Winona Overhaul Ideas

[Bronzebot]

It should be no secret that there's been lots of requests for Klei to revisit the mechanic of the survivor cast, Winona, and for good reasons too. 

Ever since her refresh, she's been criticized for being rather bland with only 2 devices (one of which that is greatly underappreciated),  2 generators and 1 utility item for a character that's meant to represent the engineer archetype somewhat. And being the first character to be reworked all the way back in March 2019, it's fair to say that if anyone's "updated" playstyle would be out of date, it'd be hers.

That being said, probably the biggest gripe the forums have with Winona seems to be the fact that most of her powers are associated with her crafts, not her character, and said crafts can be used equally well by any other survivor, even when Winona is no longer present.

With the Wickerbottom rework, a similar issue was brought to attention again, namely Maxwell's ability to read her books, to which Klei responded to by penalizing him with a higher sanity cost for doing so. I believe a similar approach can be applicable to Winona. Maybe not in the sense of nerfing everyone else, but by at least making her better with her own equipment.

Winona also received a (very) small buff in the Wickerbottom rework, in that her fast crafting sessions now lasts forever as long as she stands still after her last crafting and remains well-fed. While this is a far cry from what people have been waiting for over the years, it gives the hope that Klei will revisit her one day and give her some bigger changes, like they did with Wurt during the WX-78 beta and Wortox (who coincidentally was released only 3 weeks after Winona's rework).

Below are several ideas of how I would envisage a potential Winona update without changing her core gameplay too much, but still make her a more viable character to remain as indefinitely. 

Do note:
* This is a long read of 2600 words, so grab a cup of tea and brace yourselves
* Not every listed idea is an original of mine, a lot of inspiration can be found here, here and here
* Certain suggestions may clash with one another, this is just me spit-balling ideas

MORE EFFICIENCY & UTILITY WITH HER OWN CRAFTS

Spoiler

More Efficient Fueling for Winona 
My first suggestion would be a Willow-styled fueling bonus for Winona, but only for her generators (and perhaps flingos).
As it stands right now, a full nitre generator will power 1 machine for 1 day, has a fuel capacity of 2 nitre and takes 2 nitre to craft (1 nitre = power to 1 machine for 0,5 days).
I suggest that the recipe remains the same but the max fuel capacity is increased to 3 nitre and any nitre added by Winona counts as 1,5x. 

This would mean that the nitre generator now could power 1 machine for 1,5 days, Winona would only need 2 nitre to achieve this while everyone else needs 3, making Winona more economical while all others can use the generator at the same cost and effect as before.

The G.E.M.erator is a bit more complicated as it has both a charge meter and gem slots that deplete the most recently added gem first. Simply put, I would apply a 1,5x duration bonus for Winona here as well for consistency’s sake, but more on the G.E.M.erator later.

More Efficient Tape for Winona
The tape is already in a pretty good spot as it is cheap and amassable. 

If the durability repaired was doubled when used by Winona, only 3 items would remain ever needing multiple fixes: Puffy/Breezy Vest (33,3% -> 66,6% per tape) and the Tam (20% -> 40% per tape). All other repairable items would be fully repaired by a single tape when applied by Winona.
 

QOL IDEAS

Spoiler

Fast Crafting Gauge
Personally, I like that Winona’s playstyle encourages the player to craft in bulk rather than randomly on a whim, much like Warly encourages the player to have a varied diet. Trying to maintain a craft-streak to offset the hunger drain in the early game can be pretty fun. The only gripe I have with it (which is something Warly also suffers from) is the fact that it hinges on an invisible timer. Unless you have accurate memory & time perception, this perk will often result in a guessing game when really all you want to know is if you will suffer a hunger drain or not from your next craft. 

I suggest that Winona gets a new meter, a gauge (similar to Wanda’s age meter) that specifically indicates how much time remains of the current fast crafting session. If another craft is made in time, the timer backtracks to the beginning, otherwise it resets when time runs out (maybe even disappears like a temporary meter, much like Woodie’s were-meter). I imagine this would be great for novices and experienced players alike, and it would also make it easier to understand the new mechanic of standing still to preserve the speedy crafting.

Fast Crafting Hunger Bar Indicator
It would also be great if Winona got a threshold indicator on her hunger bar for the limit of her speedy crafting, much like Wolfgang’s might meter or WX-78’s wetness meter. If they can have one, I don’t see why she can’t.
 

