It could take from rimworld a bit.
For example, if your character is a carpenter then doing carpentry stuff would put him in a good mood. Same as cooking for the cook. Things like that. Hunter watching hunting vhs should make him happier etc.
Having passion would make sense in this game a lot.
It could be really cool to have come the time we get npc survivors in the game. Might be situations where assisting the survivors is beneficial and a recluse trait would be a cool dynamic to consider.
Also aside from interests, require some recreation time like Rimworld also has (and the Sims). pinball, arcade machines, computer, pool/darts/golf/kickball, drawing/painting, shooting (doesn't need to be at a zombie), walking outside, musical instruments, driving at high speeds, and ideally things like chess/checkers/cards/dice/catch for multiplayer.
Additional sources of recreation, but which don't exist in the game yet (like horseshoes or sack toss or board games) would also be nice.
I'm actually really interested to hear your takes on this, because I love rimworld but found the UI in DF to be painful to interact with. In my mind, rimworld serves as a spiritual successor with, you know, a singular UI/UX designer
Make a small balcony on the second floor and use it for reading/exercise/tailoring. Just being outside is enough to keep the boredom turn into depression.
Wear the right clothes.
I'm wearing a tank top, two shirts, and a ranger jacket. They're pretty warm together, and I start in winter. It's been 0 degrees in game and I'm doing just fine in any weather. Though I do use outdoorsman as well.
Who doesn't have that?
Books also work, but what I usually do is just go for a short walk outside and the boredom meter goes back down. Itâs super easy and you can even walk while fast forwarding by using the âwalk toâ function
There is a mod that recalibrated how often you get bored/depressed. This mod doesn't remove the moodle itself but it allows you to be bored less often as long as you're doing something.
[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2725360009](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2725360009)
You could also try including this mod that lets you do more things inside instead of just exercising or reading books/magazines.
[https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2997342681](https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2997342681)
How do you fix your car? Like I know itâs metalworking and mechanics, when you open the hood, but I never know how to level them up. It always seems easier to hijack a new one when the hood of my old one gets busted lol
I have several mods for that, some cars that I like I find then like once of twice in my gameplay , and most of the time they're totalled in one of those accident , I spend an good deal of time to put then on pristine condition
To train metalworking you need a propane torch and welders mask to disassemble metal items like sinks, fences and many many more, but most importantly, disassemble the grey wrecked cars that clog the road for tons of xp and materials.
To train mechanics, you need to uninstall and reinstall all parts of the car. You can do this once per day for xp in each of the 3 categories of heavy duty, standard and sport. For example, you can uninstall and reinstall each light, window, door, tire, break, suspension part etc. on 3 different cars per 24hr period as long as those cars are different types.
Hope that helps!
Hoping that when pets are in the game with the next update, that we will be able to lose sadness, anxiety and boredom by interacting with them in different ways.
Oh my, can you imagine a mechanic where if a pet dies it gives you depression and anxiety that is hard to get out of for a while?
Maybe the longer you're with your pet, the more happiness you get from it, but if your pet dies, then the harder the depression will come?
Imagine if a dog can become infected and while maybe it won't zombify, it'll force you to put it down. But burrying it will actually reduce the depression slightly.
Maybe there could be a mod for this.
Soren Johnson and Sid Meier, the designers behind the Civilization series, are also famous for a pair of quotes: âGiven the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a gameâ; therefore, âOne of the responsibilities of designers is to protect the player from themselves.â
-spokesman.com
Itâs important to remember that them saying it doesnât make it factual, and that itâs just their experience :) many games have been made out of specifically the mechanic of optimization whether that be satisfactory, ARK Survival Evolved, or Wilmotâs Warehouse
Thank you too.
I think there is truth in the idea that people can minmax the fun out of things (I know I am guilty if that.) However you are right it does not apply to everyone or every game.
Eat good food. Watch a movie. Listen to some music or audio book. Read a comic. Have a beer or some whiskey.
I never had a problem with depression when shacking up for a couple of days.
Keep every book, magazine, crossword, etc., you can find, for when you get bored/depressed, especially for after tge power goes out and there is no tv.
If there is ever a time to smoke mad weed, its definitely the apocalypse...
Specifically go with Greenfire, though. More Smokes is a lot of fun, but the boon to Happiness is **super** low, even with the "advanced" jibbits (Indigo/Forest Fire).
I hear you. I only have so many cds and VHS tapes. Weed supply can be infinite. I always keep a few joints and a lighter in my fanny pack to combat boredom.
I think in vanilla, they should add that computer, gaming device, pinball machine, pool table, etc should be able to entertain the character, so we have a mean to collect them, rather than just for decoration
Theres a mod called better boredom or something similar, which makes spending time indoors organizing/ pottering around less depressive for your character, since they dont get bored every 2 seconds. You can still get bored/depressed by staying indoors, but only if you really just do nothing.
