Official Death Penalty Discussion

[Exelbirth 2]

Yes, well, that statement doesn't really cover only "moron. A complete and total moron." adding features like that in to the game.

perhaps you should speak more accurately, you don't like it. Nobody will fault you that, but don't just go calling people morons unless you're talking about something that isn't 100% a matter of opinion.

I have to agree with him. Enforcing a semi-hardcore mode that locks a player out of a world/server is completely stupid, and supporting it is moronic. There's a reason that hardcore mode is a separate game mode entirely, and that's because not everyone enjoys it. There's also no possible way you can enforce a semi-hardcore mode and have it work. If you put it as something that only happens on normal and hard difficulty, you just irritate and drive away people who want a challenge in their game, or others just play on easy and suffer no death penalty from that. Personally, when I play a game and add mods to it, it's so I can play the game. How can I do that if the game prevents me from playing for x amount of time?

And that doesn't even cover the issues of multiplayer. What if a griefer traps spawn points so that you're essentially permanently locked out of a server because every time you spawn, you die? The only possible benefit is making it so that the player can't relog for 5 minutes so his items despawn, and that's only a viable punishment if the chunk stays loaded that they died in. Might as well do an inventory wipe at that point.

In short, supporting this stupid semi-hardcore thing is the same as supporting a massive de-popularising of the mod. It'll drive away people who actually want to play the game, kill servers, irritate the few that stay, and only the hand full of masochists will enjoy it.

[renadi 258]

Literally the argument you are making is not everyone enjoys it, we've established this yes, but not everyone enjoys anything.

This I don't think is something only masochists would enjoy, there are a lot more people looking for games that actually at least do a little more than pretend that your actions have consequences.

This is a personal opinion you are arguing as if it were physics.

Different people like different things, just because you don't prefer something does not make it moronic.

Bioxx seems to agree that he doesn't want serious death consequences from the sound of things, so you should be happy

You still have no reason to pretend your opinion is a universal and only aberrants have a differing opinion.

[Leosallespoli 338]

Please don't say that an idea is moronic, stupid or dumb. I try my best not to say that in a lot of threads. But try to keep it under a discussion/brainstorming thread. Bashing the other doesn't make you right. Keep it about the arguments and reasons for your point of view and remember that it is YOUR point of view.

[Exelbirth 2]

What the two of you don't seem to understand is that I'm not bashing it because I think my point of view on it is superior, nor do I think that it's moronic because I don't like it. I think it's moronic because it supports driving fans away, and that's never ever a good thing. Bioxx gets money for his mod through adfly and donations, right? Therefore, any option that drives fans away is a moronic one as it brings in less revenue.

All I've done is state facts as to why a lock-out/semi-hardcore penalty wouldn't work, and since it won't work, it's a bad idea. Supporting a bad idea is moronic, plain and simple.

[renadi 258]

And I think it would encourage more people to play and donate, you're concluding something that is not a foregone conclusion based on your opinion of things, it would drive YOU away, you being the paragon of humanity, it must drive everyone else away as well.

While I in fact think something like that would attract a lot more people who still think TFC isn't any more difficult than Vanilla.

[transcengopher 349]

You want hardcore - you're playing hardcore. There's nothing stopping you nor others to play hardcore in TFC.

TFC is not supposed to be difficult or hardcore. At least to my knowledge.

[Revenge519 6]

how about every time you die aggressive mob spawning increases by 10% lol idk X)

[renadi 258]

You want hardcore - you're playing hardcore. There's nothing stopping you nor others to play hardcore in TFC.

TFC is not supposed to be difficult or hardcore. At least to my knowledge.

I've been shamed by Dunk in these forums for suggesting the same, so my knowledge would tell me you are incorrect.

[transcengopher 349]

I've been shamed by Dunk in these forums for suggesting the same, so my knowledge would tell me you are incorrect.

So where is the difficulty exactly? More complex resource gathering doesn't make the game more difficult. Neither does the requirement to keep in mind additional variables, nor the time needed to perform something.

Sure you kind of need to scrap most of your minecraft knowledge, but I can tell you for a fact, that back in Minecraft beta 1.5, when I first started playing survival, I actually expected things to be done the way TFC does it.

[renadi 258]

The word used specifically was unforgiving which more matches the hardcore than difficult.

[Wicc3R1 36]

What about getting slowness for 5 mins, getting blindness, theres lots of "spells" in 1.4 that can really badly hinder your gameplay without destroying it completely. Make it so that white nice enderman saves and drops you of to bed when dying... hit that kills you will high likely to cause some plunt force trauma so blindness is my opinion on this. Maybe if falling of at cliff, slowness for along time, teaches you to be more carefull. Maybe make deathpenalty to be "how you died" specific. Different penalty for different dying...

