Okay, so this might be tough to code, but I though I would bring it up for discussion anyway.
How about if things that we carry were to be wrecked by combat? Perhaps contents of a pack could sometimes break when we get hit in the torso. This could work like the armor-damage code, but check to see if things are containers, and affect the contents. "Something shatters in your pack!" Maybe this would make life too hard in the wastes, but I still think it could be really cool.
This could also (and maybe especially) transfer to falling damage that we take. And it could make different water containers worth more or less. A tough old clay jug might be a better deal than a leather waterskin, even with the weight.
Overall, I would like to see more degredation of equipment over time. Yes, we can RP this, and to a certain extent, I do. But, in my opinion, more damaged and broken equipment in the game would be awesome!
I would also like to second another player's opinion that more equipment should be sold cheaply and in used condition. It would be great if it were loaded this way, like some of the armor we see in game. I'm not looking for the coded advantage of cheap equipment, but for more of a gritty feel to the appearance of the world. Plus, killing someone for their armor would be a little more realistic if a killing shot to the body tore up their leather jacket.
Comments?
Morrolan
I think something you have to ask yourself here is: does it add to roleplay?
Personally, I doubt this sort of feature would add much. It would be a minor nuisance if it were infrequent, and if it were too frequent, people would just start carrying around multiple copies of each item to compensate for the random breaking scheme, or even filling their packs with many cheap, light, breakable items to reduce the probability that anything important in their pack might break.
Dwarves would suddenly become a lot more popular as well, due to their inherent strength and concomitant ability to carry around more stuff.
All for what? So we could go "neat" once when something breaks, then yell "shit!" every other time down the line.
Thumbs down.
Stuff does deteriorate. What's going on?