Illarion.org

Okay, I have looked through the information on the main site and the wiki, as well as a bit through the forums, but I am having some trouble figuring out how to do a couple things.

1. I wanted to create an elven ranger-type character who is good with bows, but I can not figure out how to use the bow I get from the starting package. I have placed the bow in one hand and the arrows in the other, as well as leaving the arrows on the belt. Ctrl+clicking on a pig in Troll's Bane with the bow in hand (and the arrows in either the other hand or on the belt) resulted in nothing more than the red circle and battle music.
2. When I left click on my own character, I see a basic description. My only problem with this description is that it says my character looks very old. He is an elf and I set the starting age somewhere around 370 years, so from what I have read about the elves in Illarion he should not look old. I would like to know if there is a way I can change that description, or if I have to live with it for now.

I would appreciate any help that can be provided concerning these problems I have had. I thought that there was something else I wanted to ask, but it will have to wait until I remember what it is.

For the bow part, I have no idea why it's not working. Placing the bow in your hand, and the arrows in your other hand, then ctrl-clicking an enemy should make you shoot at it. Is your arrow amount decreasing? Maybe you're just missing the graphic.

For number two, alas, you cannot change the description. Older elves (such as... older than 280, I believe) show up as very old, for some reason I'm not sure of. It might be because of the elven year to human year conversation, though I wasn't aware this is official. It goes something like... 1 human year=10 elven years, so an elf of 250 years old is the equivalent of a 25 year old human. This is not exactly a good conversation, considering elves can live thousands of years. (Note: In theory, an elf could maintain a youthful look for their entire life-span; atleast, many thousands of years into it)

If you truly want this description to change, you can ask a GM to reset your char's stats, and you'll be able to change its age. Otherwise, write a description of your character and say that he is young looking, or some such. Players will follow your RPed look more closely than they will an engine-provided description. Atleast, they should.

Helpful note: Write a #me (such as... #me is a young-looking elf of middling height, his brown eyes containing the spark of youth.) and then press ctrl+F2. This will save the typed text as a 'description,' so every time you press F2, the description will appear in your text box. Then all you have to do is press enter, and people get your description.

How far away are you from the pig you are shooting at? You can only shoot on a very short range in Illarion, sadly. Just two or three fields, but I am not absolutely sure about that. Perhaps you were just not close enough to actually shoot?

Hint:
If you want to increase your bow-skill, grab a sling and those little stone to shoot them. It uses the same skill, but the ammo is much cheaper

And to get the ammo for that, just bother a miner or anyone who's done a building project - he'll have enough of those to sink a boat.

Kranek wrote:Hint:
If you want to increase your bow-skill, grab a sling and those little stone to shoot them. It uses the same skill, but the ammo is much cheaper

Yeah, the sling is the typical elven missile weapon.

can't help with the bow part, but the age thing i can (Yes, i know the about the B.S. in life)

You see, all the races ages are seen by human time. So your afe should be seenas very old. But to other elves, your still only about 17.
If for example you set your age to the maximum age, it will call you "timeless" the absolute maximum age in the game if i am correct.

On a last note, some times, after i make a character, i want to change their age, so i just RP it differently, that is the beauty of illarion.

Magdha Tiefenerz wrote:

Kranek wrote:Hint:
If you want to increase your bow-skill, grab a sling and those little stone to shoot them. It uses the same skill, but the ammo is much cheaper

Yeah, the sling is the typical elven missile weapon.

The bow-system is total crap. Skilling with the slign is the most effective way. Of course he/she can stay at the bow...but it will take alot of time and money for the arrows...

Kranek wrote:

Magdha Tiefenerz wrote:

Kranek wrote:Hint:
If you want to increase your bow-skill, grab a sling and those little stone to shoot them. It uses the same skill, but the ammo is much cheaper

Yeah, the sling is the typical elven missile weapon.

The bow-system is total crap. Skilling with the slign is the most effective way. Of course he/she can stay at the bow...but it will take alot of time and money for the arrows...

Since when do you put game mechanics over roleplaying in a roleplaying game?

About February 2000, I believe.

On the race issue: This seems to be an obvious "bug". Please submit it to mantis. It can be fixed .