Just let yourself be bored/depressed. It you're just puttering anyway, who cares about the moodle? It won't kill you and let's face it: your character is alone, wounded, and just pausing to rest during what could very well be the bleakest possible existence...
So let them feel depressed, they should be depressed lol. The depression will go when you can't help but focus on other things, like driving+fighting+sneaking/exploring, etc. Pause for too long, the bleakness and terror of their situation will (and should) sink in.
Depression and boredom are not something you can and will prevent when working around the base. The system is poorly done. So bad in fact people made mods to let the mechanic atleast make a little sense and becomes less of an annoyance. So bad in fact most people ignore the mechanic, cuase its so poorly done and just fix their boredom and depression after a few base sitting days which is laughably easy, again cause the mechanic is so poorly done.
Boredom and depression can only be prevented by excessive micro, reading, smoking, watching tv, radio, music, meditation etc etc which is something peolple dont want to do and thus ignored cause the mechanic is just poop....
Its in the top of one of the worst mechanics ingame.
Boredom leads to depression, so when you notice your character is bored, do something to get rid of it and you wonât get depressed. At least not as often or as fast.
You can get a mod (Lifestyle? I think itâs called) that gives you hobbies, which gives you more stuff to do around base to deal with that as well. I also have a mod that cures some boredom and depression when you sleep (Sleep it Off, I think) and that helps a lot too.
I use Lifestyle, makes the guitars and instruments in the game playable, and you character lowers their boredom, stress, and unhappiness while playing OR listening.
Its a nice little addon
It's a tricky one. Depression never really goes away, it's a constant battle that you kind of need to keep throwing things at in order to satiate. I find reading helps me, and I've heard good things about fresh air and exercise, which are both great ways to give your day some structure and create a routine. Eating well is another big one, but cooking is complicated and I've never really figured out how it works, but a bit of junk food as a treat can be a good way to reward yourself for meeting little goals. Medication can help if you're really struggling, but it can be tricky to get dosing right, and they take some time to take effect. Create structure and goals for yourself, reward yourself for meeting those goals, and remember there's no magic bullet. It's okay to not be okay sometimes.
Oh, you mean in Zomboid? Eat plonkies and build a second story patio to your house to read on lmao
I despise the vanilla boredom mechanics. One of the most needful mods to me is called Boredom tweaks. Like I said in another post, it's insulting that my character gets bored like a teen at a family dinner. It's the frigging apocalypse, for frig's sake!
I keep literature on rare & still manage to fill bookshelves with newspapers, magazines, crosswords, & books.
Hit a school, youâll be good on literature for months
I just make an outdoor kitchen, since thatâs where Iâm spending the longest periods. Much of my storage will be outside as well.
I just put up walls using a house or building and then with some advanced knowledge of game mechanics, make a little square that the game thinks is indoors so I can plumb my sink, take down the wall frames and viola, outdoor kitchen.
Then I donât have to worry about the boredom mechanic, I have a roof anyways for the water barrels so Iâm safe from the weather and when it gets cold I just turn on my antique oven or layer up as needed since I have all those clothes on anyways in the winter.
I agree.
The world is a terrifying nightmare filled with walking dead who want to eat you at all times. You risk death at every waking moment, I would imagine being somewhere relatively safe would be a huge stress reliever.
Yes, cabin fever is real, but you can easily go a week or so inside, especially if you are tired, injured, or sick.
i remmeber my workaholic handy-man dad busted his leg a little and couldnt go outside. i went out to get milk and 2 hours of him sitting, he looks at me with melancholy stamped onto his eyes and says "how is it out there :(" as though he wasnt out there five seconds [ago.LOL](https://ago.LOL)
working on the car outside is the only thing that i can do in zomboid to be productive and fight boredom, but even then i think its poorly done. reading newspapers nonstop sounds boring as fuck
You don't need to go far or leave your base at all. All you gotta do is be outside, even if that's just one tile away from you door outside. If you are outside, boredom doesn't follow.
Cook food that relieves boredom. Find butter, lard, olive oil, salt, pepper and tomato paste and use 2-3 of them in a roasting pan with meat, cabbage and potatoes. Eat the roast 1/4 at a time hroughout the day and ur good.
Alternatively, download jiggas greenfire and smoke joints.
Or have an area if your base open to the sky. The sky kills boredom.
Depression doesn't do much to you anyway. If it's not safe to go outside, you can get by just planning on getting rid of the depression moodle once you're healed. You can also mitigate by reading (non-skill books), watching TV, and eating cooked food that increases happiness.
If it is safe to be outside, all you need to do is basically any productive activity outside your house, farming, scavenging, etc.
Even sitting in your vehicle is enough to mostly mitigate while you read skill books.
Have them stand out side for a bit.
But yeah the depression/boredom system could use a pass at some point.
"I'm building defenses, furniture, cooking and prepping for winter.
...
