Simple hot climate / temperature mechanic to make the Hot areas more unique.

[NorthernWhit]

My suggestion for a simple and hopefully easy to implement overheat mechanic to make hot areas more unique.

If the outdoor temperature gets to over 30c (or whatever works best) then draw a line from the player to the sun. If the line is uninterrupted start some wavy screen effect that eventually causes damage similar to freezing. If the line intersects blocks then the player is in the shade and would naturally be cooler so is unaffected.

This would incentivize the player to build structures in places like hot deserts to create shade such as covered walkways or underground pathways. It could also make players choose to travel through a forests shade to get out of the sun which could then create hostile wildlife encounters. Also having the shade mechanic would make it different enough to just being hot freezing and is a way of implementing overheating without needing thirst mechanics like other survival games. .

There could also be clothing for hot weather that keeps the player "cooler" by raising the temperature required to higher than 30c threshold before affected similar to how fur works in the cold. It could also be the case that cloths made for cold weather could lower that 30c threshold as they make the player warmer already thus easier to overheat. Currently there's not really a reason to ever take off cold weather cloths once you have them so hopefully this would make clothing choice drive gameplay more.

 

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums! I do agree that it seems like there should be some incentive for one to avoid wearing their finest furs in a hot environment, but I'm not sure that this would be the best solution. Maybe just a health penalty should the player's insulation value exceed a certain threshold? That seems like it might be easier to code and require less processing power to account for, without causing a lot of extra micromanagement either. I would suggest a penalty to hunger rate, but I think that would be way too easy for players to exploit in order to quickly raise their nutrition values.

[Maelstrom]

I like the ideas of light linen clothing to boost ones ability to be in hot environments.  There's a reason why people in hot climates were next to no clothing or thin/loose clothing.  I think that the penalty for ignoring heat should be an enforced period of sleep, during which animals (or monsters) can consider one is close to death and begin nomming on the assumed carcass.  I'd also like to see a similar thing for spending too much time freezing.  Of course, these extreme options would be opt-in during settings except for wilderness survival where it would be defaulted to on.

[ribbbbbs]

On 1/15/2025 at 5:26 PM, LadyWYT said:

I do agree that it seems like there should be some incentive for one to avoid wearing their finest furs in a hot environment, but I'm not sure that this would be the best solution.

I think the best solution would be introducing a simple hydration system that depletes faster as player's insulation + outside temperature increases. You could also add heat dissipation ratings for different sets of armor to encourage players to wear lighter armor in hot climates. 

Heavier clothes -> faster thirst depletion is a pretty straightforward mechanic. You could also have some foods like fresh fruit + veggies + milk + beer & wine increase hydration; salted meats & seawater decrease hydration. Drinking fresh water might give the best hydration boost but you have to do some kind of filtration for best results. My favorite implementation of this is probably in the Tough as Nails mod for [the block game that shall not be named].

Edited January 17, 2025 by ribbbbbs

[LadyWYT]

7 hours ago, ribbbbbs said:

I think the best solution would be introducing a simple hydration system that depletes faster as player's insulation + outside temperature increases. You could also add heat dissipation ratings for different sets of armor to encourage players to wear lighter armor in hot climates. 

Heavier clothes -> faster thirst depletion is a pretty straightforward mechanic. You could also have some foods like fresh fruit + veggies + milk + beer & wine increase hydration; salted meats & seawater decrease hydration. Drinking fresh water might give the best hydration boost but you have to do some kind of filtration for best results. My favorite implementation of this is probably in the Tough as Nails mod for [the block game that shall not be named].

I do agree that it would be a decent solution, however, I think it may be best suited for a mod than incorporated into the base game. The reason I say that is that after trying Vintage Story with a thirst mod installed, it was indeed more challenging, and the challenge was rather fun, for the most part. However, it felt like a bit more micro-management than what would really be enjoyable for standard gameplay. It could just be incorporated into Wilderness Survival, I suppose, and otherwise left as an optional challenge, but I'm still not sure it would be a good fit overall, especially since inventory space is still at a premium and some parts of the story will require spending quite a bit of time in places that have no water.