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Healing is way off. Trust me on this one


Cykodelik

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I want to address the time it takes to heal and the rate at which cloth strips become dirty. It is seriously off in the game as it stands.

I rock climb IRL and I do it freehand and through brush and thorns (I'm a bit crazy like that) The amount of scratches I've got (ones that actually break the skin and bleed) is into the 100s if not the 1000s.

1) A scratch that doesn't draw blood requires no first aid and you'd have to be crazy unlucky for it to get infected.

2) A scratch that does draw blood can be staunched by wrapping it in cloth and it will stop bleeding after about an hour, the body is awesome like that. After the bleeding stops you have about a day or max 2 till it is at no risk of reopening. You'll use either one or two bandages for that. One will probably negate all risk of infection (also note that infections are usually minor and just cause swelling and a tiny bit of strain on the immune system). From a resonably superficial scratch 1-~3 mm you'll be left with a scratch mark for about a week but it is totally safe from infection or reopening

3) Deeper wounds (ones that completlety open the dermis i.e. 1cm in) are more tricky. Bleeding will probably take a day to fully staunch and you'll have about 3 days with risk of infection and have to change bandages once or twice daily. The wound will probably take a week to be completley free of risk of opening These can leave scars. (this approximates a zombie bite)

4) Much larger wounds: ones that rip into arteries or organs can obviously kill you. These would take professional medical attention. For the sake of argument (and gameplay) unnatended you could surivive these but good luck without surgery and anesthetic. Maybe if you're blessed with a superhuman immune system you'll mange (I've heard many stories). Stitches, microsutures, sealing with a flaming metal rod... pretty much a nessesity. Start praying your organs are intact.

5) and this one is fun: As you get infected via the blood and suffer through it, your risk of infection goes down. You pick up all the vanilla ones first and the first cuts you get in your life will swell and hurt intesley. Subsequent injuries of this nature will eventually not swell or even hurt. Your body has just leaned to fight small quantities of the common infectious organismns out there. To be honest I wouldn't even dress a superfical cut now. I just wrap whatever napkin or whatever I have in my backpack round it for a little while till the bleeding stops and cary on, making sure to keep whatever digit or bodypart it is away from contact with the rock.

However I still wouldn't dip it in a can of 1 mounth old rotten food. Though likley if I did that I wouldn't die.

Anyway, this is real data from firsthand observation and I know how much shorter healing times are in real life to how they are in the game at the moment. It kind of spoils it for me to see the body being depicted crapper than it really is.

In conclusion : More zombies: yes! lower healing times: A must.

If you guys agree (or just believe me) please like the post and bump it :)

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Very informative. It's true, the time it takes for a bandage to be soaked in blood is really low. Shouldn't be that quick. But if you look at the other side.. This is a game, and the fact that you have to change very often makes it a challenge.

 

So I'm kinda negative and positive on this feedback. 

 

On one side I want a challenge, on the other I want realism.

 

Anyways, very informative and great suggestion :)

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While you make some fair points, you should realize that this is zombie apocalypse times, the worlds are covered with corpses, and real life learns us (some sad examples around that tsunami and more recent events) that dead people left out in the open start to spread scary diseases.

 

And then on top of that, there's bound to be some nasty shit flying around just because its a zombie apocalypse and zombies are prolly very infectious :P

 

just my 2 cents  (tophat)

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While you make some fair points, you should realize that this is zombie apocalypse times, the worlds are covered with corpses, and real life learns us (some sad examples around that tsunami and more recent events) that dead people left out in the open start to spread scary diseases.

 

And then on top of that, there's bound to be some nasty shit flying around just because its a zombie apocalypse and zombies are prolly very infectious :P

 

just my 2 cents  (tophat)

 

That's entirley true but it would affect infection rates not healing and bandage use. Once a wound is closed you've mostly gotten past the infection risk stage. 

So yes true around dead bodies the risk of infection would go up considerably while the wound was fresh... Gah zombified just by dragging a corpse with an open hand wound :(

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In defense of my stance, theres no way to wash clothes/etc in PZ, and any sort of nasty infection could therefor (for example) already be on the clothes used to make rags :P But your right, once the wound is closed with something fairly clean, most dangers are dealt with.

 

(btw, feature request? would be great if you could wash clothes in water hehe)

Edit: made a thread for the suggestion of washing clothes here

Edited by suicidal.banana
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Pretty certain any breaking of the skin can result in infection, regardless of your personal experience with it not causing issues.

As to 2 . . . think of "scratch" in PZ as both scratches and cuts. Don't ask my why they settled on scratch for the name.

Always nice to hear of someone's take, though.

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Yeah, I've never once had any kind of infection and I've had various wounds both typical scratches and cuts and deep wounds that required stitching. But then again, if the wound looks serious I tend to disinfect it.

As far as scratches go, i never bandage them, even if they do bleed, or do anything else with them for that matter bleeding stops very fast and then it takes 2-3 days for them to heal.

I've had one deep wound (all the way to the muscle tissue) that required stitches and another one where I just poured some alcohol I happened to be holding on it (ouch) and wrapped it with some tissue, both healed after a week.

Healing times in PZ do seem off but I'd write it down to gameplay vs realism.

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If we are talking about healing and realism involved: broken legs should have a pretty high chance to not heal properly, only if we have the proper knowledge to prepare the leg and than plaster it. Otherwise you will loose the ability to move.

 

What I want to say: some things have to stay gamey for gameplay-wise things. 

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If we are talking about healing and realism involved: broken legs should have a pretty high chance to not heal properly, only if we have the proper knowledge to prepare the leg and than plaster it. Otherwise you will loose the ability to move.

