Split into three catagories, tactical, technical and survival. I have only just got past/completed the first region but I want to get these off my chest. Mostly mechanics based suggestions, as I feel this is whats needed to make things feel a little more lively in this already quite good yet slow burn of a game.
TECHNICAL-
- Safehouse Freedom and Upgrading- Safehouses are no longer static but, with a portable radio, the player can make any house, building or compound a safe house.
- Safehouses will be given a rank based on size of building/compound. Lv1 for the smallest, Lv 3 for the biggest.
- Larger safehouses get more slots for useful things, like the bike workbench or the reloading workbench (a station that allows you to convert ammo into other types of ammo) as some examples. Maybe also defensive items like sentry guns or radar? Also camo netting to make them less easy for machines to find.
-Bunkers with War rooms are classed as Lv4 safehouses.
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Crafting- The crafting of items from other items and raw resources. Like taking a bandage from a FAK and using it to make a sticky flare from a flare. I donât want to go in detail here as you likely already know several games that implement these kinds of systems, all i will say though is keep it fairly simple and donât make it too powerful. The player shouldnât be able to craft a machine gun from a toaster and a trashed bike for example. This should give players a bit of freedom to prioritise certain supplies and can give items a use beyond their original function (There will always be trash loot, but hopefully a bit less).
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Containers- Escape from Tarkov style containers can allow you to contain more items in less space, but each container will only accept certain types of items. An Ammunition Box will only take bullets for example.
TACTICAL-
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The flow of power- Robots now have force levels in each region. Player actions influence this machine force level. Higher levels of robot power will see more patrols of more machines with tougher machines as well. Not only that, but machines will destroy loot spots and lay booby traps in higher force regions as a âscorched earthâ strategy. A region on max machine force level should be a real challenge to survive in, especially for the lone survivor. Being spotted, fighting machine patrols, completing missions and fast travelling to safehouses in the region will raise a regions force level. However, if these activitys are not happening all that often within a region, the force level will lower over time as machines divert forces to âhotterâ regions. The occasional skirmish and fast travel should be okay, but fighting all you come across will be met with greater challenge.
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Safehouse Destruction- Safehouses can now be destroyed if found by machines. Lv1 safehouses, being small, are less easily found than Lv3 ones. Urban safehouses are a bit riskier than isolated, rural safehouses. But by far, the biggest factor influencing safety of a safehouse, is the machine force level of the region its in. If the player is present they can prevent their safehouses destruction by defending it. Most of the time however, the player will likely be away. If the safehouse is used heavily, robots may instead lay an ambush and wait for the survivors return.
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Enemy Strongholds- Robots will make âsafehousesâ of their own. These strongholds will bolster robot forces in the region. There will usually at least be one stronghold in every region, even on low force level. However, as force level rises the bots can make up to three per region and they will be more heavily defended. Assualting and destroying a stronghold will cripple robot forces and reduce the force level of the region, destroying relays will also reduce the force level but by far less. Rivals, if damaged but not destroyed, will retreat to a stronghold to repair and rearm. Giving the player a window of opportunity to finish them off or risk them coming back even stronger.
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Seige- Lv4 safehouses (War room bunkers) cannot just be destroyed by a passing patrol. Instead, when discovered, a countdown will begin to a seige. The player will be notified and may have from 12 hours to 3 days to prepare defences (in-game time). When the timer hits 0, the seige begins. A massive assualt on the bunker occurs, the players will have to use all sorts of defenses and powerful weapons to keep the tide of machinery back. If the war room is lost, the players lose. If they hold off the assualt, the players win. This is supposed to be a huge thing, 4 high level players recommended. If the machines win, the bunker immediately becomes a powerful robot stronghold. If the players win, a chest will spawn in the war room with the âspoils of warâ, good chances for seriously good stuff to spawn inside. That and the failure of such a large assualt damages machine force in the region.
SURVIVAL-
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Food and Drink- Now hear me out, I donât mean like in your typical âbabysitâ survival game. Here, you cannot starve or dehydrate to death. It wonât kill you, no. But there will be buffs and debuffs depending on their levels instead. Water affects max stamina, stamina regeneration and movement speed. Food affects max health, injury recovery and action speed/reload speed. When both are kept high, you will slowly regenerate health out of combat and gain a buff to exp gains from all sources. When food is critically low, you donât go down anymore but instead âgive upâ instantly upon health reaching 0. When water is critically low, you cannot sprint.
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Health Revamp- You can now gain special afflictions from certain attacks, the only thing that is required for these injuries to heal is time but that time can be sped up by two things. Firstly, specilised medical items and secondly, rest. Rest being that you use a bed in a safehouse to sleep, takes a bit off the food/water bars but cuts time to heal for any injury by half. Note: there is a chance upon taking damage from certain sources to get these afflictions, its never a guarantee. Resting and specilised medicine can be used in combination to rapidly treat special injuries. All times here are IRL times.
- Bleeding: quite common, can get it from just about any injury. Damage over time, fades after 20 seconds, stopped instantly by using any first aid kit.
- Crippling Injury: Obtained from excessive fall damage as well as explosive or melee attacks. Slows movment speed and makes you easier to knock down. Fades in 2 minutes, use a split to reduce to 15 seconds.
- Severe Burns: obtained a bit more rarely from from explosive and fire based attacks. Damage from all sources is amplified by 50%, takes 20 minutes to heal, burn salve cuts down to 5 minutes
- Broken Bones: can be obtained rarely from melee and explosive based attacks. All damage taken increased by 20%, sprinting causes slight damage every second and you are easily knocked down. Takes an hour to heal, cut down to 20 minutes using a splint.
Final Notes:
- Donât add temperature as a survival element. This is not the long dark and I donât want to have to kill my style cause it got a bit chilly.
- I donât want the health system to be too overbearing or get too much in the way of combat. But right now I feel its just a bit too arcadey and easy on the player and could do with a bit more depth. I feel similarly about food and drink.
But yeah, this is a really good game so far. A slow burn sure, but pretty darn good.