Thank you all so much for your suggestions! In something like reverse order:
We are indeed waiting until the overhaul is finished to properly fix HELP CURELIST, but an interim note is a wonderful idea, thank you - I've put it in. I'm not sure why HELP HEALINGYOURSELF linked to HELP CURELIST as well as HELP HEALINGLIST/HELP CURES, since that doubles up, so I've removed it.
I don't want to consolidate HELP HERBS and HELP PLANTS because one is about the skill and the other is about plants in general. I'm very happy to make one or both of them a bit more useful though - though HELP HERBS already mentions strip harvesting, hibernation and peak months. What would you like it to say that it doesn't already?
I've referred the request for a file on designing commodities to the lovely Charites for them to review. As for commands, look at DESIGN or CARTEL (with no arguments after them) and you should see a list of all of the commands you've got available.
A lot of the demigod power information does sound like it should be in POWERS INFO, which I unfortunately cannot modify. However, I've added into HELP DEMIGOD a note about the POWERS commands, supernumerary/ephemeral powers, and the cost. If there are specific powers you want to be made clearer in POWERS INFO, BUG it and we'll collect the suggestions together.
I would love to put more information into HELP GUARDS, and will look into doing so. What I'll probably do is create a HELP GUARD TYPES, so that the main helpfile doesn't get clogged up. This may take a little while, as there are a lot of types of guards and I'll need to make sure all the information is correct, but I'm working on it.
ABHELP formatting changes: this would as I am sure you can appreciate be a lot of work. I am not saying no, but it is a big enough project that it merits us taking some time to consider. Thank you so much for putting together the proposal, we will definitely think about it.
A helpfile about the nexus/scholar/bard/pilgrim blessings - how to get the blessings, how to activate the blessings (ie. you need to take the bard item to adalgiso and hand it in or something etc) and what the blessings do would be nice.
Lists all dolls in the game and how to activate them.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
Good. Be a dear and remind me how to activate the Eventru, Lyreth, and Shishi dolls.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
Also, I would like for either Karma Blessings to be their own file
This in particular, please, as is done with HELP DOMOTHBLESSING. I don't want to wade through the rest of that karma crap when I just need to remember what the one thing is.
Crumkane, Lord of Epicurean Delights says, "WAS IT INDEED ON FIRE, ERITHEYL."
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With a deep reverb, Contemptible Sutekh says, "CEASE YOUR INFERNAL ENERGY, ERITHEYL."
Haven't quite gotten to everything suggested yet, but as you can see from the latest changelog there are a few of them in. If I missed any dingbat dolls from the list, please let me know.
I'm not quite sure we have something like that, but since it confuses a lot of people starting out in the game (confused me as well), it would maybe interesting to have a basic 'item handling' help file? Like something that explains, on an example how you deal with multiples of items, like having two identical looking vials, etc. Preferably something you can just point a newb at and after reading it, has some basic grasp on how to deal with their inventory and other inventories.
Hmm, maybe just have a more specific example in help inventory would suffice?
I just had a lot of trouble trying to explain a complete newbie how to distinguish her two vials yesterday and I wondered if that could somehow be explained with a proper example in a helpfile. In essence help inventory has it, though.
Would it be possible to expand HELP BINS to give a list of all the ways you can filter a bin or set a price policy? For instance, can I set a price policy in a shop to give discounts to people under a certain circle, or people who haven't graduated from the collegium?
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
A number of your suggestions are now in as per CHANGELOG 504.
The design helps are still something of a work in progress - I'd love to get HELP TRADEMASTER down in size some more and will continue to work with the Charites on that. But separating out the things that have been is a start, at least.
As ever, thank you for your suggestions and apologies for those I haven't gotten to yet.
Can we get HELP <thing> to return the same file more than once if the search terms appear more than once? For example, doing HELP GOGGLES returns the Pinky file (highlighting the tattooing goggles) and the Gargle file (highlighting the clockwork goggles.) However, there are still two other pairs of goggles in the Gargle file that don't show up on the more board search terms like this.
I'm afraid that would be a code-based thing - it would involve changing how the search function operates - and is therefore not something I can control. I can pass the suggestion on, though.
Can we get HELP <thing> to return the same file more than once if the search terms appear more than once? For example, doing HELP GOGGLES returns the Pinky file (highlighting the tattooing goggles) and the Gargle file (highlighting the clockwork goggles.) However, there are still two other pairs of goggles in the Gargle file that don't show up on the more board search terms like this.
I think that would make it extraordinarily spammy for certain things (I like to use HELP a lot in that sense). What I do is search, find the relevant file, target the word (to highlight it) then help/more through the scroll until I find what I'm looking for. It's more work, yes, but it's worth it to not have to wade through the same file over and over when I know it's the wrong one on the list.
Can we get HELP <thing> to return the same file more than once if the search terms appear more than once? For example, doing HELP GOGGLES returns the Pinky file (highlighting the tattooing goggles) and the Gargle file (highlighting the clockwork goggles.) However, there are still two other pairs of goggles in the Gargle file that don't show up on the more board search terms like this.
I think that would make it extraordinarily spammy for certain things (I like to use HELP a lot in that sense). What I do is search, find the relevant file, target the word (to highlight it) then help/more through the scroll until I find what I'm looking for. It's more work, yes, but it's worth it to not have to wade through the same file over and over when I know it's the wrong one on the list.
