Shartak Geocacher Club

[Dani]

^{MASTERLIST OF CACHES}

#1 “Sunset Dunes Geocache -70.72?,+26.36? Please leave the cache more full than you found it. Thank you.”
#2 "-70.36?,+26.52? ~ The Last Remains of Maraku Leshak ~ If You Take From Me, Put Something Back ~”
#3 "Geocache ~ [-70.44?,+26.49?] ~ The Remains of Flesh Feast ~ Take Something ~ Give Something"
#4 "The Confused Corsair's Cache" (SW of the Disco Volante)
#5 "Geocache Location. The Corsair's Booby Prize - its not as good as the other corsair's cache." (W of Shipwreck)
#6 “Geocache ~ [-70.52?,+26.48?] ~ Here lies Wambayak, the Wicksicker ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something”.
#7 "Geocache Location. Between Two Ferns" [-70.51?,+26.47?]
#8 "Geocache Location. Elephant's Graveyard" (Due W of Dalpok)
#9 “Geocache ~ [-70.22?,+26.40?] ~ Here lies Bobo ~ Dig Deep ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something”
#10 "Geocache Tathers Unit 1 (GPS coords -70.70?,+26.35?) Give a little if you take alittle"
#11 "Geocache Tathers Unit 2 (GPS Coord -70.64?, +26.39?) Give alittle take a little"
#12 "Archer's Pool Geocache -70.48?,+26.50? Take something, leave something. Thank you."
#13 “North Shore Cache -70.40?,+26.54? Take a little, leave a little. Thanks.”
#14 “Geocache ~ [-70.35?,+26.52?] ~ Here lies Zamathar Hawkblood ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something”
#15 “Geocache ~ [-70.38?,+26.41?] ~ Here lies Lestatha ~ Dig Deep ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something”
#16 “Third Eye Geocache -70.17?,+26.57? Take a little, give a little bit more. Thank you.”
#17 "End of the line geocache -70.36?,+26.42? take a little, leave a little more. Thanks"
#18 "Spitting Distance Geocache -70.36?,+26.43? Take a bit, leave a bit."
#19 "Tathers Unit 3 (?)"
#20 “Hawkin's Island Geocache -70.40?,+26.27? Take something, leave something. Thank you.”
#21 “Geocache ~ [-70.50?,+26.50?] ~ Here lies Asihambanga, Zulu Prince ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something”
#22 "Geocache ~ [-70.34?,+26.35?] ~ Here lies Amaru Zapata ~ Dig Deep ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something"
#23 "Tathers Cache Unit 4 Take something leave something [-70.32?,+26.49?]"
#24 "Midway Geocache -70.21?,+26.33? Take some, leave some."
#25 “Geocache ~ [-70.35?,+26.38?] ~ You see Yayael of Wiksik~ Dig Deep ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something”
#26 "Derby-ish Geocache -70.06?,+26.34? Take a little, leave a little."
#27 “Derby-ish Geocache #2 -70.09?,+26.33? Take some, leave some. Dig deep!”
#28 "Tathers Unit 5 [-70.21?,+26.46?] Take something leave something."
#29 “Geocache ~ [-70.29?,+26.49?] ~ The Last Remains of Hassalac Chaar ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something”
#30 “Sunrise Geocache -70.05?,+26.38? Take some, leave some. Have a beautiful day!”
#31 “Geocache ~ [-70.40?,+26.39?] ~ Here Lies Tony Almeida, The only Native missed by York ~ Give ~ Take”
#32 “Geocache ~ [-70.28?,+26.38?] ~ Here Lies Dennis Kuijt, Buried afar ~ Take Something ~ Give Something”
#33 “Geocache ~ [-70.28?,+26.51?] ~ Maevar Ralnik: Lost his way to Dalpok ~Take Something~Leave Something”
#34 "Prairie Puzzle Cache! -70.095,+26.405 Follow directions to find the cache. Start here. N-5, E-3, L-4"
#35 “Geocache ~ [-70.44?,+26.51?] ~ The Last Remains of Que'eldi, :. ~ Take Something ~ Leave Something ~”
#36 “Twin Lakes Geocache -70.44?,+26.37? Pick a direction, take four steps, and DIG!”
#37 “Apple Orchard Geocache -70.33?,+26.44? Take a little, leave a little.”
#38 “Geocache ~ [-70.16?,+26.44?] ~ Here Lies Eno Hlaalu of Morag Tong ~ Take Something ~ Give Something”
#39 "The WB Hazen Geocache. "The truest patriot." *** Take a little, leave a little.***"
#40 "Kjendlie, Colonial Police Chief Geocache. "Brutal but fair." **Take a little, leave a little**"  ~ west of the York swamp delta.
#41 "Lexus, Colonial Police Chief Geocache. "Vindictive but cute." **Take a little, leave a little**"  ~ west of the York swamp delta.
#42 Loughbridge Geocache. "Pay tax to the Crown or Raktam or die!" ** Take something, leave something**
#43 Colonial Police Geocache. "Through madness comes justice" **Take a little, leave a little**
#44 Order of Patriots Geocache. "What price freddom?" **Take a little, leave a little**
#45 Delta Wharf Geocache. Site of heavy sword dredging operations. **Take a little, leave a little** [-70.35?,+26.35]
#46 "Seether's Walk Geocache. **Take a little, leave a little**" [Near Derby]
#47 Battle of the Pirates Graveyard Geocache: Victory of the Imperial Raktam Army 26 Aug '07. [W of Raktam]
#48 RIP Aether Geocache. **Take a little, give a little** [Near Waterfall]

