Changeable "Age" On Creation

[Gorgod]

This might have been mentioned before, or maybe the devs have discussed this but no dice in the search function so here goes.

 

Why does your character always start out at the age of 27? I haven't survived long enough to see that value change unfortunately, but in the future I would like to see some kind of age differentiation, especially when NPCs come out, as likely not every single person still surviving would be at the ripe age of 27. So I was thinking that depending on what age you select in the character creator would have some sort of affect on gameplay, like if you're older you are wiser and therefore can learn skills faster than the young whippersnappers running around the map, but are less athletic and aren't as strong. The younger characters are faster, stronger, but are a bit stupider and take much longer to learn skills. The perfect balance would be around 30 or 35.

 

There's a lot of other things that could be done with this such as modified appearance, maybe older folk would be able to interact with NPCs better, etc. etc. Tell me what you think. 

[Yorny1]

Thats a pretty good idea, I love it.

[American Steel]

We know the devs do not entertain the idea of children in the game, so lets start this out simply:

1. 20s
2. 30s
3. 40s
4. 50s
5. 60s
6. 70s
7. 80+

I think the baseline for the character should be the 30s to 40s.  No negative impact.  20s should have a positive/negative, Youthful Vigor.  They heal more quickly, but require more food and water.  A player who does not consume enough food/water has the benefits of the trait removed until they are restored.  Maybe an 80s could have Age Before Beauty, where the move slower and are less physically able BUT they have a multiplier for xp OR even start out with with 3 skill points.  This would be where 1 costs one and two costs two, so you can either have 3 ones or a single 2.

[Gorgod]

We know the devs do not entertain the idea of children in the game, so lets start this out simply:

1. 20s
2. 30s
3. 40s
4. 50s
5. 60s
6. 70s
7. 80+

I think the baseline for the character should be the 30s to 40s.  No negative impact.  20s should have a positive/negative, Youthful Vigor.  They heal more quickly, but require more food and water.  A player who does not consume enough food/water has the benefits of the trait removed until they are restored.  Maybe an 80s could have Age Before Beauty, where the move slower and are less physically able BUT they have a multiplier for xp OR even start out with with 3 skill points.  This would be where 1 costs one and two costs two, so you can either have 3 ones or a single 2.

 

I never thought of it going past 50's or 60's, imho the first to go would be the elderly without help from others. Also, imagining an 80 year old man swinging an axe at an oncoming horde produces more laughs than actual gameplay significance.

[Fj45]

We know the devs do not entertain the idea of children in the game, so lets start this out simply:

1. 20s
2. 30s
3. 40s
4. 50s
5. 60s
6. 70s
7. 80+

I think the baseline for the character should be the 30s to 40s.  No negative impact.  20s should have a positive/negative, Youthful Vigor.  They heal more quickly, but require more food and water.  A player who does not consume enough food/water has the benefits of the trait removed until they are restored.  Maybe an 80s could have Age Before Beauty, where the move slower and are less physically able BUT they have a multiplier for xp OR even start out with with 3 skill points.  This would be where 1 costs one and two costs two, so you can either have 3 ones or a single 2.

 

Sounds good. Do agree that there shouldn't be any over 60.

[Footmuffin]

To correspond with the highly advanced age, the elderly should also be very frail and slow and have access to such traits as:

 

Incontinent - easier to smell, needs more water more frequently, embarrassing to be around;

Senile - forgets and confuses other people with each other;

Prejudiced - doesn't like certain people of certain ethnic groups, sexualities, or dress;

Disabled (Overweight 2.0) - moves even slower and can never run;

and Smoker - tires faster from running, has difficulty calling for help.

[American Steel]

Not everyone who is aged is frail.  I think we believe that everyone elderly is one step away from the grave.  Which may not be the case at all.  Anyone of any age can be in or out of shape.

 

Honestly, I don't age would have to play a factor at all.  It could just be there for RP purposes.  None of us are guarenteed tomorrow, especially with shufflers walking about complicating things.

[tomga1]

Footmuffin you really hate old people don't you?

[RorekSR]

Not everyone who is aged is frail.  I think we believe that everyone elderly is one step away from the grave.  Which may not be the case at all.  Anyone of any age can be in or out of shape.

 

Honestly, I don't age would have to play a factor at all.  It could just be there for RP purposes.  None of us are guarenteed tomorrow, especially with shufflers walking about complicating things.

 

I'm with this idea. Everyone seems to be trying to picture Herschel or even older, frailer men when considering these ideas. If you were that old and survived the outbreak this long, I'd be willing to believe that you weren't some shuffling fuddy-duddy with a walker and club foot.

Firstly OP, you can't claim something has perfect balance if it's purely a hypothetical idea, so I'm not sure where you pulled 30-35 from. 

Secondly Footmuffin, Incontinent wouldn't be a trait because hygiene isn't a factor. Prejudiced would be hell to put into a game where skin tone is purely an aesthetic selection of a number as they'd have to write entirely new scripts around races and their applicable traits. Not to mention, the player can do what they want... How would "discrimination" flow into gameplay without being overly gamey? That addition strikes me as more of a roleplay element.

