The West (a western themed browser based RPG)

[Danny]

two hours of picking beans and I got none, bah!

[Danny]

I say we build our town between 5,1 and 6,1

There is wide open spaces and that would put us at enough distance from that big town.

[Neon_Chaos]

signed up as NeonChaos

[Axxon]

Still plugging along. I'm sixth level now. Can't wait until we get our town.

[3ric]

Signed up, Clint Mc3ric doubling as a scarecrow

[Danny]

I'm going to go with a charisma adventurer build.

[Ajaxab]

Signed up as Doc Pepper. Just picking cotton currently, but would like to get to be a hunter/trapper type.

[Danny]

I couldn't decide between adventurer or soldier, so I ended up creating a second character on world 8 named Huckleberry McGrain who will be a soldier. I guess having two character in one world should be fine.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by dbd1963

There's a pretty large town a bit NE of center, La Vie Boheme. It's got higher level characters and 42 folks in town right now. That looks like a potential difficulty if they decide they want to be pricks.

Also, what about claiming a ghost town? The money is the same, $300, but you get to keep the buildings that are already built. You can save some cash and labor for the second town that way, maybe. If that becomes a criterion, then of course we want to find a good spot with a ghost town and not too many other big towns around.

there will always be one or two big town around us but I'm confident that if FOFCers really get into the game, we can build one or two just as big. What I was worried about the situation I pointed out before was the presence of not only one, but four big towns combining a total of 119 people (37, 33, 29, 20) with a fifth one I had not seen before that now has 14 folks, bringing the total to 133. Their top four towns are in the top 25, with their top 2 at #3 and #8 of all towns in the game. I had seen La Vie Boheme, but at number 35, it looked no bigger than the town I just left, so no biggie...

As for ghost towns, you might be onto something. From the rules:

Buildings in ghost towns cannot be used anymore. The hotel and bank close down and so do the merchants.


It is possible to reawaken a ghost town. Doing this costs just as much as founding a new town. The big advantage of taking over a ghost town is that the buildings keep their old levels. When taking over a town you are shown the points that the town will have after completion.

Thing now is to find a ghost town with more than 500 points, the basic getup for a newly founded town. I doubt we'll find many in that vicinity...

Anyway, just made my final payment to my town and hit the road. I left in very good terms with them, so if we ever need anything, we can give 'em a shout.

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

I couldn't decide between adventurer or soldier, so I ended up creating a second character on world 8 named Huckleberry McGrain who will be a soldier. I guess having two character in one world should be fine.

you have read my post about two characters on one IP address, right? no dueling one another and no dueling the same opponent with different characters within a 24 hour period.

Technically, you can't have two characters, but they are lax about it, given how they allow two characters on the same IP anyway and can't really prove anything beyond that...

FM

[Danny]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

you have read my post about two characters on one IP address, right? no dueling one another and no dueling the same opponent with different characters within a 24 hour period.

Technically, you can't have two characters, but they are lax about it, given how they allow two characters on the same IP anyway and can't really prove anything beyond that...

FM

Ok, that won't be a problem since I only plan on dueling with the soldier anyway. I didn't want the second character on a different server. Plus. the soldier is my wife's character, I'll just play it for her all the time

[Danny]

Plus I had to have a character named Huckleberry, just so I can say to people that I'm their huckleberry.

[Danny]

If we're members in a town, can we trade with eachother?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

If we're members in a town, can we trade with eachother?

nope, no trading from player to player is allowed, town members or not.

FM

[Danny]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

nope, no trading from player to player is allowed, town members or not.

FM

If you sell an item to a town store, is that item then available for purchase?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

If you sell an item to a town store, is that item then available for purchase?

nope, the store has what it has to sell nothing more. I thought it was the way you asked at first, but no. As I said, no two two stores really have the same item, even at a same level. What they have seems to depend on how much praying the builder has done before working. That and some luck...

FM

[Danny]

One more question, do you have unlimited inventory space?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

One more question, do you have unlimited inventory space?

pretty much yes. Even though you can see "stackable: 20 items" on some of them, you can have multiple stacks.

Not sure you know how to stack items, but you can click on the item from the inventory, it'll go to your character, then click on it no the character and it'll go back to inventory but not on its own slot, but in a stack.

FM

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Thing now is to find a ghost town with more than 500 points, the basic getup for a newly founded town. I doubt we'll find many in that vicinity...

Found a ghost town in Column 6, Row 4 (bottom), near the bottom of that quadrant, but construction points is 500. If I understand it correctly, that's basically a start up town that was abandoned & had no improvements, meaning it's no better than what we would have starting from scratch.

Found another one in 7,3 but only 511 construction points there.

There's no less than 6 ghosts towns in 10,3 oddly enough (bad location? Overcrowded maybe, especially be neighboring quads) One of those is 695 c.p., another at 589. Not sure how everybody would feel about the 3-4 travel to them nor am I advocating one way or the other, just sayin' they're there.

