Introduction
Seasons have never been a mechanic in Unturned before now, and I think they should be done right the first time, but you shouldn’t take this post as the way seasons are meant to be. Please take this post as an idea for all of you to build upon in the comment section.
This post will lay out each season, and how they could individually affect yourself and your surroundings. The seasons will be ordered in how they occur in real life and the game as follows: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
The main ideas/important parts of each Item/Idea will be highlighted like this.
Spring
Spring is the most bountiful and peaceful time of the Unturned year. During this season, flowers will blossom and foliage will be lush. This season proceeds winter. The sudden wave of warm weather means the snow is melting and evaporating into rainclouds.
Spring Weather
Spring weather is what you would expect. The moisture from the frost of winter before is accumulating in the sky and after some time, it will begin to rain.
Spring is the season where rain will occur the most often, but it will not be as hard as summer. Players will have to be constantly prepared for sporadic rainfall. The rain will summon a thick fog that will remain for a time after it stops, and can negatively affect some things left outside.
Wet items
A consequence of rain towards items is wetness and waterlogging. Items made from organic materials and metal will suffer terrible consequences because of Spring’s weather. Cloth items will soak up water and become heavier the damper they are. Items made from metal such as firearms will lose durability from being left in rain. lastly, items made from wood will rot if not dried out immediately after the rain. Rot will cause wooden items to lose durability faster during use, but chemicals can be used to eradicate the mold. It’s a smart idea to paint your wooden structures, to keep them from rotting.
Wet Vehicles
Vehicles forgotten in the rain will not be affected as much as items are, but how the environment is changed can be gravely harmful to players, especially those without training. The terrain can become muddy through the irregular rainfall, a detriment to unfitted vehicles. Civilian cars will be slowed down in muddy areas and can sink if left unattended. Driving during the rain could also be a hazard. Roads will be more slippery, making it easier to crash into things or fly off the motorway.
This doesn’t mean that Vehicles are exempt from rain damage. Exposed parts on automobiles will become damaged and must be replaced if not shielded soon enough, damaged vehicle parts will prevent the car from starting, but won’t lower the car’s health.
Spring Nature
Plants during spring have just received a wave of heat and moisture after a fierce winter. Spring is the time where vegetables will sprout and flowers will blossom. In turn, many animals have not survived the deadly frost.
Plants
Vegetables, herbs, flowers, and grass have all returned to the map. Root vegetables such as carrots and parsnips are at their largest during spring, and tubers like potatoes follow suit.
Flowers and Herbs
In the dawn of spring’s vitalization, herbs and flowers will grow.
Not only do they smell good and look pretty, the flowers and herbs can be used by skilled players to create medicines and salves. They may not be as potent as syringes and pills, but they can work as a replacement for resourceful survivors. Knowledge and application of these plants is a very important skill.
Fauna
The populations of most animals will be at a low for the coming months before they’ve gained enough sustenance to steady their dwindling population. After just exiting hibernation, creatures such as bears and squirrels will wake with extreme energy/horniness.
Spring Zombies
Zombies during spring will be at their normal state. Zombies unfreezing from their permafrost and being rained on will absorb some of the water and can become bloated, or spitting turned.
Bloated Turned
Bloated turned are engorged with water, and stumble around aimlessly leaving trails of water in their wake. A bloated turned is slower than other zombies, but is more aggressive and determined whilst chasing after players. When close enough, a bloated turned will hurl itself at its target dealing a heavy blow. If a bloated turned is pierced via bullet or blade several times, it will burst from pressure releasing its internal fluids causing a damaging area of effect. This explosion is warned to the player from leaks of water coming from areas of piercings.
Spitter Turned
Spitter turned will work differently from the acid-spitting ones we know today. Instead of advancing towards the player and periodically spitting a cloud of acid, they will cower behind other zombies and spew water projectiles at you dealing low to moderate damage.
Summer
Summer is the crescendo of nature, high temperatures, fruitful trees and threatening storms all occur during the coming months. Animals all live harmoniously, and the natural circle of life has been restored.
