Lightning rods

[ECC 508]

Let me start with a question. Do any of you here ever have an 'oh shit' moment when lightning storms start up in minecraft? ever? If you do, what is it about. Is it perhaps the mob count? No, that cant be it, you hide in a tree and boom, safety. is it the prospect of being hit? No, you take almost no damage, even in vanilla. Is it the fire from the strike? No, that burns out in the rain. Then what is there to fear in storms? The answer is nothing. Even if somehow you come across the disaster known as a charged creeper, you have no prospect of fear. 'just go around' applies to 50% of anything that happens in a thunderstorm. The other 50% is ignored In the rarest of the rare, you lose perhaps 5 burnable blocks in a storm, and that is negligibly rare.

so, how do we make this significantly more dangerous and akin to the harsh and gritty landscape that makes up TerraFirmaCraft? Simple answer is we do nothing. Lightning receives no changes what so ever and we enjoy high compatibility. Not the answer your after? Well, the big answer is we make another entity and block. Basically, we ask dunk nicely to make a TFC lightning with the following properties:

-Lightning ignores armor and kills instantly.

-Lightning calculates the highest point within 25 blocks of where it initially would have stuck.

-Lightning AoE damage should be 5-6 meters from its epicenter( X,Z Axis') with NO damage tapering

-Lightning calculates Mobs/players to add 2 block to height

-Lightning Ignores Gamemode 1 players(creative mode players are not hit. Allows moderation to exist on a server without altering normal user gameplay)

-Lightning effects blocks directly hit

-- Bricks-> Cracked bricks

-- Sand-> Glass(Not vanilla glass,resembles sandstone structure with glass particles. When broken, drops rare decorative lightning forge glass item?)

-- Gravity effected blocks-> falls disregarding supports(reason to move towards building your lightning rods)

-- Stone-> cobble

-- Grass-> dirt

-Lightning calculates metal based blocks as 4(this would mean the addition of a lightning rod type item)

this covers how the lightning reacts with the environment and highlights a few additional items to add to the game. This brings us to fire, the dangerous counterpart of lightning:

New block: TFC_Fire

-Fire spawns when Lightning strikes

-Fire can not be put out in rain

-Fire Ignites blocks above it(10 meters) if no obstruction exists

-Fire created by TFC fire is TFC fire. Conversly, fire created from other methods is Vanilla fire.

All of this for the sanity of coding ignores the principle of grounding.

Edit: Nobody saw the mistake. Noone. Dunk will never know

Edited 14 Nov 2012 by ECC

[Kimbblesrath 503]

I love it and hate it at the same time when someone makes a post like this *like spams*

[ECC 508]

Holy mother of all fuck, 34 notifications. you damned bastard XD /profane is profane

Was toying with the idea, and came up with a way to make magic something hard to obtain. at least enchanting. 'Charged Anvils'

Using the mechanics listed above, you can make an anvil charged and use it to enchant your smithing. Considering the rarity of lightning even being within 25 blocks of where you want it in the first place this makes for a rare commodity at best. Also, considering the anvils natural limits(cant made redsteel at a iron anvil) upgrading your charged anvil is a problem as well.

[Kimbblesrath 503]

Holy mother of all fuck, 34 notifications. you damned bastard XD /profane is profane

Was toying with the idea, and came up with a way to make magic something hard to obtain. at least enchanting. 'Charged Anvils'

Using the mechanics listed above, you can make an anvil charged and use it to enchant your smithing. Considering the rarity of lightning even being within 25 blocks of where you want it in the first place this makes for a rare commodity at best. Also, considering the anvils natural limits(cant made redsteel at a iron anvil) upgrading your charged anvil is a problem as well.

Maybe it shouldn't be so random chance. Like putting lightning all over your anvil should help it get charged by some percentage. And lightning rods shouldn't be cheap either. Maybe Wrought Iron, or possibly Steel.

New item, metal rod. Made by working a double sheet (possibly with a plan).

Rod must be worked with ingot and lightning rod plan to

More coming later, gtg post more later on this.

NVM THIS^^

[ECC 508]

Rods would have damage values based on materials. Its rare to happen in the first place, so using copper or brass for it in the first place really would not necessitate better quality materials.

also, before people jump on historical or real world accuracy, please realize this is a game

[transcengopher 349]

But lightning strikes up from the ground, not down from the sky.

- It won't ignore armour, it will use it as a conductor and heat it. You can overheat, but you won't actually die from that. Now, if you DON'T wear armour, lightning will travel through your blood as it has higher ion capacity, iirc, and burned blood vessels are of much higher chance to end you.

- It won't do any AOE besides hot air wave and sound blast.

- Gamemode 2 is Adventure, you're looking for gamemode 1.

- Lightning won't crack stone or bricks or cause gravity affected block to fall; it may light something on fire or turn sand to glass, but only blocks it came through.

