Talk:Suggestions/28th-Apr-2007
Satellite Phone MK1
| Timestamp: | 16:32, 25 April 2007 (BST) |
| Type: | Item, etc. |
| Scope: | Survivors |
| Description: | There is only one satellite phone on the map at one time, which can be found in a random square of malton.
The name of whoever has the satellite phone is displayed to others as ThierName (Satellite Phone) this allows zombies to attack whoever has the phone and prevent them from contating the outside world. If someone drops, or is killed with the satellite phone, it respawns during the start of the next week (at midnight). The cost to use the phone is around 20AP, the reason for this is because once using the phone, a log is made allowing the user to type a timestamped message to the 'outside world'. For example:
(a text box appears with a done button.) < this text box is fed into a log with a named timestamp "You leave a message but the phone goes dead." "You discard the phone." (The phone respawns again next week.)
When a zombie kills the person with the phone: "You recieve a satellite phone, It's an answering machine, asking you to leave a message." ... The zombie gets to say either "Graagh.","Graaaagh!","Grrrh.","Grh. ","Mrh?" or "Brnhr." down the line (... which is also with a named timestamp.) (The phone respawns again next week.)
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Discussion
I know what I'd want. News from the outside world... For example, is Malton the only city with a zombie problem or merely the only city left? Who's in charge of the government now? Does the outside world know about our plight or is it a secret? Who won the World Series? --Uncle Bill 04:23, 25 April 2007 (BST)
- And how much are my NecroTech stock certificates worth? --Uncle Bill 04:27, 25 April 2007 (BST)
- Waaaaiiiiit a minute! That's it! The utterly useless item everybody wants - a small safe filled with NecroTech stock certificates. If you make it out of the city with that, you'd be set for life on the outside. --Uncle Bill 04:27, 25 April 2007 (BST)
Got it! A week before the zombie uprising, Pablo Piccaso's famous artwork Guernica was unprecidently lent to a malton museum for a special exhiblt on the horrors of war. The painting was quickly stolen soon after the outbreak, but the theif was killed by a zombie (ironicly, the zombie was the undead corpse of an art critic) The painting is somewhere in the city right now. It is found randomly, can be placed in any building (the building then changes the internal description to you are inxxxx... Blahblah blah. Piccaso's painting Guernica hangs on the wall in front of you. it's horrifying depiction of a city in the middle of a bombing is heightened even more by the bold, dark cubist shapes that make up the people and buildings. The painting has an encumbrance of 20%, can be stolen (10% chance). If someone dies while carrying it, it respawns somewhere random next month. (for those of you who don't know, Guernica is a very famous painting by the surrealist/cubist artist Piccaso. It depicts the bombing of a town called guernica by Nazi forces loyal to Franco during the spanish civil war. Check it out, it is impressive)--Seventythree 09:34, 25 April 2007 (BST)
all good ideas, but i think there should be a definate button rather than searching, using the 5 action points bit from the holy grail. --Da Axe Man 11:06, 25 April 2007 (BST)
So far our options are either: The Holy Grail, A Satellite Phone, NecroTech stock certificates or Piccaso's Guernica.
I like the idea of a peice of art initially found in a mueseum but unlike other peices of art this one is stealable when set up... to counter that any safehouse it is set up in would allow those resting there to gain an extra AP not an extra AP per hour just an extra 1 (ie 51 max) call it a moral bonus or something! don't know why zeds would want art though! --Honestmistake 12:17, 25 April 2007 (BST)
Heres why........ New Zombie skill. Undead Art critic In your previous life, you where the lowest of the low. An art critic. Becoming a zombie may actualy make you more of a human +1 XP for every artwork destroyed. --Seventythree 12:41, 25 April 2007 (BST)
- you do know that would be spammed as humorous and far too realistic for what is after all a game with zombies ;-). Shame really because as a game mechanic it actually makes sense! --Honestmistake 17:10, 25 April 2007 (BST)
Actually, now that I think of it, this idea could lead to the creation of a 'semi-balanced' "Air Shipment" suggestion. Send a message to the outside world, and helicopters drop some crates! If zombies stop contact to the outside world, they get some extra XP as well...Mind if I borrow it for the use of this?--ShadowScope 17:11, 25 April 2007 (BST)
A radio beacon! THe only item zombies can pick up, if someones carrying it on the first of each month, a supply crate is dropped on their position. If they die then the beacon stays where they died and can be picked up by others.--Seventythree 17:23, 25 April 2007 (BST)
Erm, im getting really bored of this idea now ... guess i don't have a very long attention span! Anyone who wants to nick it, or carry this on is welcome to do so; jus make sure you give me a mention :P I'll leave seventythree in charge of this actuall discussion (if thats okay with him) because he's really been helping me from the start. Guess there are thousands of objects which could be made using this principle but i'll leave it to you guys to choose one. Cheers --Da Axe Man 19:40, 25 April 2007 (BST)