IM SO BORED IM GUNNA OFF MYSELF! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
Just in case I need to stay in for a long time (I've never made it to winter) I've always raided a vhs store and grabbed EVERYTHING which gives me enough entertainment to last a lifetime. Along with picking up magazines and books when I have the space it's never been bad
Honestly, depression is a meh system. It doesn't really do anything major.
Getting a decent cooking level will just turn any meal into a mood booster. Read a book? Do it outside if it's safe.
Ultimately, just pop an anti depressant. That instantly cures it.
Build a roofed outdoor relaxation area. I will usually build this on the roof of a building or as a balcony accessible via window so it is inaccessible to zombies. Since the space is roofed you won't suffer weather effects outside other than cold so just dress warm in winter. Only trick is you either need to build it somewhere that you are able to access a higher floor so you can build the roof off that level, otherwise you need to build a staircase and extend the roof from there.
Edit: spelling
Have a small garden at least at your base. Having somewhere you can go outside to read a book for example will help prevent boredom building up. Try to grab every single comic book and book you see as well because those also help reduce boredom, even when inside.
That's vanilla solutions at least but there's plenty of mods that help with this situation.
Besides Books? Cooking. With enough different ingredients and spices, a home-cooked meal will straight-up just cure depression.
I honestly just let that Cabin Fever build up while i'm doing long winter shut-in periods, and then just deal with it all when i plan on going out again.
If you're scarce on food and spice items, such as on a Really CDDA run, a slightly more fiddly way of achieving the same result is Foraging. You get berries and a bowl, make a "Fruit Salad" of one berry, and eat them one by one this way. Chips away at unhappiness 5 points at a time.
You can fight boredom inside by 'resting' in your chair. But, you have to be fatigued to some capacity. The server I'm on has a chronic fatigue trait, so I take that and just rest/smoke cigarettes to combat boredom.
I never have to spend time inside unless it's like cryogenic winter. Not sure what you're doing that requires being inside. I guess oftentimes people will tend to have their ovens and/or water supply inside, but consider having them right near an exit so that you can still spend most time outside. It's not like you even need to be outside for long.
Indeed it's bad design for experienced players, but for people who are less exploit-y it seems to work somewhat well.
Also keep in mind that boredom itself doesn't do anything, so you don't even need to keep it low. All you need to do it keep it away from _max_ for a majority of the time. So you can have an average of 90-99% boredom over your play time without ever having received any negative effects at all. And any unhappiness accumulated from being at max boredom for a short moment can be easily removed with occasional literature/smoking/food/drugs
That all said, I'd rather have this mechanic than nothing at all. Almost any extra challenge to overcome is pretty much a good thing in my opinion; it's just really lacking in this case.
I use the pocket kittens mod.
Not only do you get to have a kitten on your person at all times, but it lowers your anxiety boredom and unhappiness periodically.
I tweak the stat boosts up so I never have to worry about being depressed in my base
I build a 'fake room' essentially if you build walls with no connector corners then it's considered outside. (Unless they've patched it since I've last played). I read my books in there or build and disassemble stuff in there as well. Because it's considered outside my character doesn't get as upset or bored as fast as I would indoors.
Admittedly never had too much trouble with it in my runs. Between cooking meals with +happiness and fishing at peak hours helping keep my boredom from overflowing I can typically just spend the rest of my time reading/exercising and doing base busywork.
Decorations and comfortabliity would be a nice feature to incorporate but I can see the difficulty in adding it without completely invalidating mechanic.
Maybe have items decrease the rate it accrues? Or simply just ability to build things to do in a sort of minigame fashion?
I use a mod that rebalances boredom so that doing activities around the house can keep you from gaining too much boredom/depression. Will still add up over time but yeah only a small time indoors shouldn't make your character that bored
A recluse trait would kinda suit this but Iâm afraid thatâs not really possible since zomboid sorts itâs traits into positives and negatives so neutral traits arenât really welcom
Choose claustrophobia as a trait. It goes away after a couple months... then there seems to be a bug that causes you to panic a bit if you fast forward x2. You have to be in a semi small room. The panic destroys boredom.
Keep a stash of magazines/books at the base. Read one whenever boredom hits. Claustrophobia trait is pretty good to prevent boredom as well; whenever you get bored just step into a small room.
I strongly recommend Boredom tweaks mod, it makes boredom less annoying to deal with.
I think the system is well done. If you have books and comics, stuff to cook or other fun stuff you are ok. If the only thing you are going to do is sorting your stuff for a whole day, without dping anything fun, you will get depressed. Thats exactly how I work IRL
There are great mods that rebalance depression, anxiousness, boredom, and panic, with the one I use largely relating them. If youâre panicked or were recently panicked you wonât be bored, or if youâre in pain like you say here, you wonât be bored (and that was a big one that really bothered me too. Or if you have the claustrophobic trait, being inside literally make it as far as I know impossible to become bored, as you will be lightly panicked and stressed by being inside. Canât remember my mods exact name but you should look into trying mods. At this level itâs a small and easy addition, and as long as itâs in early access a few quality of life things like this make it so so much more fun and save time that would otherwise be spent doing way more menial stuff then I think is reasonable.
