AdmScoo

Is there a way to decrease the possibility of this happen say via a stats check? Or is there a point of no return irrespective of player stats/skills? For full disclosure I'd very much say I'm still rather a greenhorn at this game; have had characters survive for a month or so but then succumbed to zombies by overextending the encumbered and exhausted character. Was surprised to be killed off by the mechanic named in this thread, had a new character with lvl 9 strength and fitness (1980s action movie hero? ) whose car engine died next to a high fence and some walkers closing in, was fully rested and not encumbered. Got out of the car and then the first one got near and attacked me followed by his/her smelly friends. Was unable to do anything. Would a (hopefully temporary) moodle* indicating that the player character is being held a good way to inform the player that (s)he is not faring well? Could there be a passive check against stats or say when attempting to run (shift + movement key) away from the threat (especially if the player is not surrounded and the threat is "only" in one direction)? *) could indicate that the player feels a cold hand clutching a limb or such, would induce panic and anxiety Respectfully, AdmScoo

[ first post here as a new player who only recently found the game (how has PZ flown under my radar all these years?!?), woohoo ] Excellent ideas! I've looked over the forums and solar energy seems to be something which divide people a lot. Not knowing really how the game function "under the bonnet/hood" I'd still like to offer one idea as to how solar power might be implemented (a bit longish, please bear with me): - the current vanilla game seem to frustrate some as in order to be able to use a generator a non-electrician need to read the prerequisite magazine in order to get the full 20-tile powered radius. This simulates plugging a generator to a building's "offgrid plug" and also switching off normal grid power (apparently common in rural parts of the world) and thus utilizing the normal electrical wiring of the house to carry the generator power. How about if not having read the magazine in question (and possibly having a minimum skill level in electricity) one could still use a generator but in order to simulate simpler use of directly plugging an appliance to the generator only have the "powered tile"-status be limited to 1-2 tiles from the generator? Thus one could run a single refrigerator or some such. - the current game has three different car batteries for different types of vehicles. Regular car batteries can be used in a pinch to power say illumination but they are intended (and optimized to deliver a quick burst of energy when starting an engine and then rapidly be recharged when the vehicle engine is running. Batteries for a recreational vehicle or solar batteries deliver a steady slow stream of energy far longer without a dip in voltage (they can sustain a slow drain for far longer compared to a vehicle starting battery) and then be slowly recharged using solar power. Using a car battery this way would cause it to lose condition rather quickly. I'd suggest that a fourth type of 12V battery be added, call it say a RV battery or solar battery. These deep cycle batteries would function in a 12V offgrid setup without loosing much condition. - the main purpose for 12V solar power could apart from roleplaying/immersion a handy way of handling long-term lighting of one's safehouse/base. At the moment at least a character with the cat eyes perk can say read unimpeded even in pitch blackness. If a check for illumination would be added then certain activities could be either performed more slowly or altogether impossible (). Another thing would be a renewable power supply for radios (a rather simple way of adding NPCs to the game could be via offscreen ones that broadcast over ham radio (say Montana Civil Defense of Terminator 3 fandom ). As to power something like a refrigerator, well it could be done using a AC-DC power converter or inverter to step up from 12V to 120V but they were inefficient back in the day. And a fridge or freezer (unless it is very modern) typically need a higher than the appliance's nominally rated power to start the compressor (something that in real life might overload even a smaller generator, not to say the least a AC-DC convertor). How this could practically be handled would be to say have a 1x2 tile solar panel installation that for conveniance could be placed on the ground (as opposed to roof installation). It could be built (akin to a tent kit) using a lootable solar panel, car or solar battery, a lootable or buildable (high electronics skill) solar panel regulator. To even take into account the rather high drop in voltage in low voltage wiring say that this unit would only power a 10-tile radius. Just as regular lamps can be modified to use ingame batteries the player could choose to instead modify a lamp to use 12V power (that way possible to calculate energy consumption between unaltered lights that run off a generator and ones modifed for 12V power. - Gas-powered pressure lamp: as has been suggested before. In order to simplify the game and considering that the game is set near military installations and that the military is present (or was present ingame) there could be a lamp that runs on gas/petrol. Some pressure lamps (although a lot more dangerous than ones running on kerosene) were used by militaries, the type which use a mantle such as Petromax / Tilley / Aladdin / Coleman. If these were modeled in the game as opposed to say a kerosene hurricane lantern the developers would have the added benefit of not needing to alter the light output of the current electrical lights as pressure lamps are quite bright, comparable to a 100W incandescent bulb (thus for example even used in the operating theatre of a field hospital as backup). This way we could light our base in winter in the rather long term as opposed to sitting near a wood stove or near a fireplace. As an alternative to this, an oil lamp. Say wick in a jar burning cooking oil (vegetable oil that already is in the game) or looted deep frying oil from a fast food restaurant. - Fierarm cleaning kit (as suggested as nr #1018 back in July 2019). As of now the game rather simulate repairing of firearms (by cannibalizing parts from one identical one and then discarding it) as being due them suffering from a major malfunction due to parts breaking (say extractor bent, spring breaking, cracked frame or something else rather critical). This rather than the rather mundane real life issue of especially self loading firearms getting dirty through repeated usage. What causes them to get fouled is either dust / sand / grit getting in the action or simply a build up of carbon and powder residue. In the current game this is nigh on par back when black powder was used. For anyone interested, here is an article from 1981 on the poor performance of the then new US service rifle M16 in Vietnam; that was mostly due to a bureacracy that insisted on using an ill-suited type of gunpowder that caused them to gunk up. As with different grades of gasoline (octane) and motor oil (viscosity) so does various grades of gunpowder make a certain type of propellant suitable for a certain kind of firearm. Back to the game, if players could find a firearms cleaning kit (a makeshift one could possibly also be crafted from a generic solvent and oil plus rags) that would akin to a bottle of disinfectant be used a couple of times to restore a gun to full working order. While mostly down to RNG, as it stands now, 100% condition M9 / Beretta M92 can break in as little as ~200(?) rounds or so. Must otherwise say that the implementation of firearms in PZ is stellar with say the ability to have a complex management of different magazines, having the ability to load a round in the chamber etc. [minor nitpick, a bullet is only the projectile, one loads rounds or cartridges into a firearm's magazine] TLDR 1) generators usable albeit at a lesser capacity without reading the magazine 2) a solar array unit that make car batteries and a new fourth type of batteries usable for powering lights & radios (and would reward investing in the electric skill) 3) lamp that runs on cooking oil or the existing gasoline fuel 4) cleaning kits for guns I gather some things can be handled via mods but as I at the moment prefer the "curated experience" of the vanilla game I humbly hope that some of this could be taken into consideration by the developers and community. Hope I have adhered to the manual of style.