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'''Flattening''' is the [[digging]] process of making a [[tile]]flat. A tile is considered flat when all four corners of the tile are of the same height, which can be seen by examining tile borders. If all 4 borders around a tile are reported as "level", the tile is flat. == How to flatten a tile == You can go about flattening a tile using 2 methods: manual and automatic. While "automatic" sounds nice, it's actually quite a bit more complicated to get right than doing it manually until you get the hang of it. === The automatic way === The automatic way is to use the '''Flatten''' command by right-clicking on a tile with your [[slopeshovel]] levelactivated. If the tile is too steep to stand on, you can still use flatten successfully from an adjacent tile. '''Note''': You cannot flatten a corner which is shared with a tree tile (or other immovable object). If it says "some corner can't be raised" then this is why. In a nutshell, the flatten command takes dirt from high corners and and puts them on lower ones than the calculated average from the server zero-plane. The zero-plane is the lowest point possible in wurm, where digging further would result in you falling through the world. This plane is absolutely flat, and all dirt and rock heights are calculated from this plane by means of simple addition. This sounds a bit abstract, I know, but read on and all will be explained. ==== An example ====Imagine that you are on the continent of flatland on flatten flats. This imaginary land has no slopes whatsoever, anywhere, and no water. You are standing in the middle of one tile in this land with a cart containing 40 dirts.You walk over to one of the 4 corners on that tile and drops 10 dirt on it from the cart. It now has a height of 10 dirt. Next, you repeat the procedure on the other 3 corners and suddenly you have a tile that is elevated 10 dirts above the rest of flatland. The height of each corner is 10. *Corner 1: 10*Corner 2: 10*Corner 3: 10*Corner 4: 10 Ok, now imagine that you decide to mess things up by digging up 5 dirt from one of the corners and put them on one of the 3 others. This could result in...

===Assumptions===# The surrounding 8 tiles are flattenable (see below)# [[Shovel]] is active# But you realize that doing this was a mistake, and want the tile flat again. You have a [[cart]] to put ''could'' just dig up the extra 5 dirt intofrom corner 3 again and drop them on corner 1 and it would be taken care of, but instead of that you position yourself on the tile and select "flatten".

===Actions===# Pick a single corner as you reference (you could place a [[small barrel]] or another [[container]] on it so you know What the game now does is calculate the reference corner).# Right-click on a [[height of your tile border]] that adjoins 's corners based off the reference point and see which end absolute zero plane of the tile border needs to be dug.#* If game, in the example above the reference corner zero plane is the highestcontinent of flatland, so... 5+10+15+10=40. Divide that by 4 corners and you get, surprise, 10! So, then drop the required dirt at game now knows that the lowest end.#* If target height for the reference corner 4 corners is the lowest10 dirts each, then dig and begins to gradually take dirt from those corners ''above'' the required amount from target height and put it on the highest endcorners ''below'' it.# Repeat It will continue to do this until area is flat.one of the following conditions are met upon which it will stop:

==Technical data about flattening==* The tile is flat* The times given when you start to flatten correspond tile corners have run out of dirt to make it completely flat (this will happen if the number of calculated average corner height isn't divisable by 4). Add extra dirt "difference" or dig away the surplus, then try again.* It tries to alter a corner which is connected to a tile with an obstruction on it. The most common are:[[tree]], [[clay]], [[marsh]] and [[moss]].* It tries to alter a corner which is obstructed by a wall of any type.* It tries to alter a corner which would create a slope that is steeper than your digging skill * 3.* It hits rock in a corner

So In the time instance of case 2 above, there is dirt either missing or too much of it to make the tile completely flat. As stated, if the sum of the heights of the corners is a multiple of four, then the tile can be flattened. Otherwise, there are 1-3 dirt extra that prevent it from being completely even. The different results are listed below: * If there is 1 extra dirt, you attempt to assemble.* If there are 2 extra dirt:** If the dirts are on the same corner (0-0-0-2), you attempt to assemble once.*** In this case, '''the tile is not flattened completely'''. You must flatten again to finish.** Otherwise, if you have at least one dirt in your inventory, you attempt to fill twice.** Otherwise, you attempt to assemble twice.* If there are 3 extra dirts, you attempt to fill. '''Assemble''' means you attempt to dig one dirt on a high corner. If you can carry an additional dirt, the message "number of You assemble some dirt differencefrom a corner." / 4is displayed and you gain one dirt. Otherwise, rounded downthe message "If you could carry one more dirt pile, * 10 + 9one more corner could be levelled" is displayed. '''Fill''' means you attempt drop one dirt on a low corner. The If you have a dirt to drop, the message "number You use some of the dirt in one corner." is displayed and you lose one dirt. Otherwise, the message "If you carried some dirt difference, it would be used to fill the 1 corners that need it" is displayed. If the flattening action successfully flattened the tile completely, the message "The ground is flat here." will be displayed. If this message is not displayed, you either failed to perform an assemble or fill, or it was a 0-0-0-2 spread. ==== Flattening time ==== The action time is based on the height difference in "dirts" between the highest and lowest pointscorners of the tile. The time is 9 seconds plus an additional 10 seconds for every 4 dirts difference. Examples: * 0 = "The ground is flat now."* 1.. So a 3 = 9-second timer could be from secs* 4..7 = 19 secs* 8..11 = 29 secs* 12..15 = 39 secs* 16..19 = 49 secs* etc Examples of tiles like thisthat would give 9 seconds flattening time (the number below is the height difference):

