What are some things that should be in the Cataclysm?

Also, is there a reason why you can’t make fragmentation explosive out of the most easily obtainable explosive - Dynamite? I know it is less explosive than black gunpowder but can’t it have same volume/weight as pipe bomb and power of makeshift grenade?

Conventional dynamite doesn’t have a fragmentation or improvised fragmentation case.

I don’t see why you could put a stick or half-stick of dynamite in a pipe and use it as a pipe bomb, though. Maybe you should submit a recipe.

Will use 1 stick since dynamite seems to be incredibly weak in terms of explosive power / weight.

Recipe would be just pipe and bomb as pipebomb recipe was just (pipe + gunpowder + fuse). Dynamite already comes with fuse so skipping that part. Other recipe aspects will follow the pipebomb recipe.

{
“result”: “makeshift_pipebomb_dyn”,
“type”: “recipe”,
“category”: “CC_WEAPON”,
“subcategory”: “CSC_WEAPON_EXPLOSIVE”,
“skill_used”: “fabrication”,
“difficulty”: 1,
“time”: “15 m”,
“reversible”: true,
“autolearn”: true,
“qualities”: [ { “id”: “SAW_M”, “level”: 1 } ],
“components”: [
[ [ “pipe”, 1 ] ],
[ [ “dynamite”, 1 ] ]
]
}

Somewhat unsure about the grenade explosion calculation.
To make balanced weapon, I would assume

  1. Explosive power is muted somewhat by casing.
  2. Recipe will use thinner pipe compared to pipebomb recipe to account for weaker explosive power of Dynamite compared to gunpowder. Casing mass decreased for viable frag bomb.

{
“id”: “makeshift_pipebomb_dyn”,
“copy-from”: “grenade”,
“type”: “TOOL”,
“name”: “makeshift dynamite pipe bomb”,
“description”: “Literally just a stick of dynamite inside a thin pipe with shorter fuse. Use this item to light the fuse. You will, of course, need a lighter or matches in your inventory to do this. You will then have some amount of time before it explodes; throwing it would be a good idea.”,
“weight”: 1298,
“volume”: 2,
“price”: 950,
“material”: [ “aluminum”, “iron”, “paper”, “powder”],
“symbol”: “*”,
“color”: “green”,
“explode_in_fire”: true,
“explosion”: { “power”: 175, “shrapnel”: { “casing_mass”: 160, “fragment_mass”: 1 } },
“use_action”: {
“target”: “makeshift_pipebomb_dyn_act”,
“msg”: “You light the dynamite pipe bomb.”,
“target_charges”: 5,
“active”: true,
“need_fire”: 1,
“menu_text”: “Light fuse”,
“type”: “transform”
},
“flags”: [ “RADIO_MODABLE”, “RADIO_INVOKE_PROC”, “BOMB” ]
},
{
“id”: “makeshift_pipebomb_dyn_act”,
“copy-from”: “grenade_act”,
“type”: “TOOL”,
“name”: “makeshift dynamite pipe bomb (lit)”,
“description”: “The fuse on this dynamite pipe bomb is lit and hissing. It’ll explode any moment now.”,
“weight”: 1298,
“volume”: 2,
“material”: [ “aluminum”, “iron”, “paper”, “powder” ],
“explode_in_fire”: true,
“explosion”: { “power”: 175, “shrapnel”: { “casing_mass”: 160, “fragment_mass”: 1 } },
“turns_per_charge”: 1,
“use_action”: {
“type”: “explosion”,
“sound_volume”: 0,
“sound_msg”: “ssss…”,
“no_deactivate_msg”: “You’ve already lit the %s, try throwing it instead.”,
“explosion”: { “power”: 175, “shrapnel”: { “casing_mass”: 160, “fragment_mass”: 1 } }
},
“flags”: [ “BOMB”, “TRADER_AVOID” ]
}

A few traits that I think would make for a nice addition.

Through the use of certain CBMs and mutations, the negative traits can be cured.

