Aerosol

This is specifically only for "entertainment" (boredom/stress reducing) VHS and books btw, not skill giving ones. So currently the way non-skill VHS work is (afaik): you watch it, upon which you get stats from it (-boredom usually) and afterwards you get nothing from watching it again. Suggestion: Instead of getting nothing when rewatching, upon watching a specific VHS , it instead becomes "spoiled" in training materials database (tracks last time you watched it, instead of only whether you did or not) and slowly unspoils over time (ex. over a month+, more? idk the exact balance) and while it is spoiled, the stats it gives from watching again are reduced from original stats based on current spoil level to original stats it gave instead of permanent flat zero, which means if you got ex. -100 boredom from watching a specific VHS first time, rewatching it immediately afterwards gives 0 boredom, same as currently, watching it a day later gives maybe -1 boredom and waiting for a few weeks gives -20 boredom from rewatching, once it fully unspoils you get -100 boredom from watching that specific VHS again, as the first time (maybe it should be less than 100% of original, like 80%, as "you already know the plot", maybe relevant). This is so the player can't just get a few VHS and get permanent anti boredom system through replayability but rather needs to seek out diversity, VHS stores may need rebalanced loot tables for non-skill VHS like those as a result, so you can't get all VHS you need from a single one. Same system for books: instead of all books giving identical flat stats and getting consumed upon reading, books starting with random titles similar to VHS (extra opportunity to include references like with VHS, but at least different IDs are needed) and give different stats based on that (boredom reduction, stress reduction, etc, can be random as it doesn't effect skill progression to need predefined ones like skill books/skill VHS and is more food-like-rng) and reading does not consume the book, rather puts it in a "spoiled" state in training materials database that also obviously would need to track individual books (titles) like it does VHS. Books should also maybe take longer to get the same effect from them compared to VHS considering reading is slower than watching, or have more profound effect (they kinda already do due to stress reduction which afaik VHS don't give). Comic books and magazines obviously can work the same as above, with unique titles or at least IDs, and crossword/wordsearch puzzles are obviously one and done as currently but can be faster and stronger effect as compensation for being single use, still should be tracked per player instead of consumed on use though, nothing is stopping another player from solving the same puzzle someone else did (other than the fact it is written over, maybe another use for eraser/pencil combo to be able to "read" those?) so I suggest they work like current recipe magazines do where player can read it and then another player can read it as well, all this would obviously need massive player-based database use though (john zomboid comic book #3:last read 2 days ago, wordsearch puzzle #5: read) so not sure how performance/filesize friendly this suggestion is. Suggested UI for players to be able to keep track of this: each book/VHS showing "last watched x days ago, effect efficiency x%". Reason: turning literature and movies/CDs into a "food for thought" system, where player can build a library of art to keep their mind intact and inspired with zombies roaming around the desolate cities. Probably not needed with the current mechanics but if in future the player character will need/want "to live, not just survive" such as example passively increasing dullness moodle (not boredom) from specifically not consuming any literature/movies or received any other "mind nurturing experiences" for a while that eventually leads to unhappiness or other negatives, ik it sounds like "another food bar to keep filling" which is why it should be more of a long term slowly acting thing in comparison, boredom/unhappiness alone as is doesn't cut it to necessitate a system like this obviously.

This is mostly coming from the problem of how easy it is to miss radio broadcasts (knoxtalk, NNR...) while doing zomboid stuff in beginning (when it is also most important to be doing things) and also to add a reason (the records) to go to these buildings that are otherwise just office rooms with some electronics to disassemble. The records could be just CDs with transcripts of all radio transmissions of that particular radio station, possibly even containing some behind the (ingame) scenes stuff such as the radio host commenting something after the usual broadcasts like "what do you want me to tell them", "is that even confirmed?" and even about their own situation "why are we still here? we should evacuate as well" etc., for example I like how knoxtalk host complains about certain callers before getting cut off with "If anyone actually knows some facts about the Event call me." (sorry idk how to do spoilers here) I know it is more atmospheric to hear them in real time but it is also very easy to miss them by accident, like L&L TV, especially as they happen early game when you are busy getting all the basics, and given the radio buildings are in middle of most infested areas (louisville), it gives an optional reason to go there.

So after trying these traits out I noticed that they are a bit underdeveloped atm. Now I don't have either of this phobias to know how they really work, but anyways: Currently claustrophobia seems to have same effect whether a room has zero windows (ex. storage rooms/some bathrooms) and when it is lined with windows (ex. offices in police station). Maybe it should have reduced effect based on how many walls that the room has contain/are windows, as the person inside would not feel as enclosed if they could see outside? A more accurate way to do this would be to continue checking for tiles through every window until a solid wall past the window itself, possibly repeating the same process if the second wall also has windows and so on which would obviously be easier to do by switching the system to something similar to how line of sight works, except in every direction from the player instead of a presume, basing the effect on what the player can "see" (not really see because it checks in every direction, even ones player isn't looking at) rather than the architectural surface area of the room. Don't want to presume, but as this is already being done to check whether a zombie/object is visible to player, not sure if it would be a lot more complicated to check what the surface area of the line of sight is, to use for claustrophobia calculations. Another slightly unrelated thing could be to also have claustrophobia cause similar panic if you are sitting on a seat of a vehicle that doesn't have its own dedicated door (ex. back of chevalier dart), or other spots in vehicles without windows if such were ever added (ex. back of vans). Similarly agoraphobia just checks if you are outside? Even if you are in an enclosed area such as the tall fences that surround some houses it still rises panic as quickly and as far as being in the middle of an open field where you would be able to see the horizon in distance. It could follow same line of sight system as claustrophobia above, but in opposite effect, or otherwise counting tiles in outdoors area until it meets a wall or is already over the number of tiles needed for maximum effect anyways. The obvious problems there could be is increase in constant computations needed for the traits of course which may not be worth the cpu (these checks don't need to be ran as often though, checking every second or 2 instead would work almost as fine as it doesn't need split second feedback like visibility system does), and balance (possible solution could be to introduce additional negative effects in extreme cases to offset the new "workarounds", ex. open field for agoraphobia/closet for claustrophobia causing stress moodle on top of panic), but imo it would just allow for more options for sensible ways to play around these traits instead of outright avoiding all closed/open spaces with respective trait, unless I am misunderstanding what they are based on.