New to the forum. Also, suggestions!

[Aurex]

Hi there! Just registered, as you can probably imagine by looking at the post counter over there. First of all I'd like to share with you how much I LOVE this game. Saw a playthrough of it, must have been a couple of years ago... I thought "yeah, pretty cool..." and totally forgot about it in a day or two. What a fool. Now I just can't stay away from it. But... enough with this, as a first post I'd like to start with... suggestions! I apologize if some of these have already been proposed or... suggested, but I'd really like to share my whole pile of hastily scribbled ideas with you.

 

*Concerning farming, dirt, compost, rainbarrels and other demons*

 

I'm enjoying farming a lot in PZ right now. But I really think the system could use some improvements.

• First of all, while I loved having the possibility to create a "hanging garden" of sorts using a spade and an empty sandbag... is it really necessary to have a spade AND a sandbag for that? I mean, I'm no expert, but I've done my share of gardening and I could do that with just a bucket and a trovel. Sure, that should be much more slower, but doable.
• Another thing I'd like is being able to see slight changes in the "stale time" of my garden's produce. Potatoes, for example. 7 days is quite... unrealistic. It should be more around two weeks, even three. That's considering potatoes can last months if kept in a dry place. To balance the longer time of decay, I'd suggest making them "dangerous if uncooked". Solanine is quite nasty, after all .
• A farming-related issue I had is with preserves. There's an alarming scarcity of jars and lids... I still have to find my first one, actually. And the fact that the lids are not re-usable... that sounds a little too harsh. I mean, you could make them "tainted" or "unsafe" after the first use, and add a "recipe" with a pot of water. You sterilize and sanitize the lids and the jars by putting them into a pot of boiling water... that sounds reasonable, no?
• Then there's compost. This is something I'd really love to see in the game. As of now, you can fertilize your crops with NPK fertilizer (if I'm correct) and that's it. What about good old compost? Compost barrels and piles... even heaps are quite abundant in pratically every farm and garden. One could use rotten vegetables, or otherwise spoiled food, and of course cut grass to fill it. The compost would take at least a couple of weeks (would take much more in RL, but hey, one can't wait 3 months ingame to get his precious fertilizer!) to become usable. You would need a craftable barrel, like the rainwater one, or there could be different versions of it... one would just need a spade to create a compost heap, or even use an existing garbage bin. Every one of these should have its advantages, like the barrel holding more compost and creating a higher quality one, while the heap would be more susceptible to rain and vermins, with a lower quality output.                                                                                         
• I understand water is a delicate topic, and that messing with that too much could create an unbalanced setting. Still, having to level up carpentry just to "create" a wooden box with garbage bags in it... isn't it too punishing? I was thinking about - just not to make this too easy- one could use the garbage bins that dots Muldraugh and West point. Like... take off the top, let water flow in, go back with bottles and/or watering cans after rain and... fresh water (fresh tainted water, that's it). Or you could just make buckets and pots refill when left under the rain. But I don't know how difficult that would be, engine-wise.

 

*Sledgehammer/Axe hunting!*

 

One thing that really made me uncomfortable is having to travel all the way from northern West point to the large warehouse in Muldraugh just to find a sledgehammer. Sure, that -was- quite an experience, and I almost died on the way home. But this... tool hunting takes too much time out of the other survival needs, like getting food and defending yourself from the ravenous undead. I know this is another sensible topic, considering tools play such a large and fundamental role in this game. And I like having to look for them. But the hardware store having nothing but hammers and books? Hmm! My suggestion would be to adjust the loot table of the specialized building, making sure that any warehouse, hardware store, mechanic... have at least one sledgehammer and regular hammer. To balance things, these buildings could start with -lots- of zombies in them.

 

*Shutters, cardboard curtains and climbing through smashed windows*

• A lot of buildings in Knox County have shutters. But we can't close them. I think we should be able to . Yes, I know, this suggestion is quite short compared to the others.
• Curtains are definitely important in the early phases of the game, before you can just build a remote fortress or two-story stairless safehouse. The other day I was watching 28 days later for the 28th time (just kidding, must be more than that!) and I noticed cardboard used on windows. It would be nice having empty boxes that you can "craft" into cardboard panes which can then be attached to a window (with adhesive tape, maybe!). Cardboard is also great at muffling noise!
• Now... smashed windows. I can understand how a survivor chased by a dozen of hungry zombies could jump too hastily and get him/herself cut in the process. But a slow, deliberate climbing should be more safe. Maybe a survivor could use a towel to prevent injuries, or a hammer to fully remove the glass from the frame.                                       

*Zombies population and migrations*

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Right now the zombies are quite... static. Sure, there are gunshots and helicopters that will make them move a little bit... but a "safe" zone usually remains safe month after month. I know that will probably change with NPC survivors, but right now we could use some tweaks with their behaviour. For example, fire, gunshot, opening and closing doors and windows should be more... noisy, attracting far more attention from our formerly living neighbours. Oh, and their sense of smell should be much more sensitive regarding blood. Just a thought!

 

Badly formatted wall of text. Thanks for reading, and please, leave your comments!

[Gustav]

Agreed! You can craft tools and Sledgehammers though...

[Aurex]

Agreed! You can craft tools and Sledgehammers though...

I thought you could craft raw axes and hammers... I didn't know you could actually craft a sledgehammer!

[migulao]

 

Agreed! You can craft tools and Sledgehammers though...

I thought you could craft raw axes and hammers... I didn't know you could actually craft a sledgehammer!

 

You can't, I dunno where he got that information.

Also, can you actually craft a normal hammer?

[Aurex]

Not a standard hammer, but you can build a stone one using ripped sheets, tree branches and stones. It doesn't last long, but it's quite easy to craft.

[GrandPunkRailroad]

Very good suggestion thread. Appreciate your attention to balance in gentle tweaking of existing systems. Very thoughtful. Thx!