More ropework

[cjameshuff]

Some ideas for more use of rope:

• Allow ratlines to be placed in other places, as a sort of short rope ladder.
• Rope hammocks
  • Allow containers to be placed in hammocks, for wall/ceiling storage.
• Rope hangers/bags for cooking pots/crocks, as elk equipment and hung on walls/ceilings as storage. (Also allow multiple crocks.)
  • Also allow them to be used as limited containers with the same capacity/items.
• Abseiling/rappeling.

[Krakuntun]

I like this idea. 

Hammocks in general should be a thing, as they would add a lot of flavour to the tropics.

I think some kind of "ceiling storage" should be introduced where stuff is hung from the ceiling. Maybe this could be added together with the herbs update, as you'd irl let them dry by hanging them somewhere. 

I'm not agreeing with all the points tho. "Abseiling" seems like a complex mechanic, for example, and should remain difficult in my opinion. 

[Zx573]

I don't have a lot of ideas for rope uses, but I would love to see some form of ropewalk in the game to get rope creation out of the crafting grid.

[cjameshuff]

2 hours ago, Krakuntun said:

"Abseiling" seems like a complex mechanic, for example, and should remain difficult in my opinion. 

I mainly have it in mind as a way of exploring caves or descending cliffs that is more tolerant of uneven walls and a little less clunky overall than ladders. It might not be that complex to implement, as you can already haul animals around with rope.

Another ropework application: rope bridges.

[Rainbow Fresh]

7 hours ago, cjameshuff said:

I mainly have it in mind as a way of exploring caves or descending cliffs that is more tolerant of uneven walls and a little less clunky overall than ladders. It might not be that complex to implement, as you can already haul animals around with rope.

Another ropework application: rope bridges.

It might not be "that hard" to implement, but I also don't think it is a good idea to implement it in the first place. Rather, having some more varied cave generation that isn't 90% "vertical shafts directly to hell" would solve the same "issue" rappeling would solve without the need to generally just trivialize any sort of vertical traversal. Caves are generally meant to be dangerous. The deeper you go, the higher the enemy tier that spawns. The faster your temporal stability drains. Locust nests are down there. But besides the hostility of the cave inhabitants, the thing making caves dangerous is exactly how hard they are to traverse for the unprepared. Fall down 2 blocks with no pickaxe? Well, hope you better have enough sticks on you to make ladders. If you could just deploy a rope to get down and then back up, dipping in and out of caves would be trivial. In which case they lose all their meaning, considering there isn't much in them aside from a chance for a more-or-less valueable ruin or the chance for an exposed ore vein.

[williams_482]

5 hours ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

If you could just deploy a rope to get down and then back up, dipping in and out of caves would be trivial. In which case they lose all their meaning, considering there isn't much in them aside from a chance for a more-or-less valueable ruin or the chance for an exposed ore vein.

Currently a partial stack of rope ladders will get you your easy entrance and egress to a vertical cave shaft. rope ladders are relatively expensive in the early game when reeds are needed for other things, but once you're a few months in they are hardly a major expenditure and hold their value very well. 

[Rainbow Fresh]

19 minutes ago, williams_482 said:

Currently a partial stack of rope ladders will get you your easy entrance and egress to a vertical cave shaft. rope ladders are relatively expensive in the early game when reeds are needed for other things, but once you're a few months in they are hardly a major expenditure and hold their value very well. 

It is true that any form of ladder becomes a non-investment latest by midgame; chop down one big oak tree with ~10 stacks of logs and you can craft more ladders than you will ever need.The difference here, however, is that midgame mark. As you yourself, too, said that making lots of ropes is hard at the beginning but only becomes trivial later. If all you needed is a singular rope (or even multiple) to free-style climb down any drop this hurdle of entry is removed, making excessive cave diving possible day 1. Why anyone would voluntarily go placed they can't do anything without the proper tool and will get horribly murdered by high-tier enemies I don't know, but assuming respawns are infinite you can freely scout at cost of obtaining a rope or 2 and leaving your corpse behind. Atleast with ladders you still need to actively invest otherwise useful resources in notable quantities, over and over again, and then properly place the ladders and climb them back up without falling (or getting knocked) off.

[cjameshuff]

I'm honestly not seeing the issue with early game players being able to get into a place they're not equipped for, or seeing any major difference with doing so by a dangling rope except that it can be a lot faster than cutting a path through obstructing rock. I'm certainly not seeing any reason to prevent even late game players from having access to a quicker way to get across terrain or to quickly check out caves.