Midway / WickSick Island Modifications

[AlexanderRM]

Midway is interesting, from a gaming perspective. There is nothing to the place: its just a tower (and not even an especially nice tower). Yet people will fight over it and engage in all sorts of activity just to control it.

Look at Unity in comparison. Nothing to do, nothing to look at. The last time any significant congregation of people gathered there it was to burn the place down.

[...]and the more things which players perceive worth fighting over, the better.

I see this as being more an argument against adding more stuff to MidSick than in favor of it (for that matter, for a moment I thought that you meant "interesting" in a psychological sense- you were talking about the complete lack of stuff worth fighting over on the island. It seems like adding more stuff would take away this unique, interesting part of the game).

Like you said, people already fight over MidSick, in fact it's probably the most fought-over places on the island besides the villages (and you could argue even that even more than some villages, depending on your definition), adding more stuff to it is not going to result in more things which people consider to be worth fighting over (nobody is going to claim anything on the island without claiming the whole island).
Any changes to MidSick couldn't do anything but reduce the amount of fighting over it- which would be entirely possible with the addition of a roaming shaman along with other stuff, since it would almost certainly result in the occupying faction getting more entrenched, and might result in MidSick getting a small population of it's own with it's own group or whatever. That could easily put a complete end to the disputes.

Unity Island, in comparison, would be an excellent place to add some stuff to. It's not fought over currently, yet there are 3 villages which could potentially lay plausible claim to it- and none of them have done so, so Unity is perfect ground for conflict.
Alternatively, though, it's large enough and far enough from other villages that it actually could plausibly attract some inhabitants of it's own. Unity could become, say, something of a refuge from the conflict on the main island... and if it accepted all types then the name would be perfect. (It would also fit nicely because the RL island it's based on is apparently something of a haven for refugees, since mostly whatever natural disasters they're fleeing from don't affect it).

I totally agree with Bobby, roamers on islands (especially Skull Island) is a big nono. 

I think MidSick and Unity Islands should have no roamers.

This is a seriously good, practical point. It should probably be made so that only spirits on Unity island and in the nearby water would respawn to it. Not sure how to code that, though, and there's the deep water to consider... maybe being within a certain range, or having the shaman there be the closest roamer, would give you a choice between "contact roaming shaman" (nearest normal roamer) and "contact Unity shaman" or somesuch, as well as contact home shaman. I'm unsure about the range... it might be interesting to have people respawning to Unity from the mainland, but could also get weird, and there's have to be sufficient explanation of what it does to prevent people from using it without realizing what it would do. Would certainly be good for Unity as a haven for refugees... though maybe not so good for Unity as an independent state.

It's not unbalanced, nor favouritism.  I can easily see such changes being made to several locations on the island at once, granting a wide range of places to lure people out of towns and encourage them to visit the island.

But that's not the suggestion. It's not a list of several locations for changes to be made to. It's a suggestion to add a new roaming shamen (something which I'm fairly sure has not been done since the roaming Shamen were created) as well as some other resources to ONE specific island, and island which has both long and recently been the focus of political controversy. The starting post even specifically mentions the NG.

OK, so adding things to several areas at once wouldn't be favoritism (I saw you'd suggested that earlier). But nobody was claiming that it would be, anyway, so it's a moot point. I'd suggest maybe making a separate "modifications to several locations on the island" thread, so that we can keep that separate.

[Solemn]

It's not unbalanced, nor favouritism.  I can easily see such changes being made to several locations on the island at once, granting a wide range of places to lure people out of towns and encourage them to visit the island.

But that's not the suggestion. It's not a list of several locations for changes to be made to. It's a suggestion to add a new roaming shamen (something which I'm fairly sure has not been done since the roaming Shamen were created) as well as some other resources to ONE specific island, and island which has both long and recently been the focus of political controversy. The starting post even specifically mentions the NG.

OK, so adding things to several areas at once wouldn't be favoritism (I saw you'd suggested that earlier). But nobody was claiming that it would be, anyway, so it's a moot point. I'd suggest maybe making a separate "modifications to several locations on the island" thread, so that we can keep that separate.

Thank you.

[FirstAmongstDaves]

Midway is interesting, from a gaming perspective. There is nothing to the place: its just a tower (and not even an especially nice tower). Yet people will fight over it and engage in all sorts of activity just to control it.

Look at Unity in comparison. Nothing to do, nothing to look at. The last time any significant congregation of people gathered there it was to burn the place down.

[...]and the more things which players perceive worth fighting over, the better.

