[Suggestion] Death penalty DESIGN is ruining this game for me

85 votes

PROBLEM WITH CURRENT SYSTEM
Currently you accrue an exp dept equal to 100% of your earned exp for your level. If you are 99% of your level and die you have to make ALL of that back in debt. If I am only say 5% into my level, I only have a 5% penalty, this virtually removes the death penalty. You see the discrepancy here? One instance you want to cry your eyes out for dying, the other you're laughing it off. Is this the intent? Even worse this is highly exploitable allowing you to rush bosses with a nearby bedroll with no fear of death because you're already at max debt anyway.

PROPOSED SOLUTION
Each death should incur a 25-33% of your total levels exp in debt EACH DEATH. Or whatever you feel is sufficiently harsh enough. This solves the problem of imbalance in the death penalty when dying late in your level, Debt should continue to accumulate up to 200% of your levels current exp requirement to discourage boss rushing. This also makes the debt the same if you die at 1% or 99% exp.

Done Balance Suggested by: Voidlust (11 Dec, '21) • Upvoted: 22 Jul, '23 • Comments: 9

Comments: 9

11 Dec, '21
Stigmith
I agreed that death penalty looks kinda weird because you care less about dying when you have reached new level, but i think it shouldn't be less punishing than this.
I mean, if you died with 90%+ of your exp then it's your fault. You knew the risks, and you decided to try it out anyway.
I died few times with almost reaching next level, so i know how bad it feels.
But at the end of a day, this is not a PvP game. No need to rush it and be faster than others. This is a game about survival and if you die, it should feels like so.
11 Dec, '21
Snoochy42
this isn't quite accureate, also there are several other suggestions on this, mostly some kind of a Solo Player, or Workshop item version of a Heart Defibillator, either on a 1 hour cooldown, or cost 25R Station currency per use.
11 Dec, '21
BLVDES
yeah i have been stuck at level 17 for 3 days because bears literally NONSTOP spawn one after another and i cant even walk out my door without getting attacked. game is impossible to progress in with this stupid system. i get why, otherwise there's no incentive to try to stay alive, but if it isnt permadeath anyway, why should my XP matter?

ALSO another thing.. why THE F does the festering wound or whatever exist? if i RESPAWN and i am literally an entirely new person, how can i physically INHERIT a wound from the guy that just died lmfao
11 Dec, '21
Duke
I agree that the 100% exp dept is a bit much, i could definitely stand 50-75%. The accumulation is interesting, but possibly do more damage to items and armor upon death to make up for the less exp debt cause the light side of 1% of exp loss seems insignificant.

I still want there to be penalties, far too many games where u can not pay attention and die thousands of times with next to no penalties. I feel you should develop strategies to not get yourself killed overtime, this isn't an idle clicker game, plus everything feels much more rewarding when there is risk.

Good job devs
13 Dec, '21
Skwiggily
Unless you have 3 or more people, I can almost guarantee you aren't boss rushing anything. Death-persistent diseases and reviving at super low health with no food, oxygen, or water are all the ways they discourage boss-rushing. I say you need 3 or more people because someone needs to revive you while someone else needs to kite the thing in question.

In terms of exp though, I agree there is a weird dynamic with not caring if you die when on a fresh level. I like BLVDES's idea of gear degrading. You could make it so gear degrades if you die while having the debt active, nothing crazy but at least something so there is something to weight against dying again.
14 Dec, '21
Cristari
At least you don't de-level and it's really easy to make that experience back again. Just make sure you have leveled up before you do anything that might kill you and you have earned your insurance. I like the system the way it is thanks.
15 Dec, '21
CreepingChamp
My suggestion would rather than losing all of your XP be, that you'd temporarily lose XP until you recover your body - in the form of the overflow bag - and also maybe get a debuff, reducing your overall stats for a while, with reduced timers or effect upon recovery.
07 Jul, '22
BA3R93
The after death injuries is a horrible mechanic. You already take the XP from me why do I need to respawn with a broken leg, infected wounds and no oxygen?! Yet for whatever stupid reason I still have the food buffs?! How does that even make sense? I DIED, THEREFORE I SHOULD SPAWN WITH A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH. you pretty much strip the whole concept of having a solo trait tree. You want people to play multi player which is fine but don't incentivise solo play with traits if your going to keep injuries after death. I can totally understand having a broken leg on multi, being revived and still having the injury. But if you RESPAWN not only do you get a XP penalty but if your gear is far away you spawn with a game breaking injury because now you can't get your stuff back period so that effectively ends your prospect. Might as well play on hard and just quit if you die because that's what the game forces you to do regardless of difficulty. THIS NEEDS FIXED OR YOU DESTROY THE IMMERSION
06 Jun, '23
XERMAXM
I agree, I would note that Death Penalty should be removed completly in Solo Play, as you do not have the option of having someone res you.