Topic

New Skill: [Animal] Herdmaster

Name: Herdmaster
Description: Your rapport with animals has developed to the point where animals will begin to obey your commands willingly. Find it impossible to find Mme Butterfly amidst all the others energetically flitting around? No more! With a blow of a [[Tin Whistle]], all animals near you will stop in their tracks until they hear it again or their muscles give out one minute later.
Required: Animal Herdkeeping, Animal Kinship V
Note: Tin Whistle would be a new item from the Animal Vendor and Toy Vendor.

Summary: Makes it much easier to manually take care of your animals by keeping them from moving around as you progress down the line petting/massing and nibbling/milking them.
Other notes: Inspired by the difficulty in managing large animal populations. Thematically, this would be the alternative to Remote Herdkeeping for farmers who stay at home rather than travelling. Preferably, this would share the AKVII/Emblem prerequisite that RHK does, but I don't think any other skills have the exact same prereqs that this would involve. There was a bit of consideration as to the range of this skill: All animals on the street? Only at home? Limited range? and the duration: Until blown again? Limited time? User leaves the street?

Concept developed in conjunction with Krushak.

Posted 14 months ago by Aoi Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I like this idea. I have a hard time managing my small animal herd. They always stand in clumps around me (I like that they want to be near me) and the butterflies are always in front of trees. If I could freeze them, I could make sure everyone gets his turn. I use remote herdkeeping, but when I am home, I like to give them the personal touch.

    In my view it would have to be for a limited time with a cooldown afterwads. It could last for 30 seconds in your home, but only 15 on the street and then only for those within so many gl-inches of you (I just made that up, we need a unit of distance of measure in Ur)

    This would take AK up another notch.
    Posted 14 months ago by Kookaburra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes please!
    Posted 14 months ago by roderick ordonez Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If you use to the Startling Fecundity Powder or whatever it's called, you don't need them to come to you. They just drop grain/milk/meat all over the place.
    Posted 14 months ago by Jarhaven Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes, you can use Fecundity, but you get none of the perks associated with working with your animals. Namely, the experience.

    AK7 (only?) amplifies the rewards from working with your animals yet upper-tier housing make this kind of interaction far more difficult than it would be in a cheaper place since a higher population [if you're at the cap] is shoved into a much smaller place. As such, the usefulness of AK7 is greatly reduced. RHK is effectively the last useful skill in the tree and that more or less eliminates the need to interact with your animals.

    MH proposes an option where you DO get to get all those rewards, is appropriately thematic and removes a good deal of frustration.
    Posted 14 months ago by Aoi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes please. Even with just 6 piggies things do get confusing.

    And how about a remote chicken-squeezer...?
    Posted 14 months ago by Zurin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Kookaburra for coining "glinches" as a measure of distance.  I propose that one glinch is equivalent to the width of one glitch.
    Posted 14 months ago by Scarlett Bearsdale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Animal management is definitely something that needs to be improved in some way. Be it adding a skill or just adding an item that requires a certain lvl of animal kinship
    Posted 14 months ago by Nirosu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • so would this make animals join your conga line? hehe
    Posted 14 months ago by Artilect Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Quoted " Yes please. Even with just 6 piggies things do get confusing.
    And how about a remote chicken-squeezer...? "
    Note by Zurin | Permalink

    I Agree, need a chicken squeezer just like we already have a butterfly milker & meat collector.
    Posted 14 months ago by Roland Conner Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Really, the XP itself is useless as well, since levels provide very little in Glitch.  Just the powders are fine, really.  It then becomes which is worth more to you: Five glitch-days of frustration free resource collection or the currants that would cost you?
    Posted 14 months ago by Kaobel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • XP may be useless but that adorable wiggle when I pet or nibble my piggies is priceless. Even though I have RHK and use collectors, I hand feed and harvest my animals whenever I am home for the pure joy on their little faces (or threat of revenge in the case of chickens)
    Posted 14 months ago by Kookaburra Subscriber! | Permalink