Firewood gathering alternative and other thoughts

[-Cdn-Chard 96]

RE: THE Firewood thread

Hey guys,

In general I don't have much of a problem with needing to collect firewood; it's a task that would need to get done in reality. On the other hand, presumably these "survivors" must have a bit of backwoods knowledge; after all, they can handle any weapon they pick up, skin game, administer first-aid and even rebuild helicopters from scrap metal and fly them. Call them "para-military". I don't think these guys would need much in the way of additional gear to get a fire going if they had a match and a knife.

In real life, I'm an avid outdoorsman with 40+ years of experience and can manage to "survive" with only matches and a knife (not comfortably, but survive). In the world of ultralight camping, there's a real debate on the need for anything like a saw or a axe/hatchet, with most of the "hardcore" guys choosing to leave the heavy cutting equipment at home.. When camping, I can easily scrounge up enough firewood for a one or two hour fire using only pieces that I can break by hand or burn through. Add a good survival knife and you're set to deal with almost any firestarting/tending stuation. I personally like a good axe, but I don't need one. I use my knife to process my kindling and can get fires started in the pouring rain.

Possible ideas...

Free Collect Firewood Action

Given the forested nature of Chernarus, firewood should be readily available almost anywhere except the beaches. It only needs to be collected. Maybe everyone could have a free "collect firewood" action/option that puts wood/lumber/construction/whatever into an empty slot, no tools required. Something like the "Make Fireplace" option. It shouldn't be difficult to collect firewood, just an effort to be a little more organized and deliberate. Just don't try to gather firewood wearing a full Alice Pack and no free slots... You shouldn't need an axe or matches to get the option, allowing a group to send some guys out to "collect wood" while the guys with the matches gets the fire going and maintains it. It makes establishing a camp a little more difficult, makes you a little more distracted and gives bad guys a chance to sneak up on you.

Firewood Bundles

If the free firewood option can be done then fires could be more fun... Start a fire with a fireplace and a match. Collect a single bundle for a small fires to cook meat (maybe 4 steaks per bundle), collect several bundles to maintain a sustained fire to restore body temperature or cook more meat, like a whole cow. Having to travel into town to get firewood makes for a good excuse to get killed, but just takes away from the lone survivor story. It may have been the only way the designers had to implement the firewood item, but I'd prefer the "Collect Firewood" option.

Match Counts

Talking about lighting fires, as far as a limited count of matches goes, I think they're tied to a slot in Arma that doesn't track usage like a magazine and I wouldn't want to give up a gear slot for a box of matches. Besides, in reality every home would have matches, zombies that were smokers would have matches.. unlimited usage is fine with me...

Temperature and Shelter

As far as temperature management goes, it would be cool if crawling into a tent could provide "shelter" and restore temperature. Add blankets as new items for extra warmth and you're all set. Tents are fairly rare... Blankets should be everywhere. Does seeking shelter in buildings guard against temperature loss? Could we have an option to build a "bush survival shelter" requiring only a knife. It would be very cool, but then we start moving from a Zombie game to a survivalist simulation.

Conclusion

In my mind's eye, whenever I'm offline, my character is attending to the basic necessities of life, including obtaining basic shelter and rest. I take for granted that they interact with their environment in ways I don't need to control. Taking a piss, wiping their nose, huddling under a tree when it's raining or grabbing some deadfall wood when they know they want to build a fire. These guys are tough... Give them some credit.

Other Thoughts

Finally, a couple of thoughts...

1) Can the "Panic" feature be tied, inversely, to the number of Zombie kills you have? A zero kill newbie should be terrified, but a seasoned pro with 100+ Zombie kills is a cold-hearted walker killing machine simply looking for the next restless corpse to practice on. At least that would make racking up the zombie kills as an objective in an of itself.

2) Arma has a rfile strike animation. I'd really like to see the development team come up with a viable melee option where we can use the rifle strike animation to fight off Walkers, as a last resort when all your ammo is gone. Not very effective, but you might take one with you.

Great game and thanks for the nightmares.....

[stinger88 0]

Suggestion: add axes (goes in lower slots, infinite use) which you can collect wood with from trees. Also sitting around a fire needs to warm you up quicker.

Heavy Clothing, water proofs and thermal underwear would be a nice addition as well. Like an armour system in other games (diablo3) but as protection against the elements.