Fuarian

I second this. Twice.

I've been using your food mod for some time. And I really enjoy a lot of the items. Although I do find some of them give way too many calories than needed.

My biggest gripe is the whole tinder situation. At level 3 you don't need it. AT ALL. You can literally just take a chunk of wood and a match and boom you've got yourself a fire. That.. not only is extremely unrealistic but even WITH tinder that would be borderline impossible. Hot take: You shouldn't be able to start a fire with firewood, you should need sticks, books, etc... to START a fire. And once it's hot enough/going for long enough, then you can add your bigger pieces of wood. And you should NEED tinder.

Pretty sure I said that it should work this way. Pain should last longer. As would the actual afflictions themselves. But be treatable temporarily to mitigate the negative effects. And you're correct, a broken bone in this game would basically be a death sentence. So I tried to think of something severe like that but not completely nihilistic.

I have some ideas for an improved first aid system all around. From affliction severity, to new afflictions entirely, to new treatments, etc... Let's go. Affliction Severity I think afflictions in the game should have severity levels depending on what affliction they are, how it was contracted, etc... and the treatment for them would depend on the severity. Low Severity: These afflictions are minor and wouldn't impact your character all too much. But some minor afflictions if left untreated can worsen into more severe. Medium Severity: These are your normal afflictions. Pretty severe but not extremely life threatening. Normal treatment. High Severity: Afflictions of high severity have more extreme symptoms and require extra treatment. They can be more detrimental to your survival. Each affliction has different possible severities, as mentioned. But some afflictions, by the nature of what they are, may not have every severity. Being bitten by a wolf for example will be a bad injury and cannot be low severity based on what the injury is. For example. New Medical Items Before I get into some new (and existing) afflictions I thought of. Here are some items used to treat them I came up with. Compression Bandage: A heavy duty medical bandage used to stop extreme blood loss. Will restrict movement or use of afflicted area. Cannot be crafted. Also acts as disinfectant. Rare to find. Bandaids: Small over the counter bandaids. Used for covering up cuts, scrapes and small burns. Cannot be crafted. Strong Painkillers: A stronger variant of your normal painkillers. Will work more effectively at blocking pain but will have lasting side effects. Medical Splint: Professional splint used to stabilize broken bones or severe sprains. Rare to find (special/unique item?), can be reused, cannot be repaired or crafted. Improvised Splint: A hand crafted splint used to stabilize sprains. Not as effective as the professional kind. Can be crafted. Suture Kit: A pouch with the necessary tools to stitch up open wounds. Using the item on an open wound will add medium severity pain affliction on top of the existing pain. Gauze: A material used to stop immediate blood loss. Not a permanent solution. New Afflictions I've thought of some new afflictions to add to the game. As well as changes to existing afflictions. Blood Loss: Blood loss is an existing affliction. But I think it should be changed. Instead of being it's own affliction, it should be incorporated into different afflictions under their own name. Minor: Minor blood loss isn't a concern. It results in 1% condition loss every hour. Hardly an issue. But if left untreated it can turn sour. It can also heal on it's own. Medium: Normal blood loss, not as severe as it currently is in game. 1% condition loss every 20 minutes. Needs to be treated however. Major: Major blood loss. About as severe as it in the game now. Cannot be treated instantly. More severe cases of blood loss will not go away immediately once a treatment has been applied however. Over time, the blood loss will lower in severity until it is gone. The severity of the affliction will determine how long this takes. Pain: Pain is caused by almost every affliction. But it needs MORE severity. Minor: Minor pain results in general discomfort. Pretty much as it is right now in game. Treated with painkillers or resting time. Medium: Medium pain results in distorted audio, visual blurriness and longer action times. Treated with painkillers or strong painkillers. Longer resting time. Major: Major pain results in restricted actions (more on that later), more distorted hearing, blurrier vision, slower mobility and lowered condition by 5% per affliction case. This is a rarer pain to attain. Treated with severe painkillers and lots of rest. Cuts and Scrapes: I'm grouping these two together because they are very similar injuries. Minor: Minor cuts can be attained through a variety of actions; climbing (ropes and rocks) without gloves, wolf attacks (wearing gloves), chance when sharpening tools with whetstone (with gloves), etc... Results in minor blood loss. Minor scrapes can be attained from falls of small distances, when spraining your ankle or wrist, during animal attacks, etc... Treated with bandaids. If left untreated they may heal on their own. Medium: Normal cuts result in blood loss. Imagine cutting your hand with a knife in the kitchen equivalent. This can be obtained by falling off ropes without gloves, animal attacks, sharpening tools, etc... Treated with multiple bandaids or a bandage. Scrapes of this severity can cause minor blood loss, so a simple bandaid is all that's needed. But an infection risk is also present as well as pain. Treated with antiseptic and painkillers, obviously. Major: Major cuts result in