Ren'Py Desert Stalker [v0.16c] [Zetan]

[26thOfJuly]

"Likely" is a bit of a stretch since odds of pregnancy after sex in a single day is only about 1-8% depending on stage of the woman's cycle and other factors. Still, it's AVN logic instead of real world, so actual probabilities don't really matter.

1-8 percent? I swear if you don't want kids the probability goes up to 90 percent. You'll make your girl pregnant by cuddling for too long.

 

[Ummmh]

"Likely" is a bit of a stretch since odds of pregnancy after sex in a single day is only about 1-8% depending on stage of the woman's cycle and other factors. Still, it's AVN logic instead of real world, so actual probabilities don't really matter.

I had wondered about that myself because Merneith seemed EXTREMELY certain, in the original dialogue in 16 beta.

I had originally wondered if it was due to ovulatory cycle synchronization of women living together for extended durations in the palace, but it turns out sychronization is a completely discredited theory: sometimes there are just natural extended overlaps due to slightly different cycle durations.

A FAR more likely possibility, in fact VERY probable and ridiculously obvious when you think about it, is TALIA WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY KNOW LIRAH'S EXACT CYCLE, as she works closely with her, every single day. This would give the queen, via simply asking Talia, a near certainty of what the not-safe days were.

Ofc there's still a limited chance of conception even on a not safe day, but the odds are WAY higher: up to 41% if intercourse occurs the day before ovulation. And, for all we know, the queen might have given Lirah some fertility drug to increase those odds: it IS like the 25th or 26th century, after all, and the queen does have access to some ancient tech. More, it's entirely possible that fertility drugs might have been one of the few things allowed to seep through from the past (to the priesthood at very least) in order to help keep the population going up.

 

[xapican]

Ummmh ; or she just asks MC to fuck her a few times in a row during a few days 1year ....
Edit: there how Reh said after I posted.....

It varies from <1% when not ovulating to about 8% when ovulating for unprotected sex on a single day. About 30% get pregnant within 1 month of frequent (nearly daily) unprotected sex, about 60% after 3 months, about 80% after 6 months, and about 90% after 1 year.

 

[Rehwyn]

1-8 percent? I swear if you don't want kids the probability goes up to 90 percent. You'll make your girl pregnant by cuddling for too long.

I had wondered about that myself because Merneith seemed EXTREMELY certain, in the original dialogue in 16 beta.

I had originally wondered if it was due to ovulatory cycle synchronization of women living together for extended durations in the palace, but it turns out sychronization is a completely discredited theory: sometimes there are just natural extended overlaps due to slightly different cycle durations.

A FAR more likely possibility, in fact VERY probable and ridiculously obvious when you think about it, is TALIA WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY KNOW LIRAH'S EXACT CYCLE, as she works closely with her, every singe day. This would give the queen, via simply asking Talia, a near certainty of what the not-safe days were.

Haha, yeah. I was curious, so looked it up a while ago. It varies from <1% when not ovulating to about 8% when ovulating for unprotected sex on a single day. About 30% get pregnant within 1 month of frequent (nearly daily) unprotected sex, about 60% after 3 months, about 80% after 6 months, and about 90% after 1 year.

Obviously it's done for narrative and coding purposes, but it's always made me chuckle that unprotected creampie = guaranteed pregnant in AVNs.

 

[Ummmh]

Haha, yeah. I was curious, so looked it up a while ago. It varies from <1% when not ovulating to about 8% when ovulating for unprotected sex on a single day. About 30% get pregnant within 1 month of frequent (nearly daily) unprotected sex, about 60% after 3 months, about 80% after 6 months, and about 90% after 1 year.

Obviously it's done for narrative and coding purposes, but it's always made me chuckle that unprotected creampie = guaranteed pregnant in AVNs.

Hmm.

Was fishing around sites and they usually do say that yes it's % by the month, but apparently if you hit on the specific day before ovulation your percentages skyrocket.

Sperm health and count are also factors, and we can assume MC has healthy sperm in addition to his very consistently pumping out liters of it.

EDIT: and Lirah is also quite young and therefore quite fertile: the overall percentages may be skewed by older age brackets.

 

[Rehwyn]

Hmm.

Was fishing around sites and they usually do say that yes it's % by the month, but apparently if you hit on the specific day before ovulation your percentages skyrocket.

Sperm health and count are also factors, and we can assume MC has healthy sperm in addition to his very consistently pumping out liters of it.

EDIT: and Lirah is also quite young and therefore quite fertile: the overall percentages may be skewed by older age brackets.

Honestly, finding odds for specific days is quite hard. I've seen everything from 8% to 25% in the peak window of a few days before ovulation. I suppose most couples trying to get pregnant aren't having sex one day per month.

