Posting Game Suggestions Everyday Til JC Acknowledges Salem

[pistolshrimp]

I see your points and appreciate your comments. These ideas are definitely a jumping off place, not always great, and because I assume I'll have to wait some time before JC notices, I'm not about to dump them all at once, and attempt to let them build off each other. With that in mind I have an overhaul for Food and Gluttony planned which should make these changes a bit more meaningful. The gist is a switch from purity and an over-emphasis on certain recipes at the exclusion of many others, to a quality based system. In that system spoiled food is simply not as effective as quality food which makes spoilage less harsh. Additionally I'm only proposing this for uncooked foods, so generally any food used in a recipe will not be affected by spoilage. I think processes Fruit Food should also be exempt from spoilage.

A high Thermal is definitely not a difficult barrier, nor do I think it should be, I don't envision the need for adding special shop items to compensate or the need for two torches (I do see very rare areas where are impossible to stay on permanently without such means, but they would be only at extreme cold spots the edges of the map). Essentially temperature is an excuse to reduce grinding by increasing gains, which should be available and obtainable to everyone who plays, although more appealing to mid to late game players.

Spreading out Fruit would indeed be a pain, but Fruit needs to be nerfed in a meaningful way, and this is more creative then hitting the numbers, and theoretically less random than a proposed tree disease. The counter to this is that while it will be more difficult to get all the fruits, they will spoil slower than they currently do if temperatures are cold enough or stored in a root cellar, making this barrier not insurmountable.

[pistolshrimp]

Oh and something I just figured out how to articulate. Salem has tried very hard to give us reasons to fight for a particular spots (ie statues on expeditions, dream land mines, and to a lesser extent exploration events) for the most part these have fallen short. I don't know if temperature can fix that, but the fact that there would be a fixed number of the most productive locations on the server there may be more reason to fight for that spot. I mean as it is now everything is so big and so available that bases are destroyed but almost never does someone move to that base's spot, there's rarely ever a point. With temperature at least there would be more of a point.

[pistolshrimp]

Day 4: Temperature/ Darkness Rework Part 3 - Darkness and New Biomes

What It Does: Darkness - Darkness is removed along with Light and Dark Drain. Monster spawning is now related to Temperature; the harder the Monster the colder the temperature required for it to spawn. This means in high intensity Cold Spots even in Summer zones some Monster/Darkness creatures like Rats and Argopelters may occasionally spawn. Darkenbears and Furfurs would only spawn in the Winter Zone and high intensity Cold Spots in the Fall and so on. Churches still prevent Monsters from Spawning around it, but as they don't affect Darkness they don't automatically give a base's location.

What It Does: Biomes: Although adding new biomes seems like a big change it would actually just come as a natural extension of Temperature. Essentially as Cold, Normal, and Hot Spots all exist under each biome, these could be linked to their own sets of foragables. So for instance the Autumnal Biome would become 3 biomes the Autumnal Biome we are familiar with, the Cold Autumnal Biome, and the Hot Autumnal Biome.

Why it's Good for Salem: While the thematic concept of the Darkness is nice it doesn't deliver any real meaningful content or real challenge as becoming a Witch isn't particularly hard. Moving darkness spawns to the temperature mechanic additionally makes living in the winter harder, but more rewarding for those that can do it, while also giving newer players chances to taste monster spawning rarely in the easier summer zone. It also consolidates mechanics, and most importantly allows witches to live wherever they like. Thematically this feel like a much better way to handle witches as it is more interesting to worry you have a witch living next to you than to feel they are removed to the darkness. New Biomes don't necessarily fix or address any problem, but more variety in generally pretty cool.

Clarifications: New biomes would not be linked to Temperature but rather linked to Hot or Cold spots. Therefore these biomes could be found in all four zones.

Dev Effort Required: MODERATE. Biome textures could stay the same, new items of course would have to be created so effort required is related to how much variety is desired and could be added too a little at a time. I assume some work would have to go into switching darkness mechanics around, but it shouldn't require new mechanics to be created.