1The flatten option can also be used to flatten cave floors, but there are some differences: "You assemble some dirt from a corner." (and you get one dirt added to [[inventory]]).

2: Depending * When flattening cave floors, you have to stand on how much dirt the tile you are carrying you get: 0: "flattening. You assemble some dirt cannot flatten from a corner." (twice) and you get 2 dirt added to inventoryadjacent tiles. 1: "You use some of the dirt * The flattening option will not raise corners in one cornercaves." and "If you carried some dirt, it would be used It will mine down all corners to fill the 1 corners that need it." Note the tile is '''NOT''' flat. 2: "You use some of match the dirt in lowest one corner." (twiceNeeds confirmation) and the 2 dirt in inventory Confirmed: The corners are usedlowered.

==Example==Lets say you have a 4-tile area you want to be completely level. You stand in Manual flattening is the center act of that making an area at reference corner 'x' below, flat through manually [[digging]] and examine dropping [[dirt]]. While the process requires more interaction by the tile borders leading to corners 'a'digger, 'b', 'c', and 'd' showing how high or low each point it is compared to yourselfvastly superior when flattening large areas of land.

<pre>==== How to do it ==== # Pick a single corner as your reference (you could place a [[small barrel]] or another [[container]] on it so you know the reference corner if you wish). e # Stand on this corner and right-------- b -------- fclick on a [[tile border]] linking to another corner you wish to adjust. | | |# If the message reads "the slope is <number of dirts> steep '''towards''' you, the other corner is higher than your reference corner, and you'll need to walk over to it and dig it down by the specified amount. | +1 |# If the message reads "the slope is <number of dirts> steep '''away''' from you, the other corner is lower than your reference corner and needs to be filled up. | | | # Once the tile border reports "level", walk over to the corner you've adjusted and use it as your new reference corner. Since the level between it and your old reference corner is level, they're at the same height. Now look for a -- -1 -- X -- +2 -- cnew slope to adjust and repeat the procedure as before. | | | | -3 |=== Summary === | | | g -------- d -------- h</pre>Understand that the world is made up of pillars, and that the tiles are merely thin textures stretched out from the pillar's highest points. When you dig or drop dirt, all you do is adjust the height of the pillar (ie, a corner) you are standing nearest. When digging, all that matters are the corners. Tiles only matter when you use the "flatten" command, in which case the selected tile only decides which 4 corners (or pillars) should be compared to eachother and adjusted. Otherwise, ''forget about the tiles, only think about the corners''. Also, never forget that when digging and dropping dirt, it doesn't matter where you click, '''only where your feet are located'''.

Remember that slopes are measured on tile borders, Using a combination of manual and dirt automatic flattening is dug or dropped at usually the corner best idea once you are standing nearest to. The message "Two dirts steep toward you (ie DROP)" means +2 on this diagram; "One dirt steep away from 've gotten the hang of how the system works, but until you (ie DIG)" means -1. The message has nothing to do with how you are facing, and everything may find it easier to do with where you are standing in the tilerely on manual flattening.

Since corner B The limitations of manual flattening is one dirt higher than corner X, of course, that it may take more time and interaction to complete, and corner A also is one subject to dirt lower than corner X, go dig a dirt from corner B and flow. Dirt flow is what happens when you try to drop it on corner A, making both of those borders level. Dig two dirt from corner C and drop them on a corner D and tile border X->C will be level as well, with corner D still needing one a slope diagonally that exceeds 40 in steepness (For example: You're dropping dirt from elsewhere (go dig outside your four tile areanortheast, then slopes N+W or E+S shouldn't be higher then 40 together). You'll need to do When using the same thing now observing e"flatten" command, f, g dirt flow ''does not apply'' and h relative you can use it to create extreme slopes by the use of a, b, c and d to make the edges level (don't digtechnique known as [[Guides/dump from points you've already leveled).FlatRaising|flatraising]]