I see this as being more an argument against adding more stuff to MidSick than in favor of it (for that matter, for a moment I thought that you meant "interesting" in a psychological sense- you were talking about the complete lack of stuff worth fighting over on the island. It seems like adding more stuff would take away this unique, interesting part of the game).

Like you said, people already fight over MidSick, in fact it's probably the most fought-over places on the island besides the villages (and you could argue even that even more than some villages, depending on your definition), adding more stuff to it is not going to result in more things which people consider to be worth fighting over (nobody is going to claim anything on the island without claiming the whole island).

No, what I mean is notwithstanding the fact its just a tower in the middle of nowhere, people still fight over it.

Folks would really invest in it if it was really worth fighting over. Or even settle there. I like the idea of the NG moving to Midway, and facilitating their move there with some permanent supplies, because it means there is somewhere new and unique to visit other than the villages, with a reason to visit.

Any changes to MidSick couldn't do anything but reduce the amount of fighting over it- which would be entirely possible with the addition of a roaming shaman along with other stuff, since it would almost certainly result in the occupying faction getting more entrenched, and might result in MidSick getting a small population of it's own with it's own group or whatever. That could easily put a complete end to the disputes.

Well, yes. I'm not sure we're disagreeing. Any sort of player interaction is good.

Unity Island, in comparison, would be an excellent place to add some stuff to. It's not fought over currently, yet there are 3 villages which could potentially lay plausible claim to it- and none of them have done so, so Unity is perfect ground for conflict.
Alternatively, though, it's large enough and far enough from other villages that it actually could plausibly attract some inhabitants of it's own. Unity could become, say, something of a refuge from the conflict on the main island... and if it accepted all types then the name would be perfect. (It would also fit nicely because the RL island it's based on is apparently something of a haven for refugees, since mostly whatever natural disasters they're fleeing from don't affect it).

When Unity was first discovered, two or three factions, the Discordian Cargo Cult and the Royal Expedition and I think the Scurvy Crew of the Hellborne Strumpet, fought over it - and came to a peaceful resolution, which is why its called Unity.

Nothing significant has happened on the island since then. At all. For around five years. So why bother to go?

If there was something to see or do there, then folks might be inclined to visit. Whether that is a tower, a temple, huts, a cave full of gold, or whatever, it gives players incentive to go somewhere.

[Etherdrifter]

It's not unbalanced, nor favouritism.  I can easily see such changes being made to several locations on the island at once, granting a wide range of places to lure people out of towns and encourage them to visit the island.

But that's not the suggestion. It's not a list of several locations for changes to be made to. It's a suggestion to add a new roaming shamen (something which I'm fairly sure has not been done since the roaming Shamen were created) as well as some other resources to ONE specific island, and island which has both long and recently been the focus of political controversy. The starting post even specifically mentions the NG.

OK, so adding things to several areas at once wouldn't be favoritism (I saw you'd suggested that earlier). But nobody was claiming that it would be, anyway, so it's a moot point. I'd suggest maybe making a separate "modifications to several locations on the island" thread, so that we can keep that separate.

Thank you.

Kind of res ipsa there really.

Location by location upgrades tend to be what happens.  Not a big overall change.  I'm actually quite interested in doing some ruin find rates actually.  Rumour has it that not all ruins are the same when it comes to items...

Ah but I digress and ramble on in my exhaustion.

The key point here is midway could do with a nice shiny upgrade.  My point was that so could other places.  No doubt if we had suggested somewhere that had not recently been contested by groups of player then the idea would have zoomed through.  As it is people are bickering over semantics and not the idea itself.

A wandering shaman may be a lot to add to a location, but then again many things have been added in the past to make a location more desirable.  Usually for RPers.  Now, do call me crazy, but the majority of islanders ain't rpers.  They, them who's names we don't know, deserve something too.  Least we claim favouritism for rpers.

[snico]

what about an island roaming shaman that's a third option when you die?  it hops from island to island, even the small ones, and when you choose "roaming island shaman", you're sent wherever that shaman is.  So it could be on Midway today, but tomorrow it's on Aviro or at the mouth of Skull Island.

[AlexanderRM]

No, what I mean is notwithstanding the fact its just a tower in the middle of nowhere, people still fight over it.

Exactly. People don't fight over it because of supplies, resources, or whatever. They fight over it, more or less, because of RP. Why would you assume that adding resources would increase the level of conflict there? Just because people fight over resources in real life? I'm afraid Shartak doesn't really work that way.

