THE DUMP STINKS

I am a private contractor. Sometimes we take down a fence or a building and we have to haul it away to the dump.

Last year was my first Torn Christmas, and I spent every drop of E at the dump.

And while tons of useless shit clogging up your log is exactly what you'd get wasting your energy at the dump IRL

There is one key element missing that anyone who has ever been to any dump would notice.

The Smell.

The last three days (f**kin wars) I have been dumping (heh get it) all of my E at the dump.

Today we actually went to the dump.

After getting home, showering, scrubbing, washing my boots, and basically rinsing my sinuses, I have came to a few conclusions about the dump in Torn.

1. Stink Meter

- Some type of bar that increases based on e spent at the dump. Applying some sort of buff/debuff that increases and is harder to get rid of the more time (E) spent at the dump. Maybe it goes away over time, maybe a soap on a rope takes an hour off the timer.

All I know is that we were (out of the truck) at the dump a whopping like 10 minutes.
And for the rest of the day, we smelled like absolute dump. The smell permeated every fiber of our clothes, every cell of our body.
The truck smelt like it. Our clothes, the tools, our hair, everything. Hell my ROOM smells like it now that I get back in here from the shower.
Which brings me to my next item.

2. Dump temporary/consumable

- Small chance (possibly based on stink meter) of finding 'Concentrated Dump Juice' or perhaps 'Cube of dump mud' when searching the dump. Able to be used on others or their properties.

As we were driving back to the job my coworker said "Man that mud alone has so much flavor to it, if I hid a chunk of it in your house you'd be f!@#$d for like WEEKS."

Dump dirt holds more flavor in it than every dish ever created by every 5 star chef in the world at once.
The seasoning is so powerful I believe it should be utilized.
And while doing so in real life might cost you everything, doing something as small as.... throwing dump juice on a person (hopefully with their mouth open) in Torn is much less... well... condemning.

3. Wetness

-i dont have a suggestion to add to the game about this but i feel it is something you need to hear regardless

As not many people know, the dump sprays water multiple times a day over... well everything. The moisture keeps all the fiberglass small particulates from travelling via the breeze into local water systems or my bosses lungs.
The dump people warn everyone about the dangers during these delicious and otherwise juicy times.
This water mixes with the trash, and creates the flavors we have all come to know and love.
But as it mixes it creates the ideal environment for trucks and boots... to get completely stuck in.
Not sure how this would translate to Torn.. perhaps like the tide system in 2.0 where every day the wetness changes and likelihood of finding certain objects or potential 'bad outcomes' increases based on how wet it is.

Conclusion: The dump reeks, everything about it, and so will you if you go there...
I'm sure you guys can think of some better things than this, I just figured you needed to know.


I think EVERYONE should make a trip to their local dump. Dig through the piles. Play around in the lagoons. Roll around laughing throwing globs of mud. Dare each other to take a shot of the tasty juices running down the hills.

Only then can you fully comprehend the term "Flavor-blasted"

And only when these things are added will the dump in Torn truly... truly feel like home.

I can see what your getting at (t took awhile reading all that)

My issue is that I only really search the dump at Xmas and if I have a random 5e left after I've been to the gym and been distracted for 10 mins before I fly

I wouldn't even notice the loss of..... whatever it is your wanting

Simple.
A negative addition and a postive addition to equal each other out and give the dump more flavor
Say you get a little stinky rooting around in the dump and debuffed. But in the process you got some concentrated flavor that's worth millions because it can be thrown on people to also debuff them or their property (gotta be a good debuff too or else still no one would care)

Like dog poo and loo roll on 1st April

I've always felt that doing something in Torn should feel rewarding and have a use. Like the dump being a source for random consumables that are unique to it. That way it truly feels like a game mechanic/strategy vs just a waste of E that you need to do to get a merit once and only when an npc decides to clean out his loot room.

Plus, maybe the stink meter being maxed out causes people who attack or mug you to get a debuff or status effect applied to them. Maybe it reduces their stats or they can't mug as much because the smell overpowers them mid-mugging. Or hell, maybe their screen just turns a lovely shade of green or brown.

I really like the idea of adding more flavor to the dump. Of course, the E expense is already hardly worth the gamble most days. So it would have to be one useful glob of muck to make up for adding extra debuffs on top.

Flavorwise this sounds great. Gameplay wise I'm not convinced. But it seems to me the dump sure needs some rework if it's ever gonna be a fun mechanic.

Though maybe it is in fact already fulfilling its purpose to be a place for desperate gamblers to waste E on. And I'm just disappointed it's not really a for me thing. I don't actually have the stats on how many people dive in each day.

(Not quite related to your proposal but I think it would be reasonable if each search yielded between 1-5 items instead of always 1)