Summer overheating hazard is too similar to winter, other DLC thoughts

[c0refile]

Enjoying most everything in the new expansion so far, but I have to admit, I think the summer 'overheating' hazard is a bit lazy.  It's basically the same thing as winter, carry a thermal stone around, craft and use the right clothing, stay close to your base or build fires a lot when travelling.  Yawn.

 

Instead, what if the main summer hazard was dehydration?

 

1) Canteen.  Small portable, fillable container.

2) Puddle.  Forms in certain biomes (obv not desert) during rainstorms, lasts a few days before dissipating.  May be used to fill canteen.

3) Water filter.  Allows filling a canteen from a pond.  (crafted with charcoal and reeds)

4) Rain barrel.  Craftable structure, automatically fills with water during rainstorms and ice during snowstorms.  May transfer water between canteen and rain barrel in either direction.

5) Ice could stay as is.  Able to be placed in a canteen or rain barrel.  Eating it improves hydration.

6) Other summer hazards fit this mechanic very well.  Instead of using manure to refresh withered saplings and bushes, water must be used.  Smoldering items in your base can be extinguished by pouring water on them instead of needing to dig them up/hammer them down.

7) Deserts have increased dehydration rate in summer, swamps, slower dehydration rate.

8) Summer 'bonus': meat left on ground will dehydrate and turn to jerky, though it doesn't refresh its spoilage like drying racks do.  If you can keep it safe from critters.

 

Would love to hear other ideas.

 

Other assorted DLC comments:

 

1) Love the full moon.

2) Spoilage on crock pots and drying racks is a much needed realism improvement.

3) Weather breaks the caves.  They're already hard enough as it is with having to constantly manage darkness.  Piling an additional hazard upon that is just punishment and I think would cause most people to just write them off entirely, they're already less 'fun' than the surface.

4) Catcoons puking up stuff is awesome.  Probably shouldn't happen quite as much as it does though, or maybe you need to feed them something to cause it to happen.

5) Tumbleweeds are a bit OP.  Easy to just cruise around a desert and farm a ton of stuff.  At the bare minimum they should not get stuck in the corners and they should blow into the ocean, lost forever.

6) Four seasons round out the feeling of the game quite a bit, excited to see how they get fleshed out as the DLC progresses.

 

[c0refile]

Oh, also:

 

It's weird that we have meters for hunger, sanity, health, now even wetness, but not temperature?  I always thought this was missing in winter prior to the DLC.  I like how the rain meter only appears when it's a threat to keep the visual clutter to a minimum.  Please do the same thing for body temperature.  This would give players much better feedback around how the environment and clothing affects them.

[Danest]

Healthy adults don't generally die of heat unless it's _reaaallly_ hot, and then generally dehydration was probably involved anyway.  There would be a lot more casualties -- a lot more -- if summer heat was truly dangerous to human life.
So, if we _must_ have a summer weather hazard, it probably ought to involve water.  If the "ocean" really is ocean (salt water), then drinking water is actually pretty damned rare in the regular don't starve world... just a few fishing puddles and the rain.  
Maybe there could be underground freshwater rivers.  One more reason to brave the caves, that have apparently become much, much harsher because of the underground rain and cold.  
The "meter" for temperature is a buildable object.  I wonder if there should be a portable version... 

[WillPwn4Food]

I'm fine with it

[c0refile]

The "meter" for temperature is a buildable object.  I wonder if there should be a portable version... 

Sorry, I meant body temperature, not ambient temperature.  There's no meter (craftable or otherwise) for body temperature except for all of a sudden getting the heat/freeze aura on your screen, but by then it's typically already too late.

[Rosten]

Just because the mechanic is similar, doesnt mean the ways to deal with it are the same

also

klei has said tons of times that we're not having dehydration

[c0refile]

Just because the mechanic is similar, doesnt mean the ways to deal with it are the same

also

klei has said tons of times that we're not having dehydration

 

Ah, that's too bad, I read the forums casually but I've never seen anything regarding dehydration.  The ways to deal with overheating currently aren't much different than the ways to deal with winter.  It's boring.  I mean, endothermic fire, really?  I was really disappointed when I saw that one.  All the other options of which I'm aware are the same as well.... carry around a thermal stone, wear special clothing....  it just seems really uninspired and repetitive to me.  Everything else in the DLC is fresh and interesting, but overheating sticks out like a sore thumb.  Spring's rain hazard is completely different than winter's freezing, why is summer an almost-clone?

[brummbar7]

Some might argue that dehydration just involves gathering water, like gathering food.  SO it's just like an existing mechanic and therefore boring.   I could take it or leave it - it would give cactus a much needed purpose, since right now I never use them. And I guess it would give frog ponds more importance.   But as BlazingIce said, this has been suggested many times before. 

