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Boats as a mode of transportation


Axiomatic

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I had a dream last night, definitely zombie inspired, that made me realize that while bicycles are probably the most important additional mode of transportation to add to the game, boats/kayaks/canoes would be a follow-up.

 

There's obviously way more land than water in the game world hence bikes a priority, but there are enough ponds, streams, and rivers that being able to get out on a boat or handmade canoe/kayak would add depth to the game. Better fishing when in deeper bodies of water (see levels -1 and -2 below), some protection from zombies when in deeper water, and an additional way to get around the map. Boats could be manual powered (need to find not only the boat but oars...also backup long blunt weapon) or gas powered engine, and also they could be built from high level carpentry and metal working. The boats would require limited maintenance as well for things like the hull and the engine if applicable. At some point, might even be possible to craft floating pontoons for safe storage or even safehouses, if things like 50 gallon drums are added to the game.

 

Once boats introduced, then I think you'd have to think about zombies and players entering water, not just being able to boat on it, so the map could have levels below 0/ground plane. 0 would remain shallow water (say up to the hip level where players and zombies can walk at slower speed and get wet below waist), -1 could be above head height where players swim (and get fully wet) and zombies can only slow  and fatigue the player, and -2 where  players swim freely and zombies are deep enough they can't interact with player but can only travel. At -1, zombies would have a limited sight and hearing area, and at -2 should have almost none (ie unless your directly above their tile.) For the player, being overexerted in -1 and -2 leads to slower movement and possible drowning if exhausted. 

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I think Boating is definitely in the works, as@colid_cnakesaid. Would be very nice to have a safe alternative to highway travel, even if it's restricted to following the Ohio. I would expect this to come alongside the Louisville Update. Since I imagine traveling into the heart of the city by car would be nigh impossible. Water travel could be the best way in and out of the urban areas of the map. Besides that, NPCs and even MP will benefit a lot from trading over the rivers of Knox Country. Canoes could be crafted out of logs with carpentry. Low level would result in a basic hollowed out log. High level could create a professional one. Kayaks could be found and be the faster, but less durable version of them. Fishing Boats could be the metal version that has both manual and motorized movement when needed. Motorboats could be the best version. Needing the full level of engine and body maintenance as a car, and a lot more fuel. They would be extremely fast, strong, and have lots of seats and container space. These wouldn't be able to be rowed though, so extra fuel is a must!

 

Boats could easily be added, however I do think swimming to be something hard to code under the current game engine. It will be relatively easy to code the existing waterways as roads only accessible to boats, then code the physics for boat movement on the water. The majority of work here will just be in coding/modeling the boats in the first place. This does beg the question of what will happen if the boat gets destroyed. Obviously, cars total and you can just hop out, but IRL a wrecked boat usually means a sink. Most bodies of water, this shouldn't do much as it shouldn't be that deep anyways. The Ohio River, however, is actually over 100 feet deep around Louisville. If your boat sunk in these raging waters, what should happen to you? I think drowning would make the most sense, but doesn't seem super fun. So maybe the game can just roll for RNG based on Fitness and Lucky/Unlucky. If you succeed, you will just teleport to the coast and be completely soaking wet. If you fail, you will drown in the rapids. Perhaps we could also have a negative trait 'Can't Swim' that gives you a 100% chance of drowning.

 

If swimming is on the table it should definitely be it's own Skill too. I think your negative Z-Level idea would be amazing if the devs did add this system. Here we could still use Can't Swim in the way you would Illiterate. No way to ever learn how if this trait is active. Although, we can also add an 'Olympic Swimmer' or 'Lifeguard' trait that gives +2 Swimming. Low level swimmers would swim very slowly and use a lot of exertion doing so. They would also come with a high chance of drowning in rivers and deep lakes if they at Mild Exertion or above. High level swimmers could move extremely fast and have 0% chance of drowning unless Excessively Exerted. They could also still swim with Heavy Loads, while lower level swimmers would risk drowning. I imagine it would be a lot of fun to level up swimming in one of the many pools of the map. Could also boost Fitness to train it, like Jogging/Sprinting does. Swimsuits could help you swim slightly faster and lower your chance of drowning while also keeping your clothes dry. I think it would be almost obligatory to allow Aquatic Foraging here, as it could be a good way of collecting certain things. Garbage Bags, Empty Cans, Driftwood, Smooth Stones, and others could all be useful here. I could also foresee some things like Crawdads, Frogs, Algae, and Mud all having uses and being found here. Alternatively, spear fishing could be a louder, higher energy use, but faster way to catch fish when standing in water.

Edited by TrailerParkThor
clarification
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Spoiler alert!

As far as I know, boat development and sailing is progressing very, very well, and soon we will see that miracle.

Rowing boat - it only rests on the lack of animations of a seated character. Swimming character has the same problem.

The third video clearly shows how the character's swimming is now implemented.

I can also say that there is already a mask for swimming ... perhaps there will be scuba gear.

Edited by Nebula
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