Better Health System - More Depth

[Jericoshost]

Currently it's just a bar that drains from any injury and when it empties you die.
There are injuries and treatments but it really boils down to just that at the end of your life.

Basically it's dangerously close to the Critical Existence Failure Trope.
 

I envision a better more in-depth system that is still decently straightforward, with: a Blood meter, a Condition Meter and a Life Meter.

 

SECTIONS: (CTRL + F)

Blood/Condition/Life (Next area)

!RECOVERY!

!New_Items!

 

=Blood (Max 100 Points) tracks how much blood you have lost, as you lose blood you will be affected in the following ways:

 

Moodlet: Bleeding As the Moodlet progresses effects similar to drunken Moodlets will be applied such as lack of coordination, poor aim, etc.

If your blood meter empties, you will rapidly gain exhaustion and then pass out when it (Tired Moodlet) maxes out.

You can be awoken by recovering enough blood or temporarily by administering a powerful stimulant (Adrenalin as a game example).

 

When your blood meter drops your Condition will also drop by a smaller amount, but when Blood is empty continued blood loss will rapidly drain Condition and then Life.

Most importantly, blood loss is Damage Over Time.

This means that even after bandaging, a small amount of blood loss will still continue to represent blood being absorbed into the bandages/

 

=Condition (Max 100 Points) Tracks your characters overall body condition, it should take into consideration general health, diet, sleep, injuries and pain.

A person in peak condition will heal faster, last longer and be much harder to take down. But like in real life being in peak condition is a very difficult thing to maintain.

Injuries will take chunks out of body condition, while illness and/or unhealthy lifestyle will slowly reduce it.

 

Low Condition will also reduce max endurance and if allowed to reach 0 will put the character into a Coma and begin losing life, which can only be recovered by getting Condition and Blood back to 1 or higher.

 

The higher your Condition the slower Life and Blood Loss will be as a result. When Condition gets very low the characters Life meter will be reduced below the maximum down to critical levels.

 

=Life (Max 100 Points) is your ability to continue existing despite other conditions and debilities. Your 'Will to go on' so to speak. Once this reaches 0 you will rapidly begin to die by losing Condition and Blood quickly, and you will fall unresponsive.

This is indirectly effected by Blood and Condition, but directly effected by severe levels of pain, depression, exhaustion and unhealthy activities. This bar can ONLY be depleted by the effects of other bars dropping at least partially. This ain't Stir Wurs where you can die from the big sad alone. "I literally can't even..." *Flatlines*

 

The effects that directly cause Life to drop will only bring it down to 10/100, combining it with the effects of the other bars dropping below 50 it can then drop to 0. It is extremely unusual for an otherwise healthy person to have their body just shut down, but if someone has very little will to live then even mild maladies can become life threatening.

 

When all 3 bars reach 0 you die.

 

This feature would see it's best use in Multiplayer, where a Doctor could Identify why someone is suffering and figure out a proper treatment. This would give Medical Classes a HUGE boost to their usefulness. Once a character falls into unresponsive/unconscious/coma state they need someone else to revive them, otherwise they need to pray they aren't discovered before they can recover on their own- assuming they don't die from their condition.

 

!RECOVERY!

Now you may be under the impression that once you lose the ability to move you are dead if alone. This isn't necessarily true but it is difficult to survive alone just like IRL.

It all boils down to your overall state, whether or not you are taking any more damage and if you can survive where ever you ended up falling down.

 

If you pass out in a field in the middle of winter you are likely to die from exposure regardless of if zombies stumble on your vulnerable and prone form.

 

If you are bleeding badly but bandage all your wounds and pass out safe in your base you may recover as long as you are healthy enough to recover enough blood to regain consciousness before dying of dehydration.

 

Otherwise direct intervention by a doctor will lead to quick recovery (Mainly due to not wanting players to play 'Watching a blank screen' Simulator for hours in MP or SP once Dragons are added)

 

The method to quickly bring someone awake is to administer a stimulant (Adrenalin or Narcotics with clear negative effects) this is temporary and may lead to a worse situation so should only be done in the most dire of situations.

