Old idea but ALCOHOL

draebor

By draebor
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draebor Survivor

draebor

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As it currently stands, The Long Dark is a great Canadian winter simulator. I'm particularly appreciative that the devs have not implemented snow shoveling because I'd be dead by day 3. However, I must say that the most glaring inaccuracy in the game so far... so unrealistic in a rural northern Canada survival game that it breaks the immersion for me... is that there's not a drop of liquor to be found. Honestly, devs... you guys are Canadian.. how many liquor stores can you think of within walking distance from your home or office? Even in towns with like one combination gas station/grocery store/post office they'll sell booze. It's a staple of Canadian winter survival.

But in all seriousness, I think it would be a great addition to the game to be able to find the occasional can of beer or the even more rare bottle of whiskey. They wouldn't really be a significant source of calories, but a shot of whiskey will warm you up faster than a cup of coffee and help to steel you against the chill. It would be the perfect thing to treat yourself to on those days when there's a blizzard howling outside and you have nothing but time to kill. Drinking too much could cause vision and motion impairment (similar to being near death) and possibly increase the risk of injuries if you try to move around too fast.

In addition to its nutritional and entertainment value, whiskey might also be used as a less-effective antiseptic in an emergency. This post (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2978/can-liquor-be-used-as-an-emergency-antiseptic) on the subject is pretty entertaining but the experiment they performed suggested that whiskey was about 50% effective at disinfecting.

All in all I think the game would benefit from it. I really don't see surviving in a post-apocalyptic Canada without a sharp stick and a bottle of rye.

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KleineVampir Wolfbait

KleineVampir

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Yeah it could be in there! Alcohol does not actually make you warmer, though, no matter how much warmer you feel. It can prevent you from freezing to death if you drink enough of it, though! That's pretty obscure though, so I don't think I'm gonna hold the devs to that one!

But yeah, I think it could be in there as calories and/or antiseptic. Most alcoholic beverages have a pretty good amount of calories, if I'm not mistaken!

It makes me think of morale though. Like maybe your guy gets depressed after staying in a cabin for so long. And maybe alcohol could help that! Maybe not the greatest message to be sending, though! I mean then again, when you're in a world where every human being other than you is dead, you'd be pretty depressed I reckon!

Just while I'm at it...morale seems like it should be a thing, because after you kill a bear or a couple deers/wolves, you can basically sit in a cabin and boil water and eat meat for days. Provided you have a hatchet, you can canabalize the whole house and just live inside. Just seems like you should suffer from something or other after being in a house and doing nothing for so long! Eh just my two cents about that!

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Rusty_Old_F250 Pathfinder

Rusty_Old_F250

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Alcohol doesn't freeze, water does, indoor temps often fall way below zero, just saying! ;) Add a shot of whiskey or vodka to it and that should keep it from freezing solid. "Back in the Day" old timers would put a small amount of vodka into the radiators on their model T's and model A's to keep the water in the engine and radiator from freezing.

Sam

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Eachna Pathfinder

Eachna

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Yeah it could be in there! Alcohol does not actually make you warmer, though, no matter how much warmer you feel. It can prevent you from freezing to death if you drink enough of it, though! That's pretty obscure though, so I don't think I'm gonna hold the devs to that one!

I'm not sure what you consider drinking enough alcohol to keep from freezing (unless you're making a joke about pickling a corpse), but even one glass of alcohol drops your core body temperature.

That being said, it still can warm the soul :D.

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SteveP Pathfinder

SteveP

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I suppose you could add a still in order to distill fuel for the lantern or for fire accelerant. You would need something to ferment such as grain or sugar or fruit and yeast and a still. Great diversion but won't do that much for you in survival. More of a hazard than an asset.

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cekivi Pathfinder

cekivi

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Alcohol as a morale booster or as a makeshift antiseptic is a good idea.

Distilling it would be a little game breaking though. How are you going to heat the mash enough to keep the yeast from dying off? Or even find enough plant material to ferment? Also, alcohol typically doesn't make the best accelerant or lantern fuel: they normally have too much water in them.

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Dirmagnos Pathfinder

Dirmagnos

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Alcohol could add a short-time boost to temperature(since it expands arteries and numb pain), and repeated use would keep it up. However, after a while it could have several negative side-effects, depending on amount consumed(and continuous use wont stop those, while player can continue receiving bonuses from alco, penalties are progressive and their effect build up, negating bonuses after a while and adding new more severe penalties): actually faster heat loss, resulting in drastic drop of body heat; increased drain of hydration; increased drain of fatigue; slower recovery time for a longer duration of time(days); impaired movement speed; impaired vision; food poisoning state; unconsciousness; death.

Basically, dropping in a 50-100g of hard liquor(but a lot depends on what kind of alco were talking about) is ok, but abusing it will have serious consequences.

Imo, the most useful alco in this situation would be some high-quality rectified spirits. They have so many uses in so many areas, that there could be a whole crafting section for recipes based on just those.

Something like beer, in current situation, could be be easily names "piss", since its about as useful it would be.

