Something to do when waiting out a Storm . . . Bored !!

[TattooedMac]

There has been, and will be a lot of times where we have to wait out a storm. At the moment, I don't need to sleep, and there is no guarantee the storm would of passed when I awake either, so is there something you can implement into the game, where say, I'm in the safe house, and I'm crouching by the fire, or want to sit in the chair, that we might find a survival guide somewhere in our travels (and I think this would be plausible considering we are in the coldest of all cold paces on earth, and the Logging company would have a Survival Guide somewhere for their workers ?? ), that we could sit and open the survival guide or read one of the news prints we found, or do a crossword in the paper or Suduko, or something ??

I don't know, I just feel, there should be something to do, when waiting out a storm other than sleeping, where you don't need sleep, and you can't tell when it has subsided.

What do others think, am I thinking too much into it ? If it was me, I would be whittling, or doing something in front of the fire other than sleeping in a storm, and now the days are longer, that is a lot of waiting around ? ? ?

[robdoar]

Solitaire minigame! :-)

Cool idea, but I can hear Raph's aneurysm forming thinking about implementing it.

[Guest Alan Lawrance]

When we doubled the day length, we didn't adjust the number of "game hours" for the randomized weather patterns. So effectively things like blizzards "feel" twice as long, if we ignore accelerated time from actions like sleeping. I figure we are going to adjust the weather patterns so things change more frequently, which should help the issue you are describing.

I expect there will be other actions that will accelerate time, and will be ideal to do when holed up and waiting out a blizzard. Things like crafting, repair, etc.

All that being said, we are planning various written materials both for flavor and for practical usage (such as increasing your skill in various areas).

So hopefully players won't get too bored when waiting out a blizzard -- or at least they'll have options to avoid being bored.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Yeah, we'll be adding more "tasks" you can do to fill the time, not just to pass the time when holed up due to a blizzard, but just in general. As Alan mentioned, we've discussed "research materials" you can study to get benefits like improvements to core skills, but we haven't really implemented much there yet. Too many other things to fix and tune first!

And yes, I'll tune the weather so that a particular type doesn't last quite as long. That said, part of the threat of a blizzard is that you do get stuck somewhere for a long time, which is another argument in favour of keeping food/water with you and stockpiling little caches in various places that you can find your way to, even in a blizzard.

Did you ever read "The Long Winter"? Part of the Little House series. It's a children's book but I highly recommend it. They have blizzards for weeks on end, it seems.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Also -- until we get more of those long-term tasks to "pass the time" (you know, making your own snowshoes, writing your novel, etc.), if you can avoid boredom by Resting. Saves calories. Just make sure you do it in relatively small bursts so you don't lose Condition due to dehydration...

[RJIII]

Did you ever read "The Long Winter"? Part of the Little House series. It's a children's book but I highly recommend it. They have blizzards for weeks on end, it seems.

I have read this fine little gem and also experienced the 1982 blizzard in Colorado, my family was holed up in the house for a week and we had to share food with the neighbors until plows finally got to us.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Yeah, love that whole series. We read the books to our kids ever year. They're a favourite in our home.

I quote like the idea of having a book to read while you're waiting out a blizzard. In all seriousness though, we have discussed (at various points) having longer-term actions, for example a research manual on X that requires an investment of X hours to glean the full benefits from. So, you could dedicate time to this pursuit, gradually building up to completion and developing some expertise through it.

If we end up deepening the player skill system (something we've discussed, but I'm not 100% sure about yet), I could also see us incorporating ideas like "practicing" things -- dedicating time to getting better at something useful.

These would all be good ways to pass the time.

[TattooedMac]

Never heard of the book personally, must be a Nth Hemisphere thing

But I do like your way of thinking re: developing skills based on a research. Im quite interest to see how you would go about implementing this, even if you didn't, but I still think there needs something "survival type" to pass time.

[RJIII]

Love the concept, might make it possible that if you are more of a "gun" guy you could learn "gun repair" and it would take some time and energy to learn. If you were more of a "cook" you could learn better "recipes". If you were a "electro keyboard musician" you would just die.(this is the wish list section right?)

[accurize2]

we have discussed (at various points) having longer-term actions, for example a research manual on X that requires an investment of X hours to glean the full benefits from. So, you could dedicate time to this pursuit, gradually building up to completion and developing some expertise through it.

This!

Personally, Will Mackenzie would like to learn how to reload ammo. I think in this environment it would be a great skill to learn, practice and then use. If memory serves, most people outside of Anchorage in the true wilderness had reloading benches. Maybe even have several in multiple cabins but in various states of deterioration, so you'd have to piece-meal a decent one together.