Wilderness mode, with the addition of a few subfeatures

[EternityTide]

This is a fourth potential game mode concept that I have come up with in response to the stalker game mode.

Wilderness

Basically, this is a hardcore mode that is meant to be even more extreme than stalker. The primary attributes of this mode are:

• Weather is colder, more windy and unforgiving
  
• All animals are extremely scarce. This means that seeing a wolf or bear would be an incredibly rare event, whereas deer might be slightly more common, but still rare. The number of predators should not exceed half the number of deer.
  
• Food is a lot more scarce. Decay rates are decreased on all perishable items, so that open food now lasts a few days, but the amount of food is significantly less on all maps
  
• Crafting skill starts at 25, not 50. supplies are also harder to get.
  
• No corpses are present on any of the maps. Only backpacks and coats^† are available
  
• The base temperature of rooms varies with external temperature, with a time lag of 15 minutes (it takes 15 minutes for the internal temperature to match the external temperature) The base temperature of large, insulated buildings such as the CHD or the Mine is -10°C (14°F for you savages who use this obsolete and frankly ridiculous measurement scale)
  
• The sensitivity of animals is extended, but slow movements in the right directions can allow you to get reasonably close without alerting them

^†I'll explain coats in a minute

Basically, this is more of a "Man versus Wilderness" scenario which gives a more hardened, but closer to real life experience of what survival in the northern territories would be like.

For it, I would like to make a few feature additions:

• Ice storms. Supercooled droplets of rain that freeze on impact would be a lethal experience
  
• Abandoned coats: Occasionally you will find a bloodstained, crumpled coat lying half buried in the snow. It's owner is nowhere to be seen, but rifling through the pockets yields small items, such as bullets, chocolate bars, matches, knives, magnifying glasses, old receipts which can be used as tinder.
  
• Random corpses of large predators: We've seen dead ravaged deer carcasses, but no one ever sees a wolf dead of natural causes. Bears and wolves caught out in a blizzard can die just like humans. In this harsh game mode, they will be important, if scarce, food and hide sources
  
• Building collapses: a rare even that occurs when snow builds up beyond a roof's holding capacity. When going to sleep during a blizzard, there is a 1 in 100 chance of small cottages collapsing. This reduces the character to "Freezing" and any objects left out are buried under debris and snow, inaccessible.
  
• Open houses: similar to the burnt down buildings you find, sometimes a door is too damaged to close. To access the building, the player must go through a "struggle" animation to push past the damaged door. Damaged door buildings are the exact same temperature as the outside, and blizzards result in wind chill to anything standing in the draft. These buildings also offer no protection from predators, so waking up to a wolf struggle if sleeping in these buildings is a rare possibility

Well, that's it for now, but I'd like to see what people think of this idea.

[ChillPlayer]

yes yes and yes to all of it, it's what I'd call Ultra Stalker. As long as it stays fair, it wouldn't be nice if a building would collapse at random when I actually am sleeping in it. But by all means, everything that makes this game harder and more of a struggle gets my thumbs up

[Shanti]

+1 to all this, except the random chance of building collapse.

If you want to go the building collapse route, then we need a mechanic to maintain and repair the building we want to live in. I have already voiced this idea in another thread, and I think it would be a great additional use of time / resources for the game.

[Aelaera]

+1. I'd rather fight the elements than the wolves.

[Scyzara]

+1 to everything, playing such a mode would be great fun for sure.

I especially like the idea of predators being more scarce as this might attract both many current Pilgrim players (who dislike fighting wolves but wish for more challenging survival in general) and experienced Stalker players (for whom wolves and bears have become walking meat reservoirs).

[Boston123]

YES. ALL OF IT.

In "actual" wilderness survival, the environment and weather are the #1, 2, and 3 enemy, not wildlife, even if it is hostile.

Such a game-mode would be AWESOME.

[elloco999]

+1! I would like such a mode very much.

