Willy Pete

This is why I always carry at least 1 flare

So I recently made my first ever trek up Timberwolf Mountain and am almost done hoarding every last scrap of stuff I found up there, but I've a question for all of you. See, one of the containers I found had a bunch of lanterns in it, they were all more broken than the one I used so I wound up breaking them all down. My question is, would you have done the same? Do you have a set batch of tools that you hold while scrapping the rest, or do you hold on to everything you find until it can no longer be repaired? Another example is if I have a bunch of different knives/axes, I'll oftentimes use up the most damaged ones, saving my whetstones for my least damaged set of tools.

So as most everyone ought to know by now, during the Aurora you can activate a radio to play some classical music. It stands to reason that this music is coming from somewhere, it's not like the Aurora brought the music with it. Enter the Radio Shack, not a place where you can buy assorted electronics, but a literal shack (or building) in which all of Great Bear's radio broadcasts originate. At the minimum, it would be a small enterable area (though I wouldn't be opposed to something similar to the Mountaineer's Hut only a little bigger) in which you can find a bunch of radio equipment and some sort of automated system playing the classical music on repeat. A cool feature would be the ability to switch between different genres, finding some CDs or vinyl records with other genres of royalty-free music. Clicking on the music system would grant you the classical music CD, which could then be swapped out for something like rock/pop/metal/etc. Henceforth, whenever the Aurora comes and you activate a radio it plays that music instead. If it were in a specific region, I imagine something like Timberwolf Mountain but toned down with no requirement for rope climbing to reach the summit (where the radio shack would be). You would have three or four different levels, each of them accessed by either a long and arduous hike up steep terrain or a rope climb. Like TW, interior locations would be scarce, limited to caves, the Radio Shack, maybe a nearby tool shed, and a small house or two at the bottom. Maybe it belonged to a grouchy old mountain man. It might also be fun to have multiple notes scattered about the area, belonging to the grouch and whoever operated the radio system. They might tell a story, something similar to the notes left by the Survivalist Randall Clark in Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts. Each might have a clue as to where you can find the next one, culminating in the player finding two frozen corpses where the two characters finally perished. I almost want to try my hand at some TLD fanfiction concerning this last part.

Put away the pistol before you interact with something, the character draws it pretty quick with the 2 key if you're on PC. Never had this issue personally.

I suggested this a while back, the biggest issue that came up logic-wise is that geographically Great Bear has coal mines. In order to have hot springs you need magma. Put these things together and you've got a bad time. If you were to ignore logic, however, I think it could still fit. You wouldn't be able to get water from them, and they would make any clothing you wear wet when you get in, but providing a sort of pseudo-shelter could be cool.

I'm sure this has come up before, especially in a game where firestarting is tantamount to survival, but I think lighters would make an excellent addition to the game. As a baseline, they would be less effective than firestrikers at starting fires, but have the ability to remain lit for longer periods of time than a match when used for light. From here, things would vary depending on which instance of lighter was in the game (though both could feasibly work together as separate items). 1. Throwaway lighter: this would be something like those Bic brand lighters you can find almost everywhere. They would be non-harvestable and non-repairable. Lighting a fire would cost 3-4% (one or two more than the firestriker) or you could use it like a lit match, using 1% a minute (all this could be tweaked for game balance, obviously) while giving a small increase to feels like temperature. This would probably be about as common as wood matches. 2. Fillable lighter: this would be more like a higher quality Zippo lighter. The options for this one vary far more. I would probably lean towards it being non-harvestable, but be repairable with quality tools. It would burn lamp oil (in which case you would have an 'unfill' option) with the same starting bonus as the Throwaway version, and degrade only when attacked or when initially ignited (the degradation essentially being that of the sparking mechanism). If this was implemented, it would have to be far more rare.

The Model 19 (in .357 Magnum) would also fit the billet, most of those older S&Ws have similar features.

I'd rather have the ability to carry wolf and deer carcasses, but while doing so you walk at a snail's pace and can't use any tools or go through any transitional zones (like houses, where the character would do something like say: "I'd better drop this"). As well, you get a full scent bar while carrying the carcass.

TLD is a game where, in the end, you are eventually going to die (unless you're good at beach-combing). You will run out of matches, you will run out of sewing kits and fishing lures, you will run out of tools...eventually. It's all about how long you can last and what memories you can make along the way.

