Endgame: Time Travel

You’ve done it. You built it! A time machine. It should be calibrated…
“Enter the portal? [Y/N]”

Do you know enough to save the past from the incoming cataclysm? Will you even be able to function with other human beings? Will they understand?
All of this is revealed via endgame text. Maybe even some [Y/N] prompts to sway your final path and test the skills and knowledge of your character.

Plenty of room for !!FUN!! stuff. Did you bring the infection back with you? OOPS! Do you have evidence to back your story of time travel?

Achieving the construction of something like this obviously needs to be a massive undertaking. Scavenge scientific journals, perform tests, sift through the garbage data, keep the machine powered…
A goal. Something to do when the late game’s getting you down.

[spoiler][quote=“Kevin Granade”][quote=“Kadian”][quote=“deadmerits”]At least you can try again.[/quote]

Could you? This is the interesting thing about time.
Could you actually >change< the past? It’s basically a Paradox, and I for one think that you really couldn’t change the past if you could timetravel. Everything you would >do< in the timetravel would already be written in stone, because it is the future you’re coming from. That means that, regardless of how often you try to travel back in time to make things right, you wouldn’t be able to, because you already KNOW the outcome of it all: The Cataclysm. You couldn’t change it, and even worse, you would probably realize at some point that you are the reason for the Cataclysm and you couldn’t do a thing against it.
That would be crushing for the character.

A different approach to the time travel paradox is, obviously, the Multiverse/multi dimension theory, where you would simply enter a different dimension/Universe. You could change things in there, definitely. you could potentially stop the Cataclysm before it starts.
But…is it worth it? It ain’t your Universe, your dimension. It’s not really your home, it’s a copy of it, probably with some small differences to your own dimension. While you could potentially rescue A human civilation, it wouldn’t be yours, and you’d never quite fit in it either way, because you’re marked by your past in the Cataclysm itself. One could argue that this isn’t worth it.

…sorry everyone. I love philosphy and debate, an time travel shenanigans are a great way to think about the Universe and Time :P[/quote]
This is the way I see it too, you can’t change what has happened, but what you can do is escape a bad situation. So for example if the thing you’re escaping is your family dying, well that doesn’t make much sense, they’re still dead, the best thing you can do is find another version of them to preserve your own happiness, but that requires some emotional and mental gymnastics that make the whole exercise rather sketchy.
With DDA though, the world has ended, your chances of finding peace and happiness are very small, so just starting a new life in a new world makes a lot of sense.[/quote]
^ This right here[/spoiler]

Can guarantee it will never happen.

Might convince someone to mod it, though. Maybe.

this sounds like CDDA: The Movie 2
13 Monkeys: The 2nd Prime :o

As a mission itd take alot of work buf would add real dufficulty

A most devious idea would be to make the time-travel the event that triggers the cataclysm (also limit time travel to 1-10years to keep it plausible)

So, whenever you return, its practically day 1 of the cataclysm and you get to see the chaos that ensued.
This is still really hard to code of course, but not impossible.

Wouldn’t it actually make some kind of…sense that >you< caused the Cataclysm by travelling back in time?
This one could get a bit spoilery, so just in case…i’d assume most people already know it though, but eh, better safe than sorry, right?

Last Time I checked it’s pretty much canon that most survivors have at least a little bit of the Goo inside them, right? Of course, the more mutagens you use, the more goo you have in your system. Now, when you go back in time, to warn people about it, you’d also bring the goo with you. And maybe even some otherworldly artefacts as well. That’s basically what the Scientists are waiting for, you would be speciman Alpha, you’d be the reason why they even know about the Goo and those other dimensions.

oh, I like the idea…

OH. Game over, You win Its all your fault. Why didn’t you think your actions through more? Glorious.

Noes, you cant change the past, you can only traumatize your future

[quote=“Kadian, post:5, topic:12013”]Wouldn’t it actually make some kind of…sense that >you< caused the Cataclysm by travelling back in time?
This one could get a bit spoilery, so just in case…i’d assume most people already know it though, but eh, better safe than sorry, right?