One remark though on this:

• The base temperature of rooms varies with external temperature, with a time lag of 15 minutes (it takes 15 minutes for the internal temperature to match the external temperature) The base temperature of large, insulated buildings such as the CHD or the Mine is -10°C

Maybe 15 min is a bit short? IRL it's actually dependent on the temp difference. If it's -15C outside and +15C inside the temp will drop much faster than if it's -14C inside. But that may be a bit much to ask for...

To counter such cold interiors, fires should also warm the interior (not just provide a radius of heat, but actually warm the entire interior up). If you stoke a fire for 8 hours, the indoor temp should rise significantly and not drop back to outside temp the minute the fire is out.

[AmericanSteel]

+1 except for the building collapsing. If the building can fall, then we need some way to maintain it. Knock snow off the roof or something. If it was going to be implemented, then the 1 in 100 change needs to be a bit more forgiving. I would say getting some clues to the building weakening is a start: roof is creaking a bit, maybe a bit of light peeks in through the roof, etc. Second time it gets more severe. The creaking is replaced by obvious cracking, snow is filtering into the building, the player makes some obvious comments (This place is falling apart), etc. Third time, there is some sort of partial or complete collapse.

Also, does this building collapse chance occur to every building in the game? If so, a player could take 30 days to get to a new zone and find all of the building destroyed. Also, the decay rate on items in the game currently starts when the player touches them which forces players to leave not required items alone to inhibit hording. Building collapsing would punish players for leaving items behind.

Lastly, some building have a steep enough pitch on the roof or designed in suck a way to be all but immune to building collapse: "A" frame homes, Outpost in ML, quonset gas station, etc.

[elloco999]

A 1 in 100 chance is indeed too high. It would mean that statistically speaking, every collapsible building in the game would have collapsed after 100 days. Unless of course this would only happen when the player is in the building, but why would buildings only collapse when there's someone inside?

[aColonUlcer]

I love this, but also shows the same concern for the buildings collapsing. I like the idea for the buildings, especially AmericanSteel's. But there has to be a way to take time to clean off the roofs of maintain the building in some ways. And maybe even maintain buildings you don't go in very often since they have items you don't want destroyed. But after x amount of days, if you go to pleasant valley last, every single building could be destroyed! And there would be absolutely little to no reason to go there other than to look around and say "Man these trees sure are nice". But other than that, this idea is amazing.

I play solely in Stalker mode and continually hate it for the sole reason that there are freaking wolves every where. It's nice in the fact that if I need food, one is most likely around the corner. More often than not, I end up killing a wolf due to defense and not from necessity while I don't have time and/or can't due to already being at my max weight capacity and/or blizzard. This mode would reduce that "I'm wasting valuable resources" feeling when killing something. Since most of the time it would be from necessity and not defense.

This would also put more stress on being nomadic, since everything is so scarce, living in one place for long periods of time would be near impossible due to running out of food. Also encourages being nomadic, since most of everything you find isn't even enough to put you at max capacity, or maybe put you a little underneath depending on your luck of spawns in the game.

I love love love this idea!

[EternityTide]

perhaps it should be a 1 in a 1000 chance, only on maps that the player is currently in, and can only happen to certain types of houses (like the lakeside cabins in ML, or the cabins in the coastal townsite)

a limit should also be placed so that it can only happen 2-3 times in the entire playthrough. It's meant to be a rare and scary thing, not a regular occurence that you go "well, it's what I expected." it's meant to be an unexpected event

[AmericanSteel]

At first I was thinking about a new snowed in model and replacing a few of the charred ruins. While that would change the landscape a bit it would not really add anything. Then I got to thinking about what a 1 in a 1000 chance would add. Or only on your map? Or only certain houses? Spending a lot of dev time developing/programming/debugging/testing & debugging again for a rare at best event is a huge waste of dev time. If they had that kind of time, I would rather they include new animals, new plants, new traps, spears, etc.

If the devs start to include some dynamics toward home repair and improvement, then I think this would could fall under general maintenance. Until said time, I am going to say no to having a house collapse due to snow.

[EternityTide]

discounting house collapse then.

perhaps having to board up shattered windows before the house can be fully warm and have wind-chill protection. Making a place livable is as much a part survival as shooting game and making fires.

