Hitches & Hoes

[JM_Forest_64]

I was never a boy scout, nor a sailor, and I suck at tying specialty knots.  I can't tie a decent hitch to save my life, and I think that our in-game characters should suffer from the same ignorance.  Specifically, if I had to tie a bunch of clothing together into a rope and then climb down it from a second story window, I might as well kiss my tush goodbye, because I'm falling to my death.

 

My suggestion about hitches is this: Crafting sheet ropes, lamps on a post, and tent kits, should all be dependent on knowing how to tie various hitches and knots.  This knowledge could be obtained via chosen trait/occupation or in-game reading material (Boy scout or survival manual).  This would provide a much needed nerf to the sheet rope, I believe.

 

Additionally, my second suggestion involves hoes.  Specifically, wild hoes.  If I can forage for and craft an ax tool that has the ability to cut through at least one tree, then I would probably be able to craft a trowel/hoe out of foraged material too.  I only thought about this during my current play through, when I accidentally destroyed my safe house with burnt vegetable soup and lost all my farming equipment.

 

My suggestion about hoes is this:  Crafting hoes/trowels from foraged material, but giving it low durability.  Say, it can only dig a dozen tiles before it breaks.  I believe this is realistic.

[BetaSpectre]

IMO low crafting skills ought to make a person use more rope/twine/sheets to make ropes/threads.

I might be unable to tie anything fancy but with enough simple knots and sheets, I can make something sturdy enough to climb a house.

[uberevan]

As a scout all I can say is that lashings are more important than knots in my personal experience.  Different knots are definitely useful, but you can typically square knot, clove hitch, or slip knot almost everything, even if it's not optimum.  Knowing the different lashings is absolutely necessary if you want to attach any solid pieces of material.

[BoogieMan]

I wasn't in the scouts very long, and most what little I learned I've forgotten.

 

However I'm sure I could tie a knot that could hold my weight just with common sense.

 

 

I do agree on the hoes/trowels though, especially since you could get the same thing done with your bare hands or some rocks. It would just take a lot longer. Maybe really low crafting like, 0 or 1 would make there be a chance it would come apart and you'd fall. But with high skill you could craft a rope/sheet ladder that requires less strength to scale and can be climbed faster.

 

Maybe even a makeshift grappling hook with very high skill.. That could be interesting.

[JM_Forest_64]

Lashes, that was the term I was looking for but couldn't find.  Like how Tom Cruise.. no, Tom Hanks, used bark strips to lash his little makeshift raft together in "Survivor..." no, I mean "Castaway."  The post would have sounded a lot different if it was titled "Lashes + Hoes," I think.  I was also trying to come up with a little way to make sheet ropes so darn handy and accessible.

 

And yeah, since the game kinda sends you back to the stone age (with zombies), then using sticks and stones to plants crops seems only natural.

[XxZeraphinexX]

with a stone axe like that or better said stone multi tool you could do some basic work for farming

Way back they only had this tools and they did alot with them. Sure they arn´t so relaible and they aren´t as useful for other stuff then modern tools, but at least it would work for certain stuff or should.

[Kajin]

A while ago I was going through the woods collecting branches for a campfire when I broke off a piece of wood in a way that left a sort of hook at the end and I remember thinking "hey, this could be used as a hoe in a survival situation". Then I promptly forgot about it until this topic reminded me.

[uberevan]

I wasn't in the scouts very long, and most what little I learned I've forgotten.

 

However I'm sure I could tie a knot that could hold my weight just with common sense.

 

 

I do agree on the hoes/trowels though, especially since you could get the same thing done with your bare hands or some rocks. It would just take a lot longer. Maybe really low crafting like, 0 or 1 would make there be a chance it would come apart and you'd fall. But with high skill you could craft a rope/sheet ladder that requires less strength to scale and can be climbed faster.

 

Maybe even a makeshift grappling hook with very high skill.. That could be interesting.

It's really not quite that simple, actually.  It may not seem like it but enough exposure to these kinds of things will make you realize the intricacy in tying knots.  It doesn't take long to learn once you've seen it demonstrated, but I wouldn't say you can just start tying and expect results.

If you have that much confidence why don't you go try rock climbing with just some rope and a harness?

I do like that grapple hook idea though, could make raiding NPC forts fun and make a knotsmith a valued member of society, but it doesn't really sound that safe either lol

[BoogieMan]

 

I wasn't in the scouts very long, and most what little I learned I've forgotten.

 

However I'm sure I could tie a knot that could hold my weight just with common sense.

 

 

I do agree on the hoes/trowels though, especially since you could get the same thing done with your bare hands or some rocks. It would just take a lot longer. Maybe really low crafting like, 0 or 1 would make there be a chance it would come apart and you'd fall. But with high skill you could craft a rope/sheet ladder that requires less strength to scale and can be climbed faster.

 

Maybe even a makeshift grappling hook with very high skill.. That could be interesting.

It's really not quite that simple, actually.  It may not seem like it but enough exposure to these kinds of things will make you realize the intricacy in tying knots.  It doesn't take long to learn once you've seen it demonstrated, but I wouldn't say you can just start tying and expect results.

If you have that much confidence why don't you go try rock climbing with just some rope and a harness?

I do like that grapple hook idea though, could make raiding NPC forts fun and make a knotsmith a valued member of society, but it doesn't really sound that safe either lol

 

 

Big difference between rock climbing and climbing up to a 2nd story window.

[Gaffa Tape Warrior]

I have climbed down knotted bedsheets from a 2nd story window, having been taught nothing about knots but what the tying of shoelaces consists of. I have also done the same with rope. My success rate was 100%. I didn't use a nail nor a hammer. Just knots.

[uberevan]

I have climbed down knotted bedsheets from a 2nd story window, having been taught nothing about knots but what the tying of shoelaces consists of. I have also done the same with rope. My success rate was 100%. I didn't use a nail nor a hammer. Just knots.

Speaking in terms of physics, the shorter the distance you have to travel on the rope, the less stress there will be per knot.  The longer the distance the rope/bedsheets cover, the more stress is on the knots which makes them more likely to slip, especially when made of an improper material/knot.  It would be interesting to see bedsheets that go further than 2nd story have a chance of slipping, requiring the use of rope and knowledge of knots to safely climb bigger buildings/scale roofs safely/climb large trees (which will hopefully happen so I can finally build the tree village I've dreamed of for so long )

[BetaSpectre]

 

I have climbed down knotted bedsheets from a 2nd story window, having been taught nothing about knots but what the tying of shoelaces consists of. I have also done the same with rope. My success rate was 100%. I didn't use a nail nor a hammer. Just knots.

Speaking in terms of physics, the shorter the distance you have to travel on the rope, the less stress there will be per knot.  The longer the distance the rope/bedsheets cover, the more stress is on the knots which makes them more likely to slip, especially when made of an improper material/knot.  It would be interesting to see bedsheets that go further than 2nd story have a chance of slipping, requiring the use of rope and knowledge of knots to safely climb bigger buildings/scale roofs safely/climb large trees (which will hopefully happen so I can finally build the tree village I've dreamed of for so long )

 

The average Joe can do 99% of what the player character in PZ does without prior training, or months/weeks of practice. I would like it if you needed to use real rope instead of sheet rope for more than 2 stories, and the nail really shouldn't be needed either just making a loop would work,  a novice might use double the rope. Personally it'd be cool if each rope had some durability that goes down with each use the durability IMO should increase based on use of nail, quality of window frame, quality of rope, crafting experience. Though with really good rope it'd last for in game years before needing to be replaced.