[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

So, are we still on for a May release?

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

45 minutes ago, bachgaman said:

This is what I'm talking about. At the moment, the game forces you to do this. The most efficient way to play is build your base next to a trader and grind the same high level POI 200m away. Again and again. The same POI. From day to day. No point in world generation and explore world

 

You're not forced to play in the most efficient way possible. If doing the same POI again and again is boring then you are free to do other POIs instead for more variety even though that would be less efficient.

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

5 hours ago, archergod said:

I see a "Roadmap to Gold" is published, does that mean "learn by reading" will be part of gold? as this change few times in past, so anything can come back or will it still change going forward or uncertain. Do we lock features for A21 yet? 

 

Where can I find this roadmap?

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

11 hours ago, Roland said:

 

 

*Laughs in Mars Climate Orbiter*

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

14 hours ago, Roland said:

I think the footprint is 3x3 and the height is possibly 3 or 4 blocks?  Can’t confirm right now but maybe someone else can. 
 

There is not a more advanced version of the dew collector.   It is not hard to build but it does take a lot of resources and a part( the filter) that can’t be crafted.  In the beginning it will be tough to get multiple made but later it will get easier. 
 

As for MP there is no need to modify vending machines or traders. Crafting teas will just be even more important. I am crafting more teas than I ever did before. You have less water now so you really want what you have to go farther and the teas really do help. Plus having a goldenrod tea on hand makes drinking murk less risky. 
 

I know that there is going to be a lot of debate over the next while over realism and gameplay and why jars have been removed except as a visual unit of drinkable liquid. I can’t fault anyone for thinking it is weird. This game has always been quirky and weird with the bottles. 
 

But it does play fun. It is fun getting the water part of survival managed and it does eventually reach a point where water survival is a breeze and doesn’t matter but the journey is much better……if you can forgive the oddities. 

This makes the helmet mod that lets you drink murky water without risk much more valuable.

 

Or have they been removed too?

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

20 hours ago, meganoth said:

Except for 1 and 3 all your option wishes are for a group of options, not a single one, taking much space in the options menue, filling more and more tabs or lengthening the pages so they don't fit on the screen anymore.

 

This is just a guess (!!!) but I would predict that options will stay as simple as now, mostly yes/no switches or a list of values to select from for relatively global settings.

Personally, I would hope that the options would be made simpler than they currently are. The current multi-tab options page is overkill for the casual player.

 

If I had my druthers, the pages of current options would be replaced by a simple drop-down list with a handful of named pre-defined option sets on it and a "Custom" button.

 

Most people can then simply select one of the pre-defined option sets from the drop-down; and it's only if someone wants the added complexity that they'd choose "Custom" and go into the tabs to set all the options by hand. Ideally, of course, they'd then be able to save their custom set of options with a name and it would be added to the drop-down so they can select the same custom set again without having to go through setting all the options by hand.

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

On 6/8/2022 at 12:28 AM, faatal said:

5 We have talked about sharks, but not really seriously.

Gators are better than sharks, since they can follow you onto land.

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

I told my group about the changes and we all agree they're entirely positive.

 

For those who are worried that this increases the RNG for learning, that's not how maths works.

 

If the old system gave you a (1 in x) chance of finding a recipe all at once when you looted, while the new system gives you a (1 in 100*x ) chance of finding a magazine but you need to read 100 magazines to get the recipe, the distribution of probabilities will be different.

 

Both distribution have the same peak - i.e. on average you would expect to get the recipe after looting X times - but the distribution for the old all-or-nothing version has much longer tails to it - i.e. you're much likely to either get really lucky and get the recipe early or get really unlucky and get the recipe late.

 

By increasing the sample size while keeping the same mean you end up with a more reliable (and less "RNG") estimate of how long it will take to find each recipe. It prevents both the "I found the steel armour recipe on day one" situation that the devs want to avoid and the "I got to day 250 and still haven't found steel armour" situation that players want to avoid.

[Which melee weapon is your favorite?]

Stun Baton with the booster mod that I forget the name of.

 

It's by no means the most effective weapon, in fact it's one of the weaker ones, but it's so much fun.

[Alpha 20 Dev Diary]

13 hours ago, Roland said:

 He just posted that there is a minimum of 32. But that number will rise and fall over the next few weeks. Better to trust an emoji countdown than a MF countdown...

It's also harder to put hidden Illuminati messages in an MF countdown.

[Alpha 20 Dev Diary]

17 hours ago, Roland said:

 I answered this somewhere else but it bears repeating. There are only wood frames (particle board) left in the game as far as frames that can be placed and picked up. They upgrade to wood for 10 wood which upgrades to cobblestone for 10 cobblestone which upgrades to Concrete for 10 Concrete Mix which upgrades to Steel for 10 Steel.

 

Given the new unified system, does that mean that all the different types of block can now start as particle board? Previously things like bars, walkways, and stairs had to be made directly in wood rather than starting as frames, and therefore couldn't be placed experimentally and picked up again.

 

Or do some shapes still skip the particle-board stage?

 

Also, do the particle board versions of block have the same SI as wood, so we can build out of them and upgrade to wood without the heavier wood blocks collapsing if we do our upgrades in the wrong order?

[Alpha 20 Dev Diary]

On 9/8/2021 at 11:12 PM, faatal said:

Yes. Extra seats make it 5 vehicle mods for A20. Testing minibike now, which also supports another player on the back.

It is probably final for A20.

 

Does the bicycle support another player on the back? Does it turn into a tandem?

[What you prefer to eat or drink while playing game?]

A nice cup of tea, of course.

[When does a playthrough end ?]

On 4/3/2021 at 9:48 PM, Star69 said:

For our group, starting over is the most fun. Generally, we’ve got everything we want by day 60ish so that’s when we start over. None of us are into extravagant bases. I would imagine those people play a lot longer.

 

Same here. Generally when we get to around day 30-40 and we've maxxed out the skills on our choice of speciality and have found level 6 equipment we tend to feel that the game is "done". By that point we can happily clear out tier 5 quests, and tend to feel there's nowhere left to go.

 

It's fun to go back to the first few days where you're ill-equipped and scrabbling to survive.

[Alpha 20 Dev Diary]

On 3/8/2021 at 6:55 PM, madmole said:

The idea is more mods than there are slots so there is some choice.

Seems to me that is just a balance thing, and 20 is OCD if you as me, I have 2-3 max and build some large bases. They could simply smelt much faster so we don't need late game ones. We've talked about an industrial forge, but with some simplifications coming I don't see a need for it.

 

I'm hoping more for an advanced food cooker than an advanced forge. It always seems weird to me that even in late game you're still using a basic campfire to cook rather than any kind of oven or other cooking implement.

 

I'd love it if the campfire would only cook basic to intermediate foods and you could build an oven for the advanced recipes.

On 3/8/2021 at 7:51 PM, madmole said:

Eventually you'll drown when swimming and you run out of stamina. Hopefully we can put some creepy water logged zombies in there that pop up and scare the @%$# out of you or something, zombie catfish.

 

Gators would be good - they could come in both zombie and non-zombie versions like bears.