[Suggestion] Permanent injury

[Renegade30]

Sometimes we can get away with fighting wolves and bears over and over and recover again in a couple of days. But imagine in real life if you had been attacked by a black bear and managed to escape with your life, would you really be able to recover with a bit of sleep and nutrition?

I think that such a dangerous and damaging encounter could lead to permanent damage, whether that be just a limp or a torn muscle requiring pain treatment, or if that's an amputated limb or a lost eye.

I think it would be really cool addition to your survival story to have survived such an event.

Imagine having to cauterise a missing hand after a ferocious fight with a black bear, or bandaging your ear up after it got torn off by a wolfs claw. The lasting effects of such a counter would really effect your survival story for the rest of the time you play and could be an excellent addition which would effect long term survival. All those people suggesting it is easy after you get to day 30, should think again after they have lost a hand and can only wield the rifle with one shaky hand for example.

Of course these are just ideas and maybe losing limbs would make the game too difficult, but there are many other long term injuries that could even be healed after several weeks.

Thoughts?

[Aelaera]

This could be an absolutely amazing addition to the higher levels of difficulty (such as stalker, and maybe after extreme circumstances are met in voyageur). Some people may hate it, but personally I think it could be a really cool addition. Losing an ear would result in half of your speakers working, an eye causes a blind spot on one side, extreme shaking on a rifle draw for a missing hand, a permanent limp for a leg injury.

The game currently is easy after a certain amount of days, particularly on Stalker. Once you learn animal spawns, behaviors and range of detection, you can essentially turn your life into an easy hunting expedition. On a voyageur run alone I made it to 115 days before I had no remaining food stock beyond the meat I had to hunt. I was so stocked on bandages and antiseptic (or Old Man's Beard) that I could go out and get into a brawl with a wolf just for his meat. Many other veteran players I've seen in the forums complain about how easy the game gets after a short time.

I would say that for the sake of it STILL being a game and not a chore to play, you could only receive one permanent injury per character. I mean otherwise by day 272, your character would essentially be a handless, blind, deaf and limping creature forced to lay in bed and die after the twenty-eighth barely survived wolf attack.

[Boston123]

You do realize that all the "important bits" of the ear are on the "inside", right?

You can survive losing the external portion of the ear quite handily, without any loss of hearing. There aren't even that many blood vessels in the external parts, so it won't even bleed that badly.

As for "cauterizing a stump after losing a hand".... Jesus Christ. If the bear tears off your hand, you are probably already dead before you manage to get home. If you try to cauterize the stump, you will die from shock.

That literally has to be one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard, I'm sorry. There is a reason, after all, that cauterization fell out of favor hundreds of years ago: most people die due to cauterization, not the wounds. DO you know how HOT something has to get before it will seal a wound shut? Do you know how much DAMAGE said hot thing will cause to already damaged flesh, blood vessels and nerves?

Nothing we have in-game will be hot enough to reliably seal a wound shut, at least not in a short amount of time.

Oh, and plenty of people manage to use firearms one-handed.

The one "permanent" injury that I would like to see, and that makes sense according to the environment, would be frostbite. Essentially all of the other injuries mentioned above would be a death sentence in the wilderness. You can survive without a couple of toes/fingers, the outsides of the ears, or the tip of the nose.

[Aelaera]

You do realize that all the "important bits" of the ear are on the "inside", right?

You can survive losing the external portion of the ear quite handily, without any loss of hearing. There aren't even that many blood vessels in the external parts, so it won't even bleed that badly.

As for "cauterizing a stump after losing a hand".... Jesus Christ. If the bear tears off your hand, you are probably already dead before you manage to get home. If you try to cauterize the stump, you will die from shock.

That literally has to be one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard, I'm sorry. There is a reason, after all, that cauterization fell out of favor hundreds of years ago: most people die due to cauterization, not the wounds. DO you know how HOT something has to get before it will seal a wound shut? Do you know how much DAMAGE said hot thing will cause to already damaged flesh, blood vessels and nerves?

Nothing we have in-game will be hot enough to reliably seal a wound shut, at least not in a short amount of time.

Oh, and plenty of people manage to use firearms one-handed.

The one "permanent" injury that I would like to see, and that makes sense according to the environment, would be frostbite. Essentially all of the other injuries mentioned above would be a death sentence in the wilderness. You can survive without a couple of toes/fingers, the outsides of the ears, or the tip of the nose.

If we're talking realism, the chances of walking away from a bear mauling at ALL is nonexistent. Even if you survive the mauling you would never able to medically treat yourself before you went into shock.

[Boston123]

Yeah, and?

In "real life", people who piss off a bear deserve everything coming their way. "Survivalists" do anything and everything in their power to avoid ticking them off. They SHOULD be lethal.

[Renegade30]

snip

Wow a little hostile there. I was simply spit balling stuff based around my overall idea.

Yes I do realise you can lose the external portion of the ear and still be able to hear, but directional hearing would be very difficult. This could be simulated with just having mono sound coming out of both speakers, effectively losing directional sound...

Also on the topic of cauterization, no I have no idea as I am not a doctor and unless you are actually trained medically you probably don't know either - to be fair my level of knowledge of cauterization pretty much ends at what I saw on Rambo . However, people have been known to survive lost limbs with very little medical resources (probably due to shock) and amputation did exist in ancient times where cauterization was generally the procedure, therefore it is a plausible last resort.

Also your comment on people 'managing' to use rifles one handed - I would argue that people 'manage' to walk around the city blind - but that doesn't make them good at it, especially without years of practice.

Anyway, given that my argument wasn't about cauterization, ears or firing using only one hand, but actually about permanent \ long lasting injuries all this is moot anyway but your frostbite idea is good...

EDIT

Forgot to say, Aelaera, I think your ideas are good hey I would love to see them in game! Perhaps if Hinterland could give us some custom difficulty settings in the future (which has been asked for many times but we're told it's a bit too difficult at the moment) we could see a bit of customization as far as amount of injuries and how easily they are attained

One things for certain, it definitely feels unrealistic that we can shrug off a wolf or bear attack with a bit of sleep, some very basic wound care and nourishment for a day or two.

[Boston123]

How, exactly, would losing the external parts of an ear make hearing any more difficult?

Generally, the only issues with hearing that stem from the "outer ear" involve the ear canal. So long as that is fine (and it probably will be, what being up next to the skull and all.), you won't really notice anything different.

http://www.earscience.org.au/Hearing-Di ... of-HL.aspx

I am trained medically, in First Aid and Wilderness Survival, and believe me, Cauterization is something you just don't do. People with serious injuries don't survive because of shock, they die because of shock. Shock is a BAD THING. And, tell me, what does cauterization of a would cause? A whole metric-poop-ton of shock. Burns are some of the most painful injuries you can experience, and burning a wound close sounds like something out of the 2nd Circle of Hell itself.

I would rather strap a tourniquet around a limb, than try to cauterize anything.

[Renegade30]

I am trained medically, in First Aid and Wilderness Survival

I'm sure you know all about shock and cauterization with your first aid certificate and something called 'wilderness survival' :roll:

Granted cauterization is risky. But it is also themed in many holywood style survival movies. Granted 'The long Dark' does not actually represent reality, given the fact that you can shrug off animal attacks in a day or two and easily survive a bear attack if you are at 100%, I think cauterization would fit nicely into the 'barely believable category' based on your argument.

[bethany]

Please keep the conversation civil and on-topic, or it will be locked.

Thanks!

[Renegade30]

Please keep the conversation civil and on-topic, or it will be locked.

Thanks!

No worries Bethany, sorry about that!