The HUD in SL Colonies is split up in various stats which are survival based and will require you to interact with the environment as well as others in order to survive.
The meter consists of a HUD and the meter which are worn on your avatar. The stats are split up into 7 different values which you need to keep high or low, depending on their effect.
Some stats will start to effect other stats when they hit a critical limit, which will see your character limited in certain abilities.
Most stats will regenerate or degenerate over time and require some input on your part to keep high or low.
NOTE: If you enjoy leaving your character online while AFK, you can turn your avatar into away mode which will pause all effects. You can also type /5off or /5on to turn the meter on and off for OOC purposes, or you can simply detach the meter while your are not active. It is ill-advised however to do any roleplaying while your meter is not attached or turned on. Note also that you will not be able to perform any tasks such as farming, gathering, crafting etc while not in active mode.
Base Stats
The base stats in SL Colonies are Health & Energy. These two are predominantly displayed in the main HUD as a red Health bar and a green Energy Bar. They can easily be seen at all times and easily managed. They are also displayed as bars in the overhead meter attachments.
The base stats start at 100% and will drain to 0% due to effects caused on your character.
Health (♥)
The health bar is displayed predominantly on the main HUD. It is a value of 100 and can be drained due to the usual effects, such as falling from too greater height, being hit by weapons or attacked. Stepping into traps and so forth.
Health can also be drained due to other reasons. You will read about them below, but for example, if your energy is fully consumed and has no way to regenerate, you will slowly begin to also lose health until you fall unconscious.
If you have 100% energy, your health will slowly recover over time. By default, this is 5 hitpoints every 5 minutes. You can also speed up the process of healing by visiting a healer, taking special potions or sleeping in a bed.
If your health bar reaches 0, your character will fall unconscious. Currently we are still tossing the idea of being unconscious for a period of time before regaining consciousness with limited stats, to allow you to painfully find your way to someone who can help you. And the idea of a player being able to kill you beyond unconsciousness. We are also tossing the idea of the ability for players to rob you of money and items while you are defenseless.
Energy Points (⚡)
Your energy points can be thought of as stamina. It is a bar that scales up and down based on what you are doing around the environment. If you are running, such as during combat, your energy bar will slowly drain. If you are in combat and swinging your weapon around and blocking, it will also slowly drain.
Your character requires energy to perform other tasks as well, such as farming, mining, crafting and so on. If you do not have enough energy to perform a task, you will not be able to do it.
When your energy drops to 0%, you will not be able to use weapons, block or defend yourself. If your energy bar stays at 0 due to other effects (such as starvation or dehydration as will be described further below), your character will also begin to lose Health at a rate of 1 point every 5 minutes. This means that in 8 hours of having no energy, your character will fall unconscious.
Your energy points will automatically regenerate at a steady pace if they have at least 1 point remaining in every other stat (Hunger, Thirst, Fatigue, Blood, Sickness). The current (default) regeneration rate is 50 energy points every 5 minutes. If any of the below stats hit 100%, your energy will no longer regenerate, and in fact, you can find yourself losing energy and/or health consistently from that point.
You are able to regenerate energy using other means, such as sitting down on chairs or drinking energy based drinks, such as coffee’s. Certain potions will also boost your energy, giving you an extra edge in combat.
Secondary Stats
The stats below work differently to Health & Energy. These stats all start at 0 and work their way up to 100%. At 100%, all these stats will effect the two base stats of Health & Energy as a result. These are considered long-term stats and require you to roleplay, feed, drink, rest, sleep and visit a healer in order for your character to survive in this world.
It is in your best interest to keep these stats low. Think of these stats as your characters overall health. For those players that do not enjoy combat, these secondary stats are the ones you will focus on the most for roleplaying purposes and for interaction in the world.
These stats are not displayed in the HUD, they are displayed as a number in the floating meter stats above your character’s head.
NOTE: 1 stat in the Secondary Stats is different in that it actually starts at 100, like Health & Energy. The stat is detailed below, as Blood.
Hunger (🍕)
Hunger is a thing within SL Colonies. Hunger starts at 0% and will go up by 1 point every 5 minutes of not consuming food. This means that your character can go 8 hours of active play-time without eating. Once a character reaches 100% hunger, your character enters a state known as starvation. Your energy bar will no longer automatically regenerate at this point and will drop by 1 point every 5 minutes. This means that in another 8 hours (16 hours total), your character will also have no energy remaining to perform other important tasks (such as farming, crafting etc). If you continue to allow your character to starve and energy has hit 0%, you will then begin to lose health at a rate of 1 point every 5 minutes (yet another 8 hours). This means that in a total of 24 hours of play-time and inactivity, your character will fall unconscious.
The only way to lower hunger is obviously to eat foods. All foods in SLColonies will feed you at different rates and for different amounts. For example, a simple piece of fruit might only feed you for 1 point every bite, and have 4 bites/portions available before being consumed.
Generally, foods which combine multiple ingredients of high value will feed you the most.
