Once more about stray Followers

Ko6ka · 2023-05-04T09:04:34.881Z

Lokks like this problem is actual for all long-living PVE servers. People build bases, people tame Thralls and Pets, put them on guard… then they decide to move to another location and abandon their base. Their buildings decay soon enough but their Followers can live forever if their owner login once in 15 days somewhere on the other end of map. Followers on guard don’t generate landclaim but effectively prevent other players from building on a “free” spot. In PVE servers there is no way to get rid of them (maybe lure a dangerous boss to them, but it’s possible only in a few places).

As we all know one can’t put Follower on guard on a land claimed by another player. I suggest introducing new “decay” mechanics for Followers. If some of them stand on guard in the middle of nowhere and later this land is claimed by another player then such Followers should disappear in 15 days if their owner doesn’t want to take them home. If their owner doesn’t need them then server can get rid of them authomatically freeing place for another player.

sestus2009 · 2023-05-04T19:48:24.560Z

I have seen plenty of those. Had one years ago back when you could palisade humans unfortunately don’t work on pets must have been a large clan becauevse they easily had a hundred thralls along newbie river they were there up to the time we switched server. The decay timer got us on a server recently we disbanded the clan went to recreate character and didn’t leavening our presence wiped from the server for the benefit of every one. @Ko6ka

LostBrythunian · 2023-05-04T23:46:37.586Z

Are there not decay timers for thralls already?
This one thought they saw it in the admin panel recently.

Also, some years ago, did the thralls not require a thrall pot with food in it for continued survival?

Ko6ka · 2023-05-05T06:39:40.589Z

LostBrythunian:

Are there not decay timers for thralls already?

They work a bit different. To refresh decay timer on buildings you have to visit all of them at least once in 10 days (more or less often in some cases). “Decay timer” for Followers is refreshed just by logging in once in 15 days. You don’t have to be near them, just log in. So you may live somewhere in the Volcano, your sandstone base on the Newbie river will disappear soon with all the crafting stations - but your Exile Fighter will stand on guard forever if there are no crocks nearby to kill him. They don’t need food to survive now and there is no way to damage other players property on PVE servers, only lure some aggressive mobs (but many places are inaccessible for them or there are no mobs strong enough to kill a dozen of T3 Fighters). You even don’t know the owner of such a stray Follower. I have a couple of them at the middle of my base on #6057 and can’t find their master - no one knows, no one replies in the Global chat, but they don’t disappear because someone keeps on logging in. Very frustrating.

Ko6ka · 2023-05-05T07:24:56.030Z

Checked on another clan’s dancer for illustration purposes. You can’t put palisade close enough to damage Thrall on guard, at least on PVE server. This land obviously is not claimed because I can place it nearby. It “overlaps” with the Thrall, not with the terrain.

sestus2009 · 2023-05-05T12:43:36.073Z

Back when we did it a few years ago you could put really close and the crocodile spawn atack and thralls ran into palisade and died

Kikigirl · 2023-05-05T14:38:04.122Z

I always wondered what the purpose of the 15 day thrall decay timer was…

I think it should be in line with building decay.

Ko6ka · 2023-05-05T16:35:53.997Z

Kikigirl:

15 day thrall decay timer

It’s not a problem - day more day less. Problem is that owner doesn’t have to do anything to keep all the Thrall army alive. Just log in and that’s enough. Make Followers decay outside their owner’s landclaim - and all the abandoned Followers will vanish soon after their abandoned bases. Or just make them decay when this land is claimed by another player, it’s good enough.

Kikigirl · 2023-05-05T16:45:12.133Z

Agreed and that’s what I mean. Perhaps it is a consideration in their current follower rework? Although, while being no programmer myself, I understand that there is a big difference between the assets of a follower vs. building/placeables.

Xevyr · 2023-05-06T06:34:13.262Z

Ko6ka:

Problem is that owner doesn’t have to do anything to keep all the Thrall army alive. Just log in and that’s enough. Make Followers decay outside their owner’s landclaim - and all the abandoned Followers will vanish soon after their abandoned bases. Or just make them decay when this land is claimed by another player, it’s good enough.

I did have a suggestion on this topic a while ago.
Basically the suggestion was that if you set a thrall go guard outside of your landclaim, they should teleport to the owners nearest landclaim in 48 hours or so.
OR / AND as soon as somebody claims the land the thrall is on that is not the owner, the same thing should happen and the thrall should shortly be teleported on claimed land of the owner… If the owner doesn’t have ANY presence on the server, then the offending thralls should just be deleted.

system · 2023-05-13T08:34:20.147Z

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