POT Interconnection Teleporters

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Warrior B'Patrick, Jul 21, 2020.

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  1. Warrior B'Patrick

    Warrior B'Patrick Avatar

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    Greetings all
    Thank you @Chris and the DEVs for implementing a much needed user controlled asset. Being able to buy an item and configure it for your preferences is such a great thing. Currently we request an interconnection and then wait for the DEVs have time to do this for us. When completed they give us a teleporter in the main zone area only in the form of a boat, wagon, or other visual. Recently they have changed some of the teleporters to be able to have several destination. I think what we will find in the COTO store will be a transporter of a visual type that we can choose and place anywhere and configure to go where we want it to without distance limitation. It will be something we can deco or dye, and change the destination anytime we want. There is also talk of them being able to act as signpost destination for travel within the POT. All of this sound wonderful and a great addition for Governors to use for player benefits and user created quest.

    My concern is this. PLEASE don't make it less functional than what is in game now.
    1. The COTO bought teleporters sound like they only have 1 destination. It can be reconfigured but does each destination need a separate bought teleporter. Why not use the same function of the current teleporters that list multiple places? Why have a POT dock with 50 boats when 1, 5, or 10, based on list limits, would do unless money is the driving force.
    2.If the limit is 1 destination per teleporter and my POT has a Decoration Limit? The teleporters the DEVs create do not factor into the Limit.
    3. There has been no talk about the teleporters being 2 way. You can go anywhere but does it have a return teleporter also? If I link to Brittany will there be a return teleporter and what will Brittany look like as a popular connection point?
    4. Will all towns be selectable? What if I do not want my POT littered with Teleporters going places I don't want connections to?
    5. When they are made to function as Signpost Destination in POTs will you be able to name the destination or will it still be called Town Boundary 1? And will the current signpost be removed or will we need to place ours next to the one already there? Will it have the same functionally of multiple boundaries in the POT?

    I don't mind spending the money in fact I do as much as i can to help fund the game. And if the current means of travel were not capable of listing multiple destination it would not be an issue. But the ability is already in game. Why not have the same functionally for the users? Yes I am a Devil's Advocate thinker but these are all question that would be good to answer before the items are rolled out. Thank you for reading and considering what I have to say.
     
  2. Bayard

    Bayard Avatar

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    To avoid confusion for new arrivals, I intend to keep my new teleporter wagon(s) the same red color scheme as the existing ones.

    Is there some simple way we can identify the new devices as being teleporters? Perhaps something like the Shardfall Cloak graphic we can put on the canvas?
     
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  3. Elrond

    Elrond Avatar

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    Im worried about their size.... all teleporters added so far are as big as half a row..if were gonna place many of them we need em small or in multpile sizes..or the resize scale increased .
     
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  4. that_shawn_guy

    that_shawn_guy Bug Hunter

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    one-to-one connections just aren't going to scale. that is already clear to dev or they wouldn't have solved this for the npc town interconnects years ago.

    ideally, I should be able to buy a wagon, ballon, or boat for my town, bring up a menu of all towns of that type, check off the ones i want, save it, and call it a day.

    why in the oracle's name do we need another half-baked system that has a poor player experience and never gets completed??????

    @Chris please pull this from this release, make it less painful to use, and then release it.
     
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  5. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Good input, thanks guys :)
     
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  6. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    From my understanding from the live stream there will be POT to POT and no POT to NPC town option for the new teleporters
     
  7. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    I have some answers for you. Please keep in mind that the information is subject to change and the final versions that end up in the game may be different from what I describe here.

    We're making new tech for these deco teleporters. Currently, I manually set each target for everyone dev-placed teleporter. The rules for selection are all in my head and not restricted by coding. The new deco teleporters need a special list that offers only allowed targets to players. List teleporters would mean additional new tech, and more time spent in creation. Initially, we're offering single-target teleporters, but we're not dismissing looping back around in the future and also making list teleporters.
    Yes, it's true that the deco teleporters will take up a decoration slot. I believe that the perks that come with them will make them feel worth it.
    Technically speaking, none of the dev-placed teleporters are two-way. When we set up the teleporter pairs, I place an outgoing teleporter in the starting POT and a return teleporter in the target. They're not linked in any way except conceptually.

    These new deco teleporters won't offer targets to every scene. They will specifically send you to another POT, not an NPC town (like Central Brittany) or any adventure scene. It's up to the target POT owner to decide if they want to offer a return deco teleporter.

