Does Cantr need an update?

[marol]

I would be very happy to work on the design just for the credit, but I don't think I can really devote time to that now.

And that's the problem, people have enough time to make suggestions, but not enough to implement them.

I know CSS/XTHML, maybe I could do it.

Oh, it's really simple. I have spent a lot of time to separate HTML code from cantr engine. Now there are few template files, which looks like this:

• http://cantr.net/page.char.info.tpl (character information header),
• http://cantr.net/form.repair.tpl (repair page),
• http://cantr.net/form.unsubscribe.tpl (unsubscribe page)
• and many others.

One would need to strip HTML formatting from these pages, apply CSS classes and desing CSS file. Quite simple, but also requires a lot of time.

[T-shirt]

Yes, it needs being updated. The size should be downscaled.

Have a whirlwind pick up every character, lots of resources and vehicles, and let it drop on a new world a 10th the size of the current map. Scatter characters around regardless their language. Scatter half or a quart of the verhicles the same way. Half or a quart of the buildings too. These are nice treasures to begin with.

[SekoETC]

We can't alter the size of the world because that would mess things up. What we could do is speed up traveling. This means less time WASTED on the road. Since it is a waste. It should be max 3 days, not average 3 days. There's no other game where traveling would take as long as it does in Cantr. Compare it to Travian, in there if something takes over a day, that's a long time. The downside is that people who have been around for longer have an advantage over you and it's hard to catch up, but if manufacturing and resource gathering would still remain slow, that would balance things out. And if the amount of travel ticks remains the same, only the speed is increased, that means there would still be time to catch thieves unless they're abusing travel ticks. In fact, how about travel speed growing exponentially? The longer you spend on a road, the faster you go, making sure that catching thieves during the first hours would be easier but after that people would've come after already so you might as well skip the boring time.

[formerly known as hf]

Marol, that's great. I remember, some time back, a bunch of us were throwing around ideas about developing a new interface / styles for Cantr. But the nature of the HTML design meant few changes were possible.

I would offer to spend some time working on those templates. But I know how Cantr works.

However, if there are a number of people willing to pitch in and help develop the stylesheets and/or come up with new styles and designs?
If there's a number of people working together, it'll be worth it - and I would be more than happy to go back to donating more time to Cantr.

I've thought Cantr needed a facelift for quite sometime (no offence Jos...) but things never really got moving with it before...

[T-shirt]

Adjusting travelling speed won't work. There as much locations as there are characters. That's the problem. It is no help that you travel in one click to the next settlement when most settlements are empty.

[marol]

If there are people who are really willing to do that, then it would be quite easy - PgD have already set a test environment for many purposes, where also CSS designers could work and immediately see the effects.

[SekoETC]

Has anyone actually been to the test server lately? Since when I try to go there it throws this error message:

<<<<<<< .mine <<<<<<<mine>>>>>>> .r1036 <<<<<<< .mine =======
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class database in I've cut the address out - marol on line 195

And that was also around last time I checked, which was weeks ago. So either I've got the wrong url or then someone broke it.

[tiddy ogg]

One of the original points was animal numbers... yes dramatically reduce numbers.
The introduction of the smoker killed off most ovens etc, and now the drying rack, wasteful as it is, has killed the smoker, due to the excessive number of animals in most places.
One of the interactions, which this game is meant to encourage, was the trade in food, but now, in a lot of places at least, this has been killed off.
And yes, the world's too big for the population... but we've been through that before.
Maybe I've been around too long, but a restart from scratch seems quite attractive now.

[Voltenion]

is it possible to do all those things(restarting and "shortening" the world and bla bla bla) and still keep all the chars? Like nothing happened in their world that they'd notice... If not we might lose a lot of history and lot of players too, by making this.

[Tiamo]

I think short-term changes to the (food) production tree will not work. A more systematic approach is needed here.

The population density will always fluctuate over time, population may well decrease a lot further. The food chain should in essence be independent from the population density, not be adapted to the current population.

In order to be realistic, and encourage social interaction, areas should be able to sustain a relatively low number of primitive inhabitants, numbers that rise as societies develop. More efficient food thus should be available (by technological means) to more developed societies only.
Since dried meat is available to just about any level of society (only animal products and wood are necessary), there is something rotten in the state of ... Well, a full reconsideration is necessary, i think.

When more complex dishes, consisting of a mix of several raw products, would be more efficient the gathering of those ingredients would create the so wished trade (providing they are well dispersed over the world of Cantr). Hurray for salad mixes, pizza and sushi!
Connected to this issue is the option of introducing a healthy mix of several types of nutrition. Living your whole life on a diet of dried food is really UNhealthy, as is eating just potatoes or bread. Maybe having a one-sided diet should have health repercussions in the long run, and a nicely balanced diet could give a bonus on health. This would be an extra incentive to gather and produce several types of food ==> more trade!

Finally: maybe it is possible to make some really sparsely inhabited areas of the world (temporarily) uninhabitable by introducing some kind of natural disaster (flood, volcanic eruption, earthquake, climate change). Of course this disaster would have to be foreseeable, so everyone gets a fair chance to flee the area.
The result would be a (temporarily) smaller world.

[palpatin]

<<<<<<< .mine <<<<<<<mine>>>>>>> .r1036 <<<<<<< .mine =======
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class database in I've cut the address out - marol on line 195

This happens when you screw up using CVS
I wonder why the programming department lacks coders. Application developers are after money rather than playing maybe

[Doug R.]

Food consumption needs to be balanced, but not in the way most people think.

Simply put, if you eat the same thing over and over, it's detrimental to your charrie's health. All salted products make you dehydrated over time (causes the institution of a per day water reqirement, which fruits/veggies could help allieve). All veggies make you lose muscle mass (strength - there are no beans in the game for veggie protein). All starch makes you fat (slower walking speeds). All meat makes you constipated (slower project speeds).

AND/OR

Eating in a balanced manner makes you less susceptible to disease, and eating poorly makes you more susceptible.

Reducing animals or meat, or making foods more or less expensive won't really solve the food imbalance.

Characters would still be able to live as they do now, but the quality of life would be diminished.

OR

Keep things as they are now, but allow a balanced diet to -enhance- characters attributes.

Each charrie would have daily nutrient requirements: starch, fiber, protein.

If they meet these requirements, you get bonuses to speed and strength. If they don't meet them at all, things are as they are now. If they meet them partially, you get partial bonuses. The food eating system would then try to eat according to the requirements, instead of the least efficient food as it does now.

[Talapus]

Or what about nutrition enhancing skill progression? It would be subtle, not hurt young characters (much at least), but would be an adequate reason for many older characters to seek a balanced diet.

[toon]

But then won't you need to spread plenty more varieties of food around? I've seen alot of potatoes and meat can be collected from animals, but there are many places I have seen without veggies even close.

[Doug R.]

Yes, probably you'd have to.