Dragon Riders

[Creme]

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, and I think someone said it was even a concept at one point, but permissable dragon riding would be really cool Maybe piggy back on a flying cargo disk or something?

[Lunarya]

I agree, dragon riding would be cool :P only once they add aerial combat... MORE cool

I also think that adults and ancients should be able to carry hatchies in their front claws :P

[Tcei]

Id be ok with it as long as there was an option to auto-decline offers to be mounted. Other wise persitant bi-peds would be finding theirselves doomed to a watery grave... Or a very slow afk flight in the wrong direction, as I'd suddenly have a need to drag my flying disk behind us for an hour or six.

[Salis]

Some questions?

1. Who can offer/request the transport?
2. In what position will the transportee be. Claws, back, special disc?
3. Would special gear and/or a new slot be required for transportation
4. Can a transportee get off/out in midflight?
5. Can a transportee recall in midflight?
6. Can a transportee fight midflight? Aerial Combat?
7. Can the transporter fight in midflight? Again perform Aerial Combat?
8. Can the transporting dragon dump his transportee in midflight?

My suggestions.
1. I would only allow a dragon to actually make an offer to transport a biped or hatchling.
2. Depending on the transportee:
Hatchling Disc or Claws. Biped: Back, Claws or Disc.
3. Special gear:
Claw slot: Sort of hangmat to carry the transportee in. Maybe you could even carry two bipeds at once.
Back: Some form of saddle (can imagine Lunus dragons won't like this very much)
Air carrier disc: Maybe some sort of lenghtened cargo disc, which allow the transport of up to 4 bipeds or 2 hatchlings.
Maybe even a combination of it all can be made. Carry two bipeds or one hatchling with your frontpaws. Carry a biped on your back and transport, 7 bipeds or 2 hatchlings with a disc.
If needs be you could carry up 7 bipeds or 3 hatchlings at once. Some sort of actual group transport.
4. I don't think it would/should be possible for those transported to "jump" out.
5. See 4, but for recall.
6. This I think would be nice to have, in this way we could have Aerial combat.
7. See 6.
8. I think this would be nice to have but if not, well I don't think we will see a lot of Lunus dragons transport bipeds. Hehe.

About 6 and 7.
Maybe for Aerial combat you would need to properly train up.
Some sort of extra Class or whatever gets implemented.
The training would contribute to your effectiveness in Aerial Combat: hits and misses, speed, ... Also stuns and the like should take you out of the air, like several spells do already.
Also for fighting the only position allowed should be riding on the back.
One biped per dragon.
Aerial combat would give dragons the highly sought after new ability(ies). We cannot multiclass to ADV 200 but we can take on critters in another way that no biped can.
But we can share the Aerial combat with them, if they shows us proper respect.

Salis

[Spirit]

I want to like this idea... I really do... but, like the Matrix online, can you imagine the results?

E-ragon
Eragoon
Ed Ragon
Erragon
Errragon
Erag0n
Eragone

*sigh*

Not to mention al the Saphiras we'd get... and why is she named after a crap English car?

And Defo ... like a group/guild invite... you have an option to decline, or even an auto-decline.... and even boot a rider on board.

Rakku

[Creme]

haha

I'd love the idea of being able to dump riders mid flight

"No getting cookie crumbs on me!"


<Splash>

[Deth]

DB said back in the day that riders would be dropable. Also said that dragons would have to flag them selves as ridable from what I remember. AT least that was the plan at the time, and we all know how to take DB's words. *Pats the salt golem beside him.*

[Carenath]

I want to like this idea... I really do... but, like the Matrix online, can you imagine the results?

E-ragon
Eragoon
Ed Ragon
Erragon
Errragon
Erag0n
Eragone

*sigh*

Not to mention al the Saphiras we'd get... and why is she named after a crap English car?

And Defo ... like a group/guild invite... you have an option to decline, or even an auto-decline.... and even boot a rider on board.

