Repurpose the Nightlight for anti-griefing

[Clwnbaby]

So I have an idea that would make what I think is a pretty useless item into more of useful one that in the context of DST needs to be had.

 

I don't know about you guys but from what I've seen and by my own experiences the Nightlight is worthless.  It consumes a resource that can be better spent on just about anything else and it provides a weak ass amount of light.  Hardly worth the resources or trouble that goes into making it.  But thanks to DST we dont have to rid ourselves of worthless items.  Instead we can repurpose them.

 

So one problem that I and many others have are griefers.  One way to deal which such players is to slaughter them on sight but this only makes them stronger because now they can grief and you cannot deal with them.  Most annoying is the fact they can in time destroy every structure in your base.  What we need is a mechanic that doesn't alter the ghost state in any way but provides some sort of protection.

 

Here in lies my idea.  What if we were to change the mechanic of the nightlight that instead of providing light it instead provides an aura or field that a ghost cannot move through or pass by?  Now instead of being a constant victim to an entity that you cannot rid yourself of you can at the very least ward it away from your immediate area.  Nothing about the Nightlight would have to change except of course making it do this instead of providing a nominal amount of light.  This could be great on 2 accounts because 1 we could incorporate an existing item into the (sorry Seth) Meta of the game that is otherwise completely ignored and 2 we can address at least part of the griefing issue without having to remove said issue.

 

I think this would be a good change for the game but Im just one player.  Please chime in with what you think (this is not another complain about griefing thread so please keep the discussion on the repurpose of this item).

 

 

[DarkXero]

If they have the weak range of the flingos, I don't want to clutter my screen to night lights.

Or keep fueling them and still wasting nightmare fuel to repel ghosts.

[Zillvr]

I agreed that we definitely need ways to combat unruly ghost players. So I had a rather similar idea like this last December and it's currently linked in my signature about Introducing Ghost Warding options. One of the main things that I've learned since posting that is if the thing that can be used to restrict ghost players from entering a certain area, it can be used to block off the Jury-Rigged Portal in Endless Servers that would in turn exploitable against all ghosts(unruly or not). Whether that would be acceptable is up for debate. 

 

So the counter-suggestion to it was for the Warding Item, or in this case the Nightlight should only restrict ghosts from haunting within that certain area but still allow ghosts to pass through. What do you guys think?

[Zillvr]

@DarkXero, I think the coverage area of a lightning rod would be acceptable.

[Clwnbaby]

@DarkXero, I think the coverage area of a lightning rod would be acceptable.

 

If it were an anti-haunting mechanic that you suggested then yeah lightening rod range is acceptable.  I was leaning toward a limited area like a flingo or the light's current radius.

 

@DarkXero, Thats the point though.  Choose either to be griefed OR have a cluttered base.  And again about the cost, again that's the point.  You can't introduce a combat mechanic and then have it be free.  There has to be a cost and that cost is wasting nightmare fuel.  Im not trying to break the game or ghosts, Im trying to add something(or change really) that helps a player deal with a problem and, if they so desire, to pursue that approach to the problem.  

 

 

[DarkXero]

@Clwnbaby, Klei will revisit the ghosts later, and they will either remove the ghosts ability to hammer/torch things on haunt or make it cost something to them. Besides, the night light will run out if you leave or can't make nightmare fuel fast enough, and the results will be the same: a ghost that came in and haunted everything into oblivion. Or that revived and hammered/lit your base in fire.

 

However, I really don't mind turning the night light into this, considering its current state. I'm just not going to use them.

 

My suggestion for the night light is to transform it into a nightmare fissure, like in the caves/ruins. You fuel it with nightmare fuel (it opens), and it attracts nightmare shadows that you can combat while sane.

[rezecib]

Yeah, I think it's a little too soon to make a change like this, considering that ghost haunt mechanics are definitely scheduled to change.

 

Also, having it fueled with nightmare fuel doesn't really seem to fit with the purpose. As I see it, living players should have a lot more power than dead players. It should be easy for a living player to ward off a dead player, but nightmare fuel (sans Ruins) is not easy to come by in large quantities. Perhaps changing it to be fueled for at least a day per nightmare fuel, but probably more. But I'd rather see something like one of the totem suggestions, ghost-proofing areas permanently. That could be applied to the night light, though.

