Poll: Should Wurm Have Hitching Posts And Horses That Don't Come Off Of Carts After Server Reboots?

[Guest Docterchese]

Seeing as virtually every Wurmian I know has had a problem with losing horses after server reboots, I think I can guess the answer to this poll...

Hitching posts would be a shaft that you could stick into the ground and attach a horse to - unless stolen on a PvP server, the horse wouldn't go anywhere for 72 hours, making it far far harder to be affected by server reboots; and horses not coming off of carts is pretty self-explanatory. For anybody not aware of it, horses are unhitched from carts when servers reboot, leaving them free to wander away...

These two simple fixes could save tons of pain for all players and ease the workload of GMs called out to find lost horses.

[Selvetarm 2]

+1

[reflexx 10]

+1

[Miretta 1,415]

+1

[Selvetarm 2]

No, I don't think this would be necessary. (1 votes [6.67%])

Rolf already voted

[joedobo 1,187]

One of the numerous pve features that overlooked. A horse is a tool, and just like any other tool, I don't want my stuff effectively being destroyed by a server restart.

It should work If we could plant 3 poles attaching each horse and the cart to a pole.

OT, and if could get that ludicrously dumb horse killing aggro mechanic removed.

[Miretta 1,415]

I can see where that is going ^

[Hordern 2,177]

I always assumed this was the case because re-booting the server couldn't keep track of hitched vs unhitched. If you notice, all manner of movable things like carts and boats etc. are in different positions after a re-boot, so I don't know if it's actually possible to keep things attached to carts. I find it hard to believe it would have been added as a mechanic purposefully, but you never know.

[Tinkerer 107]

@Hordern: That would imply that hitching is only held in memory on the server. But surely it can't be a hugely difficult change. As for carts moving slightly after a reboot, yeah I've always found that a little odd considering, but I guess their positions are never really set in the database unlike most placeable things that you can then 'move > push/pull' which presumably have their precise coordinates and orientation saved when dropped or planted. The same should be possible for a cart if you specifically 'hitch' it to a post - telling the server to 'fix it in position' and storing the coords. At no other time would this be done to a cart. Boats don't seem to move when moored, that 'fixes' them in a position in the database. Just need to allow carts to be moored/hitched. (and horses to a post as well obviously)

Edited July 14, 2012 by Tinkerer

[Gimli 10]

If you die on a cart the horses stay hitched even after a server restart

[FlyinBreakfast 1]

+1 , especially after creatures moving update some time ago, something to fix horses to is realy needed. a pole + rope, simply to plant anywhere you want your horse(s) stay for the next hours/days

would be nice. stealing mechanisms....well, could work on deed as usual and of deed...have no idea of how stealing works actualy, will hardly need lockpicks for the horse <,<

only would be good if tamed horse would be more difficult to steal

[Protunia 735]

I think Taming should be worked on more and players should have to tame horses they do not want to stay online. Similar to the Care For system. This would at least limit the number of horses/animals instead of allowing rampant pole planting of animals.

For sure I do not want to see hundreds of these pole/rope deal planted all over the server with horses/animals attached to them.

There is a better way to do this which makes the player take responsibility for their animals rather than what is suggested here.

Would these planted horses be able to be killed by anyone? Or do all of these animals have some kind of rights to not be killed be anyone at all?

Could someone just run around and plant as many of these things as they wanted? what is the limit based on?

Again I would rather see something based on the skill of the player as to how many animals they are allowed to do this kind of thing with. Taming would seem more the logical solution rather than making some item be able to plant animals any where you want.

SO yes I must!!! -1

[Tinkerer 107]

SO yes I must!!! -1

Been a while since one of your -1's showed itself..

But you do have an interesting point regarding a limit to how many someone may have etc.

My response to that would be to allow as many as the player needs - using up 1 rope every time. (don't get it back afterwards, thus boosting rope need), but.. and here's the "but".. they only last for like 6 hours. After that the animals break free and can be killed etc as usual. 6 hours should allow plenty of time for a restart - even for those that can't hang around for it to come back online.

Relying on taming doesn't really work - what if you are using two animals to pull a large cart and are a long way from your deed when the 10min server message pops up? What if you are in the middle of delivering 3 animals to a deed the other side of the server?

[Miretta 1,415]

well....if something new should get into game we also need to consider the griefing side....

I would suggest, that hitching poles decay very fast, as they are only needed for a short duration anyway. You also need to "lead" your animal, before you can hitch it. and you can maybe only hitch animals who dont need to be tamed to be lead.

and I would only consider taming if it allows to hold more than 1 animal over a server restart :/

[Putzaroo 5]

Make the hitching post a one time situation. You must plant a post and hitch a horse. Once the horse has been unhitched, the post disappears. This would eliminate the forest of hitching posts around the servers. As someone suggested, it could be coded as a mooring action. You could set a time limit for the post to decay as well (24-48 hours) so animals are not simply left to starve as you often see with hordes of penned animals around the servers.

my 2i

[Guest Docterchese]

Hitching posts... the horse wouldn't go anywhere for 72 hours

x)

If people care about their horses then they'd pick them up asap. And 72 hours, like I said, would be plenty of time for that to happen. After that the post could "decay" and the horse would be free.

