Growing radiation effect

[dAkshEN3]

Right, here is my question:

How would I devise an object effect or script to make an item (specifically a piece of armour) give off radiation when it is equipped but for the radiation given off to slowly increase over time (e.g. +1 at time of equip, then +2 five minutes later, then +3 another 5 mins later and so on), and then for the radiation level to slowly decrease when now equipped (so basically it does the opposite of the previous effect but only records the radiation level, it does not add the rads to the player).

 

The basic idea is that as the player uses this item, it slowly builds in radioactivity through extended use. But when it is put away the radiation will not irradiate the player but will slowly decrease though extended non-use. So, continuing with the example above, if the player were to use it for say, 12 minutes, it would hold a +3 rad effect. And then if they were to unequip it for 5 minutes (12 - 5, +7 minutes), in those 5 minutes they would receive no radiation, but if they were to equip it again at that point it would still be at the +2 level (leve at 5 to 10 minutes use) and would start increasing again as they used it. If they were to wait another 5 minutes (12 - 10, +2 minutes) the radiation given by the item when equipped at they point would be +1 again.

 

If anyone still doesn't understand what I mean, just ask and I'll try to clarify further.

Edited December 1, 2010 by dAkshEN3

[dAkshEN3]

-1weeklaterbump-

[davidlallen]

I am not an expert, but I cannot think of any way that an item you are carrying can irradiate you. Are there any existing items in the vanilla game or an existing mod which do this? Using an existing item/script is the best way to learn how to do something. I can see a timer script which would run every minute, check whether you have the item equipped or not, and increase or decrease the radiation level it would emit.

 

But I don't quite see how to display this radiation to the user. When you walk in an irradiated area, you get the red radiation alert and the geiger counter clicking. Would you want this always displayed as long as the player is carrying the item? It might get a little painful to listen to. You could probably find a function to increase the player's rad level; but doing this silently might not be obvious enough to a player until they suddenly died.

[dAkshEN3]

I think after what you said, I might try the 'add some every <insert interval>' method using something similar to how food adds radiation to the player. Now I need to work out how to use variables in these scripts :blink:

 

Also, the item (specifically armour) would only add rads when its worn, so it would be slightly less annoying to the user.. maybe.

Edited December 7, 2010 by dAkshEN3