Cantr II FAQ

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Anthony Roberts
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Cantr II FAQ

Postby Anthony Roberts » Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:31 am

The following is the FAQ written by Anthony Roberts, last updated on November 14, 2004.
Updated by SekoETC on May 24, 2013.

Table of Contents:
Game Related Questions
- How do I make ____?
- Am I allowed to keep notes in real life?
- How can I request a feature into the game?
- When my character dies, what happens to his/her possessions?
- What if my character dies while on the road? Do my items disappear?
- Can I use HTML in notes?
- What is dragging? When I drag someone, why does it seem to never progress at turn change?
- How do I remember who someone is? After I name them, does everyone else see that name?
- How do I insert a picture into a note like others I’ve seen?
- Movement on Sea! I don’t understand it. I say to move North but I end up moving East!
- My boat is stuck on land / I’m not moving.
- How do I travel with someone on the road?
- Why are there Orange and Black circles on the location map?
- I have meat/corn/fish/etc. but I don’t eat them each day! Why not?
- What is the Capital Rule? I don’t understand it’s function.
- What is OOC and IC?
- Someone said “OOC: {message}”…?
- OOC and IC things: What they are, and what they should be.
- What’s a gram? How many grams can I carry?
- Is it possible to kill someone with one hit?
- How much does Cantr II cost to play?
- How can I contribute to the game?
- What priviledges do the Staff members receive?
- How many grams of ____ do I eat a day?
- Why are some of my characters coloured white and others gray?
- On the character selection screen, what does “P”, “D”, and “T” mean?
- How can I have more characters?
- My character is walking or driving on water! What gives?
- How long is one Cantr day?
- I’ve found a bug in the game! / Something isn’t right!
- What are the Cantr Forums? What am I allowed to say on them?
- What are these bars on the character description screen represent?

Other Questions
- I have a question I'd like added to this FAQ!

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How do I make ____?

Check the Wiki at http://wiki.cantr.net. You can also browse the build menu and clicking on the components tells you what's needed to build them.

Am I allowed to keep notes in real life?

It's not like anybody could bust you from having notes on your computer, but you might want to consider that if your character dies and you didn't write any notes in-game, the people left behind will have no way of learning your character's life story or contributions to the world. Also if your hard drive gets corrupted, the notes might be lost even while your character is still alive. So it's good to keep all IC notes in the game, OOC notes out of the game, and maybe keep personal copies of important notes on your computer in case your character dies unexpectedly.

How can I request a feature into the game?

Write on the Suggestions forums, but first use search to make sure no one else has already suggested it.

When my character dies, what happens to his/her possessions?

They will fall in the location where the character was, and will eventually get picked up by other people. If your character writes a last will and testament on a note, others might follow it, but there's no way to ensure that.

What if my character dies while on the road? Do my items disappear?

The possessions along with the body will roll to the location that was behind the character while (s)he was walking. Usually this is the location where you left from, but if you turned around, the other end of the road is now behind you.

Can I use HTML in notes?

Yes you can, although some tags like embed and script are disabled. You should stick to basic visual things. Remember to close your tags or it will mess out the layout of the rest of the page. Note titles can't contain HTML (as of May 25th, 2004) but you might find old notes that still have it. If you try to edit them, the html will be stripped.

What is dragging? When I drag someone, why does it seem to never progress at turn change?

Dragging will progress once there are enough participants. It's not controlled by project ticks. Notes can be dragged even past locked doors, but everything else can only be dragged if the door is open or if you have the key. Anybody can drag notes, but dragging heavier things depends on the character's strength and woundedness status. When moving inanimate objects, you can use a wheelbarrow to greatly enhance your dragging capacity, but this won't work on living people. Dragging people is affected by fighting skill and strength, both of the targeted person and the draggers. When dragging people or large piles, you generally need help. People can participate by clicking the P button next to a participating dragger.

