I saw it on the Radio, or did I?

[Samsonguy920]

So, from a rank of One to TOO SPOOPY!!!!!, how far up would you leap from your chair if you clicked on a radio and it actually worked, blaring out sounds(static, music, talk, anything)?

I bring this up because of my feeling, be it either hope or true suspicion, that the devs might sneak in some true surprises that they do not tell about in content lists for the upcoming Story mode episodes.  Now, we know in the Story modes there will be strong aurorae that will actually cause electronics to power up, albeit not very well. From street lights to radios, to even cars. But will that also happen in Sandbox?

Imagine if they "neglected" to point out the same will happen in Sandbox from time to time.  I have a habit of clicking on every radio I come across as I am rifling through a place.  And, yes, I've had the thought that one time, I am going to get surprised by it coming on.  Maybe I have finally found that one game that really wakes up my immersion and I am getting into it to the point I am a wanderer through the Canadian wasteland, hoping for that one bit of civilization to reach out to me.

Are you there, world?  It's me, Samson.

[Wasteland Watcher]

I also test radios. And if I'm living somewhere that has a radio, I generally twist its knobs once a day...out of habit

[Dirmagnos]

22 hours ago, Samsonguy920 said:

Now, we know in the Story modes there will be strong aurorae that will actually cause electronics to power up, albeit not very well. From street lights to radios, to even cars.

Something that completely defies laws of basic physics... Way to kill any type of immersion. As half of the effects that serve as premise of the game would make other half literally impossible. Like having cold hot coffee. A contradiction.

It would equal to adding pilotable Apache helicopter with unlimited supply of fuel and ammunition for player to fly around. Because why not.

And while certain types of radios could actually work, there would be nothing to listen 2. As most unaffected radios in the area will be short-wave and all transmitters and repeaters would be fried, with a lot of mountains around to block signal, and Event garbling skywave beyond recognition, realistic effective range of radio in game would be just few kilometers at the very best. Basically, if you cant see it, then you cant hear it.

Ironically, the very nature of Event would make radios pretty much pointless. As normally short-wave radios could receive and transmit signal over long distances by bouncing it off ionosphere, due to result of extreme em activities of Event, it would be impossible, as it very name refers to it being ionized by solar winds and cosmic radiation. Overcharge it and no more bouncing off signal.

[Fuarian]

47 minutes ago, Dirmagnos said:

Something that completely defies laws of basic physics... Way to kill any type of immersion. As half of the effects that serve as premise of the game would make other half literally impossible. Like having cold hot coffee. A contradiction.

It would equal to adding pilotable Apache helicopter with unlimited supply of fuel and ammunition for player to fly around. Because why not.

And while certain types of radios could actually work, there would be nothing to listen 2. As most unaffected radios in the area will be short-wave and all transmitters and repeaters would be fried, with a lot of mountains around to block signal, and Event garbling skywave beyond recognition, realistic effective range of radio in game would be just few kilometers at the very best. Basically, if you cant see it, then you cant hear it.

Ironically, the very nature of Event would make radios pretty much pointless. As normally short-wave radios could receive and transmit signal over long distances by bouncing it off ionosphere, due to result of extreme em activities of Event, it would be impossible, as it very name refers to it being ionized by solar winds and cosmic radiation. Overcharge it and no more bouncing off signal.

The amount of energy being released from the sun during this CME causes so much electromagnetic interference in the magnetic field that charges particles travel through the atmosphere into the electronic devices powering them tirelessly (although very poorly). It's fictional and I don't see how it's immersion breaking. The majority of the player base aren't physicists. 

[Dirmagnos]

22 minutes ago, Fuarian said:

The amount of energy being released from the sun during this CME causes so much electromagnetic interference in the magnetic field that charges particles travel through the atmosphere into the electronic devices powering them tirelessly (although very poorly). It's fictional and I don't see how it's immersion breaking. The majority of the player base aren't physicists. 

Except that in case light bulbs, if they blew, there is no way to close circuit and therefore no light. Amount of static charge to light burned out bulb will be so enormous that it would light up every conductive surface and be sufficient to kill any living organism a million times over. Any change of sufficient power that would plunge world into dark ages, would also blow every light bulb there is. And any sufficiently complex electric device that would be hit by Event would burn out. Again, no controlled current, no working electronics(some parts that are supposed to conduct current wont be able to, while others will conduct too much - simplest comparison would be to a house, before and after demolishing - while all the same parts are there, its not particularly habitable afterwards; plus, possibility of electric fires that would degrade electronics even further). If hardened military-grade electronics are gone, then consumer-grade electronics dont even stand a chance.

And on the opposite side, if there was that much static electricity in the air, then wed experience constant electric storms, ball lightings and every conductive surface would build up potentially lethal charge. Touch a stove and get electrocuted. Or blow up a storm lantern, because random spark ignited fuel mixture inside. Or shoot yourself in the foot because static charge activated bullet primer. Etc.

Electroluminescence would be just one of many side effects of massive excessive electric charge in the atmosphere. And most of them will be in range from "extremely dangerous" to "deadly", rather than "nice and pretty".

Its a middle school level physics. You do not need to be a physicist to understand that, just a bit of curiosity and common sense. Your argument ending boils down to "its ok, because people are ignorant".

