Please let us make a Toboggan

[TROY]

OK, so I know there are other posts about toboggans and sleds. I'm not really in favor of some of the more complicated ideas regarding this, and I certainly dont think dragging a car hood behind you with a rope really fits the flavor of the game, but I am completely for adding something of this nature. Toboggans were crafted and used by Native Americans, and the old time trappers and mountain men. It would make things like carrying home a harvested bear, or a days worth of gathering firewood so much more realistic. Ive always had an issue with being able to put 30 sticks of firewood in my backpack. I feel that a toboggan should be required in order for the player to carry more than 3 firewood or 10-12 sticks or reclaimed wood, or more than 1 or 2 deer/wolf/bear hides, or more than 1 rifle at a time. Any of the items in game that have an actual real life decent size.   Here's my compromise offer, with thoughts on how to make it workable and fair with current game mechanics.

A toboggan can be crafted from birch bark, sticks or reclaimed wood, and guts or mountaineering rope. I prefer rope. I suggest around 20 bark, 10 sticks and 1 coil of rope. I know this isnt completely true to real life physics, but it fits what we can already pick up and carry/use in the game.  Perhaps even add a deer/wolf skin or two, as a cover/wrap for the items on it.  The toboggan would be artwork in the game, but act like a container, accessed like any other but without the "empty" or "searched" tags when you look at it. Its contents should not be accessable to the character via the normal inventory screen, they are in a container, and the container needs to be opened and things taken out before they are available to the character.  The toboggan itself (empty) should encumber the player for 5 kg when pulled. It should have a maximum carry weight of 60 kg, with 25% of that plus its own weight transferred to the player when pulled.   Add a hotkey for "dropping" it, and make "pull it" an action,  by targeting the rope.  

Such an item, being crafted of non durable materials,  would wear out and need repairs fairly often. I'd say, its decay rate, or durability should be tuned so that if it were pulled from trappers cabin to the broken bridge at half its total capacity, it would lose 35% of its health. 45% if at maximum capacity. That would allow for a player to go there and back without repairing if need be, but not use it again until repairs are made. Construction and repairs would be with either a toolbox, or hunting knife and bark/sticks. (Rope is very durable, and would actually be the least affected by wear and tear so wouldnt be required for normal repairs.)

Now, some things to consider:  If a player "drops" the toboggan and leaves it in an area with bears or wolves, and it contains food items, especially meat or fish, or a hunting knife, which has recently been used to harvest an animal,  they should expect to return and find it has been raided, or is currently being raided. Both would cause loss of items, damage to items and the toboggan, and possibly a very real danger to the player. Leaving it behind would be required in order to climb a rope, or to explore an indoor area, although it could be brought just inside the door. (I wouldnt be upset if the dev's force us to leave it outside for game balance)  It could be dragged into and through caves and mines but at a greater loss of durability per meter traveled. I'm not sure how I feel about being able to drag it over tree bridges, or the broken rails on the trestle. In real life, such a thing would be difficult and risky, but for gameplay, I think simply ignoring that and allowing it is the best option, or perhaps making a small chance on harder difficulty settings that it may slip off and fall, taking a great deal of damage and forcing the player to go down to get it, or being lost altogether, depending on where exactly you are. As for where a character could and could not walk while pulling it, they are not very maneuverable but I cant think of to many places in the game that are so tight or the path so zig zaggy that one couldnt be pulled.

As for the artwork, I dont feel like I would need to see it behind me every time i turned around, but that would be nice if it was doable. It would leave a track in the snow, on top of and in line with the players footprints. and it would obviously need to "appear" in place any time the player "dropped" it.  

Many of these thoughts and ideas are also included in my post about backpacks, in the carry weight topic.   here: 

 

 

[Docterrok]

This is an excellent idea, but here's my thought on it, how would going across precarious areas work? If you had to cross the rail ridge, would you have to leave it behind? Also, would it go indoors or are you not allowed to use your hands when carrying it, and, final question, would it be impossible or at least very difficult to ascend up steep areas? Thanks!

[TROY]

Just now, Docterrok said:

This is an excellent idea, but here's my thought on it, how would going across precarious areas work? If you had to cross the rail ridge, would you have to leave it behind? Also, would it go indoors or are you not allowed to use your hands when carrying it, and, final question, would it be impossible or at least very difficult to ascend up steep areas? Thanks!

I know the post is long, and at times maybe confusing to follow, but all of those, except using hands are addressed. As far as hands go, my answer would be yes, that rope can easily be placed over a shoulder, or across the chest or waist and a toboggan dragged hands free. I wouldnt be against the idea of not being able to use hands without dropping first, if the devs felt it was required for game balance. 

[Docterrok]

3 minutes ago, TROY said:

I know the post is long, and at times maybe confusing to follow, but all of those, except using hands are addressed. As far as hands go, my answer would be yes, that rope can easily be placed over a shoulder, or across the chest or waist and a toboggan dragged hands free. I wouldnt be against the idea of not being able to use hands without dropping first, if the devs felt it was required for game balance. 

While logical, the challenge of picking up only what you need is gone, to counter that, I think it should have a chance to break.

[Tarflink]

Like the idea, or just a travois instead of a sled.  Also maybe be able to hang it from a tree to keep the animals out a.k.a. bears. 

[SteveP]

On 7/16/2016 at 9:44 AM, Docterrok said:

This is an excellent idea, but here's my thought on it, how would going across precarious areas work? If you had to cross the rail ridge, would you have to leave it behind? Also, would it go indoors or are you not allowed to use your hands when carrying it, and, final question, would it be impossible or at least very difficult to ascend up steep areas? Thanks!

Yep, pretty much. You have to leave it behind. Or maybe you can carry stuff across one at a time and unload the toboggan. Maybe there is a dizziness factor or mild shaking or something; vertigo!

[SteveP]

A friend and I were chatting on a youtube play through about how to escape the bear up in the abandoned camp ground. What if you could ride the toboggan downhill? Wouldn't that be a wild and crazy ride? And dangerous too! You should have some limited ability to steer or bail off to the side like a real toboggan to avoid going too fast. Or launch into the air. It could be a load of fun! Going uphill should be very fatiguing if you have any kind of load at all, just like in real life. Every tried to tow your kid up even a small incline on one? Bloody hard work! There should be lots of sound effects too! Squealing and yelling! Squawks of glee! This would be a good cure for cabin fever. 

[Pharose]

You're right, this is a topic that has come up many times, and I hope it becomes a priority. This is my post from a year ago:

 

On 16/07/2016 at 9:44 AM, Docterrok said:

This is an excellent idea, but here's my thought on it, how would going across precarious areas work? If you had to cross the rail ridge, would you have to leave it behind? Also, would it go indoors or are you not allowed to use your hands when carrying it, and, final question, would it be impossible or at least very difficult to ascend up steep areas? Thanks!

To do this you would have to leave the sled behind, carry as much cargo as possible over and drop it, then go back and forth making as many trips as possible to carry the all the cargo to the other side. The empty sled should be light enough to carry so you could carry it over for your last trip.