Updates To Talus2 Thread

[Badwater]

Today there were a couple of updates. These were mostly housecleaning - fixing doors or transitions that did not work and the like.

I am currently testing early level encounters and the new areas. I also need to test the orc and goblin areas, when my character has a few levels on him.

I decided to put Rat Whiskers (a bounty item) on regular rats to help level 1 and 2 characters get some gold.

Next I will work on outdoor areas that lead to the elf settlement, in preparation to add that city next. I also have content in the Pirate Spit and in Crescent Bay to add.

*Update* - I have made some more corrections, and I also modified the amount that the bank takes for depositing and withdrawl of items. It had been 100 gp/level and I changed it to 50 gp/level.

[Badwater]

Today I fixed quite a few of the faction issues, so if you kill a squirrel it shouldn't upset everyone in every city. Please post in the T2 beta thread if you find something factional that isn't behaving as it should.

I fixed a possible exploit with the merchant in Adrift Between Worlds, so that if a PC occasionally finds themself in ABW they can't buy from the merchant unless they are level 1.

[Badwater]

Anira Anma'a and its surrounding areas have been loaded onto T2. I am going through them now and making changes and additions. I expect that I'll be spending some fair time today and tomorrow doing this and hunting down bugs.

[Badwater]

Numerous Anira Anma'a bugs have been corrected. With the addition of a little more minor content it will be on par with the other cities.

The dye kit was not working and that has been fixed.

I've been doing more running around and fixing things here and there. Still have not duplicated the gold issue but there's still a few things for me to try.

I need to get a test character on to level to epic and make sure some things like spells and dev critical hit are nerfed in the way they should be.

T2 now has over 100 areas.

[Badwater]

T2 updates for today:

- Gold bug seems to be fixed.

- Continuing the task of fixing all the little things that get by a builder when content is added.

- Hundevaal Coast areas added. More is coming.

- Clear Creek areas added.

Player password is lifted for now. T2 is still in beta form and the management takes no responsibility for any problems you may encounter in T2. I'm working toward getting T2 out of the beta stage.

[Badwater]

Today the Formian areas in the Hundevaal Coast fully go in.

Your wimpy little toon will be ok in the surface areas; run around and have fun. DO NOT GO IN THE LAIR. You will die. The Formians up top are cute and play pitty-pat and give you xp nicely. The formians underneath are swarms of planar enhanced insect death.

Oh, I know what you're thinking. You'll be in there with your little level 12 bringer of "death" and you're going to be down there and get puffed up and think I'm an idiot. Then you'll come across a swarm and die. Repeatedly. Over and over. And you'll wish you had listened. ;D

[Badwater]

Talus 2 had its first quest added today. It took me many, many hours to work it out last night, and I was not able to download the latest version of the module because I had reached the session limit - that's how many times and how long I downloaded last night.

In the process I made just about every mistake I could in putting it together, but I have a much better feel for composing quests and all the options available. I think I'll spend a few days just putting together some more quests while this is all still fresh and seared into my tiny little brain.

[Badwater]

A bug had existed where persistent variables were saved when a PC logged off but were overwritten when the PC logged back into the server. This bug has been corrected.

8 new large interconnected areas have been added to T2. You'll need to be at least level 5-9 to venture into the Hammer Mountains. They are really intended for level 8-20.

[Badwater]

Today's update includes:

- Taking care of minor reported bugs.

- Monastery added.

- The map view is now fully revealed in home cities where you have to pay to get in. I may include all areas of all home cities...I'm going to see how I like this.

[Badwater]

Today I added 7 new areas to T2. All outdoor areas leading to Gnomehome are in place. I have yet to test the areas, so be cautious if you're adventuring there.

I will be testing the areas as well as the pits in the Haunted House in Valahna.

T2 now has 121 areas; in actuality we're talking about 170 areas or so. Maybe more.

[Badwater]

The following was updated today:

- Some minor bugs that I noticed when running around.