Taming horses would be extremely impractical. For starters, (as far as I am aware) you can only keep one animal tame at a time, leaving you stuffed if you have two or more with you under current mechanics; and secondly, if you're a horse breeder and you're delivering four (riding one, leading 3) then would it really be possible to tame four horses in 10 minutes? What if you kept failing even at 50 taming skill, is it fair that the breeder should lose 10s worth of horses?

All you need to carry is a shaft per horse. Even then, you could cut down a nearby tree and make 4+ shafts very easily.

The thing is that a server reboot is an inconvenience. The impact they have on players should be minimalised - you should not have to train a skill to not be "inconvenienced."

Edited July 15, 2012 by Docterchese

[hankrearden 144]

A big yes vote from me, this is a change that would open up more playstyles for people to choose from, like hobo or traveller.

[Sir Arowhun 473]

I made another suggestion with a different solution to this problem. http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/64359-animal-freeze-on-shutdown/

[Miretta 1,415]

I think the hitching poles would be a long time solution for this problem, 30 minutes warning before a maintenance would be a short term solution in my opinion

[Hordern 2,177]

@Hordern: That would imply that hitching is only held in memory on the server. But surely it can't be a hugely difficult change.

I'm certainly not saying I don't want a way to secure horses for maintenance. I dread the /support calls when logging in just after a server restart. Even worse if it crashed

Certainly as far as hitching posts could go, I would expect them to decay fast (last perhaps a wurm week) and be bashable in a couple of hits on a PvP server should the idea be considered.

[Pingpong 1,070]

IMO the pvp aspect of changes is overblown, every stinking change is wurm is challenged due to highly creative folks on the pvp servers, last count said sub 40 on wild and epic has it's own partial code. Lets just improve wurm instead of always saying "this will break the mighty pvp" of wurm.

[Lolabelle 597]

Make the hitching post a one time situation. You must plant a post and hitch a horse. Once the horse has been unhitched, the post disappears. This would eliminate the forest of hitching posts around the servers. As someone suggested, it could be coded as a mooring action. You could set a time limit for the post to decay as well (24-48 hours) so animals are not simply left to starve as you often see with hordes of penned animals around the servers.

my 2i

I was just thinking that. If you can moor a boat so it does not wander why not a horse. it is theoretically a vehicle.

[Tinkerer 107]

I'm certainly not saying I don't want a way to secure horses for maintenance. I dread the /support calls when logging in just after a server restart. Even worse if it crashed

Certainly as far as hitching posts could go, I would expect them to decay fast (last perhaps a wurm week) and be bashable in a couple of hits on a PvP server should the idea be considered.

Heh, sorry, didn't mean to imply I thought you didn't.. was just picking up on what you mentioned about the carts moving position etc. Thus it occurred to me that they probably do so because unlike all other objects they are never specifically 'placed' or 'moored'.

Having a hitching post (that destroys itself when you unhitch the horse/cart/cow/whatever resulting in loss of shaft and rope) and a 'hitch' action would effectively be the same as 'placing/planting/mooring' and could set the current position into the database without worry of the object being moved afterward. Only an 'unhitch' would relieve the hold on those objects.

The only glitch or difficulty in that method is having the decay rate on the hitching post (I think the OP's 72hrs is way too long for all intents and purposes) also relinquish that database fixed position and 'unhitch/un-moor' automatically.

[Klaa 4,872]

As long as the horse can be removed by another player, and it is still subject to hunger and disease. Course a pet/mount could be chained and locked down (it had better be pickable! coughminedoorscough)... might want a heavier chain than the js item.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Klaa

[Tinkerer 107]

As long as the horse can be removed by another player, and it is still subject to hunger and disease. Course a pet/mount could be chained and locked down (it had better be pickable! coughminedoorscough)... might want a heavier chain than the js item.

I don't think they should be initially. I don't think 'first back onto the server' should be able to take hitched horses just by premise of being back first. They wouldn't have been left there if there hadn't been server downtime, so your profit would be only due to maintenance - which isn't exactly fair on those that were forced to use the system.

However, I don't think they should be indefinitely protected as such. A few hours of 'protection' should be plenty - after which I would agree to them being being removable by others. Hunger and disease should make no difference for those few hours anyway - but I presume you were considering the possibility of having indefinitely hitched animals everywhere.

The system should only offer very temporary protection and could be skills based to determine how many animals you can have hitched to a post (animal handling perhaps) at any time.