How do you get anywhere in this game?

[OldRod]

I made my first character this week in Cantr... and left the starting area along a road.

Four days later, I'm still "traveling" and I'm only 45% of the way to my destination. I have no idea even where I'm going - just from one Unnamed Location to another.

How long does it take to travel in this game? And are all locations like this?

There was no food in the starting location and I'm getting "you are hungry" messages now... hope I don't starve to death before I get to someplace with food.

[Misato]

How long you travel just depends on how long the road is. Some roads are shorter than others.

It takes 20 days for a character to starve, so you'll be at the next town before that happens.

[OldRod]

How long you travel just depends on how long the road is. Some roads are shorter than others.

It takes 20 days for a character to starve, so you'll be at the next town before that happens.

But how do I know how long a road is?

I looked around the starting location and all I saw was a paved road, an expressway and a couple others... I took the paved road, but there was no indication of how far it was to the next location or even what was there.

[SumBum]

Traveling on foot generally takes a long time. It helps to talk to people around you (and give them plenty of time to respond). You may have to ask for food in the next location if there isn't any you can gather. As others mentioned in your previous thread - social interaction is your best bet to get started.

[nateflory]

Yes, you never really know how long a road is, Most of them are around 3-5 days "long" if that makes sense. So always make sure you have enough food.

I will admit there's a bit of a learning vurve to Cantr, which sometimes scares off the friends I've gotten to try the game, but once you get into the character and figure out the slower pace of things, it's really addictive.

Best of luck Travelling Newspawn in his twenties!

((I know it's a CRB, but I wonder if there were some way to find the new players for a little nudge in the right direction. When I first started, I lost my first two characters after about 21 days due to starvation and animal attacks. Luckily, I stuck around and kept trying, and eventually found an active town to draw me into the world more. ))

[Ruby]

Isn't there like a semi-written tutorial thing that your first two characters get when you create an account, now? I think I saw that when I made my new account here.

[nateflory]

that might be so. It's been quite a while since I created my current account here. *points to profile* Have a few Very Old Chars.

[tiddy ogg]

I lost an early char from starvation on the road.
You'll just have to hope there's food where you're going. In future, have a look at the notes lying around, there'll probably be maps, and the early ones, though somewhat incorrect as to resources, often gave travel times.
I've never understood people setting off in random directions for unknown places, but I guess if you're spawned in a town entirely inhabited by sleepers, that may be necessary.

[SekoETC]

My first character spawned somewhere near Blerk and was more interested in getting gold than food. I don't remember how she got food but at least she was hunting... must've gotten firewood from somewhere since dung wasn't implemented back then. Also fire pits took a shovel to build, so you'd have to rely on machinery built by others. I think she got rice from Tamara Beason and what was her husband's name again? I think it's nice that when I was a newbie, no one ever told my characters it's ridiculous to run off to the unknown without proper supplies. This nice couple helped out a woman in her twenties who was scavenging stuff in an abandoned location, and although they were concerned about her plans to cross the mountains and find gold, they let her chase her dreams. Also my second character decided to go traveling a few days after spawning and two people ran after him, intending to give him a wooden shield so that he'd be safe on the road. But then some crazy MacGregor appeared and started threatening to take over their town so they had to turn back. My character ended up working in a place that makes iron and even though he wanted to make pretty much all the tools on the list, including the hide scraper (the only use of which was a hide cloak), the guy still eventually gave him the iron although I remember it wasn't all that easy. Newbies often get things done because they're not aware of how difficult it's going to be, or how difficult it is for most people so they might end up getting lucky without even realizing it. They might get help from other people who wish they had the courage to just get up and go get those resources you've always wanted, even if it meant having to walk through several locations to get there.

[OldRod]

Isn't there like a semi-written tutorial thing that your first two characters get when you create an account, now? I think I saw that when I made my new account here.

The only thing I've seen is the Wiki. While it's helpful, it is kinda vague in places... or maybe I haven't played enough to understand what they are talking about

[SekoETC]

Could you quote examples of confusing bits?

Oh and the key to not getting so bored that you would quit or idle out is to have several characters and play the others while some are traveling. Traveling is boring and that's a fact.

[OldRod]

Could you quote examples of confusing bits?

It's not so much confusing as it is I just don't know enough about the game to know what I'm reading yet I think

Oh and the key to not getting so bored that you would quit or idle out is to have several characters and play the others while some are traveling. Traveling is boring and that's a fact.

Yeah, I am planning on doing that. Thanks

[EchoMan]

As someone else said, communications is very important in the beginning. Just saing "Hello, I am *** and I just spawned here. Is there something I can help out with?" will probably get you working on something good for the community or someone else, and from there just ask and follow directions for a while until you get confident enough to make your own desicions.

[chase02]

I think it's pretty common for new players to spawn, see some restrictive laws and head straight for the closest road, hoping to find somewhere uninhabited/less restrictive. I did that at first. They just don't realise how hard it is to survive, the travel time involved and that the rest of the map will be just as restrictive (with a few rare exceptions).

I'm not sure there's a solution to these issues on a "closed" (non free roaming) map. You don't really want to be explaining the above to new players either, it's pretty disheartening IMHO.

[SekoETC]

There are empty or near-empty locations too, even on the old islands, but they're usually empty because they don't have any good resources. You need to cooperate with others to reach big goals, otherwise it's going to take you decades instead of just a few years.

Way back one of my characters ran into a girl who was living on a mountain that had diamonds and stone, probably nothing else. She was just gathering diamonds, hoping to trade them anyone who stops by and I don't think she even had a shield. If someone really wanted those diamonds, they could've easily just killed her and taken them. But newbies tend to assume that people play fair.