Preview:
Okay, where do I start? Following up on my "Visual Improvements" suggestion, in which I outlined my vision for how the server should move visually, I would like to share more ideas building a nice groundwork for nice roleplay enviorement. I believe each of these could greatly improve the player experience. These features are also inspired by "Roleplay and Visual Identity," written by Antlion Gaming, and from healthy conversations with other Astronet staff and community members.
Personal note: I'm prioritizing thirst because I believe it is the easiest to implement. Not that I would call coding an easy job, but I'm trying to lay out this suggestion in a way that makes more sense than just saying "add water."
3 types of water:
UU water
Addition of Forgetting effect:
- Drinking regular vending machine water should have negative effects on your character as it is the easiest one to obtain. After some discussion, we have concluded that the loss of XP for "rebel-sided skills" (e.g., Strenght, Gunsmithing, Lockpicking) would be a powerful driving force for those who wish to rebel to find another way to obtain water. Additionally, all CMB-branded drinks shall have this effect on you. The limitation is that once you reach a certain level, you shouldn't be able to lose it completely. For example, once you reach level 10, you can only get knocked down to the lowest level of 9. However, the loss of XP will not stop, so grinding to get back to level 10 might be a challenge if neglected, but it will not remove the hard progress you have already put into the server.
Purified water
Water Puricifaction:
There are many ways how to go around this I would like to suggest couple I have on mind:
Purification tablets:
- The easiest addition, in my opinion, is to implement an idea I have seen on other servers. This involves creating an item that can purify dirty water by simply mixing it together. Purification tablets could be an item found in containers.
Campfires:
- I have to say, in my eyes, an even more interesting idea is purification tablets inspired by input from Hylix. Craftable campfires would not only give wood a much-needed additional use but also create very interesting roleplay scenarios where camping or otherwise surviving in the wasteland is made much more engaging than just looting. Being able to cook certain foods alongside cleaning water makes campfires one of the most important craftable items for people surviving in the harsh outlands.
Personal note: Sitting by the campfire with the bros's and that one smart ass vort is always peak of any hl2rp, as well campfire props would be great usage of idea for follow up features.
Dirty water
Being able to use empty cans from any water source on the map a can of dirty water which can be purified as uu-water by the methods above.
- Drinking dirty water will give you instantly "sick" effect which is greatly expanded further down below.
Similar to the addition of breaking legs, if you are exposed to rain for a longer duration of time, or if you are in the water again for an extended period, you can experience the "freezing" effect. This, like having a broken leg, will heal over time but has distinctly different effects on you and can be fixed by other methods.
Freezing effect:
If you are freezing, the effect generally lasts for around 5 minutes.
- You can reduce the duration of freezing by wearing warmer clothes, staying near campfires, eating food, and drinking warm beverages (coffee, tea, etc.).
- While freezing, you might experience hypothermia, causing your screen to shake and occasionally reversing controls.
- The serious risk is catching an illness, as those without access to medicine can be in serious trouble. There is a 15% chance per minute while freezing that you will catch an illness. This can only be treated with medicine or by waiting it out for a longer duration, typically around 15 to 20 minutes.
Note: This also brings interesting potentional for winter maps as being cold can bring you some serious trouble and proper winter clothing is required.
Note: This will increase the utility of the suggested clothing mechanics from the "Visual Improvements" suggestion and make them more than just an aesthetic feature.
Personal note: I have not seen any similar feature implemented on any server I have played on. As this is truly an unfounded suggestion, I cannot back up what I'm saying, yet I still believe it would be an interesting dynamic for the server.
Sickness:
- While sick, you experience reduced movement speed, and your maximum HP is reduced to 75% (the remaining 25% would heal if sickness is properly treated with medicine).
- Medics in the city should have the required medicine to heal citizens loyal to the CMB, while rebels must either find a way to obtain the medicine or seek help from rebel medics.
- Eating raw food can also cause sickness, creating another use for campfires, as preparing your food properly can prevent these problems (suggested by: jonahfoxydanoob).
Bleeding
- In combat scenarios, you always face the fact that you can be hit and start bleeding, so carrying bandages with you is always a good idea.
- If you are shot or wounded, you will experience a bleeding effect which causes your HP to gradually decrease over time, losing up to 10 HP.
