Riyana
Operations
Administrator
Professional
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Event Coordinator
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
Astronomy looks pretty neat!
Here are the orrery and telescope:
The telescope actually lines up with your character so that it looks like you're looking through it (at least in CC), which I think is a really nice touch. It can be turned in 2 directions:
Lock it down and double click to look through it.
If you look through it during daylight hours, you get a whited out view and a message that you won't see anything during the day. You can use a clock or other timepiece to tell what time it is in game so you can know when to stargaze.
However, if you look at night, you will see various astronomical phenomena such as comets, planets, and galaxies:
You can also find constellations. If you are the first person to find a given constellation, you can name it and hand your star chart to the astronomer in Moonglow, and your name and the constellation's name will be recorded in his book. (You get to keep the original star chart--the astronomer just records it.) He will award you a deed for the title of "Astronomer" and a recipe for crafting a telescope.
The astronomer is located in front of the old Moonglow observatory. Make sure you read the information on the table.
When you locate a constellation, to record it you will need a cartographer's pen and a blank scroll. I was able to do so as a human with 0 cartography skill, but I don't know if elves and gargoyles can without jack of all trades.
**EDIT--I am told elves can make star charts without jack of all trades.
It looks like they put a lot of time and effort into this and it looks pretty good. I am looking forward to playing with this on production. I do have a few suggestions though:
You can check it out on TC1 by going to Britain Commons and clicking the blue stone to get the telescope and orrery. There is a blue gate to the astronomy tent next to the stone.
What do you guys think?
Here are the orrery and telescope:
The telescope actually lines up with your character so that it looks like you're looking through it (at least in CC), which I think is a really nice touch. It can be turned in 2 directions:
Lock it down and double click to look through it.
If you look through it during daylight hours, you get a whited out view and a message that you won't see anything during the day. You can use a clock or other timepiece to tell what time it is in game so you can know when to stargaze.
However, if you look at night, you will see various astronomical phenomena such as comets, planets, and galaxies:
You can also find constellations. If you are the first person to find a given constellation, you can name it and hand your star chart to the astronomer in Moonglow, and your name and the constellation's name will be recorded in his book. (You get to keep the original star chart--the astronomer just records it.) He will award you a deed for the title of "Astronomer" and a recipe for crafting a telescope.
The astronomer is located in front of the old Moonglow observatory. Make sure you read the information on the table.
When you locate a constellation, to record it you will need a cartographer's pen and a blank scroll. I was able to do so as a human with 0 cartography skill, but I don't know if elves and gargoyles can without jack of all trades.
**EDIT--I am told elves can make star charts without jack of all trades.
- Use the pen, select star chart, and target your telescope.
- You will now have a star chart. Open it and name your constellation at the bottom.
- Make sure you click the red seal on the right to finalize your name.
- You can rename them after you have sealed them, so if you make a mistake you can fix it before you turn it in.
It looks like they put a lot of time and effort into this and it looks pretty good. I am looking forward to playing with this on production. I do have a few suggestions though:
- The astronomer should reject unnamed constellations. It is easy for a player not to realize they can name it and just hand it in, but ideally, in my opinion, they should all be named.
- You can't tell if a constellation you find has already been found unless you exhaustively screenshot/catalog the current finds or go drop every single one on the astronomer and hope for the best. Early on this isn't terrible, but as we get closer to most of them being found it will prove fairly frustrating. If there is a way to flag already found ones that would be helpful. It could be something as simple as making the Constellation Ledger an item that anyone could purchase or earn somehow so that we can check our new ones against the old ones. Something to keep us from having to outside catalog or keep going back and forth would be very helpful.
- You can't change the orrery when it is locked down--only when it is in your pack. You should be able to adjust it locked down.
- Star charts cannot be opened locked down. They should be readable. They should probably be red leaf-able too so they can't be overwritten.
- Since you can use a clock (or old holiday watch/timepiece, or sundial) to tell the time, I think it would be neat if looking through the telescope during the day actually gave a much stronger effect, like how the Slasher flashes your whole screen and freezes you for a couple seconds. Not a necessary thing obviously but I think it would be fun flavor.
You can check it out on TC1 by going to Britain Commons and clicking the blue stone to get the telescope and orrery. There is a blue gate to the astronomy tent next to the stone.
What do you guys think?
Last edited: