Technology Advancement Part II

Sakr

So with the new guild skills being revealed, I wanted to ask about the expansion of technology player side.

What do you guys envision the in game world to be like in a few months or a year from now? And how would you see about reaching that yourself, with as little to no administrative help as possible?

edit: If there were more inventions, from high magic researchers from guilds, low magic researchers, archaeology from the ruins. If there is one, using the gnafia's research labs for better aetherships. Even though we are in a set age, there should always be inventions popping up - and if the popular player inventions can be placed in the game with administrative assistance, that would be frankly amazing. 

Sakr

What if, for instance, the was a skillset that allows you to create inventions? The more you learn, the more you can create. Each thing has a commodity cost, you gain up to 6 schematics when you reach trans. A schematic would allow more and more parts, yet the constructed thing would only last a few months or uses before breaking down.

Skill	Learned At	Description
Schematic	Inept+0%	In order to build, you need a blueprint.
Artifice	Inept+0%	Breathe life into your creation (requires 1 powerstone)
Body	Inept+50%	Create the body for your invention.
Legs	Novice+0%	By attaching legs, your invention can walk.
Compartment	Novice+50%	You can now place things hidden inside your invention.
SecondSchematic	Apprentice+0%	You can now create two schematics.
Arms	Apprentice+33%	You can now attach an arm or two.
Metals	Apprentice+66%	You can now build with metal, letting your invention live longer.
Orders	Capable+0%	Your invention can now obey a list of basic commands.
Head	Capable+50%	You can create a head for your invention, letting it speak.
Goggles	Adept+0%	Creating goggles allows you to interface with your invention.
Recycle	Adept+33%	You can recycle parts you do not need.
Ears	Adept+66%	By attaching an ear, you can hear what is said in the room.
ThirdSchematic	Master+0%	You can now create three schematics.
Shield	Master+33%	You can attach shields to protect the invention from harm.
Warmth	Master+66%	The invention can now generate heat, keeping people in the room warm.
Eyes	Gifted+0%	By attaching an eye, you can see what is happening in the room.
Running	Gifted+33%	By attaching coils, the invention can run faster.
Hypnosis	Gifted+66%	You cannot help but stare at the invention.
FourthSchematic	Expert+0%	You can now create four schematics.
Strength	Expert+33%	Augmented strength allows you to break down doors.
Mounting	Expert+66%	You can now ride your invention.
Attachments	Virtuoso+0%	You can attach more things to the different parts.
Defend	Virtuoso+33%	You can order your invention to defend you from harm.
FifthSchematic	Virtuoso+66%	You can now create five schematics.
Firebreather	Fabled+0%	You can attach a flame capsule to the face, allowing the invention to breathe fire.
Flight	Fabled+25%	By attaching wings, your invention can fly.
Music	Fabled+50%	By attaching a music box, your invention can walk around playing music.
Lending	Fabled+75%	You can now lend your invention to other people.
SixthSchematic	Mythical+0%	You can now create six schematics.
Mask	Mythical+33%	Illusions can't fool inventions? Gives you a chance to notice if an illusion is cast
CompleteControl	Mythical+66%	The inventor has become the invented. Allows you to enter your invention
Prized	Transcendent+0%	A master crafter can allow their invention to live for a year.

So Schematic would allow you to access or create a blueprint. The commands would be:

schematic new <name>

schematic list

schematic delete <name>

invention info

Artifice would allow you to make the invention work. It would cost 1 powerstone per month.

Body would allow you to create a chassis for the invention. You can attach the different things you learn to it.

Legs allows your invention to move and follow you.

Compartment would allow you to store some items inside, similar to a backpack.

SecondSchematic would allow you to create up to two schematics.

Arms allows your invention to have arms. Self explanatory

Metals means that you can create your inventions out of metal now. This would allow them to last for two or three months more.

Orders will allow you to order your invention to different things. Follow you, follow someone else, stay where it is. As you learn more, you can use more orders.

