Ten years later

[Skates]

I’m one of those masochistic people that enjoy losing and hurting my character. I really feel that a game mode where the cataclysm has been going for ten years now. Supplies are scarce, cars are rusted and destroyed, nature has grown all over the cities, animals run freely in the cities. Almost all military grade equipment is gone and those that remain are in ill-repair. Similar to the movie “The Road” the player would have to scavenge almost every day in order to survive. They can’t just go into town once and leave with a shopping cart full of beans and hold off in a gas station. Discuss.

[halberdsturgeon]

So, essentially business as usual except with less loot to be had. Sounds like it would encourage woodsman play more than scavenging, really.

[Skates]

Good point. I assume we’d have to balance it by making woodsman play more difficult.

[100Rads]

This is really a great idea. Also should make the NPC’s more hostile and rare, once they get fully implemented.

[Mate]

Let’s face it. So long after such apocalypse you’d be a farmer, or dead.

[Weyrling]

Let’s face it. So long after such apocalypse you’d be a farmer, or dead.

Considering the prevalence of wildlife, giant insects, and triffids, a hunter is just as viable as a farmer for long term survival.

[100Rads]

Also, the forests should get much denser, and there should be a much smaller amount of the empty “field” map tiles. Also, random forest tiles should be in the middle of towns. There should be much more evolved zombies, instead of the regular green Z kind.

[Mate]

[quote=“Máté, post:5, topic:1532”]Let’s face it. So long after such apocalypse you’d be a farmer, or dead.

Considering the prevalence of wildlife, giant insects, and triffids, a hunter is just as viable as a farmer for long term survival.[/quote]
Even a hunter needs vitamins and other resources only available in plants.

[DWC]

This sounds like an interesting idea.

I’m not sure but I believe the backstory of the game has New England as the actual epicenter of the cataclysm and the rest of the world still has civilization and governments concerned with keeping the problem contained in New England. Right?

So 10 years down the line, I dunno if the rest of the world has collapsed and it’s the same everywhere, or they dealt with it somewhat adequately (by dropping nuclear bombs everywhere) and have the catacylsm reasonably cordoned off in New England, how that works. So it could be more like STALKER then 'The Road’.

[i2amroy]

I’m not sure but I believe the backstory of the game has New England as the actual epicenter of the cataclysm and the rest of the world still has civilization and governments concerned with keeping the problem contained in New England. Right?

In America, yes. However the canon does hint that the problem may have occurred elsewhere in other countries, it’s just unknown because none of the others

have released any of their documents about their experiments into the portal technology that caused the problem.

[ted]

The backstory of the game features nuclear attacks on the United States, and the thing that causes all the zombies is supposed to be water-borne and exceptionally difficult to contain. I think it’s supposed to be global.

[ClaytonRISING]

It doesn’t really make much sense, though. If it’s been ten years and your character is still alive, he probably would have had to bunker down with a huge amount of supplies anyways. It’s not like you can just sleep for ten years and wake up in a EVAC shelter.

The nature retaken, rusting/falling apart aspect does sound cool, though. It would add a lot of atmosphere to the game. But even in saying that, if ten years have past since the Cataclysm, all the zombies would be skeletons and most of the animal population would be dead or dying off, due to the destruction of the food chain caused by the Cataclysm.

All in all, it’s a good ideal, but there are only two possibilities for your character to be alive in this “version” of the world:

Either a new town/settlement/civilization started and you’re part of that, because there is no way one could have survived that long on their own. Especially considering the aforementioned food chain disruption, and the overall lack of any foodstuffs left in the world. So you would have had to come from a society that was self sufficient, because there is no way you wouldn’t have starved by then.

The other possibility is that there is some 3rd party effect that kept you isolated from the Cataclysm for 10 years. Being that the game is set in a futuristic theme, the idea of cyrogenic sleep or being “Frozen” for that long is possible, but that would be kind of a cop out just to set the game in a new atmosphere.

[Wanderer]

Let’s face it. So long after such apocalypse you’d be a farmer, or dead.

Not necessarily… a few possibilities(some got here in this thread):

a) The sleepers. By some reason(be it a lab experiment, weird event or just getting into New England only now) they started now their lifes in the Cataclysm.

They won’t live long, probably.

b) The hunters. Ten years at the wild, hunting monsters to eat… they are self-sufficient and efficient in what they do. I just don’t know about their mental stability or trust in others.

c) The farmers. Valuable members of communities(because having enough to eat for months will take space and work) or lucky people in technological plants, they know everything about the wild plants in the region. Don’t leave much, since are not that good in fighting and are afraid of leaving the safety of their lifes. With good reason.

d) The lost minds. The mutations and cibernetics helped in survival, but the effects of each change plus no one to talk with… being alone… left only a memory of sanity. They can handle the Cataclysm, the question is… WHO can handle them? And what they will be once their minds find stability again?

e) The converted. They chose to fight in the winning side, and IT’S NOT THE HUMAN SIDE. And survived to keep doing it so. Their enemies? Take a guess…

f) The traders. Humans are great at adapting, and even with all the dangers, some managed to create communities. Communities need stuff. Then someone decided to help in the process…

Traders are survivors masters in bargain, speech and basically avoid bad situations for themselves and their cargo. They are very suspicious, but don’t use excessive force, since each bullet and arrow counts at the end of the day.

[Mrnocamera]

I agree with almost everything on this thread. ALMOST everything.

[Mate]

It could be like that movie, where Scotland, I think, was quarantined after some infection and a decade later some goes there because the infection is spreading again, or something, I don’t remember the title.
Also, now that I think about it hunters could get vitamins from the plant monsters. And fighting and farming are not mutually exclusive, there are many soldiers from rural areas, and eastern martial art groups were self sustaining too.

[Weyrling]

Even a hunter needs vitamins and other resources only available in plants.

Plant monsters you can cook and eat don’t count?

[Mate]

[quote=“Máté, post:8, topic:1532”]Even a hunter needs vitamins and other resources only available in plants.

Plant monsters you can cook and eat don’t count?[/quote]

Also, now that I think about it hunters could get vitamins from the plant monsters.