Coffee and Caffeine

Edited to add: Crime 2.0 has added a Travel Mug so we don’t spill our coffee while we “mug” each other… tell me how that doesn’t invite the addiction of coffee… I mean addition of coffee to our beloved Torn City?


I was running low on energy and still had a mission I wanted to complete before taking a break for some R&R to let things refill and cooldown. I didn’t want to pop another Xanax for just a little bump or couldn’t because I still had time left on an earlier dose and also couldn’t take any LSD for the same reason, and I didn’t have cash to blow on a can of Energy Drink. I thought, we need something less expensive than energy drinks and less risky/dangerous than Xan that could give just enough of a boost to get one over the hump.


That’s how I got the idea of introducing coffee and caffeine into the game. If this has been tried before, my apologies as I’m fairly new: I know that I, like so many, need a coffee now and then, and so do us denizens of Torn City.


I have little understanding as to what programming feats this would require, but I’d like to propose a Coffee Shop: Dagmar’s Coffee House, where folk can go to enjoy a cup of java. Not a good cup necessarily; those cost more and might be found instead at a Second Cup knockoff, or maybe if something truly exotic is sought after, like High Tea (combine marijuana and caffeine effects), a Coldbrew Porter (coffee and alcohol), or the most expensive - a steaming mug of Kofi (like the stuff made from coffee bean berries pooped out by the kopi luwak civet) with the best caffeine effects and the lowest or zero side effects.


This last joint could even be found in a Point’s accessed speciality shop attached to Bits n Bob’s, maybe Barista Bob’s (like Big Al’s Bunker). Each coffee, from a cup of mud right up to the finest mug of Kofi, would give inverse caffeine effects: cheap swill - less energy, more caffeine shakes (lowers nerve, accuracy, etc. and the effects can be stacked) up to a good cup giving better energy with less loss of nerves and/accuracy…the side effects don’t have to improve one-to-one, with Kofi being a decent amount of energy with the least or no deleterious side effects (hell, if it’s strong enough maybe it not only boosts energy but maybe even boosts accuracy with its ability to help one focus).


All effects can be stacked but also capped for duration (and maybe caffeine can’t let you go above your natural energy level). And of course costs would increase exponentially from lowest to highest. If not in separate coffee shops, then all varieties could be purchased at Dagmar’s.


There could even be special seasoned-themed options. Furthermore, a Coffee Shop could become a Company Job players could set up and become Directors of. This could also lead to new items: a coffee pot, a cup of coffee, empty coffee mugs (with messages like World’s Best/Worst Dad, etc., or seasonally-themed images), bags of coffee beans (regular ol’ beans, flavored ones, seasonal…), a coffee bean grinder, a single-serve coffee maker (like Nespresso or Keurig), an espresso machine? Any of which could be occasional items on each of Leslie’s wheels (maybe in a special Coffee-themed Day?) or randomly be the mystery gift.


These items could be consumable like beer, sellable/tradable, usable to combine and make a consumable-only cup of coffee (the better the machine, the better the caffeine effects), collectible (think mug sets, six-packs of coffee beans…) - mug sales would increase around Museum Days, bean sales would go up for holiday events, and the beans and other items could even purchased in different locations while traveling: beans in Argentina, tea leaves in England (meaning also fancy tea cups and teapots to buy/sell/collect…), hot chocolate in Switzerland (and in the coffee shop, but maybe only at special times? Can also come in various flavors and give similar effects as chocolate bars but maybe with a small caffeine bump), coffee makers in Japan, mugs in South Africa (could even be a coffee mug and tea cup business name “Mug’d in SA” or a less-racially triggering novelty coffee-themed t-shirt saying I got Mug’d - ‘cause, hell , who hasn’t in Torn)…

This could even introduce Caffeine Pills… The options are endless, and I have no doubt players would be all over this as a game update. I can’t wait to see the reaction this gets; would love to see it end up in our beloved city. I ♥ Torn — ooh, another novelty t-shirt!

Edited to add: My suggestion would be that coffee doesn’t have a cooldown; natural refill can occur with regards to E and nnb, but some might be needed for other effects like accuracy…but why would it have to be two hours? Say you drink a cup of regular joe for a 1E increase: it gives a little energy, has a similar addiction as drugs maybe (but it’s a take-out coffee cup instead of a brain), or one could buy a whole pot for 5E at a cost similar to higher priced items.


Either way, it wouldn’t have to be a drug cooldown, can be it’s own thing entirely. And tbh it’s more about the new items and the culture around coffees and teas, a bit of novelty through new items, etc. than it is purely about a quick, cheap caffeine bump. And the E earned doesn’t expire; in fact, it could accumulate like temp hp in D&D, but the player decides when to use it (or it could be a last in, last out option instead).