To be honest, this is gonna need a lock of work on it, and time, which i don't realy have.--Seventythree 21:08, 25 April 2007 (BST)
well fair doos, really cant be bothered anymore. end of discussion --Da Axe Man 22:34, 25 April 2007 (BST)
/shrugs. At least I could attempt to try this out. I'll think of something and post it sooner or later...--ShadowScope 22:14, 25 April 2007 (BST)
I'll vote for it. lol --Da Axe Man 22:34, 25 April 2007 (BST)
It's gotta be tied in with some unique ability, thats the thing... Maybe a portable laptop, allowing necronet access. --Seventythree 15:38, 26 April 2007 (BST)
I don't know if this needs to have any in-game effect like Necronet access. It's kind of great just for "bragging rights" like the Holy Grail above. Here's my suggestion. It's a 20% encumbrance item that has a tag as described above, like Rasi (Satellite Phone). Possibly it adds a line to the room description that says "You notice a flashing light and a beeping sound coming from the huge Satellite Phone that Rasi is carrying." The phone is found in any building (maybe a non-NT office building, which currently have no use!) and can only be used outside. Every time you use it, it costs 8 AP, and you have to use it three times total, at an interval of no less than six hours, to make a phone call. Basically, what this means is that the phone caller has to stand in one place outside for 18 hours, checking in at least every six hours, and 2/3 of their AP over that 18 hours will have to be used to operate the phone. In other words, you'll probably need some backup to make this kind of phone call, to defend yourself outside. To make it even more difficult, it could be only usable from a wide-open area like a park, etc, or could cause a flare-like effect when used which will bring everyone running -- but that might be too much.
OK, so why would anyone want to take on something so difficult? Because whatever phone message you leave will go up on the UD homepage as "last known communication from inside Malton!" Obviously, some people could abuse this, so Kevan or some volunteer will have to screen these messages, and any vulgar/obscene/offensive ones would be deleted or heavily edited. If the player with the phone is killed, or if they finish the phone call, the phone is broken and won't appear again for another week, so these messages will only change once a week, hopefully not too big of a deal for screening them.
Suggestions for flavor text:
- When you find the phone (always inside a building) a message says "You find a large satellite phone maked with the NecroTech logo. It's beeping and has a flashing light on the top... this thing will be sure to attract attention. There are a number of buttons and a display that reads "Satellite Link Not Detected -- Please use in an open outdoor space." (No, free running on buildings doesn't count as outside.)
- When outdoors there is an action "Initialize Satellite Phone (8 AP)" that results in a message "You press the initialize button on the phone. The small LCD display flickers with static and now reads "Initializing. Do not move phone."" Trying to use the satellite phone again will use 0 AP and show a message "the satellite phone is still initializing." If the player moves to another location, a message says "the satellite phone's display fills with static and resets itself."
- After six hours, the satellite phone produces a message to the player just as if someone had said something to them. "The display on the satellite phone changes. It now says 'Attempt Uplink?'" The player now has a button that says "Attempt Satellite Uplink (8 AP)" that results in a message "You press the uplink button. The satellite phone's display flickers and now reads "Uplink in progress. Do not move phone." Similar messages to above if trying to use it again, or move.
- After another six hours, the satellite phone produces a message "The display on the satellite phone changes. It now says 'Uplink Established. Please authenticate.' A panel on the phone flips over to reveal a thumbprint-scanner." The next button is "Put thumb on satellite phone's scanner (8 AP)" and the resulting message is "Something sharp pricks you in the thumb. The satellite phone's display now reads 'DNA data encrypting and transmitting. Do not move phone.'" Similar move/use messages as above.
- After another six hours, the satellite phone now says "The display on the satellite phone changes. It now says 'Human DNA confirmed.' Suddenly, the speakerphone on the unit crackles to life, and you hear a dialtone, followed by a number being dialed. After a couple rings, you hear a woman's voice. 'I'm sorry, outgoing calls from your region are currently restricted. If this is an emergency, please leave a message and our support staff will contact you as soon as possible.' You hear a beep." The player now has a text input box called "Leave a message." Anything the player types in this box will be displayed on the urbandead.com homepage with the caption "Last known communication from Malton, left as a voice mail message on (date) coming from (suburb): (message)" Again, it should be noted that Kevan or someone will have to filter out offensive/vulgar comments, but only once a week. The suburb note is there because obviously, some suburbs are going to be a lot more difficult to make a call from than others, so the measure of accomplishment/bragging rights will be different in say, Ridleybank.
