[Has Horde night lost its magic?]

I've been thinking about it and here's what I think would be more interesting: When the blood moon rises, you get swarmed by zombies. But not 8 sprinting zombies who charge straight towards the same point; I'm talking about getting surrounded by 32 shamblers slowly closing in to seal your doom, attacking you and more importantly your base from all directions. You'd need to patrol every part of your base keeping the slow but massive horde held back. This is the more traditional zombie experience but it works for a reason.

 

The blood moon can also for inexplicable reasons cause your vehicles not to start, so although fleeing is an option you'll have to do it on foot or bicycle and weave through the constantly encroaching horde.

 

But also, have harder zombies after the first week. It takes WAY too long for blood moons to become dangerous in the current system.

[Quest system rework idea / suggest a mod]

I like the clear/fetch quests and removing them in favor of WoW-style "gather 12 chicken gizzards" quests sounds awful to me.  I do somewhat agree that resetting PoIs is very slightly problematic, but the devs could always add in something like once a PoI has been cleared (either inside a quest or outside of one), you could be forced to go back and defend it from being overrun again.  Maybe along with an NPC defender.  Obviously this would have to happen after NPCs are added.  Or maybe you'd have to patrol a certain area at night and keep the dead occupied so they don't go after certain buildings.  There's definitely more they could do with quests or just in-game objectives in general.

 

I don't have a mod to suggest unfortunately.

[Has Horde night lost its magic?]

I think the hordes should get harder, quicker. You can just make a box out of cobblestone and fight through the doorway with occasional repairs to the walls and have no trouble through the first few horde nights even if you crank up the horde size. Every game I start, I stress out trying to find a weapon before the first blood moon and make sure I have plenty of medicine, materials, buffs, an escape plan, and then the zombies come and they aren't that big a deal.

 

Even if zombies had much higher block damage on horde night (I think that's even a setting) that would have no effect on a lot of players since there are so many options to passively keep zombies from your walls anyway.

 

Should there be demo zombies on day 7? Maybe not. But feral cops and irradiated Arlene? ... I don't know, maybe it's not crazy.

 

I don't know if there's a way to make the blood moon still scary for a prepared player, honestly, but I agree that they could do more.

[Does better barter secret stash boost break the game?]

I agree with that, I'm not a fan of the perk/skill system in general. I don't like having to skill into perception for literally one perk (lucky looter) while strength and agility are packed with amazing perks. Then some perks are fundamental to everything you do in the game while others are just QoL stuff. I don't know how I would retool it, though. The current system is acceptable to me as a placeholder since I don't know what system would be better.

[Does better barter secret stash boost break the game?]

3 hours ago, Spatch said:

Nope, it doesn't break the game.  If some idiot wants to constantly swap glasses on and off for a chance at more loot, let him!  I never waste time doing this and I sure don't waste time with the stupid loot goggle switching CONSTANTLY!  How stupidly unfun is that!

 

You don't have to swap glasses for it to be broken. It gives you stuff that's way beyond you progression-wise whether you use glasses or not.

 

2 hours ago, meganoth said:

My opinion is that the trader/quest system is OP. There is no use fixing the perks, you need to change quests rewards and the secret stash.

I don't think quests should even give items as rewards except when you clear a tier, and the tier-clearing rewards should be nerfed. No more 500 steel blocks for clearing t5; that's absurdly overpowered as a reward that you can get once per trader. Stuff like the bike for clearing T1 is a nice and suitable reward, though.

 

I would still do quests if they only gave dukes and exp, since the fact that they send you to PoIs full of loot and they also reset the loot is already good on its own. I would also make it so you can pick up multiple quests at once. Grab a few, go out and knock out a few PoIs, head back the next day and get a few batches of dukes and see what you can spend them on. I don't need to be given a Q6 steel club as a reward for clearing a T4 PoI in the bloody pine forest.

[empty glass jars]

7 minutes ago, Vaeliorin said:

Presumably you don't just carry around boiled corn in your pockets.  Cut it off the cob and stick it in a glass jar.

But grilled meat goes in your pocket...?

[Does better barter secret stash boost break the game?]

31 minutes ago, BarryTGash said:

What would you propose? Perhaps tying what actually appears in the stash to game or loot stage? That way, if one is invested in it, they'll still get the benefit, just not so early.

That's exactly how I think it should work. Currently, you can reach T4 quests in your first week and get Q6 steel weapons and tools as your rewards. With Better Barter you can also buy steel weapons and tools a few days into the game. Dealing with traders makes loot almost obsolete, except as a source of revenue.

