Game Mechanic Changes (LONG) - Hunger, Thirst, Weight, Stamina, Weapon Changes...

[Photolysis 25]

Basically a bunch of my thoughts after quite a lot of playtime. Some of these suggestions are more for the future when the game moves beyond being a mod, but I'm including them anyway.

Weapon Customization

Allow the player to customise their weapons using rare parts such as various optical sights, IR lasers, supressors. under-barrel grenade launchers. Certain types of optical sight would be reliant on batteries (Holographic, Red dot, Night sights, Thermal sights), others such as telescopic or ACOG would not.

If weapon magazines are modelled properly then the player could find higher capacity magazines and manually reload them with ammo, either from pickup crates of separated ammo, from partially depleted magazines, or other weapons firing the same calibre of bullet. But by themselves, high capacity mags should not be a weapon attachment (though the magazine type limits what weapon can accept it).

Weapon conditions

Have weapons that have received extensive exposure to the elements (i.e. lying around out in a field or the open) be unusable on pickup due to a rusted barrel or other damaged components.

As you use weapons, and depending on what environments you go through, gradually the barrel will become fouled, increasing the risk of a weapon jam and decreasing the accuracy. Regular cleaning of the barrel will prevent this.

Certain weapons are more prone/resistant to this than others. An AK which is rugged will be quite reliable, whereas a sniper rifle will require a lot of maintinence to remain in good condition and ensure accuracy.

Potentially this could be quite complex, and include other types of malfunction such as misfires, but I don't think it needs to be particularly complex myself.

Thirst

In my opinion this needs one of the bigger overhauls.

As one gets progressively thirstier, their character's ability to perform actions decreases. The amount of water consumed is proportional to the character's thirst. So under this you could drink regularly and often to remain fully hydrated.

However, there would be a small minimum water consumption so that if you drink too often you will waste water. Not excessive, but so you can't just drink every 5 minutes and never have to worry about thirst.

Thirst would be modelled in the game according to the following stages:

Stage 1: Thirst. Slight decrease in running speed, and indicated by slightly louder gasps when performing physical activities. Colour saturation is slightly decreased.

Stage 2: Loss of appetite. The player loses the ability to consume food.

Stage 3: Blurred vision, vision is very desaturated. Aiming becomes inefficient.

Stage 4: Player is reduced to walking speed.

Stage 5: Severe dehydration. Player will randomly faint and be reduced to crawling speed.

Stage 6: Death

Factors affecting thirst:

Time of day, weather, ambient temperature, humidity

Eating food

The level of weight the player is carrying

Whether the player is in shade or in sunlight

The level of physical activity being undertaken by the player. Sitting in the shade or a vehicle will do little, but sprinting or running up hills will make you very thirsty.

Water is more thirst-quenching than other canned beverages.

Additional ways of collecting water:

Boiling dirty water using a fire.

Collecting rainwater using a canteen (somewhat efficient) or using hands as a cup (slow).

Melting snow or ice using a fire (fast), in a canteen using body heat (slow, reduces temperature), or by consuming it directly (rapidly decreases temperature).

New equipment:

Water Purification Bottle: A very rare spawn that can purify most water automatically without distillation

Solar Still: Somewhat rare. Allows salt water or dirty water to be distilled in sunlight. Slow. The higher the temperature, the faster the process.

Distilation Kit: Rare. Allows salt water or dirty water to be distilled using a fire. Takes a few minutes, but much faster than a Solar Still.

Water Purification Tablets: Rare consumable. Allows dirty water to be converted to fresh water.

Types of water:

Fresh water: Fresh water can be drunk directly with no further action needed

Sources: Rainwater, Wells, Streams, Snow, Ice

Dirty water: Requires purification of some kind before it can be drunk:

Sources: Ponds, Rivers, Lakes

Salt water: Water with significant salt content, it must be distilled before it can be drunk

Sources: Oceans, Salt lakes, Sea ice

Blood

Blood regenerates slowly over time. Regeneration is at its most rapid when the player is in good health, and fully hydrated and sated. Hunger, thirst, and diseases can cause regeneration to slow or halt. This is meant to mimick the body's natural healing process

The mechanics of blood loss are reasonably well-modeled by the game at present and I don't think this requries significant change, other than reducing how much physical activity the player can carry out. If a player has low blood then they should not be able to move as quickly and will tire more rapidly due to the diminished oxygen capacity of their blood.

Food will no longer heal a player, but a player can continue to use blood packs to replenish blood. Players can perform transfusions on themselves but due to the fiddly nature of the process this wastes some blood from the pack and will not replenish as much as someone else helping with the transfusion. It also takes longer for the player who is transfusing themselves, increasing the risk.

Diseases do not cause the player to lose blood, but reduce stamina, cause a fever, and have other negative effects such as coughing or sneezing.

Temperature

At present the game models hypothermia but does not have hyperthermia implemented. As a result temperature is not something most have to worry about, and with heatpacks so readily available, even extreme cold would not be a serious hazard at present.

If the player continues to ignore the warning signs of high temperatures such as panting, gasping, and dramatically increased thirst, and does not take steps to reduce the temperature then they will collapse and die.

Temperature can be reduced by:

Reducing the level of physical activity

Entering a vehicle with air conditioning

Swimming

Drinking

Using water as a coolant

Getting out of the sun and into the shade.

Consuming snow or ice (though not likely to be applicable to hyperthermia)

Temperature increases are fairly well modeled at the moment and I don't feel this requires much change, other than allowing for hyperthermia as well as hypothermia, and tying thirst into body temperature.

Stamina

The ability of the player to perform physical activity without rest, and is tied to hunger, blood levels, how much weight the player is carrying, and whether the player has any diseases.

Hunger and weight increase how fast your stamina reduces. Low blood and diseases reduce your maximum stamina and how fast it regenerates.

Assuming the player is in good health, they can maintain a light jog indefinitely and sprint briefly.

Sugary foods, energy drinks and canned beverages provide quick bursts of energy but do not significantly reduce hunger.

Stamina is reduced at high altitudes due to the reduced oxygen content of the air.

Weight

Each item should have its own weight and this should be the main influence on how much the player can carry. Small backpacks would also limit this, but with a very large backpack the player should be able to carry large amounts of gear, but this would have serious drawbacks.

Very large amounts of the weight, uh, weigh the player down and decrease how fast you can move and tire the player quickly. It should be very difficult to over-encumber the player, but carrying very large levels of weight should be very risky due to the dramatically diminished mobility.

Large items such as certain spare parts for vehicles would be so heavy that two or more players would be involved in carrying them, requiring more cooperation.

Any thoughts and feedback?

[KILLERBUCK13 2]

Personally I feel all of this would over complicate the game ad ruin it. Only part I like is the gun deterioration, but that would make Russian guns MUCH more sought after than now, especially since repair kits or whatever you use to fix/clean a gun would be far and few between and we all know it.

[stupar123 6]

Reminds me of fallot...well,I would be fully satisfied if they add Riot suit,or suit from Metro:D

Also,you can't melt snow beccause there is no snow in Chernasus :P

[Photolysis 25]

Also,you can't melt snow beccause there is no snow in Chernasus :P

It doesn't have any salt lakes either, but it's purely hypothetical for the future, if there were ever any snow/desert maps. Obviously for Chenasus it's not going to be much good.