Thalius

I'd be fine with that. It would require a certain something be done before one could get the benefit of such a mechanic. I'd suggest it not require anything too advanced though. Or, perhaps, make it a device to be bought off of a trader, with a small chance to find in bony soil as well or find tucked away in a chest in a ruin somewhere..

If something like this could be added easily to the core game, that would be fantastic. It seemed more like a mod option though, as I hope some day actual cartography of some kind makes its way into VS. This mod suggestion is an attempt to get a better option over the current system into our game faster.

This has come up because on my server there is an ongoing evaluation of the way the current map and coordinate system works. All want the coordinates removed, but unless you remove the map too, you still have access to coordinates. All you can remove is the coordinate hud setting, which is sort of pointless if you can still pull up your map and see the coordinates for your location. We want a more challenging exploration aspect to the game, but many also don't want to get altogether lost, especially if trying to re-acquire items that were dropped when dying because you got surprised by a wolf and were one-hit killed in deep forest with no opportunity to do anything about it. That gets irritating. The idea of a simple compass is offered in an attempt to find a middle ground between the current system and no navigation help at all. The only other thing I think we'd like to see with the compass would be the option to have a very limited way-point system with it. Have a max of three waypoints that one could set by right clicking the compass->set waypoint->color option, done. A waypoint would then show on the compass for the location where you were standing when it was set. Also have a temporary waypoint that shows up for the location where you last died. This waypoint only lasts for as long as the de-spawn time for the items you dropped.

Lol.. Got caught up in the other details of the post and the responses to it, and forgot the opening line. Point taken.

I'd like to suggest and request a simple, client-side mod that puts a neat looking, simple compass arrow pointing north on my screen. I'd prefer I had the option to move it around, or at least toggle it to show in an upper corner of the screen. Maybe include an option when right clicking it that gives you the option to display a cooler looking compass showing all four points. I'd like to remove the map and coordinates from my game, but I find it very easy to get turned around and lose all sense of direction when traveling. In real life that is rarely a problem. I love the outdoors and can pretty much tell which direction I am going at all times. In the game though, unless perhaps you can run quality shadows (which I can't without a lot of stutter for some reason) there are not enough tells to give the direction naturally.. If I could compensate by adding an arrow that shows north so I can more easily discern direction, I'd enjoy dropping the map and coordinates. A humbly and hopefully submitted request... ~TH~

Thanks for that. I've often wondered what was going on, but never bothered to ask. I do hope they fix that, down the road. I'm sure they will though. Seems awfully out of place to come back to a frozen lake and slide around in the middle of a hot summer day.

I expressly said not to have it added automatically to your map. Nothing would be added at all unless you put it there. I also did not say that it would chart "only where you step", and referenced line of site. What you could actually see would show up on the map, not the top of a mountain range you could not see from where you were standing, or the other side of it or a hill that was in the way.

I've been giving some thought to map mechanics after reading over a suggestion posing the idea that the player map should reveal much less as we travel, and only record and reveal those areas within a much narrower radius of where we actually have set foot. Sort of a "fog of war" effect on our player map. I am not too fond of the idea, but it did get me thinking what sort of a map mechanics might be more challenging and rewarding to those of us that like challenging exploration and want a map to use, but don't want a map that spoon feeds us data for areas we've never actually set foot near. I personally like using a map, but it does feel overpowered to have an entire mountain range given to me on my map when I've never actually been on top of it or on the other side of it, and yet I know there are half a dozen ruins scattered around it, several deposits each of blue and fire clay in the area, maple trees and a few oak stands, a few lakes on the other side of the range that likely have reeds, and two traders on the map as well- one at the top of a 500 block high mountain range I can't even climb yet, much less see the top of. It got me thinking about what it might look like to have something in between the current map and no map at all. So I offer the following for discussion... Offer a cartography map setting. Cartography car•tog•ra•phy kär-tŏg′rə-fē Def: The study and practice of making and using maps. Rather than the current map with all the details on it, give us a map setting that shows only the following: Topographical info- elevation and such with crosshatching and dots and such for forests and grasslands/treeless areas. Only the topographical info is given for terrain we have been within a certain distance of, and only for terrain that is visible to us. We can see the height of a mountain side for instance, but we cannot see anything rendered for the top of it or for the other side. This would require some sort of line-of-sight topo map rendering mechanic. Player added icons would be used to mark terrain type, trees that make up a forest area, locations for ruins discovered, clay patches, roads, buildings, etc. None of those details would render on the map. The player would effectively build their own map as they went and as they chose. Map coordinates and way points would be separate options that can be enabled or disabled on a server. I slept on the idea over night and like the thought even more after thinking on it. Ironically, earlier today, a new member on my Wilderlands server departed (on good terms) because they felt the map and coordinates/waypoints was too overpowered and took away from the challenge of exploration and discovery. Turning off the coordinates and mini map does not remove the larger "m" key map from being used, and to my knowledge there is no other setting to remove it, so all of the detailed info over a very large area is still given to a player even with the mini map and coordinates turned off. I do not like the idea of playing without any map at all, but I also think the exploration and discovery aspect of the game would be a lot more enjoyable if I constructed my map as I went along- discovering things on my own and making notes of my findings along the way as I desired, rather than being given everything on the surface within a loaded chunk as the current map does. Humbly but hopefully submitted for consideration and discussion... ~TH~

