Fake Temp. Booster: Brandy

[yollarbenibekler]

Description: A bottle of brandy that gives you a temporary warm boost during cold weather or blizzards.

 

Pros: completely stops hypothermia and the chance of frostbite for an hour, gives you a chance to run away from a blizzard to indoors.

Cons:

- After one hour: if still outdoors and temperature still feels like at least -1C; sudden  hypothermia and frostbite at 2x speed.

-25% drop from sleep condition

-headache

 

Use:

A bottle that consists 0.50lt brandy; 0.10lt is consumed per use.

 

What do you think?

[MrsHoneypot]

I keep thinking "where´s the stash" in the hydro dam. All those desk and file cabinet drawers and not a single drop of grog?

I like the idea. Especially if they add a Morale/Mental Welbeing mechanic. You could add a drop to a hot drink to keep the warmth benefit for longer.

I get it though. The devs want to keep it family friendly.

[Timmytwothumbs]

I like the idea. It makes sense. Would it be a bit more realistic, maybe. Would it add to the overall experience, maybe. Would it be cool to stave off cabin fever/pass time or gain a bit of warmth with a bottle, absolutley. I'm a fan of more content however the devs decide to do it. However...

I don't think alcohol is essential for survival. I don't think it fits this game particularly. And I'm not sure if it were added if I would even want to use it. There are plenty of games that use alcohol and in my opinion it's just to be funny and entertaining. Example RDR2 using alcohol and tobacco to increase dead eye, as if getting wasted gives Arthur some kind of special ability hahaha. It's a fine idea that's been tossed around the forum a bit already but I'm not 100% sure it's for this game due to the serious nature of it all. And I'm not sure I would be a huge fan of this. 

As far as keeping it family friendly I'm pretty sure it's already rated Teen which includes mild violence, mild language, alcohol and tobacco use. So there might not be an issue with esrb rating if it were added in a smart way.

[ManicManiac]

@yollarbenibekler
No thank you... I don't see anything good coming out of including alcohol in the game.

 

[Addendum]
My overall thoughts on the subject:

I'm not in favor of anything in this game that would suggest that alcohol has any positive affects for a person in a survival situation that would out weigh the detrimental effects...  I think that would be an irresponsible message.

Alcohol may make one "feel" warm but it actually makes a person more susceptible to hypothermia (and dehydration).  The idea that alcohol makes you warm is a very old and very incorrect idea.  It's a depressant and diuretic (among other things), not things one would want in a situation like the one we see in this game.

We already have antiseptics in the game already so I will address that counter point right now.  There are also already much better ways to get calories than getting them from booze - so I wanted to address that counter point right away as well.

Alcohol is not only unnecessary for survival, it's largely more detrimental to survival.

Edited September 14, 2019 by ManicManiac

[yollarbenibekler]

12 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

@yollarbenibekler
No thank you... I don't see anything good coming out of including alcohol in the game.

 

[Addendum]
My overall thoughts on the subject:

I'm not in favor of anything in this game that would suggest that alcohol has any positive affects for a person in a survival situation that would out weigh the detrimental effects...  I think that would be an irresponsible message.

Alcohol may make one "feel" warm but it actually makes a person more susceptible to hypothermia (and dehydration).  The idea that alcohol makes you warm is a very old and very incorrect idea.  It's a depressant and diuretic (among other things), not things one would want in a situation like the one we see in this game.

We already have antiseptics in the game already so I will address that counter point right now.  There are also already much better ways to get calories than getting them from booze - so I wanted to address that counter point right away as well.

Alcohol is not only unnecessary for survival, it's largely more detrimental to survival.

I don't think breaking necks of rabbits is alson family friendly either, but this is a survival game and it's proven that drinking alcohol gives you a "fake" heat boost as I stated in the topic name. Still it is a variant that can alter or enchance gameplay.

[ManicManiac]

10 hours ago, yollarbenibekler said:

I don't think breaking necks of rabbits is alson family friendly either

I didn't say anything about family friendly... you are making some very incorrect assumptions.    

10 hours ago, yollarbenibekler said:

drinking alcohol gives you a "fake" heat boost as I stated in the topic name. Still it is a variant that can alter or enchance gameplay.

Yes, but in your description of the effect... it doesn't portray anything fake at all.  I quote:

On ‎9‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 7:21 AM, yollarbenibekler said:

completely stops hypothermia and the chance of frostbite for an hour, gives you a chance to run away from a blizzard to indoors.

 

My response was simply that in my opinion it's irresponsible to portray alcohol as being beneficial to a person faced with deep cold.
Look, I'm not going to argue with you... Your original post asked us what we thought, and I think that your idea should not be a part of this game.