Any changes to MidSick couldn't do anything but reduce the amount of fighting over it- which would be entirely possible with the addition of a roaming shaman along with other stuff, since it would almost certainly result in the occupying faction getting more entrenched, and might result in MidSick getting a small population of it's own with it's own group or whatever. That could easily put a complete end to the disputes.

Well, yes. I'm not sure we're disagreeing. Any sort of player interaction is good.

Eh... I sorta understand what you're saying that, but that's a pretty basic thing to agree on. It's like saying [insert 2 parties of your country here] don't disagree because they both consider democracy to be a good thing. We're disagreeing on whether a shaman on Midway would be a good thing.

Unity Island, in comparison, would be an excellent place to add some stuff to. It's not fought over currently, yet there are 3 villages which could potentially lay plausible claim to it- and none of them have done so, so Unity is perfect ground for conflict.
Alternatively, though, it's large enough and far enough from other villages that it actually could plausibly attract some inhabitants of it's own. Unity could become, say, something of a refuge from the conflict on the main island... and if it accepted all types then the name would be perfect. (It would also fit nicely because the RL island it's based on is apparently something of a haven for refugees, since mostly whatever natural disasters they're fleeing from don't affect it).

When Unity was first discovered, two or three factions, the Discordian Cargo Cult and the Royal Expedition and I think the Scurvy Crew of the Hellborne Strumpet, fought over it - and came to a peaceful resolution, which is why its called Unity.

Nothing significant has happened on the island since then. At all. For around five years. So why bother to go?

If there was something to see or do there, then folks might be inclined to visit. Whether that is a tower, a temple, huts, a cave full of gold, or whatever, it gives players incentive to go somewhere.

Yeah, I knew something along those lines. Read it in the history books a bit after I joined.

And this is definitely an example of where we agree.

what about an island roaming shaman that's a third option when you die?  it hops from island to island, even the small ones, and when you choose "roaming island shaman", you're sent wherever that shaman is.  So it could be on Midway today, but tomorrow it's on Aviro or at the mouth of Skull Island.

That sounds nice. I'd prefer keeping it only on the islands off in deep water, though, since the rest are all virtually part of the mainland in terms of difficulty of getting there. Also Arrivo rock, since that would be an annoying place to respawn onto. So just Unity, the Skull archipelago, and MidSick.

I'd suggest having him respawn on one of the three islands after dying, but could also teleport occasionally after a couple weeks on the same island. That'd make killing the roamer have a serious point in his case, at least in defending Rakmogak. On that subject... that would allow you to respawn instantly to Skull, Unity, or MidSick island, no matter where on the island you are, which seems like a bit much even with the uncertainty, so maybe there should be a range limit. (actually, maybe especially with the uncertainty, since people intending to go to one island could find them stuck on another.

[Swarm]

I don't think there should be any more roaming shamans.

There should be some of those rum/beer things on Unity and MidSick.

[snico]

On behalf of myself and Flamese, I think Midway Island should have some supplies so that he can reopen the Haliphax Inn.

I just think that since MidSick Island and Unity Island are the biggest and most distant islands, they should have one of those Rum/Beer Wrecks that people have been finding.  And that's all. 

I totally agree with Bobby, roamers on islands (especially Skull Island) is a big nono. 

I think MidSick and Unity Islands should have no roamers.

Unity should have 2 of those abandoned rum/beer things, MidSick should have 1, and they would never go away.

I don't think there should be any more roaming shamans.

There should be some of those rum/beer things on Unity and MidSick.

Okay Swarm, we got it

[Bobby the Hatchet]

I think someone should buy snico one of those rum/beer things.

[Swarm]

Okay Swarm, we got it

NO YOU HAVEN'T

[Iceman]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned having a couple of those supply crates on Midway. That'd be a good idea.

[Bobby the Hatchet]

A booze crate here or there on some of the islands would be pretty neat. Either it got washed up, or it's some smuggler's private stash. You could even network with the local bars and have an occasional trader make runs to trade out booze for FAKs.

[Katie Calhoun]

A booze crate here or there on some of the islands would be pretty neat. Either it got washed up, or it's some smuggler's private stash. You could even network with the local bars and have an occasional trader make runs to trade out booze for FAKs.

SHHHHH...I had figured that out too and had planned on doing just that. Or at least go there and bring stuff back. I really would like to see these more then just that one we know about.

[FirstAmongstDaves]

How about a couple of those supply crates on Midway? That'd be a good idea.

[Neil Tathers]

How about a couple of those supply crates on Midway? That'd be a good idea.

This has been mentioned in other threads as well.