 

For full recovery the method would be pretty straight forward: (PC = Patient Character)

1. Diagnose to determine what is causing the problem. This will give info based on the Players First Aid Skill.

Okay skill gets complicated:

 -1-2 only physical surface injuries, bones if PC is conscious,

 -3-4 Broken bones of unconscious PC, Illness if PC is conscious,

 -5-6 can determine if PC's injuries were caused by zombie, can determine Illness even if PC is unconscious, If PC is awake can determine Diet and Lifestyle issues,

 -7-8 Can determine Diet issues of Unconscious PC's, can give an estimate of Zomboid Infection via stages (1-25% first stage, 26-50% 2nd stage, 51-75% 3rd stage, 76%+ Final stage)

 -9-10 Can determine lifestyle issues of Unconscious PC's, and can give an estimate of the progression of an awake PC's Zomboid infection (10% guesstimates, if infection =28% they will either guess 20% or 30%)

As well skill level speeds up Medical check speed and application of treatment speed.

 

So to recap and continue:

1.Diagnose

2.Treatment

3.Aftercare

 

For example: Someone has bled out and fallen unconscious.

 

1. DR diagnoses, shows that PC is out of blood and unresponsive. No sign of infection, gunshot wound.

 

2. DR brings PC to bed or treats on spot. Connect Blood bag (Requires Blood bag, disinfectant material otherwise chance of infection), remove bullet, disinfect wound, stitch wound, bandage wound.

 

3. Once patient regains consciousness, feed them, water them, give vitamins and allow to heal. Administer other medications as needed.

 

Straightforward, but with some depth.

 

!New_Items!

 

So some new items for this system would be needed.

 

Blood Draw Kit

Can be crafted from syringes, tubing and sterile plastic bags.

Can be used on others (Finally, a use for bandits)

creates Blood Bag when used on someone by draining their blood.

Requires Medical Draw Bags to create Blood bags.

Can make 10 bags at full charge, then needs to be disinfected via boiling or disinfectant, otherwise risk of infection for the donor and risk of making Blood Bag (Reused).

 

Blood Bag

Perishable, does not handle freezing well.

Takes 20 Blood to make, but restores 8. Only restores 2 if frozen and thawed.

For ease of use, blood type can be ignored. Assume everyone who survived the first wave (AKA the AB strain) has the same blood type.

expires in 36 hours at room temp in sealed sterile bag. A week in a fridge, and loses effectiveness when frozen.

 

Blood Bag (Reused)

Similar to the Blood bag, but has a chance to cause Illness and wound infection.

The result of filling with a non-sterilized Medical Draw Bag or Blood Draw Kit.

 

Blood Bag (Tainted)

Zombie Blood... Why would you use this? Good question.

Cause rapid Knox Infection Progression, rapidly drains Condition and Life. Restores 1 Blood.

Anyone who sees the bag will be able to identify the chunky coagulated blood of the dead, best to use discreetly.

 

Sterile Medical Draw Bag

Used to create Blood Bags, Medical Hydration Infusion, Vitamin and Carbohydrate Infusion and Saline Infusions.

Can be created with high level crafting and plastic material, or by boiling Used Medical Draw Bag. Looted from Medical Facilities, only from fridges.

 

Used Medical Draw Bag

Can be used to make Blood Bag (Reused Bag), at the risk of wound infection.

Can be sterilized with boiling.

 

Medical Hydration Infusion

Gives +1 Blood, +1 Condition, +1 Life and provides 75 Hydration and 15 Hunger.

Very rare and hard to craft, but stores very well and can be frozen.

Requires 8+ First Aid Skill, 3 Units of Vitamins, 3 Units of Painkillers, 8 Blood worth of Blood bags, Water, Sterile Medical Draw Bag, Sugar and Chemical Equipment (Like a pot, funnel, sieve and realistically a device for blood separation but trying to keep it simple.)

 

Vitamin and Carbohydrate Infusion

Gives +3 Condition, 50 hydration and 15 Hunger

Stores well, freezes well. Semi-rare, semi difficult to craft.