It irks me, to no end, that some people associate dragon riders, with Eragon.. Anne McCaffrey came up with the idea well before Paolini *growls*

And Paolini used the name Saphira, well before Opel/Vauxhall started using Zaphira.. (I actually prefer the Opel/Vauxhall Astra personally).

And the above sounds good... I certainly wouldnt mind being carried.. certainly beats the walking and paying for transport fees.. at least until I get my wings *looks longingly at the skies*

[Zexoin]

It irks me, to no end, that some people associate dragon riders, with Eragon.. Anne McCaffrey came up with the idea well before Paolini *growls*

And McCaffrey used the name "Eragon" long before Paolini did... Can't remember in wich book though

[Carenath]

Thats news to me..

[Spirit]

It irks me, to no end, that some people associate dragon riders, with Eragon.. Anne McCaffrey came up with the idea well before Paolini *growls*

And Paolini used the name Saphira, well before Opel/Vauxhall started using Zaphira.. (I actually prefer the Opel/Vauxhall Astra personally).

hehe well... unfortunately Eragon has been made into a movie while McCaffrey's novels have not... yet... so I speak of the fraternity that saw and liked the movie.

As for the dragons name... it seems Vauhall won by 5 years as far as I can tell, unless Paolini was having devious thoughts about the novel beforehand (quite likely).

*longing for a good McCaffrey movie to come out*.

Rakku

[walkerglassmire]

<tries to pick up the train and put it back on it's rails>

If nothing else, I agree that the dragon should have final say over both IF they are going to allow a rider, and WHO they are going to allow to ride. A checkable flag would be good, if that's even feasible.

Though, would have to say, bipeds beware bugging folk too much about this, if it does make it in (No "Dude, SOW me" yells PLEASE ) because some folk would get tired of it quick.

[Spirit]

Just looking at Salis' questions, and here are my thoughts...

1. Who can offer/request the transport?
- dragons can offer... ped's can request. Both can choose/autochoose to decline/accept.
2. In what position will the transportee be. Claws, back, special disc?
- the only way I could see it not incurring too much of a coding hit would be for them to sit in a fixed position on the back of the neck, hanging on for dear life.
3. Would special gear and/or a new slot be required for transportation.
- I'd say no... but practicality says yes, although nothing more than a simple seat. I'm not using the word saddle.
4. Can a transportee get off/out in midflight?
- I'd say yes, but the fall *must* kill you (fall damage). You can only get off and live if the dragon has landed... and no parachutes!
5. Can a transportee recall in midflight?
- No.
6. Can a transportee fight midflight? Aerial Combat?
- For now I'd say no.
7. Can the transporter fight in midflight? Again perform Aerial Combat?
- At the moment I say no, as we can't anyway.
8. Can the transporting dragon dump his transportee in midflight?
- Yes, but as above the fall will kill the rider so you'd need to use good judgement with it's use!

Then...

1. I would only allow a dragon to actually make an offer to transport a biped or hatchling.
- Ped's only no hatchlings. Accepting that it's impractical, it would destroy the RoP.

Just my 10c's worth.

Rakku

[Zexoin]

- Yes, but as above the fall will kill the rider so you'd need to use good judgement with it's use!

For that reason I would say no, the dragon must land to dump his transportee.

- Ped's only no hatchlings. Accepting that it's impractical, it would destroy the RoP.

Agreed. Also, one transportee per transporter.

[Spirit]

Agreed. Also, one transportee per transporter.

hehe yes didn't think of that. Kinda see a Battlefield 942 scenario with loads of knights being airlifted into the ED warzone...

Agreed.

Rakku

[CallakDW]

8. Can the transporting dragon dump his transportee in midflight?
- Yes, but as above the fall will kill the rider so you'd need to use good judgement with it's use!

You know, I can see this being used by crooked dragons, or overly annoyed dragons (for instance, a biped that won't stop asking when you say no) to teach bipeds to be more careful of who they pester for a ride.

I have a question... how do you think the situation would be handled if the dragon drops connection mid flight with a rider?

