Filthy Camouflage

Foqus · 2018-09-11T16:44:50.854Z

Hello all! Would it be possible to make filthy clothss/armor assist in zeds not detecting us while maintaining the moral penalty and maybe an increase in animal tracking?

Trigon · 2018-09-11T17:55:15.252Z

That’s interesting. I don’t really know how it would be implemented, but being able to cover up you own stank with filthy zombie rags makes sense.

Wayticus · 2018-09-11T19:07:11.993Z

It could work like a weak form of zombie pheromones, just can’t be too close, and I have seen them do it in the movies so it must work, would make the squeamish trait more punishing.

Fris0uman · 2018-09-11T19:13:40.071Z

Zombie pheromone (afaik) makes nearby Zs friendly, so what you might be looking for is something closer to the Weak scent trait

Foqus · 2018-09-11T19:20:51.825Z

You could reduce the tiles at which the zombies see you based on how many pieces of filthy clothes you have on.

Foqus · 2018-09-11T19:23:19.267Z

Seem like it would be a decent early game solution and would be fairy balanced due the the morale penalty and infection risk. Also it could be negated the the zombies see you before you put them on. Would definitely be worth is when you’re in the middle of the city with 20 zombies surrounding your building

Trigon · 2018-09-11T19:54:31.328Z

I would definitely be willing to tool around in a filthy raincoat though. I feel like the morale penalty would even out and you would be left with a net gain.

Foqus · 2018-09-11T20:01:22.868Z

Maybe even make it to where rain would nullify the effect and attacking a zombie makes them aggressive

veh · 2018-09-11T20:07:50.381Z

Scent mechanic is already in the game.
I think wearing filthy stuff should make you easier to detect for wildlife but harder for zeds.

Foqus · 2018-09-11T21:04:29.991Z

That’s exactly what I was thinking!

veh · 2018-09-11T22:37:45.030Z

then again, there’s filthy pheromone item that can do exactly that

Valiant · 2018-09-12T07:43:15.847Z

Long ago I tried to implement this mechanic (https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/20160). My error was that I did it alongside with other enhancements and bugfixes, while filthy camouflage idea seems to be rather radical game mechanics change. So later I made a new PR with only bugfixes and never returned to this mechanic.

Copypaste from the PR: Sneaky or pacifist characters can use filthy gear to trick monsters in ZOMBIE monster group. Wearing filthy clothes makes them to “semi-ignore” the player character. While zombies are far away from player character (but still in their field of view), they actually ignore him, but on small distances zombies will still be acting hostile.

Tested this on several types of zombies. They do actually pursuit player on purpose if they are close enough. That’s why “semi-ignore”.

Tested with debug traits. “Semi-ignore” turns into full ignore with no smell trait. Sound is irrelevant here, because player can stand still.

I didn’t do further with this concept, but it could act as a base for anyone willing to continue.