Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[unholyjoe]

That's when it was mostly canned foods, and just a few dehydrated things. (the pudding) pre-cooked bacon in a can, salted (really, really salted) butter from australia (you can imagine the nickname it got)..

 

Hershey bars that had crystallized .. those long plastic spoons though (for the pudding), fantastic catapults. Still have a few.

 

To this day, I cannot eat canned corned beef hash. I think I got a bad can of that back in the 70s.

 

Currently I get rid of the canned stuff that doesn't have a recipe once I can cook enough things.

I've HAD food poisoning, I don't want or need it in a game.

(so yes, I'll mod that out of cooked stuff, or grab the perks asap. have to see)

 

I'd rather have the canned stuff still have a chance to poison you, but not what you make.

Incentive to hunt/farm things, rather than just get cans.

 

Oh, MM: have the airdrops been fixed to NOT be mostly tinned food?

 

i can actually say its (airdrops) are not inadvertently yielding more food now.

 

so for me it appears to be evened out and better... i was actually just selling the canned food for a while. now i need it to help curb the appetite.

[MechanicalLens]

And canned food do not improve max stamina now, and seems it won't in A18 too.

 

What are you talking about? Food and stamina are in the same exact pool in A17. Of course canned food fills up your max stamina, otherwise it would be completely useless.

[Kage848]

How they help in PVP ? to track the light source to know of automatic weapons ? I don't see it been useful in PVP .. maybe I am not envisioning it properly.

 

I guess if you find the wires you can find the generator and take it out easier?

[RipClaw]

I am pretty sure you won't find enough can food for mid or late game. We currently get stock of it as we start cooking. It won't fill up, when you have 150 hit points etc.

 

As soon as I start cooking and my garden produces enough food, I always scrap the canned food to save inventory space.

 

And canned food do not improve max stamina now, and seems it won't in A18 too.

 

I think you're confusing that with the old wellness system. Canned food didn't give wellness back then. That was the disadvantage of canned food in this system.

 

The disadvantage of canned food in A17 is that you can get food poisoning. As for the rest, canned food is not much different from self-made food.

 

Also Chance on cooked food is going to be pretty low like 5% so you won't actually get hit by it every second time you eat it. But you have to make sure to have some backup food with you, when you eat cooked food.

 

5% means you get sick every 20 meals on average.

 

If food poisoning in A18 is still the same as in A17 then it is not enough to carry replacement food with you.

[Bubo]

New electric lighting shot

 

Looks great!

[ZombieHorde]

Can I be honest? Now this is embarrassing, but after following the game and forums since A12, I think, I still don't get some aspects of the game.

 

Things that need to be made clearer, especially to newbies:

 

• The shadow bars behind the stamina and health bar. Something to do with food and water, but I can't seem to gain health no matter how much I eat, unless I take painkillers. If it's supposed to be that way, it doesn't make much sense.
  
• The heat/cold resistance number and the (+/- #) number after it.
  
• If I'm wanting to buy Advanced Engineering, all it says is "upgrade your intellect to buy", but there's no details on how high your intellect has to be. I think it's essential to show the true cost to be able to plan your points wiser.
  
• 
  

[Callum123456789]

Can I be honest? Now this is embarrassing, but after following the game and forums since A12, I think, I still don't get some aspects of the game.

 

Things that need to be made clearer, especially to newbies:

 

• The shadow bars behind the stamina and health bar. Something to do with food and water, but I can't seem to gain health no matter how much I eat, unless I take painkillers. If it's supposed to be that way, it doesn't make much sense.
  
• The heat/cold resistance number and the (+/- #) number after it.
  
• If I'm wanting to buy Advanced Engineering, all it says is "upgrade your intellect to buy", but there's no details on how high your intellect has to be. I think it's essential to show the true cost to be able to plan your points wiser.
  
• 
  

 

I think you can go to the locked symbol thee it should tell you what requirements need to be met

[agrastiOs]

Can I be honest? Now this is embarrassing, but after following the game and forums since A12, I think, I still don't get some aspects of the game.

 

Things that need to be made clearer, especially to newbies:

 

• The shadow bars behind the stamina and health bar. Something to do with food and water, but I can't seem to gain health no matter how much I eat, unless I take painkillers. If it's supposed to be that way, it doesn't make much sense.
  
• The heat/cold resistance number and the (+/- #) number after it.
  
• If I'm wanting to buy Advanced Engineering, all it says is "upgrade your intellect to buy", but there's no details on how high your intellect has to be. I think it's essential to show the true cost to be able to plan your points wiser.
  
• 
  

If you eat food, you can only heal up to the shadow bar. (The shadow bar is damaged health, thus effectively reducing your max health).

To remove the shadow bar, use medicine which gives max health.

The higher the resistance, the better you can tolerate the heat/cold. So more is better.

[madmole]

Hehe nice work!

 

Take your time with the release.. I started playing the Witcher 3 last week.. That'll keep me occupied for a while.

 

I've been meaning to try it again, I played about 6 hours when it first came but some of the mechanics were confusing, like Alchemy and advanced combat.

[The Gronk]

I also found the new stamina/health system confusing at first and I'd had it thoroughly explained to me beforehand. :-)

 

There's something about it that's either counter-intuitive or poorly communicated which is making it harder than it should be. I've no idea exactly what part is confusing nor what could be done to make the information easier to comprehend. There's an issue here, I just don't know what it is goddamit! If it's an issue for a veteran what hope does a n00b have?

[madmole]

I don't think so. It wouldn't make sense that canned food doesn't give you food poisoning but self-cooked food does. That contradicts the general idea of progress in this game.

 

In order to cook your own food you first have to get the raw materials.

