Eidolon

That's good news. I guess I'll find out next week... Thanks.

My main character is on Deliverance, and I made an alt on Xanadu and used the stake to plant a deed. When I come to Xanadu from Deli with my friend (both our mains are premium), will my alt be able to transfer the deed without being premium, or will I have to get a month of premium for my alt? I asked ingame and a CA said that, right now, you need to be premium to transfer a deed, but they thought it was a bug. Does anyone know for sure how things will be once Xanadu opens up to the rest of Freedom? Thanks in advance, and sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I looked but didn't find.

Wow, apologies, I'm a blind idiot. That's actually the thread that made me ask this question... I should have finished reading it instead of getting excited/worried and rushing off to make a new thread. Thank you all for the help.

Oh, the whole "skip" thing is interesting. I haven't done the tutorial since a few years ago, so I wouldn't mind doing it again, but I wanted to avoid having to do it right as Xanadu opens, as I figured there'd be a rush. Two replies with two different answers is precisely why I asked the question, though... Logically, as Nomadikhan said, everyone should have the same options (and I'm sure the team expects players to pre-make alts to be ready for Xanadu). But if Yarnball is correct about the skip and a new tutorial, there might be complications. I would expect the new area would connect to the old portal area, or perhaps they'll simply add multiple portals. But... I'm not sure, this is why I hesitate.

I'm assuming that a portal to Xanadu will simply be added to the portal area at the end of the tutorial in Golden Valley, and that it's safe to make an alt now. But assumptions can be dangerous. Can anyone confirm/deny this? Thanks.

Thanks all for the replies. I've acquired a couple of starting horses, and that'll do for now. Once we're a bit better established, I'll look in into getting more/fancier horses.

Thanks for the offer! Since I made this post, though, I found a nice neighbor to sell me a horse, so my minimum has been taken care of. Now I have to decide what to do next. I'm thinking I should wait a few days and talk to my friend, and go visit our new settlement. It seems that at this point it would be logical to try and get four quality horses, preferably two males and two females. And I'll keep an eye out for Pugwash, thanks. I believe he might be a neighbor (unless he's moved; it's been a while since I last played), which would be quite convenient.

Short version: Looking for a single cheap horse. Possibly an old one that will die soon and with bad traits. If you just want to get rid of it, I'll happily take it for free. Otherwise, I don't mind paying a bit. Ideally near Green Dog, but I can meet up elsewhere. Longer version: That's a minimum, and just to start with. At this point, I just want a horse, any horse. Two would be better than one and, in the near future (but probably not quite yet), four would be better than two. At some point (in the near-medium future), I'd also like horses with good traits, but that's not necessary to start with. I have a small shack with a friend on the north shore of the lake just north of Green Dog (the one with the colossus), though we've recently started a settlement in the south-east, so transportation would be nice. We're not set up yet, which is why I'm not really looking for four proper horses at this time. I could be convinced otherwise, though, for the right deal. Basically, I'm looking from anything ranging from one crappy horse (minimum) to four really awesome horses (maximum). A happy middle-ground would be for two decent horses, I guess. Age would be a major deciding factor; the older the horse, the crappier/cheaper I'd want it to be. But if it's a really young horse (or horses), I might be tempted to invest more. If you're near GD, I'd be happy to come pick up the horse/horses myself. If you're not near, perhaps we could meet partway, or a delivery fee could be worked out. Then again, if I'm buying more than just a crappy horse, getting to see them and choosing them myself would be a plus (color, name). TL;DR of long version: Contact me and let's discuss a package deal for better horses. I guess sending me a PM on the forum would be the best way to discuss the details. Otherwise, feel free to simply reply to this thread or send me a /tell ingame (ingame name is "Eidolon", same as forum name). Thanks!

Thanks for all your help!

Ah! So it's nothing to do with passengers, but simply that only owners of the boat can be commanding it when crossing. That... actually makes a lot of sense. And thank you for the link. I had an earlier one, but it didn't include Cele. A follow-up question to this while I'm at it: so each "map" is, indeed, a separate server, which means that a single character could theoretically have a deed on each of the 5; It's not just one deed per cluster. Correct?