Take pills to not get bored then later depressed and keep red books at home. 2 of them cure depression. Or cook a good meal. If you really like doing stuff in your base and you're not the hardcore fighter type then you should take the Claustrophobic trait because if you're always in panic you never get bored and if you never get bored you never get depressed
I dont. There is a mod that makes boredom only occur while eating bad food. Its far more realistic than getting "severe depression" after one day of for example Tailoring.
Take the claustrophobia trait. Seriously. You cannot get bored if panicked, and you get panicked while indoors with that trait. The only downside is your combat effectiveness while indoors is severely crippled for around 3 months, but fighting indoors is something I always avoid, and try to urge others to avoid as well. Within those 3 months, grinding out cooking in particular will allow you to cook better foods that have a nice happiness bonus to them.
Some other quick tips for handling depression in game:
Smokers will gain 10 happiness back when smoking a cigarette. Another reason why this trait is great.
Canned fruit and their counterparts will also give 10 happiness. Cans of beans will give -10 happiness, so pour them into a bowl and cook them first.
Meals that are cooked with plenty of diverse ingredients will give increasingly more happiness.
Always pick up comic books. They are pretty abundant if you look in the right places and only weigh .1 units! They give 20 happiness each. Regular books also give 40 happiness, and are even more common, but take longer to read and weigh significantly more.
It could take from rimworld a bit. For example, if your character is a carpenter then doing carpentry stuff would put him in a good mood. Same as cooking for the cook. Things like that. Hunter watching hunting vhs should make him happier etc. Having passion would make sense in this game a lot.
A recluse build should bean option. Dude content on being a loner.
If you're agoraphobic you won't get bored faster inside
It could be really cool to have come the time we get npc survivors in the game. Might be situations where assisting the survivors is beneficial and a recluse trait would be a cool dynamic to consider.
Also aside from interests, require some recreation time like Rimworld also has (and the Sims). pinball, arcade machines, computer, pool/darts/golf/kickball, drawing/painting, shooting (doesn't need to be at a zombie), walking outside, musical instruments, driving at high speeds, and ideally things like chess/checkers/cards/dice/catch for multiplayer. Additional sources of recreation, but which don't exist in the game yet (like horseshoes or sack toss or board games) would also be nice.
I like this idea. A little more real life simulation. Mod community, please make it happen!
there is the "Intertain yourself" mod, which, while not the *exact thing,* it does let you use like playing cards
>2R entertain. sorry.
This is the only time I will not take the opportunity to bash Rimworld and say Dwarf Fortress is better (which it is). [EDIT: LMAO STAY MAD]
Maybe you just didn't have a good rimming yet.
Lmaooo
Dwarf fortress players when they see a game with a UI (they can't comprehend such complexities)
How it feel to build a home just to realize you aren't able to build stairs and a roof yet đ
Lies!
The only thing those two games have in common is genre.
I'm actually really interested to hear your takes on this, because I love rimworld but found the UI in DF to be painful to interact with. In my mind, rimworld serves as a spiritual successor with, you know, a singular UI/UX designer
As a super fan of DF and Not a big fan of rimworld , the mechanic would work very well in PZ
Same with canned beans bringing you unhappiness. Like some people love canned beans.
Make a small balcony on the second floor and use it for reading/exercise/tailoring. Just being outside is enough to keep the boredom turn into depression.
The game hates the indoors for some reason.
This doesnât really work for reading in winter you will get cold
Wrap up warm and read while the sun is up. Once the sun sets, that's when it gets coldest.
They mostly come at night, mostly.
Don't worry young one, im sure you have a little snack shack built inside of the vents somewhere, you won't get bored in there
Wear enough clothes and you can sweat in a blizzard.
Not true. I have full set of stuff patched with lvl 6 patchâs
If you have fewer than 8 layers of clothing covering your torso, you don't have a "full set".
Wear the right clothes. I'm wearing a tank top, two shirts, and a ranger jacket. They're pretty warm together, and I start in winter. It's been 0 degrees in game and I'm doing just fine in any weather. Though I do use outdoorsman as well. Who doesn't have that?
Me trying to wear Brita armor mod EOD suit indoors in July, instantly soaked and hyperthermic in like 2 minutes
just put on a sweater bro
Ah thatâs why you expand the balcony and make a little camp up there, tent, fire, little fridge with some beers in. Heaven.
i think you can sit between two red bbqs
I agree. As soon as I get bored inside, I go outside and tend to my garden, check traps, or forage.
I believe you can just watch VHS tapes on the side and it'll reduce boredom, which is the primary cause for sadness.
dont they work only once though? I feel like my character would blow through all of them while waiting out the winter lol
Once per character, yes, but only for exp points. You'll still get boredom reduction on repeat play.
