What do I do now?

[Breezy]

Hi! I'm a new player and I love the game so far. I have to get used to the slow pace. Out of boredom, I made a bunch of characters and I'm having fun keeping up with them all! I had to make a note on each, so I can remember what I'm doing and why, lol.

I had some questions though:

Are the places that new characters spawn, like a spawn point? I landed somewhere with all sleepers. I actually don't mind that as I can kind of mess around with crafting and such without too much bother. I am following the rules of the town and replacing things that I've used though! But I'm just curious as to how long I may go before another newspawn joins me.

To piggyback that, I arrived in a busy city and then left to walk off. Afterwards, I realized that I didn't pack food and my trip was going to take DAYS. I would like to explore so would building a skateboard or something be worth it? Another character landed in a very popular place, so they would be working and trading to get some a motorcycle or something.

Also, are there any empty places? It would be nice to build a hut in the forest and slowly build into a little settlement for myself. Is this possible?

Lastly, is there any tips for speeding up projects? I've been helping people with theirs. Also, I've been gathering only what I need when I can. Sometimes that only takes a few hours. But, what does "You get a derivative of %20 of what you asked for" or something like that, mean? I think I saw that when I was trying to gather grass, or something. I'll edit the question when I get back to the game, but if you know what I'm getting at, please feel free to explain, lol!


Thanks!!

[*Wiro]

Hi, welcome to the game. Let me start by introducing you to the Cantr II wiki and NancyLee's interface guide. The wiki has all the information you want and more. Let me answer your questions one by one.

1. Characters can spawn anywhere where two or more people are. The more people, the more likely it is to get newspawns. Please note that the in-game laws (rules of the town) can either be broken or followed. The only rule you must follow is the Capital Rule which I'm sure you're familiar with by now. If a town is sleepy then they probably won't notice things going missing occasionally. Of course it depends on the personality of your character whether that's acceptable.

2. The wiki page on vehicles is incredibly useful. You'll find a skateboard sucks and isn't worth the effort except as a roleplay item. You might want to look into taming a horse. They're new vehicles that are accessible to almost anyone with grass. You can also tame donkeys, ostriches, zebras and camels. They're very fast but require hay. I suggest avoiding walking unless the town you're in is useless. If you need more in-depth information on taming a horse, send me a private message. It's a complicated process that hasn't been properly documented on the wiki yet.

3. Roughly 90% of the game has no population. Many abandoned buildings, vehicles etcetera are lying around but there are places that haven't even been visited by anyone yet. They are completely and utterly empty. So yes, this is possible! It's best to ask around in-game if your character wants to find a place like that. The forums aren't meant to share specific in-game information other than the mechanics.

4. You should work on projects you're skilful or expert at. These are mentioned on your character page. Skills you're novice or awkward at progress almost twice as slow as expert skills. The 20% thing means that if you set out to collect 1000 grass, you will get anywhere between 800-1200 grass. This only counts for gathering projects (resources outside), not for projects from machines.

Plus some general advice:

1. Read the wiki. There's so much information there and all of it is valuable in helping you out. If you're curious about something you see in-game, wiki it!
2. Use filters to control which events light up your character. You can access the menu by clicking the button in the lower right (the button right of the "manufacturing menu"). It sucks having your character light up when all that happened is two people whispering, or someone picking up food. They are different for each character. Also have a look at the "event page filters" which allow you to see, for example, only things people said or whispered, without the other crap in between.

[hyrle]

Speeding up projects is best done by having the best kind of tool for whatever you're doing. For example, grass is only collected at 400 grams per day by hand, but with a scythe, you can collect 2,000 grams per day! You'll want to ask your town leader for tools for specific projects, and they can likely help you.

[psychowico]

Tips from me - u don't need to follow town rules. Probably most of your characters will, but you can do anything, so long when you remember about consequences. Like in real world, nobody stop you from being a bastard, but you need take responsibility for you own actions.

it can be fun to check how to be bad person, experience social disapproval etc.
and it can be fun to be liked person, town leader etc.

it is best to have characters which strongly differ from each other - in my opinion.

[EchoMan]

One thing to remember, is to separate your characters views and opinions from your personal views and opinions. I have trouble with this some times. It helps me to keep a record with notes for each of my characters opinions, plans and so on, and update it whenever something changes in their surroundings.

I also want to stress to keep your characters distanced from yourself. I know a lot of players have had problems (including me) with this in the past. If your character gets insulted or mistreated, it is not you yourself that gets mistreated or insulted. Take a deep breath (or a walk, or do the dishes/laundry) and try to set yourself into your characters situation (possibly with help of the note I talked about earlier) before acting, and try to act in your characters point of view and not your own.

[Marian]

And making a lot of characters to begin with always seems like a good idea at first when you're just wanting to explore different options or if things are a little slow, but keep in mind that once they start getting more involved in their communities they'll be taking up a lot more of your time. Having 15 different lives to juggle, plus the real one, can be a bit much even for experienced players.

Always keep in mind that this is a slow placed game. Wherever you spawned might be a place your character winds up loving, or at least one full of opportunities for them that you'll miss out on if you immediately go running off...I have a personal rule with my newspawns that I give any town at least three days to hook them.

And except in an extreme or unusual scenario, just walking off is almost never the best option. Even boring places will usually provide a newspawn with food, clothes, basic tools, a shield, and a place to try different skills and learn the basics of the game. In an established town it's rare that you're required to make any of the basics yourself, and vehicles are often available. Being 'successful' in the game, whatever your char defines success as, becomes a lot easier when you're communicating with the other chars around you and getting involved in a community.

Anyway, Wiro's already pointed out the wiki, which goes into detail about...just about everything there is. But if you have any other questions feel free to PM me...just keep in mind that specific characters or locations aren't really things that are supposed to be discussed, but something each character has to find out in game.

[sanchez]

I want to second the above advice as well, and to add that ‘success’ in the game is defined primarily as contributing to an ongoing story, written entirely by players. This is what makes Cantr unique. So learning the history of a place, and the lives and relationships of those living there, is what will help you to place your char among them to develop in a memorable way.

Exploring can be great, but most of what there is to find in the game ultimately are the characters. By rule these must be unique, and created within the game environment. Death is permanent, but there is no set ending to the game. The only way to measure achievements is in how others respond to your chars. Those are the kinds of goals you should create.

Also, beware of gimmicks. They can be tempting, especially when you’ve created a number of chars and you wish to distinguish them from eachother, but deaf/mute/disabled or irrationally violent have largely been done, and will likely be more of a burden to you and to your fellow players than enjoyable for long.

[Marian]

Oh, one more bit of advice: If you attack someone with your bare fists at zero percent, it results in a fist bump, letting them know you're a bro. Doing this to everyone in town is the customary way to say hello upon spawning a new character.

[SumBum]

Oh, one more bit of advice: If you attack someone with your bare fists at zero percent, it results in a fist bump, letting them know you're a bro. Doing this to everyone in town is the customary way to say hello upon spawning a new character.

And then after all your chars have been killed, you can come to the forum to rant about how unfair it is.


On topic: I'd strongly second Echoman's advice. It's something good to keep in mind both for your own chars and regarding the chars around yours. The other players may have a very different personality than the chars they play; for better or for worse.

Also.... The wiki is a great, great resource and useful reference but your char asking questions is a wonderful way to spur interaction.

Welcome!