# 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:** 194

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**Author:** ![DeWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@DeWolf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DeWolf)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3861 "2017-12-05T18:22:15Z")

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This is kinda what the security cameras were supposed to do however for some reason at least when I last used it enemies can see you when you do (which obviously makes no sense)

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**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3862 "2017-12-06T14:01:33Z")

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Here’s a few things I think would be nice:

Vehicular/Construction Firing Ports. Allows a player to peek through, like a peephole on a door or curtained windows, but _also_ allows the player to fire a weapon through as if they were on that square; crucially, denying melee targets the ability to strike the player, forcing them to attempt to claw through the wall first. Return fire should be possible, but extremely unlikely to actually hit - unless the other guy is also peeping through the firing port, which ranged targets will probably want to try if they’re close enough.

I actually tried to make something like with an automotive hatch behind a quarterpanel, but it turns out you can’t shoot over quarterpanels.  
Apropos of exactly that: you should be able to shoot over quarterpanels, at least if you’re adjacent to or on-board of the vehicle on which the quarterpanel is installed.

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**Author:** ![DeWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@DeWolf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DeWolf)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3863 "2017-12-06T15:39:25Z")

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I think this is where I remember asking if there was an actual cover system in the game.

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**Author:** ![Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/murphy/32/2371_2.png) [@Murphy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Murphy)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3864 "2017-12-08T16:50:48Z")

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> And then the situation changes and you die and come here to rage about how 'the game should let me stop when there’s danger!"
> 
> There’s no way for the game to know when you would or would not want to stop a long term action. So like I said, it’s necessary.

Firstly, when you see danger, you almost always have more incentive to continue reloading than to stop. Even if it is a hulk. Especially if it is a hulk.

Secondly, reloading is not a long-term action. If it only takes 1-2 turns that would be a sure-fire “way for the game to know” that I don’t mean to stop it, whatever happens.

Thirdly, there is no reason the game should ask you 20 times repeatedly just because you hear 20 zombies banging on a car wreck all at the same time. No means no, I don’t want to stop reloading.

And lastly, it would be trivial to just have two keybindings: “reload” and “uninterruptible reload”, and the player can bind the one they want to the key (or bind them to two different keys).

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**Author:** ![nick0010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@nick0010](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/nick0010)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3865 "2017-12-08T19:32:25Z")

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counter to 1, “almost always” is the key phrase here. Its better to let the player decide on a case by case basis than have an endgame survivor killed because the computer made a bad call on an edge case .1 & 2, a fair number of weapons have long reload times. Crossbows, pneumatic weapons, belt fed weapons, and several makeshift weapons, all have reload times long enough that a quick enemy can bare down on you in the time it takes to reload them. While the devs could make a cutoff point based on reload speed the issue becomes what a fair cutoff point is. it could probably be added as an option, but that seems like more effort than one would deem necessary for a feature most people seem content with. 3. A situation can change and the game asks each time for the same reason it asks the first time, because a situation can change rapidly. maybe you keep reloading as the regular zeds swarm in, but stop when a hulk rounds the corner behind you, or when a shocker lets out a bolt. or an acid zombie pukes at your feet. The point is its considered better, if a little tedious to ask every time rather than take the choice away from the player and potentially wreck a game over a weapon reloading a little too slowly.

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**Author:** ![psyxypher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/psyxypher/32/11778_2.png) [@psyxypher](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/psyxypher)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3866 "2017-12-08T23:21:14Z")

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It should work like this:

[Message Here]! Continue [Action Here]

(Y)es: Ignores the current distraction (basically what (I)gnore does currently)  
(N)o: Aborts the action (what it does currently)  
(I)gnore all distractions and continue [Action] (should do what it _says_ it’s supposed to do and continue the action despite all distractions.

I don’t see any problems with this, but I have pretty bad myopia, both literally and metaphorically. And this is why peer review exists.

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**Author:** ![psyxypher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/psyxypher/32/11778_2.png) [@psyxypher](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/psyxypher)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3867 "2017-12-08T23:33:20Z")

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Something that’s happened to me distressingly often; NPCs keep shooting through the windshield of my Deathmobile. The AI should be changed so they don’t fire through vehicles, because replacing windows is a pain.

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**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 7:48am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3868 "2017-12-09T07:48:53Z")

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I think you’re close, but here are things that I would want it to interrupt:

Any foe enters melee range with you (disable-able);  
Any new sighting of a foe with a firearm or other ranged attack;  
Any new sighting of certain foes (the player should be able to modify this list, but by default would include Shockers, Shock Brutes, Brutes, Hulks, other things with ranged attacks, and very large things like bears and moose/zombears zombie moose,)  
Any damage taken;

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**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 9:10am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3869 "2017-12-09T09:10:49Z")

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Here’s a needful thing:

When you use a refillable lighter and tell it you want to start a fire, the menu showing you the options (which consists of lighting a fire or simply using the lighter for light,) remains up, blocking part of the view of the area around the player, and potentially misleading them into lighting a fire to their southwest - if they hit ‘1’ to light a fire, which the game interprets as a directional entry SW.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/3/3757cd797d9b87d81f9010d8553e760bc4b433e5.png)

That could stand to be changed, I dare say, perhaps by moving the “here’s what you can do with this” menu, but definitely by removing that menu when you make an entry that asks for more input.

