Cataclysm Season

[Belteshazzar]

I wouldn’t suggest it as a season, but a gradual sense of increasing difficulty ‘would’ be nice.

After all the scientists didn’t specifically create a zombie apocalypse, they’re just the most immediately notable side effect of them fucking with the membranes of reality till they realized it’s generally lot easier to open doors than to close them after the fact.

The world is broken and all you’ve got is duct tape.

[Pthalocy]

[quote=“Muaddib, post:20, topic:8560”]Has anyone mentioned blowouts?

I don’t think anyone mentioned blowouts.

Why has no one mentioned blowouts yet?[/quote]

Please define?

[Sundaysmile]

[quote=“Pthalocy, post:22, topic:8560”][quote=“Muaddib, post:20, topic:8560”]Has anyone mentioned blowouts?

I don’t think anyone mentioned blowouts.

Why has no one mentioned blowouts yet?[/quote]

Please define?[/quote]

Blowouts are a term coined from the STALKER Chernobyl books/game where an anomalous event triggers. Basically all the physics in that area become incredibly unstable, objects and creatures within are twisted apart by flux gravity or atomised by intense radiation. It’s kinda the thing I was shooting for actually, but Cataclysm’s time frame is defined by seasons. Though lots of people seem to have a problem with an entire season having increased difficulty. They seem to want it to gradually increase over time.

[Pthalocy]

Ohhhhh! Well that’s nightmare fuel if ever I heard of it. XD

Blowouts as you have defined sound like they would wreck building structures, exposing the survivor to whatever else was out there, and promptly vapourizing them. This seems a difficult event to survive without some kind of hazmat/power armour combo on at the time of it’s occurrence… I mean, yes! Roguelikes are a giant fuck you when the RNG rolls badly for you, but when the entire area becomes lethal that’s a bit too much hahaha.

Something a little less lethal-sounding or a more-available escape plan for this type of event would make it interesting though. I remember back when acid rain would kill basically all critters and dissolve/corrode a lot of items left outside. Don’t remember if it ever used to damage the player or just cause pain. It was pretty fucking absurd though, forcing you indoors to starve if it happened early on. If you DID survive it, it was a delicious meat everywhere party. Meat parties are great.

[Datanazush]

In Stalker the blowouts/emissions were characterized in game as blasts of intense but temporary radiation/psychic energy and storms radiating out from the Chernobyl NPP. The physics fuckery was generally considered only prevalent near the plant itself, the real threat was getting your brain cooked out if you failed to find cover or knock yourself out in time.

I’d like to see a less dangerous version of it, perhaps a visible “Wave” from nearby portals that would cause pain/nausea/knock you out temporarily unless you were sufficiently protected or inside a vehicle/house.

[Synthetic]

I don’t really like the idea of blowouts in Cataclysm, but maybe if we got localized weather then we could have blowouts centered around certain buildings in a wide expanse. Blowout laboratories surrounded by expanses of damaged wasteland would be fun.
Or add nuclear power plants with a chance of blowouts surrounding one.

[iceball3]

[quote=“Synthetic, post:26, topic:8560”]I don’t really like the idea of blowouts in Cataclysm, but maybe if we got localized weather then we could have blowouts centered around certain buildings in a wide expanse. Blowout laboratories surrounded by expanses of damaged wasteland would be fun.
Or add nuclear power plants with a chance of blowouts surrounding one.[/quote]Wouldn’t really correspond to lore to have it happen around power plants. It’s gotta either be nether portals or labs, yeah.

[Pthalocy]

NOW I like where this might be going. Challenges tied to particular areas gives me a clear means of avoidance, but the promise of potential loot. Like the labs themselves. Except with that “Oh fuck no not this again” feeling of when one starts the game near a fungal tower and promptly has to deal with spores surrounding EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE when wearing nothing but a towel. Time to get really good at running away!

[KA101]

Area-based challenges, sure, though I’d want to make sure that the cycle/cooldown time on a blowout is long enough that someone can actually get into and out of wherever’s blowing before it fires again.

(That and z-level effects: STALKER doesn’t let you look at a map of the Zone, secure someone’s basement, and mine your way to the Chernobyl NPP. DDA!STALKER would. Whether the effort needed to so mine justifies being immune to blowouts is up for debate.)

[Pthalocy]

Mmmm, destructible world problem. Agreed the blowout events should be rare enough that a slow underequipped survivor can likewise escape a second one after being hit by the first. Otherwise the threat runs risk of being an assured delayed death. Not so much fun if you don’t have the opportunity to learn from the first mistake

I am really liking the idea of a window-of-opportunity approach to certain locations, as the only ones currently in the game are “get home before sunrise” for looting runs, and “get enough food before winter”. And I guess “Grab what you can because the house is on fire” for that particular start scenario. A high-stakes willfully-embarked-upon speed run for loot or potential quest objectives would be super neat.

[Nickal]

looking at it I must say that first off. Blowout is used within the Misery mod, Emission is vanilla game. Also as far as I can say cataclysm goes, Emissions and Blowouts wouldn’t work out entirely.

