[size=8pt]What would Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead be like if it took place in New England in the 1930’s during the Great Depression? This is the purpose for which this thread derives. With the potential release of the Mod Manager looming before us in the not so distant future, I have no doubt that more than a few people will take advantage of it, creating mods that will not only enhance the game but also change the very nature of it. It is in this spirit that I too hope to contribute to this, bringing forth a new and different aspect to the game. I will bring up a few points and then the thread will be open for discussion should anyone feel like commenting.
To be able to bring C: DDA into this setting of the past, during a Great Depression no less, more than a few issues will have to be dealt with. Ammunition, bionics, clothing, technology, weapons, and vehicles just to name a few. Some will simply need to be altered while others will have to be taken out and even more would have to be created from scratch. But I think it would be well worth the effort, providing something different and not often seen. An example could be: Driving an Austin Bantam while dressed in your finest black and red pinstripe zoot suit, smoking a cigar as you fire your Thompson submachine gun out of the window at a Hulk giving chase, your safe house with a speakeasy in the basement just a few blocks around the corner.
There would also be a shortage of supplies due to the hardships the country is going through, adding to the challenge and fun of struggling to survive. Many more points are to be made and more than a few pros and cons but this is the reason I created this thread. I am hoping that the idea will spark discussion on not only the good that could be had but of also the bad that could happen. The challenges and difficulties in taking on such a mod you could say. If it turns out that people would be interested in this idea then I am also opened to suggestions, ideas, and even fellow modders that would like to sign on and help develop it. Should it ever become a mod and people enjoy it then maybe, just maybe, I could also find someone who knows their way around the source code to help me tweak it even further.
So now, should you so choose, please share with me your thoughts.[/size]
A total conversion mod you mean? This could be interesting - will require a sizable amount of work though. Once the mod manager is in we can hope that more people will be interested in making mods for Cataclysm.
Also, this is off-topic, but I found your way of writing very peculiar
[quote=“infectedmochi, post:4, topic:3906”]A total conversion mod you mean? This could be interesting - will require a sizable amount of work though. Once the mod manager is in we can hope that more people will be interested in making mods for Cataclysm.
Also, this is off-topic, but I found your way of writing very peculiar :)[/quote]
[size=8pt]For this mod idea to work it would require a total conversion, so yes it would have to be such. I am not reluctant of putting in the work to make this happen should people show interest in the base idea. Having a few extra hands to help speed up the process would also be a boon, such assistance proving invaluable and could involve one or more of the following:
#Assisting with editing the JSON files. #Bug hunting and reporting should the mod ever get into a playable/finished state. #Feedback, ideas, and suggestions. #Research on clothing, items, weapons, vehicles, and etcetera used in America during the 1930’s. #Whatever one could think of to contribute.
If something is worth doing then all the effort, time, and work put into it will pay off and everyone involved would be rewarded by a job well done. Even if you were not able to help contribute, you would still (hopefully) find enjoyment in having played it. So please, if you find this idea interesting then do not hesitate to comment. Critique, help, ideas, or support is welcomed. Of course, if you do not think this is a good idea then by all means let me know why. Thank you.[/size]
[size=8pt]The following is an incomplete list of possible firearms to be featured in the mod. Since it is taking place in New England during the 1930’s, I have included several between 1900 and 1939. While not a staggering amount, it does provide a solid base start, one I plan to build on. There is still much more research to be done, including, but not limited to: ammunition caliber | descriptions | weight | damage rating | etcetera. I shall continue to work on this idea, sharing what bits and pieces I can, while hopefully being able to garner support for it. If you have any suggestions for weapons that are not yet featured, ones from the time frame provided, then by all means enlighten me. So without further ado, the current list as it stands.