 

In the beginning it means looting nests and hunting animals. For better meals you have to do farming. That means you have to invest points in Living of the Land and you have to have a garden hoe that you have to find or make yourself.

 

The better the food, the more points you have to invest in Master Chef. And more and more ingredients are needed to prepare a meal.

 

But you can find canned food already on the 1st day.

 

It wouldn't make sense to find the best food in the game right from the start. In addition, canned food in the game always had disadvantages. Now suddenly the system should be turned upside down ?

 

Its not better, its safer. At the end of the day you'll have this rare occasion where you had to eat more food than normal and your still going to have 10000 bowls of stew in your chest. Its just a small step towards food being a little more relevant and food poisoning more than a another 20 second worthless debuff as it is in 17. Don't like it buy the iron gut perk.

[Gnomaana]

I'll play devils advocate on this one, I cannot speak for all but I was in a situation where a vast majority of a specific type of alienware computer shipped with a faulty on board sound card. (when talking in the mic no matter what, sounded like a whisper) I was unlucky enough to have bought one and it took me about a month to find a headset with a built in sound card and these headphones cost $150.00. You do make very good points though.

 

You could have just bought a USB Sound Blaster or something and used your current headset. That is what I had to do when my home built pc had the same issue with onboard sound. The mic would not pick up anything.

[Roland]

Can I be honest? Now this is embarrassing, but after following the game and forums since A12, I think, I still don't get some aspects of the game.

 

Things that need to be made clearer, especially to newbies:

 

• The shadow bars behind the stamina and health bar. Something to do with food and water, but I can't seem to gain health no matter how much I eat, unless I take painkillers. If it's supposed to be that way, it doesn't make much sense.
  
• The heat/cold resistance number and the (+/- #) number after it.
  
• If I'm wanting to buy Advanced Engineering, all it says is "upgrade your intellect to buy", but there's no details on how high your intellect has to be. I think it's essential to show the true cost to be able to plan your points wiser.
  
• 
  

 

Read the ingame journal on those topics?

[madmole]

I saw that someone said "smart zombies aren't immersive" a week ago.

 

1. Zombies aren't real anyway and can vary.

 

2. We have to be challenged somehow in an ever-changing voxel world.

 

3. The game can not support the number of dumb zombies to make the game equally difficult.

 

4. Since when is having smart A.I ever a bad thing?

 

I'd rather have the game be dynamic and a challenge where the zombies hunt you than mindlessly blow away brain dead zombies just because the developers had an idea what zombies are supposed to act like. Resident Evil 4 had "zombies" shooting guns and talking. I kinda prefer that more than zombies because it brought more to the table.

 

Exactly, game play trumps realism and it trumps fantasy realism (believable zombies that xxxx)

[madmole]

I like the challenge of hiding the wires. I also like the look of them visible in some situations. My 2 cents...leave 'em.

 

But twitter says you 1%'rs are ruining the game for the main streamers.

[madmole]

I think what Madmole was talking about, food poisening and barfing, is a great idea. It'll be another thing, even though small change, that makes the game a bit more challenging. I'm always down for that.

 

I played for hours and didn't barf. Not going to knee jerk and change it though until we gather more data.

[ZombieSurvivor]

You could have just bought a USB Sound Blaster or something and used your current headset. That is what I had to do when my home built pc had the same issue with onboard sound. The mic would not pick up anything.

 

Thanks for the tip. I did not know that was a thing. These head phones are now going on 3 years old and i'll be needing to buy another so your advice is greatly appreciated

[madmole]

Oh snap I did not know you were a veteran. I am as well. I served in the Army from mid 2006-december 2010. Wassup brotha! Its always weird saying this to another brother in arms but thank you for your service . Its weird between brothers I know lol, I like to still say thank you just incase a civy has not thanked them in while. I'm assuming you served in the Navy?

 

Man I ate some MRE's that were dated back in the early 90s. That scared me the first few times lol..I was like yo this cannot be safe! Those MRE last forever I tell you what.

 

I remember when MRE's were invented, I served from 84-92.

[ZombieSurvivor]

I remember when MRE's were invented, I served from 84-92.

 

*fist bump* respect brother! Thank you for your service. I doubt you older cats get thanked enough once years pass since your service.

 

EDIT: You guys had some awful MRE's back in the day. They have come a long way since then, and i guess they have gotten even better since I got out in 2010.

[madmole]

I would also like the animals to be tweaked. Far too many of them. Within the first week you have a meal (well, meals) fit for a king and all his servants.

 

No can do, I hear a wide variety of stories about this, Faatal couldn't find an animal to save his life, and stooped to buying the animal tracker perk, where I have hundreds of meat stacked up, and then there is multiplayer to consider.

[Amanitasec]

Release the Kraken!

[MechanicalLens]

No can do, I hear a wide variety of stories about this, Faatal couldn't find an animal to save his life, and stooped to buying the animal tracker perk, where I have hundreds of meat stacked up, and then there is multiplayer to consider.

 

Come to think of it... Fair enough, fair enough.

[Roland]

I’ve had a few of each type of game where there seem to be no animals and then the other type where there are bucks and does and boats having orgies. Random is best so every game is a bit different. Sometimes you’ll have excess and sometimes that will be the big early game struggle. Variety.

[Roland]

Release the Kraken!

 

Do you have a jar of sand? This kraken is not to be messed with....

[MechanicalLens]

I’ve had a few of each type of game where there seem to be no animals and then the other type where there are bucks and does and boats having orgies. Random is best so every game is a bit different. Sometimes you’ll have excess and sometimes that will be the big early game struggle. Variety.

 

It's funny, I was having a long conversation about half an hour ago where I mentioned the word "variety" several times. You've convinced me. Good day, good sir.