While looking for those, I noticed that 7,2 appears to have fewer towns than most quadrants (again, just FWIW). Same with 4,2 and 2,2. And 2,4 is almost empty.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Found a ghost town in Column 6, Row 4 (bottom), near the bottom of that quadrant, but construction points is 500. If I understand it correctly, that's basically a start up town that was abandoned & had no improvements, meaning it's no better than what we would have starting from scratch.

Found another one in 7,3 but only 511 construction points there.

yeah, 500 is basically a town that someone founded only to never improve on it and then stopped playing. I think I'd bring the town to 530 or so within two hours of working on a building so no big gain with 511 either...

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

There's no less than 6 ghosts towns in 10,3 oddly enough (bad location? Overcrowded maybe, especially be neighboring quads) One of those is 695 c.p., another at 589. Not sure how everybody would feel about the 3-4 travel to them nor am I advocating one way or the other, just sayin' they're there.

all four of the (10, x) quadrants are where most people got started at first, so many town got started earlier in there than anywhere else, so the chance of having someone who founded a town, then worked on it a bit, then again got bored and stopped playing is higher than in most of the other quadrants. Again, moving to those quadrants for you guys would probably be a pain, and these are super crowded quadrants...

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

While looking for those, I noticed that 7,2 appears to have fewer towns than most quadrants (again, just FWIW). Same with 4,2 and 2,2. And 2,4 is almost empty.

are you going from top to bottom for rows? If so, I see what you mean about (7, 2). (4, 2) and (2, 2) might a bit to far to the west though. Anything else would be cool.

I just moved from the 10th to the 9th column of quadrants, still in the top row, doing a couple hours of coal mining to get some money. Slowly working my way to you guys...

FM

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Slowly working my way to you guys...

No huge hurry afaic, I'd still smash my finger with a hammer at this point anyway.

I should eventually make it to Level 9 sometime later today but with that skill bump I'll probably need to add the points primarily toward things I need to raise in order to be able to work on picking beans & repairing fences. Those are the only two open quests I have at the moment & I can't advance either of them right now. There's 20 XP awaiting me for delivering the beans plus it has a higher $ + XP combined percentage than any task I can do at the moment. It's really just the picking beans skill I need to worry about acquiring right now, I'm still a long way from being able to repair fences (-17 labour points).

Oh, and as for rows, I'm counting 1 as the top & 4 as the bottom.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

No huge hurry afaic, I'd still smash my finger with a hammer at this point anyway.

yeah, I'm not really racing to a rendez-vous point to be honest. If I were, I'd have left at 8 this morning and would have made it by 3 this afternoon.

Still a bit of coal mining to do, then I'll move another 45 minutes closer to set up some telegraph poles.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I should eventually make it to Level 9 sometime later today but with that skill bump I'll probably need to add the points primarily toward things I need to raise in order to be able to work on picking beans & repairing fences. Those are the only two open quests I have at the moment & I can't advance either of them right now. There's 20 XP awaiting me for delivering the beans plus it has a higher $ + XP combined percentage than any task I can do at the moment. It's really just the picking beans skill I need to worry about acquiring right now, I'm still a long way from being able to repair fences (-17 labour points).

Yeah, I remember struggling to get to be able to repair fence but once I got it, it became one of my early favorites in terms of gaining experience, until I became able to set up telegraph poles. I still go back to telegraph poles every once in a while. 21% money and 25% experience is a pretty good combination of rewards...

FM

[FrogMan]

not bad, $54 from coal mining, one piece of coal ($10) and a rotten club ($13). So in all $77 from a two hour work period, or $38.50 an hour...

FM

[ntndeacon]

got my first firearm weapon.. tossing granite now!

[BrianD]

Is there a way to know how much wages and luck increase with labor points? I've played around with the weststats website and it doesn't seem to show a change in anything depending on the stats. How does one know when they have enough labor points for a specific job to make it more cost effective than one that pays with a higher base?

[CU Tiger]

I'm feeling my way through...level 2 and putting up posters for 2 hours then going for a nap....I think the posters should bring me to level 3...not 100% sure. Also I need to do more calculating, but I am not sure hotels are necessary at this early stage...I dont seem to be able to outwork my refresh rate.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BrianD

How does one know when they have enough labor points for a specific job to make it more cost effective than one that pays with a higher base?

Spooky.

I came looking for this thread to ask the exact same question .
Milling grain - 7 labour points with an 11%/7% on $/XP
3 other tasks - 20+ labour points with 6% for XP

I just got 11 XP from 2 hours working (at 100% motivation) with 25 lab.pts on a 6% XP task and that doesn't work out to anything even or obvious for a formula, so I'm not clear on what should generally produce the most in cases like this. I figure there's some variability in the returns but I don't have enough samples to get a feel for it yet.

[dbd1963]

I'm stuck at level 8, trying to get posters and then the ability to pick beans. Now my guy is perpetually fatigued. Taking an 8 hour break in the middle of the day..

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by BrianD

Is there a way to know how much wages and luck increase with labor points? I've played around with the weststats website and it doesn't seem to show a change in anything depending on the stats. How does one know when they have enough labor points for a specific job to make it more cost effective than one that pays with a higher base?

