dbmurph22

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Everything posted by dbmurph22

  1. I like the abstract concept of a time sensitive perk being randomly generated at the start of a run (of course the early days are the most exciting) to create some variety and an immediate extra risk/reward calc. I think you're right that it makes some sense on a game level and adds to decisions. That said, I think for it to be a dying campfire falls for me some on a thematic level. I don't have the sense that there are warm bodies or dying campfires, but a frozen over quiet apocalypse. Sure, not everything is ruined, so its not like it's been years and years, but it certainly has been enough for nature to take hold after the catastrophe and I couldn't work with it being immediately post - or even just post a passing of a fellow survivor. But I like your concept in a game sense so maybe there's another implementation. In Interloper you don't start with matches, so that helps with another of your concerns. That's why it can be so great! I think your additional ideas are quite good mostly thematically (extra temp structures and story type markings) - I would be for them if done carefully. Well mostly the latter - the markings and such. I'm not sure I'm up for too many extra temp structures. I think you have to be careful with the overall vision of TLD, which is minimalism. There's crafting, but not a lot. There's structures, but not a lot. It's a stark landscape and adding too many things, while maybe thematic, you threaten the overall nature and vision of the game. It's actually my belief that this nature and restraint is what separates it from most every game and why it's difficult to find a similar experience to TLD. They are adding items and regions, but overall there's still quite a bit of restraint to match the overall minimalistic, bare motif. Intriguing conversation - thanks for letting me discuss some. All the best.
  2. Yeah, if they are being used for marking and other tasks then, probably they should be as is. Maybe it will give those who don't like them scattered on the ground an extra thing they can do and find a container.
  3. Sorry to see you frustrated. I wouldn't try As the Dead Sleep until you are quite comfortable at Interloper difficulty. Until then, it's an unforgiving and near impossible task in an already harsh game. It's really a challenge that's a bit of a gesture to the sliver of experienced players. There's a crate at the top of the Maintenance Shed (at the end after you walk up a ramp) that usually has a stim. On Marsh Ridge in Forlorn Muskeg there is also a stim, by the firepit. Those are the first two that you'll probably encounter.
  4. I support the suggestion of the original post as is.
  5. Hi all, just a minor thread for a suggestion to Hinterland (with the thoughts of the players adjoining below) about improvements to Fluffy the wolf in the Cannery Workshop. Currently she's a threat, but as long as you sort of waddle in crouched with a firearm/bow primed, it's usually able to be handled fairly routinely. I feel bad for Fluffy. She kind of stands three and waits for her imminent death. A minor improvement would be to increase her spawn spots within the Workshop. But you could still sort of waddle over. I think it could be cool to give her a chance to spawn outside the Workshop in the outer rooms there and on the dock too, but unable to path onto the ice and such. Or maybe there's a way to update her behavior. I don't know, I thought it, so I thought I'd post it.
  6. Sorry, yeah you said as much in the OP. I got lost in the weeds a bit reading the replies after reading your initial post forgetting the sources. That said, I like the simplicity and cleanness of just having this added in exclusively rather than in addition to the other suggestions of different fire starting bonuses.
  7. See this thread: Also, one that I created lately that isn't on that list is Bleak Existence, which is a variant of the "one region" challenge. In this one you have 24 hours to collect things before going into Bleak Inlet to survive for as long as possible (with loper settings, but low recovery). But you could do that sort of "time deadline" setup in a variety of start or target regions or timelines. Gives a nice choice between more gear or push your luck with time deadline/condition. This game has been the source of a lot of great creativity from the fan base in terms of spicing things up. All the best everyone. Murph
  8. This is what I’d like to see. They can be used as fuel at any time as well as tinder, 1-2 mins apiece at 0.25 degrees. That would give them use after fire 3 and could add extra choices in early game too.
  9. Good suggestions, but with psychological effects you have to figure out what mechanic is going to be impaired. And what is that? You've seemed to target sleeping which does make sense, but I think from a game strategy POV, there would be overlap with Cabin Fever and Intestinal Parasites. I'm not sure we need a third element in the bucket. I do like the idea of adding some sort of psychological element and they have blurring of the frame with pain, which is ok-ay.....a valiant effort and pretty cool, though not exceedingly gameplay compelling. I've yet to find something really satisfactory. I tend to think the best way to implement such a thing would be to find some other interesting wishlist element in the game to add for other reasons (see other things on the wishlist) and maybe the psychological elements (ptsd, insomnia, other suggestions people have had about prolonged loneliness and trauma) affect that. Oddly enough, though, there's some element of psychological effect that breaks the wall and lifts up on a meta level to affect the actual user. For instance, people are extra jump at locations where previous wolf attacks ended their runs and sometimes make inefficient decisions due to that. So in some way we already have it in the game.
  10. Nice to hear! I've been playing a lot more Bleak Inlet the last 3-6 months because I was doing some Bleak Inlet only runs (Bleak Existence!) (and watching others do similarly) and I've come to appreciate things. I wouldn't mind seeing some Timberwolves sprinkled in some other areas at this point for sure - especially since BI is uniformly Timberwolfy (leaving out our friend in the workshop). It would be fun to see some regular wolf and timberwolf mixes. BI is a unique map, plus with not only the Timberwolves, but also the unique tools available at the Cannery, and maybe the harshest winds in the game it gives you some things no other region can. It most definitely can be a slow appreciation but I hope more folks give it additional chances.
  11. What a generous haul for the next survivor at Spence's who will find it looted, but not cleaned out, and a great help for themselves in their own survival. It's truly in the spirit of Christmas. That it was preceded by peril just prior to arrival infuses it with even more empathy in my mind (of course the next survivor will never know, but could maybe imagine the possible stories of one that came before or who may still be out there).
  12. The proposal is not believable - they value it, will continue do so, and many players find it both enjoyable and valuable. I don't you can truly explore "should they just drop story mode" with any believability. They are committed and it's important to the game. I think the OPs main reason for posting was therefore not that in any way, but really just to present their feeling or opinion and associated analysis on why they dislike story mode. Thanks for your opinion.
  13. Yeah, odizzido, the indoor temps being affected by outdoor temps (at least as an option) would be huge. And a bit of heat retention. I feel similarly about animal population in general - I went from Voyager to Interloper since the Stalker run n gun didn't really appeal to me as much as the harsh general environment. That said, when you make really low animal settings it's almost too much of an empty downer to play through.
  14. Really good thoughts and agreed. I feel like the wolf wish on this one is particularly closer to one of those "ultimate" wishlist type of deals than normal - one that's more forged in hope and desire vs realistic expectation given the difficulty of implementation as you said on a technical level. In my meat thread I sort of give my wishlist criteria thoughts and this sort of defies that. Thanks again.
  15. Variance with the Loot Tables was part of the OP - the second point in the bullet list. Yeah I fiddle with the custom settings a lot and I'm thankful for the tool. They could always be more detailed, but they are pretty good. I can see someone not wanting the standard list, but personally I like having them. I would actually be in favor of adding to the standard list with a 5th difficulty. Make Interloper the hardest but have it with low condition recovery and aggressive predators settings (far detection ranges, etc). Add the new setting between Stalker and Interloper ("Wayfarer" or some such) and make it similar to current Interloper, but maybe a few settings easier (less container density reduction maybe, one of the weather settings down a tick). And of course Wayfarer and Interloper both have the new settings Wolf and Loot Variance, that this thread is about, turned on. Eight random locations in a region each have a 20% to spawn a wolf. Five new random loot locations have a 50% chance of spawning loot and five existing ones have a 50% of having that loot removed. My wishlist...come to pass! So yeah, you can go with adding more wolf spawn locations and loot tables. Or you can say it's fine, we don't need that, just more customization in the custom menu (though I persist you can't get the same effect from either). My dream world would be to have this extra overlay. "Oh my, I'm glad I had my flare gun out...I had no idea there would be a wolf on Marsh Ridge!" and "Well...now what do I do? The guaranteed match spawn at Spence's is gone and got hit with the variance removal. Now I have to think of something." Anyway, any changes to the current situation of wolf patrol settings is yeah making aggressive changes to the current player base. But I sort of like when Hinterland is aggressive in that way. The decoy correction was a big move.
  16. I mean....a little. This is modifying things around the edges, but you're not creating managed unpredictability. You know what you're expecting after the setting. And it's usually increasing or decreasing volume more than adding variability. I nearly always play custom. Even then the baseline patrol routes and loot tables are pretty entrenched. I mean it's not like it's the worst thing in the world, but it could be even more awesome! This is after all, a wishlist.
  17. Since I'm going through a posting in the forum phase the only thing I'd like to add to this discussion is to the above quote. You didn't lose hundreds of hours of effort, because it was done. You can't lose what you experienced. For all the other things that you haven't lost according to your definition, what are you going to do with them? What is done with all the long saves in all the games. When the time comes that a game is no longer played and you have an epic save in there, what happens to it? I'd actually be interested in this answer - "What happens to epic saves when a game dies?" There could be a special place for all I know. That said, I don't want to make too light of it. I know it's painful to lose a run like that and it makes you not want to play again. But hopefully you will, and when you do and feel okay to do so, I think the scar of this may add to the next run. We all have meta-scars....those bandages are going to give you a tinge whenever you see one now, just like there are other random places on the map where people get a bit of tachycardia based on previous disasters.
  18. Alright, all good @ManicManiac. Thankful for your opinion. I gave my counterpoint, but I overread your tone and POV a little bit, in regards to the emphasized you vs everyone else bit.
  19. I would say make it interloper only or a custom option then. I agree that a) the game is already great and b) a player can and should customize their experience without wishlisting everything. They can make their own challenges and that's been done in spades (see Bleak Existence!) That said, you can't get blood from a turnip. There's no way to simulate the kind of experience that would exist in a baseline situation of the above proposal. You have a good opinion because player customization is a huge part of the game, but @ManicManiac you're not taking a position of flexibility/player choice vs. someone else's imposition of their will on others. They are both impositions of will and opinions of how one would want to see the game. The status quo is an of itself its own imposition. I say this because you had a valuable opinion, but there was a bit of unnecessary morality to your argument, IMO.