- Bleeding itself cannot kill you, but it will have serious health implications and increase the possibility of sickness if not treated with bandages.
Personal note: I believe that this feature is more important than any I have mentioned before, as it finally gives apartments a greater purpose than just personal storage containers. It is a long overdue feature in my opinion.
- Every hour or two, you will experience the "tired" effect, which will slow you down and limit some gameplay features.
- You can craft rug beds and sleep in them to remove the "tired" effect for an hour.
- Owning an apartment will grant you access to sleep in a proper bed, allowing you to avoid the "tired" effect for longer periods of time. This will be further detailed in the apartment category.
Note: The Impulse framework has consistently overlooked the limited functionality of apartments, reducing them to either portable storage containers or hidden moonshine-making bases devoid of meaningful gameplay depth or advantages for ownership. Therefore, I wish to present a couple of ideas to enhance apartment features and significantly enrich their engagement within the server.
Assigned One Right When You Spawn:
- Upon joining the game, you will receive keys to a random tier 1 apartment. This ensures that every player has a place to stay immediately after spawning, this create an interesting scenario if you are assigned to already occupied apartment to someone else.
General Apartment Assignment Terminal:
- When you join the server, instead of being automatically assigned an apartment, you must pay at a terminal to receive keys to a random apartment on the map. This introduces an element of choice and responsibility, encouraging players to invest in their living situation and adding a layer of realism to the game and further use of money as you could possibly invest into being assigned into better living conditions.
Personal note: I believe that this approach would be the most interesting from a gameplay perspective. You would be able to receive one of three levels of apartments based on loyalty points. More information about this idea can be found in this document. Source (suggestion made by Noiseyboi322)
CPs Forcibly Assign You an Apartment:
- In the least likely scenario, you would visit a post office-like facility at the train station, where CPs would assign you an apartment based on your status. This adds a layer of roleplay and realism, as your living situation would depend on your standing with the authorities, introducing potential consequences and interactions based on your actions within the game. This scenario can lead to interesting dynamics, where loyalists receive better accommodations while rebels might get the bare minimum.
Tiers of apartments and diferences beetwen them:
Tier 0: Level 0 basicly means that you are homeless and can only utilize the variants of beds, and foods to stay alive.
Tier 1: Is basic assined housing which you are given, you may share the apartment with multiple people and have barely enough space to go by with.
Tier 2: You can pay up this tier to be
Tier 3: Loyalist tier of housing which is granted by sufficient number of loyality points Source (based of suggestion made by Noiseyboi322)
For rebel players, the gameplay loop is the most distinctive within the Impulse framework:
You spawn = You loot = You shoot cops = You die = Repeat
Similar loops exist for other activities such as moonshining, trading, and roleplaying.
I envision that each faction should have a unique gameplay experience. I propose adding features that enhance these loops and further specialize the roles of different factions.
Craftable Weaponry and Armor
- Replace the current craftable weapons and armor with scrap variants. These scrap items would retain the power of their counterparts but would have reduced quality-of-life features, such as increased recoil and spread for weapons. Essentially, they would be the same weapons but with worse attributes.
Armor
- I find it unrealistic that a person could craft overwatch-issued gear for their own use. It would be more interesting if rebels used scrap materials to create stronger and bulkier armor. This would better reflect their resourcefulness in fighting the Combine.
(credits to cynical.gg for porting the fallout 4 models)
As previously mentioned, campfires, rug beds, and the sickness feature would create a significant strain on the rebels, as much of the city's infrastructure is unavailable to them. Therefore, creating small settlements would become more necessary for survival. This could integrate well with farming, encouraging people to form their own small towns across the map. Here are a couple of suggestions on how this could be improved and supported.
- Players could refill containers with water (e.g., dirty water cans) and use campfires to purify it. This purified water could then be used to grow a variety of crops, such as carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and berries. This could be done by crafting small farmland plots where crops can be grown.
- These additions would not only diversify the suggested features but also provide more options for rebels beyond combat. It would encourage the formation of player communities that could trade with each other, creating more roleplay scenarios.
- I also propose a possible crate rework. By making farmland plots craftable instead of purchasable, wood would gain more importance as a crafting material. Crates should receive similar treatment as craftable entities. Currently, crates are rarely used because player crashes cause the loss of all linked entities, including crates and their contents.