 

I just played a game where I never spoke to a trader other than to get my free 4 points, and I found I was progressing so much more slowly, rare loot was miraculous, and I actually crafted a good chunk of my gear because I couldn't just get a free Q6 version as a quest reward. Maybe not everyone agrees but it felt to me like the pace the game is meant to be played at. Quests and Better Barter secret stashes just break progression so much.

[Does better barter secret stash boost break the game?]

44 minutes ago, BarryTGash said:

What level of better barter? Max is a huge point investment, thereby taking away from other areas of specialisation - it seems like an offset; you get access to things you'd normally have to put points in to and/or find schematics for in exchange for... putting points in to it.

Kinda, except at max barter you can quickly buy everything you'll ever want a couple weeks into the game and then just chug a Fergit'n Elixir that cost you almost nothing and you get back all those points to re-spec into actual gameplay skills. Probably most players won't do it this way but the game sets it up where that is the clear 'optimal' progression.

 

I recently played a game where I rushed barter and daring adventurer and it was unbelievably overpowered. It's just so much stronger than doing anything else with your points. But honestly, here's my only real problem with Better Barter: It's the only way to get solar cells and solar banks. I think that non-traders should have SOME option to get them, even if only as a super-rare end crate find.

[Traders]

In my current world I've seen 2 Jen and 2 Rekt but in my last world I had Hugh, Bob, Joel, Jen, and didn't see Rekt.

 

So, just coincidence is what I'm thinking.

[Suggestions on 'mitigating' lag spikes...]

I did see someone say elsewhere that there are memory leaks. I was following this thread but not posting because I have no solution for you. The game usually maintains 60fps for me with occasional dips to 50ish but I have Dishong and Higashi skyscrapers as next door neighbors and at one point in Higashi Pharmaceuticals my frame rate dropped to like 12 and stayed there for a little while, which made combat super wonky. I'd love to see a solution if one presents itself.

 

(I have an i7-9700k and GTX 1070)

[empty glass jars]

I will agree that it's completely inane both that boiled corn makes you thirsty (while grilled meat doesn't) and that cooking recipes which use water actually use up the jar. That said, at any given time I have 30x more jars than I'll ever need because filled jars are *everywhere* when you loot. Go to a diner and you'll leave with 8 of them: 2 from the coffee machine, 3 from the soda fountain, 2 from the cooler, and 1 from the toilet. Most houses have a coffee machine and toilet, offices may have multiple coffee machines and toilets, convenience stores may have several coolers, a coffee machine and a toilet... plus you can loot trash for empties.

 

By the end of week 1 I usually have like 50 murky water waiting to become either boiled water or glue, plus a couple dozen coffees. So if recipes *didn't* destroy my jar I'd just have even more of something my storage is already overflowing with.

[Functional Rest Mechanic & usable furniture?]

I think rest is a great idea for a mechanic and would really spice things up when for example you overnight in a wasteland T5. You play it quiet enough that you don't get the neverending spawns, but there's always the risk of street spawns coming in and waking you up into a bad situation. Especially if you snore loudly.

[Does anybody craft guns, or T3 melee weapons?]

1 hour ago, bandersnatch said:

I'd support upgrading items as well but with durability lost each time.  I think I saw this in another game years ago.

Darkstone had this, although I'm not sure anybody but me played that game.

[What are the odds? Looted chemistry station, workbench, and wrench in an hour on day one]

3 hours ago, 12pack said:

 

When you open Rekt's till and find Dukes in there, do you yell "CHA-CHING!" at him?

i do..

The funny thing is I didn't even raid his till because I don't need the Dukes. Although I guess I could have taken his money and thrown it on the ground to spite him.

[What are the odds? Looted chemistry station, workbench, and wrench in an hour on day one]

Right now I'm playing with no trading or quests (though stealing from traders is still in-bounds) and I found a forge recipe in the first forge I looted on day one, a chemistry station schematic on day ~11, and a workbench schematic on day ~13.  Had multiple beakers since the first week, too, so I was just waiting to be able to actually make anything.  The lack of workbench was really hurting too because as it turns out, crafting is actually *useful* when you can't do quests or trade.  Who knew??

[A20 Infection Issue]

17 hours ago, bdubyah said:

Trying to loot a good POI or dig up a treasure and get infected? Guess what that means? Finding a cure is now #1 priority.

Yeah, despite finding it annoying I find this actually keeps the game interesting. Since stumps are usually a bust and I play with a lot of towns, I strike out immediately for a pharmacy to loot for antibiotics and I've never not found a cure in time.

