Advancing up the tech tree should also replace outdated tech

Uncreative Guy · 2020-09-04 19:08:26

One Hour One Life is special in it's ability to go through many lives in the same family and have different experiences each time in different generations. This is because as families age, new technology is developed in order for them to survive, or to make things more convenient. Examples are the necessities of engines and newcomens in advanced towns, while primitive towns are more focused on making adobe for buldings, and starting to chop away the surrounding forests for firewood and skewers to roast rabbits. The tech tree essentially goes from the stone age, to roughly the 1920s, with crude cars, radios, and a reliance on oil for things like fuel, and road pavers. However, human advancement doesn't stop because we 'already have a way to do it', people look for efficiency in their inventions, and always try to figure out how to make life more simple, with more complicated tools. I believe that to flesh out the tech tree and make the game more realistic in how a town would advance, more options on how to do basic chores should be added. I'll include some examples of what I can think of, and what I think would make playing in an advanced town, and wanting to advance, much more fun.

Clothes: As humans have advanced, our clothes have been changed with us. Much of them are made with what materials are available and can be mass produced. Although we don't have cotton or polyester in OHOL, we do have sheep and cows. Already with a variety of tools, we can craft entire outfits out of sheep wool, however, something that I believe is lacking, is more ways to craft backpacks. Backpacks can so far only be crafted by rabbit fur. This means that no matter how advanced your town is, you still rely on hunters to use snares on the limited rabbit population, in order to craft a backpack that might get stuck out of town forever by someone dying in the wilderness three generations later. Because sheep are common in bigger towns, I believe that using four pieces of wool felt (sheep wool + needle), and then a needle and thread on the stack, should make a backpack. The backpack would be just the same as a rabbit backpack, just made a different way, depending on what resources your town has available. I believe this could also be stretched to cows by being able to harvest leather off of them to make leather clothes with needle and thread, along with a backpack. Due to differences in sheep wool, cow leather, and rabbit fur, there can also be warmth difference, making not any specific kind of material 'the best one to use'. Also, if it is ever figured out how to put babies in items, than I think a baby satchel that people could wear in place of a shirt (made from a stack of three felt and sewn together) could also be useful.

Crafting Rope: Rope has always been very important to humans, both in game, and in real life. Because of this, humans have learned how to make rope with the resources available in all sorts of climates. Rope doesn't need to be the easiest thing in the world to make, but in a town that has been established for three days and milkweed has gone extinct in a 300 tile radius around it, they should have another way to make it in order to survive. Due to wheat's importance to humans, it is grown in every reasonable town. I think that it should have another use in that by using a drop spindle on straw, it could make twine. Put two pieces of twine together to make a stack of twine. Combine two stacks of twine together, and another singular twine (5 wheat plants in total) in order to make a rope. This way, primitive towns have to rely more on milkweed, because they can't easily handle losing 5 wheat plants to make a rope, and also have to have a drop spindle. Advanced towns can have a choice between whether more milkweed is available and wheat can't be spared, or to sacrifice some wheat in order to make ropes.

Making Fire: Most people don't set fires with bow-drills anymore; it takes a lot of work and can get messy. Bow-drills are useful to set fires in emergencies and when there aren't any other fire starting gear around (an eve town or a lost traveler), but their usefulness fades when it comes to the more simple ways to start a fire. Flint and steel is commonly used as a still very basic firestarting tool, but takes less time to make the fire, and creates less mess. By putting together a flint chip and a steel ingot, a fire could be started on some kindling on the ground, kindling in the oven, or charcoal or kindling in the forge.

Cooking: As humanity in OHOL is born and dies through possibly hundreds of generations, the kitchen stays roughly the same. The random place Eve decided to build an adobe stove is used by her hundreds of descendants, as they build a wooden floor around it and put up shelves and tables. We also still use a flat rock on hot coals to cook omelettes for our town that has a 30 meter long sprinkler system for our corn harvest. Cooking should have some changes made in order to make it more efficient, and unlock new recipes. Charcoal grills I think would be a useful addition to the kitchen. They would be fueled by charcoal, and would be fueled for 60 seconds until the fire that is lit inside the grill dies out. Anything that could be cooked over hot coals, besides soups and dyes, could be cooked on the grill. This means that you could cook omelettes, carnitas, rabbits, and geese. If cows and bison could also be harvested for their meat, than it could also be cooked on the grill. The adobe oven could also be replaced with a steel oven that runs on charcoal and lasts longer.

More Transportation Methods: There are very few ways to get from A to B in OHOL. There's walking, horseback riding, driving a car, or driving a plane. Those last two examples are for the most advanced towns, so that narrows travel down to 2 options for 98% of the game. If it is figured out how to put people in a "container", then a horse carriage would be a nice addition to allow up to four people to travel quickly, essentially replacing the ability to travel with items, to travel with people. This would also be a fix to if a woman has a baby at the far stretches of homezone, and took a horse with her. I also believe that bicycles would be a nice addition because it lets middle-tier towns craft a mode of transportation from steel and wooden wheels. A simple bike with wooden wheels could only offer a small speed boost, but the important part is that a basket can be added to the front of it. A bike could be upgraded with rubber tires to make the user go faster, but still less fast than a horse. For griefer safety, bikes couldn't be used until age 14, but maybe tricycles for anyone younger that couldn't hold a basket or leave a pathway.

More Ways To Lay Floors: Due to gravel being rather simple to make, but useless without a paver, I think that by laying stakes down and using a chunk of gravel, an indefinite path could be layed, the only catch, it is by hand and tedious work. A gravel path could also make the user move at 75% speed because it isn't smooth like a paved road, but like a paved road, will likely stretch far distances. This speed debuff could maybe be decreased to 90% if the user is wearing shoes, making them possibly the most useful clothes in the game.

What does everyone think of my suggestions? Also, discuss in what ways the tech tree should be more expanded or fleshed out.

Morti · 2020-09-05 03:05:57

There was a time, when this is what the forums were used for. The first page of the main forum, was so alive. 2, 3, threads, were going, just on recommendations, suggestions and requests that new things be added to the game.

You are free, to search the forum and resurrect any of those threads, any of those posts, regarding ... anything you like.

I'd love to see some of those old names, and read their comments again, regarding things like cotton, flint and steel, hemp, grills or even cast iron stoves.

Remind me of what made this place great 2 years ago.

Don't let your ambition die.

SirCaio · 2020-09-05 16:31:34

I do, in fact, have an old post suggesting some features for a building rework that I'd like to revive. Maybe I'll do that just for fun when Jason comes back...

DestinyCall · 2020-09-08 19:26:44

Yes, I very much agree that we need to flesh out the tech tree and replace primitive tools with more advanced replacements.

I'd especially like to see more dedicated crafting stations, like the adobe oven and adobe kiln. They help to define a space as a bakery or smithy, because they do not move easily.

Leather-making, rope-making, upgraded ovens/kilns/forges, better fire tools, etc. All good things.

The bicycle idea is brilliant.

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2020-09-04 19:08:26

Advancing up the tech tree should also replace outdated tech

#2 2020-09-05 03:05:57

Re: Advancing up the tech tree should also replace outdated tech

#3 2020-09-05 16:31:34

Re: Advancing up the tech tree should also replace outdated tech

#4 2020-09-08 19:26:44

Re: Advancing up the tech tree should also replace outdated tech

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