Item Condition and Penalty Values

[Bill Tarling]

ROTTING FOOD

There needs to be a stronger penalty for simply letting food go bad/deteriorate (aside from just the risk of food poisoning)...

Currently (for example) a candy bar @ 100% gives the same calorie reward as a candy bar at 40% -- you still get the full 200 calories eating it.

While it might not be the best way of balancing it, I think it might be worth considering only getting the condition percentage of the calories. In this case, a 40% Candy Bar would show a 200 calorie value [the base amount it was worth fresh], but the player only gets 80 calories (40% of the 200) when eating it.

That way you at least have an incentive for not letting food just sit around without a loss.

OLD BOOTS

This one has bugged me a little [or at least doesn't seem right]... I can accept clothing deteriorating at an unusually fast fast given it's part of a gaming aspect, but it doesn't seem right that when your boots are completely worn out, or that you simply don't wear them -- you shouldn't be able to travel as fast.

Since we don't have Frostbite as an ailment in the game, there should at least be a more severe penalty for no footware. Perhaps a slower walk speed [freezing feet do make walking extremely slow and painful] and/or the equivilent of an encumberance penalty.

COLD, HEALTH CONDITIONS AND TASK DIFFICULTIES

While it doesn't need to be extreme, I think there should be a Success Chance penalty or maybe additional time cost when a player is trying to do a task [e.g. forage, harvest, etc.] while they're starting from an already deteriorated health level -- even if it only kicks in once you're just reaching closer to the maximum starving, dehydration, or fatigue levels.

Like I said, it doesn't even need to be much of a time penalty [takes longer to complete task], but at least something so you have to balance your decisions for timing priorities... Do I pause to eat to keep my hunger levels reasonable [e.g. I still have the energy to complete tasks relatively well], or do I let myself starve more to complete current travel rather than being able to harvest that carcass faster [i.e. starving and dehydration means less energy to do tasks like meat harvesting as fast].

Even if it's not a big penalty, it just balances priority decisions for taking care of health issues before they become too extreme.

REASON FOR PENALTIES OR ADJUSTMENTS

It's not so much about trying to make the game even more challenging, but rather a way to encourage/reward optimal planning and decisions while playing.

Currently you can let your health reach extreme levels [exhaustion is the only obvious worry which is shown be encumberence levels] without too much concern -- "I'll just sleep and recover when to the next building"

For example -- doing a run from the Dam to the Lookout Tower... Starting off in decent shape you can get there quicker, but if you decide not to take time to keep your energy up and just head out all ready starving or dehydrated, it might take you an extra hour in-game time because you're moving slower [max travel speed] -- which also puts a higher risk of being caught out in changing weather.

An Alternative: Fatigue increases exponentially faster as hunger or dehydration and general health conditions get worse.

Like I said -- those calculations might already be in the game, but I figured I would throw them out there to bump up the decision making balances and challenges a little more.