Thin Ice

[tomas_herbertson]

The ability for there to be patches of lake ice an incautious player can fall through, perhaps differentiated by slight coloration and more creaking. And sprinting on that? Whew, no-go.

Obvious temperature issues for falling into the water--soggy clothes danger too? Hypothermia? But also the posibility to harvest unsafe water from broken ice spots, maybe?

I guess this meshes with the fishing holes that seem likely to be implemented out in the fishing shacks, in terms of being able to harvest water from open holes in the ice...

[Kelbert]

At least the current map seems to be so much into winter, that all the ice is safe to walk on.

[CoureurDeBois]

Some of the temperatures I've seen in the game are certainly warm enough for ice to become too dangerous to walk on, but it takes time for accumulated ice to melt, and the temperatures dip again at nighttime, so it would require a long period of comparatively balmy weather to see this take effect.

It only takes around 15 cm of ice to support a person of around 80 kg, so the ice would need to be visibly thin.

[TarjaS]

Thin ice would be more likely on the river, depending on how fast the water flows. River ice can be thin even in very cold weather.

[levism84]

I was definitely cautious on the ice during my first play through, but after I realized I wasn't going to fall it... it sort of lost some of its tension.

[Sioux]

I like this suggestion! It would be awesome to walk on the ice, hear it crack, feel the terror...fall through, get wet, get very cold, maybe panic and die.

Your clothes could get the status: wet. You'll have to take your wet clothes off and put dry clothes on..if you're carrying them. Or make an emergency fire, to get warm again and to dry your clothes.

[Fearsclave]

Actually, guidelines for ice fishing around here state that two inches is a bare minimum. Once the cold sets in, the ice can get really thick; I've had to auger through a couple of feet of the stuff to reach water sometimes. When the ice is really thick and warms up you can get meltwater on top of the ice; walking through water on top of ice on top of water is odd. Ice does get thinner where there is more current; when I was a kid my brother went through the ice; it was waist deep, happily. He climbed out and went home. Getting swept under ice by strong current is pretty much a death sentence. If you can clamber out, crawling on your stomach towards thicker ice is the way to go. If you can find snow, roll in it ASAP to get rid of as much of the water in your clothes as possible. Then implement the usual hypothermia countermeasures.

Falling through ice and recovering from it would be a very interesting addition to an already awesome game.

There is always some redneck who drives out onto ice and sinks his truck.

[Bill Tarling]

You can see how thick the ice is around the 2:25 mark

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[levism84]

Could use the mechanics similar to fending off a wolf attack, using LMB to build "momentum" or "strength" and then use RMB to "pull yourself out of the freezing water" to safety. While in the water, your cold level would probably max and you would start taking condition damage. Also, given the current system, your clothing would probably take damage as well. Out of the water, you would probably get the "hypothermia" condition that would either require a fire to fix (Additional command option when interacting with a heat source?) or some sort of additional medicine included in the game (but that would get away from the realistic feel of the game). I think there would be too many mechanics involved in tracking the character taking off their wet clothing, heating themselves back up, and putting on dry clothing. It would require individual tracking for each piece of wet clothing as well as a mechanic to dry clothing.

[accurize2]

I figure this might be a possible feature in the next "season" of the game when the sequel arrives. Falling through the ice would be perfect in the Spring.

I would think that falling in the lake should allow you the chance to muscle your way out (like a wolf fight). However, falling into the frozen river or creek might be more of a reaction interaction with the player... the thought being once your in the water in a moving stream, it's basically too late. So you would need a quick reaction "sub-game" of some sort to prevent your character from falling completely through.

It's a good idea for the TLD sequel I think.

[robdoar]

It would be reasonable to have some parts of the river be thin ice. Moving water is always dangerous to walk over.