I would enjoy really much if game would save more statistics of certain group of ancestors. Present listing could be saved and shown as "some ancestors to remember". But there would be one other list with more detailed criterias. With this list "legendary ancestors" one could compare these characters by different criterias. Game would notify these ancestors because they were best in some criteria, like for example :

Metusalem - most days lived
Master wanderer - most kilometres wandered
Master slumberjack - most trees cut down
Master hunter - most animals killed (number of prey or kg's?)
Master trapper - most succesfull trap-kills
Master fisher - most fish caught (number of prey or kg's?)
Master builder - most structures built

Of course 1 character could be best in several criterias but I think that it would be pretty great to see how differently characters could have lived there. If it would store these informations on both lists it would be great to read these afterwards. Also it might be fun to bump in some NPC somewhere at game and this character could tell story about *character name here* and then about his/her achievement. That way each character might become legend inside game itself.

Sounds like you've played Dwarf Fortress in Adventure Mode.

.... or playing games with Achievements (Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, anything Xbox 360). :D

I think it's a neat idea, but I wonder how hard it would be to incorporate into the game.

Since the game already does a summary of gameplay at death, I can't imagine it would take more than 30 minutes for the coding portion, max.
It should just involve looking at a couple dozen values and comparing them to an existing table of record values.

BTW, Ab, you a TF2 player?
I'll have to add ya to my list and frag ya when I get my gaming system.

Tbh I haven't played any of those games AbNo mentioned and I only played Dwarf Fortress (the one where you get 7 dwarfs and start to build fortress) for something like 1 hour but gave up as I didn't get it running well enough. I did manage to do something but clock was way past sane bedtime so I gave up and decided to give it try some other day in not-so-near-future. It seems like an interesting game but it's just too complicated for someone who tries it for first time, IMO. Anyways that idea is present in some form in quite many games, some of which are board or RPG games. I remember when we had similar system when we played Warlock with my brother somewhere at 1980's or 1990's. The idea is just to order and present statistics in some way. In Nethack this same system is kinda present in forms of ghosts of elder characters.

Idea about different ways to mark characters achievements and make them ingame legends and characters came to me as I thought stories about legendary historical vagabonds of Finland. Those who killed most bears were called bearkillers and then there were those infamous puukko-fighters who got many murders and kills of fellow humans on their account. And many more who were famous for their skills in some area. Extraordinary people who became legends.

I just thought that it would be cool if game engine would compare certain statistics when game over (death) occurs. If those statistics are better in some area(s) game would create entry at "legend-file" about that character. In that file it would store some key information about that character. In present version game stores certain statistics (average skill level, wandered km's, days survived and reason for death) in some sort of highscore file. It's probable that game could store in that file some other statistics as well which were not presented unless player wants to examine that character closer. It could be somekind of epitaph with more details.

First game ought to keep some sort of records of key events on game and add these values to the correct statistical fields on character file. When death occurs there should be some sort of routine that checks those values and see if character is worth entry to legends-file. If entry is to be done it could store broader variety of statistics on that file, same set of values for every qualified character. Routine should then compare entries on that file and add those extra titles to each entry that's better than others in that area. Then routine would clean off those entries without title. This legends file could be read in "ancestors to remember" screen. When character talks to NPC's in game there's some sort of random routine to see if "story" is told. This routine could have alternative that it offers dialogue based on legends file, maybe something like this :

NPC : "I think that there's lots to be learn from heroes of past in these times of danger. They can be great inspiration to many."
PC : "How come?"
NPC : "There once lived **character name & tribe picked from file***, ***title achieved***. ***featured deed, for example "hunted 23 animals"***, that's quite a deed. That's something to achieve, truly!"
PC : "Indeed"

If there's not entries it could go like that :
NPC : "I think that there's lots to be learn from heroes of past in these times of danger. They can be great inspiration to many."
PC : "How come?"
NPC : "Well, they truly display that there's seed of greatness in us all, we can all pursue our dreams and maybe our names will live forever!"
PC : "Indeed"
... or then there could be some heroes written in those files already with minor achievements for players to beat.

It would take some effort but I think that system like this would make URW even more random and interesting. Kind of like meeting ghosts of old characters in Nethack or something.

:o Wow, that's a GREAT idea! Good job, Hark.

Oh, and n9103, look for «Khaos» AbNo . I'm taking a little break from Steam right now to catch up on life. Should be back in a week or two. ;)

hopefully I manage to remember to look back here when I get my gaming system shipped (could be awhile).

