Riamus

Just to add to what has already been commented on... Graphics work is being done (usually) by different people than those working on mechanics and gameplay and other kinds of content like story. So for the most part, you aren't trading mechanics and features for improved graphics. However, there is still a trade-off in this game. Because of the art assets being added, most of the POI are also getting updated with the new assets. I would assume this is getting done by the same people who make new POI. So time spent updating the old POI is taken from creating new POI. How much this affects things, I don't know, but we probably end up with at least a few less new POI because of the new art assets. Thankfully, there are good POI designers outside of TFP that give us additional POI to use.

The loot bags dropped by zombies do tend to stay a very long time. They don't seem to disappear quickly unless you open them. Items dropped by players disappear in a minute, but I have seen loot bags last a very long time. Are you opening them and then leaving them? I never bother with the bags until after horde night is over and never have an issue with them disappearing unless I open them and have them.

This is very true. Look at any old game that is still enjoyed by many people today and you will find that the graphics have stood the test of time. That doesn't mean they are equal to today's standards, but that they are done in a way that still looks good today. Often, they are done in a specific style that fits the game really well even if they aren't hyper realistic. That said, graphics are certainly not everything. A game with amazing graphics and horrible gameplay will not be enjoyed anywhere near as much as a game with horrible graphics and amazing gameplay. The goal of any game is a balance of the two. Occasionally, you will find a game that has both amazing graphics and amazing gameplay, but those are few and far between. If you focus too much on only one aspect, your game will likely not do very well, or at least not as well as it could have. I think that this game has a good balance. The graphics are very good for a voxel game and fit the game well, imo. They don't have to be equal to the best graphics seen today. That said, I am very interested in the updated art assets. I think it will make the game more interesting for more players (people do like graphics), which benefits everyone as TFP is more likely to continue improving the game after gold if it continues to do well. Speaking of the new art assets, @Roland, do you have any favorite new art assets that you could tell us about (or show us)? What would you say is the most noticeable thing improved and why do you think it is better? I know we have seen some new things like cars, but if you could let us know what stands out the most to you, that would be great.

I wasn't suggesting that it would guarantee results, but that it could point to an issue. Obviously, even with everything at low utilization, you can have problems. But if you check it and find something maxed out, it is likely where the problem is and this is a very easy thing to check. Anything else you might want to check is going to be harder to check or verify, which is why I suggested this to potentially point in the right direction. Maybe I wasn't as clear as I could be that this suggestion wasn't a guarantee.

One thing I would try is when the game starts stuttering, look at your task manager (easiest if it is already open and you just alt-tab to it). See what, if any, of your hardware is hitting 100%. This should at least narrow down where the problem is. That was how I learned that running the game on my HDD was causing problems for me as the hard drive was hitting 100% usage at times. Switching to my SSD dropped that significantly. Now I only have trouble in large cities, usually after completing a tier 5 POI, until I get out of the city or sometimes if the game is running for a really long time. I never have issues with horde night. And I'm running the game on a slow computer (only 8GB RAM). I'm not on ultra - just a bit over medium, of course. Note that I do have to close Chrome or the game does start slowing down after a short time. Perhaps if you are running anything in the background, try closing it and see if that helps.

It isn't just the forge. You can see this in the workbench with some things as well. If you leave it open, you get experience. If you close it, you do not. Probably also with the other workstations. I suppose it makes sense to avoid getting experience by just starting a bunch of projects in multiple workstations and leaving. Still, getting experience for doing something if you do it a certain way, but not getting it when doing it a different way isn't a good situation. Better to just remove the experience altogether. Another thing that gives a lot of experience for no effort is creating stacks of things like stone or iron. You already got experience mining it. I don't think it makes sense to get experience by turning it into stacks. I haven't tried it, but I assume it would work to create a stack, unstack it, create a new stack, unstack it, etc. That seems like a significant exploit if it works that way. And I'm sure it must because I can't see the game tracking which pieces of ore were used the last times you created stacks.

I'm curious... Can this cause problems with cities if you were to split a biome in the middle of one that was already generated there?

My guess is the dynamic mesh got messed up. I would try turning it off and loading the game. If that fixes the problem, try turning it back on and see if it was "reset" by disabling it (I don't know if that removes the data or not). I have seen that happen when I built a tunnel through a mountain and driving through the tunnel would cause that effect. 😁

I don't see what you are describing, but you could try adjusting anti-aliasing or shadows as those are the most likely to relate to what you described.

Nice to see the update to the hospital. I wouldn't mind seeing the current one still available without having to manually add it, just to have more tier 5 variety. If this were just an update with the new blocks and such, that would be fine, but since this appears to be entirely new, keeping to old one seems worthwhile to me. I get all of them if I make enough maps. The skyscrapers seem to definitely be the most common. I don't know if there is an increased chance for them or if that's just RNG. But I have definitely had all of them in my RWG maps.