In either case, seems the "blind" odds if you don't know the cycle is 5% or less.

 

[Ummmh]

That's why I was thinking the queen probably knew the cycle from asking Talia, and Talia would know the cycle because she worked side by side with Lirah, day after day, and that's got to come up betwern girls, especially when one of them is training the other and it's a job involving a lot of physicality, so things like being on one's period (in a civilization without that much technology) would matter/cause work delays, so likely get communicated between them.

 

[ExoticManticore]

playing this game as a Middle Eastern is a wild experience ngl

 

[ExoticManticore]

What happens if your government finds out about this hobby of yours
A death sentence or missing limbs like the Zetan way

thankfully I live in the west hehe

 

[26thOfJuly]

playing this game as a Middle Eastern is a wild experience ngl

Haha. The only similarities are in the names, the arid environment and how women are treated as simply childbearers.

What happens if your government finds out about this hobby of yours
A death sentence or missing limbs like the Zetan way

At least here in Iran, there's no laws against it. But since when the law has been an issue to get in the way of some human rights violation in Iran?

 

[Vigeous]

Any thoughts on Ain's follow up story, in the last update the wife asks the MC what options can she go for.

 

[Cynicaladm]

thankfully I live in the west hehe

Haha. The only similarities are in the names, the arid environment and how women are treated as simply childbearers.


At least here in Iran, there's no laws against it. But since when the law has been an issue to get in the way of some human rights violation in Iran?

We have no illusion that we could ever replicate the culture or traditions from the region, especially since none of us are from the region or share a background or ties to it.
luckily, the post-apocalyptic/alternate universe/future setting dispenses us from delving into it beyond the occasional nod or superficial acknowledgement.

to be fair, we've tried to weave an original cultural tapestry and setting that I suppose hardly at all resembles the middle east or any specific setting... and there's of course a callback to ancient Egypt which is remote enough and unexplored enough for us to get away with most things...(but yes, some thought went into certain things that are yet to come and can explain how, for instance, there's such ethnic variety in the region)

that said, I am curious as to what the gaming experience is like for somebody from the area (or at least with cultural ties to it/understanding of it). Is there anything that resonates at all, is it the opposite where everything is so out of tune it's funny? do you just take it as a wholly separate thing that just happens to have the occasional pyramid in the background?

do tell, if you'd like to, what is it that makes it such a wild experience (other than the gore and the sexy parts)

 

[26thOfJuly]

We have no illusion that we could never replicate the culture or traditions from the region, especially since none of us are from the region or share a background or ties to it.
luckily, the post-apocalyptic/alternate universe/future setting dispenses us from delving into it beyond the occasional nod or superficial acknowledgement.

to be fair, we've tried to weave an original cultural tapestry and setting that I suppose hardly at all resembles the middle east or any specific setting... and there's of course a callback to ancient Egypt which is remote enough and unexplored enough for us to get away with most things...(but yes, some thought went into certain things that are yet to come and can explain how, for instance, there's such ethnic variety in the region)

that said, I am curious as to what the gaming experience is like for somebody from the area (or at least with cultural ties to it/understanding of it). Is there anything that resonates at all, is it the opposite where everything is so out of tune it's funny? do you just take it as a wholly separate thing that just happens to have the occasional pyramid in the background?

do tell, if you'd like to, what is it that makes it such a wild experience (other than the gore and the sexy parts)

OK this is going to be long.
I've played two games here with a Middle Eastern theme: this game and Life in the Middle East.
Honestly none of them are even close to the reality but I think that's the point. These are fantasy games, especially DS. If you were to make an authentic ME game, MC and her LIs would've been lashed or worse, stoned for adultery. I don't play this game because the location is where I live.
But if you're interested in making your game feel more authentic then you have to make the game a sausage fest. Put all the women in the harem, trying to outdo eachother to get the attention of their man and to become the lady of the house.
Up until 100 years ago in Iran, that was the most prestigious achievement a woman could have.
And then you have all the men, socialising together, smoking opium, drinking coffee/tea and playing backgammon and kissing their man's (could be a lord/sheikh) ass.
All the marriages would've been prearranged and anything sexual outside marriage would've been severely punished.
As for conflicts, most of the middle east is consisted of different tribes and races who live together but can't stand eachother. If you're looking for a historical soldier who rose to the top I recommend reading about Nadir Shah. If you want a mythical hero (Iran's hercules), read about Rostam Dastan. These might give you an idea as to what a middle eastern story should look like.
All and all as a middle eastern myself I enjoy this game the way it is. You've done a great job with creating that eastern feel.

