Board Thread:Off-Topic/@comment-24108228-20141005202946

I enjoyed the first arena.exe so much, I decided to make a sequel. =Here We Are Again=

The Setting
No .exe is complete without a setting, and I've done my best to really set the scene. A Tl;dr version is further down.

Guided Tour
So, you join a server and what do you see? That same hacker that turned the last server into an arena, albeit the number on his name has incremented slightly. Must of got through a handful of alts. Either way, he teleports to you, and explains the situation: Dr.Haxer17: Why hello there. As you may have noticed, this isn't exactly the original game. You're playing my gladiator remix. Since the server is quite new, I have time to give you a tour. You're transported, along with the shadowy figure of the arena emperor, to a room with a long row of people (the building) stationed in custom built wooden stalls, both fireproof and unforagable, each with a small GUI that appears over the top when you get close. They each have a sentence above their head saying what they sell, and for what cost, and as you're whisked across the stalls, you notice a distinctive lack of processed materials. It seems you'll have to craft it all yourself. Dr.Haxer17: As you can see, the people here are merchants. You click on them to complete the transaction. The main method of getting them is beating others in the arena. The rewards scale depending on your opponent, but it varies from around 5 to 20 coins. Oh, and it automatches you with people of around your combat level, no need to worry about mithril gods wrecking your face in your first fight. Dr.Haxer17: At the end, you will notice a handful that are stationed in yew stalls. They buy your processed goodies. It's not quite that simple however, they have a little catch to them. You may wish to ask a more experienced member about them before you go over and lob all your items at them. You: Why, do you want to keep it secret? Dr.Haxer17: Not really. It's just far too complex for me to explain right now. It'd be a shame if your guided tour was cut short because I ran out of time. At this point, the hacker puts a little stopwatch GUI in the bottom left corner of the screen. Dr.Haxer17: Lets move on quickly, shall we?

You find yourself teleported again, and this time you're in a large, sandstone structure. It doesn't take long before you recognise it as a replica of admin cave. Dr.Haxer17: This is your prep room. The tunnel over at that wall is your teleporter to the arena, you'll be placed in the audience when you use it, although another teleporter over there will lead you down to the Ready area. You: What's that? Dr.Haxer17: Time is tight, stick to the schedule... The little stopwatch, which has been slowly ticking away in the corner of your screen, suddenly jumps forward. Whatever happens when you run out of time doesn't seem promising, so you keep your mouth shut. Suddenly, you float into the air, and are drifted directly into the centre of the preparation room. You fly upwards, and you noclip through the roof, into a teraphyx and cave lynx infested cavern, which is roughly 8 studs high and wide, and you cant fail to notice it is very detailed, although the floor is still smooth (excluding the occasional small salt-water pool), the animals clearly wont have much issue getting around. Directly underneath you is an iron vein. The evil tour guide arrives shortly after, and explains where you are. Dr.Haxer17: Should you ever find yourself strapped for both cash and ore, and you don't quite have the time for a long cooking spree, you could come here. The main entrance is much further back, connected via teleporter, but I thought we could take a little shortcut. Lots of hostile animals dwell here, you'll find a spawnpoint every about 10 studs. Should you succeed in getting to an ore vein however, you get to mine it and save yourself a pretty penny. That's quite a big "if" though. You're jetted around the cave system, far too fast to memorise the way, but you see all kinds of ores. Iron is similarly plentiful to coal, which can both be at many points in the cave. The cave is extremely elaborate and long, ores seem to grow in value the further you go in. Suddenly, you stop, at a beautifully decorated cavern. A single mithril ore vein sits there, untouched. Deathwater is also nearby, although no mushrooms accompany it, just a handful of moss. Dr.Haxer17: I've done this many times, but nobody has ever mined this vein here. I doubt anyone will get even close, but it's a nice bait. Many people have lost their tools to this cave, I would expect this is why. Heck, I doubt you could even find this, even if you could kill all the animals that guard it. You: So how far in would I have to go to find an ore? There is a slight pause, in which you start to regret asking the question, but to your relief, the hacker answers it with a quick teleport to a gold vein. Dr.Haxer17: For obvious reasons, gold is worth one coin, making it the least valuable ore. It litters the entrance once your 50 studs in, but you cant make any tools from it exclusively. To find iron or coal you have to go in roughly 150 studs, and that's if you take the right turns. Effective weapons are a must if you want to do mining 'round these parts. Dr.Haxer17: Anyway, moving on... As you wait for the hacker to finish the teleport, you cant help but feel slightly confused, as if there's something important that you just can't put your finger on. The question is answered with a quick teleport, which focuses your mind onto more pressing matters.

