# Needful things (simple additions to improve the game)

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [March 23, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570 "2014-03-23T22:36:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 153

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**Author:** ![Grandpuh\_Ty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Grandpuh\_Ty](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Grandpuh_Ty)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3041 "2016-04-17T15:21:09Z")

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You can yell by pressing ‘C’

What’s the word on being able to leave containers out in the rain without a funnel and have them collect water? There’s a few different funnels which I assume have hidden collection stats on them, so maybe if you could 'A’ctivate empty containers and set them up to collect or something with a very horrible collection rating?

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**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3042 "2016-04-17T15:27:28Z")

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Disassembly progress may be hard in its current incarnation, but I’m writing an experimental crafting system that may make it possible and low on bugs to resume crafting, constructing and dismantling. Craft jobs will have unfinished items representing them.  
This will also make it possible to make NPCs craft.

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**Author:** ![TheMightyHercules](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/themightyhercules/32/340_2.png) [@TheMightyHercules](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheMightyHercules)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3043 "2016-04-18T00:00:49Z")

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While debugging mutations you could sort it by category

Example:

I want to look for the mutations in the “Fish” category,  
I would type in the search bar @FISH or MUTCAT\_FISH and it would give me the mutations under that category.

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**Author:** ![BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/borkborkgoesthecode/32/2343_2.png) [@BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/BorkBorkGoesTheCode)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3044 "2016-04-19T16:08:32Z")

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While playing, I noticed that the game doesn’t appear to support analog photography. Could analog cameras and photographs be added?

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**Author:** ![Rama\_Tut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@Rama\_Tut](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rama_Tut)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3045 "2016-04-20T00:52:34Z")

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A .projects file for the forums visible after sigs so people have some clue as to which ideas might actually be implemented by someone.

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**Author:** ![MrQwerty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@MrQwerty](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/MrQwerty)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3046 "2016-04-20T13:04:40Z")

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Um… i am not using the latest experimental so maybe it’s changed now, but the phrase “You eat your Coal” while using an internal furnace CBM is quite… disturbing to picture D:

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**Author:** ![Force21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@Force21](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Force21)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3047 "2016-04-21T03:09:27Z")

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> [@MrQwerty](#):
>
> Um… i am not using the latest experimental so maybe it’s changed now, but the phrase “You eat your Coal” while using an internal furnace CBM is quite… disturbing to picture D:

I don’t think of it as literal eating as more of your cbm directly consuming the material. Like the terminator, a little metal flap on your belly just to put things in. So maybe the phrase could be changed from “You eat your \_\_\_\_” to “Your (cbm, internal furnace, ethanol, etc.) consumes the (wood, vodka).” Also, literal eating would have dramatic effect on your mood from the taste of whatever you put inside yourself, proving more that it’s put elsewhere.

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**Author:** ![Pumbletron](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/pumbletron/32/222_2.png) [@Pumbletron](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Pumbletron)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 7:32am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3048 "2016-04-21T07:32:41Z")

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Not to mention that the CBM doesn’t give you super-jedi laser teeth to actually chew up and consume stuff like that, let alone a throat of some perculiar and odd variety to be able to swallow that kind of material.

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**Author:** ![BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/borkborkgoesthecode/32/2343_2.png) [@BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/BorkBorkGoesTheCode)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3049 "2016-04-21T18:21:31Z")

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> [@BorkBorkGoesTheCode](#):
>
> [quote=“Logrin”]Just a thought, but pipe weapons suffer from the fact that from the point you can make them, you’re very likely to have a trove of purpose built pre-fall firearms. Making for an odd dynamic of wanting to make them better than they should be to justify crafting. That might be the wrong approach.

[quote=“Aluminumfoil”]Many items and recipes in the game are just there because they can be, not because they have any intended niche.

Take a region like the US northeast where there’s about one gun for every human and remove 99% of the people, and you’re left with 100 guns per surviving person… and that’s just counting civilian firearms.

A decently maintained firearm can remain functional for centuries. Ammunition should rapidly become scarce after the end of industry, but not guns. People will be recycling perfectly functional rifles for their steel long before anyone bothers to make a pipe gun in postapocAmerica.

Heck, they might even probably be using rifle barrels as makeshift pipes :D[/quote]  
The problem with pipe guns is that most in-game firearms never receive damage from rust, overheating, or extended use. Most real-world guns developed after the handgonne are made with springs that tend to weaken after heavy use. Also, guns must have their barrels replaced after x number of bullets have been fired, due to barrel wear. Because of this, pipe guns, especially the Pipe Rifle: x caliber series, lack a strong niche. If a weapon repair system similar to the version in Fallout 3/New Vegas were implemented, then homemade guns would become useful after most reliable sources of factory guns have been exhausted.

> [@Kevin Granade](#):
>
> I don’t mean their mere existence doesn’t make sense, just that it doesn’t make sense to make one in the dda scenario since factory made guns are if anything easier to come by.[/quote]

A fix for this behavior would be for the game to check the age of the world when generating new terrain and reduce the amount of technological spawns as the world aged, with exceptions for the areas surrounding functioning communities that preserved or restarted industry.

> [@ClockworkZombie](#):
>
> -Overmaps generated after day 0 or day 10 or something should spawn from tweaked lists, food should be rotten, some houses demolished or set on fire, stores should be looted or at least a little beat up. Right now it’s more like “The yogurt’s always fresher in the next town over!”

[Edit: ClockworkZombie phrased it better than I.]

