New Player looking for... Civilization

[Saxerman]

I have long been a student of sandbox MMOs, which includes a distressingly long stint in Egypt playing ATiTD.

My primary interest is in the dynamics of social justice, and how new ideas can be applied/found when players are granted wide/total freedoms in persistent world building games. I've seen a number of interesting online societies created in full PvP worlds. But I'm still waiting for the emergence of the genre of games which will enable us to try our hands at full civilization building.

As such I've been a lurker in Salem for some time. Given that I overly support games with native Linux clients and find the roadmap laid out by Seatribe compelling, I have finally started playing to get a feel for how things have progressed here.

As an archaic and curmudgeon gamer I'm more prone to proselytizing the virtues of free software and complaining about my brittle old man hip. But I can still still putter about a garden, commune with nature, and unleash digital wrath on woodland critters that displease me (or just look particularly tasty.)

I think I'd be willing to join the right community, but I'm currently more interested in what communities are available to join. Anyone have any insights on what level of civilization Salem has unlocked? On a scale between Barbarians at the Gate and Starfleet?

[RyanS77]

imagesSGM6P740.jpg (8.12 KiB) Viewed 6868 times

[Saxerman]

So far I've been playing a wandering hermit and have my humors in the 30s. I'm thinking about building a more serious settlement, and I'm trying to judge the risks. My first two leantos were destroyed but I do not know why. I read a forum discussion in which it seemed a security risk to allow new players to settle near your town as they might be an enemy spy. Given that I might be an unwanted neighbor I tried to find a game map so see if I might be infringing on someone's treaty.

I have not (yet?) found a map of the game world, but I have read posts related to maps that seem to suggest some players seem to be against the idea due to 'safety concerns'. I take from that there are communities living in isolation either by choice or out of fear. Given that I was brought to my location by the wilderness guide, I also had no idea how far I was from Boston, or even in what direction it lay.

So I started out from Boston so I at least have an idea of how many hours travel and direction I am in. (I've been playing with building something that will cobble together the map tiles from the client that will run on Linux so I can build my own map. So at least I can judge how many 'map tiles' I am from other things.)

I now have a small cluster of newb buildings around my leanto, including a half dozen wooden boxes that has been undisturbed for the two weeks I've been out there. I'm thinking of putting a claim down, but I have no way to judge if this is a 'safe' location or even what criteria I should be using. Does the game even have locations that are 'safer' than others?

I'd like to get a handle on the current politics of the land, to have an idea of how I fit in relation to them. But the only 'history' I've experienced of Salem has been what I've seen of Salem on the forums, wikis, and a scattering of blogs/reviews.

I've heard of the servers Providence, Jamestown, Plymouth, and Roanoke but so far I've only visited Boston over the last few weeks. I'm not certain if Boston is a server itself or how it relates to the others.

All the guides I've read suggest that direct contact with other players is openly inviting disaster. Strangely, some of them also suggest it is possible to join other player towns. Given the dire warnings, I'm not certain how a new player is expected to even join towns if direct contact player contact should be avoided.

I've heard of the Tribe, and I see that they have a wiki with what appears significantly more information than the first wiki I was reading. I've read a handful of lore relating to the Tribe, but I can't tell how much of that is still relevant to current game play. Is 'The Treaty' still relevant and enforced? I've read several posts which seem to lament that the Tribe are the de facto law of the lands and that they've grown beyond the reach of other challengers. Given that I have read a few posts that suggest new players were killed by Tribe braves in the last few months, I'm assuming they are still around, but I don't know to what extent.

With the new tax subsidies system and town authority ranks it appears the 'ranking' of the top ten towns suggest there are some signification faction(s) within the game, but I can't tell to whom they belong. It also suggests there is a large gap between the largest of the towns, and the rest.

Who's in charge here? How do I even tell?

[Potjeh]

So I started out from Boston so I at least have an idea of how many hours travel and direction I am in. (I've been playing with building something that will cobble together the map tiles from the client that will run on Linux so I can build my own map. So at least I can judge how many 'map tiles' I am from other things.)