 

Edit: If it did get changed to a permanent ghost-proofer, it could be cool if it was off unless a ghost was nearby... "It uses the power of ghosts against them."

[DarkXero]

but nightmare fuel (sans Ruins) is not easy to come by in large quantities

 

Without taking into account that you can kill yourself and haunt flowers into dark flowers (and petals too), now that RoG and the full moon is here, you can make massive flower fields (with homeless bees, and spring) that turn into evil flowers at full moons.

 

And with the introduction of flingomatics, now you can make fire traps, go insane, and stand in the center or lure shadows into it, to make fire take care of them easily.

 

But there is certain charm in running away from 20 nightmares to pick up their corpses.

[rezecib]

@DarkXero, Yes, I know how to get nightmare fuel, but what I was saying is that it still takes a decent amount of work to get it. Preventing ghost griefing shouldn't be that hard, it should be really easy. They died, after all, they should lose a lot of power unless living players are cooperating with them.

 

And I would still consider fire traps to be an exploit.

[Clwnbaby]

And I would still consider fire traps to be an exploit.

 

Total exploit!  Where is the fun in cheating?

[SaberYourNeighbour]

In my opinion the night light should be harder to craft (more nmf is needed) but no fueling is needed. I feel like 2 night lights make an invisible wall sort of like this:

NL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NL

with this we can strategically put a few night lights with a range relative to the lightning rod and as long as 2 night lights are in range of each other, they will make a force field where only players can pass through.

Also IF we want to fuel the night lights, i think you should have to put 1 fuel in both the lights in my diagram to sustain a force field for AT LEAST 24 minutes (3 whole days).

[Curo]

I think we're putting a little too much thought into how to counter a mechanic that was originally designed to be a player aid. Using a high tier item that requires a lot of effort to farm fuel for is not going to be an effective counter to something that a day 1 griefer can do.

Yes, night light needs a real purpose. Yes, griefing ghosts is an issue. No, I don't think this solution is viable. Perhaps if you made the night light require only science machine, and it was fueled by logs or something. But at that point, you might as well just create a new item.

I can't wait for ghost changes!

[Clwnbaby]

@Curo, you're clearly missing the point here.  The reason to re-purpose such a high tier item IS because of its investment to make it.  Creating an item that wards away ghosts can create a new set grief on its own ie warding spawn or touchstones.  Again still requires nightmare fuel to activate so its not as effective at griefing the ghosts because of a constant attention to keep it going but its possible.  Also you don't want to make such an item which will have such an effect on the world be easy let alone cheap to make.  Also day 1 griefers are not the concern here. The concern is a world where you are firmly establish (and quite honestly creating this item isn't very hard to do with in the first 10 days) and you have the means and resources to protect your base that you have invested so much time into that can be EASILY undone by a ghost with the motive to do so.

[Curo]

@Curo, you're clearly missing the point here.  The reason to re-purpose such a high tier item IS because of its investment to make it.  Creating an item that wards away ghosts can create a new set grief on its own ie warding spawn or touchstones.  Again still requires nightmare fuel to activate so its not as effective at griefing the ghosts because of a constant attention to keep it going but its possible.  Also you don't want to make such an item which will have such an effect on the world be easy let alone cheap to make.  Also day 1 griefers are not the concern here. The concern is a world where you are firmly establish (and quite honestly creating this item isn't very hard to do with in the first 10 days) and you have the means and resources to protect your base that you have invested so much time into that can be EASILY undone by a ghost with the motive to do so.

Alright, I gotcha

Personally, I would never invite someone into a world that I had a lot of investment in if I wasn't 100% sure they wouldn't grief, But I guess for streamers and such that want to share their worlds with their viewers, it could be a thing. But in the case of a personal world that you want to open to the public, aren't there ways to roll back the server to previous saves if you get griefed?

[Clwnbaby]

@Curo, I only play on public dedicated Klei servers for the most part.  I have no say on who comes and who goes.