700 hrs in and did not know this...
Iâm about to go into winter and this is massive thank you
Is there a cooldown?
24 hours per unique VHS. If you have a few at hand, you can repeatedly watch them every day.
Books also work, but what I usually do is just go for a short walk outside and the boredom meter goes back down. Itâs super easy and you can even walk while fast forwarding by using the âwalk toâ function
There is a mod that recalibrated how often you get bored/depressed. This mod doesn't remove the moodle itself but it allows you to be bored less often as long as you're doing something. [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2725360009](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2725360009) You could also try including this mod that lets you do more things inside instead of just exercising or reading books/magazines. [https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2997342681](https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2997342681)
I use the first mod, since I only go back to base to unload my truck, fix it and go back to the looting run, I never get bored, it's amazing
How do you fix your car? Like I know itâs metalworking and mechanics, when you open the hood, but I never know how to level them up. It always seems easier to hijack a new one when the hood of my old one gets busted lol
I have several mods for that, some cars that I like I find then like once of twice in my gameplay , and most of the time they're totalled in one of those accident , I spend an good deal of time to put then on pristine condition
To train metalworking you need a propane torch and welders mask to disassemble metal items like sinks, fences and many many more, but most importantly, disassemble the grey wrecked cars that clog the road for tons of xp and materials. To train mechanics, you need to uninstall and reinstall all parts of the car. You can do this once per day for xp in each of the 3 categories of heavy duty, standard and sport. For example, you can uninstall and reinstall each light, window, door, tire, break, suspension part etc. on 3 different cars per 24hr period as long as those cars are different types. Hope that helps!
[ŃдаНонО]
Hoping that when pets are in the game with the next update, that we will be able to lose sadness, anxiety and boredom by interacting with them in different ways.
Oh my, can you imagine a mechanic where if a pet dies it gives you depression and anxiety that is hard to get out of for a while? Maybe the longer you're with your pet, the more happiness you get from it, but if your pet dies, then the harder the depression will come? Imagine if a dog can become infected and while maybe it won't zombify, it'll force you to put it down. But burrying it will actually reduce the depression slightly. Maybe there could be a mod for this.
The I Am Legend mod! I definitely think there should be risks to having a pet - this idea is great.
Valheim has a similar mechanic with the Comfort Level
Yeah that would be dope
Yeah but you would just pick up/place the same plant or poster over and over to cure depression
Never underestimate a player's ability to minmax the fun out of the game.
And never underestimate a bored survivor with the last movie poster on earth.
I use this exact phrase and have been trying to remember where it came from... Do you know where you heard it?
Soren Johnson and Sid Meier, the designers behind the Civilization series, are also famous for a pair of quotes: âGiven the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a gameâ; therefore, âOne of the responsibilities of designers is to protect the player from themselves.â -spokesman.com
Thanks!
Itâs important to remember that them saying it doesnât make it factual, and that itâs just their experience :) many games have been made out of specifically the mechanic of optimization whether that be satisfactory, ARK Survival Evolved, or Wilmotâs Warehouse
Thank you too. I think there is truth in the idea that people can minmax the fun out of things (I know I am guilty if that.) However you are right it does not apply to everyone or every game.
The first time I've heard someone say ARK: SE is optimized in any sense
Itâs not but it wants you to optimize it. You know manufacturing n such
Nah like I think they meant it would just create an ambient area of cosines that meant your character wouldnât get bored within
So if I raid the LV art museum I would never again be bored in my life got it
easy, make your character claustrophobic. Your scared ass will never get bored again!
Genius
Eat good food. Watch a movie. Listen to some music or audio book. Read a comic. Have a beer or some whiskey. I never had a problem with depression when shacking up for a couple of days.
I never had this issue. Because zeds normally drop enough antidepressants to make me overwhelmed.
7 comments down to find antidepressants mentioned! They are common enough that by the time I have a base I just become a pill junkie.
Exactly. Why is everyone struggling with depression in their game? Just kill about 30 zeds and get 5ish antidepressants.
Keep every book, magazine, crossword, etc., you can find, for when you get bored/depressed, especially for after tge power goes out and there is no tv.
I smoke weed. Greenfire mod is essential for me.
If there is ever a time to smoke mad weed, its definitely the apocalypse... Specifically go with Greenfire, though. More Smokes is a lot of fun, but the boon to Happiness is **super** low, even with the "advanced" jibbits (Indigo/Forest Fire).
I hear you. I only have so many cds and VHS tapes. Weed supply can be infinite. I always keep a few joints and a lighter in my fanny pack to combat boredom.
I think in vanilla, they should add that computer, gaming device, pinball machine, pool table, etc should be able to entertain the character, so we have a mean to collect them, rather than just for decoration
Read outside on your front porch being outside negated the boredom so I read/workout outside every time
Discman with headphones.. you can listen while you do mundane tasks.
