Whetstone degradation

[RaZ0R]

I worked in abbatoirs for over two years, a proficient slaughterman and beef boner,

alot of people preferred to use the aluminium carbide stones but I always stuck with a whetstone.

A whetstone if used correctly with water (and soap) will not degrade if much at all from sharpening. The big degradation risk

lies in knocking around your whetstone and chipping or breaking it during transport.

As a proficient knife hand of industry I feel this game play aspect is unbalanced. I believe If water is used, the whetstone should last a lot longer.

[nicko]

I agree the the balance is way out for whetstone, maybe the want it that way so our knifes don't last as long. either way it needs tuning.

[Boston123]

11 hours ago, RaZ0R said:

I worked in abbatoirs for over two years, a proficient slaughterman and beef boner,

alot of people preferred to use the aluminium carbide stones but I always stuck with a whetstone.

A whetstone if used correctly with water (and soap) will not degrade if much at all from sharpening. The big degradation risk

lies in knocking around your whetstone and chipping or breaking it during transport.

As a proficient knife hand of industry I feel this game play aspect is unbalanced. I believe If water is used, the whetstone should last a lot longer.

Just wait until other posters cry "GAEM BALANCE, GAEM BALANCE!"

It is ridiculous, I know. I have been using the same whetstone for years. I haven't worn it to dust.

[nicko]

it's spelt

15 hours ago, Boston123 said:

Just wait until other posters cry "GAEM BALANCE, GAEM BALANCE!"

It is ridiculous, I know. I have been using the same whetstone for years. I haven't worn it to dust.

GAME not GAEM yeah you only destroy a whetstone if you don't know how to use it.

[Boston123]

6 minutes ago, nicko said:

it's spelt

GAME not GAEM yeah you only destroy a whetstone if you don't know how to use it.

I know, I was referring to an Internet meme. 

[nicko]

4 hours ago, Boston123 said:

4 hours ago, Boston123 said:

I know, I was referring to an Internet meme. 

which is do tell? and does it make whetstones last longer.

 

[hauteecolerider]

I doubt there is an Internet meme that would make the TLD whetstones last longer . . .

[FrozenScorpion]

The corpses don't decay much because of all that Canadian Whiskey they all drank.

[Pillock]

13 hours ago, FrozenScorpion said:

The corpses don't decay much because of all that Canadian Whiskey they all drank.

It's because the hipsters cover their bodies in moisturising products and beard wax.

It's like pre-death embalming.

[FrozenScorpion]

Yeah, the Egyptians had it all wrong. Moisturizing products, beard wax, and lots of Canadian Whiskey. That's how you preserve a body.

[nicko]

ha yeah why don't the dead degrade? yet a whetstone does? if the dead person in inside it's warmer so they would decay/smell etc. I think HT remove all to outside? plus it's creepy.

[FrozenScorpion]

Not necessarily, it's still below freezing in the buildings, it's just that we don't feel it due to our clothing.

Back on topic after getting the achievement Orchestrated Derailment of Topic.

If the developers would like the whetstone to degrade at a decent pace, but still have players want to continue using it to sharpen tools; then decrease the percentage of degradation per use. 1% Degradation would be a good balance. Takes much longer to degrade but still degrades, allowing 100 uses instead of 20 uses. Offer an option of using 1/10 of a liter of water with it and you could get 200 uses out of it.

[nicko]

another idea for the whetstone life is make it a bit more harder to use, you need to add water to it first, or soak the whetstone in water for 5-10minutes. If you do it correct then the whetstone does not degrade. If you forget to add water then it degrades.

[nicko]

5 minutes ago, FrozenScorpion said:

Not necessarily, it's still below freezing in the buildings, it's just that we don't feel it due to our clothing.

Back on topic after getting the achievement Orchestrated Derailment of Topic.

If the developers would like the whetstone to degrade at a decent pace, but still have players want to continue using it to sharpen tools; then decrease the percentage of degradation per use. 1% Degradation would be a good balance. Takes much longer to degrade but still degrades, allowing 100 uses instead of 20 uses. Offer an option of using 1/10 of a liter of water with it and you could get 200 uses out of it.

what about when we light fires in our buildings? it would defrost those stiffs.

I agree with your whetstone ideas by the way.

[FrozenScorpion]

That's a good point about those fires. There's also the issue with the corpses when Spring comes, bringing with it a buzzing infestation of corpse flies.

