I have been playing Cataclysm since it first popped up on Bay12, and it is one of my absolute favourite games. The best part of Cataclysm for me isn’t fighting off zombies or building a bunker; it’s the desperation of trying to meet the necessities of life in a hostile world. Scenarios such as desperately trying to find shelter when the acid rain starts or being forced to enter a city to find water while suffering a heavy speed penalty from your thirst. These “Man vs. Nature” conflicts provide a nice strategical complement to the tactical conflicts of combat or crafting. In my perfect Cataclysm there would be an equal number of deaths from starvation, radiation, etc as there are from combat. Unfortunately, food and water are a little too easy to find, and the best equipment tends to be the best in all situations (high volume, high defence, low encumbrance). This makes hazards such as starvation too easy to overcome compared to combat.
Temperature would provide a useful way to boost the deadliness of running out of supplies, and would play a major role in the player’s choices (do I sacrifice a bit of volume for warmth? or can I make it back home before I catch hypothermia?).
Temperature would decrease in the winter and increase in the summer, ranging from ~ -30°C to +30°C. Temperature would be effected by wind and rain, both of them decreasing it. Wind especially can turn a -30°C day into a -50°C day, as anyone who has lived in at a high latitude can attest.
-
Temps < 0°C should give dex penalties to players with insufficiently warm clothes (a coat + long pants should be enough)
-
Temps < -15°C should give penalties to speed and int and slowly damage uncovered hands and feet. (winter coat, pants, warm hat, gloves, shoes)
-
Temps < -30°C should damage any uncovered body parts (frostbite or total limb death after ~2hours) and cause hypothermia after about an hour if the torso is uncovered. (winter coat, gloves, hat, face protection, boots)
Very hot temperatures in the summer should likewise have effects, causing heatstroke, etc. making it beneficial to wear less clothing.
Coding for localised increases or decreases in temperature would allow for things like heating your home with a fire, or having deepfreeze rooms in grocery stores or labs.
A temperature system like this would allow for scenarios like being trapped in your fire warmed shelter because you don’t have enough warm clothing while you slowly run out of food or water. Or, you find a deepfreeze in a lab that is storing valuable sciency items, but is so cold that an improperly protected person would die from exposure before getting to the other side of it.
I would love to hear people’s opinions on this, and whether they think it would be a worthwhile addition to this amazing game.