I've seen a number of folks on the Wishlist forum asking for different vehicles and whatnot in TLD, but it's always snow mobiles or automobiles and as these both use traditional gasoline or diesel engines that require things like timing, electrical starters and motors and the like they wouldn't work in the quiet apocalypse. During an Aurora event you'd have constant power provided to your spark plugs which wouldn't allow the engine to run and the power required to power the starter would probably not be available with the Aurora alone. But not every type of engine requires electricity to function. 19th Century steam engines, for example, would work just fine as they rely on burning coal to heat up water to drive a piston. No electronics required. My question for all of you folks is: what other types of motors/engines would work (if there even are any)?

I'm fairly certain it's not a .44 Magnum as (IRL) this would be as powerful as the .30-30 within 100 meters and therefore easily capable of taking down most of the animals in TLD with ease. As that's not the case (from what I've heard, I only ever use it defensively and have little personal experience with it in game) I'd wager it's a .357 Magnum and the ammo is just all ball (FMJ) ammo. This is still a round that can take down deer and wolves IRL and with proper shot placement could take down a black bear (I'd personally never trust anything below a .44) so it fits better.

@Comet777 I've definitely frozen to death while sleeping on Voyager...

@ajb1978 Fair enough, didn't thoroughly check it, I guess. Still, animating the cylinder spinning and hammer dropping when empty would be a nice touch.

I love wheelguns, but the one in TLD feels like a semi-auto in some regards. The hammer/cylinder don't move when dry firing (I forget if they do when shooting, but I don't think they do) and the thing apparently ejects rounds automatically! When popping the cylinder open to reload the fired chambers are empty. That is silly beyond belief and quite honestly breaks my immersion a whole lot more than it should. The fix really is simple and could be done in one of two ways. 1. Fired chambers don't automatically empty, just add a small clinking sound effect and perhaps a delay when the firearm goes down off the screen. This would be indicative of removing the empty shells manually. When the firearm comes back onto the screen, the chambers are empty. 2. Fired chambers don't automatically empty, take a page from Alien Isolation's wheelgun. For those unaware, no matter if you've fired all six rounds or just one the main character hits the ejector rod and empties the cylinder when reloading. All unfired rounds are retained and you then reload the empty cylinder. This second one would, in some ways, punish players who only fire off a single shot and then reload but at the same time it's accurate! It's not all that easy to eject a single round, doubly so if it's freezing cold outside. Therefore, you have to choose either to take a long reload after every round or just reload when you're empty. This second one could also lead to some fun Dirty Harry-esque moments where you're faced with an angry wolf and the following scene plays out: Player faced with snarling wolf: "I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I kind of lost track myself. But being that this is a .44 Magnum (probably, it doesn't actually say in game but I'm assuming here), the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, pup?" Wolf: *Bork Bork* and charges. Player faced with charging wolf: *Click* "FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..!" In reality, it's only a minor complaint but it's a complaint that's near and dear to my heart.

Having fired a Mosin-Nagant (different gun, I know, but it's similar to the SMLE) outdoors, the Rifle really should do the same outdoors. Had my ears ringing for a good few seconds.

Upvote from me, being a bit of a gun nut I always make sure to unload my rifle before cleaning in (and out of) game. Shoot safe, folks!

Eh, I could go either way on this. I do like the idea of adding spooky elements to TLD. Something to make the hair stand on end as you're carrying a torch through the night, or as you're stumbling your way through a blizzard, but I don't know about haunting specific places. Maybe just add some audio feature that makes you stop and think or look around for a second to get your bearings...only problem with this is that after a while it gets tuned out as you realize it means nothing. The background audio of the dam was always unsettling for me and that with only the music and the constant creaking and grumbling. Even to this day, knowing that it's not going to collapse and that there are no monsters lurking in the dark, I still get spooked every time I go in it.

@kristaok No, I mean how would you cure it in game? How would it work in game? Eat X amount of calories from rabbit meat without eating anything else? Once inflicted, what would it do? Act like anything else and decrease condition? (Making water drain faster would be a cool touch). Ultimately, what would cure it? Consuming X amount of calories from non-rabbit sources? I don't know much about coding, but it doesn't sound super simple. Parasites and food poisoning are easy as percentage values combined with food items. Maybe you could have a calorie counter (not visible to the player, of course) for counting calories towards rabbit starvation and then another counter for non-rabbit calories away from it once you get it. I dunno, still a neat idea but I don't know how easily it could be implemented.

Neat story, if morbid. In any case, rabbits make up a small portion of my in-game diet so I could go either way with it. Problem is, how do you cure it?

I posted the same thing earlier, food should freeze outside and frozen food should last an even longer time, but require thawing through body heat or fire for consumption.