    For the time being, POT owners will still be able to request teleporters to/from NPC Towns. (My hope is that we continue to add special teleporters to NPC towns in the store, either as single targets or perhaps in sets using list teleporters).
    All player-owned POTs will be selectable targets. We have a handful of dev-only POTs that won't be on your list. And, as mentioned above, no NPC Tons or adventure scenes will be on the target list.
    The only deco teleporters that will appear in your POT are the ones you place yourself. If you were assuming that if someone points their deco teleporter to your POT then a corresponding return teleporter will appear in your POT, that won't happen.
    Signpost teleporters are a separate system and independent from the POT-to-POT teleporters we've been talking about above.

    Be warned that the description for signpost teleporters below is in the early stages. Remember that "subject to change" comment at the top of my post? It's especially true here.

    The plan is to create new tech for signpost teleporters that is used by both dev-placed signpost teleporters AND player-placed signpost teleporter decos. All POTs will still have permanent, dev-placed "list teleporter" signposts. The list of targets is internal to your POT, shared by all teleporter signposts, and can dynamically update when new signpost teleporters are added. That last part is a big deal, because it includes player-placed signpost teleporters.

    Signpost teleporter decos (the versions that player's place in their POTs) will also be list teleporters like the dev-placed ones. When you place a signpost teleporter deco, it will list the same targets as all existing signposts in your POT. The goal is to offer a new teleporter target at each new signpost location, which is a bit tricky but we're trying to make that happen. If the tech behaves itself and works how we want, the new signpost teleporter will be added as a target on the lists of all signpost teleporters in the POT, both dev-placed and player-placed. (Hopefully the addition to the teleporter list is instant, but it's possible that the scene will need to restart before those changes take effect.)

    You won't be able to rename the dev-named teleporter targets like "Town Boundary 1," but our goal is for you to add a name to your player-placed signpost teleporter and that will be the name that appears in the signpost teleporter list.

    Again, I can't stress enough that signpost teleporters are in the early stages of development and some of this can change.

    As mentioned above, list teleporter tech is different than single-target teleporter tech. We may add that functionality in the future, but we don't want to delay the current teleporter decos in the meantime. (Especially since the teleporter decos are mostly done. ;)
     
  8. craftymethod

    craftymethod Avatar

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    Why shouldn't we include NPC towns? this could help with foot traffic and thus population of at least one npc town I know, If new players could place the free deed in these towns too would help.

    //im guessing its a hopefully later tech issue :)
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2020
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  9. Oakenhammer

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    It would be nice to be able to apply a nickname to the dev-placed teleporters and have it display in the same manner renamed items: "Main Entrance (Town Boundary 1)"
     
  10. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    NPC's towns can be linked to POTs already through the DEVs. There are some NPC Towns that already reached a limit allowed for POT interconnects near Central Brit. in EP2 sounds like there will be no player housing in the new NPC towns. I suspect this is so people make more use of the player locations and to make it easier to manage even though many like NPC's for visuals. Some player towns have amazing visuals and fit in rather nice well others are either dead or crazy design that takes away from the game ascetics

    I agree would be nice. that or perhaps seeing we will be getting these why could we not just remove the dev versions all together allowing us than to place only what we need? perhaps offer pot owners replacement signs for them? this would solve the issue. @Sannio
     
  11. Warrior B'Patrick

    Warrior B'Patrick Avatar

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    Greetings Sannio
    Thank you for the updated information. This is a good thing to know and will cut down on the amount of confusion going forward. I and everyone else knows that all things can change but having this information helps. So if I understand this correctly the new teleporters current features are :

    1.User bought and decorated/dyed teleporter in the shape of a boat, wagon, balloon, or hatch.
    2. A single destination is configured from a list of other POTs, but not scenes or NPC towns, is 1 way, and is not limited by distance. No return teleporter at destination so an agreement with the destination POT Governor is not required.
    3. Destinations can be changed as many times as needed by the POT Governor or Steward and the change is immediate.
    4. Can be placed anywhere in your POT as long as you have a Deco placeable spot and Deco space limit available (The smallest POT has a Deco limit of 200 so should not be a huge problem).


    This sounds good and I look forward to the talked about changes like Destination Signpost versions, multiple destinations as a list on a single teleporter, other types of teleporters (maybe a Moongate), and possibly the merging of the the current COTO store teleporters with these new ones.

