Natural Disasters

[BlindedPride]

I've been thinking about the elements of Nature in Don't Starve a lot recently. The game has covered a good amount of it, even insanity and now seasons! But one thing I've noticed that has yet to be added in are natural disasters. Volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, floods, etc. These of course would be very rare, and would most likely occour later on in the game. I feel like this would provide a new challenge of having to pack up and move to a new location when your old home was completely flooded, or the earth beneath it split in two. Now, for a bit more detail on each event.

Earthquakes

Effect:Will effect wildlife possibly, cause Beefalo stampedes, etc.

Time/Place:

Prevented By:

Tornadoes

Effect: Tornadoes move rapidly and randomly around the map, picking up any items that are within a small distance of them and are lying on the ground. Some of the items will be destroyed, and those that aren't will be flung around to random places. They are also capable of destroying structures that they come into contact with.

Time/Place: These would occur only after a set amount of days, and wouldn't last too long. More common in fields maybe?

Tsunamis

Effect:

Time/Place:

Floods

Effect: Literally floods the area it effects, turning it into more water.

Time/Place: Near bodies of water.

Prevented by: Keeping your house away from water, tall reinforced stone walls possibly?

Volcanic Eruptions

Effect: Would completely incinerate all plant based items. Wood, grass, bushes, everything.

Time/Place: Depends on the state of the volcano, though not too frequently. Occurs in volcanic regions.

Prevented by: Keeping your house away from volcanoes.

Volcanic Region:

Structures:

Mobs:

Plants:

Items:

Edited March 2, 2013 by BlindedPride

[BlindedPride]

Would someone please mind at least giving me their opinion on this? Just a 'sounds cool', or even 'I don't really like this' would be great...

[RedDeBlu]

That was rather mean.Tornadoes I think would be interesting, and very possible with the current game mechanics.Everything else, is, well, kinda cheap? And/or would be very difficult to implement on the current engine me thinks.

[BlindedPride]

Yes, that was rather rude.RedDeBlu, thank you! It was just sort of an on the spot idea, and definitely needs a lot of work. If you do have any ideas as to how I could make it better, that would be amazing, though if not, it's fine!

[Bigfoot]

Yes, that was rather rude.

Yep! Removed.Interesting conversation! We've had some suggestions like this even internally, but we haven't made up our mind one way or another.

[Alvhem]

I would really like natural disasters in the game.It would change the way we play the game, because how safe is it really to have all your items lying on the ground when a tornado shows up?We would have to start thinking more of where and how we build our bases.Or as the Gman would say: prepare for unforeseen consequences.+1

[RedDeBlu]

Interesting conversation! We've had some suggestions like this even internally, but we haven't made up our mind one way or another.

Oh wow, I actually would have never guessed! :biggrin-new:On topic then, Volcanoes though neat, I can't feasibly see happening in the current game unless, perhaps, it was made its own new biome? That would actually be cool and could bring with it a host of new items, mobs, plants (on a volcano?!) ect. Sounds like DLC material.Earthquakes are kind of stretching it, I don't know how difficult splitting the ground will be, but even knocking over trees and stuff could work. Earthquakes perhaps can have a bigger impact on the wildlife itself? Like causing beefalo stampedes for instance.Floods are on the fence as far as ease of implementing at this point in my opinion, but if they were in the game, I could see them best as an adventure mode thing that happens at a certain world number on up, and possibly rarely after soo many days on sandbox. Right now I figure just as you said, floods would essentially just collapse sections of existing land, creating new ocean where they once were.Now Tornadoes, this I've said before already is probably the best idea here, and most feasible to implement at this time. All it really needs is a graphic and mob like mechanics. Structure destroying? Easy and done. Throwing objects around? Doesn't sound like it would be too hard to come up with something. It could be the summer equivalent of the Deerclops!But, unless the developers LOVE making you suffer horribly, tornadoes should only appear after so many days have passed. I like to think this is the direction the game is heading in, incrementing difficulty over time and/or worlds, like the hounds for instance.

[RedDeBlu]

I would really like natural disasters in the game.It would change the way we play the game, because how safe is it really to have all your items lying on the ground when a tornado shows up?

Oh my god this! I never considered this, lately I have been just leaving my stuff laying around and feel like chest are neigh pointless/waste of logs. But if chest perhaps, protected your items from tornadoes? Possibly getting destroyed but leaving the items behind, as opposed to the items being picked up and flung around? That would be interesting.

[BlindedPride]

Really loving these ideas guys, thanks! Chests should definitely protect your items from tornadoes, that way you aren't completely screwed over if one rolls around and happens to hit your home. I like the idea of earthquakes effecting mobs as well, it would make sense! I do agree, volcanoes would need their own biome. Maybe I could make a separate post just on a volcanic biome?Once again, thanks to all of you for the support! I'll be adding these ideas to the main post.