If you want realism in farming, it should take months before you can harvest your cross and you should have to water and weed your garden regularly and deal with things like insects and rabbits. I doubt that is what you want even though you say you want realism. 😀 As meganoth pointed out, it is a matter of perspective. One blueberry in the game may be a handful and even though the blueberry pie shows a full pie, it may be one slice. If you consider that the numbers and sizes may not be what they seem at first glance, it begins to make more sense. Also, as I mentioned, farming takes time in real life. If you were to look at it as if the game let you get early harvests, you may find the numbers closer after a few months to what you expect. Depending on your time settings, you harvest crops in the game about every 1-3 days or so (maybe more on really short days). So you are getting anywhere from 30-90 times your harvest by the time you would harvest in real life. That includes seeds and crops. Even considering you are spending seeds to replant during that time when that wouldn't be the case in real life, you are still getting a really good harvest in the amount of time a real harvest would take. Just something to consider. 😀

Many players play one life games to where they will restart if they die. It is easy to do this if you choose without any game mechanics needed. Zombies are only around in your chunk, so if you are not close to your "base block", nothing can touch it. That would defeat the purpose of it as players would simply go somewhere far enough away so it never gets damaged. I doubt we will see anything like you are suggesting, but you can easily play it out in the same way, with the exception that a zombie won't try to target a specific block except if you do something to cause then to target it, such as putting a torch behind it if it is on the wall of the base. But you can still set specific rules for when it is game over on your own if you choose. It is at least something. As far as how people choose to build their bases, including having a separate horde base, there is no reason why they should not be allowed to play the way they want. Just as you want to play the way you want, so do they. Nothing wrong with that.

That in itself can be considered part of what is happening with seeds. If you were to assume you got more seeds and planted them and harvested then in a few months, this is just a way to allow "early harvesting" of some seeds, but not all. If you replant for a few months straight, you'd probably end up with the same results as a single planting that you had to wait a few months for, but where you could get many more seeds each planting.

Out of curiosity, any chance of similar effect for sleeping zombies? If you run over a zombie laying down sleeping, you run right through them.

I use spears all the time and enjoy them. I do have a gun handy for when there is a rush of zombies. But for normal use, even in a tier 5, I'll still use a spear. I can one shot most zombies other than greens, and even then, I can usually knock them down in one shot and finish them in the next as long as I get a clean headshot. Of course, I don't play at the highest difficulty levels, so can't comment on that. I won't melee a horde night, but I think spears and melee in general late game work fine as long as you are aware of what is around you. Having a gun for the rushes is a good idea, but with enough first aid, you can do it without, though I don't really consider that enjoyable. But that's just my opinion.

I rarely put points into sex rex until I am leveled up with a lot. I used to, but realized it really isn't that big of a deal unless I am doing a lot of digging without an auger and I basically just skip that until I am higher level. Often, I don't even out points into it, or if I do, it is only one or two. It just isn't as necessary as it seems. Using a stone ax for harvesting very quickly uses "no" stamina (you regain faster than using it) just by peeking into miner 69er, so you can harvest without needing a break, no matter how large your garden is. Weapons are the bigger issue and perking into them will solve this with the change and you should be perking into whatever weapons you use anyhow, so this actually saves you points. As I mentioned, digging/mining is the more difficult issue with stamina and at your settings, you can afford to wait to dig your base and mine until you are higher level and can either find an auger or you already perked into miner 69er enough to not lost stamina too quickly. As for harvesting animals, I can't think of a time when I ran out of stamina doing that unless I was already almost out when I started, such as from running up to the corpse. And that isn't really unexpected. I think you will find that this change isn't going to be much of a problem and will end up saving you points in the end. Maybe there is a little more challenge in the first couple of days, but that is all.

So you accidentally added blood fog/mist? Nice. 😜

This is great news! I love running zombies and animals over. Bears are especially fun with a 4x4. And seeing actual damage to the vehicle is good. I only repaired a vehicle once in my first game just to see what was used for the repair. One game I did have it down to under 25% and I would have to repair it if I were to continue playing that game, but I probably won't go back to that one. So the change makes sense. My one concern with the increased block damage is that I just ran into my solar panel by accident last night and it lost about 75% of it's health. I would hate to have destroyed it and the cells in it just because I wasn't paying attention to my driving. Now I have a fence around it, but I hope it either gets more health or doesn't get destroyed by hitting it once with the vehicles in A21. I'm fine with it losing 75% health as long as it isn't destroyed on one hit. Of course, now I know to be more careful, but that is a very expensive mistake if you lose one with all tier 6 cells in it.

