Could we have a "hide" command?

ianpwilliams · 2015-09-14T09:18:40.000Z

I’ve played this game quite a few times now and I’m loving it, despite the fact that I’ve never made it past day 1 (I’ve started using the “Surviving Day 1” guide though and I’m hopeful that I might be able to create a safe house eventually!).

But one thing I wondered is if we might be able to have a button which we can press where the character hides behind something (eg to the right of a bush if a monster is visible to the west), which would greatly reduce the chances of being spotted, and then wait it out in the hope that the nearby monster might move on. This would be especially useful right at the beginning when you’re trying to reach a house, and it could also maybe be useful indoors for temporarily hiding from a monster.

Noctifer · 2015-09-14T09:59:28.000Z

The thing about this is that everything you can hide behind you already can with no need of a command, and the small stuff, (bushes,small trees) would still not work with a command. A few tips to not be spotted. Get the silent movement(forgot name), night vision and inconspicuous traits when making a new character. Start at night like around might night. This should make it easier to get to place to place.

Coolthulhu · 2015-09-14T13:48:23.000Z

This would require limited visibility (of a critter) calculation.
This alone wouldn’t necessarily be too hard, but it poses some questions:

[ul][li]How to limit vision when the player is hiding? Treat all low obstacles (bush) as opaque? Treat only nearby obstacles as opaque?[/li]
[li]Should small monsters benefit from it? How? Do we want to tolerate small critters far away not being visible despite player seeing the tiles they’re located on?[/li]
[li]Limited visibility vs. light interaction. Should bright light make it less useful? Should darkness help? How?[/li][/ul]

ianpwilliams · 2015-09-14T15:06:32.000Z

It was just a thought really, but yes, maybe it’s not necessary. And of course there are traits which would help. Although you then have to take negative traits to make up the points, so I usually tend to just take one positive trait. But I’m sure it’s possible to get a nice stealthy character with negative traits which aren’t too damaging.

Love the game regardless though, anything that combines zombies with Roguelikes is a winner for me.

kevin.granade · 2015-09-16T02:11:56.000Z

I very much want to add a stealth system at some point, but as Coolthulu points out, it will be rather involved. I’m not a fan of adding half-measures, so I’m not likely to add a simplistic hide command, especially since you can successfully run away from 95% of the monsters already.

Arek_PL · 2015-09-16T14:49:53.000Z

i think ability to take cover will be not bad at all

stealth is not a problem if its night and its easy if you have katana and ninjutsu but other cutting weapons should work

ianpwilliams · 2015-09-17T07:35:15.000Z

Kevin Granade:

I very much want to add a stealth system at some point, but as Coolthulu points out, it will be rather involved. I’m not a fan of adding half-measures, so I’m not likely to add a simplistic hide command, especially since you can successfully run away from 95% of the monsters already.

I’ve not had much luck running from monsters so far! But maybe I’m doing something wrong.

Solusphere · 2015-09-17T09:05:36.000Z

I’m not sure this is the place to ask, but seeing as it’s being discussed already, how does the inconspicuous trait actually work, and is it worth the cost? The description makes it sound like monsters just happen to be more likely to randomly stumble away from you rather than toward you.

Arek_PL · 2015-09-17T15:48:14.000Z

Solusphere:

I’m not sure this is the place to ask, but seeing as it’s being discussed already, how does the inconspicuous trait actually work, and is it worth the cost? The description makes it sound like monsters just happen to be more likely to randomly stumble away from you rather than toward you.

i heard that it does nothing right now and its relict from whales era

CIB · 2015-09-17T16:18:49.000Z

checks code I think the inconspicuous trait reduces chance to spawn random NPCs.

Wait, what?

vache · 2015-09-17T16:20:37.000Z

I don’t know what it does exactly, but it could be that it reduces monster vision radius by 5? Or another value found to be balanced.

Mastiffe · 2015-09-18T01:34:54.000Z

ianpwilliams:

I’ve not had much luck running from monsters so far! But maybe I’m doing something wrong.

Make sure you make a “makeshift crowbar” as soon as you can. Now you can crowbar open doors outside houses, run inside, shut the door, then quickly run to another room (out of line of sight from where you were), close THAT door, and then calmly go back to looting. If you were being chased, the second closed door gives you a pretty good buffer; it’ll take some time for them to bash down two doors, and they might even lose interest if they don’t see you after smashing down the first. Truthfully, if you learn to use the house layouts to your advantage, you can probably loot an entire town without firing a shot. The Zeds are pretty dumb.

kevin.granade · 2015-09-18T02:09:02.000Z

The inconspicuous trait is obsolete and broken, it worked by manipulating the chance for monsters and NPCs to spawn near you if you weren’t moving around much.

Arek_PL · 2015-09-18T15:01:29.000Z

[quote=“Kevin Granade, post:13, topic:10524”]The inconspicuous trait is obsolete and broken, it worked by manipulating the chance for monsters and NPCs to spawn near you if you weren’t moving around much.[/quote]so its just a relict from whales era?

kevin.granade · 2015-09-18T16:10:59.000Z

yes, we should remove it, even if we added a new trait that worked in a vaguely similar way, it would be implemented in a totally different way, and once we add some kind of camoflage thing I’d rather it be something the player does rather than a magic trait for not being noticed.