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5995

I've heard of the Tribe, and I see that they have a wiki with what appears significantly more information than the first wiki I was reading. I've read a handful of lore relating to the Tribe, but I can't tell how much of that is still relevant to current game play. Is 'The Treaty' still relevant and enforced? I've read several posts which seem to lament that the Tribe are the de facto law of the lands and that they've grown beyond the reach of other challengers. Given that I have read a few posts that suggest new players were killed by Tribe braves in the last few months, I'm assuming they are still around, but I don't know to what extent.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11188

[Saxerman]

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5995

Thanks. I've looked at a few of the map tools made by others, but so far they all look for Windows. As a Linux gamer I could probably fire them up in wine, but given how simple they are I'm just writing a groovy script to do (what I believe) is the same thing.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11188

Umm... wow. I'll need to read a lot more on this. Any overviews on the fallout would be greatly appreciated.

[ericbomb]

The thing with towns is it's a risk vs. reward thing. If you go to a murderous town you lose your toon, if you go to a good town, your toon can get to 50 biles in one day, you'll have protection, friends, resources, and knowledge all in one place. Knowledge arguably the greatest benefit.

The fallout is mostly the fact that a different raider group is now the strongest. I would suggest trying to find a village, as it does in fact help a lot. But bad village mates can cause a lot of drama/trouble for your toon.

[Saxerman]

So far my research shows Salem at a level 2 system of civilization, just above roaming hordes of barbarians.

1. Providence/Boston
English Colony under authority of the King?
Overseen by Colony Governor/NPC
Facilitates the Tracking/Scent/Evidence system of justice
By design players cannot challenge/replace this authority?
The Executioner - Mr. Puggles? - Does he work for the Crown?

2. Player Towns
Owned by paying a tax to the Crown Authority
Protected by the Crown until Trial by Fire

3. Player Claims
Owned by paying a tax to the Crown Authority
The Crown Authority provides Tracking/Scent/Evidence... unless someone pays for a Town over the area?

4. The Wilds

5. The Darkness

There are some number of towns, and players can see the names and authority of some of the towns via Town Authority list in Boston.
Town locations are not listed or tracked anywhere?
There are some number of player claims which are not tracked or listed anywhere?
There is very limited diplomacy or politics?
Aggressive factions/players are free to raid anything they can 'get away with', although the current system makes raiding a town very difficult?
There is no formal player created system of recourse for justice, only mob justice or mercenary bounties?

[Nictos]

So far my research shows Salem at a level 2 system of civilization, just above roaming hordes of barbarians.

1. Providence/Boston
English Colony under authority of the King?
Overseen by Colony Governor/NPC
Facilitates the Tracking/Scent/Evidence system of justice
By design players cannot challenge/replace this authority?
The Executioner - Mr. Puggles? - Does he work for the Crown?

2. Player Towns
Owned by paying a tax to the Crown Authority
Protected by the Crown until Trial by Fire

3. Player Claims
Owned by paying a tax to the Crown Authority
The Crown Authority provides Tracking/Scent/Evidence... unless someone pays for a Town over the area?

4. The Wilds

5. The Darkness

There are some number of towns, and players can see the names and authority of some of the towns via Town Authority list in Boston.
Town locations are not listed or tracked anywhere?
There are some number of player claims which are not tracked or listed anywhere?
There is very limited diplomacy or politics?
Aggressive factions/players are free to raid anything they can 'get away with', although the current system makes raiding a town very difficult?
There is no formal player created system of recourse for justice, only mob justice or mercenary bounties?

[Saxerman]

I have no idea what that means, sir, but it seems very negative to me.

I fear I have yet to learn your strange system of pictograms. Are there any who can translate?

And for those players who do speak the King's English, my thanks in spending the time to speak with me. From the limited sample I've been able to speak with, I'm guessing the player community seems to want very limited and controlled interactions with one another outside of raw acts of aggression. Many players seem to relish the opportunity for violence available while we remain so far from the King's justice.

Would Providence happen to be a penal colony, by any chance?

[GandalfThyBlue]

Hey, I shot you a PM.