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[G-Flex]

Yeah, I'm dumb and didn't put two and two together. I think my brain was stuck in "skills for kills" mode since you mentioned DC:SS. I can tell I haven't played Cataclysm in a while.[/quote]

Wait, Whales, I was dumb about me being dumb.

The suggestion I was making was: Instead of XP from morale going into recently-used skills instantly, why not have the skills go up when you use them, probably dependent on morale. This should work especially well if you distinguish "morale" from "mood".

Basically, you're saying "when your morale is good, you gradually get XP, which gets distributed across skills you've used recently." I'm saying "when your morale is good, using a skill trains it". I suppose either method can work, although mine just makes more sense to me.

wild dogs that can be tamed with craftable dog food

This seems a bit... silly? Why can we befriend wild dogs with dog food and not, say, cooked meat? Seems kind of weird.

[BurnedToast]

That was my first thought too - dogs will eat damn near anything and in my experience prefer pretty much any sort of people food to dog food. Why do you have to craft special dog food to feed them to tame them?

of course my second thought was oh well, who cares, since the dog you start with tends to end up getting eaten by the first zombie anyway so collecting more is not something I have much interest in.

[L0master]

Is there a way to get far-sighted trait? You stumble upon those reading glasees in every second house, but you can't choose the trait when creating a new character.

[Whales]

It is pretty weird, but it's better than nothing I guess.  I'll probably change that at some point in the future; I invite anyone to mod in their own system here

Basically, you're saying "when your morale is good, you gradually get XP, which gets distributed across skills you've used recently." I'm saying "when your morale is good, using a skill trains it". I suppose either method can work, although mine just makes more sense to me.

Yours also rewards heavy skill use, which is the counter to what I'm trying to accomplish with a new system and would lead to rampant grinding.

[L0master]

Also I lured a squirell into a deadend and tried to put it on fire with a lighter. It didn't work. I suggest I should pour some petrol on it first. Although i doubt I'd get some cooked meat from it that way.

[ChairmanPoo]

It does work. It lights a small fire under them, which hurts over time.

If you pour gas the fire will be stronger. If you add additional items to burn it will last longer.

Also:

- Triffids are particularily vulnerable to fire, so it's better against them. Even a lighter fire can be painful, particularily to young triffids.

-If you try to set fire to an open window space, it will actually set a fire to the tiles in front and behind it.

- Mini-flamethrower is far more effective than lighters, when it comes to setting items on fire.

- Laser mounted finger might be the best antitriffid weapon in the game. Just a few shots can burn a queen to a crisp.

[G-Flex]

Basically, you're saying "when your morale is good, you gradually get XP, which gets distributed across skills you've used recently." I'm saying "when your morale is good, using a skill trains it". I suppose either method can work, although mine just makes more sense to me.

Yours also rewards heavy skill use, which is the counter to what I'm trying to accomplish with a new system and would lead to rampant grinding.

Yeah, I might have to agree with you there in terms of it being better for gameplay.

[ChairmanPoo]

I've found a bug, I think: Preparing cooked veggie in a fire results in the removal of all raw veggie. I think

[Blaze]

I have an idea for a non-xp based skill system.

Every time you use a skill, you gain a small, temporary skill bonus for that skill; which slowly accumulates the more you use it. The maximum amount of the temporary bonus depends on your intelligence, and its rate of increase depends on your morale.

When you fall asleep, a portion of that temporary bonus is removed and converted into permanent skill points. The rate of conversion depends on your intelligence and your current skill level (Possibly morale as well). Having enhanced memory banks makes the conversion more efficient.

Reading books gives that temporary bonus, but only works if both your temporary bonus and skill level are both below a certain amount.

So as you use a skill, it becomes easier to use during that period of exertion. While you're asleep, your brain conserves some of that as experience, muscle memory, and whatnot. If you don't use that skill for a long time, you eventually lose that temp bonus and have to rely entirely on what your brain has managed to hold on to.

And while we're at it, why not have some "dreams" as well? They're just a little something to add flavor, and perhaps add a few messages that show what skills you used most before going to sleep or review any important events that happened.

[Ehndras]

I like it, sort of the "say/do it 10 times for it to become a permanent memory" thing. Temp boost is short term memory and with enough emphasis it'll become permanent. Makes sense.

[dastardly_dawg]

What kind of features are planned for dogs/other pets?  A few thoughts just on how dogs could be beneficial--and thus worth keeping around--dawned on me as I started this newest version.  Granted, there are more important gameplay elements worth exploring (and taking time coding), but this could add a bit more risk vs. reward gameplay.

--Dogs as detectors.  Depending on how detailed you want to get with the system (perhaps the strength of the bond with your dog, how rested it's been, fed, etc.), some set of variables influences the dog's perception and ability to detect enemies and alert the player through specific behaviors.  Whining= it smells/hears zombies.  Growling=wolves, bears, animals detected.  Runs off/refuses to follow=something bad; hulks, necros, etc.  Sniffing the ground intently, pulling at its leash= prey animals detected.

--Dogs as alarms.  As a result of their detecting, their alerts can wake a player.

--Dogs as light pack carriers.  Similar to the dawn of the dead remake. Maybe patch together some modifications to a cargo vest, crafting a harness and giving the dog some small carrying power and lightening your load.

--Dogs as bait.  Toss a foodstuff or specific item onto a tile (chew toy, etc.), possibly luring zombies toward it.  Either pick em off or sacrifice your pet to live to fight another day.



Risk vs. reward:

They're already not durable.  Keeping them alive could be a worthy challenge (possibly made easier if you could keep them on a leash which you could carry or use to tether them to something). 

--Barking. Depending on the system used, negative variables (hunger, low bonding/player skill/training, whatever) could increase the chance that they bark, increasing your noise signature.

--Morale mod.  Keep em around, receive a bonus to morale (if the character is bonded/in a mental or physical state to care that the dog's around).  If bonded and they die, take a morale hit.

--Food/thirst/sleep.  Another mouth to feed and body to shelter.  If quite hungry/thirsty, their ability to act as an alarm can disrupt your sleep.

As a player creation option, a bonded pet or trained one or something like that could come at the cost of character points.  Or you could just choose not to start with a dog and not bother with it or, using the new taming items, seek to utilize a pet later on in the game.

[G-Flex]

The thing is that a dog really, really wouldn't be able to fight off a zombie... not even a relatively weak one, really. Dogs are built to make things bleed or stop breathing, and zombies don't really respond to that, only to extremely blunt/destructive force. Bites won't do much.

[forsaken1111]

yeah, knives wouldn't do much to a zombie either really, nor would most small calibre rounds... yet somehow it works.

[BishopX]

The thing is that a dog really, really wouldn't be able to fight off a zombie... not even a relatively weak one, really. Dogs are built to make things bleed or stop breathing, and zombies don't really respond to that, only to extremely blunt/destructive force. Bites won't do much.

A large dog an break a mans neck if they get their jaws on their neck. They can also hamstring zombies quite effectively.

[CT]

yeah, knives wouldn't do much to a zombie either really, nor would most small calibre rounds... yet somehow it works.

Yes, well in zombie fiction you are supposed to go for a head shot to kill a zombie, and a stab or gunshot to the head is lethal to anything. Now Whales is obviously not going for Hollywood or realistic zombies here so just go with whatever he does, because no matter what it will be geared to fun playing.