Medievia Down

Our Internet T1 line and phone lines went down today at 6am. During construction somewhere around 35 miles away a truck sliced through a whole bunch of fiber lines is what I am told is the problem. Verizon say they cannot route around it and must replace that line of fiber. Fun Stuff.

We came back up around 6:30 pm. During this time the Internet connection to Medievia was completely severed, so there was no way for a status to be posted on this site.

Soleil

Halloween Festivities Continue!

Phase two of the Halloween celebration begins Saturday night at midnight game time. We will begin a TOKEN quest (see HELP TOKEN). We will place not one, but *two* more holosections, each with its own prize. One of
these holosections has puzzles, and the other is very easy. The token quest will end Monday night at midnight.

Phase three begins tomorrow (Sunday night), at 12:01 am on Monday, October 31st, which is Halloween itself, and runs until midnight Monday night or possibly later. This is the phase we call "costumes." Please read HELP COSTUME to learn how to request a costume from the gods. Remember that NO COSTUMES will be given out before 12:01 am Sunday night!

Prizes for finding all thirteen days of Halloween, as well as prizes for the people who collect the most tokens, will be given out at the end of the festivities Monday night.

To sum up:
Saturday, 12:00: token quest begins, 2 new holos open
Sunday night, 12:01: costume requests open up
Monday night, 12:00: all 3 holos end, token quest ends, costumes end, prizes
given out for token winners and people who get all 13 days

Thanks for enjoying holidays with us!
-Kostia and the Medievia staff

Directed Politics forNovember 2005: Ships & Medievia V

This upcoming months political topic will be Ships but it is also open toany Medievia V feature. We are looking to further polish ships this month. This is the month the whole big serpent feature takes off so that is also a big topic for the month.

Keep in mind that the political leaders now control the economy so make sure to elect good people who have an eye on the future and have a good sense of all of our features and their effects on the economy.

-Vryce

Ship Changes

After much testing we changed the ship shot equation a tad. We upped 3% to all range calculations, we made 4 consecutive shots matter instead of 3, we slightly changed the equation for ship size so it will not matter as greatly as it did before. It seems to me every captain I speak to is pretty much clueless so here is a quick tutorial on how to fire ships: If your ship is being fired on, any change of speed or direction will help the shot miss, one would assume that is firing and your ship is changing direction or speed, you should SMACK the captain. It is up to the captain to shout fire as he knows when your going straight. A single shot is is wasted and dumb. You MUST shoot in volleys as the game gives you up to a 40% better chance of hitting during a volley. If just one shot is in the air it really does not have a big chance of hitting. Captains should know when guns are loaded, make sure ship is not turning, and shout FIRE ALL GUNS! The people on the side of the target ship shout fire as fast as possible so as many shots are in the the air at once as possible. The captain, if possible, should do this when the other ship is not changing direction but that is not controllable. These hints are KEY so remember them!

Ship Changes

We now keep track of the clan breakdown on ships for fae. This means that if you are on the ship when something dies, your clan will eventually get their cut even if you are not at the dock when the fae is transfered. Ships were always planned to be one of our features that could be played even if you just had 10-20 minutes. You could find a good ship, hop on, help out, and jump ship. The way you had to be at the dock to get your cut ruined this plan. It is now fixed and this will help a lot with serpents. The two downsides is that you no longer state how much fae to transfer as it all must be transfered for the underlying math to work, and that if the game crashes the breakdown is lost and is reset when the moratorium expires. That means that until we find a good way to save it, if the game crashes, you must be on the ship when the moratorium expires for your clan to get their cut.

SHIP FAE now shows the ships current breakdown of fae per clan, it also shows the current percentage of people online broken down by clan which is what is used to split fae up as beasts are killed.

Quest Gift Items

Currently several quests (portal/purgatory/token chase/endgame & tribes) give players minor prizes or gift items. These are called quest gifts.

From now on those quests will give players a token called "a kauri token, etched with a fern". This token will be used at a special shop and will be redeemed for the standard quest gift items. The main change is that you
will now have the ability to choose which item you want from the entire range and also at your own time frame.

All of the quest gift items are now flagged as QPRIZE and QPRIZEW, and all existing items have been reciped to conform to the new flags. This means all existing items will have a five day det, unless they were infinite, and
therefore will expire.

