Chicken coops

[mateusz243 3]

Higher chance of finding feathers in chicken coops. And not just one, at least 3. It impossible to not find a feather in coops however in the game I found only 1 feather out of 7-9 coops.

[thefriendlydutchman 160]

Sure. might create more use for the bow

[BeefBacon 1185]

I'd like to see an overhaul for foraging in general. It's horrible not finding a single bastarding berry on a bush for 5 minutes, but equally it'd be silly to come away with an armful. Equally, finding feathers in a coop should be insanely easy, but that'd mean huge amounts of arrows or bolts (when they can be crafted) would be available with minimal effort. It's a tough thing to balance.

[edwin3 74]

Higher chance of finding feathers in chicken coops. And not just one, at least 3. It impossible to not find a feather in coops however in the game I found only 1 feather out of 7-9 coops.

 

i guess you arent aware, that you can (and should) search a coop multiple times...

 

greets

[LucidHills 94]

I'd like to see an overhaul for foraging in general. It's horrible not finding a single bastarding berry on a bush for 5 minutes, but equally it'd be silly to come away with an armful. Equally, finding feathers in a coop should be insanely easy, but that'd mean huge amounts of arrows or bolts (when they can be crafted) would be available with minimal effort. It's a tough thing to balance.

 

I don't think arrows/bolts being relatively easy to craft would be a problem. It would encourage the use of the bow/crossbow as a viable option rather than something only RP players ever use. 

[BeefBacon 1185]

I don't think arrows/bolts being relatively easy to craft would be a problem. It would encourage the use of the bow/crossbow as a viable option rather than something only RP players ever use. 

 

Given that weapons and ammo are going to be very rare, I expect people are going to be forced into using bows and crossbows, and may actually choose the latter over a gun in some circumstances. That being the case it makes sense to curb arrows and bolts in some way so players don't have a ranged weapon and extremely common ammunition straight off the bat.

[Whyherro123 2283]

Given that weapons and ammo are going to be very rare, I expect people are going to be forced into using bows and crossbows, and may actually choose the latter over a gun in some circumstances. That being the case it makes sense to curb arrows and bolts in some way so players don't have a ranged weapon and extremely common ammunition straight off the bat.

 

Easy, make it actually take time to make the arrows. Sure, carving down the end of stick takes like , 3 seconds, but attaching feathers often takes a few minutes. And that is with the "Eastern Two-Fletch", which is easier and more straightforward than the "traditional" three feathers. It can actually be a bit of a pain in the ass to do a three-feather-fletching without a jig.

 

Straightening the shafts is relatively simple (heat them over a fire, and bend straight), but it takes time (to build the fire, and to work the shafts).

 

Oh. and want to make an arrowhead from bone? That is going to take a while. Enjoy rubbing a bone fragment on a rock for the next hour (or more) or so. The amount of time it takes to make a bone arrowhead is why I prefer to use glass.

[BeefBacon 1185]

Easy, make it actually take time to make the arrows. Sure, carving down the end of stick takes like , 3 seconds, but attaching feathers often takes a few minutes. And that is with the "Eastern Two-Fletch", which is easier and more straightforward than the "traditional" three feathers. It can actually be a bit of a pain in the ass to do a three-feather-fletching without a jig.

 

Straightening the shafts is relatively simple (heat them over a fire, and bend straight), but it takes time (to build the fire, and to work the shafts).

 

Oh. and want to make an arrowhead from bone? That is going to take a while. Enjoy rubbing a bone fragment on a rock for the next hour (or more) or so. The amount of time it takes to make a bone arrowhead is why I prefer to use glass.

 

Not even going to ask why you're making arrowheads ;D

 

Yeah that seems like a reasonable tradeoff. Maybe make it easy to make an arrow, but make it more difficult or time consuming to make a good arrow. Can choose between having a shitty, blunt, bent arrow or a nice, straight, sharp one. Arrowheads is something I'd like to see expanded. Arrowheads made from metal shards, sharp stones, glass as you mentioned would be pretty cool.

[Whyherro123 2283]

Not even going to ask why you're making arrowheads ;D

 

Yeah that seems like a reasonable tradeoff. Maybe make it easy to make an arrow, but make it more difficult or time consuming to make a good arrow. Can choose between having a shitty, blunt, bent arrow or a nice, straight, sharp one. Arrowheads is something I'd like to see expanded. Arrowheads made from metal shards, sharp stones, glass as you mentioned would be pretty cool.

 

I am into "primitive" survival, where I attempt to use the same tools as our ancestors did 10,000+ years ago. It basically proves that skills >>>> tools.

 

As for glass arrowheads, yeah, you aren't going to be knapping perfect points from glass. Hell, I can't do that: knapping is a learned skill. But, you can make perfectly servicable arrowheads from just shards of glass, no skill required.

