Things that annoy or puzzle you about Cantr

[Axiom]

As a fairly new player, I just want to say that a lot of the mechanics of this game are confusingly inconsistent. They're also not documented on the wiki. For example, you can't work on projects while walking but can while operating vehicles, you can't pass objects while walking either, redocking after undocking from a ship takes a sea travel tick but redocking from land doesn't, you can't immediately return to town after leaving, etc. I've had to figure out a lot of this from trial and error. Also, the interface is frequently similarly inconsistent. For example, building entrances and exits are on different pages.

[Swingerzetta]

As a fairly new player, I just want to say that a lot of the mechanics of this game are confusingly inconsistent. They're also not documented on the wiki. For example, you can't work on projects while walking but can while operating vehicles, you can't pass objects while walking either, redocking after undocking from a ship takes a sea travel tick but redocking from land doesn't, you can't immediately return to town after leaving, etc. I've had to figure out a lot of this from trial and error. Also, the interface is frequently similarly inconsistent. For example, building entrances and exits are on different pages.

This also annoys and puzzles me. I've been arguing for intuitiveness since I first got here, but change in things like that is slow and heavily resisted by those who've gotten used to it. There are STILL details about cantr mechanics that I haven't figured out. For example, I once suggested putting building entrances and exits on the same page, but it was not popular and discussion died pretty quickly.

I have found this especially true for making things. Sometimes you use the Build menu, sometimes you use the 'use' button of a machine. Sometimes the tool itsself gets clicked...

[Axiom]

I forgot the build mechanics, but yeah, that's another big one. The current interface is really very opaque to newcomers, even for basic tasks like moving around. For example, I would have expected all the places you can go (buildings, vehicles, roads, exits, etc.) to be on one page, and resources, animals, town information, etc. to be on another page. But I imagine it would be difficult to fix all the problems without a major overhaul. It seems like a lot of the problems stem from gradual accretion of many different features over time, and that kind of thing is always hard to fix.

[Swingerzetta]

Yes, I think you're quite right. Hard to fix, and even harder to keep everyone happy about...

[*Wiro]

I can't believe we used to play this game in an even worse state. Before the javascript in menus.

...and that it was literally ten times more popular, too. I'm sad to see the enormous wealth of Dutch culture in the game with no one to preserve it. The few characters left don't care and most Dutch towns are overrun by the (also dwindling) Spanish communities. I miss the days of constant wars between the two language groups.

[Marian]

'West is up' is one I had the hardest time wrapping my mind around when I first started, but now I couldn't imagine the game without it.

It was even more confusing then because a lot of the maps floating around were oriented towards the north. And we sure didn't have no fancy magic Bauer maps back in the day.

[Axiom]

Oh yeah, I was wondering about that! I've gotten so used to that now that I forgot all about it. Why on earth is west up, anyway?

[Kyriel]

The worst part of "west is up" is getting lost and confused when going to play Skyrim or something...

[Friar Briar]

Whoever named the towns on a certain island also forgot to follow the "west is up" direction.

I'm all for re-opening a discussion on overhauling the interface. I keep having to open multiple tabs just for one character so I can see 'objects,' 'activity,' 'buildings,' and 'inventory' simultaneously.

And then backspace, backspace to get back to 'locations' so I can exit the room. Argh!!

How come when dragging an item like a weapon or tool, a drop-down menu appears asking how many of that item I want to drag? One! There's only one item, and that's the one I want to drag! Argh!!

[Snowdrop]

Whoever named the towns on a certain island also forgot to follow the "west is up" direction.

One of my characters has loved making the observation of a certain set of hills on a certain island being all round the wrong way...usually if giving someone else directions to somewhere past them

[*Wiro]

How come when dragging an item like a weapon or tool, a drop-down menu appears asking how many of that item I want to drag? One! There's only one item, and that's the one I want to drag! Argh!!

It used to bring you to a new page. That's a new page for every item you wanted to drag. You couldn't drag part of a pile, either.

[Friar Briar]

How come when dragging an item like a weapon or tool, a drop-down menu appears asking how many of that item I want to drag? One! There's only one item, and that's the one I want to drag! Argh!!

It used to bring you to a new page. That's a new page for every item you wanted to drag. You couldn't drag part of a pile, either.

OMG, the horror!

[*Wiro]

My biggest pet peeve has to be the refresh when copying a note from an envelope, though! It refreshes, but nothing changes because the copy appears in your inventory. So why does it refresh?

[Friar Briar]

My biggest pet peeve has to be the refresh when copying a note from an envelope, though! It refreshes, but nothing changes because the copy appears in your inventory. So why does it refresh?

Yeah, page refreshes...there are too many. Especially with things like this ^^^^^.

What do you call it when a drop-down menu appears or something happens without the page refreshing? Is that the Ajax at work? Or something else?

[*Wiro]

Javascript I think. You can turn it off in the settings to see how it used to be.