Summer Weather
Summer’s weather is on the side of both extremes. *Consistently hot weather will draught the map, and hydration will be a significant challenge for the season. When the temperature isn’t scorching, it is a chilled night or harsh thunderstorm ravaging the area.
Thunderstorms
Thunderstorms occur far between one another, but last longer to make up for the lack of moisture. Thunder and lightning will crash and strike vulnerable areas. Instead of just being a random occurrence, they will more often smite higher areas of the map, and a warning tempest of electricity will light the clouds above the area which is victim to a strike.
Heat-waves
“Youch! Ouch! It is too hot!”
-people that are hot
Heat can be an immediate threat but is easily avoided under certain circumstances. Two main negative effects derive from heat, dehydration and burning. Dehydration over time will lead to exhaustion and eventually heat stroke, though it can be easily mitigated with water. The process of dehydration is also slowed down by being in a cooler temperature, from shade, shelter or air conditioning. On the other hand, Burning is an effect that directly impacts your player’s health. Burning is an injury that is caused by longterm exposure to sunlight, rather than just high temperature.
Hot Items
Materials that conduct heat very well including metal and stone will raise their temperature faster and retain heat more efficiently. During summer, this can be an extreme downside. Items that are exposed to the elements of summer will rise in temperature. This raises a problem to things like guns that are holstered on your back, or armor plating which is worn by the player. A consequence of these items is that they will raise the overall temperature of your character, and become potentially harmful.
Hot items can be cooled down, but overdo it and you can end up with something icier than expected, though you shouldn’t have to worry about anything getting too cold until winter
Hot Vehicles
Everybody knows the unfortunate and inevitable feeling of opening a car door and being blasted with nauseating heat. This terrible feeling would translate into unturned kind of how it is in real life. You must endure the headache-inducing heat to finally feel the invigorating, crisp relief of air conditioning.
The hellish interior of a car is easily cured by AC, but if your battery is not functioning then it might not be the best idea to take shelter from the heat in your car. Being in a hot car will increase your core body heat and cause you to dehydrate or experience heat stroke.
Air conditioning is sufficient, and will only cool your car enough to keep you safe. Even on full blast, it is not enough to become dangerously cold.
Hot Plants
Easy, If plants get too hot, too dry, they’ll start burning. This can spark a natural fire that forces animals and players alike to evacuate the immediate area.
Summer Nature
Summer is a time where plant and animal are living their best life. Plenty of food and pleasant weather is a haven in time for predators and prey alike.
Plants
Plants during Summer are absorbing the delicious gamma rays of the sun and sucking the remaining moisture from the soil. Many flowers that blossomed in spring have now grown into delicious fruit. Juicy, refreshing fruit.
Fauna
Animals are living how they were meant to, some murdering one another and others minding their own business. In the heatwaves, you will often find the animals drinking from water holes. It might not be a bad idea to follow animals to find drinkable water sources. These desperate times are one of the few moments when predator and prey will live aside one another, setting aside their differences for the good of survival. But you should still make sure you don’t mess with them, you’re not exactly a Disney princess. Not yet you aren’t.
Summer Zombies
Zombies aren’t exactly vacationers, they’re more blood-drinkers than water-drinkers and don’t know how much sun is too much. many zombies at this time will shrivel up from dehydration, or just plain light aflame from the heat.
Husk Turned
Husk turned are the reverse bloated turned. They are fast, but not dedicated to the hunt, they might even run out of Stamina halfway through an encounter. Decayed and dry muscle makes these rascals weak attackers, but they occur in larger groups. Alone they are feeble, but many they are a force to be reckoned with.
Flaming Turned
A Flaming Turned has the same health stats like your average green guy but is more frantic when it comes to attacking. Even without a brain, being on fire is pretty scary. Not to mention, a flaming turned is hard to get up close with. You know, being on fire and all. Close-up melee is a difficult and dangerous strategy against a flamer, it’s best you use a gun or longer-ranged spear-type weapon on these Turned.
When flaming turned come into contact with flammable objects or other zombies, they will set them aflame. However, they have a glaring weakness, water. Water will Extinguish these zombies and return them to their normal states.
