Mechanism: Exploration Logic
Exploration is the high-risk process of uncovering the fog of war and identifying critical facilities.
Visibility Model
The world is initially unknown, but visibility is now categorized into three distinct states:
- Lit Tiles: Fully visible and safe for movement. These are hexes illuminated by the Base or Power Poles.
- Remembered Tiles: Previously explored tiles that are currently unlit. They appear faintly in an expanding ring around the player. The radius of this ring is determined by the player’s Eidetic Memory level.
- Dark Tiles: Unlit and unexplored (or unremembered) tiles. These are hidden by default and represent the true “Fog of War.”
Scouting Mechanics
- Movement Cost: Moving between hexes costs 1 AP.
- Darkness Risk: Moving into an unlit tile without a Lamp results in immediate death.
- Fear Accumulation: Exploration in darkness increases the player’s Fear stat, imposing penalties on survival activities.
- Shared Intelligence: Exploration information is shared among all town members. However, this data is day-scoped, meaning the collective memory of the wasteland resets or shifts with the passage of time.
- Map Visibility: Survivors can utilize an expanded zoom-out range on the world map to see more of their surroundings at once.
- Tile Depletion: The pacing of tile depletion has been adjusted so scavenging pressure ramps more smoothly, preventing abrupt resource exhaustion in nearby locations.
Ground Loot
Ground loot is now easier to track and read at a glance:
- Loot Markers: Map markers for dropped items now display stack counts directly on the world view.
- Tile Inventory: The inventory panel displays the total number of items currently on the player’s tile.
Eidetic Memory
The Eidetic Memory skill allows players to retain a mental map of unlit areas they have previously visited. Higher levels of this skill increase the radius of “Remembered Tiles” visible around the player, reducing the need for constant re-exploration of established routes.
Establishing Infrastructure
To explore deep into the wasteland, players must build Power Pole highways from the Base to create safe, lit corridors.