Be careful however, as some foods will affect more than just your hunger stat! Some foods can cause you to gain or lose other stats which are considered buffs/debuffs. Some foods can even be poisoned!
NOTE: Remember to stop eating when your hunger is back to 0, as you will be wasting the food which is a precious resource in the SL Colonies worlds.
Thirst (🍺)
Thirst works the same way as Hunger in that you need to drink to keep hydrated. The exact same things happen, when you hit 100% thirsty, your character will enter a dehydration state and will then start to consume Energy and then Health, as above with the Hunger stat.
The only way to lower thirst, obviously is to drink. Just like Hunger, different drinks will quench your thirst at different rates, for different amounts.
Generally, drinks which combine multiple ingredients of high value will quench your thirst the most.
Be careful, however, as some drinks will buff or debuff other stats in your meter. Such as energy as the main one, but some drink could actually cause you to be more thirsty, ie: Coffee might make your gain energy, but make you a bit more thirsty? Some drinks can even be poisoned and deadly!
NOTE: Remember to stop drinking when your thirst is back to 0, as you will be wasting the drink which is a precious resource in the SL Colonies worlds.
Blood (💉)
This stat is different again to the rest of the Secondary Stats in that it needs to be kept at 100%.
This stat determines how much blood is flowing in your veins. It will not degenerate automatically over time unless you are bleeding due to an effect. It must be kept at 100% at all times. Any less and it will cause your blood to slowly trickle over time until you have complete blood loss. If your blood hits 99%, it will trickle down 1 point every 5 minutes. This is considered bleeding. It will take 8 hours for your to experience complete blood loss.
You can be caused to bleed by getting into combat, or being attacked by wild animals. You might also cause bleeding by falling from great heights.
Once your blood drops to 0, your Health Points will begin to degenerate by 1 point every 5 minutes (total 16 hours before falling unconscious).
To stop bleeding, you will require to visit a healer. You can wear bandages and other first aid goods to cure bleeding and bring this stat back up to 100%.
Sickness (🤢)
You can get sick via numerous ways in SL Colonies. Poison traps, poison arrows and coated blades. As well as poisoned foods and drinks.
Sickness will always remain at 0% unless you gain a sickness by being poisoned. If you are poisoned, your bar will increase by 1 point every 5 minutes until it hits 100 (8 hours). Once you hit 100% sickness, your health bar will begin to drain by 1 point every 5 minutes (8 hours). This gives you 16 hours of active play-time without curing a sickness.
Different poisons can effect your sickness bar in different ways. Such as a slow poison, or a fast poison or even instant poisons depending on their potency and rarity. Some poisons used by Assassins can even kill instantly. Of course, these types of poisons are extremely rare!
The only way to cure sickness is to see a healer or to take medicine. Most sickness requires you to visit a healer and lay down until cured, as many medicines are quite expensive to create and own.
Fatigue (🛌)
Fatigue is separate to your Energy Points in that it is a stat which determines your characters overall tireness and lack of sleep. You will become tired and require rest to regenerate. Your character needs to lay in a bed to regenerate this stat.
Fatigue starts at 0% and will work its way up to 100%. 1 point every 5 minutes by default (8 hours). At this point, your character will be exhausted, your Energy will no longer automatically regenerate and will instead drain at 1 point every 5 minutes (8 minutes) until it then begins to drain Health at also 1 point every 5 minutes (another 8 hours, total of 24 hours before unconsciousness).
The only way to lower fatigue is to lay down in a bed. Beds come in different qualities and comfort, so they can provide various levels of quality sleep. A low quality bed will require you to sleep longer to lower the fatigue stat, while a high quality beds will only require you to remain in them for a short period of time before your stat hits 0% fatigue again.
Beds can be found around the worlds. Generally, cheap beds are found in places like prison cells while medium quality beds can be found in Inns & Taverns.
High quality beds can be crafted and owned in players personal homes.
Other Notes
While most stats will generate and degenerate at a constant pace, it must be stressed that if more than 1 stat hits its critical point, both those effects will trickle down into the Energy/Health stat.
For example, if you are both Starving and Dehydrated, your energy will drop by 2 points every 5 minutes, instead of the one.
If you are both Hungry and Poisoned, you will lose 1 point of Health and 1 point of every every 5 minutes.
Let’s say you leave your character for 8 hours online, active. In 8 hours, you will have become Starving, Dehydrated & Exhausted. You will lose 3 points of Energy every 5 minutes. Health will still drop by 1 point every 5 minutes beyond this, unless you were bleeding or sick before leaving your character online.
The idea is that if you are the type of player that enjoys leaving your character in-game. You can do so, go to bed real life, leave your character sleeping in a bed in game to keep fatigue down, and when you wake up, have yourself some breakfast or what have you, before going out into the wild worlds of SL Colonies.
We hope that you will enjoy these stats and effects, and know that we are always listening to our active community to modify the stats to make them work best for everyone!