Riding. Damn Riding.

[smithforge 1]

Ahhh... the frustration.

 

Is it intentionally made to be so unintuitive? or it just turned out that way?

The strange steering (also includes the absolute heading of the rider), couple with the unintuitive stopped by slope  thing which make it hard to move out of some tight spots at times (even with reversing), which in the end requires the rider to get off and lead the mount out manually.

 

I am not placing hopes on the riding system being improved in the short run (if there is any plans for it at all). So if there is anybody who can offer tips on how to rider more easily and less painfully, you have my whole-hearted gratitude.

[Gone420 609]

if you're having trouble with slope activate a shovel or pickaxe and check the slopes infront of you, horse ride a max of 40 i belive, at 15 digging you can see the slope one tile infront of you, 30 2 tiles 45 3 and so on

[Evilvision 301]

The only thing I can really say is just keep riding and it gets easier. In the way back when the feature to ride horses was added I probably spent 2 weeks wanting to scratch my own eyes out but eventually it tamed me I guess because now it seems fine.

[Wox 1,477]

Think of it like driving a tank W,A,S,D do the steering and the mouse (camera) are the rotating tower, maybe it will make it a little bit easier.

And welcome to the forum and Wurm.

[silakka 2,360]

feels like a bus when im on a cart

i love it kinda =P

[smithforge 1]

Thanks for all the advice.

I guess with practice we can get used to it. But whether it can be "better" or is it intentionally "difficult" though is another question.

 

Perhaps one way to improve things is to add limited auto-pathing: e.g. when horse gets stuck head into an obstacle, there will be some automatic pathing where it will try its best to go around it, or make tight turn around possible. It is supposed to be living after all.

 

I am thinking that I will probably master riding...

but I cannot but think that the riding system really needs improvement.

[Hordern 2,177]

You get used to it pretty quickly. I remember the first time I got on a horse, I went zooming off in the wrong direction and couldn't control it at all. Now I'm happily riding horses that run at 2 to 2.5x the speed.

 

Oh, and you may find it easier to get used to it by driving a hitched large cart to start with. It's slower so more manageable. I also actually got used to it by riding the cart backwards at first. I think it helped because the pivot point is the driver and you're closer to the back than the front. However, that was back when horses moved backwards as fast as forwards. Now it would be really slow.

[KaiH 1,126]

i think Joedobo suggested it once...

an ability to ride in a straight line along a road without needind to correct direction every 20sec would be nice.

[Hordern 2,177]

i think Joedobo suggested it once...

an ability to ride in a straight line along a road without needind to correct direction every 20sec would be nice.

A toggle to lock on to the closest cardinal direction (possibly including diagonals) would be handy, especially to avoid crashing in to mine walls and bugging the horse

[Shrimpiie 3,665]

I remember my first time on a mount, and it wasn't a Horse actually, it was a Large Cart. Me and a friend hoped on and it was so hilarious me trying to steer. I like the currect system to be honest, however the only change I would make would be that Bridles actually do help the turning arc of a Horse.

 

And a separate toggle to lock onto a tile direction would be cool I think, of course I wouldn't use it but a few people would benefit from it.

[rosedragon 2,282]

try a slow horse first.. like without saddle and horseshoes.. 30-40kmph horsespeed can be hectic if you hasn't master the handling.

[Shrimpiie 3,665]

It can get very hectic yes. I have an interesting time navigating my house with my horse that tops 36 on a sprint...

[silakka 2,360]

i think Joedobo suggested it once...

an ability to ride in a straight line along a road without needind to correct direction every 20sec would be nice.

 

Then people would pay less attention and would more likely die to a random large rat.

It's actually a safety system for yourself when you have to correct the movement

[rosedragon 2,282]

eh how could it is safety system where you can stuck in place that is not destination ? ... remind me when i fall asleep while being cart driver... my passengers were panicking .

[Versai 367]

however the only change I would make would be that Bridles actually do help the turning arc of a Horse.

