Introduction
As we know, Nelson plans on immensely expanding the depth and possibility of survival mechanics in 4.0. Here’s my take on survival and some mechanics that should accompany this change, and while it is a long read, I have divided it up very nicely for your sake:
Temperature
In 3.0, temperature was never really a threat unless you were playing on Yukon or standing directly over a campfire. In reality though, regulating your internal body temperature is one of the biggest struggles in a survival situation. With 4.0 I think there’s tons of improvement in this area:
- All clothing now has an insulation value against cold or heat
- Being naked/under-dressed at night, or in climatically cold areas, will cause your body temperature to go down and you will eventually suffer from hypothermia and die
- Likewise, wearing too much clothing in a hot area (or even being in an excessively hot area at all) will cause hyperthermia, and eventual heat stroke/hallucinations/death
- Temperature should vary dramatically based on time of day as well as actual biome conditions. If seasons are added, that will have a huge effect as well.
- Alternatively you can ward off cold with a heat source such as a campfire, and perhaps keep yourself cool by swimming or installing a ventilation system/fan in your base
- Bodies of water will now be quite a bit cooler than the surrounding air, so you may suffer hypothermia from swimming too long in a colder area. After swimming with clothes on, your clothes will be wet for a while, which amplifies the effect of cold (unless naked or wearing waterproof clothing). Dry off faster near a heat source.
Weather
Another field that can see lots of expansion, since 3.0 only has 3 weather states which are not all that impactful on gameplay.
- Cloud cover: varying amounts of cloud cover may slightly affect temperature, and will also hamper the ability of solar panels to produce power. It may also slightly change the ambient brightness of the area.
- Rain: like the current rain storms. Various levels of intensity in rain storms with the highest intensity bringing lightning strikes. Visibility is reduced significantly, and is worse with more intense storms. In addition things like rainwater collectors will now fill up a lot faster, and rather than being either empty or full they will fill up in realistic increments.
- Lightning: as discussed above they will occur during severe rain storms. They naturally will strike about once every 20 seconds, and only strike tall objects in the area. Can start brief fires, and can also do damage to players/structures. The damage to a player would be 50 health in the form of splash damage. Moving with a lower stance or taking shelter can reduce the risk and damage of a lightning strike.
- Snow: as it snows the ambient air temperature drops, requiring clothing that protects against cold better. Vehicles will be slowed down or experience grip issues. In addition players will now move slower over snow buildup on the ground.
- Fog: a low fog bank will severely impact visibility and also provide small amounts of water to rainwater collectors. Fog has the highest chance of appearing during the early morning. It will provide interesting gameplay opportunities such as stealthy movement.
- Wind: an optional feature by server owners, wind can affect ballistics as well as aircraft. Animals and zombies will be able to detect your scent if you are standing upwind from them.
Portioning
Rather than an all-or-nothing approach to consumables, you should also be able to portion your food to minimize waste. In addition there would be a limit to how much you can portion, since eating 1% of a can of beans isn’t exactly normal.
- Consumables that aren’t distinctively portioned (like meats, water, and cheese) will be measured in kg or lb (switchable via settings).
- You can now choose, for example, to eat half a granola bar, or 0.5 kg of that solid hunk of cooked venison, or 200 mL of your water rations.
- You can now drink water straight from the source, be it a rainwater collector, freshwater source, or a faucet/well/water pump.
Survival Techniques
Exactly as the title implies, introducing realistic survival techniques that can improve quality of life, and frankly make a lot of sense. This section will also address any unrealistic mechanics in 3.0.
- You can make a rain catcher or rain barrel which collects rainwater, moisture in the air, and fog condensation. Rather than being just empty or full, they will now have actual values of water storage.
- In order to start a fire you require a match or a primitive firestarter such as a bow-drill or rock flaking (think flint). You must also fuel the fire using wood, synthesized fuel, or other flammable substances. Based on how much fuel has been added the fire will burn a lot stronger and create more light/heat in a wider radius. Electric heat sources/burners do not require a firestarter.
- Preserve food from spoiling, either by using insulative storage as seen in my Food Spoilage Rework, or more old-school methods like salt, canning, bottling, etc.
- When setting a trap, you can bait them to attract animals from the area. Speaking of traps, there should be a greater variety of traps and in general they should be far more useful than they currently are. Traps should also be exceptional with their intended purposes. Animals would not walk straight into a barbed wire fence, for example, but they would walk into a deadfall trap or snare by mistake.
- If you grow your crops outside, animals may try to steal your harvest. Place traps, light sources, or a scarecrow/inukshuk (the latter being a 3.0 reference and an excellent asset used by the Inuit) to ward them off.
- Cutting down a tree should be more realistic, and you would have to perform multiple well-placed hits on a specific area of the trunk to cause one to fall (alternatively a handsaw or chainsaw would require a complete cut through the trunk). That said, if you can fell trees properly, it should be a lot faster.
- Forage in the wild for all sorts of natural goods, from mushrooms, fruit, and berries to sticks, leaves, tinder, and cordage.