[Spirit]

You know, I can see this being used by crooked dragons, or overly annoyed dragons (for instance, a biped that won't stop asking when you say no) to teach bipeds to be more careful of who they pester for a ride.

I have a question... how do you think the situation would be handled if the dragon drops connection mid flight with a rider?

I completely agree.

If the dragon drops connection... I would say either an automatic recall, or a drop to your death ... without a death point in this case (the game would have to recognise that the carrying party has dropped out).

Since the game recognises when a player has "lost connection", i.e. in a group, I can't see that this would be hard to code.

Rakku

[Galdethriel]

1. Who can offer/request the transport?
I agree that a dragon should be able to offer and a biped request a ride, in both cases a window appears with an "Accept/decline" button.

2. In what position will the transportee be. Claws, back, special disc?
I think hatchlings would be really cute if they clung onto the adult's back while they were being carried. Ever seen a lemur or a monkey carry their babies on their backs? So cute!

For Bipeds, I think they should be either held in the dragon's talons or sit on their back like a traditional dragon rider. This should be the dragon's choice, however.

3. Would special gear and/or a new slot be required for transportation
Dragon clothes? Most certainly! The hatchlings will probably be able to hold on with their little claws but a biped will have a lot more trouble. Maybe a kind of saddle-like contaption that ties around the chest to give the bipeds something to cling on to?

4. Can a transportee get off/out in midflight?
Yes. They should be able to right-click the dragon and say "dismount", just as a dragon can throw them off. Even during flight.

5. Can a transportee recall in midflight?
Yup. I agree with Spirit in that you should recall automatically when the dragon is disconnected but also be able to at will.

6. Can a transportee fight midflight? Aerial Combat?
Only with long-distance attacks like magic and arrows.

7. Can the transporter fight in midflight? Again perform Aerial Combat?
Dragons should be able to use one or two of their longer ranged attacks or have a special version of their Breath of Fire which goes longer and can be used in flight.

8. Can the transporting dragon dump his transportee in midflight?
Of course.

[Tcei]

1. Who can offer/request the transport?
I agree that it should be the dragon who offers the bi-ped a ride. Not the other way around. Some how I see it as less likely that a dragon would spam a bi-ped. An auto-decline or some other special setting is a must for those who dont want to be flying mules.
2. In what position will the transportee be. Claws, back, special disc?
I'd say back and/or Claws would be best.
3. Would special gear and/or a new slot be required for transportation
A sadle for back riding. I dont see why a dragn wouldnt just hold the victi-er rider in its claws instead of a sling, unless said dragon just really, really doesnt want its claws dirty.
4. Can a transportee get off/out in midflight?
Of course! The vic- excuse me, rider, should be allowed the ability to jump to their doom before its too late. Any other way would be unfair.
5. Can a transportee recall in midflight?
Just like a dragon cant recall mid-flight neither should their snacks. Execption being if the dragon is disconnected midflight.
6. Can a transportee fight midflight? Aerial Combat?
I'd like to see this eventualy, but for now no.
7. Can the transporter fight in midflight? Again perform Aerial Combat?
See 6
8. Can the transporting dragon dump his transportee in midflight?
Of course! We got to be able to teach our vi- dangit! Riders! A lesson.

On a personal note, Lan would probably only give a select few of the bi-peds a ride on occasion. Anyone else who came up and expected or even demanded a ride, would get thier request, but he'd either go about what he was doing (assuming that the location he was originaly headed to is not the same as what the bi-ped wanted) Or he'd head strait to the nearest ocean and flyout far enough that there'd be no way the naka could make it back ashore alive and just hover. I can be patient and wait for my victem to decide when they're gona die

As for hatchlings, while I'd love to see the ability to carry them either on the back or cradled gently in the claws, I can see how this could be used in rop wich it probably shouldnt. Perhaps a flag to check ifthe hatchling is working on their rop?

[Creme]

Well, that's why a biped transport carrier, like a basket or something