NEW POWERS

Spoiler

Longer Lasting Tools
I think a convenient, but not too overpowered ability for Winona would be if Axes, Pickaxes, Shovels, Hoes, Hammers and the Pick/Axe lasted 50% longer when used by her (25% for golden tools & pitchforks).

Skip Intermediate Crafting Stages
This might be difficult to implement, but a way to make Winona an even faster crafter would be if she could skip the making of intermediate products when crafting complicated items. For instance, making an Alchemy Engine from raw materials requires making 4 boards, 4 cut stones, then 2 doodads. That’s 10 seconds of crafting, or 5 seconds for Winona. Now imagine if she could skip all that and instead immediately place the Alchemy Engine if she had the materials.

Again, probably tricky to implement due to stuff like mixing raw/processed materials and calculating the prototype sanity bonus for multiple things at once. Just a fun idea of mine.

More uses from Deconstruction Staff & Crafting Amulet
Pretty self-explanatory, getting more uses from these items would be a neat mid to late-game ability fitting for Winona.
 

CHANGES TO CURRENT MACHINES

Spoiler

Enable/Disable Machines/Generators
Something people have asked for since her rework is the ability to disable machines and generators to get more control over her contraptions, whether it be to turn off individual machines or power down several machines at once through the generator itself.

This could also be an ability exclusive to Winona (and maybe scientifically inclined characters, like Wilson, WX-78, maybe even Wickerbottom). The generators have no apparent “ON/OFF” switch, so I imagine it’d be a procedure fit to someone proficient in that field to disconnect the bare wires from the machines/generators.

Disabled generators should have the same passive power drain as generators not hooked up to machines have. 

Spotlight
Arguably the most underwhelming part of Winona’s kit is the spotlight. With its limited light radius combined with the scaling price of crafting and maintaining multiple at once, you will rarely see any Winona bother making these structures under any circumstance. Since its only purpose is to target nearby players with its small light and nothing else, it becomes almost comparable with Willow's lighter, but hands-free yet limited to a single location.

I think it could be improved if the spotlight provided natural light for farms during the night and for it to target entities in the following order: First nearby players, then nearby hostile creatures, then nearby farms.

It has also been suggested that the spotlight should provide warmth to targeted players. Personally, I think if that's the case, they should only offset freezing and not warm up players and thermal stones unless multiple lights focus on one person.

Additionally, the spotlight craft could be changed to result in a non-stacking spotlight kit and be collapsible and redeployable (exclusively only by Winona), like how Warly’s kitchenware functions. 

G.E.M.erator
While the G.E.M.erator seem to be equally (if not more) appreciated by the community than the nitre generator, it does suffer from one particular oversight: it accepts gems that are significantly more rare and valuable (like green, orange and yellow) yet they are treated the same as the much more common red and blue. Because of this, the possibility of using these rare gems as a power source becomes more of an easter egg than a viable strategy.

Regardless, the rarity of these specific gems should be reflected in the G.E.M.erator's power output. I think the following fuel values would be fair:

Red/Blue = 2 days (3 for Winona)
Purple = 3 days (4.5 for Winona)
Orange/Green/Yellow = 4 days (6 for Winona)
(values expressed as duration a single gem can power 1 machine) 

Because the maximum possible charge would be 18 days (3 Orange/Green/Yellow gems supplied by Winona), the charge meter graphic could remain the same, as 18 days are divisible by the 6 segments of the meter. This would mean 3 Red/Blue gems supplied by anyone else would represent only 2 of 6 charge segments.

NEW CRAFTS

Spoiler

Toolbox
This is an idea that was popularized after WX-78’s animated short and it really makes you think “why isn’t this a thing already?”. Here’s how I would implement it: 

Recipe - boards,  twigs, redbird feathers

Winona’s Toolbox is a portable inventory that occupies the hand slot when carried, much like how a backpack occupies the body slot. It can only be opened when on the ground (similar to the tacklebox) and has a storage of 6 slots with the exclusive allowed input of just about every item that can be found in the “tools” crafting tab, as well as certain mechanical resources like gears, frazzled wires and electrical doodads. It cannot be used as a weapon.

Players carrying Winona’s toolbox suffer a small movement speed penalty of -5%, unless they are playing as Winona or Mighty Wolfgang.

Potato Generator
Another very popular idea that spawned from Winona’s rework concept art of a generator drawing power from a giant potato. However, back in 2019 there were no potatoes in survival DST and certainly no giant crops. Now that the two do exist, it is the perfect opportunity to actually implement it. Here’s how I would want it to work:

Recipe - Tape, boards, frazzled wires

The potato generator provides power to machines through a loaded giant potato. Once loaded, the potato rapidly spoils and provides power in the process. After spoiling completely, the rotten potato can be unloaded from the generator. 

