So me and the boys were cracking a cold one and were just brainstorming about what kinds of realistic things could be added to 4.0. I’d very much like it to be as realistic as possible, and we were thinking about Rust for some examples. One example in Rust is how your character is unchangeable. You are who you are. You can’t choose to be Black, White, Latino, Hispanic, or a green dood. Your facial features are what you are born with.
Not particularly what I want to suggest, I think player customization is a big thing / culture of Unturned and we shouldn’t particularly take that away, but the simple idea of “You are who you are”.
We thought of Genetic Defects / Disorders. All players would spawn with one. Perhaps it could change every time you die (though I see this being exploited by people that will just intentionally kill themselves to get the most percievingly easiest disorder). Or maybe, just like Rust, it could be attached to your permanent S64ID and you could never really change it. Disorders would bring passive / active effects to the player, something they’d have to deal with throughout their survival.
I think it would definitely make survival much more… like surviving. Players are super-soldiers in almost every game with literally no downsides, as if they have perfect genetics. I think this would also, seemingly, somehow, in a way promote a team effort to help each others disabilities / disorders.
Some defects I thought of on the top of my head were
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Nearsightedness - “A condition in which close objects appear clearly, but far ones don’t.”
(Again I’m not great with GIMP. Realistically it would get blurrier the farther an object is, but obviously I can’t do distances)
Players naturally were born with a genetic defect of being Near Sighted. Objects close to them and items they are holding appear fine, but more distant objects become slightly blurred as the distance increases. A fix for the disease is as simple as finding the correct type of glasses - glasses could be fragile or etc and have durability. Maybe there could be one tier of glasses that can withstand more and is more durable. Glasses could be found in mega stores / malls, eye doctor places, other general medical facilities such as a hospital, or simply found in civilian houses (assuming the people pre-apoc also suffered genetic disorders)
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Farsightedness - “A vision condition in which nearby objects are blurry.”
(I’m not great with GIMP, its a mere example)
Players naturally were born with a genetic defect of being Far Sighted. Objects close to them such as ones they’re holding out / have equipt appear blurry. Sights may be a little more difficult to use, but the target they’re aiming at (assuming is farther away) will seem fine. A fix for the disease is as simple as finding the correct type of glasses - speaking of, there could also be Bifocals in the game that could treat both Far and Near sightedness. Also perhaps there could be contact lenses in which you’d need to clean or find new ones (idk how I’d balance them and I dont wear contacts, so…)
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Hemophilia - “A disorder in which blood doesn’t clot normally.”
Players were born with a genetic defect of having naturally bad blot clotting. Players shot, slashed, hit, struck by zombies, or even small scrapes could be serious harm and affected by blood loss. Players with this will continue to bleed, and bleed, and bleed. Perhaps they stop bleeding eventually, perhaps it never stops till they tend to their wound. Perhaps different tiers of bleeding could be added to the game and people with Hemophilia constantly retain their bleeding tier / status while normal players slowly get better over time. Obviously general medical supplies that would uh… stop bleeding out help stop the bleeding. -
Duchenne muscular dystrophy - “An inherited disorder of progressive muscular weakness, typically in boys.”
Players were born with a genetic defect of naturally and progressively loosing their muscle strength and stamina. Players will, passively, over time deal less damage with melee’s and will run out of stamina faster, and will not be able to run nearly as fast as when they spawned over the course of multiple hours. A fix for the disease could be simple Steroids, a medical item that helps them withstand their weakness and restore their full muscular ability. Such items obviously could be found at practitioners, hospitals, pharmacies, and some civilian houses (assuming the people pre-apoc also suffered genetic disorders) -
Type 1 Diabetes - “A chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin.”
Players were born with a genetic defect causing basically no insulin in the blood stream. Players have an increased perceived thirst, hunger, fatigue, and blurred vision along with other stuff. A fix would be to find Insulin at medical facilities and etc, and inject them just how you’d inject Morphine / Vaccines. -
Marfan syndrome - “An inherited disorder that affects connective tissue.”
Players were born with a genetic defect that gave them a naturally tall and thin body. They have long arms, legs, and fingers. They suffer from multiple symptoms such as some visual problems, high blood pressure, scoliosis, and some others. An obvious problem is the extra height - possibly and more than likely negative in PvP. They may have difficulty handling certain things due to longer arm length (insert creative idea for what would be difficult) A fix could be some simple blood pressure medicine. /shrug. I’m starting to get into the disorders that I can’t particularly agree would be good for the game, simply brainstorming them. -
Achondroplasia - “The most common type of short-limbed dwarfism.”
Players were born with a genetic defect that gave them a naturally short body. They have short arms and legs, and often have an enlarged head. They suffer from low blood pressure, and maybe some other things. The obvious problem is being shorter, and the enlarged head - which may affect PvP. Shorter legs may also make movement / max foot speed slower / running out of stamina faster. They may have difficulty handling certain things due to arm length (notably when reaching for things, such as handling a long Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle that needs the bolt cocked back after each shot). One fix may be medicine to help with the blood pressure. -
CRISPR Technology - “CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections”
CRISPR Technology could be overwhelmingly rare injections or what not that could have a chance (or just 100% chance, OR PERHAPS the chance rate could be determined on the CRISPR vaccine’s durability) to ‘cure’ and permanently fix whatever disorder you have. I’m not entirely sure if this should even be added, but just a mere suggestion. Perhaps it could be common and you loose it’s benefit on death. Perhaps it could be rare and stay as a permanent benefit with your character until a specified time such as a week, etc.
I can’t really think of nor find anymore genetic disorders that are worthwhile or common to add to the list. If you have any suggestions on disorders, or specifics about a certain disorder then please tell.
Also, of course, there could be positive genetics involved in the game, but I decided to just focus on negative ones for now. So if you pull up with the argument along the lines of “nobody would want this garbage it only gives downsides” - there could also be upsides.
