WarMongerian

Ok, last update for the current test game, the tomorrow the Sunday Weekly game will start, and each one will be for their particular game. A thought occurs to me, would it be better just to make one thread, but clearly mark beginning and end of each successive weekly game within one big thread, or just a pack of little threads, each but around the own separate games? Here is where I am starting off in the last playing session of this starter game. Playing will be concluded by midnight tonight, but posting it will happen later.

I'm thinking that the new games should all have their own threads, and that each such thead will be in another place, so the "Images and Videos" will be the likely spot for each games threads. Keep in mind, this project is only about running through a Hoard night or two, so will not be getting to day 21 most likely. Just trying to work out my favorite way of doing things, sharing the pics, and finishing up in time for the next game to start on Sunday. Making a new thread for each game will also help folks to be able to keep track of ongoing developments, both with respect to gameplay improvements and thread writing. Trying to rush this, but better I just cover this as best I can, day 4... I got to level 26 doing home improvements whilr waiting for the trader to reopen, so I could turn in a quest. He closed right as I was returning at dusk, so had to do something while waiting. Had some dead body knocking at my door! Day 5... Got to level 31, and had a small group come by for a visit. Reading the replies, I think you have the right of it. Tomorrow, I plan to post the opening shots of the first weekly game, and this game will be played out in a full week of gaming, not the late start and 2 day illness break that this game suffered.

I have to admit, I'm lost with respect to just where/what I was trying to do in the game, 2 days ago. I know that I can fight Hoard night outside my base, and hope to do that this morning, so I can come back and post the results, so that tomorrows official first weekly game (Solo I think) can have something to compare to, and so folks can offer concerns and suggestions for what they would like to see. For instance: 1) Base at first night 2200-2400 hours each day. 2) Skill tree advancement day by day. 3) other things of interest. Some folks might not want to see base layouts/progress, while others may want a detailed walkthrough, so I'll try to post a little bit better of what the base looks like day-by-day for the actual Sunday games, but unless there is some way to removes the foggy/blurry visibility conditions, expect some of the images not to be very good. Please keep in mind I have no experience documenting my 7DTD gameplay and posting the games and their progression here, so the first few weeks are probably going to best chalked up to learning experiences, as I try to figure out what is what, and also find out if my computer is able to run video-capturing software alongside the game

Date: April 27th, 2024. 0449 hours. I'm not sure about a lot of things. I had a 2nd stroke on good Friday, so recovering from that is taking a toll, mostly I can talk without slurring my speech. For one thing, I only recently learned that the supposed limit of level 1,000 might only apply to the folks characters on the cheater servers (which is where I spent the first day or three of my 7dtd career, for lack of knowing any better) and this might mean my 22x level guy is much closer to being capped then I thought, if what I am now being told is true about level progression stopping at 300. Anyway, my plan is for a new game each sunday. I recently played with one of my friends in a game he setup, and he had left the settings at a 60 minute day, and by the time I tried to join him, attempting the Intellect/Charisma build, we were past game day 80, and I only survived the next days Blood Moon by running away as fast and as far as my little digital dude could manage. It didn't work out well, so I can surely agree that having folks join me in game a week or two in will not be a good thing if that shared game is any indicator. So, for as long as this project lasts, I'll be making a brand new game every sunday, and playing just up to and through a Hoard night or two, and then the next Sunday doing it all again. So, after I got to this stage, in my first test run of this concept game, a few thing happened. Zombies came a calling, and I foolishly opened the door, thinking it was just a single zombie (My sound for the game is glitched, and every thing is super quiet---no matter what settings I try to set), and Once the pack of Zombies were in the downstairs level of my starter base, I lead them around away from the door, so I could take the fight outside, and not trash what little I had done. After disposing of the pack, I came back in and played some more, and then Got hit up for a game by a friend, and stopped playing this game for what I thought was going to be a couple hours. Fate had a different plan for my playing time, as I ended up too sick to play for some time, and only this very early morning am I feeling up to doing some forum postings and some game playing. Here are some images of where this game got to, before my friend and my health stopped me cold... After dealing with thirst and Hunger, I went upstairs and took a look around. I have to apologise for the poor lighting in these last two Images, but I don't know of any way to fix this. Anyway, looking out at the roof, my land claim boundaries, and my planted hedge, I think I can claim some small progress. Looking north, we cannot really see anything due to the lighting effects.

I was playing when I was unexpectedly hit up for a game, so my friend and I olayed for a bit. I only made it this far in my solo game test run as a result.

Test post. For this Sunday's game, I'll post the settings I'll be using, and then a few screenshots from within the game. Note, all these shots and games will be using the EDT modified map for single spawn points, until further notice. A word about these settings, I want the almost easiest settings I can get, playing legit. Harder setting are more challenging, but for new players are at risk of being more frustrating rather thin rewarding, which is not the goal here.