 

[starkj]

OK this is going to be long.
I've played two games here with a Middle Eastern theme: this game and Life in the Middle East.
Honestly none of them are even close to the reality but I think that's the point. These are fantasy games, especially DS. If you were to make an authentic ME game, MC and her LIs would've been lashed or worse, stoned for adultery. I don't play this game because the location is where I live.
But if you're interested in making your game feel more authentic then you have to make the game a sausage fest. Put all the women in the harem, trying to outdo eachother to get the attention of their man and to become the lady of the house.
Up until 100 years ago in Iran, that was the most prestigious achievement a woman could have.
And then you have all the men, socialising together, smoking opium, drinking coffee/tea and playing backgammon and kissing their man's (could be a lord/sheikh) ass.
All the marriages would've been prearranged and anything sexual outside marriage would've been severely punished.
As for conflicts, most of the middle east is consisted of different tribes and races who live together but can't stand eachother. If you're looking for a historical soldier who rose to the top I recommend reading about Nadir Shah. If you want a mythical hero (Iran's hercules), read about Rostam Dastan. These might give you an idea as to what a middle eastern story should look like.
All and all as a middle eastern myself I enjoy this game the way it is. You've done a great job with creating that eastern feel.

Tbh when i look at Egypt in this game, i think of it more of the Egypt from back the Roman Empire times with the likes of Cleopatra rather than the Egypt from the rise of Islam and i think that's what the dev went for.

 

[EVIL555]

I wonder what line he will choose next with Lyra?

 

[26thOfJuly]

Tbh when i look at Egypt in this game, i think of it more of the Egypt from back the Roman Empire times with the likes of Cleopatra rather than the Egypt from the rise of Islam and i think that's what the dev went for.

True, but the discussion was about Middle East. In that era there was no "Middle East". The Middle East refers to the region where Islam rose and created a certain similar look to the entire region. Back in the ancient times these were very different sub-regions. Egypt, Mesopotamia (current Iraq), Asia minor (current Turkey) and Persia (current Iran) had almost no unifying factor between them, whilst today they're all bundled as the Middle East (Land of terrorists )

 

[Ummmh]

Tbh when i look at Egypt in this game, i think of it more of the Egypt from back the Roman Empire times with the likes of Cleopatra rather than the Egypt from the rise of Islam and i think that's what the dev went for.

It's pop-culture ancient Egypt. No real resemblance outside of superficial visual and name elements to the original.

It is worth noting that if you're looking at Egypt in Cleopatra's/Ptolemaic Dynasty times, you're actually looking at very northern Greeks, because her entire lineage was Macedonian (tho there's apparently some argument on the Greek side as to whether or not Macedonians should be considered Greeks, despite the Greeks I knew reflexively claiming Alexander as their own: this was a major point of contention for some Greek friends of mine, in the past).

For a certainty, unless you want to see everyone, men and women both, shaved of head and wearing wigs, you definitely don't want to go authentic ancient Egyptian.

 

[Rehwyn]

It's pop-culture ancient Egypt. No real resemblance outside of superficial visual and name elements to the original.

It is worth noting that if you're looking at Egypt in Cleopatra's/Ptolemaic Dynasty times, you're actually looking at very northern Greeks, because her entire lineage was Macedonian (tho there's apparently some argument on the Greek side as to whether or not Macedonians should be considered Greeks, despite the Greeks I knew reflexively claiming Alexander as their own: this was a major point of contention for some Greek friends of mine, in the past).

For a certainty, unless you want to see everyone, men and women both, shaved of head and wearing wigs, you definitely don't want to go authentic ancient Egyptian.

It's actually kind of fitting that a post-apocalyptic society might base their society on a Pop Culture version of something without knowing any better.

 

[dolfe67]

It is worth noting that if you're looking at Egypt in Cleopatra's/Ptolemaic Dynasty times, you're actually looking at very northern Greeks, because her entire lineage was Macedonian (tho there's apparently some argument on the Greek side as to whether or not Macedonians should be considered Greeks, despite the Greeks I knew reflexively claiming Alexander as their own: this was a major point of contention for some Greek friends of mine, in the past).

I don't care what we learn in school, Cleopatra was black

 

[Ummmh]

I wonder what line he will choose next with Lyra?

At this point, it's her choice, either way, though a lot more so with the scavenger route than the guard route

Scav Lirah has a lot of (MOSTLY REALLY BAD) choices still ahead of her, any number of which could end up with her gone from the game, brutalized into mind-break, or deciding that she wants to take the MC up on his offer to live with him.

Guard Lirah is basically reduced to just an embarrassed, but fully willing sex toy, now, with no real choices unless she makes some sort of move to break out of that tailspin: the Queen's not going to give her too many options in THAT regard.