  20. I don't have strong thoughts, and I'm curious what they're thinking with Timberwolves long term. But it might be interesting to have a situation or two in which a region has both. Maybe have one Timberwolf pack on TWM. Deer Clearing...that would be fun eh. lol. I'm probably fine without, too. Who knows. Subbed to thread at the very least.
  21. Thanks for the replies everyone. Really great thoughts. Yeah I think I've had some meat taken at times, and some quartering (though I rarely quarter). Maybe it degraded? But I can think of one time that was pretty fresh where I got smelly and one disappeared I think. Fuarian, I like the idea of left out meat getting animals to start coming in. I don't know though - that does add an extra complexity with animal behavior. I really like the thought though. Also sometimes you want them to come. But losing the meat is a price to pay as it is. UUA, I think you're right about the 0% meat. If they ever decide to do this, they should address the 0% meat as well. "Piles of Meat" is sort of a later game issue as well, especially if multiple. Anything to reduce the whole 0%/Cooking5/stockpile game would improve late game play. I like the indicator thoughts as well (thanks s7mar). The consideration of an extra icon or item (ruined scraps, torn q bags) is good too. I'm not sure if an existing one could be used (yeah tracks are good but tricky as stated). I was thinking maybe more blood spatter, but may be tough to differentiate from initial kill spatter. There are some bones maybe? The 1% min cap for an outside container is solid too - as long as the container has a compelling storage limitation (combined with an also compelling demand to create the container). I think those are things to think about outside of the 1% idea too, but that brought me to that thought. I think these are all reasonable considerations that comes with strong respect for the current game, not a bunch of whimsy. It would be cool if they could get considered seriously. Thanks all - feel free to keep throwing out thoughts.
  22. I believe you're right on. I actually think you could fulfill your goals too, by not increasing spawn areas or loot tables, but keeping the base of each but adding some sort of variable spawn/table on top. What I mean is, keep same wolf patrol grids, but have maybe 10 spots/region that are variable in which 1-4 of them, randomly determined will have a furry visitor. You can increase the richness not through the actual elements, but the possibilities of elements. You actually may be already saying something similar to that. And yeah, I think any way of also causing less memorization of loot tables fits in the same vein. I might add maybe adding some extra variance to wolf behavior, but they are doing a bit more of that now (seeing a lot more random wolf fear than a couple years ago). But I think keep giving attention to that, especially with how they interact with different items. It's tricky though, because you want to add variability and cause players to make a risk calculus, but there's certainly a bridge too far in getting just pointlessly killed through RNG with a heavy cost is rough. It's tough to know where that point is. Also, I think players get a certain satisfaction with learning the routes and tables and you want to retain some satisfaction in achievement of that, but yeah you're absolutely right in that any way there could be more emphasis on principles of survival in the game skill, rather than memorization would be a plus. I think you have some good ideas.
  23. I used a lot of words to say it's a hybrid, though one of a more difficult interloper as one element.
  24. dbmurph22

    Risky Meat

    Hi all, First, the title is clickbait. I expect many players to click in here and be like "we already have that you fool!" Yes, there's plenty of risky eats to be had in this game in low condition. But I mean the other way. I've mentioned it a bit verbally but let's talk about the risky meat in terms of that left outside in the chill of the outdoors to be preserved as best as possible. Right now, it's not risky. You can leave piles of the stuff everywhere. This is maybe an old subject but I wanted to readdress it. Of course, the game is great but I think at some point it might be a nice addition to have that meat at risk of disappearing if left out (ie grabbed by nearby creatures). Or maybe at least the toggle to have that feature going. Now, it may be too much to ask some really nice simulation of being able to watch actual animals come in and snag them. But I think you could also have that in the game in which they start disappearing, like after you sleep or pass time. On the opposite side, you could, at some cost, create something in the cold to preserve them. The current rock cache is too high price to pay even if you implement the meat disappearing. My first thought would be some smaller collection of rocks, or something you could craft (workbench, no forge) or maybe a bit of both (rocks plus a small tool to craft). To me that creates a cost/benefit or an alternative path of risk/benefit if you just leave meat out in the open. I dunno, I'm not not zealous on any of this or the idea, but I wanted to throw it out there and welcome any other ideas or thoughts on the matter. Here are my principles when thinking of new game ideas: 1) theme/immersion/game DNA - how much does this idea match what TLD is about and its theme, some vein of realism etc 2) implementation - how easy is it to put this in the game for the benefit it gives (obv ultimately the devs know this exactly) 3) maintenance/resolution/adjudication - how easy is it for the game to process this game element in an ongoing way for the benefit it gives (obv ultimately the devs know this) 4) game strategy/tactics - how much does it add to game theory in terms of decision making, choices, game strategy 5) importance - I add this to rule out minutiae. Lots of ideas are fiddly with no greater purpose than to serve themselves. So I try to think of ideas that feed other elements and have a bigger sense of things. ------------ A bit long post - apologies for the long read. Look forward to any thoughts on this idea, or anything else I wrote (ideas for the game in general, etc). All the best everyone and hope you're enjoying your recent plays Murph