 

What I want to say: some things have to stay gamey for gameplay-wise things. 

and you can trust what he says, because he is a Doctor with a smug look on his face.

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I'd really like to see the health system overhauled to something more appropriate to a survival game at some point (AKA no obligatory health bar.) Bad example, because its probably a bit too complex for comfort, Dwarf Fortress. No HP, only meat, blood, and nerve fibers.

But yeah, I rock climb too and have the scars to prove it, and I've yet to get anything infected despite rolling around in the dirt with swiss cheese hands. Though I could be wrong but talc (or climbing chalk) is an antiseptic.

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There are lots of unrealistic things in games, like zombies for one.

Yeah, but this game is supposed to be an outtake on a real zombie apocalypse, which basically means everything is pretty close to realistic, other than zombies :P

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If we are talking about healing and realism involved: broken legs should have a pretty high chance to not heal properly, only if we have the proper knowledge to prepare the leg and than plaster it. Otherwise you will loose the ability to move.

 

What I want to say: some things have to stay gamey for gameplay-wise things. 

Actually, I've had a broken leg for 2 in-game months now. I can't run, at all, I can move at crawling speed, splinting without any First Aid skill is worthless.  So I guess they kinda made it that way :P

You actually need a good doctor with First Aid skill to treat your fractures if you want to heal properly in a short(er) time.

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To the OP, I think you are ignoring the effect of hormone levels and age.  It is well documented that older people heal slower, largely due to lower hormone levels.  I also think your personal anecdotes are just that - anecdotes.  People vary quite widely, and for all we know you are possessed of an exceptional constitution.

 

I don't have good numbers in front of me, but there are many factors here.

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I'm with the OP here... I grew up just down the street from a concrete-lined drainage ditch that transitioned into a creek on the outskirts of town. I suffered all sorts of injuries on my weekend jaunts and summer day-long excursions down there. Everything from feet being sliced open by broken glass (left a nice blood trail on the way home once :P ), brushing against and stepping on South-Texas cacti/thorns, scrapes/cuts and bites from zillions of mosquitoes and a few Red-Eared Snapping turtles. I've stepped on nails countless times, one even emerging from the top of my foot. I also suffered a stab wound on my upper arm from an X-Acto knife (to the hilt). I extracted the knife, took my dirty sock off and tied it around the arm to contain the bleeding.. I can only remember a few minor skin infections from a very young age. By the time I was 8 or 9, even the dirtiest injuries never became red or inflamed.

 

As an adult, now 32 years old, I am damn near immune to bacterial infections. I very rarely suffer from any kind of acne or skin problem. I've had a tooth with an exposed nerve for a year and a half now with no sign of infection (I wish it would develop some infection, it'd allow for some bone erosion and I could yank it out of there with some pliers. as it is, it just bleeds slowly all the time and my wife nags me to go back to the dentist that caused the problem in the first place).

 

Anyway, as OP stated, it's also been my experience that the body is far tougher and able to adapt than is represented in the game. Personal anecdotes or not, it's enough to convince an old skeptic like me.

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I just want to chime in here by adding that I got a fever and died from eating a burnt stir fry. Not rotten, burnt. I know it's not 100% related to the topic, but it made me realize the health system needs a drastic overhaul.

Burnt in this case means an unrecognizable flaming wreck of charcoal.
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I just want to chime in here by adding that I got a fever and died from eating a burnt stir fry. Not rotten, burnt. I know it's not 100% related to the topic, but it made me realize the health system needs a drastic overhaul.

Burnt in this case means an unrecognizable flaming wreck of charcoal.

 

It had only JUST filled up the 'burning' bar as I turned the oven off (I was looting/clearing the rest of the house as I let it cook), so it couldn't have been that bad! Besides, charcoal is just carbon, and you can actually eat it to calm an upset stomach... :P

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Pretty certain any breaking of the skin can result in infection, regardless of your personal experience with it not causing issues.

As to 2 . . . think of "scratch" in PZ as both scratches and cuts. Don't ask my why they settled on scratch for the name.

Always nice to hear of someone's take, though.

 

Going to chime in and say that as a guy who didn't complete his education going into the veterinary practice but still learned a lot, the OP is entirely correct regardless of game balance.

 

If you get a scratch that lightly cuts the epidermis but doesn't penetrate the full depth of it, as in doesn't draw blood or gets close to the depth to do so, you won't get an infection as the cells in the stratum basale easily divide and repair the damage. 

 

Scratches that you wouldn't get infected from don't come close seperating the entire depth of the epidermis, therefore making common infection from them almost a definite no. 

 

It's not his "personal experience"... I can back him up on this.

 

IMO he makes good points. I thought it was pretty cool to see a healing system with some depth into it but the system definitely has large room for improvement regardless of the choice to use the term "scratch" or "cut". I wouldn't be so dismissive of what he has to say because he isn't a doctor, his points were correct after all.

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It would be easy to argue that the zombie infection is just more infectious than common infections one might get in real life. It did just wipe out all humans no problem after all :/ 

 

Also may be worth pointing out that because you did not get symptomatic doesn't mean you didn't get infected with something, just that it's not brutal enough that your immune system can't deal with it. The common cold is a great example of this: most people are carriers but only become symptomatic and transmission vectors when their immune system takes a hit from playing half-naked in the snow.

 

Regarding wounds closing, it does seem to be long in game, but then again we only get "scratched" as a wound desciption. "scratch" describes every not-bite wound in game, so it could be a damn deep cut like an actual scratch. THat's where I'd improve it personally, extend on the kinds of wounds one can get. Then a scratch could stop bleeding in a few hours where a deep cut could take a few days.

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