You find yourself in the stands of the coliseum, and as you look down you see an amazing island battlefield. In the middle sits a dark blue pool, almost purple in shade. Three stone mountains provide a steep (yet climbable without aid) terrain difference, and the rest of the ground is perfectly flat. A lake resides in one corner. The islands are roughly the size of stonewall, and the sides of the map are made of a solid wall of magma, similar to that of volcano island. Dr.Haxer17: This is the place for the audience to watch the matches. I obviously get the golden throne over there, but everyone else will be able to watch through a transparent barrier and enjoy the match, without any fear of being attacked like you would have in the mines or arena. Trading between players isn't allowed, but people just don't stop giving each other farming items. As he says this, you notice two people suddenly die in the distance, making angered remarks, before the items on the floor around them are removed. If you want to participate in the black market, you'll need to do it quicker and sneakier than they did. Dr.Haxer17: Down there is the "Ready" area you wanted to know about. Funny how things always work if you follow the schedule, isn't it? This reminds you of the stopwatch, which is getting dangerously close to the end of it's cycle. Dr.Haxer: When you're in there, your stats are frozen, and PvP is disabled, similar to the prep room and audience. Food and water is also supplied, although you cant leave after you enter. This is underlined by an unarmoured player who is desperately jumping against an invisible wall, apparently they weren't quite as "Ready" as they thought they were. Dr.Haxer: And that concludes our tour! You may also want to know that if you die, you have to wait 3 minutes before you can respawn. I got fed up of people just doing store/all and reseting to avoid having to farm. You: What about the stopwatch? The clock is almost finished, and the second hand just needs to go a bit further... But it's too late. The watch clicks, and you die immediately. As the hacker said, there was indeed a 180 second delay for respawning. Fortunately you are brought out early by the hacker, who ports you to the two cave entrances that lead to the prep room and cave. He leaves, and returns to his throne, and your guided tour is over. You pick yourself up and look around.

Changes and Tweaks
A heated melee is going on at the arena, and all the chat is focused on the game, and how amazing the two participants are. The first discussion that catches your eye is about bluesteel (which is probably why your attention focused on it). Mechablox25817: Hey, look at that guy! He has bluesteel! How did he manage that, the stuff must cost around 100 coins per ore! Bloxer52: Didn't you hear? The recipe is changed. Now it's possible to make large amounts on this server. Mechablox25817: How do you know that? You're nowhere near bluesteel. Bloxer52: The NPC shop has a sign at the end next to the yew shops. It tells you all the changes.

Not bothering to read the rest of the conversation, you head down a passage to the vendors, and after a quick wait on the conveniently placed conveyor belt, you find that the signboard does indeed exist, and has the following messages: Bluesteel is now crafted with Stainless Steel + Coal + Coal + Coal + Elixir of Strength '''The Elixir of strength is a dark blue pool in the middle of the arena, which has similar properties to an anvil, only you craft bluesteel with it, not tools. It has no use other than crafting bluesteel.''' A coin press now requires Stainless Steel to craft in place of iron. You can also only craft 5 gold coins every five minutes per press, after crafting five coins the coin press becomes unusable and unretoolable for five minutes, and it will return to normal once the cooldown ends. Teraphyx now have 180 health. Slowing effects of armour are halved in the arena and cave, and negated in all the non-PvP areas. Using a pickaxe on sandstone makes sand, with the corresponding chance of success attached to your pickaxe. Buildings can only be placed in the arena and prep room.

You take note of this and then leave the NPC shops to try and find someone who can answer your final question: "What's the catch with the yew vendors? You wander around the stands, and eventually find a friendly mithrilite who had just finished showing around a new player. Having gained such wealth, they didn't fight often, and were content with helping out new players. You: According to the emperor, there is something strange about the Yew vendors, although he never told me what. Do you know? IHateTropicalFruit: Well, they're a bit complicated. They wont let you sell items after you have obtained more than a certain number of coins, which is exclusive to each merchant. They also will not trade with you if you already sold enough items for 10 coins that day, and each day around here takes 20 minutes. Basically you'll need to sell lots of different items if you are to make decent profit from them. You: When I looked, they didn't tell you their coin maximum. Do you know what they are? IHateTropicalFruit: As a matter of fact, I actually wrote a list. I'll tell you if you like. You: That would be great.

He tells you the numbers, and as you part, you realise you cant make anything without something to start off. Before you stooped to illegal mooching off higher ranked players, you checked your prep room, and in it you found ten small stones, and two small leaves. Your mind clicks as you realise exactly what to do. You have a prosperous future ahead, but also a long journey.

And your journey has only just begun.