Magdha Tiefenerz wrote:

Kranek wrote:

Magdha Tiefenerz wrote: Yeah, the sling is the typical elven missile weapon.

The bow-system is total crap. Skilling with the slign is the most effective way. Of course he/she can stay at the bow...but it will take alot of time and money for the arrows...

Since when do you put game mechanics over roleplaying in a roleplaying game?

Since powergaming warriors deny to rp a fight after they got yellow skills.

Respen wrote:...........
I wanted to create an elven ranger-type character who is good with bows, but I can not figure out how to use the bow I get from the starting package. I have placed the bow in one hand and the arrows in the other, as well as leaving the arrows on the belt. Ctrl+clicking on a pig in Troll's Bane with the bow in hand (and the arrows in either the other hand or on the belt) resulted in nothing more than the red circle and battle music.

The bow will work best the closer you are to the target (when unskilled), if a rock is between you and the target it won't work either much like a fighter that can't reach past the obstacle. Less skilled has to get fairly close (and use more arrows), try different angles and you should see the picture of the bow shooting above your char eventually. Arrow in one hand and bow in the other.

about the bow: the higher your skill the further away you can be from the target. my orc hunter can be up to 5 or 6 squares away from whatever he is shooting at. rocks does not hamper his hit ratio for some reason...cant wait for that "one shot one kill" when he gets good enough at shooting stuff..oh and arrows are a major female dog on wheels to aquire.

Kranek wrote:
Since powergaming warriors deny to rp a fight after they got yellow skills.

Now that isn't true for plenty of people and you know it. D:

Olaf Tingvatn wrote:about the bow: the higher your skill the further away you can be from the target. my orc hunter can be up to 5 or 6 squares away from whatever he is shooting at. rocks does not hamper his hit ratio for some reason...cant wait for that "one shot one kill" when he gets good enough at shooting stuff..oh and arrows are a major female dog on wheels to aquire.

It's possible to have a 1 shot kill? >.>

Pigs of course!

Kevin Lightdot wrote:

Kranek wrote:
Since powergaming warriors deny to rp a fight after they got yellow skills.

Now that isn't true for plenty of people and you know it. D:

There are enough of them...i once got told from a yellow warrior when i asked him to rp the fight that he was not able to rp a simple swordfight...i wont mention any names...but is was sad

Estralis Seborian wrote:On the race issue: This seems to be an obvious "bug". Please submit it to mantis. It can be fixed .

I thought it might be, but I wanted to check and make sure I was not missing something first. I have now submited a bug report on it in mantis. This is my first bug report, so let me know if I got anything wrong.

I have tried using the bow and arrows again, according to what several people have said, and it does now work for me. I do not know what was going wrong before.

Thank you everyone for providing such helpful information!

Ah, yes! I remember my other question now. I wanted to know about fires and lights. From the tutorial on Noobia I learned about campfires, but I have seen oil lamps around Troll's Bane and a lamp for sale in a shop. I do not know how to light such lamps. I assume I would need a flask of oil, or something of that nature, and something to light the fire with. I have not seen anything in any of the shops I have visited that looks like it would be used to light a fire, like flint and steel. Does one just use the hatchet for this, like with campfires?

To light lamps, no ignition source is required. I know oil lamps use lamp oil... Just use the oil from your belt with the lamp (These lamps include the ones around Bane, and the genie-looking ones you can find fishing).

Candles on tables can be lit by using candles (the stackable kind) with the static candle on the table.

There are other candles, not stackable, that you just use on your belt or in your hand, and they will light. These act a lot like torches (which are the prefered light source). Simply use a torch, and you've got light.

There are other light sources, such as lanterns, though I still can't get a lantern to work.

Light is a little complicated in Illarion.

Torches are made from apple or naldor boughs(basic carpentry) and are lit by using (shift clicking) them. The static torch holders can be equipped by using the tile they are on (the ground tile beneath them), while having a lit torch at the belt.

Oil lamps, static or portable, are lit using them, while having lamp oil at the belt. Lamp oil is pressed at the static tool oil press from black thistle, which you can find or gather with a sickle in the right season. Gathering thistles in bulk requires a little herb lore skill.

