"Tip of the day" system

[BeerBeer]

Many games offer random helpful info about the game mechanics in loading screens. Perhaps same could be done with Cata but on main menu. Possibly add a button for “Next tip” so that some of us don’t have to restart the game to get a new tip… Or make a new tip fade in/out and every 10-20 seconds or so.

I came up with some (do check for factual accuracy and/or spelling):

• Be sure to receive enough nutrients from your diet. Failure to do so will have… consequences.
• Can’t seem to find an item? Many items and tools can be crafted. Not all, but many. You might need the recipe or the skills though.
• There are usually two types of literature - useful skill books with several recipes and then there are cheap trashy novels.
• A damaged vehicle battery will slowly lose charge.
• CDDA comes with a very liberal and complex vehicle building system. You, uhh, might want to study it.
• There are pesky ambient diseases in CDDA… and there are ways to protect yourself against them.
• Infected wounds can be cured with first-aid kits if it’s a recent infection. Other treatments exist too.
• If an infected wound isn’t treated early, you might need antibiotics.
• Crippled limbs require splints and time to heal… or a visit to the hospital to see Mr. Stem Cell machine.
• There’s a little W or R at the top of the character info that tells whether you’re currently Walking or Running.
• CDDA weather and temperatures change several times a day. Seasons exist, too. Choose your clothing wisely, Monsieur Sweatpants.
• Butchering corpses (animal or otherwise) uses the Survival skill. Higher skill yields more… stuff.
• Effective marksmanship depends on dexterity and perception, but also on low arm and eye encumbrance.
• Mutagen consumption has consequences, both good and bad. Sometimes really bad. Sometimes really good. Sometimes really harmless but odd.
• Your gun may or may not jam more often with homemade (reloaded) ammo.
• Is the sun blinding your petite sensitive eyes? Try sunglasses or a hat with a ‘glare protection’ property.
• If noises keep waking you up, try wearing hearing protection before going to sleep. What could possibly go wrong?
• If the sunlight prevents you from sleeping, wear a blindfold, or sleep indoors or even underground.
• Certain crafting operations yield a duration discount if crafted in larger quantities. Why brew a pint of beer when you can brew an ocean of the stuff?
• Being barefooted makes you run slower. Who would’ve thunk?
• There are three main clothing layers - close to skin, normal and outer. Each layer can have 1-2 items. After that, extra encumbrance penalties are applied.
• You’ll need a rubber hose to siphon liquids off of vehicles. And possibly a container. Your call.
• Refrigeration is a thing in CDDA. Keep your perishable foods cool to slow down their decay considerably.
• A welder or an acetylene torch is often required in vehicle repairs… but you can sometimes remove and install parts with the more common tools.
• You can sleep quite well on a pile of clothes. Or so they say.
• You might want to smash (common household) objects and furniture once or twice just to see what they yield when smashed.
• With enough force you can destroy just about anything in CDDA. A weak character with a sledgehammer is useless, but a strong character can smash through concrete walls after several hits.
• An object’s bash value also tells how useful it is for smashing nearby objects.
• There are nuke silos in the game. With functioning missiles.

But is it all too spoilery? I mean is it more fun to discover that a damaged car battery loses charge, or is it something that the playerbase majority feels it’s good to be aware of beforehand? And that’s just an example. Should a tip system be disabled by default? Perhaps a message in the main menu could just read “Tip of the day disabled by default to protect the fun of discovery. Check options to enable it. Potentially helpful for new players, but also for experienced players who may have missed a thing or two.”

…Too long?

[pisskop]

A tip that displays while the jsons load up would be decent enough when the game is loading.

I would be against them every time you sleep though.

[Ashtray_Gray]

Overall I like the idea, but some are just a little too spoilery.
It’d be cool if it was mainly simple suggestions to help your survival in some small way:
“A well maintained vehicle is a reliable one”
"A balanced breakfast is a great way to start the day"
Then there could be some rare spoilery and ominous tips, in the same vein as your’s about the silo.
I think that would encourage people to explore and die in interesting new ways.

[ioc]

I’m not sure if it’s used in the game, but there is a JSON file containing hints like that, here is the link:
https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/blob/master/data/json/hints.json

[Litppunk]

Those hints are pretty old I think. Some of them might need updating or outright deletion. Would be great to see them as JSON loader buffers and as comments from NPC’s Like a gossip or something when they don’t have something mission-ish to say about the nearby area. (future plans hopefully)

[John_Candlebury]

NPC’s Like a gossip or something

-I saw a razorclaw the other day.
-Horrible creatures. I avoid them whenever I can.
-Bye.

…

[pisskop]

No, we mean more like one to three sentence stories or quips about the NPCs experiences or rumors they hear.

I doubt we’ll get anything more complex than ‘if NPC is X class, than it says Y things’ or ‘if player has done X, then you can say Y’, but sure, we already have a version of gossip.

“If you want to get shit done, smoke crack”

[BeerBeer]

I mean, I just hope a “tip of the day” system might slow down the newb questions thread, and possibly save some bandwidth on the wiki. Of course it’s up to Kevin Granade & co to decide what the player should and shouldn’t know before (and within) his/her first 5 hours into the game. I just feel that there are several elements in the game that are less than easy to grasp fully and that a single short sentence prior could prevent a lot of questions and the, uhhh, anxiety of being clueless.

How about these:

• An operational vehicle requires an intact driver’s seat and vehicle controls, on top of the obvious stuff such as an engine, battery, wheels and a fuel tank.
• Metal doors can be destroyed with an acetylene torch. (a classic piece of non-obvious info, I think)

I remember stomping my both feet on the ground repeatedly and tearing my hair out “Why isn’t this piece of s*it car working! You have fuel! You have an engine! What more do you need!” It’s almost comical in retrospect when I can look past the blinding rage.

[quote=“Ashtray Gray, post:3, topic:11921”]Then there could be some rare spoilery and ominous tips, in the same vein as your’s about the silo.
I think that would encourage people to explore and die in interesting new ways.[/quote]
Exactly! We also gotta make the player greedy and willing to take risks, which should be the other purpose of loading screen (main menu) tips.

[Litppunk]

-I saw a razorclaw the other day. -Horrible creatures. I avoid them whenever I can. -Bye.

…

I was thinking more along the lines of:

Player: Whats the news/word around here?

NPC: Have you seen those ____'s? Word is #random gen name, possibly actual refugee camp survivor# got attacked by a _____ [up by the (vague location, possibly marked on map, especially if quest relevant)] Barely got away man!.. [insert comment about dangerous anatomy part (ex:Fangs sharp enough to…/claws that’ll rip a man in two/ once saw one that did this thing… etc… )]

mixed in with random tips/tricks stuff as it would be said from an NPC survivor point of view.

NPC: Did you know you can (insert thing you can do)

NPC: Careful if you go (into sewers, over by the farm, etc…) We’ve been seeing some ____ over there recently. Not sure whats been drawing them in like that

and other comments that cen be mixed in with tips to make it all feel more natural and so even experienced players want to stop and gossip hunt a little to check for useful news about the area. Especially about loot opertunities/ mob location info etc… that would not normally be found without manual exploration.