  • Lip Reader

    • Would allow for deaf characters to see what NPCs are saying, added bonus of seeing what NPCs are saying from a distance. Could also be learned from a book or specialized NPC.
  • Mute

    • Will not speak to NPCs but can still hear chatter or commands.
  • Mute-Deaf

    • NPCs are out of the question, essentially how deaf works in the game’s current state.
  • Deaf

    • Inability to hear sound, but rather than completely remove the ability to communicate with NPCs, we would get a permanent debuff to the speaking skill much like how encumbrance affects the dodge skill.
  • Minds Eye

    • Through the use of the other senses, the player could make use of the mind’s eye and hallucinate a creature or threat level within arms reach despite having the blind effect or if the creature is out of sight. The radius of this effect could be extended by using a cane if blind, having good hearing, or a good sense of smell.
  • Blind

    • Permanent blind effect, heavily reliant on sounds and terrain memory. Can only craft items that don’t need light to craft or have an NPC follower at your side to help you craft an item. Use of a guide dog/NPC is recommended in the cataclysm. Guaranteed to start with a white cane to identify one more tile radius of terrain memory.

    • For this trait to even be possible, sound descriptions would need an overhaul. We would need a way to identify creatures or at least have an idea of how dangerous a creature or sound might be.

    • The use of a guide dog would grant a bonus to hearing and smelling while following the player, for enhanced perception of your surroundings. Through growling, whining, or barking, the guide dog could be an indicator of how dangerous a creature is, pinpointing the nearest threat outside of reach as " ! " icons with minimal details given when highlighted. In comparison to NPCs, a guide dog has a larger sound and smell radius that can track targets through walls and z levels

    • Specialized NPCs could also act as a guide, giving greater detail of the surroundings. In comparison to the guide dog, NPCs can communicate details about multiple creatures and it’s threat level while in the NPC’s line of sight., changing " ! " into a hallucination of that creature (through the use of the mind’s eye trait). Other details like how injured a creature is would also be exclusive to NPCs.

Injectable mini NFC chip (think cat/dog “chipping”) CMBs.
Basically a way to introduce the mechanics to the player early, without being exploitative or overpowered.

Instillation would require a “NFC chip injector”. The injector would need to be prepped with a disinfected cotton ball/rag (or one required nearby) so as to avoid the risk of infection. Possibly the use without one at the risk of infection (getting out of the lab would be a bit more complex if using one of these :wink: ).

This would of cause hurt, but be possible for a player with some first aid training to apply (it’s an injector, would need to be placed in the correct spot).

Things like an LED light up watch just below the skin on the underside of a wrist, or a bit of flesh on the arm. An LED palm torch, or a small firelighter in the palm. Things like the firelighter would use more bionic power, but the player should be able to get 1 or 2 uses out of them).

Basically, and CMB that does not require full surgery, is close to the skin, a single small chip like structure, and does not require user programming (something like the repair nanobots could require setting to a users DNA/body chemistry in a surgery robot, thus balancing in both lore and gameplay the skill limit of such installs).

A way to flesh out the “commercial” side of CMBs.

These would be pill sized NFC/chemical to electricity/capacitor chips.

Possibly all powered via nfc. The player could carry an nfc “powerbank” to power them externally, they could be powered by external equipment (card readers/terminals/riot bots), or using internal wireless power transfers.

So as an example, a few would be:
NFC palm identity chip: Basically passively powered. Pass your palm over any NFC chip/credit card/terminal/bot for access checks or currency transfers. Warning, only works in areas you have been granted access!

Electrolyte Catalyst Chip: A simple power supply that feeds off the salts in your body using a catalyst and converts them into electric power. This power is sent via near field transmission wirelessly, so avoids the need for surgery. It has a very low power output though, and will usually only power a watch continually, or an LED torch for a few minutes.

Power Storage Capacitor Chip: A small pill sized capacitor placed under the skin. Only enough power stored to power the smallest CMBs (probably like 10 or 20 units in game?). A necessity for palm lighters or LED torches.

An LED torch and a simple palm fire lighter would also be possibilities.

IMO late game, the player has 100s of lighters, or crafting for fire drills that this kind of CMB would take out some clutter gameplay wise, and would not be out of place lore wise. They would add something where some quality of life, lore flavour, and simple exploration mechanics can exist, without being the CMBs “one shot plasma rifle arm” type mechanics. :wink:

“Just plain better” than an LED torch/fire lighter/watch would only come into play, if we ignore those items would have a lot more fuel/battery availability than a tiny NFC/chip based system. So hopefully the NFC chips would not negate out any other items in the game.

I’d be interested in adding them myself as .json edits later, and did have a go a few months with it… but I don’t program, so have been waiting for some of the mechanics to settle, before I go back at looking at how to do it (I would not know how to make them dependent on an “injector” device, instead of on the surgery robot).

