Flintlock, Feats, Details, etc.

[Third Try]

  I know that a lot of these subjects have been brought up by other people, but I have so much to say and wanted all the information in one spot.

First and most important thing the idea for a flintlock.

This is a general design I drew on Krita:

I got lazy at the end, but the sights from left to right are the circular sight, the notch sight and the buckhorn sight.  My favorite is the circular sight, but could also just be on a variation or something.

  The barrel would be octagon, it would probably be a .54 caliber (if not it's a .50), and it's a muzzleloader.  Single trigger (although, a double-set one would be pretty cool), with brass decorations.

  It would lose more condition than the rifle (2%?) per use, has less range and accuracy, but maybe more knockdown power up close, and stopping chance against bears perhaps.  It only has a single shot and reloading takes a while, so there's no follow-up unless you're carrying two rifles.  It would be heavier than the rifle, probably weighing 4.50 kg.

  Reloading takes one ball (made from lead at a ammo bench or found in boxes), a charge of powder (0.01 kg gunpowder) and I think that the patch should just be skipped, but maybe not (perhaps you can craft a patched ball?).  To reload you put the butt on the ground, stopping all movement, and you pour the powder in, then plop the (patched?) ball on top and ram it down the hole, thumping once at the end.  Then you put the ramrod back.  Now it's loaded.  This would take about 5 seconds.  (maybe 10?)

  To prime it you have to cock the flint and frizzen back, pour a little powder in, and you're set.  Maybe this takes 2 seconds.  When you pull the trigger there is a 0.5 second delay before it actually fires, during which you see the pan flash.  This flash should maybe scare animals away, or have a chance to (especially at night).  It would also be cool if you could start fires with a low chance by using the rifle and a little powder as the fire starter.

  The quality of the powder determines the chance that a misfire will happen, and when it does all you have to do is re-prime it.  During a blizzard you would not be able to use it (the priming powder would just blow away) and maybe in high winds it increases the chance of a misfire.  If you break through ice it will use up the primer and you have to re-prime it again.

  The lower the loot level the more regular rifles are replaced by the flintlock.  On pilgrim 33% are replaced, on voyager 50%, on stalker 66% and none on interloper.  Or whatever.  It could also, be where no rifles are replaced and they just increase the total amount of guns in the world.  It could also be where there are only like, three rifles in the whole map.  I don't know what would work best, but in real life there are very few flintlocks, but maybe in a place with so much hunters there would be more?

  Either the bullets are just made at the ammo workbench, or it's where there are random Ball Bullet Molds placed around.  A .54 caliber mold that requires a fire of any sort, lead, and maybe a pot, to make bullets.  It would go slower than at an ammo bench, but probably use the same amount of lead.  It would be a tool that slowly degrades, requiring a toolbox and scrap metal to repair, weighing maybe 0.15 kg.

 

  Variations:

Thomson's Musket:  An old flintlock owned by the founder of Thomsons Crossing, kept for decades after his passing hung in the town hall as the towns most treasured piece of history.  During the confusion of the collapse, one of the town members took the rifle and left for the shore, hoping to wait out winter and take a boat to the mainland.  (y'all can decide how far he got -- and so, where it is found😉)

  This rifle is a smooth-bore musket and is always found at a low condition (20-50%).  Because it's smooth-bore it can be reloaded considerably faster (only drop the ball in, no ramming required), but it has less range and accuracy.  Due to it's sturdy design and extra weight, it can take more abuse (1.5% condition/shot?).  It would be a little heavier than the regular flintlock, at 5.00 kg.  This rifle would have a different sight than the regular one (the circle if the normal one doesn't, the notch sight if the regular one doesn't).  Optionally, it could be of larger caliber (.69 or .72, which was common of old muskets), giving it more power and range, but still decreased accuracy and requiring its own bullet mold, which would be found alongside the rifle.  

 

Forest Talkers' Flintlock:  A lightweight flintlock used by the Forest talkers in one of their basses of operations: The Hunting Lodge in Broken Railroad.

  This flintlock is lighter than the original one, having a tapered, round barrel, weighing 3.00 kg.  The reduced weight gives it more menuverablility, reducing the time it takes to pull it out, aim, and reload (but only slightly, not as much as the musket).  Due to it's history of rough use it needs frequent cleaning, taking more condition away per shot (2.5%?).  Optionally it could have a decorative brass patchbox, and maybe more intricate brass inlays.  Maybe a symbol on the cheekpiece.

