Posted October 4, 2023 (edited) Currently animals that can be led in water seem to have to be able to swim naturally unattended as well. My suggestion is that two different types of swimmer are used: one for natural swimmers (such as bears, snakes and crocs) that can swim unattended on their own, and another for animals that should only swim when they are led through water (such as horses and foals) In this way horses would not naturally enter the water unless led. Just like when ridden, the unattended horses would wait along the shoreline rather than voluntarily swim out to sea and die - whilst still allowing them to swim when led by a person. Horses already in the water due to disconnections or left by mistake at a server crossing, would remain swimming in the same spot until led again. The main reason behind this idea is to increase quality of life for new players, to get the (sometimes large) numbers of horses out of the sea and back on the land where they can be put to good use. The only negative I can see is from more advanced players that might find it more convenient to pick up sea horses on route to an event, but I think the benefits of having these horses on land far out weigh those of leaving them to float in the sea. Another option is to restrict the distance that horses can swim out from the coast unattended. In that way they may then be retrieved more easily by a new player. I'd love to hear others' thoughts. Edited October 4, 2023 by Muse Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 4, 2023 I would not want to stop horses from being to swim unattended at all , but I think the idea of restricting the distance (or maybe the the depth) for unattended horses would be beneficial. I don't know that anyone would bother to programme it, but it would be good if there was a soft "grey" transition zone where an unattended horse would turn and swim in a new direction. I think this would be better than horses going so far and then simply stopping. Or maybe provide some kind of weighting to water tiles, where the likelihood is higher for shallower water - so once the water is swimming depth a horse can swim but prefers not to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 The reasons you saw horses on the sea or deep water areas, cause players been dragging them there on purpose. Well if you dont want them to wander off in the deep water, we wouldnt be able to lead the horses through there by boat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 Not exactly true @Darkelf. Back on Desertion server for example on the Epic Cluster, the north part of that server is basically steppe with many horse spawns. Sail around those borders and you'll find an insane amount of horses that just wander out from the steppe into the ocean, eventually reaching close to the server border. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 Couse that's just seahorses. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 Animals need a rework. We got all sorts of nonsense going on - mountain cows, mountain seals, mountain crocs, sea horses. All this just doesn't look good on the game. 6 hours ago, elentari said: Not exactly true @Darkelf. Back on Desertion server for example on the Epic Cluster, the north part of that server is basically steppe with many horse spawns. Sail around those borders and you'll find an insane amount of horses that just wander out from the steppe into the ocean, eventually reaching close to the server border. Somehow related, when I was the only person online on Serenity, I used to see those ghosts at sea in the distance. Creepy stuff... like the ghosts of players that were once active. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 I do not see an issue with sea horses or donkeys recently. There was abundance of sea horses some time ago, apparently they were even able to spawn in lakes or the ocean. It is some time that this has stopped, a month if not more. I see sea horses fairly seldom nowadays. I suspect that some measures have been taken, such as stopping spawning in the water mainly. While horses may still stray into the water, this seems not too often now.This was also different when there were a general wandering direction of animals, northwest those times. Even animals unable to swim wandered into the water those times, and died.This seems to be gone since at least two years, rather more. To my impression, the devs have done a lot already. I do not see too many animal troubles nowadays, except maybe, that we have too many unicorns. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 8 hours ago, Idlamn said: Animals need a rework. We got all sorts of nonsense going on - mountain cows, mountain seals, mountain crocs, sea horses. All this just doesn't look good on the game. THis is really one big issue that is more than just "I can deal with it cause it's just wurm". Lots of mobs are simply put in nonsensical places like trolls or wolves in 3000 slopes which is just dumb. Spiders I get, that they could climb such angles but bipeds? Lots of animals could easily be given some pathfinding limitations, if X slope = this height or more, said animal can't climb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 5, 2023 17 hours ago, Darkelf said: The reasons you saw horses on the sea or deep water areas, cause players been dragging them there on purpose. Well if you dont want them to wander off in the deep water, we wouldnt be able to lead the horses through there by boat. There have been times where oceans and lakes had literally hundreds if not thousands of horses. It wasn't something players did. Also as Ekcin said it could have been spawn rather than wandering. I don't know the situation now, but in recent years there has been a pretty widespread issue with this. This is one thread on it, which I could find easily because I was the OP, but there have been others. https://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/180187-water-horses/ There was a suggestion about keeping animal spawn and migration to within or near appropriate habitats. For example, crocs shouldn't just spawn wherever there is sand. They should spawn where there is water. Seals shouldn't venture up mountains, and wolves and bears shouldn't live in the deserts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2023 (edited) Unattended animals out at sea should die after a period... 24rs? Let alone having more realistic and balanced spawning conditions. Edited October 9, 2023 by Karrde Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
