Things that annoy or puzzle you about Cantr

[sherman]

Does someone really have problem with that? I though there was already overproduction or atleast my chars have seen large plies of animal products in many places... And not a single fish

[*Wiro]

Well, yeah. Considering lots of it is behind closed doors. Resource hoarding has always been one of Cantr's main features.

[Bmot]

The problem with meat and other animal products is that, though it can be hard to come by in large quantities, it basically takes you no actual work to get it, it doesn't take any time off of other projects you're working on. That makes it kinda hard to value, you can't say it takes five days of work to get the meat on a camel, as in those five days, you can do all kinds of other work, it doesn't get you any disadvantage to hunt, instead it gives you a chance of "free" stuff. Like I said, it's hard to calculate

[Cdls]

The problem with meat and other animal products is that, though it can be hard to come by in large quantities, it basically takes you no actual work to get it

I think this is a misinformed generalization though. Spawn a character in the middle of nowhere, outside of a major population zone, and paired with it being horrible at hunting...you have yourself a problem. The problem is compounded if the area you spawned in has no natural foods, so basically you starve if you don't kill.

The extremes swing both ways, and while for a large portion of the Cantrian population, meat is basically a throwaway item, there are still quite a few who cherish each gram they manage to get.

[saztronic]

The cold reality is that the RD jiggers the input/output in order to balance the food system. If you try to make things make sense, it's just going to throw balance off and something else will have to not make sense to compensate. It's a no win situation. Something will always be borfed.

I understand the argument that the RD and programmers have to balance the game, including all manner of production and the food system. Of course they do.

But the meat to meat feed thing is just a programming cop out.

My assumption is that the thinking is, we don't want to make meat feed so easy to get or make that people can produce mass quantities in an instant, and it would be easy to keep a dozen tamed parrots. It should be harder than that, meat is already too easy to come by, so we'll 1) make it so you need a wooden bowl, and 2) Cut end product from raw materials by 40%.

It's not the only way to do this, it's just the easiest. Just off the top of my head here:

- You could diversify meats... meat from a mouflon not the same as meat that comes from a hawk, a snake, a wolf. And a truly balanced diet for a carnivorous pet would require some mixture of different kinds. There's already beef in the game I think from domesticated animals, so some steps in this direction have already been taken.

- You could just make it take longer to make feed. Maybe the meet needs to be seasoned, to dry out a bit before an animal would eat it.

- You could require more additives... sinew, small bones, hide as well as meat... or grass, since it's a myth that most carnivores -only- eat meat, in fact cats for example which -must- eat meat also eat grass and all manner of plants because it enriches their diets.

Anyway, the point is that... since this is a thread about what annoys you about Cantr... I don't like it when I see things in the mechanics that I think are there solely for the convenience of the programmers even though they contradict common sense. This particular case seems more like function following form than form following function.

All that said, let me stress first to the programmers that I really don't care that much about this issue. And second, that I completely understand why overworked, and very much volunteer designers and programmers, would take shortcuts from time to time and/or can't stop to mess with every single dinky thing when there are bigger challenges to address. I'm amazed you do as much as you do and most of it I likey.

But there's another thread for saying that. This one's for whining.

_________________

[Snickie]

But there's another thread for saying that. This one's for whining.

This statement right here might be the best thing I've read/seen/heard all day.

[Bmot]

How can it be that a shovel is a less potent weapon than a pot or a hammer (or a smurfin' wood saw? It's quite hard to kill a fighting person with a woodsaw, I imagine)?

[Snowdrop]

Hearing someone mentioned on the radio and thinking "I recognise that name" but not being able to remember which of your characters met the person in game

[Cdls]

Hearing someone mentioned on the radio and thinking "I recognise that name" but not being able to remember which of your characters met the person in game :|

Doing the 'I recognize that name" thing only to realize a moment later that it is because the character is yours.

[Raspberrytango]

Sorry to say, you've lost your town. It's only going to get harder. Eventually, they'll start wondering why someone that doesn't speak their language is running the town, and you'll be ousted, or they'll make the irrational descision to all leave (which would be good for you, but it would be unrealistic).

Lol.. No, it's working out. They are all much too nice to just take over. Some of the nicest players I've known so far in Cantr, actually. The ones who have been there the longest do speak the language of the newspawns, and my character's language, and are very supportive of my character. Everyone's teaming together to meet goals, etc. My frustration was just with the language barrier, but now that's working out too. I can definitely see the scenario you described if everyone was different, but the core group is great. I wish I knew who they were to tell them, but there's another thread for that.


Regarding the discussion about meatfeed and shortage of meat in some areas, I have a few characters that would laugh so hard if they heard it. They have literally had to construct buildings just to serve as meat warehouses because there's far too much of it due to large numbers of big aggressive animals.

[sherman]

I wonder why doesn't cantr has any walkie talkies? We have radio already so why not them?

[Doug R.]

Good parties are hard to pull off in Cantr. I've been around a long time, and my characters have only attended a handful of parties that I would classify as decent. Having thrown several lame parties myself, I think I speak with authority on this subject.

-It's hard to have group activities when people aren't on at the same time

-If the player isn't in a partying mood, it'll reflect on the character at the party

-You can't dance without music, but I'm sorry, unless you put -a lot- of description into your playing, it doesn't get me in the mood. Clicking the play button just doesn't cut it (and, imo, should be removed in favor of rp'd emoting). Music in Cantr is a shadow - really wish we could attach midi files to instruments and allow people to play them.

-Things take so long, a single scene can span days. Even if a player was in the mood to party at the start of the scene, likely they won't be by the end.

-it's really hard to rp drinking if you're not drinking irl. Mostly, I just forget my character is supposed to be.

Last, but not least:

SOMEONE DIES AT NEARLY EVERY GOOD PARTY I'VE EVER BEEN AT, RUINING IT COMPLETELY!

[Auryn]

I'm with you there, Doug. People really need to stop dying. It's very inconvenient and tends to hamper roleplay.

[Joshuamonkey]

People really need to stop dying. It's very inconvenient and tends to hamper roleplay.

Maybe there should be a "Things you would only hear in Cantr" thread.

[Otherside]

I'm with you there, Doug. People really need to stop dying. It's very inconvenient and tends to hamper roleplay.

Ha ha! New signature right there. Thanks...