Tl;dr
Stories are nice, but some of us have lives to lead, so they just want a Tl;dr version. I wouldn't want to end up leaving out any lazy and inconsiderate jerks, so I've made them a shorter version:
 * The arena has five sections, the arena (and "ready" area), the stands for the audience to watch the game, the merchant NPC shopping centre, everyone's individual prep room, and the cave.
 * The arena is the place where people fight for cash, earning a varying amount from 5 to 20 coins depending on the strength of the killed foe. The ready area is where you wait to be matched with someone of your combat ability, and when you're in there, you can eat and drink until you max your stats. Once you enter the "Ready" area however, you cant leave without reseting.
 * The stands are an area for players to meet, trading isn't allowed but sneaky players can pull it off. You can watch the match from there.
 * The shopping area contains all the vendors, prices are listed below.
 * The cave is a PvP area, infested with teraphyx and cave lynx (a spawn roughly every 10 studs), where you can mine ores. Gold is found about 50 studs in, iron and coal 150, and all the other ores can be found if you go deep enough. A single mithril vein is found at the very end, along with moss and deathwater.
 * Respawning takes three minutes, preventing people from resetting to avoid hunger.
 * Coin presses have a 5 minute cooldown every 5 coins, and require stainless steel instead of iron to make.
 * Slowing effects of armour are halved in the arena and cave, and negated in all the non-PvP areas.
 * Using a pickaxe on sandstone makes sand, with the corresponding chance of success attached to your pickaxe.
 * Bluesteel is now crafted with Stainless Steel + Coal + Coal + Coal + Elixir of Strength, and The Elixir of Strength is a dark blue pool in the middle of the arena, which has similar properties to an anvil, only you craft bluesteel with it, not tools. It has no use other than crafting bluesteel.
 * Yew Vendors only let you sell 10 gold coins to them per day (20 minutes), so you need to have lots of different items to sell for quick progression.

Plant
Berry is sold at 3 Golden Coins Small Bush Stump is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 4 Small Leaves is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 3 Small Stick is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 10 Carrot is sold at 2 Golden Coins Onion is sold at 2 Golden Coins Flax Flower is sold at 3 Golden Coins Apple is sold at 4 Golden Coins Small Tree Stump is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 2 Large Leaves is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 2 Wheat is sold at 4 Golden Coins Herb is sold at 2 Golden Coins Prickly Pear is sold at 2 Golden Coins Corn is sold at 3 Golden Coins Yew Tree Stump is sold at 2 Golden Coins Egg is sold at 2 Golden Coins Mushroom is sold at 10 Golden Coins Moss is sold at 5 Golden Coins Large Tree Stump is sold at 1 Golden Coin

Mineral
Sand is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 10 Small Stone is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 5 Gold Ore is sold at 1 Golden Coin Coal is sold at 2 Golden Coins Iron Ore is sold at 3 Golden Coins Sulphur is sold at 3 Golden Coins Chromite Ore is sold at 4 Golden Coins Mithril Ore is sold at 20 Golden Coins

Animal
Bento Buck is sold at 5 Golden Coins Bento Deer is sold at 1 Golden Coin Rockma is sold at 5 Golden Coins Teraphyx is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 5 Chicken is sold at 1 Golden Coin Cow is sold at 7 Golden Coins Lynx is sold at 5 Golden Coins Cave Lynx is sold at 1 Golden Coins for 5 ''All animals are sold as an inventory item and can only be placed in your prep room. Once placed they cannot be foraged.''

Misc
Clay is sold at 2 Golden Coins Crude Oil is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 3 Small Pile of Dirt is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 10 Snow is sold at 1 Golden Coin for 5

Selling Vendors
Pie is bought at 1 Golden Coin with a max of 5 Herbal Remedy is bought at 1 Golden Coin for 2, with a max of 5 Fried Chicken is bought at 2 Golden Coins with a max of 10 War Sloop is bought at 2 Golden Coins with a max of 5 Mozzarella is bought at 2 Golden Coins with a max of 10 Poison is bought at 3 Golden Coins with a max of 15 Refined Iron is bought at 1 Golden Coin with a max of 5 Refined Steel is bought at 2 Golden Coins with a max of 10 Bomb is bought at 2 Golden Coins with a max of 15 Stainless Steel is bought at 5 Golden Coins with a max of 15 Sandstone Hall is bought at 2 Golden Coins with a max of 5 Stone Hall is bought at 3 Golden Coins with a max of 10

Conclusion
In conclusion, I have spent roughly 6-7 hours writing and designing this .exe, and I intend to spend more time after posting this to add maps, balance tweaks, and improving the post all around to make it an easier read. Although I have serious doubts I can actually do this, other threads have said similar things and gotten away with it, so I deem this thread "Necro-Free", necromancy of this thread is allowed assuming the post you make isn't just a small comment on someone else's story, or the dreaded "Bump". If I cant do this, let me know, but otherwise, we'll see how that plays out.

Enjoy! Is this a good .exe? Yes No Kill it with fire.  