The basis of this change is that all of the items were always meant to only last five days.

The shop to make these items is currently located in the quest shop in the warrior quarter of the City of Medievia. This will be moved to a new zone being developed once the zone is open.

Selthios

The Beginning of Spooky Halloween Festivities!

In a forgotten (or is it?) twist on a familiar theme, the Thirteen Days of Halloween has begun, and its thrills await you in the deepest, darkest, darkest, deepest dark.

There is a holosection (Help Holosection if you don't know what that is) in the wilderness that houses this special zone. It moves, and it can be found in any wilderness area. Each day a different door will open, and a different item will be attainable, along with a treasure prize. Your quest is to visit the holosection each day, and enter each doorway. At the end of the Thirteen Days, the players who have collected all the items will receive a special prize.

The quest will run until the 31st, Halloween itself. Those of you who remember Halloweens past can guess what kind of surprises await you then!

-Holiday Staff

P.S. For those of you who do remember Halloweens past, and missed the
subtleties of that last paragraph, costumes will be handed out ON
Halloween, and not a day sooner. Please don't ask before then!

P.P.S. To prepare for costumes, which will be handed out only ON Halloween,
Monday, October 31, read HELP COSTUME. Thanks.

News from Governor Aethilus

The following is from your governor Aethilus. PLEASE make sure to read the announcement after it released today from Vryce concerning politics as well.

Hi Medievia,

I'd like to thank those of you who have sent ideas in. Your ideas help us make Medievia a better game for everyone. We have submitted several ofthese ideas that we have heard from the people of Medievia.

As of right now trading will remain how it is as far as the values go. The frequency of catastrophes has been reduced and will remain like that until a more permanent solution to the problem can be found.

The second main complaint was the amount of gold sea slugs were giving for very minimal amounts of effort in relationship to other things. As of right now, the frequency of seaslugs has been reduced so that not as much
gold is going into the economy each day. I don't believe that there will be more then one slug per day for right now at least.

Other minor complaints included the issues of clantown costs and dragon costs, as i'm sure you have all noticed, we have doubled the current clantown costs, and dragon costs have been increased to reflect level * level * level * 4. Another complaint was that of AQ gold giving out too much money. As of right now, they will continue giving out the same amount of money.

Some of the ideas that were denied included the idea to remove protection from players in cpk, also it was suggested that we revamp catastrophe systems, for now they will not change at all as they would waste the time
of Medievia's coders. The trading equation will stay how it is or it will possibly change the divider of the equation to increase or decrease values. The current trading equation can be found in Vryce's journal accessible via the 'vryce' command.

That covers all of the ideas that were accepted or implemented, so I'd like to thank you all for your votes on behalf of Krandor and myself. Send ideas in to Governor@Medievia.com and Mayor@Medievia.com, as ideas come in I will filter them through the gods and see what they say about the ideas you have.

Thanks again,
Governor Aethilus

Game Changes

Dragon flight charge has doubled for most players and has gone down some for single class. Dragon cost for flying will go through many changes before we are done Medievia V, this is just the beginning. If you have the CHARM you still get an increase but it should be very small, you basically get the same price as a single class. For those people who complain about everything and will be out in force for this change, read my latest journal via the VRYCE command first.

New Medievia Map Feature

Thanks to Lindy and Tanaetos we now have a great new feature for the Medievia map on the website. You are now able to enter any coordinates and the map will find the coordinates and centersyour window on that spot on the Medievia map. It should be very helpful to players who want to know exactly where in Medievia their ship is, a dragonlair is, or a a holosection is without tediously reading all the coordinate lines on the map itself.

Visit the Medievia Map page to check out this new feature!

Politics Changes

From Vryce:

There are two important announcements that have to do with politics.

The first is that Fayla has stepped down as the lead politics god for a
while as she has not had as much time lately. There is also the fact we
are deep into version 5.0 development and all of the political topics are
about the new features. I am announcing that I have taken over as lead god
of politics. Beware of this in some ways...

The second announcement is that, with me in charge of politics, we will be
taking it to the next step. As time goes on, more and more of our
gameworld will be, if not controlled - very much influenced, by the people
you elect as governor and mayor.

