why are houses warm?

[Wastelander]

4 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

Games in general that rely heavily on rng in terms of determining game critical conditions feel just lazy. Its one thing when player made mistake and then something bad happened, its own fault and thats how we learn to become better, from own mistakes. But when it happens again and again and again due to factors that are completely out of player control it just feels lame and lazy.

Late game should just have increased chance for extreme weather, like longer and more serious blizzards. Something to add additional challenge, yet not make game unplayable.

I'm not disagreeing with you here. Although the weather at the beginning and, at least part of, the starting loadout seem to work quite nicely by RNG in TLD.

Hm, RNG in TLD. Sick rhymes, yo.

[Ruruwawa]

5 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

Games in general that rely heavily on rng in terms of determining game critical conditions feel just lazy. Its one thing when player made mistake and then something bad happened, its own fault and thats how we learn to become better, from own mistakes. But when it happens again and again and again due to factors that are completely out of player control it just feels lame and lazy.

I don't really agree here.  REAL LIFE has a ton of random critical conditions.  Bad health, bad weather, natural disasters like earthquakes, crime, etc.   And they do happen again and again, although not frequently if we're lucky.

5 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

Late game should just have increased chance for extreme weather, like longer and more serious blizzards. Something to add additional challenge, yet not make game unplayable.

But this I do agree with.  And I think the additional late game challenges (100 days plus?) should be random events.  Very infrequent (minimum 50day interval), and something that actively challenges your level of preparedness.  Not just for weather (which tests food and warmth preparedness), but also your map  knowledge, or how well you've conserved your tools, medicine and resources like reclaimed wood and fuel -- the stuff you can't get from animals or deadfall.

[Dirmagnos]

19 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

I don't really agree here.  REAL LIFE has a ton of random critical conditions.  Bad health, bad weather, natural disasters like earthquakes, crime, etc.   And they do happen again and again, although not frequently if we're lucky.

But this I do agree with.  And I think the additional late game challenges (100 days plus?) should be random events.  Very infrequent (minimum 50day interval), and something that actively challenges your level of preparedness.  Not just for weather (which tests food and warmth preparedness), but also your map  knowledge, or how well you've conserved your tools, medicine and resources like reclaimed wood and fuel -- the stuff you can't get from animals or deadfall.

Well, most of those are either predictable or avoidable/manageable. Bad weather one can wait out, with poor heath you can manage your life style, crime can be avoided by using common sense, earthquakes usually came with forewarning, eg in most cases, if person is aware and responsible, he can turn potentially lethal situation into manageable one. Sure, something shit just happens, but in general chances for it to happen are fairly low.

Id go with first month to be normal and then chances and severity gradually increase over period of couple months. But nothing 2 extreme, it has to be challenging, not impossible. The more severe event, the greater effect it will have on player, and the lower chance for it to occur.

I think that a month should be enough, since by then player should have looted clean at least 2 areas, allowing him to survive most of mild events relatively safely. It would also keep player on his toes, as something big and bad may hit any day.

[Ruruwawa]

I think we're saying basically the same thing @Dirmagnos.  There really are things that you can't control (the most careful lifestyle can't prevent cancer, the most careful driver can't stop another driver suddenly losing control and crashing into him, etc).  But bad luck aside, a lot of the bad things that happen to us are tests of preparedness.  And that's what I want from the TLD endgame.  It should challenge my preparation, and thereby give a good reason to invest in preparing in the first place.

[cekivi]

On 2016-09-03 at 10:22 AM, dbldrew said:

I noticed that a lot of the houses have large propane tanks attached to the outside. So a good way to give players a chance early in the game is those houses would be warm.. Like the propane heater is still running. Or even they can add a heater inside that players could light.. And every house that has a fireplace or wood burning stove would be the same temp as the outside temp and would need a 4-5 hour fire to heat the house through the night (depending on outside temp) 

Interesting idea. Even having the pilot light running would warm up the place by a few degrees...

[sarudak]

On 9/3/2016 at 7:22 AM, dbldrew said:

I noticed that a lot of the houses have large propane tanks attached to the outside. So a good way to give players a chance early in the game is those houses would be warm.. Like the propane heater is still running. Or even they can add a heater inside that players could light.. And every house that has a fireplace or wood burning stove would be the same temp as the outside temp and would need a 4-5 hour fire to heat the house through the night (depending on outside temp) 

I actually really really like this idea. This would be a great way to turn up the difficulty on the player as the game progresses. At first houses can be warmed by available propane but over time the propane depletes and you have to either move to a new location or warm the house with wood.

[stray_cur]

YES.  Colder interiors (which would gradually heat up and cool down) would make scenes like this more than just a pretty waste of wood.

"Let us build alters to the beautiful necessity" - Emerson

[Vinceofpyrenees]

13 hours ago, stray_cur said:

YES.  Colder interiors (which would gradually heat up and cool down) would make scenes like this more than just a pretty waste of wood.

"Let us build alters to the beautiful necessity" - Emerson

I say...YES

[MarrowStone]

On 9/4/2016 at 2:48 PM, Ruruwawa said:

 Bad luck aside, a lot of the bad things that happen to us are tests of preparedness.  And that's what I want from the TLD endgame.  It should challenge my preparation, and thereby give a good reason to invest in preparing in the first place.

This is exactly what the game used to be a ling time  ago, i feel like the devs moved away from that. 

[dbldrew]

On 9/7/2016 at 1:17 PM, sarudak said:

I actually really really like this idea. This would be a great way to turn up the difficulty on the player as the game progresses. At first houses can be warmed by available propane but over time the propane depletes and you have to either move to a new location or warm the house with wood.

yes having another resource to monitor would be cool. And if they just add in a wall propane heater on the houses with propane tanks would give the ability to turn off the heat to conserve fuel on days you are out hunting foraging etc.. 

something like this..

[cekivi]

That dog certainly knows the warmest spot in the house

[stray_cur]

There is an intrinsic satisfaction not only to the look of the fireplace going, but to the activity of warming up of a room, enough to survive / be comfortable in.  And intrinsic satisfaction is the essence of the sandbox.  Why go out of the way (augment reality) in order to avoid this aspect?  Especially with all the fuss about it being to easy - as this would naturally increase difficulty by at least a little.  Can't imagine it's too difficult to program in - a gradual heating (fire going) and cooling (fire out) of interiors.. done.

Actually can't play the game now without being totally distracted by this issue.  Considering a hunger strike...!

Edit:  Interloper's match scarcity situation wouldn't jive though.