Think about it. Random books and newspapers, outside, still completely legible after several weeks of being exposed to the elements. It just doesn’t make sense. They should either not exist anymore or have their usefulness or information value severely crippled. If they’re on a tile with a roof, then they should still be fine.
It would also add another layer of difficulty to the game with regards to getting those sweet, sweet skill books back to base. Better not be wet with those books in your inventory or put them into a vehicle storage that has a roof if you want to still read them after transporting them. A little wetness to the character shouldn’t matter, especially if they have waterproof storage, but be sufficiently wet or leave paper items outside in the rain and you’ll wish you didn’t.
I like this concept, it makes sense. In addition, paper based drugs like cigarettes, cigars, and joints would get ruined under wet conditions or put in water if not in a water tight seal. Instead of emptying and dropping every pack you come across to conserve weight, it would be important to keep the cigs in it’s case to prevent water damage. Pills too would get ruined if not contained in their bottles. Other things that could get ruined are powdery substances like cooking ingredients, more drugs, wood dust could turn to lye. To go even further with this concept, electronics not specifically water resistant/proof would get damaged beyond repair, using it for anything is out of the question and like damaged items it reduces the chance of recovering usable parts.
I like both of your trains of thought. If this ever gets implemented I hope they lower the morale loss for being wet a tid bit to compensate for water being able to ruin a wide variety of items.
Actually, about electronics, I’ve read that drying sufficiently previuosly wet electronics (like a pc) they can still work as if they weren’t wet before. You will only damage the electronics if they were wet AND they were plugged into a power source. Obviously, constant water is a different story.
No need to be quoted – it’s true. There are of course exceptions, and long-term erosion or rust, etc. can occur, but sufficiently drying components is often all that’s needed. The “bag of rice” thing is a good example of this principle, but it relies on things not shorting out and damaging themselves from the water intrusion in the first place. Things that have removable batteries (or no batteries) are the easiest to save.
Regarding paper stuff being “destroyed” – I’m not in favor, since there are plenty of ways a player could keep stuff like that dry. Stray plastic bags, or bits of tarp, etc. I know such bags are loose inventory items in general, but I think of it as an abstraction of “carrying stuff around sensibly” since the wet/dry condition seems too arbitrary at the moment. Towels, umbrellas, demoralization from being out in the rain…
If every item were to get a “wetness” condition, then paper items could get wrecked if they exceed a certain %. This could also allow clothes to get wet/soaked over time, and allow for great role-playing need to carry spare socks, etc.
THe devs have discussed how dunking in water could ruin things, or things left outside in the rain etc…
IT would be a pretty harsh “feature” to put onto players, it would generate some salt…
I personally like the idea, and I think if anyone contributed a system that did this , it would probably get accepted, but theyd have to be brave to do it
Having wet feet in soggy socks / shoes for days and weeks on end is where you should get the big morale penalties. Not getting drizzle on your head for 20 seconds as you walk to the car.
I like this idea, one thing that could damage books would be the slimy trait along with related traits. You would be able to negate it with rubber or medical gloves. One of the characters ive played, I’ve imagined her being very frustrated with this aspect of her mutations.
I wonder if it will ever get to the point where being out in a rain storm will essentially be a status effect? I mean like a full on thunderstorm. I could see it throwing a warning every time you move, similar to moving through acid. Your gear without the “waterproof” tag would soon get the a status like wet, drenched, then soaked. Sort of like the food spoilage just a lot faster.
Not sure if umbrellas and raincoats would prevent or just slow these effects. It would become a major thing for you to get indoors once the dark clouds start rolling in. You might even be trapped inside your house for days. That or sitting in your car and making dashes through the rain into buildings and back.
I’m not saying it should be this way. I’m just imagining the most extreme implementation of this idea.
It just seems really tedious to deal with. If putting solid objects into containers gets added, it just means putting everything in waterproof containers until you can get a waterproof bag. If object wetting gets added before containerable solids then I would be very upset.
I also think you’re underestimating the time it would take for a book in a backpack to get wet from standing in the rain; though, I don’t really think anyone has any experience standing in the rain for hours on end without basic waterproofing preparations, so if we wanted realism, some experiments should be performed. But if we are doing this I has better be able to take cover under a tree, with only a small chance of being struck by lightening.
I’d consider essentially backpacks rainproof(I think even basic bookbags have at least a thin plastic coating, if they’re not totally plastic), while not waterproof, so jumping into a lake would get your backpack’s interior wet. The gist of this means that it’s just something that happens when you jump into a river with all of your gear. And it only happens if you don’t waterproof your findings.
I also think there are plently of other book sources that losing a book that occasionally randomly spawns from a zombie wouldn’t be something that most would particularly care about. Unless someone decides to add a librarian zombie with a ranged book tossing attack that would allow you to see all the books you’re leaving behind as you run away.
So a mechanic that has very little affect on the player in exchange for a bit of tedium. As in implement trashbags, put everything you’re carrying into the trash bag and put the bag in the backpack. And if you don’t think that’ll keep your stuff dry, just remember is possible to double bag.
Now there are a lot of potential changes that could be made to the wetting system, but that is a whole lot of work. Not that it’s a bad thing, just it revolves around a whole lot that knots around a whole bunch of different systems.
Drying being dependent upon relative humidity, generating random relative humidity, while modifying it based upon proximity to water and weather. Modifying weather based upon relative humidity. Adding blisters, athletes foot and trench foot for having wet feet. Adding chaffing. A sweat mechanic. Drying clothes over time with body heat. Changes to the body heat mechanic, as exertion increases body heat (drying clothes and is something removed by certain notations)while also producing sweat(removed by certain mutations). Clothes trapping sweat and body heat differently depending upon material and proximity to skin(seems like a mess to sort through clothing and armor and deciding how it’s going to heat you up and keep in sweat). New garments for mitigating sweat and blisters. Changes to the layering mechanic to allow for rapid layering changes for temperature regulation. Zippered clothing allowing someone to rapidly adjust breathability, reducing warmth and protection by unzipping. Clothes taking on ambient temperature so wearing clothes kept by a fire would warm you while clothes kept inside a freezer would cool you down. Poor fitting shoes giving you blisters. Foot powder to keep feet dry and reduce blistering. Wetness delta changing depending upon whether whether the clothing is in a container. Sweaty palms reducing dexterity. Morale boosts for removing footwear and socks, after wearing them for a few hours. Blow-dryers to dry yourself and clothing. Drying out socks on a stick over a fire having a chance to catch on fire. Changing body temperature based upon drying rate. Temperature of the liquid causing wetness changing body temperature and drying rate.
I don’t really think changes to the wetness mechanics would require all these suggestions (though it would be nice), but a new system would end up as something that would be far reaching and is probably something that’s a long term goal.
tl:dr Object wetting has little impact beyond jumping into a lake, and even if it didn’t, it can be completely mitigated by trashbags(not a current in-game item). And wetting affects body temperature which affects sweating. Among other things.