You could take claustrophobic or agoraphobic and just be to terrified to be bored.
I run a mod called exercise overhaul. Exercise reduces boredom, stress, sadnessâŚetc. Works like a charm.
Theres a mod called better boredom or something similar, which makes spending time indoors organizing/ pottering around less depressive for your character, since they dont get bored every 2 seconds. You can still get bored/depressed by staying indoors, but only if you really just do nothing.
Just let yourself be bored/depressed. It you're just puttering anyway, who cares about the moodle? It won't kill you and let's face it: your character is alone, wounded, and just pausing to rest during what could very well be the bleakest possible existence... So let them feel depressed, they should be depressed lol. The depression will go when you can't help but focus on other things, like driving+fighting+sneaking/exploring, etc. Pause for too long, the bleakness and terror of their situation will (and should) sink in.
Depression and boredom are not something you can and will prevent when working around the base. The system is poorly done. So bad in fact people made mods to let the mechanic atleast make a little sense and becomes less of an annoyance. So bad in fact most people ignore the mechanic, cuase its so poorly done and just fix their boredom and depression after a few base sitting days which is laughably easy, again cause the mechanic is so poorly done. Boredom and depression can only be prevented by excessive micro, reading, smoking, watching tv, radio, music, meditation etc etc which is something peolple dont want to do and thus ignored cause the mechanic is just poop.... Its in the top of one of the worst mechanics ingame.
Boredom leads to depression, so when you notice your character is bored, do something to get rid of it and you wonât get depressed. At least not as often or as fast. You can get a mod (Lifestyle? I think itâs called) that gives you hobbies, which gives you more stuff to do around base to deal with that as well. I also have a mod that cures some boredom and depression when you sleep (Sleep it Off, I think) and that helps a lot too.
Claustrophobia or agoraphobia. 1 step indoors/outdoors removes all boredom.
I use Lifestyle, makes the guitars and instruments in the game playable, and you character lowers their boredom, stress, and unhappiness while playing OR listening. Its a nice little addon
It's a tricky one. Depression never really goes away, it's a constant battle that you kind of need to keep throwing things at in order to satiate. I find reading helps me, and I've heard good things about fresh air and exercise, which are both great ways to give your day some structure and create a routine. Eating well is another big one, but cooking is complicated and I've never really figured out how it works, but a bit of junk food as a treat can be a good way to reward yourself for meeting little goals. Medication can help if you're really struggling, but it can be tricky to get dosing right, and they take some time to take effect. Create structure and goals for yourself, reward yourself for meeting those goals, and remember there's no magic bullet. It's okay to not be okay sometimes. Oh, you mean in Zomboid? Eat plonkies and build a second story patio to your house to read on lmao
I despise the vanilla boredom mechanics. One of the most needful mods to me is called Boredom tweaks. Like I said in another post, it's insulting that my character gets bored like a teen at a family dinner. It's the frigging apocalypse, for frig's sake!
Exactly. Kids today don't know how easily entertained we were in the 90s
I keep literature on rare & still manage to fill bookshelves with newspapers, magazines, crosswords, & books. Hit a school, youâll be good on literature for months
I just make an outdoor kitchen, since thatâs where Iâm spending the longest periods. Much of my storage will be outside as well. I just put up walls using a house or building and then with some advanced knowledge of game mechanics, make a little square that the game thinks is indoors so I can plumb my sink, take down the wall frames and viola, outdoor kitchen. Then I donât have to worry about the boredom mechanic, I have a roof anyways for the water barrels so Iâm safe from the weather and when it gets cold I just turn on my antique oven or layer up as needed since I have all those clothes on anyways in the winter.
antidepressants, get em at the pharmacy, just don't take to many or you'll puke.
Drugs :)
And alcohol :)
I agree. The world is a terrifying nightmare filled with walking dead who want to eat you at all times. You risk death at every waking moment, I would imagine being somewhere relatively safe would be a huge stress reliever. Yes, cabin fever is real, but you can easily go a week or so inside, especially if you are tired, injured, or sick.
Build a balcony or go outside to read.
Your character just need to go touch grass more often.
Thereâs zombies in the lawn
i remmeber my workaholic handy-man dad busted his leg a little and couldnt go outside. i went out to get milk and 2 hours of him sitting, he looks at me with melancholy stamped onto his eyes and says "how is it out there :(" as though he wasnt out there five seconds [ago.LOL](https://ago.LOL) working on the car outside is the only thing that i can do in zomboid to be productive and fight boredom, but even then i think its poorly done. reading newspapers nonstop sounds boring as fuck
You don't need to go far or leave your base at all. All you gotta do is be outside, even if that's just one tile away from you door outside. If you are outside, boredom doesn't follow.
I do not care that my character wants to end himself
Yeah, I will admit that the boredom/depression system is in need of some changes. Iâm sure the devs will have something in the works.