[grovester]

Whetstones degrading 5% every time you use them is really daft.  1% degradation would be better.

[Dragon]

I'm all in for a whetstone revamp.

5% wear on the stone for a 3% increase in axe durability is very unbalanced, especially since 3% degradation comes from harvesting wood once.

I realize this ties into other threads on the related topic, but sharpness/dullness should affect harvesting time and fatigue with respective increases to both, perhaps with an added percentage chance of tool breakage if used below a certain sharp/dull value. In which case, the handle would suffer, leaving the axe head available to be refitted. 

Then there is "stropping", which should be added. A strip of deer hide will do just nicely, and is easily crafted at the workbench with a knife. A sharp one, of course.

[continuity]

Yeah this has been a bugbear for me too, a whetstone will last years, ok you get some hollowing after a while but you can correct that by rubbing against something flat.

Also, if it really comes down to it you can use a regular stone, it wont be as effective, but with a lot of effort you can keep a usable edge.

What this really boils down to for me though is that knives and axes are limiting factors in the game when they really shouldn't be, in a 100-200 days survival period, having your tools and whetstones degrade would be a non-issue. Yes you'd need to sharpen edges, but having a knife or axe become so blunt you can't use it and not be able to do anything about it doesn't make a lot of sense.

[togg]

Well, then the number should be drastically reduced. Like 2 total in interloper, 5 in stalker etc.

[L²]

I tend to agree with the jist of this thread.  I feel the stone degradation is to swift at 5% per use.  I understand the need for some degrading, but as other have said, 1% per use seems more 'realistic'.  I would also be in favor of making less durable stones from river rock or some other source. However, I understand this is suggesting a new mechanic that doesn't currently exist.

I think I suggested this before at the same time I suggested the inclusion of a mechanic to make crude knives and arrowheads from flint (to be found in caves or mines).

[Prepper]

I got my whetstone from my father, it must be 40 years old. I use it a couple of times every week. It wont degrade 5% per use. Fix it, its a broken and ridiculous feature. Ok, let the hard-core players that want a ZOMBIE-game at highter difficult settings keep the degradation of the whetstone at 5% but noone else wants it.

The same goes for pry-bar and the gun and meat that are frozen.

[ElvisHunter]

I find playing real life is the most realistic experience mode.  I like the whetstone/tool balance - removing it would clearly make the game much less difficult and imo less fun.  

[Prepper]

Some sort of user-defined difficulty level would be awsome, where you can tweak the weather and check or uncheck some parts of the game-engine. I like the game but I cant stand some silly things and would like to see it more realistic. Surviving in the wild above the artic circle is difficult irl and it shouldnt be complicating tweaking the game to simulate that. 

Eating old chocolate, like all swedish men have done in the military-service, is not dangerous at all, I ate chocolatebars that were 50 years old, why even have a degradation-level on such things? Seems so silly that your frozen meat will be ruined after a few days in the freezer (outside). I have still some meat left from a moose I shot 4 years ago. And wolfes and bears dont attack unless provoked/damaged, that means that I have to play in the most easy difficult mode but would like the weather to be more harsh and the resources more sparse.

So if I could drag some bars deciding the harschness of the weather and how much resources that would be spawned and still have my wheat-stone even 150 days, I would be very glad.<--suggestion

The game is easy because once you learn the map you can run between the places even in the night and experianced players learns where things spawn.

A random landscape for the sandbox would be insanly interesting. <--suggestion

[dbldrew]

22 hours ago, ElvisHunter said:

I find playing real life is the most realistic experience mode.  I like the whetstone/tool balance - removing it would clearly make the game much less difficult and imo less fun.  

there is plenty of logical ways to make the games harder, picking a illogical one is not a good gameplay decision. Make hunting harder, get rid of magic warm houses, make food requirements logical etc..  

[ElvisHunter]

18 minutes ago, dbldrew said:

there is plenty of logical ways to make the games harder, picking a illogical one is not a good gameplay decision. Make hunting harder, get rid of magic warm houses, make food requirements logical etc..  

I'm not sure I'm clear on your use of the word logical. Do you mean realistic? Like closer to real life values? Or do you mean logical as "with sound reason"? The way the mechanic works now seems to encourage exploration and investigation - which are all fun aspects of this game. A whetstone that lasted a lifetime would discourage further exploration which doesn't seem to fit the spirit (as I perceive it) of this game and thus would be an illogical choice.