I know how minecraft lightning works

[ECC 508]

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning

-I mixed gamemodes, forgive me ;P

-Lightning is Ionized plasma. It superheats the air and surface of the location it strikes. If you have ever had a firepit, you know what happens to the bricks. quickly heating a solid that has been cooled will weaken the molecular bonds and... well, break it.

-Ignoring armor is there because this is a game. I am well aware that armor CAN theoretically act to ground the strike, however let us ignore the mechanic as a whole for that matter.

[transcengopher 349]

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning

An initial bipolar discharge, or path of ionized air, starts from a negatively charged region of mixed water and ice in the thundercloud. Ionized channels of the discharge are known as leaders. The positive and negative charged leaders, generally a "stepped leader", proceed in opposite directions. The negatively-charged one proceeds downward in a number of quick jumps (steps). About 90% of the leaders exceed 45 m (148 ft) in length, with most in the order of 50 to 100 m (164 to 328 ft).^[31]

As it continues to descend, the stepped leader may branch into a number of paths.^[32] The progression of stepped leaders takes a comparatively long time (hundreds of milliseconds) to approach the ground. This initial phase involves a relatively small electric current (tens or hundreds of amperes), and the leader is almost invisible when compared with the subsequent lightning channel.

When a stepped leader approaches the ground, the presence of opposite charges on the ground enhances the strength of the electric field. The electric field is strongest on ground-connected objects whose tops are closest to the base of the thundercloud, such as trees and tall buildings. If the electric field is strong enough, a conductive discharge (called a positive streamer) can develop from these points. This was first theorized by Heinz Kasemir.^[33][34]

As the field increases, the positive streamer may evolve into a hotter, higher current leader which eventually connects to the descending stepped leader from the cloud. It is also possible for many streamers to develop from many different objects simultaneously, with only one connecting with the leader and forming the main discharge path. Photographs have been taken on which non-connected streamers are clearly visible.^[35]

Once a channel of ionized air is established between the cloud and ground this becomes a path of least restistance and allows for a much greater current to propagate from the Earth back up the leader into the cloud. This is the return stroke and it is the most luminous and noticeable part of the lightning discharge.

[ECC 508]

Arguing mechanics vs real world really isnt making your or my job easier ;P

from your quote alone, lightning hits the ground THEN illuminates on the way up giving the ILLUSION that the primary is ground to cloud lightning

[transcengopher 349]

Nope, the path for lightning forming from the clouds downwards, but lightning itself strucks upwards. For lightnings touching the ground that is. And there's also instances when lightning path is also formed upwards - usually from lightning rods of tall buildings.

And as I said, I know how minecraft lightnings works - on random loaded block with skylight of 15 with lightning-like animation. What you suggest is to change randomness factor to take in account block height.

[ECC 508]

I am also suggesting that fire and lightning receive considerable buffs. as well as little additional atmospheric touches such as alterations to the environment.

[puxapuak 232]

My 'Oh Shit' moment involves turning down the bass at 3am.

[Treyflix 277]

I agree with everything except for two things. fire that can't be put out by rain? That's not believable. And lightning killing you regardless of armor is also not believable. This game is not about being hardcore, it's about being believable. The hardcore is just a side affect.

Seriously, Nature based grieving of your player made creations in a uncontrollable way (or in a way that requires the adding of a item that affects the aesthetic image of your creation) is NOT OK in a building based sandbox game. However "hard core" it is, it is simply bad game design.

The insta kill invoking armor bother me less, but still seems irritatingly strange.

[Gorni 73]

hmm i never got struck by lightning nor did a lightning ever damage my house or any house around my town i'd knew off. They only thing is a tree or two getting struck in a hard storm... So the idea is all nice and stuff but is it really worth the effort and the cpu usage? Either its a sided feature you may or may not see...ever, or it happens so often that it pisses everyone off. i don't really see a reason in this feature.

[Buczkowski 36]

Since the discussion turned to the mechanics of a lighting stick, i felt this video would be relevent.

It shows a bolt of lightning recorded at 7,207 frames per second.

[ECC 508]

a set of armor would act as a conductor for the lightning. Your in that armor, and whether you like it or not, your getting cooked.

as for fire, it has always bothered me that the instant fire starts in MC, its put out. A meter round fire is considered a bonfire by quite a few, and I have had fires that large in my families firepit while it was raining Im sorry, but a fire just really is not effected with the same level as it is in Minecraft. Rain is too dispersed to be an effective fire deterrent.

this isn't about making it hardcore, this is about making lightning something you dont walk away from. I know a few people who were revived after being struck. its NOT something you just brush off, unlike how it appears to happen in minecraft.

Edit: with everything said however, I cant think of a good way to keep lightning from killing every damned forest in a map :/ ideas other then leaving it 'as is'?