What’s your best ideas for mods?
Mods you wish you had the skill, time, tools to make. Anything from jet packs to drill packs. Maybe if we are lucky someone with alot of time, skill and tools could make them.
An extended chemistry mod.
Can you elaborate a bit that’s REALLY broad.
No, really. Right now the game looks as if somebody started adding chemical stuff into the game but got bored halfway. There are lots of ‘blind alleys’ in crafting recipes.
For instance: aluminum -> aluminum powder -> aluminum sulfate -> ??? nothing. It has no use.
Rocket fuel needs zinc powder, but it’s uncraftable and I don’t really remember ever getting a batch of it.
That’s just two that come to mind quickly. There might be other recipes, but the components are so rare that it’s really not worth the trouble. Most chemical recipes are useful in a way of granting access to homemade explosives for the character.
Hexamine description:
A handful of waxy hexamine tablets. This ubiquitous fuel was used to start up almost every garden grill and no ‘real’ camping trip could do its cooking without it, until the Cataclysm. Nowadays, it is even more valuable then before, being the key component in the preparation of several military-grade explosives.
If it’s so common, why do we not really get any of it? Finding even some of it is like winning a lottery, and even then there really is not much use for it, maybe make a couple of grenades and that’s about it.
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So like a chemistry patch? That actually sounds really useful. Great idea though here’s to hope a coder could fix it.
Last I saw someone was working on a realistic chemistry mod/PR, but haven’t heard from them in a while. No idea if it’s still happening.
I have a few mod ideas bouncing around the back of my mind. Finally finishing my PA mod, artifact bows, some “creative” apocalyptic weapons, possibly a 40k mod if the one that already exists doesn’t go anywhere.
I don’t write mods. I write code. Still, I would love help on my many, many projects.
- CBMs and NPCs. You can install CBMs on NPCs, and NPCs can install CBMs on each other, but the selection is limited because the NPC AI is dumb and there’s no point in installing a dielectric capacitance CBM on an NPC who literally doesn’t know how to turn it on. This needs to be fixed.
- Improved NPC threat evaluation. I have a proposal that would let NPCs run away, but haven’t had time to code it.
- NPCs should say more things, such as warning you when they spot a dangerous monster. Hostile NPCs should talk to each other.
- Builder NPCs/differential map upgrades: I want to assign an NPC to upgrade a map location, using a JSON of terrain/furniture. It wouldn’t be a full overmap tile, just the bits that need to be changed. This could also be used to maintain the refugee ranch and evac center, with a Builder NPC continuously upgrading them.
- NPC-controlled faction camps: I want random collection of NPCs to use Builder NPCs to build their own faction camps.
- Player faction camps merged with basecamps: I want to get rid of the overseer role and replace it with a bulletin board of tasks, so you can start building a faction camp with just one NPC. Also, all the camp status that is currently contained in the overmap tile name needs to be moved inside the basecamp structure.
- Flexible faction camps: Use Builder NPCs to build player faction camps, and allow multiple different upgrade paths. You should be able to start with a metal walled barracks in a swamp, instead of a tent in a field, if that’s what you want to do. Also, your kitchen should depend on you actually having an oven, a smoking rack, and a root cellar, not on having built those at some point in the past and disassembled them.
- Boats should not use pseudo-wheels. They should have “boat hull” under locations, a hull height, and a draft based on volume and mass. If you boat’s draft is larger than your hull height, your boat is a submarine if it’s sealed and sunk if it isn’t. And yes, this change would also finally enable amphibious vehicles.
- Continuous treads shouldn’t be treated as pseduo-tires, but a much more sophisticated thing.
- Vehicle engine power, power production, and power consumption should be displayed in the vehicle interaction menu.
- You should be able to use remote controls to trigger pulleys to open barn doors and metal doors.
- There should be a drawbridge terrain that uses a pulley to cover a lot of pits with boards all at once.
- Vehicle maximum speed should be related to horsepower in a sensible way. Basically that means calculating engine force at the wheel versus the rolling drag and air resistance.
That’s the stuff I can think of off the top of my head.
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Wow. Alot of that seems really cool. I really hope someone puts alot of that in the main game cause alot of it would work for that. But either way those are slot of good ideas.
If I had the skill and time, I would change how containers, namely crafted ones worked. The encumbrance would start out minimal when empty, and it would increase as you put more items into them. Take the Survivor’s Duffel Bag for example, it would start out at an encumbrance of say, 1.00-2.50 when empty and when filled all the way to capacity, it would reach the current 25 encumbrance. You’d be able to store items into the containers much like how you put grenades into the large grenade pouch, ammunition magazines into bandoliers, that stuff.
Another thing I’d want to change would be how mutations worked, specifically the Troglobite mutation category. Not nerfing or buffing it, but altering it so Troglobite would qualify as a sub-mutation that any mutation category could pursue, even Plants would go from being trees to being a type of Fungus and not the Fungal Monsters, unless Kevin was okay with the player becoming some kind of underground-focused Triffid. The idea would be making Troglobites closer to their textbook definition of them being a subspecies for multiple kinds of animals that are geared towards surviving underground and in caves. A Post-Threshold Rat that went Post-Threshold Troglobite would be the ultimate underground/sewer/cave survivor, but they would struggle outside or in bright light, putting them outside in broad daylight however will cause severe pain and some kind of panic effect that causes a huge drop in how much they can see unless they have Line of Sight to a cave, manhole, house, or building that’s dark to simulate tunnel visioning towards an escape route. A Troglobite Spider would be able to stay outside with the sun out, but only with webs thick enough to block out the sunlight and even then they would be hit with some minor to moderate penalties on morale and skills. The Fish Troglobite would be more for deep water living and possibly some new areas underwater like grottos, cave systems, etc, but that’s a very far way from being feasible. The Troglobite category itself would have a large host of mutations to bolster underground/underwater survival, but those mutations would check to see if you were a specific threshold like Spider or Rat. A Plant-troglobite would slowly go from a normal plant to some kind of fungus/underground triffid because the Troglobite mutations would check for the THRESH_PLANT prerequisite being fulfilled. Stuff like that basically.
