Cantr II Discussion Forum

I have been playing Cantr for a about two weeks and I already love the game. I love creating a character with just a vague idea and see how does he or she turn up, what kind of people may they encounter, how will the experiences shape them. It's just enchanting and -unfortunately- addictive.

These days I have been with the ever-present feeling of creating more characters than the two ones I already own. But I fear this is just due to the initial excitement syndrome. I don't want to create a million characters now, play them for a while, and then having to kill them because I have no time for them.

That's why, uh, I wanted to ask you - how many characters can you handle at the same time? Do they take a lot of time from your daily life?

Well, that depends a lot about location you spawn, what you do with your chars and their position. I got 15 and I don't really have problems but if you want to focus on big things then I think less is better

6 is a good number for me.

Why 6?

I had 14 at one point and it was too much. Not just because of the time I was spending but because it was difficult not to bump into each other while traveling. I killed about half of them and now I find I have a bit more freedom.

Now I will say that the half that I kept were some of my favorites (not that I didn't like the ones I killed or the people around them. It was a difficult decision to kill them). So I guess you could argue that I couldn't have formed favorites if I didn't have 14 to begin with.

You just have to find a balance you're personally comfortable with. If you create a bunch and feel it's too much time being spent, but you'll have a really hard time killing them later then maybe hold off on making a whole bunch.

I have 15,

Only two that I feel are very integral to what is going on around them, and only four others who I think would actually be missed.

The rest are very minor characters in the grand scheme of things, at least for the moment, "supporting cast members" basically. So I can often go days without them doing much other than perhaps a polite hello, or finding a new project if the current one is finished.

If they were all people of importance I certainly could not play them all and do them justice

From the current responses, I'm getting six maximum is an imperative in order to play the chars significantly.

It's not imperative, it's just what's worked for me. And you can't always choose which will be significant characters. You'll inevitably spawn a character in a dying town with no real way out or there's just no opportunity to play a big significant role. I'd maybe suggest spreading out character creation a few weeks between each to get a grasp of the pace of the game and don't give in to the urge to create a bunch of new ones when you hit a slow spell with your current ones.

The maximum depends on the person, and only the person can really judge what works for them based on what's going on in their life and their level of interest.

I have run the full gamut of characters in the past and been fine. At busy times of my life, some were more neglected. Some were always very minor. At times I would cut back, and I think I only kept about half (or maybe 10) toward the end before I stopped playing four years ago.

This time, about a year ago, I started with one. I added a second about a week later. It was another 3 months before I added a few more and until last month, I did not start another, because 6 was very comfortable for this time in my life. I was definitely tempted many times over the year, mostly by ideas I'd have, but I kept resisting. The 7th has worked out pretty well, and I'm still comfortable, though I do not plan on any more unless I lose one or end one when they are old enough.

Millhouse wrote:It's not imperative, it's just what's worked for me. And you can't always choose which will be significant characters. You'll inevitably spawn a character in a dying town with no real way out or there's just no opportunity to play a big significant role. I'd maybe suggest spreading out character creation a few weeks between each to get a grasp of the pace of the game and don't give in to the urge to create a bunch of new ones when you hit a slow spell with your current ones.

Spacing it out has been really great and I wholeheartedly agree with this suggestion.

Very well. For the time being, I'll try to remind six as a sensible amount and to manage with both of the chars I have. Thank you all for the suggestions.