Edited September 15, 2019 by ManicManiac

[StrayCat]

The issue of alcohol has already been mentionned by Raphael (milton mailbag #10) :

On 9/7/2018 at 8:28 PM, Raphael van Lierop said:

Regarding in-game alcohol affecting our rating, in some territories we've included alcohol and tobacco in the ratings just to "future proof" for if/when we add those items to the game. Since almost everything in the game has some kind of gameplay impact or value, we wouldn't add alcohol unless it offered some cost/benefit to a specific action. So, the real reason there's no usable alcohol in the game is that it hasn't felt like the most important item to build gameplay around, even though -- as you point out -- there are definitely many potential uses. 

I guess this might be included in the game, but it would need to be justified by a real gameplay opportunity.

[odizzido]

As mentioned alcohol would only accelerate your death, however you could always add like a chemical heat pack or something. My parents have these packs that you mush up and they produce heat. They put them in their gloves.

[ManicManiac]

Fair enough, but most of the other useful applications are covered by other items in the game.  We already have antiseptics, so we wouldn't need for those purposes.  I'm not really in favor of chemical heat packs as they really aren't nessisarry (especially when a player gets even a little proficient with their survival tasks).  We already have lamp oil and accelerant for fire... so that takes that out of the equation.  I just can't think of any actual positive use that isn't covered by things already implemented.

I'm generally not in favor of adding things that makes life easier for the survivor... as what I love most about it is the struggle (most of my other posts can attest to this ).

However, as always if the Hinterland team decides to make changes then fine... but I'm not really in favor of this particular idea as I can't really find any merit in it's inclusion other than a very small addition to "world building" (in that context, more variety is generally a good thing). 

[Addendum]
Please don't get me wrong... I'm not a booze hater (not at all ).  I just don't see a need for it in the game, nor do I think it's a good idea to portray it as a way to "brace against the cold" by playing into very old and incorrect ideas about it.

Edited September 15, 2019 by ManicManiac
Edited for clarity

[ajb1978]

Alcohol could provide calories, at the cost of increased drop of heat, thirst, and fatigue when consumed.  Basically if you're desperate for calories and can afford the cost, sure go ahead and have a drink. Otherwise, alcohol could serve as both an accelerant and an antiseptic.

[UTC-10]

I would guess that if a mental fitness aspect was added to the game, there might be reason for alcohol as a morale booster (you don't feel the pain of the sprain or broken ribs, but anytime you move you stagger all over like when in extremis at less than 5% condition *), or maybe a temporary palliative for cabin fever (i.e. you can sleep indoors if insensible drunk but it resets the "cure" time outdoors to max again among other effects). 

* While drunk you can shoot yourself or just discharge the firearm, repeatedly, if you handle a loaded firearm or try to clean it or try to unload it. Attempting to craft gives a real possibility that you'll destroy what you're crafting including all materials.  Don't forget setting yourself on fire or burning yourself while trying to light a campfire or stove.  Ruining your hatchet or knife if attempting to maintain it with a whet stone. I leave out the possibility of amputating a hand or several fingers while chopping wood. 

[ManicManiac]

15 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

Alcohol could provide calories, at the cost of increased drop of heat, thirst, and fatigue when consumed.  Basically if you're desperate for calories and can afford the cost, sure go ahead and have a drink. Otherwise, alcohol could serve as both an accelerant and an antiseptic.

Yeah but as I mentioned before there are already much better ways to get calories, antiseptic, and fire in the game already... so all-in-all the inclusion doesn't seem like it would have any real point, and would reasonably only hinder the character anyway.  The only reason for the inclusion would only be to serve as a very small contribution to the world building (which wouldn't even much of a contribution).

As I mentioned before:

20 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

Fair enough, but most of the other useful applications are covered by other items in the game.  We already have antiseptics, so we wouldn't need for those purposes.  I'm not really in favor of chemical heat packs as they really aren't nessisarry (especially when a player gets even a little proficient with their survival tasks).  We already have lamp oil and accelerant for fire... so that takes that out of the equation.  I just can't think of any actual positive use that isn't covered by things already implemented.

On ‎9‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 1:31 AM, ManicManiac said:

There are also already much better ways to get calories than getting them from booze

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ManicManiac]

14 hours ago, UTC-10 said:

I would guess that if a mental fitness aspect was added to the game

I know I mentioned by thoughts on "mental health" mechanics before but it seem like it could bear repeating:

On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 3:00 AM, ManicManiac said:

I'm not sure how well this kind of thing would fit into this game.  I mean for a Lovecraftian / cosmic horror type game, a sanity meter works fine as a core gameplay mechanic... but I'm not sure how well I would like something like that in this game.

I know for a while there was an idea about having something like a photograph or some kind of personal belonging that was meant to give kind of a "will to live" buff or something to that effect.  That the more you used it the quicker it would get worn out... but I think that idea went to the wayside a few years ago.

We do have the cabin fever affliction, but that is an arbitrary condition dependent solely on time spend inside vs. outside (the specifics are not important so I'm skipping them here).  Even with that, there are no mitigating factors at all... it's a firm metric.  Something like a "mental health" or "morale" mechanic would take a lot of nuance to keep it from feeling like a negative consequence instead of just part of the human condition that it truly is...

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by ManicManiac