- I suggest making crates more like IEDs: once placed, they become world entities that cannot despawn. However, they could be destroyed or picklocked, creating various reasons to protect your crates. This way, items would not be lost upon player disconnecting, enhancing usability of the crates, as well making them craftable with wood and metal and giving them increased weight, perhaps up to 15kg making them really hard to abuse.
Note: Many of these props are already part of the server's content pack, so no additional content needs to be added.
Personal note: Allowing players to have their own personal settlements increases the likelihood of them grouping up and living together. This provides better interactivity and security in the outlands, which, if done properly, can enhance the roleplay and gameplay experience to another level.
(person in picture: LuckyK65)
I believe that each faction should have its distinctive gameplay. The citizen faction should be the largest mix among them all, but as you progress through the factions, they should become more specialized for people who wish to experience different kinds of gameplay. For example, the Civil Workers Union poses an interesting idea of being a more "city roleplay" focused faction, which means completing jobs and tasks to keep the city fully operational. As so I would like to present couple of changes and additonal features for the CWU faction on the server.
- Spread of sickness: Around the full containers, a zone will form that functions similarly to the freezing feature suggested above. Every minute, there is a 15% chance of catching a sickness, pressuring people to empty the containers regularly.
- Spread of litter around the city: Litter can spawn around the city, accompanied by unpleasant smells and flies. This will create an annoying environment, pressuring the Civil Workers Union (CWU) to clean up the trash.
- Each apartment block will have its own set of pipes that require replacement, repair, and regular maintenance to ensure proper functionality. Initially, this could be a simple "F2 = Fix" feature, which could later evolve into a mini-game to make it a more enjoyable and engaging task for the CWU, rather than just mundane upkeep.
- Stoves, if used regularly, can break down and will need repairs. The CWU will be responsible for fixing these stoves. As previously suggested, this could start as a basic loading menu and develop into a more immersive experience over time.
Personal note: There is countless types of jobs which Industrial workers can do
I hope that those who read through this truly care for the server and will provide valuable feedback. More perspectives on the matter will only aid in decision-making for the server! I love you all <3
Okay, where do I start? Following up on my "Visual Improvements" suggestion, in which I outlined my vision for how the server should move visually, I would like to share more ideas building a nice groundwork for nice roleplay enviorement. I believe each of these could greatly improve the player experience. These features are also inspired by "Roleplay and Visual Identity," written by Antlion Gaming, and from healthy conversations with other Astronet staff and community members.
Character Condition
============================================================
Personal note: There reason why I'm suggesting these are that from my years of expierence I have seen these suggestion been tried on the servers on which they worked well and added another layer of depth to the server, which brought more RP scenarious, which we all are here for arent we.Thirst
Basic copy of the hunger mechanic, now players have two diferent stats they have to keep in check, water should go down faster then hunger and hunger, this is rather easy to add addition thus so I have couple of ideas how to improve and change!Personal note: I'm prioritizing thirst because I believe it is the easiest to implement. Not that I would call coding an easy job, but I'm trying to lay out this suggestion in a way that makes more sense than just saying "add water."
3 types of water:
UU water
Addition of Forgetting effect:
- Drinking regular vending machine water should have negative effects on your character as it is the easiest one to obtain. After some discussion, we have concluded that the loss of XP for "rebel-sided skills" (e.g., Strenght, Gunsmithing, Lockpicking) would be a powerful driving force for those who wish to rebel to find another way to obtain water. Additionally, all CMB-branded drinks shall have this effect on you. The limitation is that once you reach a certain level, you shouldn't be able to lose it completely. For example, once you reach level 10, you can only get knocked down to the lowest level of 9. However, the loss of XP will not stop, so grinding to get back to level 10 might be a challenge if neglected, but it will not remove the hard progress you have already put into the server.
Purified water
Water Puricifaction:
There are many ways how to go around this I would like to suggest couple I have on mind:
Purification tablets:
- The easiest addition, in my opinion, is to implement an idea I have seen on other servers. This involves creating an item that can purify dirty water by simply mixing it together. Purification tablets could be an item found in containers.