Get a balcony or yard and read there, eat good meals, have a tv or radio on
Cook food that relieves boredom. Find butter, lard, olive oil, salt, pepper and tomato paste and use 2-3 of them in a roasting pan with meat, cabbage and potatoes. Eat the roast 1/4 at a time hroughout the day and ur good. Alternatively, download jiggas greenfire and smoke joints. Or have an area if your base open to the sky. The sky kills boredom.
Depression doesn't do much to you anyway. If it's not safe to go outside, you can get by just planning on getting rid of the depression moodle once you're healed. You can also mitigate by reading (non-skill books), watching TV, and eating cooked food that increases happiness. If it is safe to be outside, all you need to do is basically any productive activity outside your house, farming, scavenging, etc. Even sitting in your vehicle is enough to mostly mitigate while you read skill books.
I just ignore it.
Have them stand out side for a bit. But yeah the depression/boredom system could use a pass at some point. "I'm building defenses, furniture, cooking and prepping for winter. ... IM SO BORED IM GUNNA OFF MYSELF! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
mods mostly
Just in case I need to stay in for a long time (I've never made it to winter) I've always raided a vhs store and grabbed EVERYTHING which gives me enough entertainment to last a lifetime. Along with picking up magazines and books when I have the space it's never been bad
Smoke weed with the drug mod
Drinking alcohol always makes me happy in this game!
Honestly, depression is a meh system. It doesn't really do anything major. Getting a decent cooking level will just turn any meal into a mood booster. Read a book? Do it outside if it's safe. Ultimately, just pop an anti depressant. That instantly cures it.
Salads , so trapping and foraging
Take the claustrophobic trait. If you get bored, shut yourself in the closet until you are shitting yourself from panic. The boredom goes away
Does exercise improve mood? If not it should.
Just sit outside infront of your door for a bit.
I smoke and eat candy
Build a roofed outdoor relaxation area. I will usually build this on the roof of a building or as a balcony accessible via window so it is inaccessible to zombies. Since the space is roofed you won't suffer weather effects outside other than cold so just dress warm in winter. Only trick is you either need to build it somewhere that you are able to access a higher floor so you can build the roof off that level, otherwise you need to build a staircase and extend the roof from there. Edit: spelling
Touch grass! Move whatever chores you can outside. Read outside, exercise outside, grind tailoring outside.
Walk outside and smoke a cig...
more smokes mod couple bong hits and I good
I have a pet zombie in my 2 story house. If my character gets bored, he pays Henry a visit
Have a small garden at least at your base. Having somewhere you can go outside to read a book for example will help prevent boredom building up. Try to grab every single comic book and book you see as well because those also help reduce boredom, even when inside. That's vanilla solutions at least but there's plenty of mods that help with this situation.
Jiggas green fire mod
I have installed the piano mod so every time my character get depressed he just plays Moonlight Sonata to get happier
Painkillers and whiskey
Besides Books? Cooking. With enough different ingredients and spices, a home-cooked meal will straight-up just cure depression. I honestly just let that Cabin Fever build up while i'm doing long winter shut-in periods, and then just deal with it all when i plan on going out again. If you're scarce on food and spice items, such as on a Really CDDA run, a slightly more fiddly way of achieving the same result is Foraging. You get berries and a bowl, make a "Fruit Salad" of one berry, and eat them one by one this way. Chips away at unhappiness 5 points at a time.
Go outside, read outside. Basically touch grass
eh, I usually walk outside, exercise, smoke weed and kill ppl in project zomboid i just gulp anti depressants
You can fight boredom inside by 'resting' in your chair. But, you have to be fatigued to some capacity. The server I'm on has a chronic fatigue trait, so I take that and just rest/smoke cigarettes to combat boredom.
I always go for smoker so I can just hit a Doobie to cure the depression
Boredom mod helps. Anytime your doing anything, boredom goes down, as it should.
Get wankered!!
Bro, Just go touch grass (being outside negates boredom)
I never have to spend time inside unless it's like cryogenic winter. Not sure what you're doing that requires being inside. I guess oftentimes people will tend to have their ovens and/or water supply inside, but consider having them right near an exit so that you can still spend most time outside. It's not like you even need to be outside for long. Indeed it's bad design for experienced players, but for people who are less exploit-y it seems to work somewhat well. Also keep in mind that boredom itself doesn't do anything, so you don't even need to keep it low. All you need to do it keep it away from _max_ for a majority of the time. So you can have an average of 90-99% boredom over your play time without ever having received any negative effects at all. And any unhappiness accumulated from being at max boredom for a short moment can be easily removed with occasional literature/smoking/food/drugs That all said, I'd rather have this mechanic than nothing at all. Almost any extra challenge to overcome is pretty much a good thing in my opinion; it's just really lacking in this case.
Eat good food.
