Computerized cataclysm

Game Talk The Drawing Board
1

I’ve been reading the forums and one of the topic was about electricity and things to hook up to generators. One of the suggestion was electric doors and this got me thinking… Computers have no use other than disassembling them into parts. But nowdays everything is automated and computer controlled.

So how about this:

Add programing not something fancy like an actual programing interface into Cataclysm (even though it would be funny to play CataDDA in CataDDA) but a very simple crafting recipe for programs. Let me explain. We already have PDAs and laptops. Also the description for PDAs say:
“A small multipurpose electronic device. Can be loaded with a variety of apps, providing all kinds of functionality.” but the only app is a flashlight… It was a bit of a buzzkill for me when I found that out.

So say you have a base maybe an LMOE shelter you found it a while back. You fell instantly in love with it when you opened the metal door. You were a computer nerd befor the apocalyps hit, so a safe place was a godsend where you can sleep without the fear of zombies. But it’s a dark hole with not much comfort. A few months pass you get a generator for your base and you have a working fridge and light in you base.
You go into the city to get some loot and you find a PDA and a laptop in an electronic shop. You can’t wait to hook it up charge the battery for the laptop and see the light of a computer screen. But when you get home you realize that there is nothing on the computer. So you decide to make somthing on it. So you write a program Snake and play with it for a while than you put it on a pendrive and upload it onto the PDA so you can play on the go. That’s when the you get idea that you can make programs that are actualy useful. So you star making “survival apps” for your PDA you put a makeshift antena on it so you can use it as a radio. Than you put an app on it that sends specific commands with your radio so you can activate explosives and turrets that you’ve previously set up. When shit hits the fan you just walk trough your automated ambush or you set up electric metal doors that open and close with a press of a button.

Thing like that I think you get the point now for the implementation first of all you’ll need a computer with which you can program when tool qualites are implemented certian computers might be faster than others… But that’s for the future. So here are some example recipies that I made up(these are my ideas only the might be unbalanced):

Control app:
-Computer (PDA, laptop, PC etc.)
-Pendrive (so you can upload it to your PDA)
-Computer skill 4

Alarm clock (it’s a clock)
-Computer (PDA, laptop, PC etc.)
-Pendrive (so you can upload it to your PDA)
-Computer skill 3

Game( a random game that you can play for moral boost)
-Computer (PDA, laptop, PC etc.)
-Pendrive (so you can upload it to your PDA)
-Computer skill 5

Music app(you can listen to it like an mp3 player)
-Computer (PDA, laptop, PC etc.)
-Pendrive (so you can upload it to your PDA)
-Computer skill 4

This way ou can put multiple usefull electronic devices Into just one small PDA. But the main thing is the controller app that lets you open doors set of explosives and turn turrets on and off. I imagine it having an extra interface which lets you add electroic devices onto it’s list, turrets for instace. Than you place the turret. When you activate your app it show that the turret is active maybe it changes it’s color you select it from the list and it let’s you give it commands turn on, turn off, maybe take direct control. It would be the same for other electronics. But for furniture electronics like you lights that you can’t pick up it could have a sync option that conects every electronic device with it (they would have to be able to connect with it somehow, with an antenna for instance). You should be able to set up sub groups that all activate all at the same time like activating the mininukes all at once or set up a command that turns the turrets on acivates the manhacks and sets of the explosives with a 20 turn delay.

Thats all I can think of for now tell me what you think.

2

I really like this idea.

Going on the theme, freezerbunny (not sure if he frequents the forums, but whatever) pushed a few changes in experimental this week that allow vague power mechanics, with generators powering appliances and lights and whatnot. So we could reasonably insert said programmable computers into the power networks to allow things like complex traps, automated doors, lights that turn off at nighttime, etc etc.

3

If we fail to program our apps, we got a chance to brick the PDA. :stuck_out_tongue:
Also, add a PDA recipe if this gets implemented.

I like the remote control ideas, but I honestly think that a separate device that activates C4 or Mini-nukes (?) would be better.

I doubt we will get a mini-nuke launcher any time soon.

4

We have one.

5

Yeah I just saw it! Finally.

Now we just need our remote control C4 detonaters.
And craftable Improvised Explosive Devices fk omg

6

Yeah, things like PDA, Laptop, pendrives of all types are already ideas on what computers could be used for.
Pendrives and similar items could be used as “addons” to computers and PDA’s that give allow them to be used in a different way. Attach the hacking pendrive to a laptop, and you don’t need an electrohack anymore. Attach a music DVD, and you don’t need MP3.
Or just have a system similar to the flame swords and such, where you operate them by a menu, and pendrives and such add extra options.
Some better crafting recipes could also be found, and be readable only by a computer or PDA.

Same with PDA, now it’s only limited to a flashlight app, while it could do so much more.

7

About the detonators… I’m not saying that PDAs should be the only way to activate explosives but having a separate detonator and a PDA and a radio is a lot of extra weight and volume when you have a PDA that can do it all. Also detonators are “dumb” you press the button and the explosives explode when whit a PDA you can set a delay on them and things like that. One more thing i’d like it if PDAs have a limit so for a whole base you need an actual computer. I think it’s hard to connect CCTVs to a PDA you Could use the PDA to connect to the computer so you can check the fotage. For hacking it’s better to use a laptop than a PDA but a PDA is much better when you are in the middle of the action. Another use for these computer systems is that they would give radio towers a new use. You need them for long range communication. You’d have to power them up and hack into the systems and so on. Think about the options this would give once the npcs are implemented. You set a radio tower up so you can connect to a settlement anytime anywhere.

Ps.: I hope that the mininuke launcher is like the one in starship troopers. I love that movie

8

You seem to decline the whole world is run with computers nowadays. :slight_smile: It’s intended for communication and sharing content alright but only after the needed materials and other requirements had been met. In other words, you need to have a webcam and a mic if you’re about to use Live Chat, and the production process is controlled with robots; thus, computers. :slight_smile:
If there was a constant power source like some (including myself) suggested, and if we had raw materials, we could have computerized homes with assembly lines that build weaponry, delicate sensors taking care of farming and breeding, recycling plants turning everything eco-green once again etc. My greatest wish ever for Cata revolves around having an automated system for building structures such as LMOEs, homes and roofed platforms - and that’s a real thing even in 2013. :slight_smile:

9

I’m not sure what you mean by this. If I understand it right you are saying that you need to have certian prepartions before you can do the things I said. Maybe I wasn’t clear. I’m not saying that you can just grab a PDA and use it for everything. You would have to prepare your base before connecting it to a computer you need energy from a generator or solar pannels than you have to find cabel or some wireless way to connect it to the computer etc.

I’m not sure if this is what you mean, if it’s not correct please correct me!

10

I’m gonna update on this, that’s for sure. :slight_smile:
Think of the PDA like it was a journal, a message log and that unified utility device for checking your game status.
Your Computers skill governs those things that you could do with it, and other devices you could build, just like robots, etc.
Since all those NPCs are being redone, it’s not hard to imagine a robot NPC that takes care of homely things.
For example, if you had a fenced base with some turrets and some recycling repo anywhere inside, you could define pickup rules for the robot. You want spoiled items, papers and broken items incinerated/recycled, but you need 9mm casings back in your pocket - and that’s what you assign/control via your PDA. And I was talking about about repair_bots, builder_bots etc. in the post above fyi, but that sort of “sensory” conduct isn’t available for “produce and control” until computerized equipment inherits some features from the player’s class (pickup_rules in my example).
Only to add onto your OP, there are some initial PDA uses likewise those few you mentioned, but they’re rare to stumble upon.