Topic

Serving Food from Tables in Towers

Yesterday I discovered that food I drop on a table in my tower cannot be picked up by others. This surprised me. I had expected things to work the same in my tower as in my house, where items dropped on furniture (vs. placed) can be picked up by others. I know there's a bug such that placed items do not lock reliably, but I thought others would be able to take items that I wanted to make available if I made sure sure to use "drop" rather than "place."  

I was chagrined to discover that I was providing a Tantalus Table rather than a Community Kitchen, but according to LIve Help, this locking of items on furniture in towers is by design. This has advantages for decorating, but does it mean that there is no way to leave free food on tables or serve food from tables in towers?  This called for some scientific experimentation!

Principle investigators Splendora, Flowerry Pott, and Ginnis have discovered the following, with assistance from a number of helpful players.

1. Items dropped on furniture in a tower by the tower owner will be locked in most cases, but this cannot be counted on.

2. Items dropped on furniture in a tower by someone other than an owner can be picked up by anyone in most cases.

3. One exception to the above is when a tower owner drops an item on furniture and then another person drops one or more items of the same type in the same place. In this case, all the dropped items stack together and can only be picked up by the tower owner.

4. If someone other than a tower owner drops an item on furniture, it will stay unlocked even if the tower owner adjusts its placement while not in decorating mode.

So the bottom line is that you can serve food from tables in towers, but you might have to hire a waiter to do it.  And if you want everything placed just so, you may have to help the waiter!

DISCLAIMER
There is no guarantee that all towers work as described. In fact, I am pretty sure that they do not all work the same right now.

Posted 5 months ago by Splendora Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Oh darn. I've been providing a Tantalus table too, then. (I was wondering why stuff dropped on my street was flying away, but the Tower items were still there.)

    Phooey. 

    Looking forward to the fixization of this ongoing drop/place/free etc. confuseration.
    Posted 5 months ago by Pascale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Perhaps the verb "serve" could be used with items placed on tables? In which case, tower owners would have the choice of arranging things for decorative purposes which can't be picked up or moved by others ("place"), or allow others to take it freely ("serve").
    Posted 5 months ago by HeyHeyHolly Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is there a difference with items place in 'decorate' mode?
    Posted 5 months ago by N2ZOrtolanaBlue Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes - I would like to see a way -where we can have some things like food and drink free for the taking. But other items to be able to be locked for decoration too!

    IF we cant have a lock "command" added to individual items *which would be so cool* !

    My idea goes kinda with hey hey holleys; - if we cant have a verb command
    - then is the work around possible where maybe to have a "server tray " that is placeable onto any counter, bar , table, side table, or desk -and anything placed on the server tray is always unlocked no matter how the homeowner "places" or " drops" it ?
    If a tray is do-able- we could have maybe a 1 version of it in colors : say a white, black, bog brown , blue , purple , silver , gold , clear-ish glass, and burgandy. For shape-a generic rectangle would do , ( though a circle, square, and oval would be cool!) .
    sorry if this is a "bad " idea -as I have zero knowledge about game coding.
    Posted 5 months ago by serenitycat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would prefer to be able to have visitors pick up items I place on tables or counters so I can serve free drinks and food. I don't want to have to put them on the floor: it doesn't look right.
    Posted 5 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I always figured this was a symptom of the placement issues.  But yes, noticed this in my house.  I tried setting some food out for friends (not in decorate mode), and they all said they couldn't move it, so since they were key holders I just put out samples on the tables and then put the extras in the cabinets for them to use.  Was wondering if this problem was going to shift to towers.  When they said they got the placement piece to work, figured they got this fixed as well.  Guess not yet.  Thanks for the explanation of what works and what doesn't. Here's hoping it helps the devs to sort this out also. 
    Posted 5 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So that's why no one's taken all the tickets I've left out in my tower...
    Posted 5 months ago by ennuienta Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wha... WHAT?  I've been going with the flow with TS's decisions, but I really want to give away things in my tower for free.  I think this is the first time I'm seriously unnerved.  I've been providing a Tantalus Table, too!  Oh noes!  D:
    Posted 5 months ago by Dartha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I know this isn't what you were aiming for, but is it possible to set up SDBs that have a price of zero currants, so that people can just help themselves?  Otherwise it looks like selling for one currant, or keeping you floors clean enough to eat off of are the only choices until this is fixed.
    Posted 5 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, my tower does not work as described. Anything placed or dropped on furniture, by owners or visitors, is available only to the person who dropped or placed it.

    I would like to leave some free items available, but not sloppily on the floor! Fastidious glitch is fastidious. :/

    Ideally, we would be able to 'lock' or 'unlock' any dropped/placed object in the towers. But I would settle for, say, dropped is unlocked, placed is locked.

    I'd even prefer the convoluted thing that Splendora describes in the OP to what I actually have, which is 'nothing is takable unless it's on the floor'.
    Posted 5 months ago by Kinkajou Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, and +1 for HeyHeyHolly's suggestion of a 'Serve' verb.
    Posted 5 months ago by Kinkajou Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Serve" is a great idea! And I was also wondering why no one had taken the free stuff from my table!
    Posted 5 months ago by Dr.Maud, Obviously Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, I'm going to be the dumb dumb in this so well spoken thread, but what in the world does Tantalus Table mean? 
    Posted 5 months ago by NutMeg Botwin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalus
    Posted 5 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Not only a very informative read, but a very accurate way to use such a word in context. I applaud the two of you. On the related note, I would like to agree with Splendora and those involved in the Community Kitchen- I think that it is kind of you'all to do this, and a few claps in a circle to the "experiment".
    Posted 5 months ago by PUV5RBA9J8H2MSG Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thing I could have written prior to the existence of Wikipedia: "stop tantalizing people with erudite references." 

    Damn you, Wikipedia.
    Posted 5 months ago by Meromorphic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thaks for tips, I'll have to change the sign outside my tower, which invites people eat, till I get a new system. Maybe 1 currant storage box items for now. Although 1 current isn't quite the same as a gift....
    Posted 5 months ago by sakmet Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Actually in some ways I would prefer a 1currant SDB.   It might make me feel a bit less of a charity case if I was new and needed the food. 

    Have not really thought it through, but I would not mind paying a token fee, which the owner could spend on more food perhaps?

    For decorative reasons, though, food on tables looks much nicer, so there should be some solution to the problem in the long term.
    Posted 5 months ago by Cassandria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think it's a good thing for people to know how it works, but I definitely don't think it should be changed... the community tends to take a pretty broad interpretation of "stealing," and when there is the option for people to interact with an object in more than one way, we tend to get embroiled in hurt feelings, debates, and accusations. 

    A "free food for everyone" table is only one use case for why someone might want to drop an item in their tower--I am pretty sure that in a lot of cases, the player would want the item to remain locked, or assume they were locked. Since the UI has no way of knowing "I am putting this salad on a table so people can take it" from "I am putting this cubimal on the bed, for decoration, like a stuffed animal," we should probably err on the side of not being allowed to touch others' things. 
    Posted 5 months ago by Pomegrandy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There ought to be a meaningful distinction between "drop" and "place." When you "drop" you're letting go of something. When you "place," you're putting it somewhere on purpose. The first should be unlocked, the second locked.

    That's the way TS described it for us. Unfortunately, implementation has been dodgy all along.
    Posted 5 months ago by Pascale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Serve!
    Posted 5 months ago by Eye Wonder Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LOVE the 'Serve' idea.
    Posted 5 months ago by Kyleri Subscriber! | Permalink