Adding a new Enhancer/Container that's called an "Emergency Field Kit"
A high-value, late-game enhancer that enables limited self-healing abroad through strategic preloaded meds or drugs, maintaining Torn’s travel-risk balance while addressing long-standing player frustration.
Overview
A medical case that can be taken abroad when items have been placed inside, similar to a box, but has a heavily limited space count, allowing for players to self medicate whilst abroad, or get themselves out of hospital quicker, meaning less downtime for them.
Item Details
Name: Emergency Field Kit.
Type: Enhancer/Container.
Buy Location: Switzerland (keeps with lore of this location being the medical hub for the game).
Price to Buy: 150m-500m (this keeps it from being a quick-buy item, and I believe fits the benefit it offers).
Capacity: 3 Slots. This is non-negotiable and cannot be increased in any way.
Limited items: Medical items and drugs only.
Use Abroad?: Yes, but only 1 case, similar to suitcases, they do not stack.
Tradeable: No
Restock: 100 available every 12 hours at the Switzerland store.
Unlock Requirements
I suggest one of two ways to unlock this item's full use:
- Education
Setting this to be locked via a bonus education course in the Biology branch means players have something further to aim for. If set for after the Bachelor, and the Bachelor is needed, it presents a gateway to add further educational courses to the game, allowing for more perks and keeping the education running constantly, if accepted well, setting the time constraint for roughly similar or a little more than a Bachelor (6-7 weeks with no time reduction), and the cost a little higher.
- Stock Dividend
Locking the case use behind a stock dividend means players have to invest to get it, if you set it to a passive perk, but requires 31 days to activate, this means only dedicated players will get it, especially if the stock amount is set to 10m shares required and the price to attain those shares to begin with is set to 500m. I know the stock market in game does marry actual stock fluctuations IRL, but using this method makes it an end-game item.
Personally I'd go the educational route as it's a little more user-friendly and can't be influenced to reach heights where it's simply unobtainable by players.
Risks & Balancing
Here’s where I cover potential exploits and how they can be balanced.
- It kills the reviver trade.
Although on the front of it yes it does, at the same time no it doesn't, Revivers are also just as much at risk of being hospitalized while abroad, meaning a player flying out to revive someone maybe subject to being hit themselves, meaning the job they went to do ends up being lost to someone else. With this case, they can self-medicate out of hospital and get themselves back up and ready to revive again. It also allows them to take a Xanax, allowing for an extra 3 revives whilst in the country, thus allowing them to make more money whilst there.
- But it just allows access to the players medical, albeit limiting them to just 3 items.
The case would require refilling per trip, if you used all items taken, meaning it requires pre-planning. If you fly and forget to fill it, then tough luck, you're subject to the same as everyone else and will require to wait or request a revive.
- Won't this allow players to full heal whilst abroad?
This is why the space limit is capped to 3. I believe this will make it so you can't fully heal, and if a player does find a way to do so, then they have wasted all their meds on doing so, which means they either need to get out quickly, or risk the same downtime as everyone else.
- Won't this just allow players to farm you?
Although yes, it is true that this can happen, there will be no way that a player can know if you have the Emergency Field Kit, so chances are they would have to act quick, or be paying close attention, while you only have to hit 2 buttons to get away and back to safety.
- Well soon as it's bought, then that's it, you can constantly heal while abroad.
Though that would seem likely, I would impose a risk factor directly tied to property OWNERSHIP. So for low end property, there is a 7-10% chance per flight that the case is found and confiscated, meaning it still has the risk of being lost. It's not there to be permanent. The risk is mitigated by buying higher-level properties and acquiring the appropriate upgrade and staff. This lowers the chances down to 5-6%, and owners of a PI can have the risk mitigated fully, but the upgrade cost is similar to the yacht. As stated in bold, the player would be required to own the property, and not rent it. This means that the risk isn't so easily mitigated, but the upgrade does add bonus happiness, so it's not fully in vain for renters.
- Well, how do you stop people buying massive amounts of them, reselling, or just giving them away?
That's quite simple and done in a few of ways:
- The case doesn't follow conventional restock timers, but instead boasts its own. Every 12 hours, it'll restock in Switzerland, and only 100 will be available, meaning you'd have to be quick to buy one or sit in Switzerland and risk being hit.
- The item would be listed as non-tradable, stopping people from being able to abuse the market, and making buying multiple pointless, save for stocking for loss via confiscation.
- The high price tag means only wealthy players will afford it, but not many would fully max out their stock limit due to the cost of, and if the higher bracket is used, 2 being 1b.
Why it's fair?
The case is fair as it allows players to mitigate the frustration of being hospital locked in a different country, for example, every time they get out of hospital, they are away from the game, and then when they get a chance to get on, it turns out they have been put back in. But it's not a case of everyone can get it. The high price tag makes it so only those that are willing to save, or have managed to accrue substantial amounts, can get it. The fact it's only obtainable abroad means that you must be a minimum level of 15 to get it, and with it being a non-tradeable, similar to the piggybank, it means players can't buy and give them away to friends, or buy mass amounts and resell them.
Furthermore, locking the full use behind either education or stock dividend, as laid out above, means that players can't just buy it and use it straight away. They have to earn the right to use it, giving a direct path that players must follow.
Finally, it is a well requested feature, to be able to heal abroad, and normally gets shot down due to bringing about an unbalanced and quite frankly game breaking mechanic. I believe this will allow for such mechanic to be implemented, but also keeps it balanced and fair to everyone, allowing players, that attain the ability to use it, and then go on to get the case itself, the means to help themselves whilst abroad, but also not fully take the risk away, as the bag can be seized, left empty, or the wrong load out is chosen making it useless to the player.
