Eyes adapt to darkness

[Someoneman]

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it feels like the “Night Vision” trait is almost mandatory for any character. Being limited to one tile of vision in the dark is realistic, but too inconvenient and restrictive.

My solution would be to have the player adapt to darkness if they stay in the dark long enough. When you go from a brightly-lit area to a pitch-black area, your sight radius will still be one tile, as usual, but after a few minutes it will improve to two tiles, then three, and possibly more. Having very high eye encumbrance could also help with this, so wearing a blindfold before heading into a dark area will give you improved vision once you take it off.

Having a higher perception stat could help this happen faster, and could also affect the maximum distance you can see. So a player with very low perception will not be able to have more than two tiles of vision in the dark, while a player with high perception will be able to come close or equal to a player with night vision after several hours in the dark.

The reverse of this mechanic would also exist: being in darkness for too long and then going into a brightly lit area can cause penalties such as pain and reduced vision for a few minutes. However, this should wear off very quickly to avoid being too annoying.

[jcd]

I like the idea, but the effect should not be giving bonuses in excess of what the NV trait gives.
It would require some kind on NV rebalance i guess.

[BeerBeer]

Nice point, the adaptation. It might be tricky, and it might be a sensitive gameplay mechanic in that players might feel it doesn’t work, or it’s difficult to predict and work with, or it’s difficult to balance. The adaptation can be ruined even by briefest flash of light, and there are plenty of outside light sources in Cata, both expected and unexpected. I haven’t really experimented or paid attention to my own eyesight adaptation (to either direction) personally, and much less than that, I can’t say at what speed does an average person’s eyesight adapt to darkness, or how easily it is ruined, resetting the adaptation (consider at least light source strength and exposure duration).

Not to mention that when you do notice you have gained the dark adaptation, you’d be reluctant to use your flashlight anymore, and you’d dislike it every time the reset happens unexpectedly.

So uhhh I’m just saying it’s a fickle and fragile bonus, and if it were to be made a comfortable mechanic, then it’d possibly be unrealistic.

A good portion of me also agrees with that NV trait is almost mandatory. Either that or I’m just a pansy for getting used to it, finding myself unable to play without it. Because my first dozen characters did not have NV, and I got along just fine.

[Valpo]

Adapting to darkness only takes a few seconds.

[BeerBeer]

Initially yes, but I think after few minutes it just gets better. I wish I could draw a function curve here.

[Coolthulhu]

Adapting to darkness only takes a few seconds.

It starts out quickly, but then it slows down. It doesn’t reach the maximum until few minutes in.

Not sure if the idea is good, though. Could be annoying like “oh shit I got into light, I’m blind now”.
The one thing it would fix would be the light flashing exploit, but it should be fixed in a different way anyway.

[Valpo]

The eye takes approximately 20–30 minutes to fully adapt from bright sunlight to complete darkness and become ten thousand to one million times more sensitive than at full daylight.

wikipedia.

[Litppunk]

Still needs to be 1 vision radius in pitch black, but I assume there isn’t excessive cloud/debris etc, blocking out light from the moon and stars EVERY night. I can understand some or even a lot of nights being essentially pitch black, but not EVERY night for those with normal sight.

[Logrin]

The problem is there isn’t much light pollution anymore, what with the electrical grid down. It’s REAL darkness, that’s why a wreck’s headlights illuminate so much of an area. It’s only natural that this is combated by having to have your own source of illumination, a mutation or proper tech.

Yes, some people can see well enough in pitch darkness. That’s why you can get night vision at character creation.

Yes, eyes adjust to darkness, but not well enough that you’d be seeing with any sort of clarity.

Considering that ‘one square’ in Cata is big enough to house a hulk or a massive heap of rubble and items I think it’s about right.

[Miloch]

Disagree with it being about right right now. I think your max night vision should go up. But I also think you’d need to add a few things to do it correctly. Mostly what you’re seeing on a dark night is shapes. While a zombie is pretty easy to discern due to it’s movement and noise, a crawler might be next to invisible in any kind of clutter if it wasn’t making a lot of noise. On a bright moon lit night you can see better in the open, but any place there is shadow is the next best thing to impenetrable darkness when looking at it from a moonlit area. So it’s a pretty complicated thing in the end. Though I personally say we should at least double current nighttime site. At least outdoors. In pure darkness inside a cave/house with no light sources. You vision should be zero tiles. (illuminate tiles you walk into (aka walls) to show that you are blocked.

[Litppunk]

^ this sounds about right. Unfortunately it would be more or less unplayable in some areas, so vis of 1. in pitch black seems necesary… although… Maybe make it an option? Because that would certainly make it more “in-line” with common rougue-likes uncaring brutality of your death.

Perhaps make a “realistic” mode, and a “user-friendly” mode or something that toggles the state of a few things like: sight in pitch black, and inability to “see” some critters with low visibility unless they make noise. (similar to Shade zombies now)