 

[BeefBacon 1185]

I am into "primitive" survival, where I attempt to use the same tools as our ancestors did 10,000+ years ago. It basically proves that skills >>>> tools.

 

As for glass arrowheads, yeah, you aren't going to be knapping perfect points from glass. Hell, I can't do that: knapping is a learned skill. But, you can make perfectly servicable arrowheads from just shards of glass, no skill required.

 

 

 

Huh. As hobbies and interests go that's really cool. Do you go hunting and make shelters and stuff with those tools, or is it just for the fun of it?

 

And yeah, I figure a shard of glass in pretty much any capacity would probably make a better arrowhead than a sharp stick. Maybe allow foraging around burnt out cars, since there's often shattered glass on the ground around them.

 

It'd be nice if all crafting took time and required an animation, even if it was only a few seconds long. This would include loading ammo into magazines, of course, but not combining rags (or ammo, or anything else that's stackable) because that'd get annoying.

[Whyherro123 2283]

Huh. As hobbies and interests go that's really cool. Do you go hunting and make shelters and stuff with those tools, or is it just for the fun of it?

 

And yeah, I figure a shard of glass in pretty much any capacity would probably make a better arrowhead than a sharp stick. Maybe allow foraging around burnt out cars, since there's often shattered glass on the ground around them.

 

It'd be nice if all crafting took time and required an animation, even if it was only a few seconds long. This would include loading ammo into magazines, of course, but not combining rags (or ammo, or anything else that's stackable) because that'd get annoying.

 

Well, in my state you can only hunt with steel broadheads wider than 7/8ths of an inch. Mostly, I make them to prove to myself that I can.

 

As for the rest, I try to as much as possible. When you get down to the basics, there is very little difference between a sharp edge made of steel and a sharp edge made of broken glass. Most "survival skills" depend more on improvisation and such, rather than straight tools, so "doing things" really depends on how you think about it. I've built a shelter (check some of my other threads for ideas) using nothing more than my bare hands before, it just takes longer.

[Bororm 1156]

I've suggested it numerous times when Hicks is doing Q&A now, but they need to give a chance to pull a full chicken out of coops!

[MrAerospace 87]

I think by now we've all noticed Bororm! It could be really funny if when that happened, the chicken went nuts and players would have to struggle with it, and the struggle attracted a whole bunch of zombies. Or, better still, you go up to a chicken coop and there are zombie's trying it out!

 

But, back on topic...feathers are easy to get out of a coop, but 99% of the time, you should get the message "these aren't the feathers I'm looking for, I better go about my business"

No, really. You'll need the primary flight feathers to make fletching. Chickens have 20 of them, of which each bird might shed around 2 feathers a month. Once they drop them on the floor of the coop, the feathers will be scratched and clawed until they are kicked out and blown away or simply ruined.

 

As for foraging for stuff, I think a system of diminishing returns could work really well to 1) prevent 'farming' exploits, and 2) convince players to move on:

- It takes a short time to find one item. (total time depending on the item...berries should be quick, while say larger things like apples might take longer...not realistic, but good for game)

- Successive items take longer and longer to find, until it becomes a waste of time.

- The item population slowly recovers (slower than what can be foraged), encouraging players to move on...while also providing feedback if players want to track/hunt other players.

The benefits is that so long as an action is being performed, it won't ever end in failure. It might require some sort of "finding" or end animation that makes it obvious to the player, and the only way a player can fail to find anything is when they stop searching.

Edited December 6, 2015 by MrAerospace

[MrAerospace 87]

To add to the feather thing...the primaries are flight feathers and thus they are unidirectional. Pairing a left wing feather with a right wing feather for separate fletching will result in bad flight characteristics for your arrow/bolt.

Edited December 6, 2015 by MrAerospace

[blackberrygoo 1416]

I like your ideas Aerospace ! But my only suggestions is that we keep the same timers for all the foraging also we would add more chicken coops at each area that contains coops, that will be a decent addition to finding feathers because it's pretty tough keeping up with arrows if you're using it as a primary already , so adding the two diminishing returns at the end would work great for the system , as let's face it , a large population doesn't even bother foraging !

[mercules 1290]

My main issue with foraging feathers is that compared to looting for bullets I am only gaining one type of resource for the time invested. Searching for bullets compatible for a gun means running into multiple other useful items like food, drink, secondary bullets, clothing and other gear, and even improved weapons or scopes. Searching for feathers is a static job(which leaves you more vulnerable than wandering searching for bullets) with low rewards for only one resource(feathers) and is for a less viable weapon that isn't even usable until I spend additional time gathering other singular supplies and crafting it.

I used to love crafting a bow for the challenge and having a silent zombie killer among our group... now I just skip it because it is nearly easier for find a pistol suppressor and a pistol mag combo or sometimes even to find an AK and suppressor and during that time looking I find everything else I need incidentally.