Future ideas for the long dark

[Temper225]

I've come up with some ideas for the future of long dark, a game with an already great art style, and great potential.

-Running and repairable hydro electric dam

There could be random parts scattered around the map that eventually could be brought together to give the carter hydro dam a purpose! There is already an access to the control room to the dam, and turbines so it could be possible.

-Bows and melee weapons

There is already a rifle, but realistically you could use the hatchet and hunting knife as weapons. It could be just a stats effect, like an invisible Increase of damage when fighting a wolf or a useable knife weapon like the rifle.

Bows could either be found damaged or created using string/twine randomly and rarely found around the map (fishing shacks could have a higher spawn rate if string because of fishing lines) you could also use the hunting knife to slowly carve from a specific type of wood into a bow and then combine both string and body of the bow to make a fully functioning bow.

Arrows can be also made from wood and arrow heads from scrap metal.

-Radio transmissions as a aesthetic effect like a emergency broadcast signal.

-Small game like rabbits and raccoons, could be caught with snares

-Snares made by crafting, could be placed on animal tracks and after a certain amount of time there would be a random chance of catching an animal.

-Blood trails by wounded animals, could be randomly wounded, or be wounded by a arrow for a realistic hunting experience!

Overall I think that the long dark is already a great game and some of these ideas will help the improvement of the game!

I can't wait to see how this wonderful game develops.

[Trandor]

welcome to the forum Temper225.

many of your suggestions have been brought up before and hopefully we will see quite a few of them in the fully released game.

The repairing of the hydro dam as well as the radio transmissions will be unlikely in my opinion though, since a geomagnetic storm that can bring down a plane would almost certainly destroy all radio receivers on the ground and all but the most basic of electronic devices. So the same incident may very well have destroyed all equipment in the control room. unless there is a military base wih EMP proof technical items, I doubt there will be any electronic gadget at all. I for one would not appreciate it otherwise anyway.

[Temper225]

The bunker could be EMP proof, there are some flaws in the dam idea.

[EternityTide]

Remember, if this is a geomagentic disaster, it likely wouldn't cool down for a long time. according to wikipedia (I know, not the most reliable, but the fastest source I have) the last reversal of the magnetic poles was "A brief complete reversal, known as the Laschamp event, occurred only 41,000 years ago during the last glacial period. That reversal lasted only about 440 years with the actual change of polarity lasting around 250 years." So with all this magnetic activity going on, I highly doubt any electrical devices would operate coherently enough before burning themselves out.

[SirGregory]

Remember, if this is a geomagentic disaster, it likely wouldn't cool down for a long time. according to wikipedia (I know, not the most reliable, but the fastest source I have) the last reversal of the magnetic poles was "A brief complete reversal, known as the Laschamp event, occurred only 41,000 years ago during the last glacial period. That reversal lasted only about 440 years with the actual change of polarity lasting around 250 years." So with all this magnetic activity going on, I highly doubt any electrical devices would operate coherently enough before burning themselves out.

Could you please explain this more? As far as I understand how the disaster happened in the game, the solar flares disturbed earths magnetic field causing mass disturbances in electrical devices, are you saying these disturbances will last a long time? As far as I assumed it happened as one big EMP.

[Temper225]

As I remember hearing and learning , a geomagnetic storm would either throw off the poles, or destroy all electric equipment

I could be wrong though

[EternityTide]

Ah, I may have gotten a tad confused between geomagnetic reversal and a geomagnetic storm. My bad.

A geomagnetic storm occurs when a mass coronal ejection occurs on the sun. This results in a vast increase in the solar wind, which then impacts upon the van allen belts, formed by the Earth's magnetic field, which protects the Earth's surface from cosmic radiation and charged solar particles. Now in the case of a geomagnetic storm, the Solar wind is so great that it disrupts the Earth's magnetic field. This effectively "Drops" the protective barrier as the Van allen belts are temporarily disrupted. The influx of charged particles would have a multitude of effects, including radiation poisoning in humans and other mammals, confusion of creatures which rely upon magnetic fields as navigation systems (Homing pigeons for example), as well as burning out circuits, overloading main power grids, disruption of navigational and communication systems. Since the sun would be highly active at this point in time, it would not be a long stretch to guess further flares would occur afterwards.

[SirGregory]

If further flares occur I would imagine it would wipe out life on earth as we know it, eh, but then again it is just a video game.

[Burning Bridges]

>>>>-Bows and melee weapons

>>>>Arrows can be also made from wood and arrow heads from scrap metal.

perhaps interesting, if it is added

>>>>-Running and repairable hydro electric dam

>>>>-Radio transmissions as a aesthetic effect like a emergency broadcast signal.

not sure this would not do more bad than good. The current no-technology / lone guy approach suits me best.

>>>>-Small game like rabbits and raccoons, could be caught with snares

>>>>-Snares made by crafting, could be placed on animal tracks and after a certain amount of time there would be a random chance of catching an animal.

imo this will probably come, because it makes sense, requires patience and luck, and would not be hard to implement

>>>>-Blood trails by wounded animals, could be randomly wounded, or be wounded by a arrow for a realistic hunting experience!

this could become interesting, if shot placement is simulated and animals leave tracks.