medium to major blood loss. These cuts can be contracted in the same ways medium cuts can. But they require a bandage or compression bandage to cover up. Gauze can also be used, which may stop blood loss entirely alone. But using a bandage ensures that. Disinfectant for the infection risk and painkillers for the pain. Major scrapes can cause pain and medium blood loss. Contracted by falling off high ledges, ropes, animal attacks, etc... Treated with bandages. Infection risk with antiseptic and painkillers for the pain. Lacerations: Like cuts, lacerations result in blood loss. But these are more open wounds. Unlike cuts, bandages will need to be replaced for a period of time depending on the severity. Medium: Lacerations of this severity are contracted through animal attacks around the body. As well as the aforementioned methods. Blood loss is far more severe in this state. Using a compression bandage or several normal bandages along with gauze can stem the blood loss. But the wound will need to be closed using a suture kit. Will cost 5% condition when using and some time. Infection risk and medium pain will be afflicted as well. Bandages will need to be changed 2-3 times. If the wound opens again, it will become higher severity. Takes 10 days to fully heal. Major: Major lacerations are life threatening. 10% condition loss is applied when the laceration opens up. Major blood loss will follow, resulting in rapid condition loss. Apply gauze to stem blood loss temporarily. Moving around, running, etc... will prevent gauze from working effectively. Apply a compression bandage on top of the gauze to ensure this doesn't happen. Once the blood loss has been lowered to medium or minor, the bandage and gauze can be removed and the stitches can be applied. And then another bandage to cover it up. Takes 30 days to fully heal. Strains: Unlike sprains, strains are injuries to the muscle. They reduce mobility and increase pain. Contracted in the same way sprains are, including wildlife attacks. You can think of them as less severe sprains. Minor: Minor strains don't restrict mobility. But they do result in minor pain. A compression bandage can be applied here to reduce movement of the muscle to prevent pain. It can then be removed and reused after since it hasn't been bloodied. Takes 2 days to heal. Medium: Strains of this severity will slow down actions (walking, running, hand actions like breaking down, etc...) depending where it is. The above treatment will work but will take longer to heal, 5 days. Results in medium pain. Major: Major strains restrict mobility like a sprain does. Major pain and 5% condition loss upon contracting. Takes 10 days to heal fully. Sprains: I think sprains should be deadly. As a result, sprains will be rarer but more severe. They can no longer be contracted through animal attacks. But mostly through walking on severely uneven terrain, falling, etc... Medium: These are your normal sprains we all hate. They take roughly 5 days to heal. Requires compression bandage as well as a splint. Running, falling, etc... will break the treatment and reset the "timer" to heal. As well as break the splint if it's improvised. Medium pain is applied but using these treatments it can be mitigated. Major: Major sprains are deadly. They restrict mobility and activities far more. Walking is slowed, running is completely restricted, breaking down/harvesting items are restricted (if sprain is to hands), holding light sources is restricted (if it's in your right hand), etc... Using a compression bandage and splint is necessary to heal. Even with these applied, running is restricted. But walking speed is returned to normal. Major pain is applied. This affliction requires 10-15 days to heal. Food Poisoning: Similar to parasites, this should take time to heal as well as time to obtain. It shouldn't be instantaneous after eating bad food. Medium: This is your normal food poisoning. If you get sick, it will appear after 24 hours upon eating poor food. Treated with antibiotics, takes 4-7 days to recover. Without antibiotics you can recover in 10 days provided you are healthy. For those 4-7 days after taking meds, you will get tired and cold quicker. As well as recover condition slower. Major: Severe food poisoning can be a killer. If you get sick it will appear in 12 hours. It's treated with 2-3 doses of antibiotics and takes up to 10 days to recover. Without antibiotics, you will most certainly die. Will take 3% every hour if left untreated. For those 10 days after taking meds, you will get tired, hungry, thirsty and cold quicker. As well as recover condition slower. Concussion: Major: A severe affliction resulting from major physical trauma. Falling off climbing ropes, falling from severe heights, Moose and Bear attacks (from the weight and force of the fall), etc... can cause concussions. This affliction is actually in the game, but only in Episode 3 and can't be applied to your character. Concussions result in blurry vision, distorted audio, occasional major pain and temporary lowered condition by 10%. You will get tired quicker and take longer to complete actions. Treatment requires 14 days of health. That includes being well rested, not thirsty, well fed and warm. Painkillers and Teas: I find the way painkillers and tea works is very strange. Currently any affliction requiring them is instantly healed after consuming them. Anyone who's ever taken pain meds knows that is not how it works. Painkillers, both normal and strong, should take time to kick in. Say 20-30 minutes in game after taking them. Or maybe even longer. Additionally, rose hip/reishi tea should take even longer to kick in and may not even be guaranteed to work. So those were some ideas I had for an improved first aid system. Or at least some improved first aid mechanics.

I'd like for them to remain consistent with the game. But more importantly, I'd like for them to be tied to a separate setting than the difficulty you're playing on. there are plenty of tips i never see cause i play on a difficulty higher than Voyageur. I just like seeing them.

There is a notification for eating raw meat.

I like to think survival mode takes place a week or two after you crash. Or you can be imaginative and give another backstory to your character.

The gate in front of Carter Dam/Hunting Lodge comes to mind. Or maybe some of the mineshafts. Have a random chance that these areas are locked.

Or more indication of the dynamic world we find ourselves in. Around Great Bear.

If you read some notes in Wintermute and have a keen eye. You might have read the name Port Mary. That may be a future location.

Imo water needs an overhaul. Dysentery needs to be more of a threat.

I could've sworn the meat bags I left by my quarter got stolen by the local wolf pack. But if meat could be stolen at your doorstep, that would be cool. And you'd have to store it in containers to protect it completely. If you don't, animals will come and get it (obviously) but ALSO it would attract animals to your area. Including bears. Until the meat is gone (if they haven't gotten it). And if you repeatedly put meat outside, animals will begin to frequent the area expecting more. This gives players an incentive to move bases every once in a while, or keep meat inside.

I think similarly to when cold reaches 0 you get a hypothermia risk, when hunger reaches 0 calories you should get a malnutrition risk. Which goes up the longer you starve, but even if you feed yourself it doesn't go away. You need to get constantly fed. Something like that.

100% agreed. Most of the artwork put into the outer sides of the maps go completely unused in game.

While the custom toolbox settings are great. I feel like we need even more customization ability. Specifically in regards to loot availiability. I think that there should be a custom option for baseline loot availiability, ground loot availiability and container item avaliability. For baseline loot you should have access to a whole list of all the items in the game. And select which ones spawn and which don't. So if you want hatchets but no knives, go ahead. Or if you want high quality food but maybe you find energy bars too OP? Go right ahead. Maybe you want good rare clothing but not expedition parka's. The choice is yours. For loose item availability you should be able to customize by category which items spawn frequently or not. So working with your baseline setting, food could be low, clothing could be high, tools at medium, etc... Same thing applies to container loot availiability. Furthermore you should also be able to apply those settings to different regions. Maybe you find CH has too much of a type of loot but Pleasant Valley doesn't have enough? You can balance it out. Or maybe make some hard to reach areas have more life saving supplies but the easy forgiving regions have little. (that's the kind of balance I would go for with these settings). Since custom mode doesn't allow for feat progression this kind of customization wouldn't be cheating. It allows for more player freedom and I believe it can make the survival mode experience much more engaging and long term.

Night vision equipment 100% requires power to use. How do you think the infrared sensors operate? They mostly run off of battery power which has been neutralized by the aurora.

Well Cougars will stalk their prey very silently but one thing they do that the Darkwalker doesn't is utilize high ground.

On lower difficulties matches are damn near infinite since there's so many. You may theoretically run out but you won't be playing long enough to actually run out. Mag lenses ARE an actual infinite source of fire. A small BIC lighter wouldn't do much harm to game balance. Plus they run out of fuel fairly quickly especially if you use it for light source. So make them quite rare and there ya go.

So... Hushed River Valley with less cliffs, caves and waterfalls?

At the fictional level of The Long Dark even batteries wouldn't function. That's why the flashlight loses it's charge when the morning comes around

not lore friendly

I've thought about changing the background ever since the game came out. An idea I had was that the background would change to the location you were at in your last save game.

I found one on the steps of the Destroyed Lookout Tower in Mystery Lake

What happens if the other player is halfway across Great Bear wandering around through a blizzard and the other player desperately needs to sleep or they'll die? Does Player A choose to let Player B sleep to recover condition, forcing Player A to pass time in the blizzard and freeze? Or does Player B let Player A wander through the blizzard, getting lost only to find shelter hours later, by then Player B didn't sleep and has died. This just wouldn't work.