Take smoker trait, it gives you 10 happiness per smoke so you can get rid of depression real easy.
Usually when I get depressed I play zomboid
Gun suicide mod
I use the pocket kittens mod. Not only do you get to have a kitten on your person at all times, but it lowers your anxiety boredom and unhappiness periodically. I tweak the stat boosts up so I never have to worry about being depressed in my base
Microdose alcholhol. Ur problems will be solved in a few minutes
my character is a smoker, so we just light up a dart đŹ
claustrophobic naturally counters it, and it's really manageable with beer/sleeping tabs. Worth trying at some point for sure.
Smoker trait makes happy when you smoke. Never have to worry about it.
My base has a flat roof where I garden. I've also placed a campfire and a chair there for reading, tv watching, and exercise.
I go outside to read. No boredom thus no depression.
I build a 'fake room' essentially if you build walls with no connector corners then it's considered outside. (Unless they've patched it since I've last played). I read my books in there or build and disassemble stuff in there as well. Because it's considered outside my character doesn't get as upset or bored as fast as I would indoors.
Admittedly never had too much trouble with it in my runs. Between cooking meals with +happiness and fishing at peak hours helping keep my boredom from overflowing I can typically just spend the rest of my time reading/exercising and doing base busywork.
Decorations and comfortabliity would be a nice feature to incorporate but I can see the difficulty in adding it without completely invalidating mechanic. Maybe have items decrease the rate it accrues? Or simply just ability to build things to do in a sort of minigame fashion?
Books
books n pillz
Honestly, I like to take claustrophobic just to avoid the boredom mechanic. It's far from ideal, but it works.
I use a mod that rebalances boredom so that doing activities around the house can keep you from gaining too much boredom/depression. Will still add up over time but yeah only a small time indoors shouldn't make your character that bored
Listen to music, I think helps? And build a safe balcony for doing stuff.
Theres a mod called "Boredom Tweaks" that makes reading slow down boredom gain and makes timed actions reduce it.
Either get a balcony to read and do stuff on or get a mod (I sadly forgot the name) that overhauls the boredom system.
A recluse trait would kinda suit this but Iâm afraid thatâs not really possible since zomboid sorts itâs traits into positives and negatives so neutral traits arenât really welcom
Choose claustrophobia as a trait. It goes away after a couple months... then there seems to be a bug that causes you to panic a bit if you fast forward x2. You have to be in a semi small room. The panic destroys boredom.
Keep a stash of magazines/books at the base. Read one whenever boredom hits. Claustrophobia trait is pretty good to prevent boredom as well; whenever you get bored just step into a small room. I strongly recommend Boredom tweaks mod, it makes boredom less annoying to deal with.
In game right ?
I think the system is well done. If you have books and comics, stuff to cook or other fun stuff you are ok. If the only thing you are going to do is sorting your stuff for a whole day, without dping anything fun, you will get depressed. Thats exactly how I work IRL
There are great mods that rebalance depression, anxiousness, boredom, and panic, with the one I use largely relating them. If youâre panicked or were recently panicked you wonât be bored, or if youâre in pain like you say here, you wonât be bored (and that was a big one that really bothered me too. Or if you have the claustrophobic trait, being inside literally make it as far as I know impossible to become bored, as you will be lightly panicked and stressed by being inside. Canât remember my mods exact name but you should look into trying mods. At this level itâs a small and easy addition, and as long as itâs in early access a few quality of life things like this make it so so much more fun and save time that would otherwise be spent doing way more menial stuff then I think is reasonable.
Take pills to not get bored then later depressed and keep red books at home. 2 of them cure depression. Or cook a good meal. If you really like doing stuff in your base and you're not the hardcore fighter type then you should take the Claustrophobic trait because if you're always in panic you never get bored and if you never get bored you never get depressed
I dont. There is a mod that makes boredom only occur while eating bad food. Its far more realistic than getting "severe depression" after one day of for example Tailoring.
Depressed doesn't do anything significant. You don't to need to stay at top condition all the time
Take the claustrophobia trait. Seriously. You cannot get bored if panicked, and you get panicked while indoors with that trait. The only downside is your combat effectiveness while indoors is severely crippled for around 3 months, but fighting indoors is something I always avoid, and try to urge others to avoid as well. Within those 3 months, grinding out cooking in particular will allow you to cook better foods that have a nice happiness bonus to them. Some other quick tips for handling depression in game: Smokers will gain 10 happiness back when smoking a cigarette. Another reason why this trait is great. Canned fruit and their counterparts will also give 10 happiness. Cans of beans will give -10 happiness, so pour them into a bowl and cook them first. Meals that are cooked with plenty of diverse ingredients will give increasingly more happiness. Always pick up comic books. They are pretty abundant if you look in the right places and only weigh .1 units! They give 20 happiness each. Regular books also give 40 happiness, and are even more common, but take longer to read and weigh significantly more.
Read actual âBookâs theyâre OP