In the end I want the leaders to have the ability to change many game
dynamics that are easily controlled, from gold to the wind. No change gets
done without the gods' approval of course as we cannot totally rely on good
people being elected.

That being said we will start with the economy. When you are elected you
can tell me to change any of the main economic factors and if the idea is
not totally insane, we will do it. You can change the trading equation to
pay more or less. You can change dragon flight to cost more or less,
clantown costs, etc. Some things we will be very fussy about like clan
costs as there are many deeper reasons behind them, but when it comes to
the basic stuff we will allow you to change many things.

As time moves on, more and more will be turned over. I will soon give
political leaders access to commands that show live data like how many of
what kind of mobfactions are made, so they can tell me maybe more sea
termites and less aquoderms, or more wolves and less centaurs. Do you want
more Hellraider or less? Should Hellreaper pay more and Hellraider less?
Should we change the loot amount somewhere? We will be testing the waters
with this stuff as we hope more people will take the voting seriously as
we hand over more of the game settings to the players. I will not listen
to any leader that tells me to change a single thing without completely
explaining the reasoning. It must make sense to me. The bigger the change
the more sense it will need to make.

If in the end this becomes too much, we will remove politics. I removed
kingdoms because no one wanted to be king. They did not want to because
no matter what was done, players never stopped complaining. Some players
complain regardless of the side of the fence they are on, they just wish
to complain so much that no one wants the responsibility to represent
them. This may be the same thing. Too much power to the players may be a
bad thing. It is up to this current playerbase to decide that and the
future of politics in Medievia. Read my latest Vryce journal via the VRYCE
command to see my thoughts on these people.

Feel free to email vryce@medievia.com with the subject medievia politics,
if you have short clear comments on this stuff.

Ship Changes

When you transfer fae from your ship it is now split between all of the clans represented by players on the ship at the time of the transfer.

Example:

• 2 players from clan A
  
• 2 players from clan B
  
• 1 player from clan C
  
• Clan A and B get 40% and clan C gets 20%

Added a new ship class, Man O'War! This ship is very large, moves a bit slower and turns a bit slower than the frigate. What does it have going for it? It has THIRTY SEVEN guns! This will be a good ship when your clan tagged a major serpent like a Gigantic ruby triple eel headed lobster with two scorpion tails, and want to take a crew out to track it down and kill it. Please read HELP SHIP TYPES in the game for more info.

New Mobfaction Webpage

Are you interested in finding out more about Mobfactions and don't know where to get the information? If so, check out the new Mobfaction Feature Page. Find out how mobfactions are created and read the help files on each one to learn how to defeat them!

New Ocean Mobfaction -Sea Termites

Sea termites are dangerous pests that are known to harrass ships on the oceans of Medievia. They are social organisms that operate much like common termites, yet are significantly larger, amphibious and have a much heartier appetite!

Colonies of sea termites are rumored to feed on the dead husks of sunken ships at the bottom of the seas of Medievia. Occasionally, however, a young sea termite queen may pick up the scent of a live ship travelling above and decide to make it her home!

Sea termite queens are cunning creatures that take great care in finding a suitable place to make a nest. When a sea termite queen discovers a ship, she will carefully and silently bore a hole through the hull, make her way inside, then quickly secrete a sticky tar like substance to plug the hole. Adventurers on the ship will be totally unaware of the arrival of a sea termite queen. If the queen is not discovered shortly after she arrives, then a whole lot of trouble is in store for the ship and its occupants!

Once onboard, the sea termite queen will begin giving birth. Initially, the queen makes termite workers. Sea termite workers will begin spreading about the hull of the ship and getting busy. Sea termite workers will gnaw away at the ship and cause a great deal of damage to its insides. If the players on the ship were unlucky enough not to have discovered the fresh colony by now, then they will become aware of its presence by the gnawing and crunching noises of the hungry workers and the scuttling of the termites about the ship. Sea termite workers are hostile, and will defend their territory if intruders arrive! They are more interested in devouring the ship than fighting, however, so will not chase after their attackers if they retreat.