Understood. I feel that is, really, sort of how the map works now, just on a scale of what your render distance is. It would feel odd to me to be able to look a long way off and see a valley and mountains in the distance, but only have a much smaller area around your exact location show up on your map. I'm not a big fan of the way the mapping works with Minecraft anyway, but that is just me. I may make a cartography suggestion soon though. Your post has inspired some ideas I may want to flesh out and share. ~TH~

I want to second this, honestly, because I love the challenge of exploring new terrain. This would make exploration harder, but in a very rewarding way. But it might be hard to implement though- I mean, if you have your rendering distance set to far and you see a mountain range in the distance but can't see much of anything in between, should the terrain in between show up on the map? You know it is there, but you don't know what is in between you and it. Should nothing in between your position and the mountain show up? Should the mountains not render on the map even though you know they are there and can see them? How would you envision this feature working along with the rendering settings? As it is now, I think that the map simply reads chunks that have loaded based on your game settings and gives you the info on your map and mini map. This includes tree types (based on color and size, one can deduce what is growing), clay deposits, ruins, soil fertility/humidity (based on terrain colors), etc. It sounds like what you might be suggesting is some form of topographical map setting that simply shows elevation as you actually walk over it, within a certain distance of where you travel, as well as forested areas and such, but not with any color. You would then mark your map accordingly using way-points to make notes of what you wanted to record. If this is what you had in mind, I'd give a hearty thumbs up to the idea of having this as an option, and I'd likely use it on The Wilderlands server I have up. Give the option for a cartography map setting, with tools to build and customize our own maps as we go. And might I suggest you edit your suggestion title to something related to Cartography mechanics- the art of map making. If we could then copy parts of our topo maps to something we can hang on our walls and make additional markings/colorings on once painting makes it's way into the game.... Dang, that'd be nice. ~TH~

I am hoping plans are in the works to bring a better, more logical composting system into the game. As it is now, I can't imagine it will not be changed. Compost is simply not used in the way it works in the game at this time. I like the beginning of the suggestion in the op, but let me offer the following- Mix a few pieces of grass with a bit of rot to make a bit of compost- NOT a block of compost that can be placed. This bit of compost is then sneek-right click placed on the ground to start a compost pile. Once a compost pile is started, you can add rot or other organic items to it along with a certain amount of required grass. The compost pile takes time to ripen, but once done you have a pile of usable compost. The compost pile would form an actual pile, and one could use their hands or a shovel to cut parts of it away, resulting in the pile getting smaller and the player acquire chunks of compost. As long as some part of the pile remains, one could add additional organic material along with grass to grow the pile again, and one would have to wait again for the whole pile to ripen. The more finished compost that makes up the pile, the faster the added items compost, and the pile is ready faster. As for how to use the compost- It should not be a block that is placeable. Compost should be added to existing soil just as other nutrients are, improving the nutrient content of the soil up to a certain amount. After that, other nutrients would be needed to max out the nutrient value of a farm tile. Humbly submitted for consideration... ~TH~

If there was a "server waypoint" and/or "group waypoint" pin option we could set, I'd be for this. It simply would not work if all waypoints set by all players were visible to everyone on a server.

You have extra soil???