[Wyvern]

Random natural disasters could be cool, but I think establishing persistent day-to-day threats is probably a bigger priority at the moment.I'm also not a big fan of how easy it is to counteract the threats posed by the specific ideas presented in the OP. Any threat which can be 100% nullified via "never do [X]" or "do [X] once and you're safe forever" isn't really a threat; it's just a simple lock-and-key puzzle that you only need to solve once. Like chests making your items immune to tornadoes, for instance. You can trivially farm up as much wood as you want. The need to build slightly more chests than you would normally bother with doesn't put any meaningful pressure on your survival. A more "expensive" chest made out of stone or gold wouldn't either, because even those resources are very easy to amass in huge quantities.

[RedDeBlu]

Like chests making your items immune to tornadoes, for instance. You can trivially farm up as much wood as you want. The need to build slightly more chests than you would normally bother with doesn't put any meaningful pressure on your survival.

Except that chest are currently borderline useless, save for fire proofing items.

Though you are right, and I think the focus of tornadoes should be structure destruction much like the Deerclops does. Except in a less wintery season. And with a semi random pathing, And maybe the whole item tossing/scattering to truly differentiate it.

Floods

Effect: Literally floods the area it effects, turning it into more water.

Time/Place: Near bodies of water.

Prevented by: Keeping your house away from water, tall reinforced stone walls possibly?

I think there's a potential neat mechanic here. Walls holding back say, tsunamis? Keeping everything beyond them from going under when hit! But staying away from the coastal areas is a tad too simple as Wyvern said. This idea would work well in adventure mode on specific numbered worlds, designed with a flood/tsunami mechanic in mind, pressuring you to constantly build against the tides or rush to assemble the portal device!

Could even thrown in a new weather science device that helps alert you to an incoming tsunami.

Edited March 2, 2013 by RedDeBlu

[kfk]

Anyone who's ever purposefully opened the debug menu in Sim City in order to set off a disaster, raise your hand.>_>^I especially like the idea of tornadoes that can scatter items, and maybe do damage to crops.Although why stop at natural disasters? This strikes me as just a smaller part of a larger random events system that could be very fertile ground for modders if implemented.

[RedDeBlu]

Like that, that... what was it called? The pain thing with the cards! I dunno, but yeah "random" events would be interesting mixed in with the "standard predictable predetermined" events. Would help shake things up and challenge a players true preparedness.

[kfk]

I didn't know what you meant at first (I'm still new here), but yeah. Pain Randomizer.

[Karma Hound]

This thread may be a day old but I am intrigued by the thought of a volcanic biome... Not sure how practical it is but glowing rocky floor with volcanoes about just sounds interesting.

[BlindedPride]

Wyvern- This is a very good point. I had originally created this idea to provide a serious threat that was very hard to move around, and I suppose I strayed from that point. These sort of things can't be easily stopped in real life, and they shouldn't be in game.RedDeBlu- That's another natural disaster right there, however. Floods and Tsunamis are different, and could possibly be two different events in game? Maybe rain could be added in, and after really heavy storms is when there was a possibility of flooding. A weather device also sounds interesting, and could add on the rain idea too.As to everyone else, thank you for your contribution and opinions! And I'll be adding new ideas to the main post!

[RedDeBlu]

RedDeBlu- That's another natural disaster right there, however. Floods and Tsunamis are different, and could possibly be two different events in game?

Indeed, but in the spirit of water hazards I feel tsunamis would be easier/more interesting to implement into the game, visually, mechanically, then say an actual flood. I think it could make a suitable replacement, serving the same purpose while giving a use to walls.. . . On the other hand, I think I could see the current water graphic wooshing back and fourth on land as Wilson stands half deep in it. But what was that meant to do again? *checks OP* Nobody knows yet! I always thought it would pretty much collapse the land it hits and form more impassable ocean. Maybe someone else can come up with a more creative effect that makes sense.

[BlindedPride]

That's a good point, tsunamis would be more interesting than just plain old floods. And walls aren't too useful at the time, though I don't really feel like stone walls could hold back a tsunami...Yeah, that's what I was thinking, that it would submerge the effected land, turning it into more ocean water.

[lizzie_bee]

I've thought about this stuff too, like when I'm rampaging through the forest and wondering if I'm going to cause a dust bowl... I think it would be awesome if our actions effected the area around us.

[RedDeBlu]

I've thought about this stuff too, like when I'm rampaging through the forest and wondering if I'm going to cause a dust bowl... I think it would be awesome if our actions effected the area around us.