If the sea termites have encountered the occupants of the ship, then the sea termite queen will begin making termite guards. Sea termite guards are quite large and are covered by a hard, razor sharp exoskeleton. They are capable of spitting an acidic venom that poisons and blinds their enemies. To ensure the safety of their colony, sea termite guards will pick up the scent of their pray and track them throughout the ship. Sea termite guards are very dangerous, and if they eventually find their pray, will release phoromones to attrack the attention of other guards.

Adventurers on the sea that have a termite infestation problem should learn not to hastily attack the colony. If they begin attacking it and are ill-prepared to finish the job, then the queen will have more time to give birth to sea termite guards, which are many times more dangerous then the workers! If the occupants of the ship band together and perform a lightning-fast queen attack, disposing of the colony will be somewhat easier. The sea termite queen herself is a extremely dangerous but she does not move. The death of the colony's queen is key. It is important to kill the queen as soon as possible. If she is not fighting, she is making more mobs. A decent strategy is to go below, close the hatches to keep guards away if any exist above, and attack the queen with a strong formation.

The sooner the colony is discovered, the easier it will be to manage. If a sea termite colony is not quickly taken care off, then the ship will become crippled and sink to the bottom of the sea, where the sea termites will feast on its husk.

Sea Termites give normal fae, heropoints, and gold when defeated.

New Mudslinger Layout!

Our designer extraordinaire Vawin has come through again with a great new layout for Medievia's Newspaper, the Mudslinger! Come one, come all, view the new Mudslinger Newspaper.

New Ocean Mob Faction- Sea Griffins

These massive beasts have the body of a very large lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Griffins are a very smart and a very honorable species. They have a fascination with ships and with humans. Marious says that their kind has been hunted to the brink of extinction in their homeland somewhere afar. Wolfbeetles use their newborn in twisted magical experiments in their never ending desire to change their form. For this reason Sea Griffins have recently been known to take a ship as their own and having their babies in the crows nests of the ships.

The griffin mother will land in the crows nest, eventually have babies, and they all fly off if: the mothe dies, the babies die, or when the babies grow large enough to fly.

While they are on or near the ship the griffins will do all that they can to protect the mother, babies, and the players. You do not have to call for help like with the kah as griffins are very head strong and do what they want, when they want. They will often come to help just in time but sometimes they may not help at all.

If there is no threat on the ship for a while the griffins will fly out in front of the ship and use their magic to make the ship much faster. If a threat reappears they will fly back, land, and help out.

The babies will jump down from the rigging and pounce on a corpse, drag it back and eat it as it drags it back to the rigging. This is how they grow. They grow faster when eating.

It is said that the griffin have a particular fondness for kraken and firestick meat. If you defeat the kraken or some firesticks you may have some griffin visitors in a little while.

The DM will make sea griffins for ships that are sad just as it does when it interferes for sadness and gives the emerald kah.

Clanships are Here!

The day has come.

The day we all start playing with a new feature unlike any before.

Clanships are here!

What we expect:
Over the next few weeks there will be many updates, tweaks, and other player feedback driven changes. There will be much blood. There will be lost ships, lost crew, and lost gold. Very quickly players will learn that teamwork is what saves the day on a clanship. Very quickly players will learn many key tactics and strategies vs Mobfactions on the high seas. We will all attack this new feature with a frenzy and with a passion to make this game all it can be. Clanships are a big change. Clanships are a dramatic change. This will take a lot of work. We expect players to be
helpful. We expect coders to be brilliant. We expect leaders to lead. We expect the game to crash. We expect data to be lost. We expect gold to be lost and players to complain. We expect the good the bad and the ugly. We also expect players to have a new feature that gives new unique adventures every time it is used.

The next few weeks:
Over the next few weeks there will be many debates and development chatter. There will be players purged for lack of respect to changes. There will be leaders born who embrace the changes. There will be a shift in your gameplay unlike any change we have implemented before. Over the next few weeks the game will be in flux. Do not panic! Change is good. Have faith in Medievia.

The wind is strong. The ocean is large. The adventure awaits!

Today we start the first phase, basic fae collection.

- Vryce

To read the complete announcement, be sure to read ANNOUNCE 660 in the game.

October's Election

The primaries are over and the candidates for this month are:

• Aethilus running for Order from clan 68
  
• Krandor running for Chaos from clan 92
  

Get to know the candidates over the next few days and don't forget to vote on October 6th!