Pondering next moves at The Mountain Home.... Hated losing this place when we reset the server long ago... Keeping the pics here for memory's sake. Working on another similar project on the newer server, and all is going well... Pics to come at a later time.

This would be an awesome feature to have as a server option, if they could pull it off. There would have to be a setting that governed forest density so that at some point forestation spread stopped in an area once the density level had been reached. It would not be a great feature if you liked to make parks and green space areas with trees and such that you did not want to spread and you did not want to have to maintain them to keep the area from reverting to wild forest, but I'd be all for it. I would not mind pulling up stray saplings that spread from time to time in areas I wanted to maintain free of new trees. If there is an option to disable this mechanic, I'd see it as a great feature. ~TH~

In my experience this is only a problem in the early game. Later on there is plenty to do, if you enjoy the parts of the game that can be done indoors or in a mine. I have a hosted server with game days set to last about 4 hours. This makes for some very long nights in the winter time, and I stay plenty busy most nights, as do others that have joined me there.. ~TH~

I actually sort of really like this idea, although it would be a pain. Make it an option that can be toggled at world gen, and add it to the base game. Would love to use this setting on a more challenging personal world survival experience..

I never thought of the yurt as a means for making long distance traveling easier. I honestly can't envision a single way that a yurt or a tent would significantly simplify or speed up long distance travel by more than than a minute, if one knows what they are doing. I often run several thousand blocks in a game day, hole up for the night in a cob and hay stack hut, sleep the night away on a grass mat, and leave out just before sunrise the next morning. I've made 60k+ runs that way. I'm not sure it gets much faster than that. A yurt or a tent of some kind is more about immersion and fun than really speeding up any traveling or making it easier. At least as I see the suggestion. Larger yurts would serve a nomadic play style nicely. I see them as being a nice qol item that should be a bit of a challenge to obtain, but yet not require metal ages to achieve. In the absence of slats or lattice work type wood materials in the game, bamboo was a natural pick in my estimation. I know that in real life it would not have been the material of choice in the cultures in which yurts were used, but they had materials at hand that are not in the game. Allow us to split logs with an axe to make wood shafts or slats, and we'd have something more along the lines of what would be needed for an actual yurt, if we want to get realistic with it. Maybe I should have made the suggestion for yurts on its own rather than dropping it under a discussion on tents. There is a lot that could be unpacked and discussed concerning them, and they would be a fantastic addition and very satisfying to acquire if they are worked into the game well. (And as a side note, require wood shafts as handles for tools as well and for making spears... but that is a different suggestion altogether). Again, just my opinions on the subject. Not trying to argue. I know we disagree on some of the points in this, but the discussion is good to have. ~TH~

I understand what you are saying, but I still think they should require bamboo. Or at the very least boards should be able to be cut up into slats, but that would lock yurts behind acquiring a saw. Bamboo is light weight, and would serve the purpose well and logically, in my book, and can be acquired without advanced tools once you find it. As for bamboo being harder to find, I'd have no problem at all with having to travel south a long ways and search for a warmer climate zone where I can acquire bamboo if I want to build a yurt. Some in other posts have mentioned that at the moment there is no real incentive to travel very far in the game outside of where you spawn. If everything in the game can be built with basic resources acquired in one climate band, there never will be any incentive to travel much aside from just feeling like it. I'd love to see cool, game changing things like yurts be locked behind having to travel and search out different climates and geography. Just my personal opinion on the subject though. ~TH~

Same. No lyrics, please. That said, having a few different music options with regard to mood, tempo, and/or instrument(s) and such would be fantastic, with the option for the default setting that plays at random as it does now.

I had it explained to me once in this way, and it made clear sense afterwards. Picture a wavelength diagram such as the one I've added. At the crest (top) of the wavelength you would have the polar (frigid) regions, and at the bottom of the wavelength you would have the equator (hottest) regions. With the pole to equator distance set at 100k blocks apart, the distance between one pole and the next (one crest of the wave to the next one) would be 200k blocks. Squarely between the two would be the equatorial, hot climate zones, 100k blocks away from each arctic pole. This would give you about 5, 200k zones from the southern edge of the world to the top edge of the world with a pole at each end of a section and an equatorial zone in the middle of them. If you leave your world at 1mill blocks high and shorten the distance between the poles, you end up with a shorter "wave", giving you more crests and valleys- more polar and equatorial regions closer together. If you were to travel north in your world, for example, you would eventually come to a huge mass of mountains in the arctic- an arctic shield wall, of sorts. This would be one of the arctic poles. Cross that and keep going north and it would gradually begin to get warmer until you came to an equatorial climate. Keep going north and it would eventually get cold again and you would come to another arctic zone, and it would be about 200k blocks north of the first arctic zone you encountered. Keep going past THAT one, and it would start getting warmer again, and then you would come across another arctic zone... etc, etc, until you had traveled 1mill blocks to the northern edge of your world. That is the best way I understand it at this time. Hope that helps. ~TH~