Last Time I checked it’s pretty much canon that most survivors have at least a little bit of the Goo inside them, right? Of course, the more mutagens you use, the more goo you have in your system. Now, when you go back in time, to warn people about it, you’d also bring the goo with you. And maybe even some otherworldly artefacts as well. That’s basically what the Scientists are waiting for, you would be speciman Alpha, you’d be the reason why they even know about the Goo and those other dimensions.

oh, I like the idea…[/quote]
Waits what this about goo? I read the lore and I saw nothing about goo.

goo/glob/blob is the same

I had a similar idea, except that using a resonance cascade or a Granade gives a chance of bringing you to an alternate Universe, essentially dumping you into a freshly-generated new world map, deleting the old one and losing your vehicle, base, allies, NPCs, and anything not immediately on your person.

This would probably be easier to code too.

A sub-boss could be you from another universe with a time-machine trying to prevent you causing the cataclysm by killing you before you operate the machine. He/she has the same gear maybe or something way better for you to loot and repurpose.

Edit: artefacts or other outerworldly things foreign to your universe.

One variant of the machine could give you a bad ending. Somehow open the portal with the help of goo and it slips through with you. OH NOOOO!

wasn’t that part of the original idea? The goo inside you goes back WITH you and starts this whole mess?

So you gotta find a way to sterilize the goo before going through. Oh boooy!

At least you can try again.

Could you? This is the interesting thing about time.
Could you actually >change< the past? It’s basically a Paradox, and I for one think that you really couldn’t change the past if you could timetravel. Everything you would >do< in the timetravel would already be written in stone, because it is the future you’re coming from. That means that, regardless of how often you try to travel back in time to make things right, you wouldn’t be able to, because you already KNOW the outcome of it all: The Cataclysm. You couldn’t change it, and even worse, you would probably realize at some point that you are the reason for the Cataclysm and you couldn’t do a thing against it.
That would be crushing for the character.

A different approach to the time travel paradox is, obviously, the Multiverse/multi dimension theory, where you would simply enter a different dimension/Universe. You could change things in there, definitely. you could potentially stop the Cataclysm before it starts.
But…is it worth it? It ain’t your Universe, your dimension. It’s not really your home, it’s a copy of it, probably with some small differences to your own dimension. While you could potentially rescue A human civilation, it wouldn’t be yours, and you’d never quite fit in it either way, because you’re marked by your past in the Cataclysm itself. One could argue that this isn’t worth it.

…sorry everyone. I love philosphy and debate, an time travel shenanigans are a great way to think about the Universe and Time :stuck_out_tongue:

I rather dislike time travel because it usually ends up being a lazy way to wrap up a story right up with ‘and it was all a DREAAAAAaaaammm~’

I really like this, actually. Various endings depending on what you do before going! And you could even, if you do it all wrong, play with the same character again, but all toughened up and crazy preparedm and it could be saved as a template or something.

[quote=“jcd, post:4, topic:12013”]A most devious idea would be to make the time-travel the event that triggers the cataclysm (also limit time travel to 1-10years to keep it plausible)

So, whenever you return, its practically day 1 of the cataclysm and you get to see the chaos that ensued.
This is still really hard to code of course, but not impossible.[/quote]
Or like this:

Upon starting the time machine, the game PROMPTS “Jump back how many years? (1-12)”, and no matter what number the player enters, the result is always the same - a world reset. But it’s not going to stop anyone from being curious about what happens if he enters a different number. Muhahaha. … :frowning:

Additionally, the new (post-jump) game now includes a live copy of the player character, somewhere. Any damage or status alteration that this doppelganger sustains is inflicted upon the current player as well, potentially forcing the player to protect that guy at all times (pun not intended). If we really want to make this awesome, the game should record everything that the player does. This is so that in the new world the game can make the doppelganger repeat everything that the player did in the old world, and so that the new player character can track down the old player character, for whatever reason, or to stay the hell away from him, way outside the reality bubble.

Oh, and do you see? If you treat your present self well, your future self will be better off, and if you hurt yourself, you’ll be just hurting your future self! See? See?! I’m not crazy!

Also, for each year that the player chooses to jump, a single wild monkey is added to the game somewhere.