Well, just to cover bases, my name over there is EvilEdDead

This is indeed a good idea - and something that I've thinking about adding for a long time. But the ideas come and go - as the UrW seems like an endless project :) but that this pops up again, I really would like to concentrate on a building a system like this.

And moreover...maybe as soon as in the next version, you may have a possibility to play as an offspring of a late character. This would include features like possibility to find constructions your ancestor / father / mother (your previous character) has built... cottages, trap-fences etc. There also could be possibility to have higher starting stats with the skills your ancestor has mastered the best and you even might inherit some of the most valuable goods your ancestor has possessed.

This way you could start fixing your fathers old log house having inherited his best axe as well as his great woodworking skills.

Or a son of a master hunter could be wearing his fathers bear-fur clothes from the start, and have his father's good old hunting knife.

This way the death in the game wouldn't be a point of complete re-start, but you could develope a character after character as a one member of a certain family.

Adding stories and legends about the late characters and a family-tree to browse would a natural part of this feature.

One endgame statistic I'd love to see is "# of lbs of food sacrificed"... sort of an indication of just how successful a character was at generating food. This ties in with a building suggestion I made a long time ago about some sort of sacrificial altar like a large rune-stone or equivalent. It could be built on (or out of) a large stone boulder using the ritual skill. At this altar you could sacrifice food in any quantity. This would gain a little favor with the spirits, but not nearly as efficiently as other rituals. Perhaps it could have a few rituals associated with it as well.

As you mentioned Sami, it would be downright awesome to play as a child of a successful character. I'd love to see a name like "Tuka of the Owl Tribe, child of Nurga the Master Trapper, descendant of Rolth the Great Explorer'....being <character name> of the <culture>, child of <parent character> <best title of parent>, [optional] descendant of <name and title of this character's most famous ancestor>. Playing a successive bloodline would add a whole new element.

/Off Topic

The game has improved MASSIVELY since my last visit to it, Sami. It was already one of my favorites, but it is just better. The interface is smooth, and well crafted. The maps are just gorgeous. And I am so happy to see the ability to construct buildings tile-by-tile. Bravo!

Having that legends-feature would be great but when I think about this game with that legacy-feature it's just something unbelievable cool and sweet :D It's all so very exciting!

I have always liked games with open possibilities and randomness that creates huge amount of replay value. Problem with most games is that they still have certain amount of readily set story-lines and certain endings. This of course limits the free living space in that game. It's far more interesting to see whole story to born before you eyes with no definitive ending or forced limits where to stay. It's also very interesting to see, even in character level, how differently things go with them. Circumstances and character's abilities create so different experiences every time and provokes to try playing them differently. Thinking about those different destinies is so much fun already atm! Not to mention if you get in game multiple generations and legends. That's real history in the making! Characters story might end in death but story/stories might continue onwards, bit like in books of Wilbur Smith for example.

This game is already so much and to think how much potential it still has!

@Rain's idea about altars:
Sounds really good and historically accurate. There's some variance what places were used for sacrificial purposes : rocks, hills, boulders, trees, islands and in especially in eastern tradition there was sacrificial groves as well. Often there were somekind of boulder, maybe fence around them, but the "holy area" around it was often quite large. How to implement that in game and in what detail-level it should go? To use some slender trunks and one big boulder to build with ritual skill? Another thing that arises in mind is that in past they sometimes made sacrificial gifts from wood too : fish and animal shaped figures that were then sacrificed. Carving skill to make them, maybe?

Legends and being able to play children of a character would be great. Possibly it could require that the other character had a spouse? Would be another reason for it.

The main feature I'd like to see is the ability to go back to maps after you left them, and come back to them just as you left them - with houses and such still there.

Possibly a way to generate a "world" with many varying regions that you can travel between, and once it is generated you could create a character to live in it. You could go between all the different regions without losing your progress in the other region - and after that character dies (or maybe retires? it could be fun if we could retire players in their cottage and they would become a stationary npc to meet with new characters) you could create other characters in the same world, with all the constructions and items that your previous character made still present.

This would require a massive change to the game, however, so I don't really ever expect to see anything like it. Just the ability to travel between maps without losing your wife/pets/etc and then being able to come back and still have your house would be a great feature.

I also like the idea of sacrificing woodcrafts Harkenstein. It would add some much needed utility to that skill.

All of this also adds to a an endgame title: Greatest sage/shaman/holy person.

That would be great title!