About donkeys vs horses: the choice between the 2 IRL is that donkeys are much smarter than horses are.

If you do something stupid that could get you and your mount killed, like take unstable ground next to a cliff, a horse will go for it, and a donkey will refuse to.

So donkeys are much safer.

Posted By Scheneighnay at 2:06 PM - Tue Nov 08 2016

About donkeys vs horses: the choice between the 2 IRL is that donkeys are much smarter than horses are.

If you do something stupid that could get you and your mount killed, like take unstable ground next to a cliff, a horse will go for it, and a donkey will refuse to.

So donkeys are much safer.

This is true...and they have talked about the fact that NPCs will be smart enough to refuse to do something stupid. Like jump off a cliff in order to chase you...or chase you out into the ocean if they don't know how to swim. Maybe a Donkey has the added benefit of "Won't do something that will obviously get it killed."

Eh, you'll get back up in a little while, and your goods will be secure :D

Or since you'll be walking with your donkey and not wanting to go too far from it, maybe the donkey stopping will still save you. It refuses to go, so you look around and realize "Oh, that spot is bad juju, don't step there."

Given what we've seen of the SBS team so far and the nature of the dev journals, alongside the general worldbuilding attitude of the team, I think it's safe to assume mounts will have their own characteristics that make each one desirable for different reasons.

An ursaphant, for example, is pretty big. You're not getting one of those through a small side portcullis, nor should it be able to keep up with a speedy horse. You pick it for a reason.

I think what's said above should be a pretty good indicator of when we'll want a particular mount over the others; I think the only reason mount X is better and more expensive than mount Y is just through superior breeding and training within a particular species, i.e. trison A is bred and raised to be just faster than the average trison, so the breeder charges more for him.

Love the theorycrafting here, however with SBS and how they seem to run things it wouldn't surprise me at all if this is very similar to how mounts will actually work. I love needing to use the right tool for the job!

I kind of think there should be both better mounts and mounts for different purposes. I don't think EVERY mount needs its own purpose. I would like it if there were certain rarer breeds of horses that were hard to breed and could only be handled by experienced breeders/riders.

And I think people are underestimating the exchange and power of wealth that will happen in this game. People will constantly be losing their stuff through wars, or natural disasters, or whatever. It's not WoW where you build to end game, and nothing can stop you from having top tier gear. And for a good economy I think you need levels of options along with different uses.

All domestic animals should be breedable IMHO, mounts and farm animals.

I think 1 mount should be better then another, but why get a thoroughbred to pull your cart if you can get 2 normal horses for the same price. I agree that they all should have their own roles and strengths and weeknesses but I think more expensive mounts should be better overall

What a coincidence, I made a similar thread with slightly different expectation.

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/forum/topic/13693/theorycrafting-beasts-of-burden

Great post. I love the idea of them all having their own thing. The only exception being about the thoroughbred being the least durable in a fight. You mean to say a Donkey would be better? I think a Thoroughbred needs to have more going for it then just speed. But then again I just want a huge War Horse. Appeals to me more than a Trison even if it is weaker!

Posted By AshyLarry at 12:51 PM - Sun Nov 13 2016

I kind of think there should be both better mounts and mounts for different purposes. I don't think EVERY mount needs its own purpose. I would like it if there were certain rarer breeds of horses that were hard to breed and could only be handled by experienced breeders/riders.

And I think people are underestimating the exchange and power of wealth that will happen in this game. People will constantly be losing their stuff through wars, or natural disasters, or whatever. It's not WoW where you build to end game, and nothing can stop you from having top tier gear. And for a good economy I think you need levels of options along with different uses.

I was speaking in broad strokes here. "Horse" "Thoroughbred." Naturally, once we take into account the genetics system in the game, breeders are going to start selectively breeding their animals to alter the animals away from how they start out. If you want to develop a breed of horse that can serve as Shock Cavalry alongside a Trison...breed for those characteristics. If you want a distance runner with a bit more load capacity, selectively breed Thoroughbreds and Horses together until you get the mixture of stats you want.

Posted By Greenhill at 07:32 AM - Mon Nov 14 2016

I think 1 mount should be better then another, but why get a thoroughbred to pull your cart if you can get 2 normal horses for the same price. I agree that they all should have their own roles and strengths and weeknesses but I think more expensive mounts should be better overall

I was actually trying to make it that the more expensive animals had more things they were good at in addition to being larger animals and needing fewer of them to pull a cart.

But, as for a reason to pick a Thoroughbred over a horse...I think you are underestimating the difference I'm calling for here. If you get a pair of Thoroughbreds on a wagon, and the wagon is sturdy enough to survive this....they can cruise along at a canter all the way to your destination...while a horse is going to have to mix it up between a walk and a trot.

That Thoroughbred is going to get you where you want to be in a fraction of the time that a Horse could get you there. And, as we all know, Time is Money. Particularly in a video game where you have a limited amount of time per day that you can actually play the game.

Posted By Pepperpot at 09:07 AM - Mon Nov 14 2016

Great post. I love the idea of them all having their own thing. The only exception being about the thoroughbred being the least durable in a fight. You mean to say a Donkey would be better? I think a Thoroughbred needs to have more going for it then just speed.

IRL, yeah...a donkey is generally a sturdier animal than a Thoroughbred. A Thoroughbred is like a tuner sports car...very high performance, but fragile. It is much, much easier for a Thoroughbred to end up with a broken leg or other debilitating injury than it is for a donkey to do so...donkeys are very sturdy little animals.

I have personally seen a donkey throw down with a group of coyotes that were trying to pick off some sheep that it lived in a field with. It completely trashed them and was more or less unscathed. (Donkeys hate Coyotes and will actively chase/murder them)

I agree that thoroughbreds shouldn't be the least durable out of all of the mounts mentioned, even by looking at the store page in comparison, you can see it's much bulkier than a donkey or a horse and forgive me if I'm wrong but in Medival times, were thoroughbreds not just bulkier more powerful horses rode by armoured knights in combat?

Posted By Mr_Plunkett at 10:16 AM - Mon Nov 14 2016

I agree that thoroughbreds shouldn't be the least durable out of all of the mounts mentioned, even by looking at the store page in comparison, you can see it's much bulkier than a donkey or a horse and forgive me if I'm wrong but in Medival times, were thoroughbreds not just bulkier more powerful horses rode by armoured knights in combat?

No.

That was a "Charger" or "Courser." Which were generally a type of light Draft Horse such as an Andalusian or Fresian. If you put a knight in full armor on a Thoroughbred, you'd hurt the horse.

Thoroughbreds weren't developed until the 17th Century, during the European colonization of the Americas. Well after the Medieval era, and were specifically bred for racing, later being adopted for things like polo and fox hunting that needed their ability to run at top speed for a long time.

They are certainly taller than your average horse...but unless SbS is completely misusing their terminology...a Thoroughbred is a race horse, bred for endurance and top speed to the exclusion of all else. And given that the comment text on a Thoroughbred in the pledge chart is "for Traveling" as opposed to a Horse's comment text being: "for riding short distances," they are probably using it correctly.