TCI Members and Fans,
Today I want to talk about a system that has been the basis of the Camarilla Edition and The Final Nights series of mods for Bloodlines since it's inception. It's called the Bloodloss Timer System and has changed the entire game mechanics of Bloodlines in drastic ways. This system has been the cornerstone of TFN but has never formally been discussed. In TFN 1.2, some changes were made to the Bloodloss Timer System that warrants me to talk about this system and the changes we've made for TFN 1.2.
Vampire's need blood to sustain their undead forms and thus are required night after night to consume it. As a vampire goes about their undead lives, the blood inside of them is used up to continue their existence, requiring them to feed. This is portrayed in Bloodlines in the form of the Bloodloss Timer. The timer is simple, as you play the game you will notice your blood pool slowly decreasing at the base rate of 4 minutes per blood point. This is the standard rate of blood usage for all kindred however there are modifiers that can adjust the timer up or down accordingly. Both Humanity and your character's Stamina will play a role in determining the rate at which you will lose blood.
As mentioned before, your base rate at which you will lose blood is 1 blood point every 4 minutes. You have a total of 15 blood points resulting in a flat 60 minutes you can survive without blood in real time. Your Humanity also dictates the rate at which you lose blood. As a vampire gives into the beast and loses Humanity, more blood is consumed to keep the feral beast at bay. For every Humanity point below 6, an additional 30 seconds will be deducted from your 4 minute timer. So if you have a Humanity of 5, your blood timer would fall every 3 minutes and 30 seconds and if you have a Humanity of 4, it would fall every 3 minutes. The lowest Humanity score the player can have is 1 which would make the blood timer fall every minute and a half.
On the flip side of that, Stamina also plays a large role. The hardier the vampire is the less blood he needs to continue functioning. For every point in Stamina over 1, the player gains an additional 30 seconds before their blood falls again. So let's say you have a Stamina of 2, your blood timer would fall every 4 and a half minutes and if your Stamina was 3, it would fall every 5 minutes. The best you can ever reach is a Humanity of 6+ and a Stamina of 5 which would total 6 minutes of time before your blood timer falls. The worst you can ever have would be a Humanity of 1 and a Stamina of 1 which would total 1 and a half minutes of time before your blood timer falls.
Okay, now it's Q&A time!
Q: Will my blood pool fall over time while I'm in conversation with NPCs?
A: In TFN 1.3 we designed the blood timer to stop during conversation with all NPCs in the game. If you are playing TFN 1.2 or earlier versions, the blood timer will continue falling during dialogue.
Q: Does the blood timer begin at the start of the tutorial or after the tutorial?
A: It begins after the tutorial when you first reach your haven in Santa Monica. We felt that the tutorial should be for learning and didn't want players to feel any sort of pressure to hurry.
Q: Do other NPC kindred also lose blood over time?
A: Yes they do but as the player, you will never see the effects of this.
Q: Is there a quick and easy way to turn off the blood timer in the game?
A: Not from within the game like an in-game option. You can of course modify the python scripting or the game maps to change or remove the timer. The official Team Camarilla International website has the details.
And this concludes the new Bloodloss Timer System for TFN, hope you enjoyed this program.