[Wasteland Watcher]

And on that note I want to add: Hinterland is aiming to tell a deep story that skirts close to reality, so it's highly probable the level of sci-fi is highly likely to be very low, fortunately

No magic in my games, thank you very much

 

 

[Samsonguy920]

10 hours ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

And on that note I want to add: Hinterland is aiming to tell a deep story that skirts close to reality, so it's highly probable the level of sci-fi is highly likely to be very low, fortunately

No magic in my games, thank you very much

 

 

Most likely it will only be brief and mostly in scripted events in Story Mode to allow our two brave adventurers moments to maybe contact each other.  Otherwise I am sure it will be as dark as we are used to in Sandbox.  But very pretty in the sky.

I wouldn't worry about the sky suddenly providing enough electricity to power a town and make everyone happy again.

[Crimson Foxx]

But it still makes me curious how in the trailer to the story mode shared by Hinterland for Wintermute the female character appears to be sat browsing on a laptop and also there clearly is some electrical magic happening as we see TV's and lights flickering and sparking and car headlights flashing and shorting. Could fuel powered generators allow for some local power to be generated and used maybe even in places like homes? 

I would find it amusing and very creepy if i also suddenly found one of the radio's in the buildings or vehicles to unexpectedly give even a static sound when i click the power switch. I also having always seen a missed youtuber, Willowest, always click a radio and now i have taken on that habit in my own personal gaming LOL. So it would make be jump right out of my ugg boots!

[Samsonguy920]

3 minutes ago, Crimson Foxx said:

But it still makes me curious how in the trailer to the story mode shared by Hinterland for Wintermute the female character appears to be sat browsing on a laptop and also there clearly is some electrical magic happening as we see TV's and lights flickering and sparking and car headlights flashing and shorting. Could fuel powered generators allow for some local power to be generated and used maybe even in places like homes? 

I would find it amusing and very creepy if i also suddenly found one of the radio's in the buildings or vehicles to unexpectedly give even a static sound when i click the power switch. I also having always seen a missed youtuber, Willowest, always click a radio and now i have taken on that habit in my own personal gaming LOL. So it would make be jump right out of my ugg boots!

I would imagine one can build their own rough generator with enough copper wire and all that jazz, but there's that feeling that the geomagnetic storm is still ongoing through the story(hence the stronger and brighter aurorae).  You might be able to get a generator made and running, but not for long.

[Crimson Foxx]

I am glad there is no electric power and i hope its never added. I guess if a car battery or a radio's own batteries gave a very short and dying static sound it might be a cool unexpected surprise but i do not know enough even about batteries to know if they could hold any power in a frozen world or even provide that tiny power. I guess the chemicals inside a battery might freeze or leak way before i would ever get any use from them.  But i still ritually click that switch each and every time i come across a car or building radio in hope!  I blame Willowest and Hadrian for those habits.

[Wasteland Watcher]

@Crimson Foxx @Samsonguy920

I may be wrong but I was put under the impression that all that electrical shorting stuff & flickering is what happens when the Event starts

[Crimson Foxx]

Oh yes that could be it. Its just something i noticed in the trailer. That makes sense. She is likely on the laptop at the beginning of the story.

[JAFO]

On 6/13/2017 at 4:23 AM, Samsonguy920 said:

I have a habit of clicking on every radio I come across as I am rifling through a place.  And, yes, I've had the thought that one time, I am going to get surprised by it coming on.

On 6/13/2017 at 10:48 AM, Wasteland Watcher said:

I also test radios. And if I'm living somewhere that has a radio, I generally twist its knobs once a day...out of habit

 

Have you yet experienced the (rather spooky) occurrence that, if the game's music is playing when you click on the radio, the music stops? That's always a bit freaky.

And it makes me think Hinterland have something planned for those radios, down the track...

[MarrowStone]

55 minutes ago, JAFO said:

 

Have you yet experienced the (rather spooky) occurrence that, if the game's music is playing when you click on the radio, the music stops? That's always a bit freaky.

And it makes me think Hinterland have something planned for those radios, down the track...

I was just about to say this, i turned off the world music with a radio too!

[Wasteland Watcher]

@JAFO @MarrowStone  thanks for the heads up. I'll remember to wait till the music stops before turning those knobs

 Actually, the first time I will try it out just to experience it but after that I won't because: A) I love the music and; B) wouldn't want to "creep my character out.

 

[MarrowStone]

13 hours ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

@JAFO @MarrowStone  thanks for the heads up. I'll remember to wait till the music stops before turning those knobs

 Actually, the first time I will try it out just to experience it but after that I won't because: A) I love the music and; B) wouldn't want to "creep my character out.

 

I have two theories about it,

1. The game takes up a lot of audio ram due to how detailed the soundscape is (thank you hinterlands), so it couldbe the game trading out one audio source for another on lower end pcs, (my computer has 8 gigs ram and an intel i7 processor with hyperthreading but integrated graphics, amd since audio isnt run on a graphics card idk why it couldnt handle another sound effect though so this may be more of a sound programming thing too 

2. The radios might actually eventually play bigger files than just a click, that need in-game music to stop to help information be heard clearer?

Im not much of a tech guy so please take it easy of what i say doesnt seem true.

[Samsonguy920]

If it happened, I didn't notice, sadly.

Being paranoid as I am about what could happen in TLD, and having met Fluffy(I let her live, since frankly I didn't have a gun, but she is scary tenfold. I was expecting to hear her howl, instead she barked. That set my hackles on edge), I will never be on guard for there being something inside a house or store.

Can just imagine going into the farmhouse, looking around, clicking the radio, things go silent, and then I hear, "Hi there."

[Dirmagnos]

On 6/15/2017 at 11:18 AM, Samsonguy920 said:

Can just imagine going into the farmhouse, looking around, clicking the radio, things go silent, and then I hear, "Hi there...

...welcome to the Twilight Zone".