Requires 5+ First Aid Skill, 3 Units of Vitamins, Water, Sterile Medical Draw Bag, Sugar and Chemical Equipment

 

Saline Infusions

Gives +50 Hydration, Slows Blood and Condition Loss.

Semi-Common. Craftable. Stores at room temperature forever.

Requires 3+ First Aid Skill, 3 Units of salt, Water, Sterile Medical Draw Bag and Chemical Equipment

 

Adrenalin

Found in Hospitals, rare

Can be frozen, stored in fridge.

Can be crafted if you possess 10 First Aid Skill, and have a non-infected human or animal kidneys (Fresh) to make a less effective Adrenal Extract.

Temporarily suppresses unresponsiveness for the recipient, but reduces the patients resistance to Blood and Condition Loss.

 

Adrenalin Extract

Crafted from animal or Human Kidneys, not used in modern medical practice due to the better effects of Synthetic Epinephrine (AKA Adrenalin)

I couldn't find all the exact ways it could be used, but it seems able to be used for Allergy Reaction Suppression and I say have it be a shorter effect of the Regular Adrenalin.

Doesn't store as well as Adrenalin, will expire even in fridge after 3 months.

 

Narcotics:

Crafted from Vitamins and Coffee to make a Concentrated Stimulated for use in place of Adrenalin.

Requires 7+ First Aid Skill, 6 Units of Vitamins, Water, 1 Unit of Coffee or Tea, Sterile Medical Syringe and Chemical Equipment

DISCLAIMER: The recipe is fake because the game obviously doesn't want to instruct people on how to make drugs, its believable enough to work in the game and that's what matters.

 

The Adrenalin, Adrenalin Extract and Narcotic should cause stress and anxiety to skyrocket temporarily and cause panic on use. These are common side effects of Adrenalin.

 

Vitamins

New effect: Boosts recovery of Blood and Condition. Does not give it just boosts natural recovery.

 

Food Moodlets

New Effect: Boosts recovery of Blood and Condition. Does not give it just boosts natural recovery.

 

Also I think alot of these changes would work very well if the Moodlet system was changed as well:

 

Okay I think that is everything.

Let me know what Y'all think

Edited April 3, 2022 by Jericoshost
Added more details

[getstoopid]

I like your ideas very much. It would make first aid a useful skill and that would be great! But it would make health management near impossible on single player without a doctor buddy. Because even if you got enough first aid from the start yourself there will likely come the situation where you drop unconscious from blood loss combined with being depressed and exhausted (which results in a lowered life stat). 

[Jericoshost]

1 hour ago, getstoopid said:

I like your ideas very much. It would make first aid a useful skill and that would be great! But it would make health management near impossible on single player without a doctor buddy. Because even if you got enough first aid from the start yourself there will likely come the situation where you drop unconscious from blood loss combined with being depressed and exhausted (which results in a lowered life stat). 

IT's true, it will make SP much more difficult. Ensuring you pass out somewhere safe is the key when you get heavily injured while alone, though avoiding getting THAT injured is the best case.

Perhaps having the option to disable Passing Out in Sandbox options would be the best so Solo players don't have to deal with it.

 

Once NPC's are added (AKA Dragons lol) then there will be more options for treatment.

[Pandorea]

An overhaul of First Aid / Health  system is planned for one of the future builds (the game is far from "done"  )

[Jericoshost]

11 hours ago, Pandorea said:

An overhaul of First Aid / Health  system is planned for one of the future builds (the game is far from "done"  )

Trust me, I understand the game is still in development.

 

Which means now is the best time to propose ideas, before anything is set in stone and becomes unchangeable.

 

I am super looking forward to upcoming content!

[duh7]

I think it is odd that sicknes, health regeneration, broken bones cure so fast. there is no big reason to pick some ocupations if u can easly cure urself.

[getstoopid]

Yep it's literally "apply bandage and go on"

[duh7]

On 4/4/2022 at 10:39 AM, Pandorea said:

An overhaul of First Aid / Health  system is planned for one of the future builds (the game is far from "done"  )

Ok but is planed to change on what?