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That mutation change sounds amazing. If you can get someone to make this I would love to play it. 
The other thing I want to do related to mutations would be making it so Slime and Troglobite mixed together wouldn’t be an underground based slime, but a large offshoot of Slime that would be kinda oily and black in color. You’d sport a number of advantages like immunity to acid and fire damage, but you could still catch fire, it just wouldn’t cause you pain or hurt you directly, but with the slime-troglobite, you’d have a large amount of natural armor that built up while waiting and staying still, but it slowed you down akin to Ponderous 3. If you caught fire, then you’d start losing amounts of natural armor and trading it for speed. The more limbs of your’s that were on fire, the lower your natural armor, but the higher your natural speed would be, and of course you’d be setting fire to anything you stepped on/got near, so while you might slaughter that bandit who turned a flamethrower towards you thinking it’d be an easy kill, the building you might be in or next to would catch fire and we all know how fast fire spreads. A building collapsing on you wouldn’t kill you, but it would likely destroy anything you’re carrying or have equipped (more coverage means less chance for fire and every 10-25 steps, do a check to see if the armor slides off unless it’s a full 100% coverage item like hazmat or ANBC suit with a gas mask equipped) and moving out of the rubble would take at least 600 movement points per square. You’d be like the T-1000 in that regard, very little could actually hurt you and cause you pain, but when something could hurt you and cause you to really feel pain, it would hit like a freight train. Hunger and thirst could also be lowered for additional natural body armor or healing, the slime pets would be something you activate now instead of it being automatic. Most doors and windows could be bypassed by activating an ability to slid through some cracks/under the door, but any stuff you have on hand would be left on the spot unless the door was partially damaged, then some smaller items could be carried through under the idea of being temporarily stuffed inside your body.
NPCs would always be hostile to you or running away since you’d look like some vaguely humanoid-shaped oily blob that moved along the ground slowly or charging at them/something else while on fire. Only wearing stuff like ANBC Suits, Hazmat Suits, full Survivor gear all over, and maybe power armor would you not be like, leaking outside the sides and then you’d have no ugly or beauty modifiers, you’d need a special mutation to allow you to actually speak with them since you’d lose your vocal chords otherwise.
You’d have a fair amount of natural volume for items since you’d just be putting them inside you, but it would be mainly for small items like foods, screwdrivers, maybe a crowbar, lockpicks, but if you put food or drink in your body, there’d be about a 20% chance every fifty steps taken for one food or drink item to be consumed. Most drugs, if not all of them, would be entirely incapable of affecting you, but you’d not feel pain for purposes of CBMs (you’d need a special mutation that would adapt the CBM’s function to your body and it could only adapt so many, simulating the eventual bionic slot limit Kevin wants to implement) or painkillers (aside from the few things that could cause pain, then be careful because the painkillers won’t work). You would cease being human in every shape of the word, killing zombie children, innocents, other survivors, etc would have no negative impact on your morale since you’d just view them either as potential bio-mass to breakdown to add to your body, or for survivor NPCs, potential kidnap victims to inject with mutagens and serums to make them another post-threshold slime-troglobite blob creature.
Sounds cool. But if I could add something to the kidnapping idea. Maybe make a mutation that gives you a mood boost for forcing mutations on npcs. However it would require a bit of a npc change.
NPCs are being changed, at least to the extent that most of the stuff regarding speaking to them is being JSONified to make interacting with them more flexible and easier to add more changes down the road.
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Problem with chemistry mod is, from my point of view, lack of ideas for end product(s). I can easily imagine dozen of chemicals with recipes for them (and few rare catalysts in labs only). making existing stuff more complicated (in scientific way) is harder, but doable too. But, aside of mutagens and cooking food*, there is no need for chemistry.
In other words - what do you need from chemistry?
- cooking is kind of chemistry, and really hard one
I’d add a stealth system to the game
I’d want to add different states of alertness and attention to creatures, which could be observed by the player. Make the speed at which you walk effect the noise level you make, to permit a quiet approach. Make weight carried and foot encumbrance effect the noise you make while moving. Make the material and construction of the surface you walk on effect how much noise you make. Let the player change their posture, standing, crouching, or prone, which would effect player speed but also reduce the distance they can be seen by enemies. Let crouching behind furniture or hiding under a bed have a chance to conceal you from many enemies. Let the player chose a creature to observe, putting the actions it takes in the combat log while it’s within line of sight. Let e[x]amining a creature show what behavior it’s undertaking currently. Extra chance to hit and bonus damage to enemies that aren’t aware of your presence
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That sounds really useful and logical. If you don’t mind I’d like to add something make it also so you could coat yourself in a enemies blood and guts to smell like them.
Thanks! Cool idea! Maybe with a morale penalty at first, or always if you’re Squeamish. Oh, maybe it makes your clothing Filthy
Ooooh that’s a even better idea! I’d really love to see this stealth system.
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Thanks. I’d love to see this implemented, too. Maybe add a Stealth skill, which effects how likely these techniques are to work. Let you throw rocks near zombies to get them to go see what that noise was, unless it’s too noisy in the area anyway. So many awesome possibilities
I’d also love to see facing and vision cones added to the game, but that’d be a major overhaul