Now, I'm sure this has been asked time and time again, and there are probably multiple threads about the topic... but I apparently suck at searching, and can't find any. So, here's another one. Apologies. How does one move across the different servers? I know there are Epic Portals to go from Freedom to Epic (and vice versa). I also know that Freedom and Epic are "alternate dimensions" of sorts, each governed by their own "laws or reality", and that upon first using said portals, the alternate-you starts back from zero. I guess before I go further with all this, I should start by asking: are there only two servers, Freedom and Epic? Or does each map in both cluster count as a server of its own? I'm presently on Deliverance, and have no particular interest in the Epic cluster, but I guess the following questions apply to Epic as well, in case someone sees this thread and is wondering what I've been wondering, though in regards to Epic. How does one move about within a cluster? I know one can use boats. And I know that in some cases, one can even swim (Inde/Deli... can you swim elsewhere?). Are there other ways? Intra-Cluster portals? Are boats the only way...? Which brings me to (from the Wurm Wiki's article on Ships): Is this information accurate, or does the wiki need updating? I've heard of people getting lifts... how does this work? I was under the impression that each "map" within a cluster was a server in itself, and thus I take the above to mean that you can't, say, sail from Deli to Exo with someone on your boat. If I was to travel with a friend, we would each need our own boat? It could mean, I guess, the border between clusters... but I thought the clusters were wholly separate, with no way of bringing a character from one to the other, so that doesn't make sense either. I'm rambling and not making much sense... TL;DR If my friend and I are in Deli and want to go visit Exo and Cele to hunt for a nice little corner of land to settle, what's the best/most efficient way of doing this, as relatively new players? (we're both Premium, and I have enough Mind Logic to command up to a Corbita, for whatever that's worth) Thanks in advance for your help!

My reaction upon finding this game was pretty much exactly the same as yours. Welcome to Wurm! I'm still a new player myself, so I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll share my first impressions as it seems to me we're looking for a similar experience. One thing you'll have to decide is which of the Freedom Isles to settle on. When you finish the tutorial, you'll have a choice of three. Upon reaching that point, I didn't know what to choose, so I made a thread about it, asking for guidance. I ended up choosing Deliverance, but I still sometimes wonder if I should have gone to Exodus instead... As much as there's still plenty of unclaimed land on Deliverance, most of the better spots seem to be taken (which is not exactly a surprise). A forest, water, clay, tar, iron... these are all basic resources which are quite important. The more of which are near you, the better. You can make do pretty much anywhere, but easy access to these basics is especially important early on (in time, you can build a well, plant your own trees, amass a stock of other resources, etc.). I don't know how much easier it would be to find a perfect spot in Exodus, but it might be easier than Deliverance. Just something to consider. Something else to consider is that during your first 24 hours of play-time, you get a magical light source as well as free food from bartenders, so using that time efficiently can make things a lot easier for you in the longer run. Not the end of the world if you "waste" it, but it's nice to use it "right". I found this guide to be quite useful. I didn't actually end up following it, but I feel it still gave me a good grasp on the basics of what I should be expecting starting out, as well as some direction. Q: Is the game worth playing completely solo, or as a hermit? Would it get to monotonous or boring? A: Is it "worth" it? That's highly subjective. I would say absolutely yes, if you have the temperament for it, but it's not for everyone. I was lucky enough to make a new friend and be invited to a settlement literally within 30 minutes or so after I'd finished my tutorial. I'm a stubborn sort, though, and wanted to make my own way. They said I could just join to have a place to respawn when I died, and I was free to leave any time. How could I turn that down? I spent a majority of my first 24h just wandering, looking for a place to stay. In the end, I ended up settling nearby my village. I'm still roughing it, but at least I have a place to run to in case of trouble. At some point, I may decide that I'm tired of the hermit life and join the village proper, we'll see. But before I did that, I wanted to learn the basics on my own. It's definitely doable, but if it's "worth it" depends on the kind of experience you're looking for. Different villages have different expectations of their citizens, too. I was lucky to find one which basically has a "live and let live" attitude, which suits me just fine. Some are a lot more organized, with each citizen having a specific role to play, and certain expectations (however minor) to live up to. So again, it depends on the kind of experience you're looking to get out of the game. There's room for all paths. As for monotony, be advised that this can be a very slow game compared to... well, pretty much anything. It can be frustrating at times, but honestly, I've never found a game that's given me such a feeling of satisfaction upon succeeding at something, or finishing (or even simply advancing) a project. Though again, it depends on personal play-style. I tend to obsess over one thing and not letting go until I feel it's done before moving on to something else. That leads to a much more monotonous existence than if I could allow myself to mix things up more. I've got 9d 18h of play time, and I'm still living out of my mine, simply because I didn't want to build a shack before I was done terraforming my land and laying down the groundwork. I also spent my first few days simply mining for ore, making tools and improving them. Yes, it was terribly monotonous, but that's how I choose to play, and it works for me. Now I have nice (for a starting player) tools that I don't have to think about for a while. Nothing stopped me, instead, from working on a variety of things at the same time. Start with a small shack, a couple of fields, make and improve tools as the need arises. That would definitely make things less monotonous. Q: How easy is it for a new player to join a village, if they would prefer that method of playing? A: In my experience, very easy. I've never seen a community like this anywhere else, I find it quite impressive. Maybe I've just been unlucky with past experiences and lucky with Wurm ones, but I've found the community to be very warm, welcoming and helpful. Of course, nothing is perfect, and there are always a few bad apples, but for the most part, I think you'll find Wurm's community to be very friendly. Q: Is premium worth it, and at what point? Should I wait until all my skills are maxed out as a Freemium player? A: Again subjective, but considering the low price, and what it gives you, I'd say most definitely worth it. My original plan was to wait until I maxed out all my skills before upgrading, but I quickly changed my mind. Some basic Characteristics (stats, in other games) start quite close to 20, and you'll find that a few of your basic skills will rise quite quickly. It wasn't long before I got myself 2 months of Premium time. Deeds can be pricier, depending on how big of one you get, but especially if you decide to play solo, the smallest one you can get (which is relatively cheap) does offer a fair amount of land. I would advise trying out the game for free at first, get a general feel of what's what. If you like that, go ahead and get yourself two months of Premium. I would suggest holding off on getting a deed until you're quite sure of yourself. If you join a village, for example, you won't be able to get your own deed on the side anyway (you can only own/be part of one deed per character). Q: Is it wise to invest a lot of time and effort into a plot without a deed? I'm willing to buy one if necessary. A: Can't really answer that one... but that's what I'm doing for now... Though in theory someone -could- come by and destroy all your hard work if you don't deed, the chances of that happening are quite low, as it's not exactly easy (and, as I've said, people are very nice here, for the most part). The two main reasons why I'd consider deeding, at this point, would be to stop decay on things I've built, and to get a Spirit Templar. For now, though, I'm doing just fine without a deed. The more you advance, the more you'll be tempted, though. The only way to be 100% safe (at least on Freedom servers) is to deed. Otherwise, in theory, someone could always come and mess with you. Especially early on, though, when you have little of value, it's not much of an issue. Though keep in mind that if you find a particularly nice spot, that in itself could easily be considered "something of value". If you find a place you like and really want to make sure you get to hold on to it, deeding is the only way to do that. TL;DR Ultimately, the best advice I can probably give is to just dive right in. Don't worry too much about stuff, try out different things and see what works for you. Read the Wiki. The Wiki is your friend, and has answers to many questions. One thing that's great about this game is that pretty much -anything- you do serves a purpose. Even failing. When you fail, you still get skill, so nothing is ever completely wasted. Practice does truly make perfect in the world of Wurm. Another thing that's great is that there's no "right" way or "wrong" way to play. Try things out, see what works best for you and matches your goals. If you're someone who needs to be led by the hand (not the impression I got from your post), this game probably isn't for you. But if you can set your own goals and appreciate the freedom of being able to carve out your very own little piece of the land and shape it to your liking, well... you've come to the right place.