- After putting in this message, the player sees another message "The satellite phone crackles, the display goes dead, and some smoke comes out of the top. It looks like it's broken." They can't do anything with it at this point, it's just dead weight in their inventory (although who knows, maybe they want to keep it).
- If the player dies, they get a message "The unwieldy satellite phone slips from your grasp and lands on the ground with an ominous crack." It's either broken or gone from the inventory, probably the latter.
- If a zombie kills the player, there could be a message "This human was carrying a strange box with an antenna and flashing lights, that fell on the ground when you dealt the final blow. All of a sudden you hear a voice coming out of the box, talking to you! You vaguely remember devices like this. It says "I'm sorry, your satellite phone is experiencing technical difficulties. If this is an emergency, please leave a message and our support team will get back to you as soon as possible." The zombie can then leave a message too, same rules.
The idea behind this flavor text is to be hilariously frustrating in a "bad operating system" / "terrible satellite internet problems" / "useless customer service" parody. (If that wasn't obvious.) Hopefully it'll be funny while trying to fight off groups attempting to stop the phone from being used. It might seem much easier for zombies to leave a message, which is maybe why it should be limited to the drop-down "Mrh?" and other simple choices, but I think that's kind of funny. It's a huge challenge for survivors and an ongoing game with bragging rights. The record of old messages could be kept on the web page as well. Finally, maybe this needs some way for other survivors to steal the phone from you, although that might just be encouraging PK.
Alternately, if the "you leave a message on some random support line voice mail" is just too sadistic, this could be incorporated with a supply drop idea as mentioned above... but I kind of like the "you get your message out... but is anyone listening? Is anyone even out there?" feeling. It's more in-genre, the "who knows if it worked" attempts to get help, etc. --Rasi 09:45, 27 April 2007 (EST)
I take it peoples names are automatically recorded too and that the "the name of whoever has the satellite phone is displayed to others as ThierName (Satellite Phone)" rule still applies. 12 hours outside seems a very very long time ... i would prefer it just to use loads of action points (maybe even 50?). Everything else seems cool --Da Axe Man 17:39, 27 April 2007 (BST)
I'd actually suggest not automatically recording someone's name. After all, they're entering a message, they can choose to leave their name if they want. In other cases they may want to credit their group, since part of the idea here is that it's a group effort to keep someone alive outside for a long time. I figure some messages might be like "This is Rasi. I've got the phone, whooo!! Thanks guys!" but more often people might want to do in-fiction messages like "Oh my god. You've got to send help... is anyone out there? For god's sake... IS ANYONE THERE?" or a death cultist anonymously spreading the word of their church. Up to the caller whether they want the notoriety. No credit needed for zombies, since their call gets recorded automatically if they kill the original holder, which is simpler. Besides, zombies are largely anonymous anyway. And yeah, the TheirName (Satellite Phone) thing is still in there, near the top. As for the time outside -- it's described as 18 hours right now, which IS a very long time. Otherwise I think this becomes trivial, even if it's 50 AP. If you found the phone, you'd just locate an out-of-the-way safehouse and hang out inside until you rack up 50 AP, then you go outside, wait another half hour to get back to 50, and use it. There wouldn't be much chance for zombies to stop that, and even PKs might find it hard to stop. The "stay outside for a long time" challenge is designed to require more strategy and coordination, and almost definitely a group -- it's an endurance marathon, kind of like sieges or blockades in other MMOs. However, it certainly doesn't have to be 18 hours. It could be 12, or 6. Six seems kind of easy to me though, at least outside a massively zombie-crowded suburb. There are some suburbs right now with newbie survivors sleeping overnight on the streets. Ideally I think this should be hard enough that there's not a new message every single week -- it's a special victory. --Rasi 13:55, 27 April 2007 (EST)
We need a probably need third opinion on this --Da Axe Man 22:12, 27 April 2007 (BST)
Well, I like it... Gives a secondry goal to survivors other than, well, surviving. Don't know whether it'l get through voting though.--Seventythree 13:16, 28 April 2007 (BST)
Lets see ... --Da Axe Man 22:13, 28 April 2007 (BST)
PLEASE ADD ALL COMMENTS AFTER VOTE STARTED BELOW THIS LINE
I think waiting 6 hours for initialization and then another 6 hours for the uplink is a bit excessive. You should combine the two actions and make it either 6, 8, or 12 hours before you can use it (whatever you decide is reasonable). Also, and this is minor, but you forgot about zombies with death rattle. Under circumstances where another zombie might be able to say "Grahh!" (or whatever it is that they say), a zombie with death rattle ought to be able to say something like "Harman hambargarz! BARHAH!!!" --Uncle Bill 23:53, 28 April 2007 (BST)
Changed it :D --Da Axe Man 01:05, 29 April 2007 (BST)
