Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Laz Man]

video or it didnt happen.

 

come on, give us a peek at this special k

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

 

 

zombie loop design?

 

Yeah, was super popular strat in A17 and also still in A18 to a certain extent. It's the strat where the zombies climb up a tunnel then fall down and back up again over and over again. Watched g4k recent horde night and it seemed too good of a strat still. (Altho there was some zeds that burrowed underneath him)

 

 

@ Faatal, is there a way for a zombie to not repeat the same path more then twice? I think that would be a good way for the design to still work but not be as effective without more active defense. I'm sure it's easier said then done...😂

[wolfbain5]

Laz, with your next horde, place centered poles 3 high around 5 paces away from your base. and observe

[Seraphimus]

I forget what its called but there is a mod that increases reload speed and is a must have with shotguns. I honestly do not understand why so many say the double barrel shotty is useless. As a bow and shotgun are my two primary weapons of choice for years, I'm thinking most just do not know how to use shotguns effectively or know which perks and such should be invested in to that supports that playstyle.

 

Then again I have not had a chance to do my normal stealth playstyle in A18 yet (meaning have not used shotguns in this version) so maybe they have been nerfed and I have not heard of this news?

 

It's not that they are useless, I love the shotgun, most of us talking here love the shotgun, the problem is that the other weapons of the same tier are as a general rule, