Random hidden strengths and weaknesses on every spawn

[Hakiki 10]

So, I don't know how well it would work, but just blurting out a random brain-fart of mine that started rolling downhill and gathering mass, so to say. (And apologies if this is already suggested, or planned implemented, but I never played the mod and I couldn't find anything similar by search function.)

 

What if on every respawn your character would start with some (or many) random strengths and weaknesses, and you didn't know if you got any or which you got.  As I like to say IRL, "no one is normal", just about every person out there are genetically decided to be better at some things, and have weakness to some things.  

 

• It might be from the simple stuff like some characters being able to run a little faster, whereas some might sprint extremely fast but for a much shorter period of time.
• Some might have a really weak blunt hit (either with fists or weapon) but keep hitting all day, and others can hit really hard but get easily fatigued and may have to rest up on their attacking to regain strength.  
• Some may have troubles with metabolism and not be able to retain all the nourishment from food they are carrying and will thus need a larger supply of food, and some may have diabetes and should prioritize to always have a banana/coke/chocolate(just an example of something they can implement in the future) just in case their blood sugar falls really low.
• Some may start with asthma and have a hard time getting their breath back if they sprint, and as such may have problems aiming accurately with a firearm shortly after sprinting, unless they have been able to loot an inhaler (another example of a fictive item).
• You may be especially susceptible to osteoporosis, and thus must prioritize finding milk powder or vitamins bottles to prevent your bones breaking.

 

Neither of these should be "known", or given a descriptive state of what you have, but should rather be found out by yourself depending on visual clues or narrative clues like they have already implemented with blood loss, hunger, thirst, etc.

 

Since they have already included books in-game (but no use for them yet as far as I know?) even the mental state of a character could be included.  Boredom could cause lack of focus and could be prevented by reading the occasional book, newspaper, or magazine.  This would cause your focus to come back up, and you could more easily i.e. hear footsteps around you, walk silently yourself, hear the groans of nearby zombies, etc.  The devs could maybe find a way to include stress which could have some negative impact, and could prevented by an interaction option "conversate" if you find a fellow player, or by having a cigarette or a drink of alcohol. But likewise the stress could increase if the player you are talking with is a bandit/murderer and you yourself is mostly a scavenger, and too much alcohol would lower stress, but likewise lower focus by an extreme amount and you would have to find a balance between everything which you are most comfortable with.

 

I think this would bring a whole new dynamic to gameplay as you may find yourself prioritizing differently on every spawn, depending on what strengths and diseases you may have spawned with.  It may even go so far as to encourage more human interaction, where you can find people to trade you the stuff you desperately need, for something that you may have a surplus of.  

 

What is your reaction to these suggestions?  Would it bring a new level of experience to the game and bring some extra suspense to the survival-concept, or would it just be another annoyance to have to worry about? Any other suggestion to strengths, diseases, or mental states, what will cause or prevent them, and what effects they would have?  Discuss! :D

[Khad (DayZ) 293]

Disabled people will die in a few minutes, so there's no need to design them. 

 

Of course, asthma or diabetis is not a big deal, if you got your medicine, but in a apocalypsis it is absolutely deadly. 

 

I agree, if there would be spawns with different speed and strenght though. 

[Hakiki 10]

Yes I see your point about asthma or diabetes being deadly.  It would have to be implemented in a way that it wouldn't outright kill you, just give a disadvantage if your issue is not addressed or dealt with.

 

And I've thought a bit more about it, and maybe each strength/weakness should have some sort of advantage- / disadvantage-value. So like asthma could be a big deal and be -5 "advantage points" (hereafter called "AP").  So your character would then have to spawn with advantages worth +5AP as well to be balanced.  So maybe if you get -5AP for asthma, you could get +2AP for stronger character, +2AP for slightly quicker, and +1AP for improved "dexterity"?  Or maybe not even every character has to be "perfectly balanced", but be within a tolerance range of +- a couple of AP? After all, every person is different.

 

A few more additions I thought of:

 

• Dexterity - Somewhat improved reload speeds.  Maybe even include improved animation speeds for eating, drinking, and possible in the future for trade skilling animations as well, depending on different levels of dexterity.
• Agility - Improved performance of jumping/vaulting over fences. Quicker rolls when lying prone, quicker run-speed when crouched, and ability to lean further/quicker to the sides when aiming down sights.  Could also be combined with/affecting strength or running endurance.
• Eagle eye - This could brighten up loot, or put the occasional "shine" effect on it, to make it more distinguishable from the ground and thus easier to spot.  Perhaps different types of eagle eye for different types of loot, or a timer on it depending on different levels of eagle eye.

Obviously these suggestions would have to be for way later in the game, after they have fixed the more pressing issues such as more zombies, respawning zombies, respawning loot, more tradeskills, and everything else that most players are suggesting/wishing for already anyway.  

 

Just trying to get the ball rolling in the community for ideas similar to this to have as good an idea as possible before it could become an actuality.  Am I gripping at straws here and suggesting dumb things, or is an elaborate system around this idea something plausible?

Edited January 3, 2014 by Hakiki

[Zedicologist 162]

I dunno ab this subject.  Interesting though i will say.

[enforcer1975 1111]

I turn green when i'm angry...

[punani 0]

bump

[Inception. 9443]

Moved to Standalone Suggestions section at OP's request.

[badman85@gmail.com 14]

No !

good in zombie fortress 

good in project zomboid 

not good for DayZ .... IMO .

[Hakiki 10]

not good for DayZ .... IMO .

 

May I ask why you feel that way?  I have a feeling most players will die quite regularly anyway, wouldn't a bit of difference between the character each time just bring a little variety with each life you play through?

 

Again, it shouldn't be anything so severe that it would be game-breaking, or so that people would kill themselves over and over just to get the "right" traits.  And all traits should have a way to treat/prevent/avoid the effects of them.  

 

Just thought of a couple of more:

 

• A clumsy character could make more noise when doing stuff like looting or eating, and thus attracting attention.  But if they are well rested, well fed, and not thirsty, then maybe they are less noisy while doing such things.
• If a character is too stressed, or too unfocused, or or too unconcentrated, they could get a smaller field of view, and maybe a shorter view-distance (more blurry at long distances?).  Or since many people (me included) are picky about FoV, some way to just fade the edges of the screen but not actually changing the FoV setting.  This would cause a character to possibly have to move around more and keep turning slightly more to have a complete overview of the surroundings when not "fully concentrated".

[Koala :3 116]

In a way i kind of like the idea, Like asthma, Having to find an asthma pump thingy would be a challenge though. :3

[Hakiki 10]

Yes it would be, but it's something that could encourage you to sprint less to avoid ADS-shake, which in turn would cause you alter your play style.  Maybe turn to more of a sneaky sniper, rather than a run-and-gun soldier.

 

Or if you have yet to find a firearm you could prioritize trying to talk with some people to try to trade with them, in case they might have one.  Or you could think when you find out you have asthma that it would be more important to try to find a hospital or somewhere with medical supplies, rather than going straight for the airport to find a gun.  

 

So in my mind this would lead to more variation, and having to be more adaptive every time you die and respawn.

[atmaca (DayZ) 48]

NO.

[badman85@gmail.com 14]

, or so that people would kill themselves over and over just to get the "right" traits.  And all traits should have a way to treat/prevent/avoid the effects of them. 

players kill themselves if they dont get a good spawn , & will continue to do so .

" please proceed in an orderly fashion to the nearest suicide station & dont forget to sign out before you check out , thank you & have a wonderful life " " HAY ONE JUMPER AT A TIME ! " safety first !

 

its not that i think your idea is a bad one , just dont believe it flows with the rest of DayZ .

in DayZ we are only different by the characters load out at any given time & our "the player's" personality ie. reasoning , problem solving , negotiating , psychological manipulation of others , compassion or malice .

this is once again only my opinion , what makes DayZ so unique & original . not to mention anonymity .

[jasher11 67]

the thing is that by now however many months into the apocalypse it is, only the strongest, faster, fittest have survived, even if it was only 2 weeks in, if you have asthma you are kinda screwed, if you are unfit you are screwed, if you are weak you are screwed. there is only so long before only the best are alive

[dubghall 36]

Since they have already included books in-game (but no use for them yet as far as I know?) even the mental state of a character could be included.  Boredom could cause lack of focus and could be prevented by reading the occasional book, newspaper, or magazine.  This would cause your focus to come back up, and you could more easily i.e. hear footsteps around you, walk silently yourself, hear the groans of nearby zombies, etc.  The devs could maybe find a way to include stress which could have some negative impact, and could prevented by an interaction option "conversate" if you find a fellow player, or by having a cigarette or a drink of alcohol. But likewise the stress could increase if the player you are talking with is a bandit/murderer and you yourself is mostly a scavenger, and too much alcohol would lower stress, but likewise lower focus by an extreme amount and you would have to find a balance between everything which you are most comfortable with.

 

Not sure i like the random spawn strengths thing (at least not so severe that you spawn with disorders or diseases that would limit you ) - could be cooler if they were slight advtgs.

However, your ideas about book reading and a converse function for interactions... I LOVE.  And i am stealing for the thread I wrote on Mental Constitution (which i think you might dig - since ur into focus and things actually affecting your character!).  Lemme know what you think here:

Mental Constitution : http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/162490-mental-constitution-socialsurvival-mechanic-for-immersion/

[RazRaz 34]

No. Only thing it gives is that everyone will suicide until they get a good spawn they like.

Edited January 9, 2014 by RazRaz

[Hakiki 10]

No. Only thing it gives is that everyone will suicide until they get a good spawn they like.

 

Ok, so which of the following spawns are better?

• Top sprinting speed, but quickly becoming out of breath.
• Poorer sprinting speed, but you can sprint forever because of good cardio.
• Top sprint speed, decent cardio, but you have slight asthma and so the first 5-10 seconds of aiming-down-sights with a gun you will be a bit shaky while regaining breath.
• Top sprint speed, and perfect cardio so you can sprint forever, but you have diabetes so you should probably carry an extra piece or two of different food and/or medicine.
• Decent speed with military boots, but equal speed with jogging/racing shoes, if in the future theres different running speed depending on equipment.
• Perfect running speed with jogging shoes, but slow and clumsier with military boots.  But you are physically stronger on melee attacks.
• Good runner, strong with melee, but you may have ADHD and more easily lose focus, making you hear nearby zombies and players less effectively.  For example prevented by carrying an extra book or magazine to occasionally read, to allow for multiple different activities to be performed in not too long of a time span.
• Asocial, so you don't have to interact a lot with different characters.  But it could cause you to become "stressed" when near other characters, at least until you get familiar with them and run with them for a while.

My point is not to make characters unplayable with a bad set of skills.  Maybe you won't even know or notice what traits your character will have until you've played for a few hours, and by that time you may have invested too much time and effort (and found a decent amount of loot) so you won't consider suicide just to get a "better" spawn.  And if implemented correctly even the "better" spawn may be worse, depending on what situation you are in, what circumstances you have, and what traits the other people in your group may be playing with.

 

If you are running with 3 other guys with M4A1 that can all sprint quickly and forever, would it be very bad if you decide to use a sniper so you can cover them while laying still just because you have astmha?  

Edited January 16, 2014 by Hakiki

[fundan@gmx.de 82]

...has some potential.

[maxotaur 135]

Very interesting idea, or even the idea that there are differnt body types by default, and your character might be slightly taller and stronger but slower, or others may be more nimble and can duck under fences rather than having to crawl. 

[Hakiki 10]

Very interesting idea, or even the idea that there are differnt body types by default, and your character might be slightly taller and stronger but slower, or others may be more nimble and can duck under fences rather than having to crawl. 

 

Excellent idea.  Variety amongst the characters you can see in-game brings much more immersion imho.

 

I've also thought of a few more ideas myself:

 

• Cold/Pneumonia from being exposed to rain/sea/wetness for too long.  Can be implemented by causing sneezing, coughing, and shivering until "healed".  Dampness of clothes are already implemented, and fireplaces could be used to dry up when outdoors, or maybe even a cooking pot or any source of heat/light to dry off when indoors.  This would also give a reason to use raincoats, which would make you stay dry at the expense of less camouflage. 
• Nutritional deficiency.  Eating the same things a lot without otherwise supplementing it will cause drawbacks.  Lack of iron could give slower blood regeneration.  Lack of vitamin A can cause poorer night vision, and can be prevented by eating carrots.  Lack of vitamin C over long periods may cause scurvy, which would make your character have shortness of breath and/or bone pain.  This pain could cause moaning to attract nearby zombies and players,  and could be prevented by a small doze of pain killers.  And any sort of deficiencies like this could or should be preventable by eating the right foods, and supplementing with vitamins if you don't have access to a big enough variety of food.

I realize that by now I have suggested stuff that may cover a lot of different topics, so I would love to hear back specifically which of my suggestions people seem to like or dislike.  Discussions on the topic with many different inputs can only result in better suggestions, because I do realize that some of my suggestions may be far out. (Or at least further out than what it seems like most of the community seems to favor.)

Edited January 20, 2014 by Hakiki