link

I've recently discovered something called Geocaching, which exists irl as well as online. In brief, it's a club activity that revolves around finding caches using clues and gps coordinates, recording them, and sometimes exchanging small items left behind in the caches.

It occurred to me while reading about it that we have all the tools in-game to do something similar. We have gps, we have a large island that encourages exploring, and we can leave short messages and dig caches of relatively unimportant items. We also have signposts, not just to mark roads but a whole bunch of random ones scattered all over the map. In fact, I've sometimes come across skullposts with gps coords written on them [there's a bunch in Durham] and wondered why they were there, so maybe someone is already Geocaching.

It has a thematic similarity to the treasure maps mechanic, as well as Fester Shinetop's famous treasure hunt. It's like a contest, except there's no real prizes involved, and it'd be ongoing. And it's competitive, but non-combat, which I personally find appealing.

If there's any interest in the idea we can consider forming a clan and figuring out how it might all work.

[Killian]

What about something like messages in a bottle (though on land obv), that one can use as a ticket for IRL goodies?
IRL prizes would be sweet, and wouldn't threaten the island's lore.

Prizes could also be limited use radios to summon aerial cargo drops at will (good support options for other types of group efforts).

[Dani]

Um...

I don't have the money to arrange irl prizes. I also think that gets away from the spirit of the endeavour - it isn't treasure hunting so much as it is collecting interesting spots on the island, kinda like a constantly updating parchment pages. As for dev involvement, well, take the example of the treasure map mechanic, I'd be amazed if many people actually bothered with it. I've anecdotally heard from a couple, but they tend to complain that it isn't worth the cost of the map in the first place. Hard to believe Simon would go for it.

I guess I see it as an alternative to FAD's contests - I'm really glad he and Neil do them, they're a great way of promoting content creation, but I'm personally more interested in content that stresses exploration than combat, or more intuitive rewards [like lore-building, perhaps] versus a bag of gold and XP gains. The only thing I'd be interested in asking from Simon, IF this thing takes off, is perhaps a badge for people who've found x number of caches.

EDIT: a couple years ago I was whining about making signposts regenerate because it was such a pain having to constantly rebuild them. Well, it's still a pain, but I don't see any need to have caches regenerate [or do more whining] - Geocachers irl have to deal with people accidentally finding a cache and / or wrecking it, all they can do is take it in stride and ask people to refrain from it. But that's one reason why I'd rather make a clan where the gps coords can be kept in-game, rather than posting it to the forum, so there's a measure of secrecy to it.

[mouse]

I'd be interested in some form of this. I'm already thinking of locations, I'd like to put a cache. I do a little geocaching IRL when I'm on the road and have time to spare. Normally one signs a log book in the cache, leaves or trades an item(often something specific to them like stickers or trinkets[I'm a glassblower, so I make marbles to leave in the cache]), and logs the find on their account on the geocaching website.
My first thoughts about it... How would we verify that someone found it? I'm assuming we wouldn't want a signpost to mark the spot, it would draw attention from non-participants who might dig up the cache.

[Dani]

The honor system?

There should be some way of marking it, and signposts work as well as any. I don't think it would draw a lot of attention unless people connected the dots that it's got goodies buried underneath. There's lot of random signposts out in the jungle that no one's touched - there's a bunch called 'midgar' between Durham and York that have been there since 2010 at least, I think it's a FF reference.

Building the caches is going to be the tricky part, imo. I'm not sure if we'd be building caches as we go and letting people discover them [and discovering those of other 'cachers] or would there be a masterlist of all of them that one person would have access to?

[mouse]

I think using a geocacher clan thread in the forum would work as a place for the master list.

When a member creates a new cache, they could make a post with the co-ords, and other info about the cache, like the name and what's written on the sign in case someone has to make a new one, perhaps even what they buried.

The OP or clan leader could then edit/update a master list in the first post. I'm thinking they could also announce new caches in the clan news.

As people find caches, they could post in the thread which cache they found, what they found there, and report on the condition of the cache, like if there is still a signpost or not. (We should probably always be prepared to make a new sign.)