A fresh potato will provide power to 1 machine for 1.5 days (2.25 as Winona). Because of the biological nature of this generator, it will last longer during the winter rather than the summer.

When a potato is loaded into the generator, it becomes locked-in and cannot be removed unless the structure is destroyed (even then, only rot should be dropped, like breaking waxed crops). 
If the generator is disabled or has no machines to power, the spoilage rate returns to normal. Waxed potatoes cannot be used as they are “insulated” and cannot conduct electricity.

Power Supply

Recipe - Tape, Volt goat horns, frazzled wires & electrical doodads

This mid/late game structure acts as a massive power capacitor, capable of powering a single machine for 20 days when fully charged. In terms of range, this battery also has a 14 tile radius (same as lighting rods), supplying all machines within its extensive reach. 

In order to charge the power supply, generators must be built within a smaller radius around the power supply (this radius is big enough to fit 2 generators extending outwards). Any generators within this radius will have any available power immediately siphoned into the power supply and multiple power supplies can be built within this charge radius to share the load and increase the capacity further.

Boat Floodlight
There have been requests in the past for the spotlight to be able illuminate the waters ahead of boats. Now that boat bumpers exist, it could be time to add a new floodlight item that attaches to the edges of a boat similar to bumpers, but casts a cone of light outwards from wherever it's mounted. 

Naturally, it should drain power from a generator (and perhaps lightning conductors?) on the boat and have a similar crafting recipe as the spotlight. Perhaps Gold nuggets, fireflies & rope?

SYNERGY IDEAS

Spoiler

Spotlight Buffs to Performers
Here's a synergy idea I believe I've seen before so I'll just reiterate:
Standing in the spotlight should provide some sort of additional benefit to performer-type survivors, namely Wigfrid, Wolfgang, Maxwell and maybe even Wes. 

* For Wigfrid, it could increase her inspiration gain rate
* For Wolfgang, it could reduce or negate his sanity downside
* For Wes, it could reduce his balloon sanity cost to 4 or 3 per balloon

I'm out of ideas for Maxwell, though. Not having had their rework yet, it might be best to wait and see what Klei has in store for him first. 

Power from Charged Lightning Rods
The electricity that can be stored in lightning rods and generators are both compatible with WX-78, so why shouldn't it work with her machines?

If lightning rods received a power radius like generators, it could make for some very interesting and creative builds, and definitely give "The End is Nigh!" a much needed new purpose.

Since lighting is technically a free power source (even more so with the Wickerbottom rework), I imagine a charged rod would provide power to 1 machine for 0,75 to 1 days, so as to not overshadow the actual generators too much.

Uninstall WX-78's circuits safer
Another synergy idea I had was if WX-78 could mitigate either the durability depletion or charge loss when removing circuits with the help of Winona. In order to make this work, a consenting WX-78 would use their Circuit Extractor on a nearby Winona (like razor on a beefalo), causing a unique animation where Winona uses the extractor on WX-78.

DOWNSIDE IDEA

Spoiler

More significant hunger penalty
From my understanding, the "free hit from the dark" perk exists primarily to compensate for her slow crafting disadvantage in emergencies, like when your torch runs out unexpectedly. To me, this perk/downside synergy is thematic to the character and works well enough to not warrant a charge.

Like I mentioned before, I think the hunger penalty can be fun to try and offset by striving towards efficiency in one's crafting. However, something I don't like is downsides that are very insignificant and unnoticeable. This is something Wolfgang and WX-78 also suffered from before their reworks with their downsides (sanity drain and rain damage).

The current drain of 5 hunger per new crafting session is, like others have mentioned before, comparable to occasionally needing to eat 1 raw seed, and it takes 30 of these instances for it to completely drain one's hunger. In other words, quite insignificant. 

I believe a way for her hunger drawback to be more significant and interesting yet avoidable would be if she consumed 10 to 15 hunger for each time she crafts slowly (below 50 hunger, that is).

It would not be too intrusive of a downside, as one should avoid slow crafting as Winona in the first place. It would also further encourage bulk-crafting and more carefully planned crafting when out in the field. 
 

 

[Chaonyx]

This is just amazing, honestly wish the capacitor existed already!

[GamePlayer42]

i think i would love the extra tool durability but idk how to feel abt the toolbox really. its just a hand slot bag with slowness. this is not rly good