power and too much else in progress!

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

Amnesia Asks:

A player's stats (and how one allocates starting points) have quite a big impact on how the game plays out. I only recently learned that you will need a very high stat in a specific attribute if you want to create supreme items of the related craft. I'm also having quite a bit of trouble when doing things with my tribe, only because I did not take 90 Strength, 90 Fortitude and 90 Agility.

Have you thought about the impact stats currently have on gameplay and are you considering creating a mechanic that lets players relocate stat points (i.e. scavenge or craft a hard-to-get item which enables the player to relocate x stat points, or even grant relocation points on 'level up')?

We do plan to allow players to reallocate stats in the future, definitely when we release new skills that require stats not currently used much by players (such as charm) and possibly it will be allowed every several months.

Before this we will release our start and skill revisions which will make stats fluctuate more based on the character's activities.

MrDDT Asks:

What are your plans for building a better economy?

Basically our currently features in progress:
Real estate, revised quests and revised skill and stat gain.

These together should incite players to adventure and travel more rather than grind. Travel will be risky with more enemy player and creature encounters, including undead. Armor and weapons, which are the primary 'end crafts' should then have more value for trade.

After these revisions we will see what's next.

We also plan to revise resource distribution again once we have a proper tool to visualize the distribution better and localize more resources, including more metal resources, tree types and when implemented, crops.

What are your plans for a healing system?

First, simple bandages and herbs to increase life directly and increase regeneration rate.

What are your plans for energy regen system changes if any?

No current plans until I get more feedback on this.

Is there any plans to have lands revert back to terraformed normal state after a time?

No.

What are your plans with how farming is going to be done? IE. Watering? Tending? Using soils or dirt types? Regional type of planting crops? etc.

Like many of our systems it will start out simple, requiring watering and harvesting at the right time, but not much else. Different crops will grow better in different regions. Soil types and other improvements may come later.

You said in the next combat update that archery/thrown weapons would come into play. Can we get a little info on how this is going to be planned? Like will there be crosshairs for it? Will first person mode be active? Will the arrows have weight (like arc them in the air to hit longer ranges)? What types of systems will be in place with this?

Ranged combat will use crosshairs and there will be targetting error based on character skill. It will work in both 1st person and 3rd person mode. All ranged weapons will follow a gravitational arc and be affected by wind.

Jadzia Asks:

Will totem decay affect active (subscribed) players' totems ? So if solo player doesn't (can't) play for a while, but he does pay his subscription, will his totem decay ?

Totem decay will not affect active paid subscriptions for now.

aliksteel Asks:

I was going back over the feature list to see what you have changed and saw that "Accumulating snow" is still on the list. I thought I remembered reading that this was out. Or is this still something you want to try to have in-game at some point in the future?

This has always been in the game. Snow starts in small patches and accumulates over time. The depth doesn't accumulate and that's something we may add in the future but not for a while. We attempted this but it was too resource intensive.

I also saw this "* This system is currently being adjusted." /// "** Characters will age at the rate of 9 years per real year, commencing January 1 2012.". This was new to me, Not the part that we will age, But the part that we started aging at the start of (this)year 2012. Are we aging now? or is this been pushed back?

Characters are aging but there are no visible effects right now. They should have reset at the start of the year, but honestly things have been too hectic and I haven't even checked. If it didn't reset, it will be retroactively set to that start date when age comes into importance.

And a follow up on MrDDT question: "What are your plans for building a better economy?".
If you don't plan on doing anything for the economy. Will you think about getting rid of dollars coins and bottle caps?

No. These currencies are integral to the Real Estate system and will be further used when we set up Trade Totems (in addition to the Quest System).

Thanks for all the questions!

[Xsyon]

Hodo Asks:

Will there be harsher consiquences for death in the future?

Yes there will be skill and stat loss associated with death. This is part of the skill and stat system revisions in progress.

Why is draft animals or attaching animals to carts doubtful? Is it a code issue, or a programming issue?
(It is done in a simple Java game in the same market as this, and it doesnt have to look good as they have shown.)

It's an issue of not enough programmers and time. Other improvements and additions take priority right now. We would like to add many things in the future, but need to progress one step at a time.

