Salem V1.1.4 Jingle Bombs

[JohnCarver]

Greetings Salemites,
It has been approximately 16 Months since a new wall and closer to a year since we have finished our last Crime/Siege revamp. I can quite honestly say that we feel far more worked than things that didn't but as always we look to Salem as a project that will always be in a state of improvement. When implementing Brick walls the highest character on the server was approx 300ish biles and the landscape and power levels of the, then fledgling, server were dramatically different. As such, while we designed an additional wall type and planned for it, we never did get around to implementing it. Instead we promised y'all that we would be revisiting all this at a later date anyway and when there was a demographic of players above 640 (approx max dmg to brick walls) we would raise the bar. Well, we realized that the time was now and figured that while it has not been talked about nor do I feel it was the most pressing matter at hand, walls, raiding, crime, etc. could use another pass-over and some attention for the next 30 days or so. Today, 1280 Biles is now a 'rarity', with the top biles on the server now passing 2,000. Which means we are a bit overdo for the latest wall which requires approx 1200 biles to do max damage. Once there exists a dozen or more players over 2500 we will evaluate yet another wall type so that players always at least have the 'opportunity' to upgrade their defenses to keep up.

In addition to this we are also looking at all revamps with a slightly different design philosophy. That philosophy could be summed up as "Fun work". Its important to us that Salem feels like work, that you have your chores, and that you never lose touch with the "grind". We feel it is that investment, and that commitment, that is lacking from most titles today and is a key ingredient in what makes Salem non-mainstream but so very special to those of us who call it home. On that note though, work does not HAVE to by definition be unfun at all times. The benefits of 'work' also do not have to inherently be the reward and/or paycheck if you will. We are hoping to spice up aspects of the game where chores involve some greater level of attention, skill, or calculation to hopefully mix things up and inject fun into what have otherwise been pleasure-less tasks throughout the game. This is the reason that many of the implementations you see today which can be summed up as the "Defensive Siege" PvP patch are hopefully aimed at making the loss of your base have some ounce of fun inside all the anxiety and frustration. Something you could do other than watch your walls fall or simply try to fill braziers with coal.

Without further ado:

Raiding Changes
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*New Siege & Defensive Structure: Mortar
*New Skill: Long Range Bombardment
While I like forcing y'all to explore things. I've decided to be a little generous with this implementation so that you get an idea of WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE THIS DEFENDING YOUR BASE. This is a long-range artillery structure which you can activate to launch objects over walls, buildings, and basically almost anywhere that you can see on your map you can lob something in that general direction. The duration of how long it takes for the bombs to reach their target is dependent on your Spark and Embers. So it is quite easy to see an incoming object launched from a 5 Sparks character and simply run outside of its radius. It is, however, much more difficult to dodge an object launched by a character with 1000 Sparks for example.

The effect of the Mortar is dependent on what ammo you loaded it with AND what it actually lands on. Here are some highlights.

Anvils & Various metal objects Vs. Players cause the highest damage and highest amount of head trauma for new concussion effect.
Herbpots vs. Players are also surprisingly effective.
Whittler Benches & other wooden objects Vs. Players does very little damage.
Metal Objects Vs. Trees is an easy way to deforest an area
*NOTE* This means that while this entire mechanic largely favours a defender. No one mechanic will not be used aggressively at all. Your enemies will be able to lob bombs into your bases now and this means your tree groves, fruit tree groves, and whatever other beautiful trees you have will be at risk of death even if they don't break in. The 'solution' here is that players make an effort to keep their trees (and themselves) out of viewing distance from the outside of their walls OR push their claims out so that enemies may not easily build these artillery mortars directly outside their base.

Any Object Vs. Trial By Fire & Trial By Combat:
Does Damage to it. Thus players can donut, and wall around their TbF and TbC's still. However, if a player can 'see' where that is then they can simply build a long-range artillery mortar and blow it to pieces (assuming the person who built it is not waiting for you to try and rushes and kills both you and your morter).
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*KOing while under the crime debuff now causes permadeath.
Note: We intend to give serious contemplation to the removal of Trial By Combat. The idea is that instead of having the 'risk' involved with raiding be offline summons, the seeking of justice/rangers, or some kind of revenge/retaliation that we will instead look into having the risk of raiding in the raid itself. Permadeath by KO in Crimes is a first step towards this. It dramatically increases the need for awareness during a siege and finally offers a defender the opportunity to possibly see their aggressor die without the direct risk of scents and future summon kills themselves.


*New Building: Players may now build Iron Walls
*New Building: Barrel of Tar. Can be launched out of Long-Range Mortars.
*New Building: Baby Brazier. Fires extremely fast. Extremely short range. Can be carried and moved to the side of your base under attack.
*Torch Posts have been nerfed and now fire slightly slower
*New Combat Debuff: Concussion. Players may receive head trauma from being too close to blast radius from mortars. Head Trauma reduces your maximum black bile until your head clears. Going to sleep with a concussion could cause permadeath. Do not sleep with a concussion.

