Updated Glider

[Armanir]

Hello at all, i have a new idea and a wish for the vanilla Glider.

With the next story part, that the player can upgrade the vanilla Glider to a Glider with functionally bird wings to fly slowly, perhaps with Stamina, that the fly mode is not endless.

Wish you all a nice Week and thank you so much for this absolutly fantastic and lovely game! :)

 

[LadyWYT]

8 minutes ago, Armanir said:

With the next story part, that the player can upgrade the vanilla Glider to a Glider with functionally bird wings to fly slowly, perhaps with Stamina, that the fly mode is not endless.

Interesting idea, but that's something that should be reserved for the very end of the game. Flight is an incredibly powerful ability, and even if the capacity for such is limited by stamina, it still allows the player to escape most fights and ignore most obstacles, not to mention that it renders other methods of transport mostly pointless. There's a reason that Minecraft's elytra still reigns supreme with no contest, even though it's technically limited and there are other mods of transport in that game.

[Lampookie]

I've not gotten to the glider yet but I hope there's a longer crafting process for such a tool, maybe glider customization so I can mess with adding storage, changing sail colours and stuff.

[KyoShinda]

Maybe a steampunk engine you attach to the glider that drains a temporal gear every 4 hours. Half the time you'd be like gaining altitude and the other half gliding.

[LadyWYT]

33 minutes ago, KyoShinda said:

Maybe a steampunk engine you attach to the glider that drains a temporal gear every 4 hours. Half the time you'd be like gaining altitude and the other half gliding.

I hope not. Doing so would basically turn the glider into Minecraft's elytra, and while the elytra is fun to use, it's one of the major balance problems that Minecraft has since it offers exceptional utility for very little drawback.

 

14 hours ago, Lampookie said:

I've not gotten to the glider yet but I hope there's a longer crafting process for such a tool, maybe glider customization so I can mess with adding storage, changing sail colours and stuff.

There's currently no way to customize the glider outside of mods, though I would say that the crafting process, while fairly simple, is appropriate for the amount of utility that the glider provides. It's useful for potentially avoiding lethal falls or otherwise making mountain descents easier, but in return for having that utility the player gives up some inventory slots. Likewise, while it's useful for avoiding falling to one's death, it doesn't fly far enough to be very useful as a travel tool.

[Jubal]

I agree with LWYT, think if there was a full flight thing then it'd need a significant amount of compensating danger which would need a lot, lot more mechanical depth than it seems reasonable to ask for. I wonder if a better idea would be a balloon if a flight option was ever implemented - that could credibly be blown off course with winds on a level the player couldn't do much about, could be hit by lightning, possibly needing careful regulation of fuel, etc etc. And clouds to block visibility. Oh, and it'd definitely need to add cold and oxygen risks above particular heights.

It is quite odd that flying ends up being the "safe option" in some games (I've never actually played Minecraft, but I'm sure I've played other examples of this). Flying is super dangerous!

[KyoShinda]

21 minutes ago, Jubal said:

I agree with LWYT, think if there was a full flight thing then it'd need a significant amount of compensating danger which would need a lot, lot more mechanical depth than it seems reasonable to ask for. I wonder if a better idea would be a balloon if a flight option was ever implemented - that could credibly be blown off course with winds on a level the player couldn't do much about, could be hit by lightning, possibly needing careful regulation of fuel, etc etc. And clouds to block visibility. Oh, and it'd definitely need to add cold and oxygen risks above particular heights.

It is quite odd that flying ends up being the "safe option" in some games (I've never actually played Minecraft, but I'm sure I've played other examples of this). Flying is super dangerous!

This would be more balanced yeah. I think lightning rods would become much more relevant with an air balloon, and if your balloon gets damaged and pops then you can use the (classic) glider to land safely.

[LadyWYT]

14 minutes ago, Jubal said:

I wonder if a better idea would be a balloon if a flight option was ever implemented

A hot air balloon or zeppelin wouldn't be a bad option. It'd be expensive, slow, and careful management of fuel/ballast, but as a late game option it could be pretty fun to build and maintain some sort of airship, especially if you're playing with friends. 

 

16 minutes ago, Jubal said:

could be hit by lightning, possibly needing careful regulation of fuel, etc etc. And clouds to block visibility. Oh, and it'd definitely need to add cold and oxygen risks above particular heights.

In terms of flight risks, I'm not sure it'd be necessary to get this complicated. Fuel regulation is pretty much a given, and icing is dangerous(especially if it chokes the engine or disables instruments). Flying into clouds is risky because not only can you not see approaching hazards, but certain cloud types can contain strong updrafts and downdrafts, as well as hail and other unpleasant things. Oxygen is a risk, but I think that's something that doesn't need to be worried about here since that's going to be difficult to translate into a game mechanic(VS already compresses altitude effects by quite a lot), and the kind of aircraft that VS would have, if added, would probably be based on the earliest examples of flying machines and not likely to be flying all that high.

 

1 minute ago, KyoShinda said:

I think lightning rods would become much more relevant with an air balloon, and if your balloon gets damaged and pops then you can use the (classic) glider to land safely.

If lightning strikes a hot air balloon, I'm pretty sure things will go BOOM, so gliding to safety isn't really something to worry about. If the balloon is just too damaged to continue flying or catches fire, then the player may have enough time to bail out and use the glider to land safely. 

[cjameshuff]

I think making it alcohol-fueled would be enough, especially if you have to replace inventory containers with fuel storage. You could stockpile enough fuel to make a long trip quickly, at a cost in being able to move large amounts of items, and the cost of producing enough aqua vitae means you wouldn't be able to use it for general travel. For example, I've just returned after locating the second story location and staging some outposts on the path to it, to get some final supplies before I head in. This would be a great time to fly back out, explore the place, and then head back on foot or via any translocators that link close to my existing network.