Will there be the ability to reroute water later, like canals, damns, and possibly aquaducts?

Players can currently dig canals but only at the current level. Flowing water and aqueducts may come in the future but are not in our current list of priorities.

Will shields have a "hitbox" or will they just be a defense bonus?
(in my experience hitboxes work better for the shield and give the shield a HP limit, this will mean that it can be destroyed through use.)

They will have a form of 'hitbox' and yes they will take damage.

Will 2handed weapons, spears, poleaxes, and everything else, have a different "reach", over shorter weapons? Or will they just be big slow hard hitting weapons that are the same as the one handed counterparts?

All weapons currently have a different reach. Two handed weapons will have a longer reach than the current weapons in game.

Runtlington Asks:

Is there any chance we could be allowed to mix the kind of trees/branches etc used in walls/barricades. It makes no sense they they have to be the same unless the attributes of the wood did something to make them harder to get through or the look.

This is already on our request list, but is not likely to be implemented soon. Originally (before the public pre-release of Xsyon) the wood used affected the look of all structures. We changed this as it became too big of a task for us. I'd like to implement this as it was originally planned, but we will see how things progress this year.

znaiika Asks:

Will you restrict totem to be placed on or near the roads and scrap piles? In my opinion roads should be clear of structures, and who would live on top of junk piles?

No, we don't have any plans to restrict totem placement. If a tribe wants to live on a junk pile, that is ok.

Will you allow solo players to have a bit larger territory?

After we expand lands, possibly. This will depend on the population.

Will you add more hit boxes, like head, lag, arm, foot and also, different damage for different body part, like head should be most sensitive and take more damage.

Yes, this is already partially implemented, but we will set up more critical damage based on specific body parts hit.

Can you add timer to containers outside of tribes? maybe one week or so.

We will be removing permissions on containers entirely outside of tribe zones soon.

Will you have PVE server in the near future? I don't mind to start over with a new character.

We don't have any plans for this right now.

soulless Asks:

1. Have you considered, and is it feasible, to add to the development team to increase the rate of development of this title? (love the game, just would like to see it evolve faster (grin).

If we had the funds to increase the team, we would! Things have picked up lately and we are looking for more programmers at the moment. If you would like to donate to help us increase the team we gladly accept!

2. Is it possible to add an auto sorting feature to storage? and is this something you would consider, to ease the amount of clicking in storage? And, is it possible to make it so we can "dump" the contents from one container to another, instead of clicking and dragging stack by stack? (Btw tested building storage a bit on test server, like what i saw so far).

It's possible, but not something that we can implement quickly. Improvements such as this are on our list for the future but not in our current priority list.

3. would you consider removing the depth limit on carts for crossing water until we get working bridges and boats in game? (suspended immersion I know, but would be functional until then)

I will discuss this with the team. We did set a depth limit that should allow most rivers to be crossed, but not the lake.

johnthebeast86 Asks:

hello, i'm a new player and i really like this game.
I have some question...
I have seen around a lot of baskets (hundreds) outside tribes area and in the middle of nowhere that can't be open and probabily their owners don't play anymore. So what you think about introducing a some kind of "lookpicking" in order to open and remove them? obviously it works only on baskets outside tribes area.

We will be removing permissions on these baskets on public land soon, but first players will have a chance to return and collect their items.

What you think about to increase a bit animals population? they seems nowadays too low. Hard to find someone (not impossible)

The creature population fluctuates based on many factors, but yes it will be increased. We have been monitoring the creature population and will be increasing breeding rates.

I have increase my skill in scavenging from 25 to 70... and i found only 20 feathers. I think they should be more 'common to find. it is absurd that my skill in weaponcraft is stuck for a lack of ornamental feathers, which are not even essential for making weapons in hindsight. therefore i hope that the feathers become slightly more 'easy to find, is currently very difficult.

This really depends on the area as resources are distributed. The best way to get something you can't find is to trade.

YamiOkami Asks:

1.) Are you planning to release features that are similar to each other together, at the same time? For example bows, polearms and other combat skills? If they are released separately i can see everyone switching skills each time ones comes out.

