Acclimatization to Darkness

[AmericanSteel]

Right now the amount of light you get to see by is set by the environment. However, there is no getting accustomed to the light. You vision is as good as it will ever be when you go from darkness, to light, to darkness. Not realistic. I can read a topographical map out 60 miles from civilization with a full moon and a clear sky, as long as I have about 20 to 30 minutes to get accustomed to the darkness. Give me the map after walking off my back porch and I could not see my hand in front of my face. One of the reason why soldiers walk around with their firing eye closed. You get use to the darkness AND if some light (like a flare pops) you are not completely blinded. In briefing before night ops, lumes and weather is ALWAYS discussed. I would much rather be approaching an enemy position with NVGs and using serious cloud cover to diminish my chances to being spotted.

I think it would be kinda neat to have the light level currently set in the game during darkness to be the half way point between the extremes of darkness acclimatization on one end and walking off from a fire on the other. So, if you come out of your house at night holding a lamp and turn the lamp off, you really cant see much. Your pupils just are not dilated. In about 5 minutes you can see better. Another 5 minutes or so and you can start making out better details. 30 minutes in and you can see really well. This would reward the player who go out at night and stay out vs the people who just bolt outside. It would be another factor to take into account when going out. Do I want to get colder and see better OR just go out half blind and prey?

If this is done, then I think the mechanic for animals bedding down at night needs to be addressed. Deer could find a thicket to hide in and be sleeping. Giving the player an opportunity to sneak up for a close in kill shot. Maybe the wolf activity could also been sinked to actual wolf patterns. As it stands now, there are no right times... just right locations.

Wolves were active throughout the day, but their activity peaked at dawn and dusk, which coincided with periods when they killed most prey. Periods of reproduction and high temperatures had less pronounced effects on activity patterns. Human activity and other factors did not significantly affect the wolves' daily activity patterns. http://wolfology1.tripod.com/id74.htm

[bethany]

Thanks for the feedback! I think this has been mentioned for interiors as well. I'll have to double-check.