Date: April 25th, 2024. 0030 hours... I'm back to play and share some 7dtd experiences! Some disclaimers and clarifications. Right now, I play the basic game with just a single modification, and that is editing the game file to allow/enforce that all players start by spawning in the exact same point. Having several games (of brand new players) being spawned in various and scattered locations left ma and those I played/learned with feeling that not enough focus had been spent of making team/party play a thing from the very start. We also shifted from public servers/24-7 games to private games, where we the players controlled when the game would be running and when it would not, so our characters would be present and playing whenever the game time was running. Playing on all but one setting setup to allow the easiest starter experience for new players (which was and still is my main focus), I quickly discovered that not everyone likes the same things from their playing of 7dtd, experienced players would find the settings to easy, and some folks just wanted to kill zombies, with nothing else mattering. My own personal goals are to provide new players with an easy intro into the game, and to this end I am looking for suggestions on how best to provide a friendly and mutually supportive playing experience for the new players to learn what is what, and how things are done. All that being said, my current plans are to create a new character every sunday, and then solo or team play that character up to and through a hoard night or two. I plan to document the highlights and failures of this process, and provide pictures and eventually videos for others to enjoy, even if only to point out what a clueless jerk I am for spending quality playing time on doing this, rather than just killing zombies. To this end I am going to at first just share my screen in a discord voice channel, and folks can watch what I am doing and make suggestions. Please keep in mind that all this work will be focused on making it a fun and enjoyable experience for new players to start to enjoy the game, not for folks to watch endless and perfectly efficient zombie massacres. Once players have played enough to know how to order their little digital dudes and ladies about within the game, I"ll be looking for some fellow adventures to share the journey. Eventually, I hope to create a number of videos that cover such minute points as how to build a campfire, place a cooking pot and grill within it, and how to use these to make the basics of murky water cleaning, grilled meat, charred meat, cooked corn and such things. Such a video will best be created and stored as part of a series, So I'll have to learn how to make these things. I also want to learn how to teach others how to teach simple things, to the improvement of the player base. To keep the task manageable for a one man show like me, links to sites that do much of this would be a big help. I'm not looking to cover the whole game, just the first few days of a characters life in the post apocalypse world of 7dtd. I also want to try team builds/play out, where a somewhat more experienced group can plan their shared play out, once folks have learned how things work, and what they like to do, and how to make the most of each others capabilities. One thing I already tried was the Intellect/charisma build, but the experiment failed do to the advanced stage of the game and bad coordination. Anyway, I'll be looking to start this project this upcoming Sunday, April the 28th, @1200 hours EDT. The first few sessions will not be publicly joinable as I get things sorted out, but I will be posting things here, and asking advice. Keep in mind the focus on new players, private games, either solo or team oriented. Have fun, and I hope to create a new game/forum thread each Sunday.

My time to play is greatly reduced, but still taking place. Just trying to level up one guy right now, past level 220 the other day, getting ready for a hoard night on day 140.

Ok, I'll assume that. I know this game has been around for quite some time, but for me there is still undiscovered areas on the map and undiscovered game content to experience for the very first time. Given also that the few folks I know that played this game back in the day, and all of them agree that the game has changed over the years from what it once was to what is has become today, and what it will become in the future, are you really saying that new players/customers should not come on these forums and enthusiastically share their ideas for what they (rightly or wrongly) think will make this game even better than it already is? That would be disappointing. On the matter of encumbrance and storage, I really like the current mechanic where I can choose to overload my little digital dude, and suffer hidouse mobility restrictions, or I can spend a handful of points and fully unlock all 45 of my carrying capacity. What I don't like is that, as my character becomes more and more powerful (thus being actually able to survive more and tougher enemies), I gain no additional carrying capacity, nor is there any way to gain such, (speaking only of the characters backpack, mind you). Personally, I see this as something worth calling out to the dev's, as they made a system for low levels to have something to fool around with, going so far as to add in items to the game specifically to allow more unencumbered carrying capacity, (item mods or spending skill points). This tells me that the low end of this issue is/has been looked at, but what about at the high end, where the more capable character cannot carry anymore than a low level one could do, even though they can kill more zombies, and collect more loot as a result? The game allows for infinite storage when you bring your loot back to base, but no scaling up of carrying capacity to match a characters growing capacity to loot. Now enter the realm of the mods, where a first time player can start their adventures and carry (encumbered) up to 160 spaces in their stash. I think something needs be done for the folks that play without mods/cheats, and think a discussion about how this could be implemented for those that stick around in basic (unmodded) 7dtd past level 100 would be a good (and entertaining) subject. OTOH, if such is verboten, say so and I'll drop it like a hot potato.

Ok, so back now that I'm basically a one man show... I have to report that mods are eating away the legit player base, even though I was getting my players to use the easiest settings as new players, they wanted the 160 storage the modded version offered up. I have some suggestions: 1) Redo the storage as shown above. You don't lose any functionality and having 99 storage instead of 45 is going to go a long way to reduce the appeal of the cheater mods, so more folks would presumably play legit if this were made to be the case. See below for more details... 2) Tired of having to empty out your vehicle's storage before putting it away? Allow vehicles to be stowed while loaded. This would allow players to keep/haul around more loot with greater ease, and thus make legit more attractive to new players than it currently is versus mods. Now, if folks don't like the idea of a much larger personal storage (for whatever reason) just being handed out to every character at level one, we could put some effort into roleplay kind of thing, and only unlock the added storage once folks have reached level 100, and are no longer getting any life/stamina when they gain a new level. My main character is now north of level 170, and I have to say that not getting as much for each level as before is getting to be a drag.. So, why not gain more storage, improving retention of players playing without mods, and having something to look forward to at the higher levels.

I'm putting my forum postings on hold for the moment, as all of my group has moved on from legit to heavily modded 7DTD. That and those that moved to other games entirely.

An interesting concept. If I might ask, how does everyone else enjoy their own adventures in 7dtd?

Some Quick Ideas, before I go into the team play stuff. This is how cooking currently Looks, with the time remaining super imposed over the items icon, and is very hard to see. A simple solution would be to have the active cooking projects have their timer set up in a black box below, as in the image above. The timer can be more easily read.

Thanks for the help. I got the discord sounds working correctly again, so my discord is now WAD (Working As Designed). The remaining problem is that, for some reason, my installed copy of 7days is treating my ingame sound settings as if I were crouched down, even while standing. This makes it very hard to play, when I cannot hear the zombies sneaking up on me. Next update is going to focus on the differences of two player (team play) verus just single player play, for the initial 2 hours of a characters' players time investment.

Hey folks, my sounds in discord and in game are way lower than they were and used to be, any suggestions on how to restore them?