Campfires:
- I have to say, in my eyes, an even more interesting idea is purification tablets inspired by input from Hylix. Craftable campfires would not only give wood a much-needed additional use but also create very interesting roleplay scenarios where camping or otherwise surviving in the wasteland is made much more engaging than just looting. Being able to cook certain foods alongside cleaning water makes campfires one of the most important craftable items for people surviving in the harsh outlands.
Personal note: Sitting by the campfire with the bros's and that one smart ass vort is always peak of any hl2rp, as well campfire props would be great usage of idea for follow up features.
Dirty water
Being able to use empty cans from any water source on the map a can of dirty water which can be purified as uu-water by the methods above.
- Drinking dirty water will give you instantly "sick" effect which is greatly expanded further down below.
Weather influence on the player:
Similar to the addition of breaking legs, if you are exposed to rain for a longer duration of time, or if you are in the water again for an extended period, you can experience the "freezing" effect. This, like having a broken leg, will heal over time but has distinctly different effects on you and can be fixed by other methods.Freezing effect:
If you are freezing, the effect generally lasts for around 5 minutes.
- You can reduce the duration of freezing by wearing warmer clothes, staying near campfires, eating food, and drinking warm beverages (coffee, tea, etc.).
- While freezing, you might experience hypothermia, causing your screen to shake and occasionally reversing controls.
- The serious risk is catching an illness, as those without access to medicine can be in serious trouble. There is a 15% chance per minute while freezing that you will catch an illness. This can only be treated with medicine or by waiting it out for a longer duration, typically around 15 to 20 minutes.
Note: This also brings interesting potentional for winter maps as being cold can bring you some serious trouble and proper winter clothing is required.
Note: This will increase the utility of the suggested clothing mechanics from the "Visual Improvements" suggestion and make them more than just an aesthetic feature.
Personal note: I have not seen any similar feature implemented on any server I have played on. As this is truly an unfounded suggestion, I cannot back up what I'm saying, yet I still believe it would be an interesting dynamic for the server.
Sickness:
- While sick, you experience reduced movement speed, and your maximum HP is reduced to 75% (the remaining 25% would heal if sickness is properly treated with medicine).
- Medics in the city should have the required medicine to heal citizens loyal to the CMB, while rebels must either find a way to obtain the medicine or seek help from rebel medics.
- Eating raw food can also cause sickness, creating another use for campfires, as preparing your food properly can prevent these problems (suggested by: jonahfoxydanoob).
Your wound is bleeding
Okay, this is a challenging topic. I've seen this feature added, hated, loved, and cursed more than any other, perhaps second only to deathsting. There are many ways to implement this idea; here is my approach (inspired by Antlion Gaming).Bleeding
- In combat scenarios, you always face the fact that you can be hit and start bleeding, so carrying bandages with you is always a good idea.
- If you are shot or wounded, you will experience a bleeding effect which causes your HP to gradually decrease over time, losing up to 10 HP.
- Bleeding itself cannot kill you, but it will have serious health implications and increase the possibility of sickness if not treated with bandages.
Sleeping
The last effect I wish to talk about is being "tired" this one I believe would be the most questioned but I have good reasons why adding this one. (idea inspared by: Elsker, Clockwork framework)Personal note: I believe that this feature is more important than any I have mentioned before, as it finally gives apartments a greater purpose than just personal storage containers. It is a long overdue feature in my opinion.
- Every hour or two, you will experience the "tired" effect, which will slow you down and limit some gameplay features.
- You can craft rug beds and sleep in them to remove the "tired" effect for an hour.
- Owning an apartment will grant you access to sleep in a proper bed, allowing you to avoid the "tired" effect for longer periods of time. This will be further detailed in the apartment category.
Apartment System
============================================================
Importance of Apartments in Half-Life 2 Roleplay
Note: The Impulse framework has consistently overlooked the limited functionality of apartments, reducing them to either portable storage containers or hidden moonshine-making bases devoid of meaningful gameplay depth or advantages for ownership. Therefore, I wish to present a couple of ideas to enhance apartment features and significantly enrich their engagement within the server.
