Secondary Buffs from Curios

[ImpalerWrG]

We haven't found all the Curios yet and they are still getting Balanced but its clear that people are boiling the data down to a simple value, LP per Hour per Attention (LP/H/A). So far their is a surprisingly broad range here, from lows in the 20's to highs of nearly 600 for Ant Empress (and that's after it was Nerfed). It's likely that this range is going to narrow as we have seen Nerfs to the uber items and buffs to the weak ones but it won't disappear completely, this is certainly intentional as their should be a spectrum of newbie stuff and more rewarding elite curios.

But what I fear is that after all the data gets crunched the great surface diversity of Curios is going to look a lot shallower, people would just equip the highest LP/H/A items they can manage, the system would just be a simple Spread-sheet-optimization. What could really spice up the Curios would be a secondary bonus from each Curio type that applies while it is being studied, now the player has another aspect to consider and if each Bonus is unique it breaks the simple spread-sheet-optimizing mind set.

Bonuses could be the typical +Stat or +Skills kind of stuff we are familiar with but I think some more interesting stuff could be done. One useful Bonus set could be to speed up the hourglass on a number of common activities. For example Cat Gold which people found was rather mediocre in LP/H/A could make stone chipping faster, something quite useful for newbies looking to do a lot of paving. Or Auroch Hair could make the painfully slow Animal domestication process faster (one less Quell?). Wood Shavings half the time needed to make boards.

You see the theme here, the Curio helps us perform the activity it would normally be collected under.

Other types of effects could be more subtle, with a fish Eye you will see the fish Nodes more easily (animation occurs more or is continuous?). The Strange Crystal from Mining very slightly reduces the chance of a Cave it. Spider Web gives a 50% chance to get Double Spindly Taproot. All useful not not overpowering things.

Lastly their might need to be some means to prevent endlessly milking these effects by removing and re-adding the curio, while the player would effectively be delaying LP gain I'm not sure that would be sufficient cost. It might be necessary to add something else. One possibility is causing a small 5-10% quality loss to a Curio that is removed from Study (the item is naturally less Curious now that your familiar with it). Another would be delaying the Bonus until the Curio is some decent percentage studied or to use an escalating Bonus that starts at zero, a bit like how Tea worked.

[sabinati]

cool idea

[Potjeh]

Very nice.

[aso11]

*likes*

[Grog]

i really like the idea
*studies boartooth, beartooth, catgold and wineflask for more strengh for mining*

i also really like the auroch.hair.idea

[SacreDoom]

Brilliant idea.

[EnderWiggin]

Needs some polishing, but really good idea.

[FerrusManus]

Definitely has huge potential, t-up. Could really make the curio system much more deeper and tactical.

[Gauteamus]

I agree very much with the argument that curiosities boil down to LP/H/A, which is sad.
I think secondary buffs could work well.
Two other ideas:

I) Bring Inventory Tetris to the Curiosity Pouch!
Make the Curios generally take up more than one tile - maybe increase the Curiosity Inventory size to compensate.
Pro: the different size and shape of curios would give them another dimension not reducable to a single LP/H/A number.
Con: more art needed, curiosities would take up more space in normal inventory as well and make foraging more of a PITA
(maybe this can be balanced by making foraged curios generally smaller in size than the crafted ones.)

II) Curio Synergies/Antergies!
I assume the hearthlings are carrying around a small pouch of sorts that they keep the curiosities in, to sneak a peek at them in idle moments.
It is only natural that some curiosities would give each other a boost, while others would be reduced in effect when combined with certain curios.
It can be as transparent as the different ants giving more LP when placed in a container together, while the spider reduces the effect of the ants (while increasing the studiability of the web), but on the other hand there could be more subtle effects, like the Cat Skin increasing the effect of the Bernstein, or the Rabid Jackalope and Shocked Frog increasing in value when seen together with the Volta Column (crafted by combining different metals with vinegar).
The bonuses/penalties does not all have to make sense, but for mnemonic reasons, it would be good if there was SOME link to "real life".

The bonuses can be applied through different formulas, my suggestion is to make the q of one curio decrease/increase at some set rate as long as it is in inventory with some given other curio. A quality decrease is permanent, while quality reverts to the original value if the curio is lifted out of the inventory.

[jorb]

As I think we can all agree that the possibilities are, indeed, unlimited.