Let’s say a player simply has fun buying a cup of coffee in game. Has one every day. In 5 days they’ve acquired the same E they would in 10-15 minutes of rest, but they had a fun little experience. And, yes, it could add a whole new aspect to the game: items to buy at home and while traveling, stocks to trade, stuff to collect, even an honor bar (the “Jitter Bug Banner and Merit” for dinking 1000000 cups of coffee, and maybe one for drinking 1000000 pots of coffee, the “Barista Banner and Merit”) - the ripples are many. It will need the developers’ finesse and expertise to sort out the details fully.

If you don't want to use a Xanax, LSD is an alternative that gives 50E and is relatively cheap. Outside of that, I don't think the price of energy should be reduced.

So, I'm guessing you are a coffee drinker in rl. The release of the 5, 10, and 15 energy drinks were to specifically address that problem (they have caffeine in them.)

Prices of all energy related products fluctuate during certain times of the year (mostly around certain events) but tend to balance out. Meaning buying 5 energy drinks that give 5 energy each will be close in price to an energy drink that gives 25 energy. Buying 6 energy drinks that will give 25 energy each, will be close in price to an fhc, which gives 150 energy. The same would happen to anything new released.

So, I do appreciate your enthusiasm as well as you taking the time to really flesh out the idea, I'm afraid it wouldn't really fix the original issue of having too little energy or energy drinks being too expensive. It would introduce a few new items (and possible sets to collect) to the game, which I'm all for.

Thanks for the tip about LSD. There’s a lot more to this idea, though; a whole new coffee culture in Torn; could be a fun addition to the game. And I didn’t suggest a specific price point: I’m certain it will be priced accordingly both in the coffee shop and even higher on the open market. Also, if one is already under the effects of another drug, one cannot take LSD whereas a cup of coffee wouldn’t need the drug cooldown, so it could be used even while only a few hours into, let’s say, a Xan cooldown when you find yourself needing a little jolt.

Unfortunately, Coffee has already been suggested and responded to by Ched. It pains me to say it, but coffee is not on the to-do list for Torn ;-;

Coffee as a one-off item is an understandable pass. Did this previous suggestion include all of the rest of the connected coffee culture as well? If my suggestion hits 250 upvotes, is there a chance it might come open for review again? Or it it perma-dead?

I think having a cheap 1 energy item ie coffee would be a good idea.

I just don't see the utility of having a low energy producing item if there is nothing to spend that energy on. With one exception (using a game console), energy usage in the game is done in multiples of 5.

-Searching the Dump: 5 E
-Praying: 5 E
-Gym: 5, 10, 25, or 50 E
-Attacking: 25 E
-Reviving: 75 E (without faction perks)

This makes sense since your natural energy regens 5 E every 10 or 15 minutes depending on your donators status.

Now the one use case scenario I could see this potentially being useful is to balance out energy gains for cans when faction voracity perks throw the energy totals for cans out of whack.

[image: i.ibb.co]

For example you could use a coffee to round up that Red Cow to 35. That just strikes me as a very niche case though that I don't know how many people would use that since there is an opportunity cost associated with using boosters in the form of a cooldown. If I'm in a war, I'm personally not burning cooldown on a 1 E item which carries a 2 hour cooldown penalty. If I'm not in a war and can afford to use cans, I can probably afford to buy enough of the regular cans so that the math works out evenly.

I'm certainly not against the idea of adding new items to the game. There's just not a lot of things to spend random onesie twosies bits of energy on.

they added the "small cans" recently to do this

250 upvotes will get a developer (usually ched himself) response. It doesn't guarantee it will be implemented, but you will either get a "no" with a reason why, or questions so he can further understand your suggestion.

Thanks for your feedback. However, my suggestion would be that coffee doesn’t have a cooldown; natural refill can occur with regards to E and nnb, but some might be needed for other effects like accuracy…but why would it have to be two hours? Say you drink a cup of regular joe for a 1E increase: it gives a little energy, has a similar addiction as drugs maybe (but it’s a take-out coffee cup instead of a brain), or one could buy a whole pot for 5E at a cost similar to higher priced items. Either way, it wouldn’t have to be a drug cooldown, can be it’s own thing entirely. And tbh it’s more about the new items and the culture around coffees and teas, a bit of novelty through new items, etc. than it is purely about a quick, cheap caffeine bump. And the E earned doesn’t expire; in fact, it could accumulate like temp hp in D&D, but the player decides when to use it (or it could be a last in, last out option instead). Let’s say a player simply has fun buying a cup of coffee in game. Has one every day. In 5 days they’ve acquired the same E they would in 10-15 minutes of rest, but they had a fun little experience. And, yes, it could add a whole new aspect to the game: items to buy at home and while traveling, stocks to trade, stuff to collect, even an honor bar (the “Jitter Bug Banner and Merit” for dinking1000000 cups of coffee, and maybe one for drinking 1000000 pots of coffee, the “Barista Banner and Merit” - the ripples are many. It will need the developers’ finesse and expertise to sort out the details filled; I just needed a coffee ?