A dog leash. So the damn mutt doesnt stop to sniff every bush and cause me to stop and wait for it to follow every time we go out for a scavange.

2 Likes

Lathes/power lathes to make cartridges and car parts or basically anything that requirea a lathe to build. Also this https://youtu.be/FLSwaTvWI1I just going to keep adding links to semi related videos
https://youtu.be/OfhpaRO38Es https://taskandpurpose.com/ammo-expensive-heres-make https://youtu.be/kxlaK2d_7_0 https://youtu.be/SebiEM1aCQ8 unfortunately
https://youtu.be/ZuBoQ-TA5fU Think all of these would be enough to craft your own cartridges. Also how to build a foot powered lathe not sure how well its gonna work on metal https://youtu.be/8XOK2EcxTG4

Some way to tell which way the wind is blowing would be nice (unless it’s already in and I just don’t know about it :grin:) a wind sock or heck, even my survivor licking their finger and sticking it in the air as an action. I’ve been trying out the boating and sailing mechanics recently (a lot of fun I might add) and it would help with travelling upwind.

1 Like

A progressive experience meter, based upon the kill tracker. Every creature you fight and kill can tally up on the meter behind the scenes. After a set amount total,the player character gets a 2-3% increase extra damage or defense against that creature type. The premise is that you have fought so many of that creature as to warrant a special buff in doing so. Knowing much about their vitals and movements etc.

The more common the creature(a zombie) the higher the buff requirement. 250 zeds for a 2-3% buff would be reasonable.

2 Likes

Not sure if it’s already incorporated, but CBMs and other electronics should be damaged by exposure to EMPs. Anything sensitive to one should be damaged as a result. Meaning stunning the player if they have CBMs installed or bodily injury if a CBM becomes burnt out by excessive damage.

1 Like

^
This but with a roll to check if it does get damaged and the roll would also be how badly.

Options for faraday cage containers may be found/crafted etc… Which there is a large back packon amazon that does exactly this. But they also have MOLLE smaller packs and attachments.

Explosions cause anything near the blast to be pushed away, thrown to the ground, and damaged.

This woukd make grenades a lot more powerful as a crowd control for those who survive the blast.

(Sorry had an experience where I threw a grenade into a group of 1 armored zombie, acid sniper, and a soldier, when it exploded it seemed like the only person hurt was me from shrapenal)

1 Like

A catsuit that can be up armoured for the times you want your Biotic thief to be Catwoman. Would also go well with the fingertip razors come to think of it.

A bionic combat suit like you would see in Ghost in the shell or like Black widow wears.

Also a class based on Y.T from Snowcrash. Night vision googles, a skateboard, locksmiths set, smart phone, a set of ballistic gel filled overalls and some way of harpooning cars and buildings to gain speed when skating around mega cities.

I would like to be able to craft hairpin/lockpicks. Or even just be able to stick lockpicks in my hair.

Related, I would like to be able wear more than two hairpins. Possibly even relate the number of hairpins I can wear to the length of my hair.

3 Likes

Whenever anyone is not wearing some form of footwear that has a tough sole to the item(boots,sandles, etc.). The character when walking over anything sharp, should cause harm to their feet with a percentage role of if and how much.

Broken windows and walking over the glass with bare feet/socks only, is a recipe for a lot of pain. It should only be done in an emergency for your character.

Caveat; Trait “Tough Feet” can off set this damage or lower the percentage chance of receiving damage.

Objects to consider for this mechanic:

Broken windows. Broken glass of any kind. Metal debris(such as piles of wreckage and metal bits in volume) if this is possible.

I can get behind that idea. Like take moccasins for example, great for treading lightly and maintaining stealth, not so great for walking over rubble and glass.

1 Like

My father got a 4 inch rusty nail straight through a steel toe boot while doing heavy labor. You ever wanna see a stoic face. Try to chill when that happens lol

I can take a razor through my hand into the bone(seriously happened). But even I did the “hissing, inhale” thing. I cannot imagine the pain of a dull rusty object straight through my foot. :wink:

Rubber as a material. Plastic tires (and other objects) are kinda silly tbh.

Rubber is a plastic. Plastic is just a generic term for quite a few different materials

1 Like

Rubber is a polymer, like a plastic. It’s fabrication and handling are also very different.