    I do still have questions though. Is the cost range of these new ones going to be around the same as the current COTO store teleporters since they are single destination also (4500 COTOs)? Will they be the same size as the ones in the store? You mention that the Dev created interconnections are still available "for now". Can you wait until the second feature set is added to the teleporters? Right now I can spend $25.00 and can "Add or change the targets for up to 3 interconnection teleporters (balloon, wagon, boat, or hatch, as appropriate for the POT biomes)". Not sure if that is 3 targets (destinations) per teleporter or or just 3 Targets (destinations) on 1 teleporter. Either way it is cheaper but more restrictive on placement than the current Deco store teleporters.

    And my last question. Why not post new ideas like this in the forums under "Game Features" or "General Discussions" when they are first thought up and let the players help work out the bugs and suggestions so a great idea does not need to be worked on more that 1 time? I know how opening it up to all would inundate you with post but a disclaimer could be attached that says something like "We welcome you suggestion but keep in mind that our work load and game direction may limit your input and our response". I really do love the game and all the work you all do and only want to help.
     
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  12. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    The new tech doesn't include NPC Towns, so that would be a change and additional delay. Personally, I'd love for players to have NPC Town teleporter decos as well, but that would have to be a feature for another day.
     
  13. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Yes, this all sounds correct to me.

    The new teleporter decos will be sold in the in-game store. We've talked internally about pricing, but we haven't announced the official pricing yet.

    There will be 4 teleporter decos: wagon, boat, balloon, and hatch. The size and shape of the deco versions will be equivalent to the original dev-placed versions. For example, if you look at the prototype for the wagon teleporter deco (in the image below), you can see it's similar to the wagons commonly seen throughout SotA.

    [​IMG]

    I'll keep adding dev-placed teleporters until after all basic teleporter decos (wagon, boat balloon, hatch) are available in the store. Existing dev-placed teleporters will be allowed to remain as-is with no modifications from that point on. The dev-placed teleporter system probably won't change much after that, but it's possible (and perhaps likely) that the player-placed teleporters will periodically receive improvements.
     
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  14. Janek the Just

    Janek the Just Avatar

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    I foresee an issue, but never fear, I have a solution! :)

    When my POT becomes a wagon campground with numerous teleporters, it will become problematic to run up to each wagon to see where it leads - the more wagons, baloons, boats, etc the worse this becomes.

    If each Governor could create a POT Heraldry, then that heraldry could be stamped on the wagon tarps, boat sails, etc, so as you approach, you could see the heraldry and know immediately which one to choose.

    I know there was experimentation recently with mapping images onto static objects, but not sure how difficult this might be.

    (It would be AWESOME, though)

    Edit: (I would be willing to pay more for a wagon WITH the heraldry overlay)
     
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  15. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    We do like the heraldry concept for the POT teleporters for sure. Damon (the artist) has expressed much interest, but no ETA on when work will begin with the heraldry versions.
     
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  16. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    That's a great idea for a future teleporter deco improvement!

    In the meantime, it might be helpful to know that this new teleporter wagon will have a deco surface on the drivers seat. I foresee people placing small and iconic objects on many wagon seats.
     
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  17. Sulaene Moon

    Sulaene Moon Avatar

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    So why not delay it and have it include NPC towns? I'm sure no one will mind a delay, it's not like this was set in-stone of this release and thousands of players were demanding it. Why not have a complete teleportal system rather than one that will probably never get finished like most of the other systems in the game. I just don't understand why things get implemented without completing it how the customers want it.
     
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  18. Warrior B'Patrick

    Warrior B'Patrick Avatar

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    Greetings all
    Janek the Just love your idea about Heraldry on Teleporters. To expand on that Idea... If each NPC town and POT could have its own Heraldry we could place those on the sides or wagons, boats, balloons, and hatches. This would give us a way to promote/advertise our towns as well as knowing where teletporters go to. The Towns, and possibly even Scenes would be different that a characters Heraldry. It would be a big effort at first but think of the donations to the game that would be made for Heraldry squares to place on each teleporter and for all the multiple times a governor might want to buy a Service Voucher to change that towns Heraldry.
     
  19. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    the npc towns do, though they don't get much use. there's the book covers and conrad dupre's shield throneguard, off the top of my head.

    something to keep in mind for new ep2 towns, devs.

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Warrior B'Patrick

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