Siege tactics in Aberoth

Ledges can be used to avoid being killed by other players, including a place to avoid people while wanted. The player on the ledge can destroy (pick up) ladders being built.

There are three obvious ways to get up there.

1. Brute forcing a ladder. With a group of people against one on the ledge, items can be dropped faster then one player can pick them up. I'm not sure what the minimum number needed is.

2. Straps with 10 clubs in them. I haven't tested it, but it might allow one person to build a platform fast enough.

3. Building a ladder so high that the player on the ledge can't reach it, then dropping down.

None of these are ideal. Straps mean less room for potions, and scavenging items for a ladder might take too long. These techniques would be even harder if the player is on the roof of a building.

So I found a forth tactic which takes only two players, and even provides enough height to get onto buildings. One player builds a ladder onto the other player's head, then they both shuffle along. Since the ladder is further away, it can't be picked up by the player on the roof.

Rabbit army

Hate showed me the massed rabbits in his vault:

Which was very interesting to see. But his openness backfired later that day:

New item

Vanner noticed that Lysis attempts to pickup a dropped white (wolf) pelt. I told him I hadn't heard of that happening, that it was probably the new item, so we went to see what it was.

Yes, she turned a white pelt worth 15k into a rage potion. I don't suggest doing this.

Vanner's suggestion was very tempting. 

The actual new item turned out to drop from the orc Master Alchemist. He's about Ourik's difficulty level, and can use any potion, including rage. His respawn time is estimated at 25 minutes.

The ledge on the right has a hidden platform on it's back, making it climbable without a ladder.

The item is a stoneskin potion. 

(Image from reddit)

I was told it gives 20 defense, and lasts 1m 5s with a drinking skill of 13. It also causes the drinker to walk slower, and turns his skin grey. That's without "gulping", but I'm unsure if or how that effects potions.

PvP Changes

Part of today's update was:

When you die, you now have a good chance of recovering most items engraved with your name. However, you will still drop all gold and unengraved items.

I used two low-levels to test this.

The first test was with 5 engraved items and 15 deaths. 

Death	Items lost	Percentage of items lost
1	1	20
2	0	0
3	3	60
4	1	20
5	0	0
6	1	20
7	1	20
8	2	40
9	1	20
10	1	20
11	3	60
12	1	20
13	1	20
14	2	40
15	1	20
Average	1.3	25

The second test was 4 deaths with 7 items, plus a strap with 10 clubs. All engraved.

Death	Total lost	Non-clubs	Clubs
1	4	2	2
2	6	2	4
3	5	1	4
4	5	2	3

It's a rough test, but it's enough to get me not to bother carrying 50 engraved clubs around in the hope of having them drop instead.

This change will encourage players to try and get items back when dying, rather then logging off. One way to prepare for that is having a selection of engraved backup gear in neat stacks, ready to replace whatever you lost. Perhaps it's time to clean my vault...

I'm lucky there's no RSPCA in Aberoth.

Wolf taming

I tamed a white wolf, which is done by feeding one a pink rabbit.

The first thing the White Wolf did upon being tamed was kill his pack mates, which is entertaining to watch. But it means the whole pack can't be tamed with one pink rabbit. The group of wolves I posted about before must of cost a pink rabbit each.

It kept the name "White Wolf" until I named it. It will kill wild rabbits without provocation. But it won't kill pets, so they can be stored in a vault together with tamed rabbits. 

Considering the very high price of White Wolf pelts, it's probably dangerous to take them out for walks. At least during peak times.

On my second attempt I accidentally let an ordinary wolf eat the pink rabbit, who was ripped apart by the others before I could rescue him.

Multiple white wolves can follow me at once. I'm unsure what the limit is, or if there is one. They can be hard to keep track of, so having multiple White Wolves out would create a higher risk of one being stuck behind and poached.

I also tried sleeping a whole pack before dropping the rabbit. But he attacked me upon waking instead of the pink rabbit. I suggest just killing the Gray ones instead of sleeping them.

Fun with AFK players

Sleeping NPCs

I went unfriendly with a sleep wand to test what happens when I sleep NPCs (non-playable-characters). First test was Gomald. It isn't possible to enter the vaults when he is asleep. But you can wake NPCs up by hitting them once.

When asleep, vendors won't buy items. It's possible for someone else to pick up the item for free, if you are slow to notice.

A more dangerous version of this is at Tavelor's bar. An item placed on the table while Tavelor is asleep will be free for anyone to pick up. I showed this trick to the game's creator.

It remains to be seen if this will be edited, or simply considered part of the game's mechanics. In the meantime, be wary of any unfriendly players standing next to Tavelor with a sleep wand.

Below is a minor update recently added. A message is displayed whenever a player, or monster, picks up a recently dropped item. This helps against a different stealing technique - someone hidden by an invisibility potion who grabs an item being traded.

Bridge with a supporting pylon

New item: Book

Vanner showed me a book, it holds three scrolls. I'm unsure who drops it, but it's probably the orc shaman.

Update: The shaman drops it.

Playerkilling driving people to desperate measures

A bank vault for homeless people

Effective recycling

I was messing about with knives laying near the satyrs, something often done by random players.

Which gave me an idea. Akrabu mentioned using a tree to avoid an Elder Satyr's headbutt attack. This is possible but also difficult. What if it can be replicated with an artificial barrier?

As some of you might predict, the satyrs drank the beer and hopped over the knives. Attempt two:

This version was extremely successful. It avoided the headbutt and made soloing elder satyrs easy. Killing them without taking much damage is important to minimize the risk of being playerkilled.

The lullaby still has enough range to cross the barrier, so I suggest running and resting even when slightly injured - so you can avoid an unlucky chain of sleeps.

Players now limited to three characters at once

Situations like below will be rarer.

Gold cuboid

Building an extra floor

This is a simple design for building an extra floor inside a vault. I found the rabbit pelts easier to use as a stairway compared to potions.

Sleeping the blue bee

Blue bee under an electron microscope.

It doesn't seem possible to sleep a blue bee, my sleeping wand shots went straight through it.