 

Inuit Rifle:  A flintlock traded by the european's to a native Inuit long ago.  Through time, it ended up on Great Bear island, having been modified by generations of indian use to be more reliable, depending on the persons needs.  Shows pommel wear and has rawhide straps around the barrel as well as brass tacks for decoration.  At somepoint on its journey it was modified to a caplock.

  It weighs slightly less, has slightly more range, but the main difference is that it is a caplock.  This makes it so that priming is much faster, has perfect reliability in windy weather (including blizzards), has less delay for firing, and has no pan flash.  It could have the Buckhorn sight, if not then the notch sight.  (maybe it's found near the whaling place in desolation point?)

Alright, there's my idea for a flintlock.  Next I'll write about some other ideas I've had.  Any opinions on the spawning system?  Any ideas on where all these variations would be found?  Any other thoughts?

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Third Try

[Third Try]

Here's some smaller ideas, for those who are interested.  Some of these I found out are already wanted by others, so I'll mention the names if I can find/remember them.

shotgun instead of flintlock: we already have a rifle, bow and pistol, so maybe another rifle is unneeded, but it would be interesting.

Bolt cutters: add these to survival to make late game locked places (idea from @HyperLordBender). Maybe one of these could be the basement under thomsons crossing community hall (idea from @Abenico).

Ice cream: a rare food item best stored outside and found inside freezers.

Chest freezers: A large freezer in a few buildings and basements (the workshop in Broken railroad?  Mollies Basement?  The Whale place in Desolation Point?)

Leather Jacket: an exterior item of torso clothing.  High durability and protection, but not much warmth.  Repaired and harvested with/for leather.

Dried/salted meat: mentioned by numerous people, but basically lighter, less scented but more dehydrating meat.  Maybe a little calorie loss.

Decreased rifle clip: I don't know if anyone else will feel this way, but the largest clip I ever see on a bolt-action is 6.  It feels like I never have to worry about reloading, especially because I use the ammo so rarely anyway.  Why is the clip so big?  Maybe even decrease it to four?  I've never had to reload the rifle like I do with the revolver - mid fight sometimes.  Also, the ammo boxes come in five.

Low quality ammo damages guns more: this might be completely useless and it's not a big deal, but in reality a low quality powder does cause more fouling in the barrel.

Flintknapping: I don't know if this would be overpowered, if it would ruin the balance of the game, but I think it's a good idea none-the-less.  Flintknapping would be it's own skill which determines how fast you can make the items and at what condition the item starts at (kinda like ammo crafting).  The items would be none repairable and less effective then their metal counter-parts.  An idea also brought up by @SuperStriker16 (who might have wanted the flintlock too?).  Crafting could also be disabled, kinda like birch tea.

Flint Arrow heads: requires an arrow shaft and three feathers, and won't kill as many things.  Definitely more fragile.

Flint hatchet: Made with a log (ceder or fir), gut and the flint.

Flint blade: very simple knife, just a piece of flint with a sharp edge.  Fragile and slow, but can harvest meat quicker than bare handed.

Flint for the flintlock rifle (for repairing it, or maybe just needs replaicing every ~25 shots or whatever.  Won't work until you repair the flint?)

Fire: requires a piece of flint and any metal tool or a scrap piece (not fishhooks though, and not things like bullet casing, but probably arrowheads).  Maybe to make it not OP it could require level 2 fire starting and would need accelerant to attempt.  At level 3 you can do it without accelerant, but at a super low chance, still requiring tinder.  At level 5 maybe allow starting without tinder (ya'll ever start fire with sparks?).

nerf level 5 cooking: having food poisoning obsolete is kinda op.  Anyone else?

Sulphur from batteries: they're made of lead and sulphiric acid, so maybe...?  Also, maybe allow sulphur as tinder?

Tinder still useful: make it so that the chance to start a fire with tinder is at least increased a little, 10%?

fire from auroura: make it so that exposed electrical wires can start a torch (wait, is this already in the game?)

Empty lantern oil: just... why not?  Even if it requires breaking the lantern, I still want the oil.

Reloading requires primers: I admit this is pretty much a bad idea, but in reality, you need primers to ignite the powder.  It literally would not work otherwise.  But this would make reloading harder than it already is, so, I'm not really in favor of it.

Bow silencer: a fur strip wrapped around the strings of a bow to reduce the twang of the bow string.  Would make it so that animals are less likely to spook if you miss.

Quiver: This has been brought up by someone else, but I can't remember who, derp.  It would make it so that drawing arrows would be faster and arrow weight would be greatly reduced.  (maybe an equivalent for the muzzleloader could be a powder horn?)

Flare shell crafting: This would be extremely useful.  Maybe the recipe could be a flare and gunpowder at an ammunition crafting station.