 

I think the infection mechanic might be a little unfair to new players because cures are somewhat uncommon, I don't think the game ever tells you to look for stumps (I learned that here), and infection is really easy to get in the beginning when you have no armor. But day 1 dire wolves aren't fair either, which is why the game gives you no death exp penalty until level 6 so you can adapt and learn how to survive in an unfair world.

 

If you've made it to day 15 with no antibiotics I think that goes beyond RNG and is more a sign that you aren't keeping your eyes open. Stockpile cures when you don't need them so you aren't hunting them when you do.

[What factors make the different biomes harder?]

Thanks! It looks like there are a fair number of differences after all. I think the loot stage increase may be a little out of proportion with the difference in difficulty but I at least see the rationale now.

[What factors make the different biomes harder?]

11 minutes ago, Boidster said:

Biome spawns are not tied to gamestage at all (yet?).

Huh. Well then.

 

Do you know if the snow has higher feral spawns outside of downtown?

[What factors make the different biomes harder?]

Hmm, I think I get it. Once you reach a high enough gamestage that ferals are regular spawns, the snow probably has way more of them than the forest. But before that point, the snow is basically a free loot stage bonus.

 

As far as you know, does "downtown" refer to every part of a town? Like are the outskirts of rural towns with a lot of farms considered "downtown" or something else? They do have higher spawns than the wilderness.

[What factors make the different biomes harder?]

12 hours ago, Boidster said:

Downtown snow zombies are harder than downtown pine forest zombies (more ferals, dire wolves, and so on). That + cold + occasional blizzard + enemy animals I guess. 

I haven't really noticed this. It took over a week to encounter my first feral in the snow. I am using the Dangerous Cities modlet to make cities less empty and easy, so maybe that affects things, but my expectation was that if the biome were to have more ferals it just means they would appear more in the modded crowds.

[Does anybody craft guns, or T3 melee weapons?]

1 hour ago, Jason83380 said:

I really like the idea that you need weapon parts to repair a weapon.

I'd be OK with that change *if* parts could be crafted and T1 guns didn't require parts. The way it is now you can go really long stretches of time never finding any parts other than military armor, steel tool, and motor tool. People with steel knuckles and steel armor would be screwed.

 

Also, I can create a vehicle capable of flight out of random junk I found in a dumpster. I think I can create a new corkscrew to weld onto my steel knuckles.

[What factors make the different biomes harder?]

So I know you get a decent loot score bonus for going to the desert, a better one for the snow, and then the wasteland is the largest bonus.  The wasteland is obviously way harder than other biomes because it's packed with zombie vultures, zombie dogs, and zombie bears, plus the enemy respawn time is instant at night and enemies may have feral sense(?) so if you make noise at night you basically get a blood moon scenario any night of your choosing.  These things, to me, justify the loot bonus.

 

But what about the snow?  There are more bears and cougars but I feel like they can be avoided for the most part without difficulty.  There are more lumberjacks but they aren't that much tougher than regular zombies.  There's the cold mechanic which is visually annoying but in practical terms affects you very little.  Then on the positive side visibility is better than the pine forest so hunting is way easier, traveling at night is way easier, you can spot nests and stumps anywhere, water is essentially infinite (not that it's usually a concern anyway), and digging is way easier if you need to lay a foundation.  So really it seems easier than the pine forest or at least equivalently easy as long as you know not to charge headfirst into a cougar.

 

Is there more going on behind-the-scenes that makes the snow a harder biome?  Are enemy spawn rates faster/higher, detection higher, chance of feral/irradiated/tougher zombies higher?  Because at a glance it seems like it's not much tougher than the pine forest and just gives better loot.

[suggestion: Quest complete list]

I've had this experience as well. Surrounded by PoIs but the quests have sent me back to the same place multiple times. I don't really mind it but it would probably be a smarter design if the game tried to avoid duplicates when possible.

[The biggest source of un-fun: inventory management.]

No such thing as zero downtime with inventory in this game.  You still need to go crate to crate and a lot of items don't stack, or they stack when you don't want them to (e.g. the ammo you keep with you at all times).  It's in the game's design.

 

That said, the mods mentioned in this topic would help for sure.  I've considered the mod to make every item stack up to 30k as well to streamline things but that one feels like it ventures out of QoL territory and dips its toes into cheatery.

[It would be ideal if zombies didn't have block-breaking in their pathing to the player UNLESS they have no access to the player.]

Well for sure they shouldn't be stuck on blocks in that PoI.  But in your base, aren't they just trying to build a more straightforward way to kill you without running a gauntlet?