Head is to attach a head to the invention, or you can create a head by itself. If used with attachments for instance, you can add three pipes to the head for instance. Or add the ears and eyes and wear the mask, to let someone else see and hear what's going on in your room. Or attach it to your invention.

Goggles are things you create for yourself, so when you wear them you can see or hear what is going on in the invention's room, as well as command it from a distance.

Recycle would allow you to take some of the commodities you've used from constructing by crafting it down and melting it into its parts.

Ears allows you to hear what is said in the room. You would attach one ear to the head, and keep the other ear to yourself or give it to others.

ThirdSchematic gives you a third schematic to save

Shield allows you to add armor to the invention, which protects it from harm

Warmth allows your invention to generate heat in the room, which would counter some weather effects.

Eyes allows you to see what is going on in the room of your invention, or you can give an eye to someone else to watch.

Running allows you to move one extra room by attaching springs to the legs.

Hypnosis would allow you to gaze at others and give them a small equilibrium loss, or give it to your invention to do that.

FourthSchematic is a fourth schematic

Strength allows your invention to break down walls or doors.

Mounting allows you to mount your invention.

Attachments allows you to attach more things to your invention's parts. You can attach clothing if you want, pipes to the head, shields on the arms.

Defend allows your invention to actively try to defend you from attacks. Takes one attack then needs some time to regain its energy, like weaving a reflection at yourself but more automatic. But it can take a limited amount of attacks before breaking down.

FifthSchematic is a fifth schematic.

Firebreather allows you to attach a flame capsule made from fire essence and a powerstone. This allows your invention to breathe fire, or the mask to.

Flight allows you to attach wings to your invention, letting it fly for a short period of time.

Music allows you to attach musicboxes to your invention, making a music box mobile instead of just staying in the room it is in.

Lending allows you to give your invention to other people to use. Not every power can be used, as some is saved for the inventor.

SixthSchematic is a sixth schematic

Mask is an anti-illusion guard, giving you a chance to analyze if something is an illusion or not when cast. Attaches to the head.

CompleteControl means that you can basically wear the invention, augmenting yourself. You can wear the complete body, or the legs, or the head, or the arms.

Prized allows you to make an invention last up to a year, versus the regular invention lifetime of up to 5 months. Also allows you to fix your invention on the spot.

Xenthos

Uhh...

You've put an awful lot of time into this, but I just don't get it.  It looks like it is cannibalizing from a number of other (guild) skillsets (spying, both audio and visual, as well as increased illusion control), puts more defense in the game, and gives everyone another beast would follow you around and do things for you.

It's a skillset I'd learn for the perks and then pretend the thing wasn't actually there most of the time, to be quite honest.  I'm unsure how much it would actually add to the game's environment.

Ssaliss

First question I get: Which guilds get access to this? It doesn't seem to fit into any guild (perhaps other than Bards with Tinkering). Or is the thought that it'll become a general skill akin to Arts?

Second question: What does adding arms do? Does it allow it to attack? Does it allow someone to give weapons to it that it will use to fight with? Something else? It's not "self explanatory", really.

What do you actually get out of wearing the invention? DMP? Does it still defend you when you are attacked?

Sakr

Sorry, but I have two different responses so just bear with me:

Ok, I'm just tossing out an idea of ways to make things a bit more steampunkish. I'm not putting this as the absolute solution to the world's answers, which will remain forever 42. But i'm just trying to get ideas out in which we add the inventive atmosphere into the game instead of keeping static. Does that make sense?

and the second one:

The thing is you'd have an option between the beast or between augmenting yourself. You would only be able to augment yourself with one thing at a time, for example leg strength or arm strength - or you can create a beast to utilize. Each person's invention would be different, maybe you would choose as an addition to put it a rockeater's corpse over to control. But as to how it would add, it is one way to make the game a bit more of a sandbox.

Sakr

Ssaliss said:

First question I get: Which guilds get access to this? It doesn't seem to fit into any guild (perhaps other than Bards with Tinkering). Or is the thought that it'll become a general skill akin to Arts?

Second question: What does adding arms do? Does it allow it to attack? Does it allow someone to give weapons to it that it will use to fight with? Something else? It's not "self explanatory", really.

