Randomized movement cycle

[wichita]

I don't think we have had this exact suggestion come out before. When Sho or Farmer come on in about three posts to dish links and a slap to the back of the head, I will accept them graciously.

-----suggestion-----
Each day a random shift of each movement tick (+/- 20 minutes) is calculated to help break up the systematic timing of movement in the game. Same could also apply to project turnover, or frankly, any other timed event in the game.
-------------------

I wrote a long and inflammatory post draft, which I have just deleted and replaced with this one. I have become so pissed off with people taking advantage of game mechanics to the point where I feel the only way I can have any hope of being successful in roleplaying a soldier or town guard involves sleeping in four hour shifts.

I HAVE A JOB!! Sometimes I can't check Cantr right at the exact moment when my ship will dock! I am sorry! I apologize! Nevermind me!

Cantr II is a slow-paced game. Many players only play for a few minutes per character each day and one meeting can take a week to play. The game is designed for players who have more on their agenda then just gaming.

I don't want this to be a false statement. I don't want to spread lies about our game.

I am starting to ramble now to clarify my point and it is about to stop making sense, so I will just leave.... If anybody has thoughts on this idea, I know you will feel free to share.

[Sho]

Sounds new to me. Ought to be implementable - I believe the cycles are run as cron jobs, and it should be straightforward to add a random sleep period before each. I can't think of any reason not to do this, though I'm equally unconvinced that this is needed. Probably I'm just not thinking today.

[Hellzon]

Not a bad idea. However, we want to keep the random shift relatively low so people don't complain about logging in long after the tick and still not having completed the project they're on, or logging on before it and still missing an hour of work.

20 minutes (total of 40), like you said, seems about fine. 30 would work too, but not more. (30 also have the advantage of being a nice round full hour in total.)

As to what projects to apply it to. You explained travel. Projects, I'm not so sure of. It messes with people's schedules if they have to check the game on both ends of a 1-hour interval to continue projects, especially since a certain department thinks that primitive cooking machines should have a set project size/time length to annoy people in primitive settlements. (And now I have to move on or start ranting. ) Burying people with any amount of speed would also be a pain in the arse with this system. So just travel, please.

(Is people dodging gathering restrictions by starting tiny gathering projects just before the "tick" a significant in-game problem? This would solve that, but I doubt it's worth it.)

Cantr II is a slow-paced game. Many players only play for a few minutes per character each day and one meeting can take a week to play. The game is designed for players who have more on their agenda then just gaming.

I don't want this to be a false statement. I don't want to spread lies about our game.

Amen.

[T-shirt]

Good suggestion.

[Chris Johnson]

Witchita - Are you stalking me ?

Just a suggestion

I get the feeling that since the minutes were added to event times some
players are using the game mechanics to their advantage - They know
docking/sailing takes place at X past the hour, travel at another
time, project completion at another set time etc . Generally there are
no problems with this but there are potential areas where it can be abused

<cut> long list of abuses </cut>

What do people think about adding a sleep fuction in the beginning of the
relevant 3 hourly server processes so that their start time is delayed by
a uniform random value of say between zero and 15 minutes ?

It just brings in a little bit more randomness - Cantrians are too
deterministic and rational for my liking

Yes .. I'm in favour of this suggestion

[tiddy ogg]

As, in my innocence, I know of none of these deleted abuses, I'd like to say I'm agin it. It's very useful to know when to log in knowing things will have happened,.

[Hellzon]

The famous "dock, steal everything, hit everyone and be off in your boat in 5 real life minutes" abuse is one of them (frequently mentioned on the boards, so I doubt I'm revealing much). And I think the idea is that if you log on half past the average time for the tick, your project will be finished.

On the other hand, doesn't this reward those who can sit at the computer and watch for the char to light up for 15 minutes (CJ's suggestion), 40 minutes (wich's suggestion) or an hour (mine) in times of crisis. We exist, you know. For that, I suggest a shortish time. I know I said 20-30, but I'd like to change that to 15-20. Still gives guards a chance to stop people.

Although, wholly different measures are needed to stop the pirate menace, and that's for another thread.

/Hellzon - blathermouth

[wichita]

I am all for piracy and such, and I don't want to make it more difficult. We should do what we can to make it possible to perform such activities, but remove as much OOC factors from the strategy as we can. Strategy should be in the game, based on the game world, not on the real life clock time.

[Surly]

Two points:

1) This change would favour those who sit online even more, having more likely a further negative impact on those who those who as it says "have more on their agenda than just gaming". It's way too late, or early perhaps, to have that statement be true (on a ranting side-note, this game has been all about gaming for quite a while, and I feel the RP has significantly declined because of it).
2) There are tactics involved to using the game system, just like their are tactics to using arms or terrain in real life. Just because you do not like the way strategy works IG does not make it any less strategy... I am a little apprehensive to call this a good idea, as I cannot avoid the feeling it is a reaction to something going against you IG and sometimes (always, in my case) luck goes against you...

Just my initial thoughts.

EDIT: A third point...

3) There are some of us who like the regular cycle. It enables me to live a life away from Cantr and spend sometimes only 10 minutes a day to get important things done. Randomising this is going to make the game even more of a chore for me, and I am definitely against more changes that make the game less fun.

[formerly known as hf]

I would have agreed until I read Surly's point 1)

At least as it is now - if you know the exact time in Real Life of an event, you can plan for it. If you didn't know that, it would lead to some people checking Cantr every five minutes, and those with something better to do, just forgetting the whole thing.

Yes, it is annoying that people get ready to leap out, and attack the split-second the docking time ticks over...

A much better alternative, rather than randomisation, is marol's suggestion of 'real-time' Cantr - no ticks at all.

[tiddy ogg]

Having slept on it, I guess all it means is checking things half an hour later than at present. But as for piracy, in RL tides are predictable, and many chars regard the clicks as representing the tide, so why should that be verboten. But yes, if a totally flexible start/finish time can be implemented rather than these clicks, (which I'd have thought created a large server load,) that's so much the better.

[N-Aldwitch]

I would have agreed until I read Surly's point 1)

At least as it is now - if you know the exact time in Real Life of an event, you can plan for it. If you didn't know that, it would lead to some people checking Cantr every five minutes, and those with something better to do, just forgetting the whole thing.

Yes, it is annoying that people get ready to leap out, and attack the split-second the docking time ticks over...

A much better alternative, rather than randomisation, is marol's suggestion of 'real-time' Cantr - no ticks at all.

Umm if you're going to refer to real life, HF, then,

In Cantr, the Pirate is awake when it docks- he/she is waiting for it to dock- then leaps off.

In Real life, the Pirate is awake when it docks- he is litterally watching the distance between the harbour and his boat, and when it is close enough, he jumps off.

Real enough.

I don't understand why it'd be random, the pirate in real life will be awake when the ship is about to dock... It'd be crazy to be asleep when the ship docks.

[fishfin]

I like this idea, if I understand it right you wont have "gathering potatoes 100%" for an hour and a half if it's added.

[Doug R.]

I like this idea, if I understand it right you wont have "gathering potatoes 100%" for an hour and a half if it's added.

I don't think you understand it then.

[Doug R.]

Is this now implemented? My charries projects all updated at different times at the 4pm EST click, some even after movement.