The ideal SoR?

[michielb]

Ok, now let’s say I’ve suddenly obtained the power to change Ryzom into whatever I want it to be and let’s say I’ve been listening to you all and want to give you what you want…
Be careful what you wish for because you might not like what I’m going to do to your game…


Here goes…

You want to be able to shape the world around you, you’ve already been given a way to affect the game world but you forgot to put on your glasses this morning so I’ll make it more apparent for you.

Harvesting and the Kami tolerance.

A way all harvesters affect the world we call Atys is by digging. Dig too much, Kami tolerance drops to zero and you get nuked. Sadly that’s not enough for you so I’ll get rid of it, instead I’ll give you Atys tolerance. From now on sources don’t “pop” but regenerate at a steady but slow rate. You can dig all you like but if you dig faster then the regen-rate of the source Atys tolerance will drop. If the Atys tolerance drops to zero nothing will happen, that is not to you…
Atys tolerance zero means a source is destroyed and will need to “grow back” before it returns, this of course takes time. However if you destroy all the sources in the area that area dies (Atys is after all a living planet). In a dead area all vegetation dies as well and sources won’t “grow back” but it gets worse. Dead areas can recover from the damage homins did to it given enough time but dead areas are vulnerable to goo infection and goo will eat away at the planets surface and prevent recovery.

So how’s that for shaping the world around you?

Still want more? I can do that…

Hunting and the natural rate of reproduction.

De animal population we so condescendingly refer to as “mob” now respawn according to a predefined timer. So if you kill all the bodoc in an area all you have to do is wait. I’ll change that. Animals of Atys no longer “spawn”, they breed. So now if you kill all the timmy’s in Flaming Forest they won’t come back. If you’re lucky timmy’s form other regions will eventually migrate to FF but that might take a while.
I’ll make it even better for you. You noticed how every mob comes in various levels? Well as of now all animals of Atys age… So your average puny goari will grow up to be a dangerous goari given the time to live, that is…if you don’t kill all the puny goaries first.
In short: animals on Atys can go extinct!

Like it so far? Don’t worry it’ll get better.

Creepy crawlers from the Prime Roots.


Remember the kitin? Well they will follow the same rules as all the other animals on Atys. This means come invasion time no more killing the boss kitin to win the battle now you will have to kill ever single kitin in the area. This also means the war can be won! Kill kitins faster than they reproduce and you will win. Eventually you can destroy their nests and Atys will be kitin free for ever.

Now with the kitins out of the way all that’s left is the grind…or is there?

With limited resources doing the same thing over and over will eventually result in a dead goo infested world and who would want to live there?

[drizzeth]

Actually some of it sounds a little bit like some older documents about Ryzom, stuff like if you kill off all herbivores in a certain area the place could be overrun with carnivores next. Migrating mobs that lived there, influence off foraging on Atys's health and the goo.

With limited resources doing the same thing over and over will eventually result in a dead goo infested world and who would want to live there?

Well thats why the Kami are so stressing about the health of Atys and why the Karavan promise shipment to a better planet after this one is completely exploited

I think its all a bit too drastical the way youre saying it, but lke that thing of the herbivores and carnivores in a certain area and a lot of the other things im sure i recall i read about in official documents on the nevrax site at about noveber/december 2003 is/are really a very good step ahead

Also i dont think making leveling that hard because of natural disasters(i dont know how to name it else lol) is such a bad thing, very slow and very hard leveling takes away the whole focus on leveling as an activity

Not that im saying it *needs* to be nigh impossible

[michielb]

Actually some of it sounds a little bit like some older documents about Ryzom, stuff like if you kill off all herbivores in a certain area the place could be overrun with carnivores next. Migrating mobs that lived there, influence off foraging on Atys's health and the goo.

As you might have guessed it's those older documents that got me interested in SoR.
What I describe is more like what I hoped the game would be like when I played OB. Now the way I put it, it might be a bit too much but adding a bit more complexity to the Atys eco system and make homins have more effect on the way that system functions would, I think, make SoR more the game it should have been from the start...

p.s. I still like the game a lot even without the ecological consequences and I think putting them in now might have an even bigger effect on the player base then patch 1 did

[drizzeth]

As you might have guessed it's those older documents that got me interested in SoR.