Assignment of Apartments
I believe that low tier citizens should have no say in what apartment they are living in and they should be assigned one, there are tho, many ways how to go around doing this, here are some:Assigned One Right When You Spawn:
- Upon joining the game, you will receive keys to a random tier 1 apartment. This ensures that every player has a place to stay immediately after spawning, this create an interesting scenario if you are assigned to already occupied apartment to someone else.
General Apartment Assignment Terminal:
- When you join the server, instead of being automatically assigned an apartment, you must pay at a terminal to receive keys to a random apartment on the map. This introduces an element of choice and responsibility, encouraging players to invest in their living situation and adding a layer of realism to the game and further use of money as you could possibly invest into being assigned into better living conditions.
Personal note: I believe that this approach would be the most interesting from a gameplay perspective. You would be able to receive one of three levels of apartments based on loyalty points. More information about this idea can be found in this document. Source (suggestion made by Noiseyboi322)
CPs Forcibly Assign You an Apartment:
- In the least likely scenario, you would visit a post office-like facility at the train station, where CPs would assign you an apartment based on your status. This adds a layer of roleplay and realism, as your living situation would depend on your standing with the authorities, introducing potential consequences and interactions based on your actions within the game. This scenario can lead to interesting dynamics, where loyalists receive better accommodations while rebels might get the bare minimum.
Importance of apartments.
Apartments should be viewed mainly as a reward for loyalist to ease up their life. This mean also that they will be put way greater supervision from civil protection and might have to uphold certain tasks regarding their ownership of apartment, for example: Taxes, Regular visits from Civil Protection, Work Duties.Sleep
Returning to the previous category, being able to have quality sleep to remove tiredness effect should be the most benefitial in the highest tier of apartmentsTiers of apartments and diferences beetwen them:
Tier 0: Level 0 basicly means that you are homeless and can only utilize the variants of beds, and foods to stay alive.
Tier 1: Is basic assined housing which you are given, you may share the apartment with multiple people and have barely enough space to go by with.
Tier 2: You can pay up this tier to be
Tier 3: Loyalist tier of housing which is granted by sufficient number of loyality points Source (based of suggestion made by Noiseyboi322)
Stove
Having the need to cook your own food, as rations only keep you barely alive, emphasizes the importance of being assigned to an apartment. With the commercial worker update, the ability to cook your own food would become crucial for the apartment system.Sink
Having the ability to drink and refill your empty cans with UU-water is important. It gives yet another great need to own an apartment and focus on expanding the idea. With connection to other factions if the pipes mentioned below in the industrial worker rework were to break, everyone in the apartment block would receive dirty water instead, until fixed by the CWU.Citizen Faction
============================================================
Gameplay Loop
This theory aims to explain the fundamental core gameplay for each faction. Let's start with an example to illustrate the concept.For rebel players, the gameplay loop is the most distinctive within the Impulse framework:
You spawn = You loot = You shoot cops = You die = Repeat
Similar loops exist for other activities such as moonshining, trading, and roleplaying.
I envision that each faction should have a unique gameplay experience. I propose adding features that enhance these loops and further specialize the roles of different factions.
Crafting and Weapon Suggestion
Here is a quick item suggestion aimed at improving roleplay rather than focusing solely on combat. I believe this change for rebels could introduce many potential features that support roleplaying as well.Craftable Weaponry and Armor
- Replace the current craftable weapons and armor with scrap variants. These scrap items would retain the power of their counterparts but would have reduced quality-of-life features, such as increased recoil and spread for weapons. Essentially, they would be the same weapons but with worse attributes.
Armor
- I find it unrealistic that a person could craft overwatch-issued gear for their own use. It would be more interesting if rebels used scrap materials to create stronger and bulkier armor. This would better reflect their resourcefulness in fighting the Combine.
(credits to cynical.gg for porting the fallout 4 models)
As previously mentioned, campfires, rug beds, and the sickness feature would create a significant strain on the rebels, as much of the city's infrastructure is unavailable to them. Therefore, creating small settlements would become more necessary for survival. This could integrate well with farming, encouraging people to form their own small towns across the map. Here are a couple of suggestions on how this could be improved and supported.
Farming
- Similar to moonshining, farming could be a great non-combat activity for players. Settling by water sources and using campfires to purify water for growing food introduces smaller features that serve a greater purpose.- Players could refill containers with water (e.g., dirty water cans) and use campfires to purify it. This purified water could then be used to grow a variety of crops, such as carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and berries. This could be done by crafting small farmland plots where crops can be grown.