[renadi 258]

This problem seems to be very common recently, how do you punish death without punishing death.

I'll be honest, at least at the severity it is now slowness is a useless punishment, once you have a home if you respawn in your bed you basically consume the debuff standing around looking through chests to get your supplies reset, and if you're at the beginning of the game you don't need a reason to avoid death. so if it does have a debuff I'd say it should be long lasting but possibly not as severe, in a theoretical gaming sense I'd think the best thing would be to wipe your inventory on death, but I'm more a fan of this evil word here, realism, and I'd rather nothing vanishes, unless purposely(or accidentally) destroyed.

[Exelbirth 2]

Ok, this is getting old. Do you really think that people who think TFC is too easy and play minecraft on hardcore mode are going to say, "Oh wow, tfc added a death function that doesn't delete your world, but makes it so I can't play for X time! I'm totally intrigued by this new level of difficulty and will get the mod right away!" No. They're not. Why would they settle for playing something less than hardcore when they enjoy hardcore? Even better question: Is it even a death penalty that affects your gameplay? NO! All it would do is lock you out for a bit, then you hop back in and everything's the same as when you died, with the exception of servers, making it a punishment that only works on SMP, which can easily be abused by any griefer with a bit of lava. Single player however, all your stuff will be where you died, and you'll respawn as normal. Wow, what a punishment, the world's the same and I was only inconvenienced.

Also, this mod isn't about realism, so just chuck that word in the trash and burn it.

[renadi 258]

Would you just stop talking, you're upset about things you've made up in your head, I'm upset that people can't differentiate between opinion and laws of nature, I'm not going to argue about an opinion like it's the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Different people like different things.

I don't like the idea of hardcore servers myself, but I'm not going to be talking out of my ass saying nobody does or that more people like X than Y when I don't know.

[redundantusage 330]

I agree that not everyone agrees.

Honey badger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about small mammal. For other uses, see Honey badger (disambiguation).

Honey badger

Temporal range: middle Pliocene – Recent

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Mustelidae

Subfamily: Mellivorinae[2]

Genus: Mellivora

(Storr, 1780)

Species: M. capensis

Geographic distribution

The honey badger (Mellivora capensis), also known as the ratel (/ˈreɪtÉ™l/ or /ˈrÉ‘ËtÉ™l/),[3] is a species of mustelid native to Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. Despite its name, the honey badger does not closely resemble other badger species; instead, it bears more anatomical similarities to weasels. It is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN owing to its extensive range and general environmental adaptations. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin and ferocious defensive abilities.

Contents

1 Etymology

2 Taxonomy

2.1 Subspecies

3 Physical description

4 Behavior

4.1 Habits

4.2 Diet

5 Range

6 Relationships with humans

7 In popular culture

8 Notes

9 References

10 External links

Etymology

Ratel is an Afrikaans word, possibly derived from the Middle Dutch word for rattle, honeycomb (either because of its cry or its taste for honey).

Taxonomy

Skeleton from the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

The honey badger is the only member of the genus Mellivora. Although it was initially assigned to the badger group in the 1860s, it is now generally accepted to bear very few similarities to the subfamily Melinae, instead being much closer to the marten family. Differences between Mellivora and Melinae include different dentition formulae. Though not related to the wolverine, which is a large-sized deviant of the marten family, the honey badger can be considered an analogous form of weasel (polecat). The species first appeared during the middle Pliocene in Asia. Its closest relation was the extinct genus Eomellivora, which is known from the upper Miocene, and evolved into several different species throughout the whole Pliocene in both the Old and New World.[4]

Subspecies

As of 2005, 12 subspecies are recognised.[5] Points taken into consideration in assigning different subspecies include size and the extent of whiteness or greyness on the back.[6]

Subspecies Trinomial authority Description Range Synonyms

Cape ratel

Mellivora capensis capensis

Cape ratel.jpg

Schreber, 1776 South and southwestern Africa mellivorus (G. [baron] Cuvier, 1798)

ratel (Sparrman, 1777)

typicus (A. Smith, 1833)

vernayi (Roberts, 1932)

Ethiopian ratel

Mellivora capensis abyssinica Hollister, 1910 Ethiopia

Turkmenian ratel

Mellivora capensis buechneri Baryshnikov, 2000 Similar to the subspecies indica and inaurita, but is distinguished by its larger size and narrower postorbital constriction[7] Turkmenistan