That isn't the same thing and you saying that it isn't fun is not going to be true for most players. Using the same weapon doesn't significantly change the gameplay. Sure, weapons have different attributes that can mean playing in a somewhat different way to get good shots, but you are still doing the same thing... Shooting things. If you enjoy that, then using the same weapon isn't really going to reduce how much fun it is. Even if all weapons were exactly the same, each player will end up choosing their favorite based on looks and pretty much always use it. That wouldn't change their level of fun. Here, you are suggesting that players will choose the most boring, but effective, way to play blood moons and you are wrong about that. Some might, but there's no reason to do so. The even more effective way is to turn off blood moons if you just really don't care about them. What would the point be if playing with blood moon turned on if you are going to avoid it? You may feel like you are forced to play a certain way because that way is "effective", but that is entirely in your head. You have the choice to play in a less effective, but more enjoyable way if you want. If you don't, that is your own choice and the game let's you make that choice. It doesn't force the choice on you and add I mentioned, the majority of players who have blood moon turned on play that way because they want to play the blood moon and not so they can hide.

Not sure why you are bringing up a year old post, but the OP could see the drone. It just would not follow him from under the map. As the OP stated, he could even access the inventory of it. That said, adding a mod would require picking it up unless that wasn't required a year ago, so wouldn't have been an option. I have heard that if you teleport, the drone will come with you, though I haven't tried it. I've been able to get a lost drone back by just using DM and god mode in order to get close enough to access it, so haven't tried anything else.

It is always RNG, but you can make an overall positive increase in crops at LotL 1 if you plant enough to average out the RNG. The problem is that due to RNG, it can be challenging to make a profit unless you have a large farm. And knowing that you will do better at higher tiers, it feels like a waste of time farming at a lower tier. Even if they increased the seed chance at tier 2, that would mean increasing tier 3 so it remains better and you will still feel like you must get tier 3 or you are wasting your time.

Trains have been suggested before. They could be fun to have, but I doubt you'll see then in vanilla. Should be possible to create a mod I would think. Depends if you can mod in automatic movement or not.

Effective and fun are two different things. Clearly, he thinks it is not fun to sit on to of the building and hide. Regardless of whether or not it is effective, if you don't enjoy it, don't do it. It is also effective to turn off blood moon, but if you like blood moon, turning it off makes no sense. People choose optimal? They can, yes. But more often, in a game, people choose what is fun for them. I doubt you will find many players who hide on top of a building even if it works. Why bother having blood moon on if you are going to do that. Those who don't enjoy blood moon will just turn it off. Those who do enjoy it aren't going to hide all night. They are going to fight. How they fight and where they fight is entirely up to them, but they aren't going to hide. You will also find that many players enjoy a challenge and so increase the difficulty. They definitely aren't going to hide. And the hardcore players and min/max players (those who are going to play as optimally as possible) also aren't going to hide. You are wrong to think they will. Ask yourself if you enjoy hiding on a roof even if it is safe. Do you enjoy being safe or do you enjoy fighting? If you enjoy fighting, would you prefer to hide and be safe, or would you rather fight? You seem to be saying that you would rather fight. So do so. You don't have to hide, even if it is safe, if you enjoy fighting instead. The game doesn't have to force you to fight. You can choose to do so, just like pretty much everyone who plays with blood moon turned on.

And can you explain why it is a pity that someone who wants to play that way is allowed to? You aren't forced to play that way and neither are your friends. You are asking to force others to play your way. Yet you can play your way already, so there isn't any reason to deny others their right to play their own way. What exactly is the problem in your game? Are you going into a roof to hide? If so, then don't. Are you friends going on a roof to hide and you don't wasn't them to? Then ask them not to. That is between you and them, not the game. BFT2020 summed it up nicely. You can play the way you want to. No reason to deny that right to others.

This seems like a request to force others to play a certain way. There isn't anything wrong with hiding from the horde if you want to. I don't really see why someone would, considering in single player, you can just turn off blood moon if you don't want to use it (and can even turn it on and off throughout a single game of you want) and in multiplayer, you can just not be online during blood moon. So why bother sitting around on top of a building where they can't reach you? But there isn't anything wrong with a player who wants to do that. And in what way does that impact you if they choose too play that way? Why do you feel the need to force someone to play a different way than they want? Are you tracking player deaths and are upset that someone has no deaths and you do? If not that, why is it a problem? Or is it that you don't want to sit on a building, but are unable to make yourself play a more challenging way because there is an easy way to play and so want the easy way removed so you have no choice? That just means you need to work on your willpower, not that the game has to change. As far as zombies attacking bases that players aren't near and bricks and such to increase difficulty, if that is what you want, there are numerous problems with that. Some have been mentioned, such as chunks not being active and being able to drop items to distract zombies in a very cheesy way. There is also the issue that if a player wants more than one base, they aren't going to be able to protect all of them at once if zombies can attack ones you are not at. This is especially a program in single player because you can't even have someone defend one base while you defend another. If you had to constantly rebuild your base because zombies destroyed it while you were out questing or fighting the horde at another base, that would upset most players. That isn't a good option. And if you always had to pick up your vehicles while questing just to avoid zombies destroying them, that would also be a bad thing. Let people play the game the way they want. You have control over how you pay the game. Maybe it isn't complete control, but you can't expect others to play your way just so you can play the way you want.