Time cycles and seasons in Yliakum

[Gilrond]

I have a few questions regarding time cycles in Yliakum. There is a daily cycle, which is apparent by the change of crystal radiance, and also monthly / seasonal cycles. The daily time is shown in the info window, so in relation to that, is it IC or OOC to mention certain time (like saying that certain trainer comes / goes at N o'clock etc.)? Is there a "crystal clock" invented?

However I didn't understand how one can check the seasonal cycles (current months etc. it's not shown anywhere in the UI, or I just missed it?). The weather seems to depend on them (rain, snow) or it is random? (In regards to weather, it would be great if snow would stay on the ground, roofs, etc. for the winter period, though I understand it's much harder to implement [like making all extra snowy textures etc.]).

[Vakachehk]

I would say that time is invented. I would do /me looks at the crystal's brightness and says "See you in an hour"

But that is my opinion on time.
Seasons run mostly like the northern world so right now it's the colder time of year. I don't think they call it Winter in Yliakum I don't know. but there's a thread posted here about months, and there IG name. http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=37564.0

EDIT: For Earowo's pickyness sack 

[Earowo]

Dont mean to nit pick, but
1.) Yliakum doesnt have a sun, its the crystal
2.) it would hurt your eyes to look at it, and more then likely make you blink and close your eyes, unless your already blind.

[Vakachehk]

Dont mean to nit pick, but
1.) Yliakum doesnt have a sun, its the crystal
2.) it would hurt your eyes to look at it, and more then likely make you blink and close your eyes, unless your already blind.

1)My bad, I do mean crystal not sun. I am losing my ICness
2)I never said I looked at the Crystal I said I looked at the brightness of it, so then you could look around to see how dark or light it is.

[novacadian]

Game time is out of whack. This has been discussed in other threads. The clock in the information window is at a 1:6 ratio while the Official Settings of the months of the year are at a 1:1 ratio. This system is flawed yet no one seems to care.

- Nova

[derula]

Game time is out of whack. This has been discussed in other threads. The clock in the information window is at a 1:6 ratio while the Official Settings of the months of the year are at a 1:1 ratio. This system is flawed yet no one seems to care.

It's not 1:1. See here: 10*320 days are mapped to 356 days. In this case, it's a 1.1125:1 ratio. The page also answers question about seasons etc.

GM events use the dates like on the Wiki page. You can use this to do the same conversion manually.

But yes, generally, game time is completely insane. It's almost impossible to RP time because it's somewhere between being 6 times as fast and 0.89888 times as fast as normal time. I usually have it somewhere in between. (sometimes a bit slower, sometimes a bit faster...)

[Sangwa]

Actually, the Crystal is sometimes referred to as the Azure Sun.

From the website:

Yliakum is an underground city. The inhabitants, a mixture of different races, also call it the "City of the Azure Sun", referring to the huge crystal that gives the city its light and supplies the land with life-giving energy.

I know,  know. Yliakum isn't a city and all that. But I think some NPCs refer to it in the same way, if we can't take the website for real.

Also, I can't see nothing wrong with Yliakum having Months that include 6 times more days than ours.

[novacadian]

It's not 1:1. See here: 10*320 days are mapped to 356 days. In this case, it's a 1.1125:1 ratio. The page also answers question about seasons etc.

That would make sense if there were not a little clock in the Information Window which contradicts that 1:1.1125 ratio by making it 1:6. Time makes absolutely no sense in PS.

- Nova

[Sangwa]

Novacadian is totally right. It seems the Settings team do not have authority to mess around with whatever isn't quest related. So, for a while, we're not getting a reasonable time counting feature, we're not getting the information around Planeshift corrected and we're not getting any type of place holder for anything, unless we make it up ourselves.

[Earowo]

I think i mentioned it before, somwhere, but what i think would solve it is if there are 2190 days in a year, in yliakum [365X6]

[Vakachehk]

Well Nova is right, completely right.

But if this happens then the Devs will have to fix all the NPCs that go home during the night. So that people on the other side of the world can still play and use the NPCs. If we look at it like this. A day in Yliakum is 6 nights and 6 lights (days), so then we will all be on track, the sun just goes down a lot more in a Yliakum day than in a Real World day? Good idea?

[Gilrond]

It's not 1:1. See here: 10*320 days are mapped to 356 days. In this case, it's a 1.1125:1 ratio. The page also answers question about seasons etc.

GM events use the dates like on the Wiki page. You can use this to do the same conversion manually.

But yes, generally, game time is completely insane. It's almost impossible to RP time because it's somewhere between being 6 times as fast and 0.89888 times as fast as normal time. I usually have it somewhere in between. (sometimes a bit slower, sometimes a bit faster...)

Thanks for the pointer, I remembered some of those details that from character creation. But still, is using exact timing in the game appropriate? The clock in the window kind of suggests to do it (It would be useful if current game month/date would also be shown somewhere. Not necessarily in the window, but for example on some board, like in the library, etc.).

Having these specific details of the calendar (10 months, each having 32 days, making the whole year last 320 days,  four seasons of 80 days, because of the cultural heritage of the people coming from the surface) gives some interesting insight into the Yliakum universe. On Earth the relation of month to the year is artificial, because year measurement is actually the result of the solar cycle, while the month is the result of the lunar cycle. But since lunar months don't sum up to the solar year exactly, the year is divided into approximate intervals (for example like 30/31 etc.).

So in Yliakum having 32x10 days in a year (probably also coming from the surface) might give some idea about the solar cycle, and possibly existing moons or some other cyclic phenomena which matches the solar cycle almost exactly. What's interesting is the meaning of 6 periods in the season.

[Gilrond]

But if this happens then the Devs will have to fix all the NPCs that go home during the night. So that people on the other side of the world can still play and use the NPCs. If we look at it like this. A day in Yliakum is 6 nights and 6 lights (days), so then we will all be on track, the sun just goes down a lot more in a Yliakum day than in a Real World day? Good idea?

I think that's not practical. Matching daily time 1:1 is going to be too burdensome. (Like people waiting for some NPC to appear for half a real day? Doesn't sound good).

[Earowo]

I think i mentioned it before, somwhere, but what i think would solve it is if there are 2190 days in a year, in yliakum [365X6]

thats where this comes into place, while characters, could have their character age as they do, and be able to go to events, without being as confused at the day, you also get your 6 day per day thing going

[derula]

That would make sense if there were not a little clock in the Information Window which contradicts that 1:1.1125 ratio by making it 1:6. Time makes absolutely no sense in PS.

If you think I defended the PS time policy, you got me completely wrong. It's not an 1:1.1125 ratio btw in the same sense as it's an 1:6; as I said, according to the Wiki, an Yliakum day is slightly longer than an IRL day as opposed to much shorter.

But I think the good thing about the completely messed-up time is that nobody can accuse anyone of mis-RPing time, because it's impossible to get it right (everything is wrong either according to in-game clock or to the calender).

Anyway I myself ignore the in-game clock, simply because it's impossible to work with that. Sometimes short sequences of maybe 30 minutes take long to RP (because everyone involved is extra-careful to make it right; in addition often non-native speakers and have to look up words), maybe 3 hours IRL, and then in game almost an entire day passed while only an action of 30 minutes happened. For me, it's simply impossible not to ignore the in-game clock.

It should be dismissed, imho.