[Taipion]

lightness/darkness drain and witches... just removing that seems odd

How about thematically making it more GoT like which means witches feel more comfortable in cold, and suffer more from warm temperatures? ^^

[Ronch]

Have witches vampire thermal from other players nearby.

[pistolshrimp]

Have witches vampire thermal from other players nearby.

I'm still fleshing out my ideas for witchcraft but my goal would be to increase paranoia about witches and to do that there should be close to (but not none) indications that there is a witch nearby. Your idea could work well if it was subtle enough and or had a big enough range, like are you cold because you are on a cold spot or is there a witch nearby. At the very least it should be a curse.

[pistolshrimp]

Day 5: Mason's Room VII - Paint and Dying

What It Does: In this room there is a Dying Trough and an NPC which sells Jars of Vinegar.

New Recipe: Milk Paint unlocked by Dairymaid. 1x Jar of Vinegar + 1x Lime + 1x Clay + 10L Milk + 1x Any Jar of Dye = 10L of (Dye) Colored Milk Paint. 10L of Milk Paint can right-clicked on any Chest to turn that Chest that color.

Dying Trough: Right-clicking an item of clothes on the Dying Trough would change that item of clothes' color. I don't think it should require anything, and rather than selecting a color it would just cycle through the colors like it works for changing hair color in England. Any 1 piece of clothing can be dyed an unlimited amount of times in a day, ie so you can cycle through all the colors if need be, but only 5 unique items of clothing can be dyed in a day. I'd think this would probably start as just an option for shirts, jackets, and capes.

Why it's Good for Salem: Obviously a cosmetic change, aimed at giving players more control over how their character looks, which although some of us may feel above it, does factor positively into a lot of games. As for as Milk Paint, Chest management has always been a pain, giving color to them looks nice sure, but it will make it easier remember what is in each Chests as well.

Clarifications: I think it would be awesome to expand Milk Paint to other structures at some point, but it makes sense to start small. Milk Paint was a common type of paint used on furniture in the colonial era so thematically it fits and also makes milk and domesticated animals more desirable.

Dev Effort Required: MODERATE: Yes Chests and most clothing would all need to be reskinned and color based items would be needed for most clothing. New items required would be Vinegar and the Milk Paints, however Milk Paints are just color changed milk in a bucket, and all the clothing items and reskinning is simply color changes so it wouldn't be as much work as one might initially expect.

[pistolshrimp]

Day 6: Neck Slot Additions

What It Does: Ability to use the Neck Slot to add Artifact Bonuses to your Neck Slot, although not through slotting.

Renamed Item: Indian Tracking ---> Tracking. Indian Feather ---> Hawk Feather. Indian Arrowhead ---> Flint Arrowhead, Savage Charm ---> Tracker's Charm

New Recipes:
Any Chain = Bar of Any Metal + Anvil.
Chains can be worn on the Neck Slot and have attached amount of affluence related to type of Metal Used.
Rope also counts as lowest tier of Any Chain. Chain of Good Cheer counts as highest tier of Any Chain.

Pendant = Any Artifact + Any Chain + Anvil = NAME OF METAL ARTIFACT PENDANT so with Gold Chain and Smooth Stone would make a Gold Smooth Stone Pendant.
Pendants can be worn on the Neck Slot and have stats of the Artifact used and the affluence of the Chain used.

Hunter's Necklace = Any Fang + Any Fibre
Any Fangs = bat fang, shark tooth, Serpent Fang, Beaver Tooth, Etterfang, Animal Canine
Can be worn on Neck slot add Feral Defense related to Fang used.

Trackers Charms = Any Arrowhead + Any Feather + Any Fibre
Any Arrowhead: Flint Arrowhead, Obsidian Arrowhead
Can be worn on Neck Slot and adds foraging related to both Arrowhead and Feather

Locket = Bar of Any Metal + Any Chain + Anvil
Lockets Can be worn on Neck Slot adds Affluence related to Chain Used and has equipment slots related to tier of Metal used. Slots equal which can hold any "medicine". (Ideally Satan Salts).