1900 - 1909 #Browning Auto-5 #Colt Model 1903 #Remington Model 10 #Remington Model 11 #Ross Mk.II #S&W Triple Lock #Springfield M1903
1910 - 1919 #Browning M1917 #Browning M1918 BAR #Browning M1919 GPMG #Colt M1911 #Colt Model 1917 #Lewis Machine Gun #M1917 Enfield #Mk I Grenade #Mk II Grenade #S&W Model 1917 #Stevens M520 #Winchester Model 1912 #Winchester Model 1915
This seems pretty interesting, actually, and I would totally be interested in playing it. Though, could I make one small request, which, I could probably add myself anyways since i’m ‘okay’ at editing Jsons, A Ross Rifle, horrible, horrible rifle that jams all the time and breaks easy.
[size=8pt]The Ross Mk.II Rifle has been added to the list and I thank you bringing it to my attention. If you have any other suggestions then please feel free to inform me of them. This is not limited to just weapons either.[/size]
[quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:8, topic:3906”]I’m gonna assume that swords/melee weapons are still used, right?
BAYONETS ON EVERYTHING[/quote]
[size=8pt]Melee weapons, such as bayonets, would be featured in the mod as well. However, they would have to be restricted to the 1930 setting, though a good many from vanilla Cataclysm should be able to make the transition.[/size]
You would probably want rifles older than 1900 too. Some people alive in the 1930’s were alive in or even fought in the Civil War, and old war weapons would still be handed down.
[quote=“Anonymous, post:5, topic:3906”][sub]For this mod idea to work it would require a total conversion, so yes it would have to be such. I am not reluctant of putting in the work to make this happen should people show interest in the base idea. Having a few extra hands to help speed up the process would also be a boon, such assistance proving invaluable and could involve one or more of the following:
#Assisting with editing the JSON files.
[/sub][/quote]
Here’s a great tool. One of the best contributions to modding
also I just did the ww2/ww3 weapon packs. I’d be willing to throw all those other guns in, in probably a week or so. Less if I actually put in effort. PM me a list of guns/items you want to add.
[size=8pt]Should this mod begin development in earnest, I will more than likely add in firearms from before the year 1900. A special rare treat to be looted and claimed for your own.[/size]
[quote=“fishy1234555, post:11, topic:3906”][quote=“Anonymous, post:5, topic:3906”][sub]For this mod idea to work it would require a total conversion, so yes it would have to be such. I am not reluctant of putting in the work to make this happen should people show interest in the base idea. Having a few extra hands to help speed up the process would also be a boon, such assistance proving invaluable and could involve one or more of the following:
#Assisting with editing the JSON files.
[/sub][/quote]
Here’s a great tool. One of the best contributions to modding
also I just did the ww2/ww3 weapon packs. I’d be willing to throw all those other guns in, in probably a week or so. Less if I actually put in effort. PM me a list of guns/items you want to add.[/quote]
[size=8pt]Thank you for mentioning the CataModder Tool, although I have already tried it, I prefer editing the JSON files using Notepad++. As far as your WW II/III weapon pack goes , I will look it over some time.
#It appears to be a little more challenging than I first thought with trying to find a variety of guns used from 1900 - 1930 in the United States. As it is the list currently stands at twenty-six and unless someone else has more success with finding more to add, I will just have to go with the current number for now. More can always be added at a later time. There is yet still more to do. Research on ammunition for the currently listed guns, clothing of the era, items, and even more yet decided. Again, if anyone has time to help contribute then by all means do so. Right now I would appreciate an extra hand or two with some of this research.[/size]
As a comment about the times you would probably see a lot more rifles and the like in homes in that era brought back from the war. In the farming valley where I grew up it was totally normal for a family to still have grandads .303 from WW1 in the shed along with a hessian sack (literally) full of military ammo. My dad also talked about a machinegun from WW1 that lived above the blackboard in his school, on school fun days they would bring it out and the kids would snap off a few bursts.
[size=8pt]For anyone that is curious, I am of the set mind to go ahead and start working on this idea. However, I plan to only tinker with ideas until an official/stable v0.9 is released. The following is a brief and unfinished list of changes I hope to eventually make happen:
#Bionics - I’m planning on taking all of these completely out since most of us could agree that 1930s New England would not be as medically nor technologically advanced as current day Cataclysm. That is unless someone else or myself can think of a viable and logical reasoning to somehow have them featured.