Since early 2014 there is a new button that allows you to drag from buildings or vehicles in your location, without entering them. For this to work, the location you drag from needs to be unlocked, or the initiator of the dragging must have the key for the lock.

How do I remember who someone is? After I name them, does everyone else see that name?

Everybody initially appears as a man/woman in his/her twenties/thirties/etc. You need to name each person separately. Generally when a person introduces themselves, you copy the name, click on the man in his twenties or equivalent and paste the name in the box. This name is visible only to yourself, and also the private description you can add, so you can write things like "kill on sight" or what ever you want.

How do I insert a picture into a note like others I’ve seen?

When editing a note, click on the little icon near the top of the page that looks like a picture frame. It will allow you to upload a picture. Then you copy the image tag containing the url into the note and save it. Nowadays the maximum size is really big so it shouldn't cause issues, but you should still compress your images as much as you can without the quality suffering. Use jpg or png. You can also add a title to describe the contents of the picture in case the note gets read by a blind player or someone who has images disabled.

Movement on Sea! I don’t understand it. I say to move North but I end up moving East!

In Cantr, west is up and north is to the right. It's possible to turn on a so called compass from Player settings - Interface, that will print the abbreviation of compass directions around the map. Some people have that turned off because it's easier to make copypasted maps without it.

My boat is stuck on land / I’m not moving.

You can try sailing towards the water and try different directions if the first one doesn't work, because sometimes the actual coastline doesn't match the visual representation. Also put something in the number of ticks to sail box, instead of 0. If that doesn't work, contact Support with the name of the ship and the character on it. Sometimes it's possible to accidentally end up inside an island, especially if you're sailing really fast. Even if it was possible to sail further inland, don't do that because it makes it harder to get you back on water.

If you're in water and you're not moving, perhaps you've completed how many turns you specified to move, or you've hit a small piece of land that sticks out that is barely noticable. Try changing your direction or increasing the number of movement turns.

How do I travel with someone on the road?

You can click the = button to match their speed, but if they're traveling faster than you, you need to ask them to slow down.

Why are there Orange and Black circles on the location map?

The orange circle is you. The black circles are towns or ships.

I have meat/corn/fish/etc. but I don’t eat them each day! Why not?

It needs to be prepared first before you can eat it. Ask someone in-game what to do with it or check the Wiki. Also, some things might be healing foods and won't be eaten automatically because they have no nutritional value. Those things are eaten with the Eat button.

What is the Capital Rule? I don’t understand it’s function.

You're not supposed to use information gained outside the game or through your other characters. Each character only knows what they learn in the game, through seeing things, hearing talking and radio messages, and reading notes. You're also not supposed to work together with your own characters, because they're each supposed to have individual goals instead of a hive mind or being mules. This is to keep the game fair for everybody. More information is found in the Wiki here: http://wiki.cantr.net/index.php/Game_Rules

What is OOC and IC?

OOC means out of character, related to real life. IC means in-character, related to in-game.

Someone said “OOC: {message}”…?

That's a message for other players and characters aren't supposed to hear it.

OOC and IC things: What they are, and what they should be.
You should mainly write IC. OOC is best used when someone is going out of line or if you need to inform other players that you'll be away from the computer for an extended period of time. Concerning the latter, if your character wasn't participating in any social interaction, no one cares if you go offline, so there's no need to mention it, whereas if you're in the middle of a fast-paced roleplaying scenario, it might well be past midnight for the other player and they're only staying awake for your sake, so it would be polite to tell them there's no need to stay up any longer. You can also correct typos if they completely obscure the readability of the sentence, but if it's easy to guess what you meant, there's no need to correct it.

What’s a gram? How many grams can I carry?

Gram is a very small unit of weight, used in most of the real world except in USA. 1000 grams is called a kilo. One ounce is approx. 28.25 grams and one pound approx. 454 grams. Characters can carry 15000 grams. Things in Cantr might weigh much less than they would in real life, mainly buildings, vehicles and metallic items. Notes don't weight anything. Clothes at the moment weight 10 grams, or nothing while being worn.

