How can we make Hardcore Mode *actually* Hardcore?
scubamatt
Georgia, USA Join Date: 2016-05-22 Member: 217295Members
Georgia, USA Join Date: 2016-05-22 Member: 217295Members
The only difference between Survival mode and Hardcore mode is the audible low air warning, and the permadeath aspect. You can play Hardcore yourself in Survival mode (just delete your game if you die) and keep the audible low air warning.
So...how can we make Hardcore actually 'hardcore' and significantly tougher (and unique) compared to the other modes of play?
A few ideas come to mind, mostly inspired by other peoples suggestions in other threads:
1. Your lifepod is heavily damaged when you start - you have to find material to repair the fabricator and first aid dispenser, before either will function. This is separate from the 'weld life pod' mini objective we already have.
2. Don't allow the fabricator to make Cooked Fish, (or water from an Airsack) until those fish are scanned by the player with hand scanner.
3. Improve the AI for the predators - smarter, more aggressive, or more of them (they've been attracted to all the dead fish from the Aurora's crash...)
4. Add fallout to the local atmosphere after the Aurora blows up, which lasts until you clean up the reactor (plus X amount of time for the winds to carry it off). Any time the player is on the surface without a radiation helmet/suit, they take damage just like the water in the radiation zone. This could be graphically represented by tinting the sky/clouds/local air until the fallout is cleared up.
5. Increase the material cost for items you fabricate (make it more expensive to build most everything, compared to other modes).
6. Have the local wildlife go into a frenzy every time the moons eclipse the sun. Everything swims faster, predators have greatly increased aggro range, etc. Perhaps normally passive creatures become aggressive (crazed gasopods, anyone?)
7. Place a more strict limit on how much alien vegetation you can eat in a 24 hour period. Perhaps only a handful of fruits can be eaten, or the player gets queasy/sluggish/sick. As it is now, a single Lantern Fruit Tree can cover all of your food/water needs for the whole game, once its reached full growth and maturity.
What do you think about the idea of making hardcore much harder than the other modes, and how would you do it?
(@JB940 thanks for inspiring this topic)
So...how can we make Hardcore actually 'hardcore' and significantly tougher (and unique) compared to the other modes of play?
A few ideas come to mind, mostly inspired by other peoples suggestions in other threads:
1. Your lifepod is heavily damaged when you start - you have to find material to repair the fabricator and first aid dispenser, before either will function. This is separate from the 'weld life pod' mini objective we already have.
2. Don't allow the fabricator to make Cooked Fish, (or water from an Airsack) until those fish are scanned by the player with hand scanner.
3. Improve the AI for the predators - smarter, more aggressive, or more of them (they've been attracted to all the dead fish from the Aurora's crash...)
4. Add fallout to the local atmosphere after the Aurora blows up, which lasts until you clean up the reactor (plus X amount of time for the winds to carry it off). Any time the player is on the surface without a radiation helmet/suit, they take damage just like the water in the radiation zone. This could be graphically represented by tinting the sky/clouds/local air until the fallout is cleared up.
5. Increase the material cost for items you fabricate (make it more expensive to build most everything, compared to other modes).
6. Have the local wildlife go into a frenzy every time the moons eclipse the sun. Everything swims faster, predators have greatly increased aggro range, etc. Perhaps normally passive creatures become aggressive (crazed gasopods, anyone?)
7. Place a more strict limit on how much alien vegetation you can eat in a 24 hour period. Perhaps only a handful of fruits can be eaten, or the player gets queasy/sluggish/sick. As it is now, a single Lantern Fruit Tree can cover all of your food/water needs for the whole game, once its reached full growth and maturity.
What do you think about the idea of making hardcore much harder than the other modes, and how would you do it?
(@JB940 thanks for inspiring this topic)
Comments
- higher aggro radius of hostiles
- more damage received
- slower healing
- faster depletion of hunger and thirst
- increased material requirements for any construction
- faster and more agile prey fish
- slower growth of plants
- increased energy consumption of tools, seabases and vehicles
- slower player movement
- reduced oxygen volume and reduced time between blackout and death
O2: some limited but playable diving physics, with decompression sickness and chambers, etc.
Food & Water: low breeding and plant growing rates, plants and fish need stuff to grow and not just grow by itself
Health: Bleeding (with creatures tracing blood trails), serious wounds need surgery units, small med packs can seal wounds and heal lesser injuries
Energy: All tools and devices consume energy. O2 production at subs and bases use energy. Subs can only recharge at bases, solar recharge at surface or thermal recharge near heat sources, but consume power very fast. So recharging needs stratetic planning.
Creatures: Creatures hunt with strategies and some top predators roam a wider area (pathfinding AI). Creatures react to top predator sounds and start to flee. Creatures can be lured for better survival hunting.
...
All in all this is a matter of balancing for different game modes. Each mode needs different settings.
Not entirely true, since Fallout 4 has mods on the consoles. I don't know what sort of decisions go into allowing for it, but maybe UKW might be able to arrange something come full release.
A feature similar to the Workshop on the other hand, yeah I'm pretty sure there's nothing like that yet
Advanced gas management: