Ideas/suggestions for temporal storms

[KevBot360]

1st: to add to the ambiance of the storms and maybe certain story locations, something like the psi voices from stalker 

2nd: At the highest storm power there could be a blowout at the end of the storm that can kill any unsheltered player or domesticated animal, and at the end of the blowout it either sets the storm strength to a predetermined power level or a random level

Edit: The Idea is for it is to happen at the end of the highest power level storm, giving plenty of time to find shelter in a building or cave. As of the animals it's to force the players to at least build a barn for livestock and not keep them in the open. Also, you can add to this where domesticated animals will seek out shelter at night and/or during storms, so you don't need to drag them into it. Maybe add assignable animal mats/spots that animals seek out when inside. it can even balance it by having no/low enemy spawns, to bring out the "oh no, somethings coming" in the players.

3rd: to add a bit of extra danger to late game storms, I'm thinking something like the trench birds from scp-106's pocket dimension from SCP containment breach. when the player is outside of cover and in line of sight of the birds, the player slowly takes damage. also, optionally the damage can be unmitigated by armor.

Edit: The idea for this is also for it to rarely happen in the late game and but easily countered with a roof or even a tree over your head to be unaffected by it. Basically, a less intensive version of the blowout where all you need is cover. Also, the idea for the health drain, is on its own its slow, weak and won't even kill you, but if you are staying out of cover fighting without recovering it's a problem. Also, it would function more like Dave, where you can see it in distance not being a problem or right above you, being a problem.

I might add more to this if I get more ideas.

Edited February 5, 2025 by KevBot360
adding edits and expanding on ideas

[Zane Mordien]

Hard pass for me for 2 & 3. The storms are already a mechanic that most people dislike and avoid so double and tripling down on making them more annoying seems like a bad idea, but heck maybe they will love the idea and implement it. Now if you are talking about "special" storms that are part of the storyline progression that you trigger, those are all cool ideas. A harder storm that is a reaction to some in game trigger would fit and be more like a boss fight.

[LadyWYT]

On 2/1/2025 at 11:07 PM, KevBot360 said:

3rd: to add a bit of extra danger to late game storms, I'm thinking something like the trench birds from scp-106's pocket dimension from scp containment breach. when the player is outside of cover and in line of sight of the birds, the player slowly takes damage. also, optionally the damage can be unmitigated by armor.

Isn't this just the phantom from the other block game, after a fashion? Except perhaps even more irritating? Given how much people hate the phantoms, I don't think adding a flying monster to Vintage Story is a good idea, save for perhaps special circumstances for a story location or something.

On 2/1/2025 at 11:07 PM, KevBot360 said:

2nd: At the highest storm power there could be a blowout at the end of the storm that can kill any unsheltered player or domesticated animal, and at the end of the blowout it either sets the storm strength to a predetermined power level or a random level

A decent idea for some sort of challenge mod, but I don't see it working well in the vanilla game. Domesticated livestock are a big investment, and it REALLY stings to lose them. I suppose players could just lock them away in a bunker, but that's not really fun to do aesthetically, or every time you play the game either.

Likewise, it's not really fun to have to sit in a bunker for every single temporal storm either. If a storm can just kill you on the spot if you're not in the appropriate shelter at the right time, it's going to actively discourage players from even trying to go out and fight. It's also going to make for rather unpleasant travels when trying to complete the main story, as there's a very good chance that most players will be facing at least one temporal storm when working through chapter two.

[Lanceleoghauni]

I'll Agree that this seems better suited to a challenge/suffering mod. I would not want these ideas implemented in a game where, as ladywyt points out, it takes considerable investment to raise animals. Having damage that isn't mitigated by armor would also disincentivize making it, which kind of sucks given how expensive it is early on.I would not want someone scraping together for their first set of metal armor, only to get a storm with birds that punch right through it. That's ragequit material right there and the opposite of what I want to happen if I show a friend a game.

[KevBot360]

On 2/3/2025 at 5:29 PM, LadyWYT said:

Isn't this just the phantom from the other block game, after a fashion? Except perhaps even more irritating? Given how much people hate the phantoms, I don't think adding a flying monster to Vintage Story is a good idea, save for perhaps special circumstances for a story location or something.

the idea is for it to act like a hostile version of Dave, but easily countered with cover.

 

On 2/3/2025 at 5:29 PM, LadyWYT said:

A decent idea for some sort of challenge mod, but I don't see it working well in the vanilla game. Domesticated livestock are a big investment, and it REALLY stings to lose them. I suppose players could just lock them away in a bunker, but that's not really fun to do aesthetically, or every time you play the game either.

Likewise, it's not really fun to have to sit in a bunker for every single temporal storm either. If a storm can just kill you on the spot if you're not in the appropriate shelter at the right time, it's going to actively discourage players from even trying to go out and fight. It's also going to make for rather unpleasant travels when trying to complete the main story, as there's a very good chance that most players will be facing at least one temporal storm when working through chapter two.

the idea for the blowout is just to make the player build a barn in the late game for livestock, and for the player to do some indoor work with no/low enemy spawns.

I fleshed out the ideas more in the main post so let me know what you think.

[LadyWYT]

14 hours ago, KevBot360 said:

the idea is for it to act like a hostile version of Dave, but easily countered with cover.

If you're busy hiding under cover, you're not out fighting what the storm is throwing at you now, are you?

On 2/1/2025 at 11:07 PM, KevBot360 said:

Edit: The idea for this is also for it to rarely happen in the late game and but easily countered with a roof or even a tree over your head to be unaffected by it. Basically, a less intensive version of the blowout where all you need is cover. Also, the idea for the health drain, is on its own its slow, weak and won't even kill you, but if you are staying out of cover fighting without recovering it's a problem. Also, it would function more like Dave, where you can see it in distance not being a problem or right above you, being a problem.

I stand by my earlier point--it's a decent idea for a challenge mod, but I don't see it being an appealing mechanic for a lot of players. Livestock is a significant time and resource investment, and not everyone wants to keep their animals locked in a bunker. Likewise, if players can just be insta-killed in a temporal storm regardless of gear, they aren't going to be thrilled about trying to fight in temporal storms, even if it's a very rare occurrence.

As for the health drain...that technically already exists. If you're out fighting in the storm, you're going to end up taking damage. If you take enough damage, you'll want to take cover and heal, before rejoining the fray. If you add a constant health drain on top of the damage you'll already take from enemies, all you're really accomplishing is forcing players to spend more time under cover rather than fighting, regardless of their skill or gear.