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**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3870 "2017-12-09T11:17:25Z")

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Another simple needful thing: the ability to construct desks.

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**Author:** ![Osman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/osman/32/1405_2.png) [@Osman](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Osman)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:35am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3871 "2017-12-09T11:35:24Z")

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Allow us to organize the bionics (and mutations) tab. Im on the verge of cheating in some first aid kits and oxycodone just to remove and re-add bionics so my most used ones are on top

Edit:spaced full stop

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**Author:** ![Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/murphy/32/2371_2.png) [@Murphy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Murphy)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3872 "2017-12-09T17:58:36Z")

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> A fair number of weapons have long reload times

Right. By all means keep the interruption _for those weapons_. But when reloading takes 1-2 turns, I don’t want to press “N” 20 times for every bullet in my revolver.

It’s not “a little tedious”. It’s impossibly, game-breakingly, mind-numbingly tedious.

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**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3873 "2017-12-09T20:08:59Z")

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> [@psyxypher](#):
>
> NPCs keep shooting through the windshield of my Deathmobile. The AI should be changed so they don’t fire through vehicles, because replacing windows is a pain.

Get yourself some reinforced glass, it’s more resistant to being shot. Found on most military vehicles, and it can be made from glass sheets and wire.

Also, slap a turret on top of that vehicle, and you can shoot them first.

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**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3874 "2017-12-09T20:44:04Z")

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I think he meant that his _friendly_ NPCs were attempting to fire upon targets outside the vehicle from inside the vehicle, and doing a very poor job of it.

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**Author:** ![psyxypher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/psyxypher/32/11778_2.png) [@psyxypher](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/psyxypher)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3875 "2017-12-09T21:10:44Z")

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What ShadowDragon said. Never encountered a roaming NPC that was Hostile on Sight. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever had an NPC shoot me before. Maybe once when I was raiding a Bandit Camp, but that was a long time back.

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**Author:** ![druidniam](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/druidniam/32/1368_2.png) [@druidniam](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/druidniam)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3876 "2017-12-09T23:52:03Z")

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> [@Mantar](#):
>
> Yes, but if you drive the car, the cable gets pulled off as if it’s attached to the ground tile, not the vehicle.

It’s called a jumper cable, not a towing winch.

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**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3877 "2017-12-10T00:03:38Z")

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I don’t know how simple or not simple this would be to implement, I’m _guessing_ not simple, but…

I’d think that the game would be improved by making a tool-mod for things like, well, any tool that takes batteries. If the tool is located on any square that has vehicular power - say, a vehicle, but also just a shopping trolley onto which you’ve welded a storage battery - then the tool draws from the vehicular power instead.

Yes, this **would** effectively made vehicular welders and some of the vehicular tools obsolete, but I have a couple of alternative proposals that can address that:  
1] Just let them go obsolete, and replace the ones that are not combo-tools (like the FOODCO Kitchen Buddy, RV Kitchen Unit and Onboard Chemistry Lab,) with a generic vehicular tool storage tile that’s not meaningfully different from the existing ones, just looks similar so it’s easy to tell apart from, say, random storage areas.  
2] Make the tools which compromise the vehicular tools specifically prohibited from being tapped into vehicular power in this way.  
3] Make the vehicular versions superior in some small but measurable manner, such that players would still be incentivized to go to the time and trouble of making them.  
4] Rig it so that instead of “any square with vehicular power,” the cord-modded tools draw specifically only if they’re placed **in** those specific types of tiles - a corded power drill would need to be placed in a square containing a vehicle-mounted welder to be properly used.

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**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3878 "2017-12-10T02:27:15Z")

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> [@druidniam](#):
>
> It’s called a jumper cable, not a towing winch.

Nah, the problem is that if you sit in the car, attach the jumper cable to it, start it up, and start to drive away, then the jumper cable is torn away as if it’s attached to the ground tile instead of the car.

(It’s nice to see somebody else misreading the whole inside/outside the car thing, it makes me feel better about doing it. 😀)

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**Author:** ![Aluminumfoil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/aluminumfoil/32/5163_2.png) [@Aluminumfoil](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Aluminumfoil)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3879 "2017-12-10T05:58:05Z")

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Human beings are capable of touching their own bodies with their hands. Human bodies are warm. When hands are empty, they should never be cold.

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**Author:** ![DeWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@DeWolf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DeWolf)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 7:49am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-simple-additions-to-improve-the-game/5570/3880 "2017-12-10T07:49:24Z")

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You have never heard a lady complain about being cold at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

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