Lake Chad ratel

Mellivora capensis concisa Thomas and Wroughton, 1907 The coat on the back consists largely of very long, pure white bristle-hairs amongst long, fine, black underfur. Its distinguishing feature is the fact that unlike other subspecies, it lacks the usual white bristle-hairs in the lumbar area[8] Sahel and Sudan zones, as far as Somaliland brockmani (Wroughton and Cheesman, 1920)

buchanani (Thomas, 1925)

Black ratel

Mellivora capensis cottoni Lydekker, 1906 The fur is typically entirely black, with thin and harsh hairs.[8] Ghana, northeastern Congo sagulata (Hollister, 1910)

Nepalese ratel

Mellivora capensis inaurita Hodgson, 1836 Distinguished from indica by its longer, much woollier coat and having overgrown hair on its heels[9] Nepal and contiguous areas east of it

Indian ratel

Mellivora capensis indica

Indian ratel.jpg

Kerr, 1792 Distinguished from capensis by its smaller size, paler fur and having a less distinct lateral white band separating the upper white and lower black areas of the body[10] Western Middle Asia northward to the Ustyurt Plateau and eastward to Amu Darya. Outside the former Soviet Union, its range includes Afghanistan, Iran (except the southwestern part), western Pakistan and western India mellivorus (Bennett, 1830)

ratel (Horsfield, 1851)

ratelus (Fraser, 1862)

White-backed ratel

Mellivora capensis leuconota Sclater, 1867 The entire upper side from the face to half-way along the tail is pure creamy white with little admixture of black hairs[8] West Africa, southern Morocco, former French Congo

Kenyan ratel

Mellivora capensis maxwelli Thomas, 1923 Kenya

Arabian ratel

Mellivora capensis pumilio Pocock, 1946 Hadhramaut, southern Arabia

Speckled ratel

Mellivora capensis signata Pocock, 1909 Although its pelage is the normal dense white over the crown, this pale colour starts to thin out over the neck and shoulders, continuing to the rump where it fades into black. It possesses an extra lower molar on the left side of the jaw[8] Sierra Leone

Persian ratel

Mellivora capensis wilsoni Cheesman, 1920 Southwestern Iran and Iraq

Physical description

The honey badger has a fairly long body, but is distinctly thick-set and broad across the back. Its skin is remarkably loose, and allows it to turn and twist freely within it.[11] The skin around the neck is 6 millimetres (0.24 in) thick, an adaptation to fighting conspecifics.[12] The head is small and flat, with a short muzzle. The eyes are small, and the ears are little more than ridges on the skin,[11] another possible adaptation to avoiding damage while fighting.[12]

The honey badger has short and sturdy legs, with five toes on each foot. The feet are armed with very strong claws, which are short on the hind legs and remarkably long on the forelimbs. It is a partially plantigrade animal whose soles are thickly padded and naked up to the wrists. The tail is short and is covered in long hairs, save for below the base.

Honey badgers are the largest terrestrial mustelids in Africa. Adults measure 23 to 28 cm (9.1 to 11 in) in shoulder height and 55–77 cm (22–30 in) in body length, with the tail adding another 12–30 cm (4.7–12 in). Females are smaller than males.[11][13] Males weigh 9 to 16 kg (20 to 35 lb) while females weigh 5 to 10 kg (11 to 22 lb) on average. Skull length is 13.9–14.5 cm (5.5–5.7 in) in males and 13 cm (5.1 in) for females.[14][15]

There are two pairs of mammae.[16] The honey badger possesses an anal pouch which, unusual among mustelids, is reversible[17], a trait shared with hyenas and mongooses. The smell of the pouch is reportedly "suffocating", and may assist in calming bees when raiding beehives.[18]

The skull bears little similarity to that of the European badger, and greatly resembles a larger version of a marbled polecat skull.[19] The skull is very solidly built, with that of adults having no trace of an independent bone structure. The braincase is broader than that of dogs.

The dental formula is: Upper: 3.1.3.1, lower: 3.1.3.1. The teeth often display signs of irregular development, with some teeth being exceptionally small, set at unusual angles or are absent altogether. Honey badgers of the subspecies signata have a second lower molar on the left side of their jaws, but not the right. Although it feeds predominantly on soft foods, the honey badger's cheek teeth are often extensively worn. The canine teeth are exceptionally short for carnivores.[20] The tongue has sharp, backward-pointing papillae which assist it in processing tough foods.[21]