That is an interesting, albeit complex idea. A natural ecosystem that you can royally screw up! That would also kind of give a bigger reason to jump to the next untainted world, until your arrival that is mwahahahaha!I think a little of this already exist in the game sort of, if you over hunt beefalo, you really do risk driving them extinct. If you pick too many flowers, you risk eliminating the butterfly population. Of course with any nature destructive activity, doing your part in recycling and picking up litter can counteract these things.But what if this happened on a much bigger, more interconnected scale? Like you said, dust bowl, you become your own worse enemy!Like Wendy sometimes says, "I am the destroyer of worlds."

[BlindedPride]

I'm liking the idea of a dust bowl. Maybe it could work as a weaker tornado? As in it would pick up and throw items on the ground and throw them, but structures would be safe? That could provide a different disaster similar to the original tornado idea, before we buffed it up.

[K-Dawg]

I could definitely see some mechanics going on with wind gusts of varying strengths and different intensities of raining. Natural disasters would definitely give us even more things to worry about; even thought if we could be dealing with some kind of World Eater entity (which its impact would be as strong if not way more than natural disasters) for adventure mode or even within sandbox to force the player to keep on the move and be ready to use the teleportato, or be ultimately swallowed along with the world.

[SirMorgenStar]

Great idea, disasters would certainly spice things up quite a bit.

And here's a fun idea for a disaster/event I would love to see;

Alien encounter

Effect: Vilzon the alien (who looks like a green-skinned Wilson with antennas) lands his crystal potato ship and runs around collecting grass and twigs for his advanced alien research. On sight, he will shoot at the player with his dart blaster. He is also very rude and will steal stuff from the player's camp. His ship's greenish glow lights up the entire world faintly. He can't die, but if he takes enough damage he will panic and run back to his ship and leave the planet.

Time/Place: Any night, very rarely (the ship's greenish light lets you leave your camp to investigate without having to fear the grue, but once Vilzon leaves the darkness will return, so keep a torch with you)

Prevented By: Can't be prevented. You will always know when he is in the world because of the greenish lighting he causes, and will know that he leaves when it goes back to normal. He will always leave at morning, or when he feels he has collected enough resources to move on to the next planet (aka at random). Avoid him until then, or wear a bush hat and stand completely still to make sure he doesn't notice you if he comes too close.

[RedDeBlu]

Great idea, disasters would certainly spice things up quite a bit.

And here's a fun idea for a disaster/event I would love to see;

Alien encounter

Effect: Vilzon the alien (who looks like a green-skinned Wilson with antennas) lands his crystal potato ship and runs around collecting grass and twigs for his advanced alien research. On sight, he will shoot at the player with his dart blaster. He is also very rude and will steal stuff from the player's camp. His ship's greenish glow lights up the entire world faintly. He can't die, but if he takes enough damage he will panic and run back to his ship and leave the planet.

Time/Place: Any night, very rarely (the ship's greenish light lets you leave your camp to investigate without having to fear the grue, but once Vilzon leaves the darkness will return, so keep a torch with you)

Prevented By: Can't be prevented. You will always know when he is in the world because of the greenish lighting he causes, and will know that he leaves when it goes back to normal. He will always leave at morning, or when he feels he has collected enough resources to move on to the next planet (aka at random). Avoid him until then, or wear a bush hat and stand completely still to make sure he doesn't notice you if he comes too close.

As ridiculous as this sounds, I mean common, aliens? Really?! I actually have to say I really like it and think it would be fun to add to the game.

[F3RR1S]

Great idea, disasters would certainly spice things up quite a bit.

And here's a fun idea for a disaster/event I would love to see;

Alien encounter

Effect: Vilzon the alien (who looks like a green-skinned Wilson with antennas) lands his crystal potato ship and runs around collecting grass and twigs for his advanced alien research. On sight, he will shoot at the player with his dart blaster. He is also very rude and will steal stuff from the player's camp. His ship's greenish glow lights up the entire world faintly. He can't die, but if he takes enough damage he will panic and run back to his ship and leave the planet.

Time/Place: Any night, very rarely (the ship's greenish light lets you leave your camp to investigate without having to fear the grue, but once Vilzon leaves the darkness will return, so keep a torch with you)

Prevented By: Can't be prevented. You will always know when he is in the world because of the greenish lighting he causes, and will know that he leaves when it goes back to normal. He will always leave at morning, or when he feels he has collected enough resources to move on to the next planet (aka at random). Avoid him until then, or wear a bush hat and stand completely still to make sure he doesn't notice you if he comes too close.

its cool, but i can't imagine him looking like Wilson :l