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EternityTide Pathfinder

EternityTide

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Alcohol doesn't really help in survival situations. If anything, don't drink it at all, because it dehydrates you, affects your judgement and at the end of the day, it is a poison.

Don't get me wrong, I like alcohol just as much as the next guy (unless the next guy goes to AA meetings, in which, case, I just like a good whiskey or cocktail every now and then), but in a survival situation, I'd stay on the wagon.

HOWEVER, you don't have to exclude alcohol from the game altogether. Denatured alcohol (methylated spirits) is wholly undrinkable. Even if you were desperate to get drunk, you would retch this stuff back up because of how vile it is. However, it has many other redeeming qualities:

>It is a potent accelerant

>It is also a decent fuel (can be used in place of kerosene)

>can be used to harden glue on arrowheads (making arrows more durable)

Plain old ethanol can be added too, but if you are going to hide it "for the children", you may as well put it in an unappetising bottle (a dusty, grimy exterior) and have the character make an unpleasant comment about it.

This plain ethanol (lets say, Vodka) can be used as an antiseptic (which you cannot use denatured alcohol for). It can also be used to make medical tinctures, so you also need to give a balanced view of alcohol (as in, it is not evil).

Note, however, that this is irrelevant, as The Long Dark is already rated as "Teen", citing "Violence, Blood, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco" by the ESRB. Alcohol can be added to the game in the form of liquor or methylated spirits (or both) regardless.

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illanthropist Pathfinder

illanthropist

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Alcohol doesn't really help in survival situations. If anything, don't drink it at all, because it dehydrates you, affects your judgement and at the end of the day, it is a poison.

Don't get me wrong, I like alcohol just as much as the next guy (unless the next guy goes to AA meetings, in which, case, I just like a good whiskey or cocktail every now and then), but in a survival situation, I'd stay on the wagon.

HOWEVER, you don't have to exclude alcohol from the game altogether. Denatured alcohol (methylated spirits) is wholly undrinkable. Even if you were desperate to get drunk, you would retch this stuff back up because of how vile it is. However, it has many other redeeming qualities:

>It is a potent accelerant

>It is also a decent fuel (can be used in place of kerosene)

>can be used to harden glue on arrowheads (making arrows more durable)

Plain old ethanol can be added too, but if you are going to hide it "for the children", you may as well put it in an unappetising bottle (a dusty, grimy exterior) and have the character make an unpleasant comment about it.

This plain ethanol (lets say, Vodka) can be used as an antiseptic (which you cannot use denatured alcohol for). It can also be used to make medical tinctures, so you also need to give a balanced view of alcohol (as in, it is not evil).

Note, however, that this is irrelevant, as The Long Dark is already rated as "Teen", citing "Violence, Blood, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco" by the ESRB. Alcohol can be added to the game in the form of liquor or methylated spirits (or both) regardless.

Now I want a penny stove :D

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Roberto Tomba Survivor

Roberto Tomba

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I'm invested in this game, and I want the most realistic experience imaginable. And, if I were in a situation like that, the second thing I'd want (after staying alive) would be something to take my mind off how hopeless everything is. I'd drink booze even if I knew it would thin the blood, if that meant taking an edge off the misery for a little while.

But, in a practical sense, EternityTide was spot-on with everything.

Besides, who took all the alcohol? Did Kid Rock go on tour there recently?

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Barretts Privateer Prepper

Barretts Privateer

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Yes. Alcohol drops your core temperature, even the slightest amount. Also, I don't think I would want the risk of maybe getting a little tipsy when you've got the elements and animals to face out there.

As for alcohol preventing you from freezing, there is only one recorded instance that I know of. The Titanic's baker had been drinking all day on the eve of her sinking, and survived four hours in the freezing water before he was finally picked up. (Rather sober, by then)

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Dirmagnos Pathfinder

Dirmagnos

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Actually using alcohol during cold is not such a bad option(because irl it could make you going instead of giving up, since you would feel better and generally wont give a shit about how bad things are, at least for a while). And you wont actually get drunk till you get into warm room. I speak from experience. Altho then those .5l of vodka hit all at once, but youre already safe and ready to go to bed.

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cekivi Pathfinder

cekivi

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Actually using alcohol during cold is not such a bad option(because irl it could make you going instead of giving up, since you would feel better and generally wont give a shit about how bad things are, at least for a while).

That is exactly what makes alcohol so dangerous: your judgement is impaired. If you're more likely to take risks than the odds of injury dramatically increase. Also, as several others have already pointed out, alcohol does not (ever) make you warmer. It is a false sense of warmth since the alcohol causes vasodilation. You feel warm because all of your warm blood (needed to keep your brain and organs working) is now pumping freely to your extremities again. If that carries on unrestricted you just fall asleep in a nice "warm" snow bank and never wake up.

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Dirmagnos Pathfinder

Dirmagnos

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We are not talking about getting completely hammered by gulping down .5l of 90% alco(altho youd probably die from ethanol poisoning then), but drinking small amount of it for "prophylactic" purposes.

Also, considering volume(and depth) of sea of shit protagonist is in, il take a bit of false hope any day over alternative, as no hope at all.

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