I go with trial and error and looking back at work reports. I've not gone that scientifically into the calculations of experience/money returns. I remember seeing some formulas being floated around in the game's forum though. No clue how accurate they were though...

FM

[FrogMan]

here's an interesting job calculator:
The West Insider

bit more straightforward, as you can set up a bookmark and hit it and it will calculate the best job. Seems to be taking into account motivation and labour points too, just don't know how accurate it is...

FM

[FrogMan]

and for more information on that job calculator, you can read through this thread on the game's forum:
Best-Job Calculator! www.TheWestInsider.com - Forum The West

interesting, looks to be taking into account the labor points to give out an expected payout for the job itself, and one for if you take into account the possible items you might get.

FM

[DeToxRox]

I should be level 8 tonight or early tomorrow, then I can get back to quests and hopefully be a 9 not too long after.

[CU Tiger]

Ok got the calculator loaded up looks nice but a quick run through its not perfect. It tells me my best job is harvesting fields and i should have 4 labor to spare, when I try it says I am -1 labor points....

[CU Tiger]

on 2nd check...something strange is happening. I own the grey cap (and was wearing it) which is a +5 toughness....but my toughness was only 4. I took it off and re outfitted it and now the calculator is right....I think no script is screwing with the game even though I have the west as ok.

[Danny]

I will hit level 10 when my current two hour job is finished, goodbye Greenhorn.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

I will hit level 10 when my current two hour job is finished, goodbye Greenhorn.

As I see this, I'm reminded about something I did a whole lot of research about. When you pick a character class, you get the choice of one of four faces. These different faces mean absolutely nothing. they are just avatars.

Just thought I'd let you all know.

FM

[Danny]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

As I see this, I'm reminded about something I did a whole lot of research about. When you pick a character class, you get the choice of one of four faces. These different faces mean absolutely nothing. they are just avatars.

Just thought I'd let you all know.

FM

Oh, I'll probably the same as yours unless one of the other three are better. We need to get this town, so I can get my donkey soon

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just made it to Level 9 (10/110 toward Level 10) and got a nice bonus from just 30 minutes of milling grain:
Brown Ragged Shoes +4 Construction, +4 Swimming.

Not earthshaking but still a nice unexpected surprise from just a stray half hour of work (I'm currently down to 2 energy).


Also, FYI, just had a new town (Rouge's Guard) spring up next door to Key Lime Cove. Probably wouldn't have noticed except that I got an invite to join (second one of the day actually).

[DeToxRox]

What would be a better choice once I level up to 10, Dueler or Soldier?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

Oh, I'll probably the same as yours unless one of the other three are better. We need to get this town, so I can get my donkey soon

there are four different ones per character class, you'll get to pick mine only if you do adventurer...

FM

[Danny]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

there are four different ones per character class, you'll get to pick mine only if you do adventurer...

FM

I'm doing adventurer.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Just made it to Level 9 (10/110 toward Level 10) and got a nice bonus from just 30 minutes of milling grain:
Brown Ragged Shoes +4 Construction, +4 Swimming.

My brown ragged shoes still serve quite a lot, one of the best early shoes you can find to be honest. Swimming is everywhere and construction is always nice to have...

Be on the lookout for the job called "digging graves". It's got a difficulty rating of 75 and relies heavily on the "strength" class of skills. It's got a 22% in the luck department and I have found some really nice items simply working that one, like a gray slouched hat or something like that (+12 setting traps )

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

What would be a better choice once I level up to 10, Dueler or Soldier?

from their specs, they both have three advantages:
dueler
-move faster (+10% on map)
-motivation for dueling goes back up faster (+20%) (i.e. can duel more effectively more often)
-get more money from duels (+10%)

soldier
-5 extra health points per point in the health point skill (i.e. harder to knock out)
-level needed to use a weapon lowered by three (better weapon earlier)
-50% bonus to your tactic skill (no clue how it translates)

I'd probably go with dueler if I wanted to really benefit from dueling. The soldier's advantages are kind of fuzzy looking...

FM

[BrianD]

I've got my first dilemma. The only quest available to me needs skills for bean picking. I am 8 points short of being able to do that and I've got 9 points to spend. My other option is to spend them all on construction (as I was planning on going the builder route), and then I can start laying railroad tracks for pretty strong experience and money. Thoughts?

[Danny]

I think you're much better off going with the construction points.

[Scoobz0202]

scoobz0202 reporting in. Level 2

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

I think you're much better off going with the construction points.

agreed, it's a marathon, not really a sprint.

FM

[BrianD]

OK, I went construction. Can I assume other quests will come and this bean-picking one isn't a pre-requisite for everything else?

[Danny]

Originally Posted by BrianD

OK, I went construction. Can I assume other quests will come and this bean-picking one isn't a pre-requisite for everything else?

I'm level 10 and still haven't done the bean picking one myself.

[DeToxRox]

I'm 4 jobs away from having the experience to be able to pick beans/mill grains. I'll be level 8 then those two jobs should get me to 9 fairly quick I hope. I am sleeping now so I can hopefully progress through the night and be level 9 tomorrow.