Clothing Crafting Options:Time/Heat/Weight

[jolynsbass]

While it's fun to make all of the good clothing, I can't help but feel it would be even more awesome to have some options in terms of what type of skins are used for the different types of clothing... These options would need to be balanced in terms of: amount of skins needed, time need to craft clothing, the heat bonus from that clothing, and the weight of the clothing.

So, for instance, you have rabbit skins, deer skins, wolf skins, and bear skins. You can make any of the basic clothing items out of any of the types of skins: boots, gloves, pants, coat, (hat would be nice, too).

Rabbit skins: require lots of skins for coverage (they're small), craft quickly, lowest heat bonus, lightest weight

Deer skins: not as many skins required, craft at medium speed, medium heat bonus, medium weight

Wolf skins: not many required, craft at slow speed, higher heat bonus, higher weight

Bear skins: lowest number required, craft at very slow speed, highest heat bonus, heaviest weight

This would allow players to manage the very important resources of calorie consumption, weight carried, and heat from clothing in a way that lets them prioritize for different situations, and even create different sets of clothing for various tasks/goals.

Even with all bear-skin clothing, a player should not be able to ignore the deep cold of inclement weather - It's possible that the current animal skin heat ratings are a tad too high in some instances.

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(Absolutely loving the Long Dark - recently got the 30 hour award. I usually die in the mid-20s days from some stupid choice regarding bears. So much replay-ability!)

[Boston123]

Erm... rabbit fur is actually REALLY good at holding in warmth. The only thing is: the skins the fur is attached to is rather fragile, making it impractical for "outerwear". I wouldn't make any of the in-game crafted clothing pieces from rabbit-fur ( with the exception of a nice fur hat.)

Instead, I would use rabbit-fur as a liner, to sew to the inside of clothing. That way, you could get all the warmth-retaining effects, and keep the soft furs protected from weather and wear.

In real life, I've got a pair of buckskin moccasins, which in turn I lined with rabbit-fur. The buckskin is tough, relatively waterproof ( after being smoked and oiled), and warm on its own, and the rabbit-fur is soft, comfortable, and keeps snow away from my feet. I've walked around in a New England winter ( -20 degrees outside with windchill factored in), no socks, while everyone else had insulated boots and were freezing.

Oh, and no, wearing heavy furs should TOTALLY protect you from cold, no matter how cold it gets, so long as you are properly insulated. What do you think people wore in the Paleolithic? Layer on enough furs, and you can sweat in a blizzard.

I do agree that you should be able to make any article of clothing, from any piece of hide. Just with the exception of rabbit.

[jolynsbass]

Good counterpoints - I like your example of the moccasins. Perhaps a clothing crafting option of combining different skins (or at least, adding a rabbit fur lining, for extra heat/weight), would be nice.

I just would really like to see expanded options for clothing crafting, along with the possible imperative of finding some kind of "instructions" prior to being able to make them... I know if *I* tried making a coat out of wolfskins, my ignorant attempt would result in a coat that probably could not rival the heat/protection from a "premium winter coat" designed by someone who knew what they were doing...

[Muk_Pile]

I'd just like it if I could use rabbit skins to patch up my other garments as they begin to wear out. And since they would only repair a small amount of condition, I wouldn't have wait until it's condition got low enough to repair it efficiently with a full deer/wolf/bear hide. I wrote my own ideas down on another topic about using rabbit skins as universal clothing repair patches, so here's the link: Rabbit Hat / Rabbit hide for universal repair