Exactly the same for me, i was fascinated about what i read back then
And i agree it would have been great if Ryzom could have been release more close to those documents, it would made it awesome but MMO's grow over running time, so pherhaps one day....

p.s. I still like the game a lot even without the ecological consequences and I think putting them in now might have an even bigger effect on the player base then patch 1 did

Hehehe, youre right. lol To only think of the reactions and forum posts if you set those mechanics into place now or a a later time, it would be apocalyptical roflol in an exaggerated sense

EDITED for: Maybe running a " hardcore ruleset" server with those mechanics into place would be a great way to see exactly how many people love and hate those mechanics, that is if those mechanics are developed and ready to use.The ones described back then.

[vinnyq]

Sounds awesome Machieltje.

But also, if there's a way to strip the planet of resources, both mats and mobs, there should be a way for Homins to also help them regens. Add planting or farming skills for harvesting, and herding/breeding skills for populating mobs. Also, provide a way for us to try to clear the goo as they spread, a constant battle to fight it back, as with the Kitins.

Man that would so rock.

*shivers*

eta: pple wouldn't mind waiting for non-spawn-right-away mobs, if they get rid of the xp cap and gives more xp per mob you take down, I am thinking. That way, it might take a while for you to find the mob and killit, but your reward is greater.

[michielb]

Sounds awesome Machieltje.

But also, if there's a way to strip the planet of resources, both mats and mobs, there should be a way for Homins to also help them regens. Add planting or farming skills for harvesting, and herding/breeding skills for populating mobs. Also, provide a way for us to try to clear the goo as they spread, a constant battle to fight it back, as with the Kitins.

Man that would so rock.

*shivers*

eta: pple wouldn't mind waiting for non-spawn-right-away mobs, if they get rid of the xp cap and gives more xp per mob you take down, I am thinking. That way, it might take a while for you to find the mob and killit, but your reward is greater.

I was kinda thinking about agriculture as an alernative for the "hunter gatherer" life we have now. Cultivate parts of the land, grow crops and domesticate certain animals for a more sustainable source of materials. Of course that would follow the same "ecological" rules as the rest of the world

[thebax]

One thing that would alleviate some of the stress to the ecology for farming would be crop rotation, a method widely used today.

If you only plant wheat in a field over and over again, without letting it lay fallow, short term you make lots of money, but long term you quickly leech vital bits out of the soil, until it is no longer viable for farming.

If, however, you plant a cycle of corn, wheat, and soybeans (although I forget the specifics of the cycle, I only remember that it was winter wheat, and I belive the soybeans had two turns) There is no need to leave it fallow at any time, the soil is capable of sustaining and maintaining its trace nutrients/minerals, even with one crop per season.

The same methods could be used on Atys.

If you only plant Silverweed, over and over again, for the sap, KT in your field would drop with every harvest. If, however you had a different resource planted for each season (excluding some, like Big Shells, for the sake of believability) You could maintain the KT at it's highest. Possibly, experimentation would be necessary, as following a planting and harvest of Dante plants with a planting and harvest of Saurona plants would lower the KT, but Silvio plants would not, though they both be seed producers.

OOC:

[iwojimmy]

Kill.. or rather -cull- the predator population, and the herbivore/prey population would increase, allowing the predators to breed back up quickly. kill the prey species, and the predators will migrate to where there is food..( and be very interested in anyone they meet along the way ) lowering the aggression density in the original zone.

Not enough predators may cause population pressures in herbivores, resulting in migrations to new areas again.


I may be wrong, but I dont think people have ever eliminated any species by direct hunting, just by introduction of new predators, disease and habitat destruction. As long as we cannot build outposts -or farms, the creatures of Atys are safe from extinction

[micrix]

Cause SoR allready exists i ll try to be realistic

You know how much complaint there is every time Devs is playing around with the spawn timer. Many players want to level melee and magic. Since an awful amount of XP is needed to level , those players would not be happy.

For those players who care more i like the farms with plants and animals. For the fairness those farms should be introduced together with outposts.

[blaah]

Atys tolerance zero means a source is destroyed and will need to “grow back” before it returns, this of course takes time.

this is more or less what they did with supreme mats.. and we know how fun that it.

your vision from game is good... for a single player game. you cant expect that every player in that game will work together. there is always one who wipes all mobs/recourse spots just for fun of it (i know, i would... and i'm not even a bad person

so.. you either need _huge_ (earth has 148.94 million sq km land, that would do planet or a little player for this balance to work.