 

And that's entirely beside the fact that anyone at nearly any age can be prejudiced for any number of reasons, so it being exclusively open to old people (presumably do to them being more prone to that archaic way of thinking in America due to being raised in a segregated society) doesn't really all that much sense; it's a stereotype at best. Same with disabled; anyone at any age can be disabled. Smoker too. There's literally no reason I can think of, if these were to be implemented, that they should be reserved exclusively for old people.

The idea that old people learn faster "because they are wiser" is a misnomer. Old people learn more slowly than young people because they are set in their ways, generally due to living the routine of their lives for so long that it gets difficult to break that mold. On the flip side, there's a lot of older people who work very hard to maintain their healthy bodies and physical fitness; I've known more than a few old codgers who'd be able to outrun, outfight, and more than likely outgun me. Any windbags that made it this far in the apocalypse probably isn't one of the senile retirement home granddads.

I feel like age should be kept to roleplaying, otherwise it'd needs its own overhaul for what seems to me at least to be some very minor additions to character creations and interactions. While I'm not sure exactly how they've implemented it into the game, I'm sure that age is nothing more than a variable integer that's been written to increase by 1 every time a certain date ticks by. It's possible it's not even programmed that far in; it could just stay 27 as a placeholder for now since age is currently completely irrelevant to gameplay.

TL;DR: I don't agree with this idea at all. -1

[tomga1]

[Rathlord]

Thank you for saving me typing that Rorek. The amount of almost offensive inaccuracy in this thread is just silly. My grandpa at 70 could still spend a long day cutting down trees and chopping wood.

[Footmuffin]

I'm sorry if my post offended anyone. I was trying to make a few jokes, but I realize now it was on a topic where it was prone to offend someone and be inaccurate. I don't mean anything against the elderly, I just thought I'd try and make a few jokes about the tropes of elderly people. My grandfather is actually quite a fit man who participates in marathons and charity runs and so forth at about 77. 

Spoiler

<3 <3 sorry <3 <3

[tomga1]

It's ok footsie, we love you and your blissful anarchism.

[Alpa]

Regardless of agreeing or not with this, managing a group with an elderly/physically disabled person would be an interesting challenge. I'm thinking of a preset scenario or something.

 

Probably would work better if only NPCs could be physically disabled, and if there were very few in the game.

[harakka]

One key reason for having older NPCs hanging around is to have access to their skills. The devs have stated in the past that a player character won't realistically be able to master all skills in one lifetime. Older people potentially have a lot of experience.

 

And, as has been stated above, there are tons of  65 and up old people around in excellent shape. On the flipside, there's tons of overweight thirty-something couch potatoes around. Low physical (and mental!) attributes are unlikely to be limited only to the elderly.

[ApolloDiaspora]

Remember, people are all different, no matter what their age. One of my grandads is in his 80s, and is in quite good nick. He's as English as you can possibly get, loves cooking asian foods, and remains quite active with reasonably large DIY projects.

 

So! My take on this idea? Old people in game have less endurance than their younger counterparts, but are not as useless as people seem to think. Say a bit of a reduction in overall sprinting time, and a chance of becoming exhausted when repeatedly vaulting through windows and over fences. The main advantages of playing an older character, or interacting with older NPCs, would be the skills they bring to the game. Nothing gamebreaking of course, but more of a roleplaying flavour. Say, you start with a few skillpoints.

 

Say you've rolled up an eldery character, or your camp has an older NPC in it. They've spent their years travelling the world, and have developed quite a knack for cooking exotic and delicious meals from everyday items. The net result? Their meals would still give you the same nutrition, seeing as those are the same ingredients after all, but you would get a little buff to happiness and reduction in boredom when eating. Maybe even a little bonus for eating with the elderly people, representing the stories and anecdotes they'd share over the meal.

 

In short, small little buffs and RP flair, as opposed to massive under-the-hood changes.

[Fj45]

Remember, people are all different, no matter what their age. One of my grandads is in his 80s, and is in quite good nick. He's as English as you can possibly get, loves cooking asian foods, and remains quite active with reasonably large DIY projects.

 

So! My take on this idea? Old people in game have less endurance than their younger counterparts, but are not as useless as people seem to think. Say a bit of a reduction in overall sprinting time, and a chance of becoming exhausted when repeatedly vaulting through windows and over fences. The main advantages of playing an older character, or interacting with older NPCs, would be the skills they bring to the game. Nothing gamebreaking of course, but more of a roleplaying flavour. Say, you start with a few skillpoints.

 

Say you've rolled up an eldery character, or your camp has an older NPC in it. They've spent their years travelling the world, and have developed quite a knack for cooking exotic and delicious meals from everyday items. The net result? Their meals would still give you the same nutrition, seeing as those are the same ingredients after all, but you would get a little buff to happiness and reduction in boredom when eating. Maybe even a little bonus for eating with the elderly people, representing the stories and anecdotes they'd share over the meal.

 

In short, small little buffs and RP flair, as opposed to massive under-the-hood changes.

 

That would work quite well. Maybe they are sightly more susceptible to diseases as their immune system is weakened? 

[Suomiboi]

This should happen through the trait system imo. Balanced as it is in the game already. The older you get the more traits you might have, both positive and negative.