The winter fur is long (being 40–50 mm long on the lower back), and consists of sparse, coarse, bristle-like hairs lacking underfur. Hairs are even sparser on the flanks, belly and groin. The summer fur is shorter (being only 15 mm long on the back) and even sparser, with the belly being half bare. The sides of the heads and lower body are pure black in colour. A large white band covers their upper bodies, beginning from the top of their heads down to the base of their tails.[22] Honey badgers of the cottoni subspecies are unique in being completely black in colour.[8]

Behavior

Habits

Black ratel (M. c. cottoni)

Although mostly solitary, honey badgers may hunt together in pairs during the May breeding season.[21] Little is known of the honey badger's breeding habits. Its gestation period is thought to last six months, usually resulting in two cubs, which are born blind. They vocalise through plaintive whines. Their lifespans in the wild are unknown, though captive individuals have been known to live for approximately 24 years.[6]

Honey badger feeding on a snake

Dentition

Honey badgers live alone in self-dug holes. They are skilled diggers, being able to dig tunnels into hard ground in 10 minutes. These burrows usually only have one passage and a nesting chamber and are usually not large, being only 1–3 m in length. They do not place bedding into the nesting chamber.[23] Although they usually dig their own burrows, they may take over disused aardvark and warthog holes or termite mounds.[21]

Honey badgers are intelligent animals and are one of a few species known to be capable of using tools. In the 1997 documentary series Land of the Tiger, a honey badger in India was filmed making use of a tool; the animal rolled a log and stood on it to reach a kingfisher fledgling stuck up in the roots coming from the ceiling in an underground cave.[24]

As with other mustelids of relatively large size, such as wolverines and badgers, honey badgers are notorious for their strength, ferocity and toughness. They have been known to savagely and fearlessly attack almost any kind of animal when escape is impossible, reportedly even repelling much larger predators such as lions.[25] Bee stings, porcupine quills, and animal bites rarely penetrate their skin. If horses, cattle, or Cape buffalos intrude upon a ratel's burrow, it will attack them. They are tireless in combat and can wear out much larger animals in physical confrontations.[20] The aversion of most predators toward hunting honey badgers has led to the theory that the countershaded coats of cheetah kittens evolved in imitation of the honey badger's colouration to ward off predators.[26]

The voice of the honey badger is a hoarse "khrya-ya-ya-ya" sound. When mating, males emit loud grunting sounds.[4] Cubs vocalise through plaintive whines.[6] When confronting dogs, honey badgers scream like bear cubs.[27]

Diet

Next to the wolverine, the honey badger has the least specialised diet of the weasel family.[12] In undeveloped areas, honey badgers may hunt at any time of the day, though they become nocturnal in places with high human populations. When hunting, they trot with their foretoes turned in, moving at the same speed as a young man[clarification needed]. Honey badgers favor bee honey, and will often search for beehives to get it, which earns them their name. They often follow a honeyguide (a bird that eats bee larvae) to find the beehives. They are also carnivorous and will eat insects, frogs, tortoises, rodents, turtles, lizards, eggs, and birds. Honey badgers have even been known to chase away young lions and take their kills. They will eat fruit and vegetables such as berries, roots and bulbs.[21]

They may hunt frogs and rodents such as gerbils and ground squirrels by digging them out of their burrows. Honey badgers are able to feed on tortoises without difficulty, due to their powerful jaws. They kill and eat snakes, even highly venomous or large ones such as cobras. They have been known to dig up human corpses in India.[28] They devour all parts of their prey, including skin, hair, feathers, flesh and bones, holding their food down with their forepaws.[29] When seeking vegetable food, they lift stones or tear bark from trees.[21]

Range

The species ranges through most of sub-Saharan Africa, from the Western Cape, South Africa, to southern Morocco and southwestern Algeria and outside Africa through Arabia, Iran and western Asia to Turkmenistan and the Indian Peninsula. It is known to range from sea level to as much as 2,600 m above sea level in the Moroccan High Atlas and 4,000 m in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains.[1]

Relationships with humans

Honey badgers often become serious poultry predators. Because of their strength and persistence, they are difficult to deter. They are known to rip thick planks from hen-houses or burrow underneath stone foundations. Surplus killing is common during these events, with one incident resulting in the death of 17 Muscovy ducks and 36 chickens.[21]

Because of the toughness and looseness of their skin, honey badgers are very difficult to kill with dogs. Their skin is hard to penetrate, and its looseness allows them to twist and turn on their attackers when held. The only safe grip on a honey badger is on the back of the neck. The skin is also tough enough to resist several machete blows. The only sure way of killing them quickly is through a blow to the skull with a club or a shot to the head with a gun, as their skin is almost impervious to arrows and spears.[30]