;

[Klaa 4,872]

A horse tank with the rider as the turret is actually pretty accurate

[smithforge 1]

Yes. After some tries, I am beginning to get the hang of it, uncluding large carts.  (The horse I am riding is only ard 16 km/h). I also realised that turning the horse (or trying so) is the most troublesome. When it has motion (e.g. on auto-walk), it movement becomes more predictable and easier to control until get blocked by something which stops the horse and makes the movement control awkward again... there still seem to be strange cases where movement is blocked by slopes which are not up to 30, which usually happens when the slope is approached from a angle. Every time this happen, it will become another mess of forward/reverse/turning until the horse is free to go on auto-walk again.

 

And the turret reference is very true . Being able to turn the head unlimited (using the horrible mouse drag to turn the view when riding....) round and round around the horse without somehow twising the neck or waist of the in-game avatar often makes me lose track of the horse's heading. It makes the fact that being able to see the horse's head is no important. (In this sense, large cart is easier because the animals are easily visible, unlike riding where view has to be lowered enough to see it)

 

So I am getting wurmalized (getting used to and complaining less about the riding mechanism) Once again, thanks to all the suggestions given. They really helped!

[Andobi 56]

For turning in a tight space, toggle between forward and backward movement while turning, as you have found. Other than that, the 'tank' analogy is the best way to look at it. That might not be how an actual horse moves, but its not so hard to master. A point to realise is that while turning, the horse walks forwards too. It can't turn on the spot.

 

Horse riding can be difficult but its very useful so worth getting the hand of.

[Claies 77]

Another thing that's a bit more subtle but helpful to understand is that horses don't actually sidestep... if you are stationary and try to turn left or right, the horse will actually walk forward to point the new direction... but one side moves forward faster than the other to re-orient the horse.  So it can be impossible to turn if you get close to a slope they can't climb if you back up, then try to move forward and turn at the same time, as you'll just end up stuck in the same spot.  best to back up, then turn only, allowing the forward motion of the horse move you before trying to move forward again.  This type of motion is amplified when driving a cart with 2 horses, as if you watch carefully you can see one horse moving faster than the other.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Claies

[puncher 324]

Galloping horses need to be able to do impact damage when hitting an obstacle over  lets say 15kph.  That would stop them from killing themselves at lower speed but they would take and give damgage at higher speeds.

 

Get some Horse combat going already.

 

At the same time though this 0-30KPH in 2 tiles would have to be adjusted as well

[Shrimpiie 3,665]

That belongs in the suggestions thread my friend, and just saying now, you will not get much support.

[NESGamepro 350]

And the turret reference is very true . Being able to turn the head unlimited (using the horrible mouse drag to turn the view when riding....) round and round around the horse without somehow twising the neck or waist of the in-game avatar often makes me lose track of the horse's heading.

 

When you look at someone else in game they do turn by the waist, you don't see yourself do that though. Consider that a concession to ease game play. Also you can toggle mouse look on and off by typing this in the console, where <key> is the key you want to bind:

 

bind <key> "toggle mouselook"

[Serpentarius 186]

Ahhh... the frustration.

 

Is it intentionally made to be so unintuitive? or it just turned out that way?

The strange steering (also includes the absolute heading of the rider), couple with the unintuitive stopped by slope  thing which make it hard to move out of some tight spots at times (even with reversing), which in the end requires the rider to get off and lead the mount out manually.

 

I am not placing hopes on the riding system being improved in the short run (if there is any plans for it at all). So if there is anybody who can offer tips on how to rider more easily and less painfully, you have my whole-hearted gratitude.

A few weeks after Epic started, Rolf changed the horse code and it was fantastic: you could basically run in circle around the same tile with your horse and riding at high speed with your horse across a complex walled area was fantastic and quite skillfull. Of course, people asked Rolf to nerf it back to tank mode for pvp reasons but it was extremely fun the short time it lasted. I think adding some acceleration and velocity to that system would be fun but i am pretty sure tons of people will be against it sadly.