Is it possible to kill someone with one hit?

No, unless they were wounded in advance. There will never be a weapon that could kill a person in one hit, because it's against the nature of the game.

How much does Cantr II cost to play?

It's a free game, but you can donate if you like it. It costs money to keep the server and advertize for the game, so donations are always welcome.

How can I contribute to the game?

You can donate money through the Paypal buttons that are visible on the player page after logging in. You can also apply to join staff if you're interested in working for one of the departments. You can also help by answering people's questions on the forums and on the irc channel.

What priviledges do the Staff members receive?

They don't get paid, they're just volunteers. Sometimes they get thanks and praise from the community.

How many grams of ____ do I eat a day?

Check the Wiki: http://wiki.cantr.net/index.php/Categor ... hing_foods

Why are some of my characters coloured white and others gray?

White means they have new events, gray means no new events. It's possible to set filters to prevent your character from turning white due to trivial events, like someone speaking to someone other than your character. Click on the icon that looks like a diamond made out of four smaller diamonds (found next to the build menu icon). Due to a bug, new characters remain white until something happens.

On the character selection screen, what does “P”, “D”, and “T” mean?

P = project, D = dragging, T = traveling.

How can I have more characters?

Click on the smiley face icon to create a new character. In the beginning you can start with up to 2 characters and can have one more per each day of playing, up to 15. If your characters die young, the slot is blocked for a while to discourage people from killing off characters that spawn with poor skills or in bad locations. Remember that skills can be trained and if you don't like your location, you can travel.

My character is walking or driving on water! What gives?

Some roads go through water. It's a bit of a designing flaw. You can imagine that the road isn't actually a straight line and instead follows the coastline, or that the water is really shallow.

How long is one Cantr day?

A Cantr day is equal to a real life day, it's the other measures of time that are different. More details: http://wiki.cantr.net/index.php/Time

I’ve found a bug in the game! / Something isn’t right!

Contact Support, or you can also contact the Programming Department directly if you're logged in. Don't abuse bugs or you might get banned.

What are the Cantr Forums? What am I allowed to say on them?

The forums are for discussing things related to Cantr, and also irrelevant things that might interest the players. You're not allowed to discuss significant ongoing events or things that happened less than 4 days ago. You're also not allowed to discuss PD cases. You can't reveal who other people play and you can't say somebody got banned unless that player made it public themselves. You're also not supposed to spam, although you can talk about other games and projects as long as that's not the only thing you contribute.

You should write like a civilized person and avoid swearing, because young people might be reading the forums. Naturally you shouldn't post pornographic material or anything illegal. And don't start or participate in arguments because that gets threads locked.

What are these bars on the character description screen represent?

Damage is for how much you're injured. If it reaches 100%, you go into near death state and can be finished off by other characters, or you can also choose to let the character die. It's possible for others to heal the character within 3 days of the fatal hit, but the character can still be finished off while they're still in the state. Tiredness is mainly increased by fighting and as it increases, you became unable to protect yourself with a shield, or deal damage on other characters. Reaching 100% won't kill you but makes you very vulnerable. Reaching 100% hunger means you will die shortly after. Dirtyness, Thirst and Drunkenness haven't been implemented yet. Fullness means how much you have in your stomach. Used healing food will be digested at the eating tick one a day, while nourishing food will be digested at the rate characteristic to each food.

Other Questions

I have a question I'd like added to this FAQ!

- Please add them in this topic and they will be added. Posts in this topic will be deleted once things are moved to the FAQ.
Last edited by EchoMan on Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:28 am, edited 8 times in total.
Reason: Updated with accurate/new info.
-- Anthony Roberts
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EchoMan
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Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 1:01 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Cantr II FAQ

Postby EchoMan » Fri May 24, 2013 1:40 pm

The FAQ has been updated. Thanks SekoETC!

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