What do you actually get out of wearing the invention? DMP? Does it still defend you when you are attacked?

As for guilds, I was thinking of this as something that would fit Bards the most - or due to it constructive nature, a kind of trade skill.

Ok, so I wasn't that clear about the whole thing. There are the two parts, of creating a golem, or to augment yourself. By adding arms to the thing, you can use that to give items to people, for instance, or to collect things from the ground. If you use it on yourself, you would be able to break down walls or doors with your augmented fists, or get a +1 bonus to your strength.

As for wearing your invention, depending on what you assort it with, you would get a DMP resistance, but maybe a malus depending on the material it's constructed out of? For example if it was metal you're resistance is higher to cutting, but lower to electricity. Wood would mean you have higher electricity resistance but lower fire.

As to it defending you with you inside, I don't think it should. By wearing the whole thing, you would be augmenting everything, versus smaller parts. But it would allow you to do other things, for example if you have the corpse of a moose around it, other people would see a corpse of a moose lies here - so you can avoid detection like weaving a statue or a tree.

Sakr

The reason I feel that there is lack of innovation (not administrative side, but player side) is because of how much our trade skills have changed over the years. Without actively adding new nouns to the existing list, it feels like we are simply painting and repainting the same couch in different colors.

While a person can argue that by making a couch look differently from the rest is a way to make your individual mark on the world, by not allowing the designs to grow further from a couch, or a stool, or a ring, or a sword - the inventive personality is lost.

Sakr

How about this. What if when you design an item, you can change the item type freely? This way that we don't need to request new nouns and stick by them, but instead we can design almost anything and have them accepted case by case? 

The example is rugs. Right now we can do Rugs and Carpets. But lets say you have this amazing idea for a mat? Then you would have the design ready and for the item type, DESIGN ITEM MAT.

This would be for divine reviews, but it would fit under the already existing group of rugs. And if the design itself is popular enough, then maybe a noun can be made for it so that mortal reviewers can go through and check them as well.

Thoughts?

Enyalida

Trade innovations are notoriously slow and inflexible.

 Take poor bookbinders and their 13 shapes of origami. That's right, in all the world, there are only 13 shapes for things to be! Even after all this time, still only 13, no way to have a generic 'origami' that can be any shape. It would be nice to just have an 'origami' noun, and that makes wonderful sense to me, and all the trademasters, but it was denied because they want every origami to have two targeting nouns, a shape and origami, so only the limited few shapes we have.

Vuris

at the over post:

I would like to see players able to create and change the world without the help of the Admin, of course that would raise issues in and of itself (Flying Robots of mass destruction for example wouldn't fit in with the game overly much...) Though it would be nice to have some kind of guide for submitting inventions or new technology ideas, I tend to work better with guidlines instead of, "Lets and release the cosmic powers of the Vortex on the entire Basin." Only to have it shot down. I do like that skillset idea though, but I do agree with Xenthos just more defences to make pvp a bit harder to new players to jump into.

As for the Technology, since I'm baised and love Gaudiguch, I can see the Illuminati advancing and using Flesh rather rapidly as a viable technology.

Ragniliff

Lusternia is a post-apocalyptic world. We are surrounded by things we barely understand and/or don't understand how they work, and I think that is meant to be the setting through and through. Even things like aetherships aren't wholly technical - an aethership is really a big beast of sorts. I feel like having a lot of sudden technological advances would detract from that and rather change the overall feel/tone of the game.

While an overhaul of the design system would be nice, I think this too would be such a huge project as to require a complete shift from the current set up of the game. Development is mainly focused on PvP and conflict. In fact, I think part of the reason we don't advance more is supposed to be that we fight so much. :P

The biggest problem I have with advancing technology is that it would put a pretty big strain on development. Once it gets going, it should keep going pretty rapidly, and while that would be realistic, that would be a nightmare for the admin side. And... giving players direct control over these things without admin guidance just would not work. In a perfect world, yes. But in reality? No. Really really really really really bad idea.