Thank you! That's already a lot of answers. That's what I figured would happen in regards to loss, but wasn't sure. Logs are an excellent example for this, as they also combine. This ties in to the peculiarities of merging and splitting as well. I had a few little scraps of separate olive logs which I put in, they merged and turned into a single log large enough for me to get a plank out of it (it was 5.something kg, all added up). As far as the one which I (probably) lost, it was pinewood, and so were the others. As previously mentioned, I'm not certain of the details, but I seem to recall something like half a dozen or so full (24kg) pinewood logs, plus that small one, which was also pinewood. It may even have been below 1.5kg. Since my original post, I've played a bit. Took out some tar from my BSB and refilled my metal torch. When I put the tar back into the BSB, it disappeared. Starting with 7x 1kg of tar, I used one to fill up the torch, which left me with 6 of 1kg, and 1 of 0.87kg. The 0.87kg was lost as soon as I put it back into the BSB. I guess this is what is meant by "When you remove the last whole item, any remaining material of that type is lost." (Wiki), which is something I was unsure about. So it would seem items have a "minimum size", as it were. This is probably what happened to my tiny log chunk as well, it being lower than the "minimum size" for a log. Let's look at an example, then, of how this might work when you factor in both minimum sizes and monthly loss: ---------- [tt]Say you have 5 pinewood logs of 24kg each, for a total of 120kg. Losing 5% would leave you with 4 logs of 24kg and one of 18kg, for a total of 114kg. Assuming you don't touch them for another month, you'll lose another 5.7kg, bringing your 18kg down to 12.3kg and leaving the remaining 4 untouched (since all weight/mass is averaged/combined, and the BSB will automatically seek to make as many "whole" pieces as possible). Again, assuming your logs remain untouched, this will continue until that fifth log is reduced to below the "minimum size", at which point it'll disappear.[/tt] ---------- I suspect that monthly loss would affect the overall, and not just a single item, though this would be interesting to get a clarification on. Say you have 20 logs of 24kg, and one of 5kg, what will happen then? The total mass (or, well, weight... assuming the two are interchangeable, and the game doesn't calculate based on volume instead) will be of 485kg, meaning that 24.5kg will be lost. Will you end up with 20 logs of 24kg, the 5kg log "absorbing" the extra loss? Or will you end up with 19 logs of 24kg and one of 4.5kg? Given the way BSBs operate, my guess would be the latter. But if someone knows otherwise, do please let us know.

