Death From Above

[piddy3825]

I was walking thru a little grove near my campsite where I usually gather my firewood.  That spot like most has a regular re-spawn cycle every time you harvest a limb, branch or stick.  Seems my timing was coincidental to the area's re-spawn cycle as just next to me a cedar limb materializes out of thin air.   These are the normal size limbs that are usually laying about.

then every so often, you come across one of these monsters.

Often referred to as a WidowMaker...  These come crashing down on unsuspecting campers and hikers.  Got me to thinking, yeah we need this as another way to die in this frozen hell.  I often hear the creaking and cracking of tree limbs and branches in the background noise of the game.  I would love to see this implemented because death by wolves, bears and blizzards is just the tip of the icicle.

[Nymphikora]

It would be more practical to have a limb fall and injure a player. Struggling to get the limb off with a mini game and push the limb off with dragging the cursor or thumb sticks in a certain way. I could see it happening but the game currently doesn’t have many animations, so it would be like a wolf struggle or bear attack.

There would have to be a warning of some kind. I suspect that blizzards would have a big part in limbs falling more.

Having enough condition to sustain those injuries would add to the suspense of The Long Dark. The limbs would then be able to be chopped for a great deal of wood.

For the condition loss, I would say 20% is a fair loss.

[Ice Hole]

Great idea.  Often there are large booming sounds during blizzards.  At first I thought it was snow thunder but listening to it repeatedly the sound is more of a large branch breaking or tree falling.

The interaction might occur after hearing a sound and then bam out of nowhere the character splayed on the ground and has the tree limb on top. The screen goes red and then with the wavy effect open eyes and regain awareness.  Chance for injury too.  Maybe a new one called concussion. 

Awhile back I had the idea for rocks to fall inside mines during seismic activity so the idea of 'the sky is falling' is expandable.  Maybe blizzard or seismic activity could drop limbs, trees and rocks.

P.S. Thought this thread initially was going to be about deadly eye pecking crows that swoop down at us from above. 

[piddy3825]

11 hours ago, Nymphikora said:

It would be more practical to have a limb fall and injure a player. Struggling to get the limb off with a mini game and push the limb off with dragging the cursor or thumb sticks in a certain way. I could see it happening but the game currently doesn’t have many animations, so it would be like a wolf struggle or bear attack.

There would have to be a warning of some kind. I suspect that blizzards would have a big part in limbs falling more.

Having enough condition to sustain those injuries would add to the suspense of The Long Dark. The limbs would then be able to be chopped for a great deal of wood.

For the condition loss, I would say 20% is a fair loss.

 

1 hour ago, Ice Hole said:

Great idea.  Often there are large booming sounds during blizzards.  At first I thought it was snow thunder but listening to it repeatedly the sound is more of a large branch breaking or tree falling.

The interaction might occur after hearing a sound and then bam out of nowhere the character splayed on the ground and has the tree limb on top. The screen goes red and then with the wavy effect open eyes and regain awareness.  Chance for injury too.  Maybe a new one called concussion. 

Awhile back I had the idea for rocks to fall inside mines during seismic activity so the idea of 'the sky is falling' is expandable.  Maybe blizzard or seismic activity could drop limbs, trees and rocks.

P.S. Thought this thread initially was going to be about deadly eye pecking crows that swoop down at us from above. 

I had not considered injury but I do like the idea.  And the idea of concussion would be interesting because dont they always keep people who are concussed awake?

Coinciding limb breaks with blizzards seems pretty logical, sure would be an interesting new twist.  And if you didnt get up quick enough after your got pounded by the WidowMaker, then the crows would swoop down and peck out your eyes...

[Ice Hole]

On 2019-02-15 at 11:30 AM, piddy3825 said:

keep people who are concussed awake

The concussed injury is interesting.  Remain awake, keep active, avoid rest or sleep.  If already exhausted then any low calorie activity might trigger black out from concussion.  Maybe a death sentence for interlopers because no natural caffeine. 

The solution is Safety Hard Hat and Safety Glasses.  The new accessories.

 

Why Safety Glasses?

 

[piddy3825]

@Ice Hole, I remember watching this as a young boy, I guess that is why they call it a "Murder of Crows!"

 

[piddy3825]

3 hours ago, DerpyLemon115 said:

Yeah I could picture that now.

"You survived 523 days 13 hours and 25 minutes, died due to a fallen tree branch during a storm"

I think as long as there is some way to tell if a branch is weak and about to fall before and to give you a chance to avoid it, then it would be fine.

maybe there could be a "weak limb" warning just like the "weak ice" warning.  maybe the branch wouldn't kill you but give you a wound resulting in blood loss  or something, maybe not as severe as a bear mauling or a moose attack but something medium style.   it would add another twist for sure.

[U47]

No warnings just use logic and that would be on the player. High winds or blizzard? Stay away from trees. Limbs might fall and hit you.

Otherwise I like the idea of another outside danger.

[galadhlinn]

I would be ok with a rare limb bonking a player on the head as a "Whoa!" "What the . . "  that you then laugh about how startled you were-type of experience, but injury/death is so far from reality, and we have enough of that to cope with for game mechanics purposes.  For example in TLD I am spraining a wrist or ankle on average every other day walking in the woods.  My worst day was two sprained wrists and a sprained ankle on one walk.  It was maddening!  In over 50 years of hiking, skiing and logging in the woods, I have never gotten a single sprain or been with someone who has.  Yet it is a common experience in this game.  "Widow makers",  large tree limbs that injure and kill are the result of logging, falling a large tree that falls through other trees.  That is where the term comes from.  As the tree falls through the other standing trees, limbs are sheered off.  Most crash to the ground with the tree, but sometimes a few "widow makers" are left dangling precariously in a standing tree.  These are, for the most part, only dangerous to the loggers while they are working in the woods on that sale.  The limbs usually fall out the next winter during the storm season when no one is around.  As mentioned above, having spent my life in the woods both as a hiker and a logger I have never had a close call or heard of someone having a close call-telling me it is extremely rare.  Ask yourself this.  How many times each year do we hear in the news about someone getting struck by lightning?  How many times have you ever heard about someone being injured or killed by a widow maker?  It's that rare.

Of course a lone wolf attacking you is unheard of too . .   : /

-G

[piddy3825]

@galadhlinn, thanks for the further elaboration on what defines a widow maker, but dont forget you cant apply "in real life" rules here in this gaming situation.  I for one would like to see more ways to die.  Death by tree limb, cave tunnel collapse and avalanche are three that come to the top of my head!

[Ice Hole]

On 2019-02-16 at 1:37 PM, piddy3825 said:

guess that is why they call it a "Murder of Crows!"

Now I am curious of the etymology of the word murder.  

There are many fallen trees already present in game so that is fair warning.  Avoid these areas when you hear cracking tree limbs and you should be safe.

 

Avalanche now that is another respectable death delivery idea.

As for the Long Dark it definitely needs more death.
 

Just like the rock and roll days with songs that needed something more.

 

[Guest kristaok]

I actually think this could work, it's a neat idea. We need more ways to get injured / more realism.