#Martial Arts - I am rather iffy about leaving styles in the mod as most people in 1930s America probably didn’t know much about this, much less had a way to learn it from someone. I may just leave this in as flavor. Thoughts?
#Items - Every item.json file will be heavily altered in order to bring that 1930 feel to the game. Prepare to tackle Cataclysm without the aid of modern/future advances. Expect many new items to be added as well as replaced. Also expect all items (or anything really) to have added descriptions to make the stand out more.
#Recipes - Perhaps one of the bigger challenges I face, combing through the recipes.json file in order to take out anything that could/would not fit in a 1930 setting while adding in new ones that do.
#Mods - The 1930s did not have an abundance of weapons that could be modded and hence there were no real variety to them. However, you can expect to be able to add a scope or a bayonet to a rifle, or change out that standard clip on a Thompson machine gun for a drum magazine. More research will have to be done on this and offered help would be appreciated.
#Vehicles - Another thing on the list of things to change are vehicles and vehicle parts to give it that 1930 flavor. I am not exactly sure how to go about this just yet but expect cars in the mod to have featured brand names that were seen during the time period.
This of course is not a complete nor detailed list on the changes I plan/hope to make. There is still much more planning to be done and it will not be a quick trip to the completion of this mod - but- maybe it will be worth it.[/size]
A easy solution to bionics and quite a bit of other stuff is to throw in some steampunk or such, as, well, our current cataclysm has sci-fi stuff in it, and we could replace it with steampunk. Though if that’s not the thing you want, for martial arts: Remove most of the Asian stuff and such, and replace it with boxing and wrestling styles, if you wanted to remove the actual martial arts. (Sorry if I’m hard to understand)
At the nicer corner of my heart, there’s support for this on my end.
Seeing Cata and CataDDA from gamemod perspective for the first time fueled a desire for a 180 degree spin. Initial thoughts on a tactical shooter were wiped clean since there aren’t as many tile/80x25 roguelikes with a pseudo-realtime as you might think; this moves the whole game into the resource domain - and off the suspense/puzzle-solving grid. Then I looked @ the overmap, and it shined bright.
Vast forests and small settlements of 0.5+ CataDDA reminded me of one and only -=Shores of Lordaeron=- and WC2. Bumping into lone farms, segregated clans of somehow whole different species and fighting off Orcs to reclaim Azeroth rule, alongside a few valued heads for hire from those taverns in the wild… well, it just could add a tactical component with some sort of leveling (I thought of Cannon Fodder actually on this) and weapon upgrades/purchase based upon task completion… I dunno… Quite a few roguelikes failed at this from the beginning, but managed to look-alike only if there was some sort of respect for the initial system (Angband, Crawl, NetHack…) so it was more of a sweettooth feature than a show-off, if the initial game had some mainstream win over the RL community.
C_DDA can be modified; like the Anonymous dude pointed out, it’s the extent of (your) individual imagination. My only concern was, and still is for that matter - where you aim at removing some key features not item types you’ve gotta add some in and that goes beyond simple modding, to my knowledge. For example (of mine), DCSS monsters have variable levels of intelligence, and Sil has very smart opponent groups; if someone extended behavioral patterns for the actual setting maybe then the whole idea could work. There, if not to look absurd, then to amplify any flavor that dwells on a successful roguelike system.
[size=8pt]I am not really wanting to take this into a steampunk direction (though I do enjoy the genre). Maybe it could be an idea for a later mod should the current one ever reach a playable and stable state.[/size]
[sub]Exactly what this person has said. Even without knowing how to program or compile, one could still do a decent amount of things just editing the JSON files available.[/sub]
[size=8pt]#I have managed to find someone off forum that has agreed to help me with this mod, though, it is only with just research for now. Even so it should improve the speed at which this mod will move forward.[/size]
[size=8pt]I will take whatever aid I can in this endeavour and if luck is offered, then luck will be taken. With that said, I did have a slight issue arise earlier with Windows 7 crashed and I was never able to reboot it. So I have decided to shrug off Windows for now and dust off my copy of Ubuntu. While I did lose a little research and some tests I had started, both are easily regained.[/size]