[FirstAmongstDaves]

In terms of lore building, Simon has been willing to assist in the past. There is the Pirates Graveyard memorial east of Raktam, the site of a RT pirate/Raktam battle in August 2007 -
http://wiki.shartak.com/index.php/Battle_of_Pirates_Graveyard (and as an aside, quite remarkable the amount of old info I'd forgotten on the Wiki!).

"You see a tall mound of moss-covered skulls and rusting cutlasses. Decayed and rotting leather together with bleached human bones are scattered around the area. A strong stench of rum exudes from the surrounding foliage."

These are the words written on a square, as customised text.

The Archer's Pool memorial is on a custom square too (the site of a second RT pirate/Raktam battle).

I gather it is fairly easy to change the square text...? This might help?

[Dani]

I think using a geocacher clan thread in the forum would work as a place for the master list.

When a member creates a new cache, they could make a post with the co-ords, and other info about the cache, like the name and what's written on the sign in case someone has to make a new one, perhaps even what they buried.

The OP or clan leader could then edit/update a master list in the first post. I'm thinking they could also announce new caches in the clan news.

As people find caches, they could post in the thread which cache they found, what they found there, and report on the condition of the cache, like if there is still a signpost or not. (We should probably always be prepared to make a new sign.)

That sounds fine to me. As I say, I'm not TOO worried about people coming along and breaking them or plundering them. If it happens it happens - who reads these forums anyway?

***

This might help?

Yes, I kind have threw out that bit about 'lore' in there without any idea of what it might mean. Maybe it'll become clearer in the future as more people play.

[mouse]

I'm currently out for a swim, but I couldn't resist sending an alt out to make a cache. Mostly I wanted to see how long of a message would fit on a signpost. Looks like 100 characters, 15 just for the coords. I guess we need a thread now. And a clan! I'll wait to post it til then.

On the signpost I went with the format:
"Random Named Geocache -70.,+26. Plus a very short message to anyone who finds the new geocache"
Also I made it a skull post. Cause why not?

[Dani]

As it happens I have a large number of skulls that I took from Santa's Grotto. I had planned on using them for another project, but I could use them for this instead. Plus I can always get more from Trader Gak.

Did you bury any loot underneath the skullpost?

I'll see about making a clan with a free alt. Unless you'd like to do the honours?

One rule I think we should establish in advance: while a player can use any alt to make a cache, they should only use one alt to find caches and be in the clan proper.

[mouse]

Yep, plenty of loot! Nothing crazy, but all good stuff.

You've piqued my curiosity. What were you planning to use all the skulls for?

[Dani]

Lore-building. If you happen to be north of Rakmogak or on the northern beach coast of Dalpok, you'll see what I mean.

[FirstAmongstDaves]

Yes, both fields are remarkable. I only discovered the Dalpok one recently (I'm very rarely in that neck of the woods).

I'll help with the caches. It'd be worthwhile talking to Simon about this. An honour system where if you have recorded on the threat that you have found 100 caches, you get a badge? Badges tend to attract participants, as we all know I guess.

This is really a nice idea, thinking about it, to get players to move around the island, and visit vastly underused tracts. There are some parts of the island that I haven't been to literally in years.

[Dani]

Yes, both fields are remarkable. I only discovered the Dalpok one recently (I'm very rarely in that neck of the woods).

I'll help with the caches. It'd be worthwhile talking to Simon about this. An honour system where if you have recorded on the threat that you have found 100 caches, you get a badge? Badges tend to attract participants, as we all know I guess.

This is really a nice idea, thinking about it, to get players to move around the island, and visit vastly underused tracts. There are some parts of the island that I haven't been to literally in years.

Thank you. Though in hindsight I shouldn't have broadcasted their existence when they were first built. The intention was, after all, for them to be shrouded in mystery.

I'd welcome your involvement. I got to thinking of all the chars I've seen with that 'hundred percent plus' explorer badge. It sounds arduous - none of my chars have more than 80% explored, because a lot of the map is pretty similar, and walking around in a grid to cover everything isn't really interesting to me. It'd be nice to have something for newish players to incentivize their exploring, and something for old players who, as you say, covered some areas years ago and haven't been back since.


I like the idea of badges and so forth. The truth is, I'm reluctant to approach Simon given all the drama I've caused him over the years. I hadn't even planned to ask him to regenerate the skullposts for this possible field the way he did for the other two. Don't get me wrong, it's a good idea, but I'm not the right person to request any favors from him.

[FirstAmongstDaves]

OK. I have to follow him up on the next contest, so I'll ask him then.

I've created a cache, with a poem on the sign. Its called "The Confused Corsair's Cache".

Should found caches be reported on this thread? Should the protocol be to bury the cache four levels deep?