[Synthetic]

[quote=“KA101, post:29, topic:8560”]Area-based challenges, sure, though I’d want to make sure that the cycle/cooldown time on a blowout is long enough that someone can actually get into and out of wherever’s blowing before it fires again.

(That and z-level effects: STALKER doesn’t let you look at a map of the Zone, secure someone’s basement, and mine your way to the Chernobyl NPP. DDA!STALKER would. Whether the effort needed to so mine justifies being immune to blowouts is up for debate.)[/quote]

I think that being in an underground tunnel is probably better shelter than anything you could ever find on the surface. It also means that if an underground tunnel isn’t counted as shelter, then you probably aren’t going to find any shelter at all down there.

Rather than making the center of the blowout zone where the player wants to go, they should have goodies scattered around all over that area. Higher chance to spawn artifacts maybe, or just better loot in those areas in general. Decentralize the end goal of that area basically.

[Jakers]

Maybe doing something with a hazardous waste sarcophagus could massively pollute the air and unlock new weather options such as the pre-infamous acid rain. I like the idea of more and more weather types (and blowouts) being introduced as you go through the game.

Squirrel rain tho

[EkarusRyndren]

(That and z-level effects: STALKER doesn’t let you look at a map of the Zone, secure someone’s basement, and mine your way to the Chernobyl NPP. DDA!STALKER would. Whether the effort needed to so mine justifies being immune to blowouts is up for debate.)

From what I understand of the lore, Blowouts/Emissions come from the Wishgranter, which is sitting in a nice little bubble of radiation so strong you need plot armor to reach, I doubt much good would come from mining your way to the CNNP from the 100 Rads bar anyway.

[PoeSalesman]

As far as these Blowouts go, it seems more like people trying to force in a mechanic from a completely different game into this one. Does it really fit the lore and setting of DDA? If not, then it should only be found in a mod, even if it’s something people were really fond of in STALKER.

As for other kinds of weather or a season? Wouldn’t support a season, and I think anomalous weather should really be tied to location rather than something that’s forced on you over time. It’s more conductive to varied play styles, paces, and goals that way. Not everyone is fond of a challenge mode, after all, or maybe they intend to take the game more slowly. Making it accelerate with time sorta forces everyone into a singularity of sorts, where fewer playstyles become viable in the long run. If it’s tied to a location on the other hand, with maybe some kind of limited roaming, then it’s always there for people who want to be involved with it without dragging those who don’t into it. Necessarily, anyway. Always possible for the range to be longer than you thought or for you to trip into it without being aware, or even for you to press the wrong button and flip the wrong switch and suddenly you’re at the epicenter of what amounts to a Warp Storm.

[EkarusRyndren]

…Stupid question, but on the subject of locations/a season

Why not an option for one or the other? Or a mod?

[Pthalocy]

PoeSalesman makes quite valid points.

I was mostly interested in the addition of a type of threat that can be navigated via safe windows of opportunity, but presented significant hazard if not evaded. Heck, this could be as simple as a military base or something with search lights or robot patrol that produces a safe gap to exploit for interesting loot gain. Or, you know, you take too long and the robots effectively mean you’re either gonna get spotted, or waiting out inside the dangerous base zone waiting for that gap in patrols to open again.

I’m more interested in the mechanic of the challenge than it’s details, though of course I would prefer lore-friendly.

[Datanazush]

Yeah, I’m generally in it for a threat that you don’t fight, rather you just evade it. I’d reckon that a version of emissions would instead be isolated weather shit bleeding through from Nether portals.

[KA101]

Yeah, I’m generally in it for a threat that you don’t fight, rather you just evade it. I’d reckon that a version of emissions would instead be isolated weather shit bleeding through from Nether portals.

Yep, that’s the idea.

Hypothetical:
Acidic rain & gas surges (Acid Rain, just like the old days, and the portal spews Thick Toxic Gas) lasts about four hours, surge happens every 12-24 hours, 5x5 map tile square centered on this particular Nether portal.

You’ve got at least four hours from the time the rain stops to get in and either under cover (and gas mask for the gas) or grab & get going. That ought to be enough for a PC with a plan.

[AllisonW]

[quote=“Datanazush, post:38, topic:8560”]Yeah, I’m generally in it for a threat that you don’t fight, rather you just evade it. I’d reckon that a version of emissions would instead be isolated weather shit bleeding through from Nether portals.

Yep, that’s the idea.

Hypothetical:
Acidic rain & gas surges (Acid Rain, just like the old days, and the portal spews Thick Toxic Gas) lasts about four hours, surge happens every 12-24 hours, 5x5 map tile square centered on this particular Nether portal.

You’ve got at least four hours from the time the rain stops to get in and either under cover (and gas mask for the gas) or grab & get going. That ought to be enough for a PC with a plan.[/quote]

This would be a lot of fun.

A foolish thought: could local acid rain work as a ‘cloud’ of sorts or hazard tiles instead of as a weather function per se? You’ve probably already considered this; I’m pretty much talking to hear myself at this point