CataclysmDDA is a mess. I’m not going to pretend it isn’t, because it is. It’s a very well intentioned mess, but it’s unplayable as anything other than a dress up/the sims type game after the first week or two. This is down to the main developers wanting to spend more time on mechanics and bug fixes, which is admirable (and appreciated), but it’s left us with a game which is actively turning people away by it’s brokenness, vanity additions and strangeness in what could otherwise be a fantastic horror survival RL. This is a long post - please read it before commenting.
Lets make this clear, REALLY CLEAR to start with, nothing mentioned here is an attack on any sub-culture or lifestyle. This is purely about making an accessible and coherent game which can be enjoyed by all.
A while back, myself and others asked the devs to come up with a design document which would lead us to know what the direction we’re supposed to be heading in is, what the limit on tech/strangeness is and what is and isn’t allowed. This never appeared, so I feel it’s up to us. If devs want to come out with some rules/the document, I’ll gladly throw this all away and start again - until then this is it. I’ll be making the pull requests based on the popular suggestions/consensus so this is a community effort, not my own attempt to balance things.
Most of this will be removing items and changing the stats of others. All code will be still available on github, so nothing will be lost forever!
I’m starting from the standpoint that cataclysm is 10 years in the future, only physics as we know it now is possible, and that the game should be more difficult than it is now.
An example would be removing weapons/armour that aren’t of New England origin (yes, they could have been imported/whatever, but they would be much better served in a ‘foreign’ mod). Examples would be Tonfa’s (Japanese/Chinese stick weapons), Bagh Nakar(Indian), Lajatang, samuri armour, kabuto armour etc.
Yeah, this is all good stuff, but can’t it be left out until we get to a stage where the game is leaner and tighter, rather than having all this stuff around, really out of place and OP?
I’m not saying ‘rip it all out’ or nerf everything to oblivion, just asking for what the community feels is bloat and needs to be removed and what needs to be rebalanced.
Edit: I did try earlier to make a ‘serious cataclysm’ mod, which was classic zombies (but much harder), nerfing loads of stuff and removing most stuff, but I’d much rather the actual game get balanced, rather than a mod - it makes more sense than splitting our effort.