[elloco999]

I've been thinking this collapsing of houses over and I've come to the conclusion it would be a very rare occurrence IRL. People who build a house or cabin in a region where heavy snowfall is common build these buildings with steep enough roofs that gravity will prevent a build up so heavy it would collapse the building. So for this to happen something would have had to lower the structural integrity of the building (like an earth quake or something).

And like AmericanSteel said, if it is such a rare occurrence it is probably not worth the effort required to implement it.

I do like the idea of buildings being damaged (broken windows/ doors etc) and needing to be repaired before they provide a warmth bonus (they should still provide protection against the wind though). The damage could be a result from heavy storms (a broken branch smashing into a window could certainly break it) or from people who have been there before we came along.

Damage caused by storms could also happen at any time during the game when the weather is bad enough. It would create situations like you're surprised by a blizzard and make your way back to your base, thinking your safe now only to have a window smashed in and the temperature dropping so far even the stove/ fireplace isn't enough to keep you from freezing. Would add a little drama to the game

[AmericanSteel]

I think the ability to "improve" your home would be fantastic. Good example is the Homestead in PV. You can build a fire in two rooms but the house is huge. I would turn the kitchen into a larder and leave it alone. I would then insulate the den with the fireplace, at the very least hang drapes and put some rugs out. Then close off the entrance to the room, again with drapes if that is all we have. We have a couch, make a bed. You have a table to turn into a crafting area. Make the area we are going to warm as small as possible. We don't have to worry about losing heat every time we walk in and out of the house because your "warm room" is insulated and contained, much like a clean room in a medical setting.

I don't believe this sort of home improvement is ever going to happen. While the amount of raw resources would allow it, the amount of raw resources would also change the balance in games were players did not want to improve their position. We have talked at length about how something as simple as drapes would dramatically shift the amount of cloth or all the other materials we could scavenge. While I think this amounts to different play styles and the immediate reward (cloth now) vs the long term reward (an insulated room requires less wood to heat)... I would love to see it.

[Shanti]

I like the idea of storms being able to smash windows / require repair for houses! Might be another use for simple tools (I think I have 5 in my current run, and I've used about 12% of one so far)!

I also like the idea of super-insulating a single room. And of being able to shovel snow into a container to freeze / preserve meat, but maybe that's a different discussion...

[elloco999]

I hadn't played for a while and the new update seemed like a good reason to start again. So I've finally started a stalker run. I have to say I love everything about stalker, except the predators. They truly are everywhere. Makes it hard to gather enough wood with the new foraging mechanic while also combating the new hypothermia mechanic.

So more than ever I would like a mode with stalker weather etc but with voyageur wildlife. I think that would be the perfect blend for me.

[AmericanSteel]

I hadn't played for a while and the new update seemed like a good reason to start again. So I've finally started a stalker run. I have to say I love everything about stalker, except the predators. They truly are everywhere. Makes it hard to gather enough wood with the new foraging mechanic while also combating the new hypothermia mechanic.

So more than ever I would like a mode with stalker weather etc but with voyageur wildlife. I think that would be the perfect blend for me.

The current predator model is feast or famine, depending on if you have a ranged weapon. If you luck up on a fire arm or make a bow the amount of wolf meat is staggering, at least in ML. If you don't have a weapon, then you are at their mercy.

One of the improvements is the new sprint mechanic, with a bar 70% full or more, you can easily outrun a wolf BEFORE he goes into the attack charge. After they have gone into an attack charge you might eek out a escape but it is gonna be close. Also with the new sprint mechanic we can begin to use the environment to our advantage. For instance, I was coming back to my camp base (the one with the flag) and was pinched with a wolf behind be and a wolf in front of me, while freezing. Hypothermia had not yet set in but the clock was ticking. The wolf closest to base turns around and in short order spots me. I run up on the rock outcrop near the water and wait. The wolf starts barking, runs around the rocks and up the rise to get me. I jump down, praying I don't sprain my ankle, and starting sprinting. I turned to the side a bit when I opened the door to see the wolf just making it to the front porch. The old mechanic, it would have been a scuffle. New mechanic, "schwing!"