Yes, we will be releasing the next features and improvements in groups. Right now the building changes are leading to our Real Estate features. Revisions to skills, stats, experience and quests will be released as a group as they tie in together. The next set of combat revisions will also be released as a group.

2.) Are there planned features to help players create their own fun? I don't need to know what they are if they are secret, but i find the main reason people stop playing and disappear is because they burn through all the features and can't think of anything to do.

The main thing for players to create fun for each other is the quest system. It's currently not used much, so it's one of our priorities right now. Along with the Real Estate system that will enable players to have a home away from home I hope this will bring more adventure into the game.

3.) Will it be possible to brace polearms? As in plant it in the dirt and let the bear, or soldier on horseback [or whatever] charge into it?

No plans for this, but I've added it to our request list.

kegan Asks:

Is there going to be any safe zones (by safe zone i mean tribal area) for the PvE/crafting/solo players in the future of this game or are you going to eliminate that all together in the end?

I don't want to spend months building up my tribe and have it mowed down by a raiding party and have to rebuild. If you look at other games like Wurm Online the PvE side of it is much larger then the PvP and i think you will be doing your game a disservice if you do not leave at least Neutral tribes protected. Maybe have Good vs Evil to be in war with each other and can be raided just give them some kind of reward for that and leave the Neutral tribes safe but small and no rewards/bonuses?

I don't care about outside of my tribe area kill me if you want/can but i don't want to lose all my hard work building and shaping my tribe.

Safe zone removal will be up to the tribe and will be provide rewards and bonuses for those that take the risks, so you will be able keep a safe tribe as you describe.

Fangbeorn Asks:

1) Are campfires going to have a decay system or something? I've only been playing for a few days, but I notice so many campfires that it kinda ruins the immersion a bit. I extinguish or destroy the ones that I can, but there are so many others that won't allow. It would be cool if seeing a campfire was an actual sign of recent human life.

Yes, they will. Fires will have to be fueled.

2) This has probably been asked before, but I was wondering when Animal Taming would make it's appearance, will it be in the next few months?

I'm not sure. Right now we are looking to add some programmers so we can make faster progress.

3) When skills such as animal taming are implemented, will one have to make a new character with spirit/charm, or will there be a way to restat them (not instantly, but without having to grind them from whatever they currently are)

There will be a way to reset stats but also stats will fluctuate more once the current revisions to the stat and skill system are released.

MrDDT Asks:

Originally Posted by Jadzia
Jadzia Asks:
Will totem decay affect active (subscribed) players' totems ? So if solo player doesn't (can't) play for a while, but he does pay his subscription, will his totem decay?

Originally Posted by Xsyon
Totem decay will not affect active paid subscriptions for now.

Last week you said this, does that mean there will be a time where paid accounts will not have decay, and unpaid subscriptions will have decay even though neither logged in? Because you say "for now" when nothing has decay right now.

I meant when totem decay is implemented. Tribes with actively subscribed players will be marked as abandoned, but they will not be removed.

SemiHuman Asks:

Any chance of adding a 'Move' command to empty storage baskets - similar to what we have for the water barrels? Just to save me any more wasted hours trying to get my baskets to line up :P

Yes, this is on my short list. We will be checking this on the test server this week.

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

MrDDT Asks:

When are we going to see this?

Originally Posted by Xsyon
The system will be revised after I patch out the tribe rank system and I think JCatano outlined it best. I'm convinced, there will be no respawn at your body. There will definitely be no forced 'ghost runs', but I'll let you stand and suffer a ghost for a minute while you watch your enemies loot you. :P

I like Jadzia's idea about being able to bind at ally tribes. I think solo players should be able to bind at friendly tribes. I'll consider the bind slots for a few items. I just need to think about how to implement and display that properly.

I agree with keeping it simple.

Thanks to everyone for all the input. This is exactly what I'm looking for with Xsyon, making the game you all want to play without compromising the game that I want to play.

http://www.xsyon.com/forum/showthrea...ll=1#post32733

Instead of binding to ally totems, players will be able to bind to homes rented through the Real Estate system.