 

I feel like summer is a bit broken right now in that I never use anything but ice hats and melons.  For a newb it would still be pretty terrifying I guess.  But I don't even use endofires most of the time, and never a chilled stone, because both the melon and hat are spoil items, so why should I not constantly wear them once I've made them?  As opposed to winter clothes, which I do try to manage by taking them off when I'm by a fire during the long winter nights.  Especially the tam.  So winters and summers to me are indeed different, with summer being easier.

[Crockpot]

I do think the idea of canteens could be used, although lower your temperature instead.

Also, now that we have overheating, the bucket in the files could be used for putting out water.

[c0refile]

Some might argue that dehydration just involves gathering water, like gathering food.  SO it's just like an existing mechanic and therefore boring.   I could take it or leave it - it would give cactus a much needed purpose, since right now I never use them. And I guess it would give frog ponds more importance.   But as BlazingIce said, this has been suggested many times before. 

 

I feel like summer is a bit broken right now in that I never use anything but ice hats and melons.  For a newb it would still be pretty terrifying I guess.  But I don't even use endofires most of the time, and never a chilled stone, because both the melon and hat are spoil items, so why should I not constantly wear them once I've made them?  As opposed to winter clothes, which I do try to manage by taking them off when I'm by a fire during the long winter nights.  Especially the tam.  So winters and summers to me are indeed different, with summer being easier.

 

I'm not wedded to my suggestion, I'd be happy with anything that is appreciably different than winter's freezing.... regarding too similar to gathering, the whole game is about gathering practically, so I don't think that's a valid argument.  But if there's something more clever out there than 'almost-just-like-winter' I'd be all for it.  I thought the dehydration mechanic would be nice for the reasons you stated, and I didn't think of the cactus, good idea... gives water but you get hurt.

 

For summer, much like winter, I just use two thermal stones.... keep one in the fridge, walk around with the other.  Use an umbrella and a hat.  When I travel long distances, build endothermic fires when necessary to reset thermal stone(s).  Again, just like winter.  Zzz.

[Seg]

I too thought that “overheating” felt a bit reused and boring, however I do like looking at Wilson with a block of ice strapped on his noggin.

Instead of summer “overheating” causing damage, what if it caused exhaustion/fatigue?

With this you wouldn't need a fatigue bar or any other visible HUD, you would just need to slow the player down a little, and maybe show the character panting/trying to catch their breath when they become idle?

Also, a similar effect could be employed when character becomes too “wet”.

 

In regards to the use of a water mechanic, maybe tweaking the wetness gauge to display negative values, with the negative values representing dehydration.

This would force the players to find a constant equilibrium between being too wet and too dry, it could become a problem.

[The_Cookiebeast]

Oh, also:

 

It's weird that we have meters for hunger, sanity, health, now even wetness, but not temperature?  I always thought this was missing in winter prior to the DLC.  I like how the rain meter only appears when it's a threat to keep the visual clutter to a minimum.  Please do the same thing for body temperature.  This would give players much better feedback around how the environment and clothing affects them.

There's an always on status mod that displays body temperature.

[The_Cookiebeast]

Also i'm thinking that canteen is a good idea, but they could just tie it in with overheating. You could drink from the canteen to cool yourself down like ice but you can refill your canteen from the puddles glaciers become in summer, the canteen itself having finite durability to make it less OP a strategy. What do ya think?

[c0refile]

There's an always on status mod that displays body temperature.

 

I knew about the mod, but I think a body temperature gauge should be part of the game proper.

 

Also i'm thinking that canteen is a good idea, but they could just tie it in with overheating. You could drink from the canteen to cool yourself down like ice but you can refill your canteen from the puddles glaciers become in summer, the canteen itself having finite durability to make it less OP a strategy. What do ya think?

 

I like it.  I still don't like how similar overheating is to freezing, but this would give it a new avoidance method besides the same things you can do in winter.  There's nothing you can consume in winter to warm you up, but being able to drink water in summer to cool you down would make it feel less similar.

[saltychipmunk]

I dont like the summer either.  of all the seasons , it is the one i like the least.  Summer is supposed to be the happy time , the time when you frolic out in the sun,

 

free from the ice of winter ,  the rain of spring and  raking all those damn leaves in the fall.

 

 

But right now it is far more dangerous and annoying  than any of the other seasons. 

 

 

to the point where i actually  , on purpose , start in the fall because oh how not fun  going through summer with one seasons worth of prep is.  I would take three consecutive winters , if I never have to see summer.  That is sad .

 

They probably will add better stuff to the game to make summer less of a exercise in lame.

 

but they need to tone the fire and the heat way the hell back.