*The distance one has to run to run off crime debuff is now dramatically less. Approx half the distance of a trial by fire
*Tea now recovers your SOFT humours, not your HARD humours. For those who don't understand the difference. Soft humours are how you restore biles via food. I.E they come back slowly and then the grey'd version of the bar behind them returns. Doing this will cause a slight delay in tea regains, but more importantly not allow regeneration of biles when your regen is halted. Namely poisons & crime debuff.

*Whipping a criminal now does a MINIMUM of 5 Bile Drain per whip. When tested, in theory, the #1 Justice Point player on the server(who also happens to be dead btw) could do 11 Bile Loss against an online stocked player, and 22 bile loss against
an offline stock player. Buying yourself out of stocks is all that much more important now. As is whipping a player in them.
Note: The adjustment to whipping is also done in anticipation of the removal of Trial By Combat in the near future. In the event we deem the TbC worthy of sticking around we will probably adjust this back down. But for now we want to see if even with dramatic losses via the stocking system if players will stock their aggressors on a more consistent basis. Or even get more players involved in the action of whipping at all.

Misc Changes & Content
*Livestock that died to sickness or combat should no longer keep attempting to eat out of troughs when dead.
*Savage Charms now take a full hour to despawn when thrown on the ground.
*Sifting Pan now unlocks with mineralsifting instead of mining.
*Crab On a Spike, Braziers, and Torchposts now all decay when not on a claim.
*Players may now put Rattler Serums in Potion Racks.
*Players may now put Quetzalcoatl Serums in Potion Racks.
*Players may no longer sleep in beds which are on the providence town claim.
*Fix'd a bug where Night Stands wouldn't display the item on them until the tile loaded again.
*Turkey Droppings & Fertile Turkey droppings now add influence as a fertilizer as well.
*New Item: Guano. Works as fertilizer
*Players may no longer lasso a KO player
*Players may no longer lasso a dead player.
*New God command that lets me disease players simply by clicking on them.
*Added additional safeguards against livestock changing from dead behaviors to sick behaviors.
*New Decorative Object added to Providence: Kegbarrels.
*New 2D art added for Pinata Pole.
*Steel Pickaxe now weight slightly more than regular pick axe.
*Harvesting a field now uses more phlegm.
*Harvesting a field now takes slightly more time.
*2D art for Lunar Cape has been modified (Y1Q2), Loyalty Reward Item.
*Fix'd a bug that caused server crashes with Darkenbear Eyeballs.
*Plucked Wild Turkeys now compost for 4.0 down from 7.0.
*Waxen Candle inspirational has been nerfed into the ground.


Xmas-Stuff
All the new X-mas gifts are live with this patch. Starting X-mas morning you will be receiving a new cookie to give Santa which will deliver presents depending on if you have been naughty or nice this last few weeks.


Store Changes
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*New Mystery Tool Added to Mystery Toolbox: Scythe. A Scythe will dramatically speed up the time it takes to harvest a field.
*A new hat has been added to the mystery hat box.
*A new cape has been added to the mystery cape hanger.
*Apothecary Kit from store now has a Serpent Serum in it in place of one of the snake oil potions.



Future Notes:
We have 3 more new Brazier types added. As well as a handful of new raiding skills, lockpicking skills, stealth skills, and other content we have been working on. We felt it the far safer approach to buff the defenses and penalties prior to implementing the new toys for raiders. Expect raiders to gain a new toolbox of abilities in the weeks to come and I highly suggest those on Providence prepare.... Cold Snap is coming...

[Kandarim]

so, where CAN we get the amethysts?

also: screw you.
Just made all my pig iron into wrought yesterday and now you have the baby brazier take pig iron

also for the record, I think i preferred test server graphics for the new wall

[Whynot71012]

Those future notes....

[jcwilk]

New God command that lets me disease players simply by clicking on them.

[Kandarim]

better start raising your argopelters, y'all

[Trismegistus]

*KOing while under the crime debuff now causes permadeath.
*Tea now recovers your SOFT humours, not your HARD humours...not allow regeneration of biles when your regen is halted.
*Whipping a criminal now does a MINIMUM of 5 Bile Drain per whip.

Just means that if your character manages to get knocked out in the stocks he will perish instead of being released.

Dat Justice is strong in this one.

[belgear]

*Fix'd a bug that caushed server crashes with Darkenbear Eyeballs.

someone's had too much to drink...

[Ntlosa]

Ho Ho Ho ... Thank you JC! =)

[Kandarim]

so does anyone have a clue of arcane amethysts ?

[Ntlosa]

so does anyone have a clue of arcane amethysts ?

emm if i would bet on it some where in 9 mine lvl