The Effect Of Cold Weather..., ..putting an author to the test

It's so cool that the weather gets colder at the same time as I'm working on character's response to coldness in the game. (pun alert)
So besides of just thinking the effect of the cold I can use myself as a guinea-pig

If the weather isn't below 0 degrees celsius a person (called Sami) seems to function quite well even if lightly dressed in case he's moving about enough - but not too much. The game currently doesn't have a wind factor, nor the "wet-feeling" of the character (from rain, wet clothes, or after sweating) which have a great impact on the overall cold effect. And when the weather isn't too freezing the most dramatic effect seems to be just the unpleasant feeling and decreased immunity. So until we come up with somekind of player morale system you are allowed to act normally in relatively cold weather - as compared to the previous version.

These tests I'm running with myself... (see I'm really occasionally exposing myself to the coldness on purpose and observing the changes in body mechanics and feelings - this may sound strange but I'm in my wits and having great fun )...are giving a big bunch of new ideas (and problems) how to do things in the game.

What really happens (not going to test this one) if you walk barefoot in the weather that makes you feet freeze and go numb. Can you walk after they get numb? Or do you fall down as a result of not feeling your feet?
Stories about experiencing cold, anyone?

I've thought all items should have an attribute for whether they are wet or dry, and the effects would vary depending on the type of item. Food that gets wet would spoil very much faster, and metal weapons left out in the rain would start to deteriorate quicker also. Clothes which get wet could lose some of their warmth value until they dry again, and could also gain weight. So a soaking wet fur coat could be quite encumbering and less effective for keeping you warm. Depending on the level of rain, perhaps only outer garments would get wet, leaving the underclothes dry. Even timber could use this wet attribute, needing to be dry before being split or used for building. And of course anything wet would not work well for fire building. This would mean having slightly more care about entering the water, since swimming would get everything you wear and carry wet.

Just don't end up hurting yourself, ok?

Just dream of it !

My point of view for the question : In class, i'm legs crossed, and sometimes I don't feel one of my leg for 30 sec - 1 min.
It isn't like freezing, but if you just don't feel you leg, you can walk normally, but you have to be cautious if you don't want to fall (and i think that if you are freezing, it is hard to concentrate). And running would be really hard (impossible ?), you would fall instantly (if you have enough strengh to try).

The way you're sitting is restricting blood flow to your legs.

It's probably not good for you.

Bah, it isn't really a problem I think...

I know someone who ended up tearing ligaments doing the same thing. He tried to get u and walk, and stepped wrong and fell - and was on crutches for awhile after that.

When a limb falls asleep that way it's not blood flow being cut off, it's just a nerve being pinched. Not dangerous unless you hurt yourself falling because you're numb.

I've walked barefoot through snow plenty of times, but never long enough for them to go completely numb. I could still walk fine then, and actually I went a lot faster because my friggin' feet were cold. So maybe speed would increase but fatigue would also increase?

I've had my hands go numb from making snowballs plenty of times. It's much harder to use them, but it's still perfectly possible to move all the fingers and such, you just don't feel the things you touch so it's tough to do anything with them.

Yes, this is familiar to me too. Feeling cold isn't a new feeling at all, but I've found it interesting to observe the body from a different viewpoint. It seems to be true that concentrating on your finger movements also can help you to perform more accurately even if your hands are pretty numb. But I'm looking for some limits and boundaries. It's pretty to easy work and move about outside barefoot in just a few degrees above zero celsius temperature for couple of hours, but in below zero temperatures couple of hours is getting painful... But I'm not quite sure yet if it still gets even close to possibility of getting frostbitten. (We are talking about calm, non-windy weather) There are some internet sources and survival books of course which could be checked out, but the morale factor and willpower seem to play a great role here also.

one idea would be to start with two factors: "inner body temperature" and "external weather temperature".

if player does nothing, inner body temperature would slowly drop to level of external temperature.
the colder the weather the faster the body temperature would sink (of course depenging on clothing)
hunger, starvation and fatigue would also increase the speed of decreasing.

and what would increase body temperature? working and drinking hot drinks.

then there is the case of sauna, when external temperature is well above body temperature. Almost every finnish person knows that when having sauna in the winter, it is possible to have a break, roll in the snow all naked and feel healthy and vigorous.

From my exprience it isn;t too hard to walk a short distance in the snow bare foot, if there is a beaten path. It's not alot of fun to walk bare foot through half a foot or more of fresh snow. Furthermore, if there is a layer of ice on the snow or between the layers of snow it is possible to cut your foot, and scrapped shines are to be expected.

On a similar note, you may be interested to see "The Fast Runner". It's a movie by an Inuit team. It shows a lot of survival/life skills used by traditional people in the artic. It also features a man running bare foot across the ice.... well actually, he's entirely bare. Anyways, a veryy good movie.

yeah, when it's not raining. modern winter kinda sucks.

I believe the way it works in the Real Life is that when properly fed, a warm-blooded mammal can sustain normal body temperature to an extent when it's not "too" cold.

Being in semi-cold causes fatigue and consumes body's energy reserves, but the body temperature will be maintained.

For realism, I would vote that in UrW coldness would dramatically affect hunger levels, and only extreme temperatures (or not being properly clothed) would cause actual frost bites and hypothermia after a longer period of time.

yeah, when it's not raining. modern winter kinda sucks.

Have you considered moving further north? There's plenty of cold, cold, weather yet to go around

I've been thinking about this thread a lot (and will probably be thinking about it more and more as the season changes) but so far I like what erkka and Jussi have said the best. I'm very familiar with the energy taxing effects of being cold as winter is by far the longest season where I live. I tend to eat voraciously in the winter time, especially extra fatty foods, and don't gain any weight as long as I'm spending plenty of time being cold. Anyone who's ever seen a documentary of expeditions to either the north or south pole has probably seen real life adventurers pounding away bread and butter with more butter than bread.

ah, yesterday I was bit too sleepy to state my idea clearly;

as thinking of "boundaries and limits", I think that instead of like "after 30 minutes in snow barefoot you get numb", but like

- if your body temperature falls below 36.9, your fingers and feet get numb
(causing skill-penalty, slow movement and possibly stumbling and falling down easily)

- if your body temperature falls below 36.8 your fatigue increases 50% more than usual

- below 36.5 all your non-clothed body areas begin to get frostbites

- below 36.2 you begin to get sleepier and sleepier

- at 36.0 you die

and all the time, the lower your body temperature gets, the faster your hunger bar increases. (and also, the more you starve, the faster your body temeprature tends to drop...)


this way the effects of cold weather would vary depending of character activity. I think that as long as one keeps on running like hell, you can go barefoot in snow. But if you stand still for 15 minutes, you begin to get your feet numb...

also, as Bierhoff points out, different kinds of snow have different effects on your body temperature... as does wind and rain etc etc... but that is another part of my point; it would be possible to code the basic functions of "maintaining body temperature" and then later on add new and new affecting factors.