Living off the Land, Disease and other things

[Oompa 25]

Currently we have animals roaming the woods and fields and pumps/ponds/oceans to draw water from. But water found, especially water from a pond with zombies in it (yuck), isn't clean and carries the risk of disease. Even the pumps wouldn't REALLY supply you with clean water, as they are quite often merely filled with rainwater and seldomly dug so that they reach clean groundwater.

Also, living off of only meat isn't very good for you either.

So here are my ideas:

1. There are tons of orchards and forests. I say, use them! Have mushrooms, fruit and berries spawn much as animals spawn. This will add realism, allow for decreasing food spawns and some variety.

2. Make raw meat edible, but with a chance of being infected. (People do eat raw meat you know)

3. Uncooked water from a pond or pump should also carry the risk of infection.

4. Make water boilable. Cooked meat and boiled water should have a far lower chance of infection (either none or miniscule). Perhaps make the food spoil?

5. Introduce an immune-resistance stat. This could be a stat made up of several others. eg.

The immune stat could work like this, I guess:

Vitamins(a /25) + Protein (b /25) + Drink (c /25) + Medication (d /25) - Neg.Inf. (e /25) = Resistance (f /100)

(/x is the max stat, Resistance (50/100) would be a good base for the stat, neither increasing nor decreasing risks)

Fruit would increase a, meat would increase b and so on. Drinking unboiled water or raw meat, being in the rain or cold would increase e. All stats would decrease with time.

Medication could consist of Penicilline and work to treat disease as well as prevent it.

A lower Res. stat could increase the chances of getting an infection from water, lower temperature, rain, etc. Diseases could be either lethal (high fever, festering wounds etc.) or just be a general nuisance (Diarrhea etc.) and make your drink and food deplete quicker.

I know that this would be a whole new mechanic, but one that I think would fit in well with the game.

What do you think? :D

[KVCC 1]

I think that is TOO realistic, and not fun.

I mean think about it..... you coud get water from the sea before, why would rocket do that? Because you have to balance fun and realism.

I agree with his change to remove using sea water, that's realistic and makes sense...ponds are pretty easy to find using an online map.

But when I already am starving and spend 20 minutes to find a pond, and now I have to worry about something else?

This game doesn't need so much micro-management, being able to get sick is bad enough with the medication spawning at less then 2%.... I don't think you realize....... it's pretty damn hard to survive as it is.

No thanks.

[dut 21]

I mean think about it..... you coud get water from the sea before' date=' why would rocket do that? Because you have to balance fun and realism.[/quote']

It was the way DayZ detected if you were in water until rocket worked out a better system.

Oompa, micromanaging immunity might be a bit too complicated for most folk, I agree with you on food & water stuff but the only way I'd agree on immunity is if it had a very minor effect in game and wasn't even shown as a meter. Hell, the longest time I've survived was 33 days, not really enough to start suffering from malnutrition considering the amount of beans, sardines, pasta etc that gets eaten.

[Jono (DayZ) 1]

I think it's too complicated.

I had a similar sort of idea - kinda stolen (i'm ashamed to say) from the walking dead.

How about having zombies roaming forests, and if they find an animal they'll kill it and start eating it.

You could either still gut the animal, but only get half the meat from it that you would normally.

OR

You could have all the meat, but it'd give you a chance to become infected with something that slowly killed you (like when you starve to death). Antibiotics would cure this infection.

[Oompa 25]

I mean think about it..... you coud get water from the sea before' date=' why would rocket do that? Because you have to balance fun and realism.[/quote']

It was the way DayZ detected if you were in water until rocket worked out a better system.

Oompa, micromanaging immunity might be a bit too complicated for most folk, I agree with you on food & water stuff but the only way I'd agree on immunity is if it had a very minor effect in game and wasn't even shown as a meter. Hell, the longest time I've survived was 33 days, not really enough to start suffering from malnutrition considering the amount of beans, sardines, pasta etc that gets eaten.

True. But then again, how often do you eat 4 steaks and drink 4L of water just to walk 15km? The speed at which you start starve or die of thirst isn't realistic in the first place, else your sprain or other injuries wouldn't go away so quickly either ;)

If you can make a player hunger from not eating for an hour, why not make him malnourished too?

[Bental 10]

Because it becomes to tedious and not fun.

That, and malnourishment doesnt happen in the time frame that most people spend alive. It takes a long time to develope.

Also, hunger is pretty accurate. Perhaps you get hungry a little too quickly? But covering that distance is realistic. As for water consumption, perhaps you should try running 4K and see how thirsty you get. The body sweats more than you realize, and it'd be quite easy to go through that much water if you were not careful.

As for infection, you'd be very, VERY unlucky to get sick from tinned food. There's a reason it's stocked for years in bunkers. Full of preservatives, and it will not spoil.

As for water, I'm in favour of adding another status to water bottles - unboiled.

Drinking still water is always a dangerous idea, and only an enema is a viable way to absorb dirty water in a serious situation.

This could add another tool too - pots. Cant boil water in a canteen.

[enforcer1975 1111]

There should be more sources for food like you have for water.

+1

[moofactory 62]

I was talking about a similar mechanic with meat when talking about cannibalism the other day. Eating Raw meat and drinking blood off Dead players causes your head skin to show blood on your face. Cooked meat makes it safe from infection risk and doesn't change skin.

Some plants can give food can be eaten, You can pee in your water bottle and drink that.

You can go fishing in the largest pools of water and the ocean, can eat it raw for 200blood

or 800blood if cooked.

More animals should be in the forest, ...packs of wild dogs (meat)

Bears, Deer, Any other large Russian game.

Animal Hunting could be a sub game in its self, I like hunting for meat personally.

Make it a challange though, if they dont die on firs kill or you miss, they run and you have to chase them.. like in real life.

You can also Hunt for skins, Skins can make a crude fur jacket and hat that keeps your body immune from getting cold.

You can find cloth, cut long branches + string and make your own tents.

You can also use the same mechanics to make a bow and arrows.

Wood+String = Bow Wood+string+Bird feathers = Arrows

You can also make traps for players/zeds to step in

Wood+String+tree (spring trap) / Punji sticks?

Mabye Ive been playing too much minecraft :P

[stripes 92]

You should be able to make a splint for a broken leg too. Yea a splint. Provided of course you have at least some wood and maybe a hatchet (to harvest the wood). You cant do much with a broken leg apart from respawn.