~ Wiki links for quick reference: BSB & FSB~ Purpose of this thread As a new player, it didn't take me long to realize that storage bins are extremely useful things. Unfortunately, for one just starting out and still getting used to the whole what's what of Wurm, they seem like strange and mysterious things, abiding by special rules not applicable to other containers in the game. I've read the wiki entries, I've searched the forums and, after making a BSB of my own and playing with it a bit, I already have a much clearer understanding of how they work. Unfortunately, "clearer", at least in this case, is a far cry from "clear", and I still look at them as something confusing and --though useful -- unknowable creations of black magic just waiting to eat my goods and ruin item QL with just one little slip-up. I'm creating this thread with a very specific question in mind, but if enough people are interested in sharing their own knowledge and asking their own questions, it could become a centralized repository of storage bin knowledge. Something that, as a new player, I wish already existed, and I'd guess I'm not the only one to feel this way. The major ways in which *SBs differ from regular containers, in no particular order: 1. Monthly loss 2. QL Averaging 3. Combine/split I'm not adding "loss of special characteristics" to the list, as it sounds rather self-explanatory to me. But maybe I'm wrong, so do feel free to share your knowledge of the peculiarities of this "feature", if there are any. ~*~*~*~ - 1 - This is my specific question. It actually comes in two parts: 1a. How does this work, exactly? I've heard that this is determined by item type, is this correct? Given that the 5% listed in the wiki is the correct number of "loss", say you have 100 of something, you'll lose 5 of them. That's simple enough. But what happens if you only have 2? Do you lose a whole one? Do they lose weight? Do you lose nothing? 1b. And how does the whole "30 day" thing work? What happens if you put a bunch of stuff in one day, don't add anything for 27 days, then take everything out and put it back in? What if you take it out and wait 24h? More realistically, you'll be putting stuff in and taking stuff out throughout the time leading up to that 30 days. Is every item flagged with its own clock, or is there a fixed "item loss day" based on the storage bin's creation date? - 2 - Quality averaging seems relatively straightforward, but maybe someone else has a question or comment about this. - 3 - As I understand it, this is not something player-controlled, but something that happens automatically. For example, wood scraps put into a BSB will automatically merge/split into "chunks" of 1.5kg. Rock shards into stacks of 20kg. It seems items have a pre-defined default "chunk size". I was playing around with moving logs in and out of my BSB and, unfortunately, not paying enough attention, though I noticed something odd/interesting: a small one (maybe 1.5kg or so) either disappeared, or magically became 24kg. I -think- all my other logs were 24kg, but I'm not absolutely certain of this. How does the merging work, exactly? Did I lose my tiny log chunk, or did it magically grow bigger, while possibly lowering the overall QL of the stack? I'll do more tests in regards to this when I get the chance, but if someone has a simple answer, I'd be quite grateful to hear it. ~*~*~*~ That's it for now. Thanks in advance for your answers and, of course, participation welcome.

Thank you very much, Zekezor, that's some excellent information, and just what I was looking for. Some hidden corner of Deliverance does sound like the logical choice, then. Though a (somewhat masochistic?) part of me is still interested in Exodus. I like the idea of wild, untamed lands, but I don't want to spend half my time running away from things (or running to my corpse). One of the main things that's drawn me to Wurm is that, unlike many/most games out there these days, a peaceful existence seems to be a valid option. Sudopudge, say you hadn't been lucky with your new neighbors? How do you think things would have turned out? Or even now, with them there, how often do you have to lead bears to the guards? I like the idea of Exodus, but I suspect Deliverance might be the more prudent of choices... Edit: Deliverance it is. Thank you for your help.