It should be noted that these bad boys can be found at any time of the year (Except Winter), but are significantly more common during the Summer months.
Sunbather Turned
This zombie is catchin’ some rays tho…
Autumn
Ah… can you smell that? It’s the smell of fall. Death, rot and frigid winds fill the air… The temperature from summer is on a deep decline, gusts of northern cold are blowing multicolored leaves from trees. Sporadic rain causes deadfall to rot and become a breeding ground for fungus, and non-hibernating animals including bunnies and deer are in their mating season, leading their populations to rapidly increase.
Autumn Weather
Autumn cold has caused moisture to be drawn from trees, and many plants to die. The shock of cold is not enough to cause snow, but enough to stop plants from growing and absorbing nutrients. The lower temperature makes clouds precipitate and rain. Though not as often as spring, spouts of rain will occur regularly.
Windstorms
Wind will subtly move objects and lower temperatures slightly at its least tense, and at its worst, wind can move people, structures, and cars. during a windstorm, you need to take cover. If you’re in a weak or makeshift building, it could collapse overtop of you. Being near objects susceptible to wind could be dangerous as a flying prop could smack you upside the head, doing potentially serious damage.
Tornados
Tornados are very rare and have a high chance of never even happening in a given year, though it will not just occur out of the blue. There are many signs of an incoming tornado that can help you to tell if one will happen, and these signs can occur weeks before one occurs. Wind rapidly changing direction or temperature is a sheer sign of a potential twister. You can also pay attention to cloud formations. A dead giveaway of a nearby wind terror is a funnel cloud, Funnel clouds are wide at the top and become skinny near the bottom. Sometimes these clouds will summon lightning storms, encase the terror and aw of the animals wasn’t enough.
A tornado would do what you’d expect
Autumn Nature
In this stage of nature’s course, pretty much everything is dying, or still trying not to.
But in waste and dread, a light begins to glow. New plants and life begin to thrive among death. New kinds of risks to take and harvests reap will open in this season.
Autumn Plants
Autumnal plants are different from the regular plants of seasons past. Instead of leafy and green, they appear brown and camouflaged among their decaying neighbors.
Wheat and Grain
Wheat and grain are used for consumption, but not immediately. Wheat must be processed into flour to and cooked into baked goods such as bread, though corn can be eaten on its own as well as in recipes.
Wheat is a great candidate for crop growth. You can grow it in large amounts and they don’t require as much attention or watering to cultivate. Not only is it easy to farm, but is easily stored and preserved over long periods. Be careful of Rodens potentially eating away at your reserves though, a Mouser could be a good investment in such cases.
Great for winter preparation.
Mushrooms and fungus
Mushrooms and fungus are a complete wild card, though they can be identified, many are similar to trick the player. Small details such as the color of the stem, and what environment it grows in must be carefully observed.
Mushrooms are a very risky resource for agricultural use. Though potentially extremely beneficial, the environment and soil moisture can instantly change what you thought you planted.
Unlike berries, Mushrooms do not have specific names and are randomly generated each year. This could be as simple as picking a set of already existing Mushrooms to grow that year or randomly generating everything about them. This will keep players who want to take advantage of the gamble busy while they try to determine the mushroom.
instead of describing every possible outcome of eating a whimsical forest toadstool, I will list possible symptoms of strange mushrooms.
Symptoms include:
- Rapid growth
- Hallucination
- Erectile dysfunction
- Happiness
- Hunger
- Profuse sweating
- Anger
- Sudden vigor
- Reverse gravity
- Brain shrinkage
- Backward hands
- Backward eyeballs
- Reverse appendages
- Earwax
- Toenail growth
- Three nipples
- Amnesia
- Black eye
- Pregnancy
- Spiney bones
- Transparent eyelids
- Square body
- Genital rashes
- Memory loss
- Paranoia
- Wood legs
- I think that last one is just scurvy
- Too many back pockets
- Confusion
- Amnesia
what was I saying again? oh yeah, Nature.