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**Author:** ![Szara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@Szara](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Szara)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2016, 9:24am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3050 "2016-04-22T09:24:41Z")

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An easier way to stuff 15 portions of meat jerky down your gullet at once would be great. It gets somewhat tiresome spamming shift+e, 4 (or whatever) over and over again. It’s not much of a bother with most foods, but some sort of batch eat or eat again would be very nifty for the lower-nutrition foods… Alternatively, reduce how much jerky (and similar) is made per batch (and spawn) but increase its nutrition?

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**Author:** ![Malaxxor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Malaxxor](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malaxxor)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2016, 11:38am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3051 "2016-04-22T11:38:47Z")

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I don’t really know if this is a ‘simple’ addition to the game, but I’d consider it absolutely necessary for better interaction with NPCs and I didn’t want to open a new topic, but:

We need a hotkey that let’s us give stuff to NPCs/followers. It would work similiar to the multidrop key: stand next to your follower, press the hotkey, select the direction where your NPC stands and a menu opens up in which you can select stuff to give him.

As it stands, it’s quite some hassle to give NPCs food, especially since the menu we have now doesn’t allow to specify a certain amount of items to transfer and each type of item requires you to open up the menu again.

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**Author:** ![Rama\_Tut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@Rama\_Tut](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rama_Tut)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2016, 12:00pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3052 "2016-04-22T12:00:47Z")

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> [@Szara](#):
>
> An easier way to stuff 15 portions of meat jerky down your gullet at once would be great. It gets somewhat tiresome spamming shift+e, 4 (or whatever) over and over again. It’s not much of a bother with most foods, but some sort of batch eat or eat again would be very nifty for the lower-nutrition foods… Alternatively, reduce how much jerky (and similar) is made per batch (and spawn) but increase its nutrition?

A “repeat last command” key would handle this and a lot else besides. Most roguelikes have one.

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**Author:** ![BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/borkborkgoesthecode/32/2343_2.png) [@BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/BorkBorkGoesTheCode)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3053 "2016-04-22T12:37:03Z")

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Give the “reload”: x object to ammunition, like the “ranged\_damage”: x object for weapons. It will allow the creation of flintlock ammo designed for quick firing at the cost of the infamous accuracy penalty, and vice versa.

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**Author:** ![RAM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@RAM](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/RAM)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3054 "2016-04-23T05:08:16Z")

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[quote=“Malaxxor, post:3051, topic:5570”]I don’t really know if this is a ‘simple’ addition to the game, but I’d consider it absolutely necessary for better interaction with NPCs and I didn’t want to open a new topic, but:

We need a hotkey that let’s us give stuff to NPCs/followers. It would work similiar to the multidrop key: stand next to your follower, press the hotkey, select the direction where your NPC stands and a menu opens up in which you can select stuff to give him.

As it stands, it’s quite some hassle to give NPCs food, especially since the menu we have now doesn’t allow to specify a certain amount of items to transfer and each type of item requires you to open up the menu again.[/quote]  
That sounds like something that could work with advanced inventory, you can already put stuff on a dragged object…

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**Author:** ![Litppunk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/litppunk/32/409_2.png) [@Litppunk](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Litppunk)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3055 "2016-04-23T15:07:10Z")

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they need their own representative letter/ tile in the ui. Probably an “N” to switch between ground and NPC. Speaking of inv needs make comparison (I) and search work with vehicles.

Edit: also make it so vehichle containers can be written on.

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**Author:** ![MormonPartyboat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MormonPartyboat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/MormonPartyboat)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3056 "2016-04-24T22:26:49Z")

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It would be nice if within the heal item use action there was a flag that determined if the item itself was consumed or if that item consumed ammo. Been thinking of a way to flesh out first aid, and an item like a doctor’s bag that would use medical supplies doesn’t seem possible right now.

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**Author:** ![ChJees](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/chjees/32/548_2.png) [@ChJees](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ChJees)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3057 "2016-04-25T00:46:03Z")

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Let us reload a weapon like a shotgun completely in a VERY noisy area without being interrupted every shell. (Damn hospital)  
Letting us completely ignore a warning prompt when performing the same action in a row would be adequate.  
Would appear again if you did something else like moving and such.

Add a “Ignore (S)ubsequent Warnings” could it be.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/1X/21b5d044e8473b25d0bf905d60477e25f6fbe0cf.png) [@system](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3058 "2016-04-25T03:00:17Z")

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> [@Szara](#):
>
> An easier way to stuff 15 portions of meat jerky down your gullet at once would be great. It gets somewhat tiresome spamming shift+e, 4 (or whatever) over and over again. It’s not much of a bother with most foods, but some sort of batch eat or eat again would be very nifty for the lower-nutrition foods… Alternatively, reduce how much jerky (and similar) is made per batch (and spawn) but increase its nutrition?

I always play with wheat allergy, and sometimes I find consumable bologna. When I am determined to fill up on it, I just wield it and 'A’pply current item until I get a warning that tells me that I am full or if have run out of consumable material.

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**Author:** ![Logrin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/logrin/32/209_2.png) [@Logrin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Logrin)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3059 "2016-04-25T21:16:51Z")

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If an item shouldn’t be in water, and we’re not water-tight…maybe rain and being submersed should degrade it. Would certainly curb my bad habit of taking powders out of bags and boxes in favor of just dumping them in the bottom of a backpack.

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**Author:** ![Rama\_Tut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@Rama\_Tut](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rama_Tut)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3060 "2016-04-25T21:53:50Z")

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> [@Logrin](#):
>
> If an item shouldn’t be in water, and we’re not water-tight…maybe rain and being submersed should degrade it. Would certainly curb my bad habit of taking powders out of bags and boxes in favor of just dumping them in the bottom of a backpack.

I’ve always thought it makes zero sense that dumping a bunch of cookies and raw spaghetti into my pockets is less cumbersome than keeping them in their original, sealed packaging.

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