I'd be in favor of having the option in settings to turn on a setting that allows for the pressing of a key to toggle sprint or sneak on and off. Not a fan of the idea of double tapping the walk key in order to run. Some situations call for a much greater control over the sprint mechanic. I've also often thought that an auto walk function would be fantastic. Maybe double tap the walk key to activate the auto walk mode. I'd give a hearty thank you to the devs for that one. ~TH~

Greetings! We have updated the original post, with some new details. Also, spring has sprung! With the slower passing of the game year (two full months for one year to pass), this is a big deal! If you have been thinking about exploring the Wilderlands and think you might be up to the challenge, now is a great time to begin. .Looking forward to seeing you there. ~TH~

Yurts. We need yurts. Make yurt "sections" and a yurt door craftable with bamboo/split bamboo, hides, cloth and string or crude rope made from vines or reeds. When one section is placed next to another, either adjacent or diagonal to, they form a connection just as do fence segments. When a circuit is finished and the ends are connected, a roof appears over the structure. It would count as an enclosed room. There would also have to be coded into their creation that the sections had to be placed in such a way as to form a square or semi-circle. No idea how that would be done, as I have no knowledge of coding limitations. If that could not be done easily, then perhaps yurts of various sizes could be constructed and simply placed when a player sneek-clicks a tile where the center of the yurt should be located, and the structure appears as long as it is placed on a flat, solid surface large enough to accommodate it. There should be a minimum and a maximum size for yurts. I would envision the minimum being a 3x3 area inside the structure , and the maximum being large enough to serve as a small house. If yurts are not customizable by placing one section at a time and need to be made and placed whole, then perhaps yurt size options could be of 3x3, 7x7, and 11x11 interior sizes. Enthusiastically submitted for consideration... ~TH~

I want to echo some of the responses in this post supporting the notion of player progression working in such a way that a player gets better at tasks that they preform often rather than any kind of a skill or stat point progression system. Miners should be able to build a reasonable speed buff to mining activities over time, break whole blocks on occasion, acquire a slight boost to ore/stone mined. Players that use ranged weapons a lot should become more accurate with more experience, and start acquiring critical hits. That sort of thing. As for players starting out with a certain class- I am torn on the idea of some classes being able to craft some items that others never will never have access to. I do however like the idea of a particular class having a bonus or hindrance in certain skill areas, as long as a player can still improve in all areas with time and experience. For example: Hunters start out with a bonus, an affinity, you might say, for ranged weapon use. This class should also gain experience in ranged weapon use faster than in other areas. Hunters get a negative hit on skills related to working underground and should gain mining experience more slowly, but they should still be able to build up their mining skills and max them out eventually- it would just take them longer. Maybe a lot longer, but they could get the skill maxed out eventually if they wanted to work at it. Being a hunter should not prevent me from also becoming a great miner, but mining should come to me more slowly. You could say that I would have an affinity for hunting activities and naturally grow in knowledge in those areas faster as well as start out with an advantage in hunting related skills. If player progression and skill acquisition works in this way, I'd be all for it. I am not too fond of the idea of abilities or crafting of items being locked behind a class or skill level. And a last note regarding future combat/weapon skills- I hope that we don't end up with a flat "melee combat" skill. I would hope that we could develop skills with regard to each weapon type that we may end up with. Fighting with a two handed sword would be different than fighting with a shield and spear, or fighting with a battle axe. I'd think there should be skills to develop with each. If weapons have different damage types, with mobs more vulnerable or resistant to various damage types as well, then players skilled in certain weapon types would have advantages and disadvantages against certain mobs based on the weapon skills they have acquired. Just my thoughts on the subject, for what they are worth. ~TH~