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swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:06 am
by marika
I'm not really a newbie anymore, but I need a bit of advice. I hope it's okay.

My character decided to go visit the swamp. She'd been there before, and she knew it was dangerous, but she also knew she'd grown stronger since the last time she'd gone. I myself decided, given the previous experience with mountains and smimming, that it was okay. When you swim or climb a mountain, you can try doing that a couple of times, and finally you'll get there, if with a broken bone or a very tired body. So I thought she'd fall into a couple of swamp holes, but overall I'll have fun, like I did in the mountains, in the arctic or in the river. I'm not really having any fun.

It seems that my character is just unable to walk in a swamp, even though she's carrying almost nothing. She'll move sometimes when I try every possible direction, but the idea of actually getting out of the swamp doesn't seem to impress her very much. She just won't do it, despite being at most two rooms from the exit as far as I can tell. Now she got sick from a mosquito bite, and I'm guessing she's going to die there, only I'll have to leave her idle for an hour or so, only coming back not to get logged off.

Before I do that though, I'd like to ask you if there really isn't any chance for her to survive this. It seems there's not, and I'm not really inclined to type "n", "climb out", "climb out", "pull leech", "aid", "sleep" for the amount of time the mosquito bite needs to kill her (if it does, which I don't know) if it's not going to serve any purpose. But on the other hand, I would like to do my duty by her trying to save her.

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:18 am
by Aslak
I have not really explored the swamp myself, but without a means to know directions there (high skill or compas) you will need a lot of luck to find a way out I believe.

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:51 am
by marika
Marika's skill is good enough to have a chance of finding her way. The problem is that she can't move. I have no idea what skills or stats are responsible for not falling into holes. I'm guessing swamp lore may be one, and that's below ten for Marika I think. But the main question is, should I keep trying to get her out because she actually does have a chance of making this one step north, even if it's ridiculously small, or should I just wait for her to die. It seems that the latter is correct, but I have to say I would really resent that. That's not what should happen in computer games.

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 7:21 am
by ferranifer
Swamps are particularly dangerous areas. Here is how they work; picture swamp rooms as rooms with real and fake directions. Also, they are rooms where you lose your orientation, just like some caves (this might not be initially apparent). So, each room has real and fake exits and the directions are shuffled.

Whenever you type an exit, if you were lost and didn't 'guess' a real direction, you *will* fall into a swamphole. There is no skill check involved. Now, if you were not lost (because you have *high* swamp lore and location sense or you used a compass or did a 'guess direction' with good astronomy) and type a fake direction, you will *also* fall into a swamp hole.

Basically, whenever you end up going into a fake direction, that's a swamp hole.

My advice when going into swamps is to:
1) Bring a compass and use it in every room.
2) If you don't have a compass. Guess direction in every room.
3) Make a map. This will be a long and tedious process, but you will then forever be ok inside the swamp ;) (Or you could ask people for a map, i.e., the Scribes)
4) Bring a knife and cut leeches off as soon as they appear.
5) Don't wear any boots. Specially if you have stuff in them!

As for what to do with Marika right now, I don't know what this mosquito bite is or does. I guess it's tetanus. I'd recommend grabbing a piece of grid paper and starting to map. Don't lose hope, because as long as you're typing *real* exits, you will be OK. The exit of the swamp will mostly always be north-ish, though it depends if it's the west or the east side of the swamp. Also, look out for the river, I believe you can enter the river from the swamp in some spots, and that's a free way out if you're good at swimming.

Hope this helped!

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 8:35 am
by marika
Okay, thanks. So I think one question remains. With Marika's astronomy skill, which is 60 something, she guessed directions, and the system told me she was successful. Can it be that she wasn't? After that, apparently successful, guess, she was still not able to exit.

Edit: Just an update, the disease has gone. Now it's just a matter of whether I can get her out. :)

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 9:09 am
by marika
She's out! :)

I still don't understand how it works though. After a successful "guess direction", the northern exit from that location was still unavailable. I just tried northwest for a change and it worked. From there I was able to "l e" and see the road. "e" got Marika to the road. So I see that the real exits can be still visible in the swamp, only under wrong labels. I think that's not always true in caves, right? I think I remember being in a cave location from which I just couldn't see the outside until I used a compass. And what's the deal with that exit that I just couldn't use, even with the directions gotten right?

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:54 pm
by glorfindel
Hi,

Basically, from what I can tell, guess direction will not be very helpful unless you get it to 90+ something. At least in my experience, a compass is still more reliable.

As for the whole 'swamphole' business, keep in mind you can 'exa' an exit to find out if there's a safe path or not.

So 'exa north' will tell you if there's a swamphole you'll fall in or not.

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:15 pm
by fernao
The game mechanics for those areas which garble exits is as follows as far as I understand it:

The room has normal exits. In the swamp there are also fake exits added that end up in swamp holes. Depending on your lore skill and location sense, or with the help of a compass, you can determine which direction is north. If not, you simply assume that north is somewhere else and therefore the exits "shift".

So, e.g. if a room has exits to the north and south, and you fail your check and _your_ north is east, you would have to go west to reach the northern room, or east to reach the southern room. Going north or south would lead you into swamp holes.

Re: swamp

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 8:58 am
by marika
Thank you for your help!

(I thought I'd already posted this message...)