Ferigad Asks:

Well i suggested in suggestions, but didnt hear any of it, so i simply ask. Will campfire fuel reactivated in the next time? I mean tree planting works, chop firewood works and if i remember correctly the fueling system for campfire was allready implemented and just deactivated because the lack of regenerative fuel.

This is on our list to be completed when we can fit it in. There are many small things like this that we squeeze into our builds if we have time while waiting for the major features we're working on to be tested. We place a higher priority on bug fixes so this might still take a while to get in game.

Second question, as example tar, atm it has still no use but some players (and i dont mention any name) have allready occupied spots with a Second account. What will you do or what possibility will tribes have agains players with second, 3th or maybe 4th accounts, that occupied a rare ressourcespot with a 1 man homestead?

For now this is certainly something tribes can do. I will discuss plans for resource revisions later as right now we are focused on other tasks.

And last question, can you allready be mention what the rare ressources, like tar (and i only know of that atm) will be used in the future? Maybe just a little hint?

Tar will be used in some construction and to waterproof armor and containers.

Another one, will there be in the future any kind of specialised production architecture buildings or furniture parts like smelter, oven, forge, brewery, sawmill or somethin like that, maybe to boost quality or for complex stuff?

Yes, we will have furniture, including ovens for cooking and eventually forges and other production furniture.

After lookin today at the forum and what people talks. Question Bowcraft / Bows. It seems like many peoples are intressted in Bows and specially the Arrows could become a new sort of trade-item to boost the trade. Would you consider it to push archery forward so we could excpect them sooner as next round? I am not even sure what it means on a time table when you say next round. =)

I also don't know exactly when the next round will be, which is why I talk in terms of rounds of development and not specific dates. Combat revisions such as this will come after we finish what we have in progress:

Skill, Stat and Experience revisions
Quest System revisions
Death penalties
Totem Decay
Coming of Revenants
Real Estate System completed

We will continue to fit other small changes and bug fixes within this 'round' but archery is too big of a task to just squeeze in.

When can we expect the possibility for Tribes to switch there Save-Zones on/off or to decide if you want a PvP or a PvE tribe?

This will come after Totem Decay runs.

No offense, but i dont understand why real estate is more important then cooking feature, as example. Would you maybe consider it to start a vote-pool for the next 5-6 features and let the people vote to see if they would be more intressted that the basic skills get done or new features like real estate?

The Real Estate system fits in with the revisions that we are making to the quest system and how players gain skill through experience instead of grinding. Real Estate is key to allowing players to set up camp away from home, use Quests in other tribes and hunt and gather from various locations rather than just stay within their own camp.

It is meant also to make it easy for new players to set up a base to hunt, gather, craft and especially quest from without placing a totem or needing to join a tribe.

The current round of revisions all tie together, as will the next round which will include cooking.

johnthebeast86 Asks:

hello, thank you for responding last week.
I have a couple of question.
Are you going to introduce something to slow down animals when try to escape? being heavy injured should not run so fast right? it is difficult to run behind them, especially if they are large animals that run much faster than you. Or allow to mutilate limbs during combat in order not to make them run ... or use strings or rope to retain... it's just an idea (well, twith the early introduction of ranged weapon the music could change)

At some point, yes, we want to add more realistic injuries to creatures and traps or other combat abilities. Right now this isn't on our schedule.

What about boulder outside tribe area? they are very annoying because it does not allow you to plant trees even if they are not closer. In the future is there a possibility to remove the buolders or plant trees near them?

We won't allow players to remove boulders outside tribe areas. (If we did, there would be no boulders at all by now!).

Hodo Asks:

Tents and Teepees, will we be able to tear them down and pack them up and relocate them, like real tents and teepees?

Thus giving us a chance to be nomadic. It would be cool to have a few people who work together but are all solo players, who pull up stakes in winter move down into the valleys till spring and then move back up into the hills for summer for hunting, and move their tents with them, instead of making new ones everytime they move.

We do have this in our design documents, but no plans to implement this right now (too many other things to do!).

As for mounts, will we be able to ride any animal large enough or will it be the standard horse? Also will we need a saddle and tack to ride?

You will be able to ride large enough creatures, so at first these will be bear and deer. You will not need a saddle and tack at first.