Autumn Fauna
Non-hibernating animals during the fall must have been getting into some sort of mushrooms because they are feisty! Bunnies do what they’re known for and deers have a little too much time together. And wolves… well, everyone knows they’re a little ferocious. You should also keep your eyes peeled, as the orange landscape is the perfect environment for a Fox to prowl around.
As for the opposite end of the spectrum, hibernating animals need as much food as possible for their dormancy. What I’m trying to say is crossing a hungry bear’s path is not an excellent idea. And crossing a squirrel’s? That’s another story.
Autumn Zombies
Autumnal zombies are deader than ever. Some have been infected by the aforementioned fungus, while others are past their due dates and rotting to the bone.
Spore Turned
Spore zombies stay still and prefer darker areas where mushrooms can cultivate. These zombies will release clouds of toxic spores when they sense a threat. Sense, as in hearing. Inspired by The Last of Us, the spore turned can not use their sense of sight, because the connection between optic nerve and brain has been severed. Spore turned are very aggressive and determined to eradicate whatever making a sound nearby, but will ignore it if all it smells is turned blood. It might not be a bad idea to wear to clothes of a Turned to sneak by undetected. It should also be noted that those of us who are partly Turned may be ignored altogether by the Spore Turned.
Rotten Turned
Rotten turned have been chewed down the bone by microorganisms and weathering.
Their flesh discolored and covered in dirt, soft to the touch if you’d ever have the guts to get near one. A rotten turned is feeble, but it seems that their brains are still functioning correctly like any other zombie. a punch to the head might be all it takes. These zombies have little muscle mass, so attacking with their arms is an effort in vain. This zombie always bites and if their rotten teeth are latched on long enough, a single bite could cause severe bleeding and infection and should be treated immediately.
Winter
Finally, the season that you have been waiting and preparing for the entire year. This season is soggier than spring, more hellish than summer and somehow less alive than fall. Animals and plants remiss, leaving those who don’t to find new means of survival.
Temperatures have dropped like lead, and being a hairless block person is no advantage.
Winter Weather
that rolls off the tongue nicely does it not?
Winter is the coldest time of year. By around day two, 'most everything has been caked in snow and frozen over. If there’s still even a patch of grass left, a blizzard will take care of it.
Cold Snap
A cold snap is a instantaneous drop in temperature. This phenomenon normally happens at the beginning of winter and is caused by clouds blocking sunlight or high winds chilling the area.
In low temperatures
Snow
Rain but frozen. Remains on the ground after falling.
Cold people
The cold is dangerous to unprepared players. your core temperature becoming too low can cause hypothermia, which develops into many different symptoms over time.
Hypothermia is prevented by raising or maintaining body heat. Wearing thick clothing such as jackets and hoodies will help in harsh cold, but your temperatures will always become colder over time. Using devices such as heatstims or setting up campfires to warm you is a must if you’re spending long times in the cold.
Having a low body temperature can mean many things. It begins with being a little shivery, preventing steady aim with guns. Realistically it would develop into limbs falling off, but the cold will just cause dehydration and loss of health. You might think
dehydration is a strange thing to occur in the cold, but the cold will draw moisture from your body very quickly.
You’ll also notice your breath precipitating in freezing temperatures, which is a way to tell an oblivious player the current temperature.
Cold items
Items that remain in the cold will freeze at low temperatures. This can be a benefit for items such as food, and a disbenefit for mechanical items including guns and vehicles.
Cold and frozen food or chemicals will be preserved and prevented from expiring for longer, granted they will slowly lose their potency over time.
Vehicles will be prevented from starting up if the temperature of the battery is too low, but can be warmed up if connected to another battery to boost. Windshields and windows of the car can also be covered in frost or snow.
Guns and power tools will jam or malfunction more often if too cold.
Cold vehicles
Vehicles, as mentioned before, will have a difficult time starting up, but driving isn’t such a cakewalk either. Icy roads can cause vehicles to lose control while driving. Combined with a white-out, lack of vision and control can be extremely dangerous while using an automobile. It’s probably best you venture on foot during winter unless you’ve switched to offroad tires.