 

  Don't feel like I'm judging you hinterland!  This game is great, these are just some additions I think would be fun and improve the game, except maybe the primers 😁

Edited October 31, 2023 by Third Try

[Third Try]

Faults

Alright, one more post for a while, then I'll start writing a comic and a horror story and be out of you're guy's hair for a while. 

  This idea was made inspired by @Ghurcb's post a while back.

  Similar but inverse to the current Feats.  It would not replace them.  They work in the same way where you have to unlock it by completing something, and after that you can use them in survival worlds.  It would make sense to not add a limit to them (if there is keep it at five).  Faults are used to make a game more challenging (either for the master interlopers or for those of us who like a certain difficulty but find ourselves getting bored).

  Also, similar to the Darkwalker challenge, where upon completion you get a feat that has both positive and negative affects (less tired at night, more in day), each challenge could unlock a feat with positive and negative, a mix of Feats and Faults.  Maybe ones that aren't tied to challenges at all, but still have both negative and positive effects.  Called Faulted Feats?  Strong Weaknesses?

   Have feats specifically for the Astrid character and different ones for Will's.  These could just be called Astrids feats or Wills feats.  This was brought up by @FreeSTONE in his topic INTROVERT saying "After all, they are two different people - so they do not need to have the exact same stats, right?"

  If you guys have any suggestions or ideas on better ways to earn them, please comment.

 

Fault ideas:

 

Clumsy: increased chance of sprains, chance of getting burns from starting fire and ammo crafting, chance of getting bleeding affect when using sharp tools, chance of failing to reload a bullet or arrow and dropping it, always shivering when aiming, chance of misfiring with any weapon.  (@Ghurcb replied earlier to me that this would probably just be annoying, not more interesting.  Fair enough.  My comeback is that regular feats only do minor changes)  'Earned' by getting 100 sprains. 

Weak: Stamina decreased and struggles are harder.  Take longer to harvest things.  Carry capacity decreases over time (maybe have a setting for how much this does?)

Insomnia:  Permanent Insomnia.  unlocked by dying of exaustion only.

Claustrophobic: you get cabin fever risk the instant you walk indoors (maybe you just have permanent cabin fever?).  Unlocked by getting cabin fever 20 times.

Unhealthy: Condition capped at 50%.  Disease kills you faster, infection spreads faster, more sensitive to food poisoning, recovery rate is slower.  Unlocked by staying under 50% condition for five consecutive days.

Vegan: unable to eat any meat, or any dairy, or eggs.  No fish.  You cannot kill anything if it is not attacking or being aggressive towards you.  Even with dead creatures, you cannot use the hide or guts for any crafting.  Unlocked by not eating meat for 10 consecutive days.

Cold Blooded: get frostbite risk on your hands, feet and head the instant you go outside.  Warm clothing on those will only slow it down, not prevent it.  Get frostbite five times in one game (it is possible).

Drafty: Buildings give wind protection still, but during blizzards there is a windchill of 3 C.  The buildings are only 10 degrees warmer than outside and never above freezing.

Alchaholic: have a semi-permanent headache and will drink antiseptic if used, causing temporary pain and condition loss.  Learn skills slower.  (this one would be really annoying)

Feral Prey: (don't know how hard this would be to add, but it would be fun!)  Rabbits are feral, having red eyes and will attack you, similar in fashion to the timber wolves attacking.  Deer, especially the bucks, will attack if persued.  Ptarmagan?  Crows?  Unlocked by dying from a moose attack.

 

Faulted Feats:

 

Savage: Can only eat meat.  Fur clothing is better (50% more warmth and durability), non-fur is worse (1/3 less warmth and durability).  Start at level three archery, but never able to level up gunsmithing, rifle or revolver skills.  More sensitive to cabin fever, less sensitive to pain, hunger and disease.  Can eat raw meat safer.  Better in struggles bare-handed.  (what unlocks this one?  Wearing only fur clothing?)

Stormy Weather: Have daily blizzards, (but can carry 5 kg more/start with travois?).  unlocked by completing Whiteout challenge.

Hunted: There is an immortal bear that follows you into every region (maybe a moose instead 😁), and start with a rifle (bow and arrow on interloper?  only a few bullets on stalker).

 

New Feat Idea:

 

Ice Fisher: Start with fishing tackle (on voyager -- pilgrim you have lures too, interloper you start with just the line) and start with level three Ice Fishing skill.  Unlocked by catching 100 fish (with tip-ups or not).

 

New Challenge Idea:

Teddy: (inspired by @conanjaguar replying in "idea for a small easter egg" by @JackTrysGames)

@Semple Fi "Can you imagine the atmosphere of finding a lone corpse clutching the teddy bear?"

Maybe that could work for a challenge… something like As The Dead Sleep?

“It’s a cold and lonely world out there. Mommy is gone. Daddy is gone. They’re all gone. They’re asleep and won’t wake up. The only thing keeping you going is Teddy, and he’s starting to fall apart. Find a sewing kit and fix Teddy before the real bears find you.”

This is funny, but seriously, a challenge where you are playing as a child.  You can carry less, less effective in struggles, Maybe can't use the rifle.  Get cold faster and more sensitive to frostbite and pain, but heal faster.  Can't wear heavy clothing.  Faster stamina regen.

  The only goal (other than staying alive) is to collect all the teddy bears across the map, and always have one on you at all times.  If it breaks apart, then you lose all reason to live and you start losing condition with the affliction 'Loneliness'.  Sewing kits and teddy bears (either make them a collectable or lightweight so that it doesn't take too much inventory), are neccesary for survival.

  Probably have the base settings be for voyager.  Difficult with all the extra challenge, but in the story maybe it's really not long after the first flare, so there's still lots of usable stuff.  Start in grey mothers house perhaps.

 

Will Mackenzies Feats

Athletic: can run longer and move slightly faster while encumbered.

Introvert: (from @FreeSTONE) Resistance to Cabin Fever.  Used to being alone as a bush pilot.

Gunsmith: As a youngster would help his father reload.  Start with level four gunsmithing skill.

Archer: start at archery level three/two.

 

Astrid Greenwoods Feats

Skilled: start with level three cooking and level two rifle skill.  (this is from story mode where it actually works like this) Unlocked by completing chapter three in wintermute?

Doctor: more effective use of medical supplies and can craft Stim Shots at a workbench (needs rare supplies, not sure what though, any ideas?)

Fast Learner: from all of the studying she's done, she can read books twice as fast.

 

Haha, alright.  There's my Fault ideas.  Any opinions?  More charactor specific Feats?  Ideas for teddy bear places?

[conanjaguar]

On 10/29/2023 at 10:00 PM, Third Try said:

This would take about 5 seconds.  (maybe 10?)

It probably should vary greatly depending on skill level. A skilled musketeer could fire 4-5 shots per minute if he fired as rapidly as he could, a beginner much less.

On 10/30/2023 at 11:53 PM, Third Try said:

will drink antiseptic if used, causing temporary pain

I could see a desperately alcoholic Will chugging rubbing alcohol or something like that 😅. Since there are potatoes in game now, though, I could see finding a moonshine still on the map and making some ‘shine with the ‘taters.

On 10/30/2023 at 11:53 PM, Third Try said:

Will Mackenzies Feats

Athletic: can run longer and move slightly faster while encumbered.

Introvert: (from @FreeSTONE) Resistance to Cabin Fever.  Used to being alone as a bush pilot.

Gunsmith: As a youngster would help his father reload.  Start with level four gunsmithing skill.

Archer: start at archery level three/two.

 

Astrid Greenwoods Feats

Skilled: start with level three cooking and level two rifle skill.  (this is from story mode where it actually works like this) Unlocked by completing chapter three in wintermute?

Doctor: more effective use of medical supplies and can craft Stim Shots at a workbench (needs rare supplies, not sure what though, any ideas?)

Fast Learner: from all of the studying she's done, she can read books twice as fast.

I think these are good ideas, but they come dangerously close to volatile arguments about gender equality/dimorphism that @Admin would not like at all…

[Third Try]

@conanjaguar, thanks for replying, and with the first thing, yea, that's a good point.  The skill (maybe included with rifle firearm skill?) would definitely increase reload rate.  Ancient british military was 3 shots per minute, if you couldn't do that then you couldn't join.  No idea what the fastest reloading time is though.

I hope we can make some tater' 'shine!

And yeah, I had been afraid of the same thing for the different feats for Will and Mackenzie.

[Third Try]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think someone else had suggested it at some point; @Leeanda perhaps?

Anyway, the idea is a new affliction called Addiction.

This is caused by drinking two cups of coffee or energy drinks a day for a week (or something).  once you're addicted and you don't have it your exhaustion will drain faster and you'll have headaches.

You can also get addicted to pain killer pills (but not rose hip tea), and is caused by having some every day for a while.  Once you're addicted to them and you don't have them it causes exhaustion and the pain affliction as well as not being able to fully rest (only sleep to 10 hours).

Because this would add a level of inconvenience maybe on voyager and pilgrim it would be disabled for easier exploration.