User:Sefet/Pregame

12/06/08 - Beginning Anew

After some two and a half years, ATitD 3 is finally done. A new, yet familiar, Egypt beckons... and with that I gleefully started up a new account so I could dive into the Beta for the fourth Tale. The beta will run for a week and then next Saturday, everything gets destroyed and we start the 'live' game fresh. So, for the next week, I'm just going to piddle around and get a feel for things again.

Some things I've noticed: the graphics have improved a little. By that I mean “the game looks a little less like cat ass”. Chests look realistic, the water seems sparklier, the flax beds look very cool, and the graphics engine now supports White People(tm).

That said, I'm not going to list all of the little things I'm doing in game for the next week, because they are so temporary. Instead, consider this to be the “forward” to A Blog in the Desert Two, wherein my spouse tries to grasp my love of flax.

12/07/08 – The search for the perfect campsite.

For me and many others, it is vital to have a campsite that is convenient to schools and universities, have access within reasonable distance to most of the basic gathering stuffs: wood, water, slate, clay, limestone, sand, mud, grass, without being too convenient. By nature, I'm social when society is thrust upon me, but I appreciate a bit of space. In real life I like having a little land between myself and my neighbors and I could never envision living in an apartment building. That extends into the Desert, but in the desert there is nothing to stop a person from deciding to set up shop right next to you. When things start up, no matter where I've selected, unless it is in the middle of BFE (bum f**k Egypt, which now that I think about it, is scathingly apropos), I'm likely to have someone closer than I'd like. So, the Sefetplex is being built a slight clip and a half away from the hub of a particular zone.

I really, really enjoyed Lower Egypt in the last Tale, but was perpetually annoyed at how long it took to get down to central and southern zones for trading. Logically, the best point to set up camp is Karnak, as they will have most advanced technologies first and will be central to the map. The main problem with moving there is that I hate them...a lot for reasons I won't go into at this time, but if you've read my previous blog in the desert, you'll be somewhat sympathetic to my plight.

7 Lakes, now renamed Shabbat Ab, is a definite possibility, as is Upper Egypt (UE). I've marked what I think is a decent starting point in UE out-- it is beside a veritable forest of trees, right by the Nile, with some clay a short clip to the South. Silt patties litter the water's edge and papyrus will be found seconds from my front doorstep. It's far enough away from the Zone center to be viable, but given that I already have a few neighbors to the north, I'm curious to see how the region develops next week. In the meantime, I've run south to Shabbat Ab to see what potential real estate offerings are there. If nothing else, I'd be able to log on to scream, “HEY, SHAB-BAT!” Lou Costello would be proud.

My explorations in Shabbat Ab took me to a campsite superior to my last and it looks like I'll be setting up shop here. I'll finish the Beta in UE, but 7L/SA is where Fort Sefet-on-the-Nile will be constructed.

12/08/08 – The destruction of hated Karnak

Hated Karnak is no more. It should make me feel somewhat happy inside, but instead I just feel a certain hollowness, as I have been eternally denied my revenge. What? Oh, Karnak was renamed to Saqqarah. Saqqarah?! It boasts an entirely too large of a Scrabble score, has an extra Q, but at least it doesn't sound like the name of a third-rate magician.

I've decided to take this Tale at a more relaxed pace. The key to doing this is not following the Path of Architecture, I've decided. I'll still go through the Principles, as this Tale has the same crappy level scheme that they introduced last time 'round, but it's nice knowing I'm not going to drive myself mad trying to spend days gathering resources to build a tower at 3 am. So, this time around sleep and family take a larger part of my life. If I pass a few less Tests as a result, so be it.

Still wondering how the wife will take to it all. She hasn't downloaded the client yet and I'm certainly not going to press. If she chooses to play, I'll help her along with her goals-- she isn't hired labor for the Sefetplex, she's a partner. I just hope she doesn't find Architecture appealing.

I started up a secondary compound where I'm going to go once we start up on Saturday-- the lawn isn't quite as nice as one a short jog to the North, but the resources are better: a lot more clay and lumber within a half-minute's walk. The compound was thrown together just as a 'squatting point' and I've made all of the equipment public accessible for the duration of Beta, for what it's worth.

Interesting side story. Years ago when Tale 1 first came out, I found the game so fascinating, I bought a book on translating ancient Egyptian and discovered the heiros on the chests translate to "Give an offering unto the Stranger”. When I subscribed this time, I finally broke down and sent a message to the dev staff to find out if that was an Easter egg or an accident (most things in game didn't translate to anything at all-- the ideograms seemed to be picked for ascethic reasons). I heard back from the staff who confessed that Teppy, the head developer, was unaware of the translation and it was very likely an inside joke by the first artist they had.

The more you know!