See how it is done in The Hunter (hunting sim). Tracking a fleeing animal from a bad shot is a p.i.t.a, that would be a great addition to the gameplay, because the player would have to work much harder to get rifle kills.

[autonomous]

I don't think you can run the hydro plant if all of the water is frozen. You need flow to run the turbines. and if all the electronics are fried why would the prepper bunker or camp office keep spare control room circuitry and parts lying around. If there is spare parts there going to be in a warehouse in the nearest big city or a special order thing because no one planed for this.

[SirGregory]

what i thought but i didn't have the heart to say it..

[elloco999]

The devs have never explained as to what exactly has happened in TLD. That's something that will be revealed (if at all) in the story mode. They have ever only talked about a geo-magnetic disaster, not storm or EMP, disaster. We simply don't know what happened and I don't think we should assume it was a one time event. The aurora is still acting out in the game, so I'm assuming the disaster is still active.

I think I remember reading somewhere about the level/ magnitude of the event varying in intensity over time. I think it was an interview with the devs or maybe it was in an KS update or even on this forum. It was said that from time to time maybe a radio would work and you'd be able to hear (parts of) transmissions. This would suggest that the disaster didn't actually destroy any of the electronics, but is only somehow disabling them, allowing them to work (after a sorts) when the disaster is less active/ has a lower intensity. Have been searching for that piece of info, but haven't been able to track it down. I think I read it during or right after the KS campaign.

So who knows, working radio's may be planned already. But I doubt a working dam will ever be possible.

Everything else has been suggested many times before and some of it will definitely be in the game (small game, trapping).

I don't think you can run the hydro plant if all of the water is frozen. You need flow to run the turbines. and if all the electronics are fried why would the prepper bunker or camp office keep spare control room circuitry and parts lying around. If there is spare parts there going to be in a warehouse in the nearest big city or a special order thing because no one planed for this.

Good points.

But even in the coldest weather, only the top layer of the water would freeze. In a lake of the size a hydro dam would require, there will always be liquid water underneath the ice. So as long as the intakes for the dam are still below the ice, the dam could still operate, if it were not for the geo-magnetic disaster. The intakes are usually pretty high though, so they could be frozen shut.

But I don't think we will ever see a working dam in the game, and frankly I don't want to either. Having no electrical power is one of the things that make TLD the great game it is.

[Trandor]

And so far, I don't see the use of getting that thing up and running again either, clearly there are no electrical devices in the Lake Cabins nor the Camp office and not even in the Logging Camp. So why would you want to get that dam running in the first place? You can't put it to any use anyway.

[elloco999]

You can short two wires to create sparks for creating a fire! :lol:

[Burning Bridges]

Of course, I could imagine that a few batteries exist on the map that can be used to power a flashlight, or the radio, provided that there is a use for that. But apart form a few I don't think electricity has a place in the game right now.

[elloco999]

I think the event is also preventing batteries from working. Why, because the devs want to make a game without electricity.

[a-z-booka]

[..]But I doubt a working dam will ever be possible.

[..] only the top layer of the water would freeze. In a lake of the size a hydro dam would require, there will always be liquid water underneath the ice [..]

Omg guys, isn't it obvious that the dam was in the demolition process? Look for yourselves: the doors are knocked out, lots of crates standing chaotically, fallen lamps in turbine room. Did you see any power lines coming to the dam? I didn't. Besides, there is no water in reservoir, it's drained!

The devs have never explained as to what exactly has happened in TLD. [..] They have ever only talked about a geo-magnetic disaster, not storm or EMP [..] I don't think we should assume it was a one time event. The aurora is still acting out [..] the disaster is still active.

[..] This would suggest that the disaster didn't actually destroy any of the electronics, but is only somehow disabling them, allowing them to work (after a sorts) when the disaster is less active/ has a lower intensity.

[..] So who knows, working radio's may be planned already.

What happened? Geomagnetic storm happened. It's the only thing that can cause the aurora.

As for it's magnitude and duration: this is a game! It can't be completely realistic in every detail. This is just a game setting. Real geomagnetic storm goes on for less then a day but it can take few more days for geomagnetic field to return to its calm state.

But in game we have faced an unmatched, sci-fi scale, immense geomagnetic storm, whose active phase lasted for days thus completely destroying all the radio towers and other means of communication. Now there is a chaos in the world and we crashed in the farthest of its corners. Nobody just have time for us, we're on our own. So we must survive, wading our way through the Northern Wilderness towards "The City" to find safety in what is rest of the civilized society.

[..] if all the electronics are fried why would the bunker or camp office keep spare control room circuitry and parts lying around? If there are spare parts they're going to be in the nearest big city or a special order thing because no one planed for this.

To fry all the electrics you would need nuclear EMP, even the strongest geomagnetic storm would leave small electronics in tact (mobile phones, laptops, radio receivers). But it would destroy the infrastructure needed for them to be useful. It would overload the power lines, disrupt navigation and communication, but you could still play angry birds.

As for the bunker: it is at least 40 years old, judging by all the tree roots. It was probably build in cold war period and was never properly maintained afterwards. That is why it doesn't have electricity.