Going with my example, if I want to find the 'a pair of diver's goggles' I can not currently do that with the current search function. HELP PAIR returns a number of files but not the dingbatsgargle. HELP DIVER'S doesn't return any file at all.
Can we get HELP <thing> to return the same file more than once if the search terms appear more than once? For example, doing HELP GOGGLES returns the Pinky file (highlighting the tattooing goggles) and the Gargle file (highlighting the clockwork goggles.) However, there are still two other pairs of goggles in the Gargle file that don't show up on the more board search terms like this.
I think that would make it extraordinarily spammy for certain things (I like to use HELP a lot in that sense). What I do is search, find the relevant file, target the word (to highlight it) then help/more through the scroll until I find what I'm looking for. It's more work, yes, but it's worth it to not have to wade through the same file over and over when I know it's the wrong one on the list.
Going with my example, if I want to find the 'a pair of diver's goggles' I can not currently do that with the current search function. HELP PAIR returns a number of files but not the dingbatsgargle. HELP DIVER'S doesn't return any file at all.
That's because it's not "DIVER'S GOGGLES", it's "DIVER GOGGLES". Try "HELP DIVER".
It would be nice with a small bit of clarification on HELP EXPLORATION as to what counts when exploring, and what doesn't. Do homesteads count? Special areas (i.e. the Wyrden Isle)? I'm assuming stockrooms and the newbie areas don't count.
This came up yesterday. It would be great if HELP COVENANT included the information that ending GHELP files with COV lets the other guild in the covenant see and mess with them.
As per changelog 506, a number of these suggestions have now been implemented in some form, as well as a number of suggestions made via the IDEA command.
It'd be convenient if HELP GREATLIBRARIES, HELP CRITIQUING and HELP LIBRARIAN could be merged. A librarian really needs all of the information in all of them to function, and it'd be more convenient if we didn't have to hunt through (and know about) more than one file to find it. Restructuring them into a more coherent introduction to the library system might be worthwhile, too.
EDIT: You should mention that books need to be manually approved by the administration in the publishing section, too. Being aware of that is relevant to planning prestige submissions.
Any sufficiently advanced pun is indistinguishable from comedy.
Add a thing to HELP CLASSFLEX that says that the syntax to go back to your original guild is CLASSFLEX FORGET. It shows up in the list of commands when you type CLASSFLEX, but without any explanation it looks kind of like it might make you lose classflex privs/skills and gives no indication that it sets you to original guild.
Any sufficiently advanced pun is indistinguishable from comedy.
I'm not sure where it's mentioned, but a file explaining the fields for designing as well as how to filter the designs you have would be great. For instance, FORGING SCABBARDS WEAPONTYPE <whatever> can filter out which scabbards can hold which weapons. The only problem is that doing FORGING SCABBARDS WEAPONTYPE doesn't return anything at all, and to get an actual list of what types you can filter it by, you have to add something on the end of it, like FORGING SCABBARDS WEAPONTYPE BLAH.
Also, it would be great if you could show whether a weapon is a masterweapon or not when you probe it. I realise this isn't the place to suggest it, but it's sort of connected.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
The classflex clarification and missing artifacts have been put in now.
I think the best solution to the forging weapontype issue would be to add a message that you can get when you enter it without arguments, giving you a list of what you can filter by - and then adding all of that to what you see when you enter FORGING without arguments. This isn't something I can do but I'll pass it on.
HELP DESIGN COMMS is great. Can we make it better?
I think rather than having 'basic commodities' all lumped in a single paragraph with stars, it would be really helpful to separate it out into 'basic food' and 'basic nonfood', as well as expanding the note for basic foods to say they can't be used in nonfood designs (and vice-versa, I assume) even if the 75% requirement is met. As much as I want real sugar skulls on my hat, clarification ahead of time would keep the reviewers from having to say "Do you want ants? Because this is how you get ants."
The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure pure reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!
Comments
A helpfile about the nexus/scholar/bard/pilgrim blessings - how to get the blessings, how to activate the blessings (ie. you need to take the bard item to adalgiso and hand it in or something etc) and what the blessings do would be nice.
Lists all dolls in the game and how to activate them.
Squeeze.
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And update to HELP DOMOTH BLESSINGS would be nice now that we are in a statless world.
Also, I would like for either Karma Blessings to be their own file, or for 'help karma blessings' to direct to HELP KARMA
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I just had a lot of trouble trying to explain a complete newbie how to distinguish her two vials yesterday and I wondered if that could somehow be explained with a proper example in a helpfile. In essence help inventory has it, though.
Can we get HELP <thing> to return the same file more than once if the search terms appear more than once? For example, doing HELP GOGGLES returns the Pinky file (highlighting the tattooing goggles) and the Gargle file (highlighting the clockwork goggles.) However, there are still two other pairs of goggles in the Gargle file that don't show up on the more board search terms like this.
EDIT: You should mention that books need to be manually approved by the administration in the publishing section, too. Being aware of that is relevant to planning prestige submissions.
Also, it would be great if you could show whether a weapon is a masterweapon or not when you probe it. I realise this isn't the place to suggest it, but it's sort of connected.
I think rather than having 'basic commodities' all lumped in a single paragraph with stars, it would be really helpful to separate it out into 'basic food' and 'basic nonfood', as well as expanding the note for basic foods to say they can't be used in nonfood designs (and vice-versa, I assume) even if the 75% requirement is met. As much as I want real sugar skulls on my hat, clarification ahead of time would keep the reviewers from having to say "Do you want ants? Because this is how you get ants."