Just a quick suggestion:
I think Shower Victim should be a -2 point choice, rather than -1. The complete lack of any armor (clothing) means you are much more likely to be subjected to damage, pain, and status effects like bleeding early on.
Also, you completely lack any initial carrying capacity.
And not to mention much more likely to be buttraped by a Vine Beast.
Gideon, you should change the title to Shower Victim suggestion, as I thought it was another suggestion about showers themselves…
Honestly, there’s probably quite a few professions that need a reduction/increase in cost. Security Gaurd gets a gun with two-three full clips, and a fast melee weapon for only one point. Hell, it seems that profession cost is more dependent on skills rather than items, which is kind of silly because with a little bit of effort you can get to all the skill levels they offer a lot faster than you can scavenge/craft the items. BOCTAOE.
Heh, I started as Novice Martial Artists instead of Shower victim, because why start with nothing when you can start with something for the same price 
Before I lucked with Tweaker on my second try (lucked, because you need to have some loot near your base to actually survive, I believe).
And, if Shower Victim ends with -2 as Tweaker is, nobody will take Tweaker 
Except for RP reasons…
And I think that’s what most of the professions are used for, RP purposes.
Yes.
I meant, why balance something when it is night impossible and profession is either RP pick or the current most efficient one. 
Edit: i understand the need to do some balancing, but in this case, i am really not sure if it is really needed
Done.
Shower victim’s disadvantage lasts for about as long as it takes to kill 1 zombie, maybe less if you grind your skills a bit at the beginning (you can get a makeshift knife/fire drills/pouches/basic clothing using a couple rocks and the windows of the shelter) or if you find some corpses lying around or an undefended houses
The only thing you miss (compared to survivor) is a 0 vol cutting tool, which is nice I guess
I still think that messing around with point value is silly, but you can always debug yourself points so it doesn’t really matter
Shower nudists just got a new “towel (wet)” item.
Have fun with your professions and [size=6pt]shit[/size] b:
I’d almost vote that there be no point cost (or gains) associated with any of them – or at least that balancing not be fussed over or given too much thought. Professions should be primarily role-playing prompts and either a leg up for newbies, or a handicap for veterans. I mean, it’s not like a person can’t just give themselves more character points in the options menu to offset any of the costs. And few people who are good at the game are actually taking Shower Victim or Martial Arts Novice for anything other than the extra point that can be thrown into attributes or traits.
Other aspects of the game are much more deserving of balance consideration.
I’d almost vote that there be no point cost (or gains) associated with any of them – or at least that balancing not be fussed over or given too much thought. Professions should be primarily role-playing prompts and either a leg up for newbies, or a handicap for veterans. I mean, it’s not like a person can’t just give themselves more character points in the options menu to offset any of the costs. And few people who are good at the game are actually taking Shower Victim or Martial Arts Novice for anything other than the extra point that can be thrown into attributes or traits.
Other aspects of the game are much more deserving of balance consideration.[/quote]
Nicely put. I agree.
Shower vic is mostly for hardcore players or people who want to make a point or like starting with nothing to see where they can go, so I’m a bit on the fence with increasing the point bonus. Frankly it’s not even that hard, as soon as you get some tattered clothes you’re pretty much set to work your way up from there. Hell, you could break into the back window of a house and loot the bedroom dresser before anything finds you too most of the time.
Also as already mentioned the points cost of the professions is completely out of whack right now. e.g Butler/maid is a 2 point profession when say, punk rocker is 0 points-- starting with lots of leather clothes, cannabis and an mp3 player. Of course this discrepancy could be because I’m always in the experimentals, never the stable vers.
It seems incredibly silly to try and balance professions that have starting skills, starting items, starting traits (addictions), and starting bionics (broken or working). And if an RP’r wants a particular backstory, they shouldn’t have to pay for it.
The point system is tricky because there are typically very low numbers of points, so swinging something by 1 or 2 points is actually a huge change. The increments are just too large. Maybe multiply all the numbers by 10 so that we can have more precise balancing.
Basically I’d do something more like a combo of DF:Adventure and DF:Fortress modes, where you can start with a huge array of different items (but not very high quality or very advanced items), but you pay for each individual item out of a large point pool. (Obviously customizable as it is now, so that you can do a X point character, a Y point character, etc.)
Skills and stats would work the same (as they already do in DF) where you pay for skills and they’re more expensive the higher you level them, but the scale would be different to accommodate more differentiate and the purchasing of items.
The perks, addictions, etc should all be individually pickable. Like what if I want to have a mobster with a heroin problem? Can’t do that right now. It’s either mobster or heroin addict, can’t do both.
Let backstory just be a matter of the player writing it in after picking all the desired traits, equipment, etc. As it is now there is such a marginal difference between some of the backstories… there’s really no point to half of them either.
And then let us export them more easily so they can be shared on the forums.
If I had more time I’d mock it all up but I’m still in the process of moving apartments…
I believe that there are currently plans to remove all point limitations for character creation and instead balance the starting area and scenarios (read- creature and loot spawn rates) based on your selections.
Shower victim is fine as it is.
a) Shelter benches + rock = nailboard
b) Scavenge shelter basement -> found clothes or even a bag? You are good to go. if not:
c) Go to town, bushkite handful of normal zeds, wear their ragged clothes for carry capacity
d) Trespass homes, get real clothes that fit, conquer the world.
This is so easy it doesn’t deserve two points.
[quote=“Sharklaser, post:16, topic:5293”]Shower victim is fine as it is.
a) Shelter benches + rock = nailboard
b) Scavenge shelter basement -> found clothes or even a bag? You are good to go. if not:
c) Go to town, bushkite handful of normal zeds, wear their ragged clothes for carry capacity
d) Trespass homes, get real clothes that fit, conquer the world.
This is so easy it doesn’t deserve two points.[/quote]
This is a problem with the game in general unfortunately. Kiting NEEDS to go away.
[quote=“Binky, post:17, topic:5293”][quote=“Sharklaser, post:16, topic:5293”]Shower victim is fine as it is.
a) Shelter benches + rock = nailboard
b) Scavenge shelter basement -> found clothes or even a bag? You are good to go. if not:
c) Go to town, bushkite handful of normal zeds, wear their ragged clothes for carry capacity
d) Trespass homes, get real clothes that fit, conquer the world.
This is so easy it doesn’t deserve two points.[/quote]
This is a problem with the game in general unfortunately. Kiting NEEDS to go away.[/quote]
Why?
It’s probably the only reason melee is just as viable as ranged right now.
Because once melee is nerfed, then he can claim that ranged is overpowered, and once ranged is nerfed, he can get back to nerfing melee. It’s a constant cycle that pops up every few pages, because the only thing people around here know how to do when faced with problems is to nerf stuff. Binky in particular will not rest until the game is borderline unplayable.
Damn Inad. Lay off.