Candlesticks, lanterns and static candle holders, are lit by using, having candles at the belt. Candles are made from honeycombs, which are a pain to gather, unless you have decent to high farming skill. To make candles you also need the static tool chandler's table as well as the portable tools candle mold and crucible pincers.


Radius and brightness of portable light sources:

Torches have a large radius, but the light is quite dim. Oil lamps shine very brightly, but not very far. Candlesticks/lanterns are between the previous two in both regards. Weird, but that's the way it is.

Thank you both for the great information!

Now that I know a bit more about lights, I do have some questions. Do the torches get used up after they are lit? In other words, do they go out after an amount of time passes and/or are unusable after being lit once? Likewise, are candles and/or oil used up by the other lights? Do those lights have time limits?

I would just like to know about that stuff before I go spending what little money I have on those items. It is pretty dark at night without a light, and inside buildings is worse. It gets to the point that I don't want to play when it is night.

Also, do any races have good night-vision? Well, good enough anyway that they do not require lights to function at night.

What I have heard of the light system so far is very interesting. Sorry for the endless barrage of questions, but since you all are being so helpful I feel more comfortable asking.

You can turn a portable light on and off at will (even torches, just shift-click them), though all lights do burn out eventually.

Also, as far as I can tell, the darkness does not change for any character, no matter race or perception level. However, while there is no engine-supported "night vision" in races, it is RPed by some. (Elves, I know, and maybe some others). Also, characters with higher perception could be RPed as having better "night vision."

EDIT: Quick tip... Buying items from players is generally MUCH cheaper than buying from NPCs. Also, some monsters drop light sources, such as gnomes.

About the age, my Elfess is not yet 190 years old and is described as very old too. It is the same for every Elf I have ever examined closely. I always assumed all character ages were seen in human age and everyone would understand that since she is an Elfess she always looks timeless, or even young, to others.

When you have a burning oil lamp or a lit candle in a candle holder, you can also extinguish the light by again 'using' (or ctrl-clicking) the lamp or candle. If you want to relight it, just simply use the lamp or candle in the holder, without extra lamp oil or a new candle, and it will light up again. I am not sure, but I think it works for torches too.

@ Alli, you beat me to it, again

Yes, the oil and candles burn out and then disappear. Oil lamps can burn rather long, although not an entire Illa night. Torches and candles burn down faster, especially the candles in the static candle holders on the tables.

During the night my character sometimes walks around in the dark enjoying the moonlight, or when she doesn't want to be seen. At all other times she always carries a light, but wanting to have a light with her is also part of her character. It is mostly rp how much you want your character to be able to see in the dark.

One other thing, you said you played an Elf? if you play an Elf on Tol Vanima, ask your brothers and sisters for candles or lamp oil, some have plenty to share with their brother

Carrying torches ia awesome at night. Especially when ya find someone cause you see a bit of light...its cool!
Use torches: they are cheap, classical and light

Minor Addendum: There are also 'passive' light sources which are always on, but they barely light up anything. These are magical wands, magical weapons and magical elven armour. They glow from being magical and stuff.

Its useful carrying one of those just for the permanent light.

I think I'm the only one using a lantern. Never seen another use one anyway. Probably because honey is so hard to find without high farming skill.

Oil I always found far too bright and limited in range. You can't see anything outside of the illuminated area because of the sharp contrast and lighting the oil lamp, can make your eyes hurt.

Torches are nice, but for a druid, cutting trees to burn them up isn't an option.

@Respen specifically: If you look to buy light sources from players, post an in character ad on the trade board here on the forums or contact the Chamber of Commerce. Those are the easiest ways to find a char, who can supply them.

Hadrian_Abela wrote:Minor Addendum: There are also 'passive' light sources which are always on, but they barely light up anything. These are magical wands, magical weapons and magical elven armour. They glow from being magical and stuff.

Its useful carrying one of those just for the permanent light.

Some mushrooms glow, too.

Talathiel wrote:

Hadrian_Abela wrote:Minor Addendum: There are also 'passive' light sources which are always on, but they barely light up anything. These are magical wands, magical weapons and magical elven armour. They glow from being magical and stuff.

Its useful carrying one of those just for the permanent light.

Some mushrooms glow, too.

Some make everything glow after you eat them.