Blizzards
Blizzards are the winter equivalent of a thunderstorm. Usually long, they can cause thick “fog” and will cover the surface of most areas in thick layers of snow. These storms bear high wind speeds and subzero temperatures. The last thing you’d want to happen is to get caught in the wilderness during a blizzard. If you notice a basic snowfall becoming more aggressive, you should seek shelter immediately.
Winter Nature
During winter, all plants have died, leaving behind seeds for spring. Trees are leafless barring the coniferous ones. Survival is the main priority for the remaining animals. They will have to get through anything that comes in their way.
Plants
As stated, dead.
Fauna
Bears and squirrels have gone hibernation mode, hidden in burrows and caves.
Deer and Wolves are enemies in winter, clashing fang and antlers to defend their packs.
Bunnies’ coats have thickened and changed color to stay safe in the snowy environment.
Winter Zombies
The cold brings new horrors with it!
Winter Turned
They came prepared! Wearing at least 5 different coats, and covering their grub-holes with scarfs and everything else with toques and earmuffs, including their ears. The insulation keeps them toasty but blocks their hearing. They may have been prepared but expect a few tongues frozen to poles every once in a while.
Ice Turned
Their skin is as cold as their hearts, it’s the Ice Turned! Much like Flaming Turned, these purple flesh piles are very similar to their Green brothers stat-wise, the one big difference, is that they’re covered in ice! This frosty shell can protect the turned from bullets and sharp weapons. any attack from these spikey freaks is gonna hurt, likely causing bleeding!
Much like Flaming Turned, these Turned can be made easier to deal with. Warming them up with intense, uncontrolled flames, can cause them to lose their icy exterior, or you may choose to simply shoot the Ice off. Blunt weapons excel at breaking the ice with these shy creatures, always be sure to bring a bat with you to your first date! Like their fiery brethren, regular Turned can be converted into this icy cult, simply by being cooled down.
Chiller Turned
Incredibly, they can move, these Turned are frozen on the inside. Due to being colder than Nanavut, these Turned are rather slow, but have access to ranged attacks to close the distance. Being breathed on by these fellers is going to do a lot more than spread deadly pathogens, it might even turn you into an ice sculpture! Naturally, Chillers will try to exhale super cold air to slow the player down. Much like the Bloated, their deaths result in an explosion, releasing the icy air inside of them. Any food item affected by the cloud will likely require heating up to properly consume them. Turned caught in this explosion will turn into Ice Turned, water will instantly freeze as well. The Chiller doesn’t need to die to convert Turned into Ice Turned, simply being near regular turned will slowly convert them into Ice Turned, water will also slowly freeze.
The Golem
The Golem is a massive, hulking behemoth of an enemy, constructed out of snow and a couple of Zombies, this lumbering giant is a force to be reckoned with. Due to the Golem not being entirely organic, dealing with the beast will require different strategies to defeat. The Golem will not die unless the Turned inside of it are killed, or it’s destroyed. Due to lacking ears, the Golem can’t hear very well, and the frost makes it hard for the Turned controlling the Golem to see. Like most things made of Ice, heat can melt the creation, freeing the Turned trapped inside.
Elf Turned
He seems to be lost.
Conclusion
Thanks for getting to the end of the post! You’re probably a small minority for that, and if you actually read this then you might be the only person. This section is pretty much for extras and votes about this post. There is a poll for each section/season where you can place your vote, and you can publicly place your own opinion in the comment section as well.
The season votes are for what you think of the ideas of each season.
The vote after the seasons is for what you think of all the seasons as a whole
The other vote is for you to tell me if you thought this was a good read or not
- Spring section is good.
- Spring section is meh.
- Spring section is bad.
- Summer section is good.
- Summer section is meh.
- Summer section is bad.
- Fall section is good.
- Fall section is meh.
- Fall section is bad.
- Winter section is good.
- Winter section is meh.
- Winter section is bad.
- Seasons are good
- Seasons are meh
- Seasons are bad
- This post was fun to read
- This was boring