Will there be mounted combat, mounted archery?

Yes.

With archery, will we also have thrown weapons, spears and javelins?

Thrown knives first. Spears in the future.

Tribal warfare, aka seige warfare, will we be able to build catapults, trebuchetes, ballistas, and other such weapons? And will they be useable on more than just structures?

No solid plans for this. While I would like to introduce seige weapons, as I've stated before, it wasn't part of the original design and it will require a larger team to implement to implement these type of features. So we'll see how things progress.

Comfort system, will the weather actually have a real affect on our characters performance or will it just be a "pretty" feature that has no real affect?

Comfort will have an affect on all actions (crafting, combat, resource gathering etc.).

Will we see the implimentation of traps, slow traps, snares for NPCs, and damage traps for players?

This is planned, yes. As with full seige warfare we need to see how things progress this year.

Last question for this week.

The mist, will it move back some more after this round of patches to give us more world?

Yes, right after Totem Decay. This has been prepared for a long time we just don't really have the population for the new areas. After we reinvite players with some free time and decay abandoned tribes we'll be ready.

Archangei Asks:

What Quarter could we estimate to see things like:

Cooking, Comfort, Farming, Faith.

I can't give out any time estimates right now. Sorry.

Will there be various types of crops?

Yes, starting with just a few.

Seaons: Will we be seeing more weather effects? Maybe storms causing damage, heavy rain, lakes freezing over etc.

Hail storms causing damage possibly soon. Other than that, nothing for a while.

Hunger: Have you thougth about having the Quality of your food affect not only filling but how fast you use up your stamina again.

Yes and we will add more detail to this system along with the Cooking system in the next round of features.

What will the Real Estate "system" mean for the game, what purpose do you have in mind for it?

Please see my answer to Ferigad above. I am hoping it will also cater to players that want to use Xsyon as a game for questing and adventuring, using the current tribes as they would use NPC towns and cities in a 'Theme Park' game.

Have you thougth about letting people move their totems without dismantling it completely and having to reinvite all the members?

Yes, but it's easier said then done. We have just finished improving the upgrading to tribes. We will see about moving them as part of this current round of development.

Would it be possible that we in the future can name our Tribe and Village Separately?

Yes this is planned.

Considerd Carthographer as a skill instead of a minimap, where the character sits down and draws his surroundings with some landmarks and the better the skill the higher the detail?

Yes, that was the original plan, but the demand for a map was very high so we added the current mini map and will stick with it for now.

aliksteel Asks:

I was hoping you could talk about tribal faction (good neutral evil) for a little bit. I know there is a lot that will go in before tribal faction, But could you tell us if it's even something we could look for in the next few months or so? Have you thought how tribal facton will work with the way the game is now? If so could you give us a rough outline of what you are thinking about.

I ask because I still see people talking of Tribal war's, And it seems like before you started down that road we would need to have tribal faction in place first.

Thanks

I will have to answer this is more detail later as it's not on our current agenda and I'm going to sit down with the current programmers to go over what was originally planned then come up with a system that fits with how the game has already evolved.

Loke Asks:

Hi love the game! Not playing currently but im following the development closley. I have a question about the combat. When i was playing a while back many people wanted the combat to be like it is in Mount and Blade. The combat has since changed but it's still not even close to the mount and blade combat, will you continue to work on this? Mount and blade type combat would be really nice in a game like this.

We will continue to work on combat, yes. I honestly feel that it's quite similar to Mount and Blade already. We never intended to entirely copy the system. We plan to improve parrying and critical hits next.

And also will you let old players come back after the decay system or before the decay system?

Right before it starts.

And to my last question when will you expand the lands into the mist zone?
Right after Totem Decay (after the free time for players).
Thanks!

Azurfale Asks:

We as players get asked what we would like to see as our top 5 priorities, I would like to know what the dev team feels are the top 5 priorities?

Our priorities are what we currently are working on:

Server optimizations
Preparing Guides and fixing bugs and important issues in preparation for returning players.
Skill, stat and experience revisions
Quest System revisions
Totem Decay (this is ready)

I'll move on to the next round of questions!