- These additions would not only diversify the suggested features but also provide more options for rebels beyond combat. It would encourage the formation of player communities that could trade with each other, creating more roleplay scenarios.
- I also propose a possible crate rework. By making farmland plots craftable instead of purchasable, wood would gain more importance as a crafting material. Crates should receive similar treatment as craftable entities. Currently, crates are rarely used because player crashes cause the loss of all linked entities, including crates and their contents.
- I suggest making crates more like IEDs: once placed, they become world entities that cannot despawn. However, they could be destroyed or picklocked, creating various reasons to protect your crates. This way, items would not be lost upon player disconnecting, enhancing usability of the crates, as well making them craftable with wood and metal and giving them increased weight, perhaps up to 15kg making them really hard to abuse.
Note: Many of these props are already part of the server's content pack, so no additional content needs to be added.
Personal note: Allowing players to have their own personal settlements increases the likelihood of them grouping up and living together. This provides better interactivity and security in the outlands, which, if done properly, can enhance the roleplay and gameplay experience to another level.
(person in picture: LuckyK65)Civil Workers Union Faction
============================================================
General focus for faction:
Suggestion made at the Improvement Committee meetingI believe that each faction should have its distinctive gameplay. The citizen faction should be the largest mix among them all, but as you progress through the factions, they should become more specialized for people who wish to experience different kinds of gameplay. For example, the Civil Workers Union poses an interesting idea of being a more "city roleplay" focused faction, which means completing jobs and tasks to keep the city fully operational. As so I would like to present couple of changes and additonal features for the CWU faction on the server.
Industrial Worker
I believe that industrial worker and the first and the most general use of workers shall be the main focus regarding the additional features, I would like to present couple of them,The Garbage Collection
This one is rather simple. As I was saying, it is more of a city roleplay suggestion than anything else. Near apartment buildings, there will be garbage containers that can be emptied. If not emptied, the containers may overflow with litter. Here are some potential consequences of this:- Spread of sickness: Around the full containers, a zone will form that functions similarly to the freezing feature suggested above. Every minute, there is a 15% chance of catching a sickness, pressuring people to empty the containers regularly.
- Spread of litter around the city: Litter can spawn around the city, accompanied by unpleasant smells and flies. This will create an annoying environment, pressuring the Civil Workers Union (CWU) to clean up the trash.
Plumbing and Apartment works
It is important that the addition of apartments will have a broader impact on other factions as well. The Civil Workers Union (CWU) will be responsible for maintaining and ensuring the functionality of these apartments. I have two additional features for the apartments: the necessity of sleep (including beds) and the ability to cook. Stoves will need power and can break down, adding two distinct tasks for the CWU.- Each apartment block will have its own set of pipes that require replacement, repair, and regular maintenance to ensure proper functionality. Initially, this could be a simple "F2 = Fix" feature, which could later evolve into a mini-game to make it a more enjoyable and engaging task for the CWU, rather than just mundane upkeep.
- Stoves, if used regularly, can break down and will need repairs. The CWU will be responsible for fixing these stoves. As previously suggested, this could start as a basic loading menu and develop into a more immersive experience over time.
Personal note: There is countless types of jobs which Industrial workers can do
Commercial Worker
Giving commercial workers a greater variety of commerce options enhances their usefulness. With people capable of growing their own food, even if illegally, commercial workers could sell materials for farming, special foods they create, and, most importantly, clothes. Clothing would play a much larger role in managing sickness and freezing effects, making the role of a commercial worker particularly beneficial during winter. Additionally, they would gain the ability to sell items like flashlights, basic medicine, and repair tools, providing more uses for money in the city.Conclusions
I believe that these smaller suggestions would have a significant impact on the server's gameplay, bringing much-needed identity and introducing new features. Most of the suggestions presented here are not combat-focused but instead emphasize the roleplay aspect of the game. They introduce various challenges for players in the form of effects and conditions while also providing interesting ways to address them.I hope that those who read through this truly care for the server and will provide valuable feedback. More perspectives on the matter will only aid in decision-making for the server! I love you all <3
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