cordage

[caverdude]

Once a knife or hachet is aquired cordage could be made from tree bark. Using guts alone for making cordage works but is kind of silly. But from an animal natives often used sinew (tendens) to make cordage for sewing. Other materials could be used to make cordage or string as well. Leather strips for example. But I understand more means more development complexity.

[jackattack]

Maybe cordage could be added to the harvest list when outdoors. Or they could add bark, which could then be harvested or crafted into cordage.

Maybe leather could also be harvested (a second time) to make cordage. Or leather (and gut?) could be tweaked on the work bench to make cordage, the same way gut is turned into fishing line.

[caverdude]

It's the underside of some barks that are fibrous and can be twisted and braided.

[jackattack]

Yeah, I get that. Which is great, but how do you see adding it to the game?

To me, it sounds like a double harvest. Harvest bark from the tree, harvest cordage from the bark.

Or maybe the bark can be used to repair the sewing kits.

[The_Hawk35]

It provides a resource that doesn't require killing deer or wolves.

[AmericanSteel]

Having plant material is easily one way to go. Another, is to let us use some of the existing material to make cordage. Leather and Cloth could be broken down into cordage. That said, why won't they let me take the cords off all the blinds I see hanging in the windows? While I am at it, let me take the curtain rod and fashion a spear out of it? Toilet Paper for Tinder Plugs? Take off a table as a club? Lets not even start on what I could use from a bed/blankets. Sorry. Alpha. Forgive my rant.

[jason_scheiner]

I can see a few ways to do this:

Instead of harvesting tinder plugs, you harvest bark and bits. You can then harvest the bark into tinder plugs, or you can use a workbench to convert into cord.

At the workbench, offer options to harvest gut into line or into cord.

When crafting clothing, use cord plus skins/hides, instead of gut and skins/hides.

Would make crafting slightly more complex, but offer more options.

The biggest question in the end is whether it adds value or fun. Personally, I'd have no problem with that sort of change, but I often find myself with more gut than I need after scavenging from enough corpses.

[jackattack]

It also comes down to what cordage is good for. A single-use item for repairing clothes would be a welcome addition. (Or can we use line for that?)

[AmericanSteel]

I think being able to harvest sinew could be a skill the player gets as they butcher more animals. Lets assume the player starts with a 50% chance for butchery. Failure could just mean less usable meat, meat that is less fresh or even ruined completely. A high success could result in more usable meat. This skill also modifies how many hides and guts you can recover from an animal. Once the player gets to 60% they can begin to harvest organ meat. 70% they can harvest bones (to use for tools or extract marrow/craft broth). At 80% they can harvest sinew. While I think anyone should be able to harvest organs or bones, maybe it is something the avatar is just unfamiliar with or unsure if it is safe. After trial and error they discover they can do more and then do so.

[jason_scheiner]

I think being able to harvest sinew could be a skill the player gets as they butcher more animals. Lets assume the player starts with a 50% chance for butchery. Failure could just mean less usable meat, meat that is less fresh or even ruined completely. A high success could result in more usable meat. This skill also modifies how many hides and guts you can recover from an animal. Once the player gets to 60% they can begin to harvest organ meat. 70% they can harvest bones (to use for tools or extract marrow/craft broth). At 80% they can harvest sinew. While I think anyone should be able to harvest organs or bones, maybe it is something the avatar is just unfamiliar with or unsure if it is safe. After trial and error they discover they can do more and then do so.

Although I like the sound of that all in theory, in practice it could be more detail than is necessarily useful for the game to be fun; i.e., the survival buffs might like the level of detail, but the general players may either not need or ignore things that get so incredibly detailed, so it may be a lot of programming time in exchange for features that many players will ignore.

tl;dr: Great in concept, maybe not in practice.

[elloco999]

I can see a few ways to do this:

Instead of harvesting tinder plugs, you harvest bark and bits. You can then harvest the bark into tinder plugs, or you can use a workbench to convert into cord.

At the workbench, offer options to harvest gut into line or into cord.

When crafting clothing, use cord plus skins/hides, instead of gut and skins/hides.

Would make crafting slightly more complex, but offer more options.

The biggest question in the end is whether it adds value or fun. Personally, I'd have no problem with that sort of change, but I often find myself with more gut than I need after scavenging from enough corpses.

I think these are all good ideas, but we would need more options to use the cordage.

[Ryan CM]

great stuff all! I have passed this thread on to the dev team to review/consider.

[jason_scheiner]

I can see a few ways to do this:

Instead of harvesting tinder plugs, you harvest bark and bits. You can then harvest the bark into tinder plugs, or you can use a workbench to convert into cord.

At the workbench, offer options to harvest gut into line or into cord.

When crafting clothing, use cord plus skins/hides, instead of gut and skins/hides.

Would make crafting slightly more complex, but offer more options.

The biggest question in the end is whether it adds value or fun. Personally, I'd have no problem with that sort of change, but I often find myself with more gut than I need after scavenging from enough corpses.

I think these are all good ideas, but we would need more options to use the cordage.

I agree. It's still pretty early in development, so there's lots of time to create new uses for cord and line.

Candle wicks?

Snow shoes to increase speed/mobility on snowy ground?

Trip wires for animal traps (maybe using a rifle to shoot a wolf or deer who trips over the wire, while you watch from a safe distance)?

Fishing nets, which are more difficult to construct than fishing lines but which last longer and can catch larger/more nutritious fish?

Tents, by using the cord or line to connect cloth and/or animal skins, and propping up with reclaimed wood - to provide extra protection from the wind if sleeping outdoors?

Rope, so you can drag an animal corpse to a safer/warmer area before butchering? For example, shoot a deer near the Pleasant Valley farmhouse, then drag it onto the covered porch so you can butcher it with less risk of freezing or weather issues.

There are lots of possibilities, all depends on what's feasible within the game engine and what the devs feel is worth the time and energy to implement.

[caverdude]

A major use for chordage might be in wilderness shelter construction. As in lashings. Or with tarp hanging pitching and guying.