Jeweled Choker = Any Chain + Any Cut Gem + Anvil
Jeweled Choker can be worn on Neck Slot adds Affluence related to Chain used as well as the cut and the carat of the gem.

Why it's Good for Salem: The Neck Slot, other than Mason's Necklaces, didn't confer bonuses, nor had enough options to be cosmetic either. This change gives the Neck Slot more of a use, different than just slotting, but no so different that it would hard to learn or understand.

Clarifications: As for renaming, I understand everyone gets weird about being quote un-quote politically correct. I want to have a Native American influence in this game, but I think we should do so carefully to make this game as appealing to the broadest amount of people possible. PM me if you want to argue or need more clarification on this point, I'd rather not make a big deal about it in the thread.

Dev Effort Required: MODERATE To HIGH. I'm proposing a lot of items, but they don't necessarily all need unique models and icons.

[pistolshrimp]

Day 7: Metes and Bounds / Horses / Carts Part 1 - Metes and Bounds

What It Does: Adds Horses. Horses can be raised like Domesticated animals, can be ridden, and attached to a cart. This is a given and already planned, (I think) so I won't go into it too much but I do want to make sure that Horse Hooves make animal glue.

New Skill: Metes and Bounds. Boundary Stones Unlock with this skill, Boundary Stones no longer expand towns and no longer need to be built on pavement. Boundary Stones work more like Claim Stones, and are in fact connected to Claim Stones in the way they used to be connected to Town Bells. Boundary Stones cannot be destroyed if the claim they are connected to has silver in it. Each Boundary Stone increases the silver drain on its connected pclaim slightly.

However Boundary Stones do not extend a pclaim, rather they give and extend a new type of claim, called Bounds. Bounds is not a a protective claim, as far as crime goes it would act no different than unclaimed land. Entering Bounds does not require Trespassing. What they do is that all movement speed is increased while inside your Bounds, or the Bounds of friends. This includes when Lifting and pulling Sleds and carts. Decay is reduced but not absent on Bounds. Blood damage and Bleed are reduced slightly while on your Bounds.

Thematically Bounds becomes the area you know, rather than the area you own, naturally you move better and fight better on home turf. However, the real power of Bounds comes when paired with Horse. Right clicking on your Claim Stone or any of the Bounds allows you to give each Boundary Stone a unique name.

While there is a Horse with a Cart Attached and in range, Clicking on any of your Bounds will bring up a list of your Boundary Stone Names, selecting any of those will send your Horse and cart to that Boundry Stone. This will cause the horse to disappear and appear there after a time relative to the distance. This way the issue of pathing can be avoided.

Bits: Metes and Bounds lets you build 1 Boundary Stone a week. This is to avoid spam. A Surveying Skill will reduce the cool down slightly as well as your Status which I will go into at a later date. I also envision Goats being able to pull the Frontier Sled, and Cow can pull the wooden sled, so cart pulling scales with the investment into owning domesticated animals.

Why it's Good for Salem: Reduces material transportation grind and therefore encourages working around your base rather than creating alts to mine a materiel and transport it back via Providence. Newer players get some benifit with increased movement and sled speeds, mid game players get to use goats and cows and carts, and late game players really maximize this skill will horses and carts. Reduced Blood damage very slightly encourages players to fight to protect their homes rather than hole up. One of a few small changes meant to encourage fighting in Salem overall.

Clarifications: I'll go into how this affects the mechanics currently on boundary stones tomorrow.

Dev Effort Required: MODERATE to HIGH. Depends on how much work has already been done with Horses and Carts.

[Taipion]

At first I thought... teleporting items....witchcraft! burn the witch!

But then I realised it is only usable where you could just as well port via provi, with the sole exception of being able to "fast move" things that go into carts, rather than just your inventory,
which is, I'd say, a good thing.
I mean, finding a handful green pots somewhere and hauling them home sure is an adventure, but an unnecessary one.