A short article on the honey badger published in The Independent on the 4th of February 1904 mentions that "The Boers of South Africa hold them in high respect, as do the natives, and assert that a pair of these beasts will occasionally attack a human being. I have heard of men being treed by these animals, but whether the tale was true of false I am uncertain."[31]

During the British occupation of Basra, rumours of "man-eating badgers" emerged from the local population, including allegations that these beasts were released by the British troops, something that the British categorically denied.[32][33] A British army spokesperson said that the badgers were "native to the region but rare in Iraq" and "are usually only dangerous to humans if provoked".[34] The director of Basra's veterinary hospital, Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, confirmed that honey badgers had been seen in the area as early as 1986. The deputy dean of Basra's veterinary college, Dr. Ghazi Yaqub Azzam, speculated that "the badgers were being driven towards the city because of flooding in marshland north of Basra."[33] The event received coverage in the Western press during the 2007 silly season.[35]

In many parts of North India, honey badgers are reported to have been living in the close vicinity of human dwellings, leading to many instances of attacks on poultry, small livestock animals and, sometimes, even children.[citation needed] They retaliate fiercely when attacked, and are reviled in North India.[citation needed] According to a 1941 volume of The Fauna of British India, the honey badger has also been reported to dig up human corpses in that country.[36]

In Kenya, the honey badger is a major reservoir of rabies[37][38] and suspected to be a significant contributor to the sylvatic cycle of the disease.[39]

In popular culture

Main article: List of fictional badgers

A honey badger appears in a running gag in the 1989 film The Gods Must Be Crazy II.[40]

The viral video Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger became a popular Internet meme in 2011, attaining over 44 million views on YouTube as of May 2012.[41] The video features footage from the Nat Geo WILD network of honey badgers fighting jackals, invading beehives, and eating cobras. The video includes a comical voiceover by "Randall" in a vulgar, effeminate, and sometimes exasperated narration, including lines like "Honey badger don't care!" and "Honey badger don't give a shit!"[42] Randall subsequently published the book Honey Badger Don't Care in the same year. The video has been referenced in an episode of the popular television series Glee and commercials for the video game Madden NFL 12 and Wonderful Pistachios.[43] The video has also influenced references to honey badgers on the show American Pickers.[44] In Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, a honeybadger makes a brief appearance.

Former LSU Tigers' football player Tyrann Mathieu's nickname is "The Honey Badger". The nickname became popular during the 2011 college football season, when it was often referenced in the national media. "He takes what he wants" said CBS sportscaster Verne Lundquist of Mathieu, in reference to the Internet meme.[45]

[renadi 258]

This makes me realize wikipedia would be horrible to read as a .txt file.

[dockwithme 76]

Also, this mod isn't about realism, so just chuck that word in the trash and burn it.

LOL, from the info page of TFC.

The core premise of TFCraft was initially to make the world a more realistic place.

http://www.terrafirmacraft.com/info/

[bsb23 303]

Sorry Doc but he is right Bioxx made an announcement a while after that explaining the focus on believability and not realism (red steel, blue steel)

[Exelbirth 2]

If making valid points is "being upset over things you make up in your head," then the world is truly lost. If people don't counter stupid ideas with facts, you end up with a cesspool of idiocy, not unlike america's political system this day.

[dockwithme 76]

Sorry Doc but he is right Bioxx made an announcement a while after that explaining the focus on believability and not realism (red steel, blue steel)

Aw man... I do notice a lot of this stuff is outdated.. He should hire someone to clean it all up for him!

Anyways, yes it would be silly to lock people out of a server.

[ultracasual 1]

I agree with most of the suggestions.

As a server owner, players really dislike penalties. Death penalty in classic is too much to bear for a surprising number of players, most of which aren't on this forum. I would suggest going an alternative, more interesting route.

My suggestion involves:

*removed pic to save space* ---> see below

[LordOfWolves 514]

Suggestion.

A temporary limitation of the visual field?

[ultracasual 1]

A temporary limitation of the visual field?

Yes!

Perhaps regaining consciousness, and a droopy face (not a pumpkin ) that takes some time to restore to normal.

This could be only if the player has a bed and spawns from it's new location.

Otherwise, adventuring and collecting for 45+ mins to die and return to spawn is already a huge penalty.

[Ocellatusa 4]

how about a sickness of sorts you have less stamina (move slower need to eat more often and drink more often)

[LordOfWolves 514]

how about a sickness of sorts you have less stamina (move slower need to eat more often and drink more often)

This is already implemented. You don't need to eat or drink more, but you start with half the bars of food and thirst.

And...

WELCOME TO THE STAMINA-FULL FORUMS!!!