- Valahna areas have been updated. I finally went through a couple that I had not yet and had to make some adjustments. This includes the tiny wraith spider.

You may notice that the name of an area starts with "_". That means I have not done a final test or finished the area. It's bad enough with areas that I'm supposedly done with but you really enter these areas at your peril, unless it's a shop of some sort.

- Animal hides are not stolen now and can be sold for 1 gp. I may expand on this at some point but that's way down my list for now.

- A CNR merchant has been added to the Salt Works by Crescent Bay.

[Badwater]

Gnomehome has been added to T2. I'll be making additions through the week but the basics are in.

That gives us all the home cities that were originally planned. In the future I may see about adding a purely evil home city, such as for Drow. That's a bit down the line...for the next couple of weeks I'll be expanding on what is already on T2 before adding significant new areas.

[Badwater]

I am discovering that I need to get on T2 and do some adventuring. I'm finding a lot of things that are not as they should be. I think over the course of this week I'll be adventuring and making corrections, and deciding where to add more CNR resources.

- Found out that the Bugbear areas were not connected and encounters not placed where they should be. I have corrected this. I'll be adding some loot and a deeper, harder part of the lair this week.

- Regelon Ford areas updated. I will be doing more as needed.

- Updated deer so that they don't just stand there waiting to be shot.

[Badwater]

Starting with the next update in a little bit, all winter areas will have cold effect.

The cold will not be like T1. I never did care for the script on T1 and I'm not using it on T2. I'm using a cold script that uses an intensity variable set through a waypoint in a winter area. The intensity can be set differently for different areas, so expect that the cold damage around the snow line where the snowy weather starts will not be as great as if you're on a glacier up by a mountain top. How much cold damage you receive will be based on the intensity setting of the area, weather, and what you're wearing.

The snowy parts of Thunder Mountain will be the first to use the winter cold effect. It may be necessary for you to purchase a warm cloak or clothing to stay warm. I recommend that players do not adventure in until I have tested these areas and have a feel for what it takes to deal with cold damage. I will then have gear available at general merchants in the cities that are by Thunder Mountain.

I am also going to see about setting up fashion or tailor merchants to provide clothing or cloaks that work in cold weather by way of CNR crafting. Depending on the complexity, you can make a CNR cloak that will either work in the cold or can be traded for one that will. That way there will be value in making cloaks that did not previously exist for CNR cloaks. I never made any, in any case. Now I'm going to provide a reason for making cloaks.

When I make desert areas, I'm going to look at scripting that gives heat damage. That way if you're in a volcano or plane of fire, it's going to be REALLY hot. Mwah ah ah ah ah ah ah....

[Badwater]

Today the following was updated:

- I'm adding skyboxes to more areas. I'm only doing outdoor areas for now...really haven't seen much need for indoor ceilings unless anybody feels differently.

- Added cleaners to more areas that were without them.

- Adding more in the way of CNR resources.

- 6 new areas added: Prairie and Thunder Mountain. 4 of these areas have cold effect. As I previously said, you should probably stay away or be prepared to turn back if you're suffering significant cold damage. I do not have cloaks or clothing on vendors yet - I will be testing some of these areas and then decide on a price for cold weather gear before I put them in stores.

New monsters in the new areas are Ice Kobolds and Snow Orcs. The kobolds and orcs have lairs in the new areas. If you venture in, do so with caution - the kobolds get up to CR 9 or 10 and the orcs get up to CR 11-13. There are hordes in there, so if you go in be ready to run away! I'm not kidding; in the main areas you're going to have a LOT of enemies.

I have not placed any loot yet in the new areas. I will place it as soon as I run a character through there and see what we're up against. Besides the usual - death.

I will be adding some more areas over the weekend. I worked about 8 or 9 hours getting these areas in. The next few will be easier because there was a fair amount of work in creating new monsters and testing the cold effect so that I know how it works and that it works properly (it does).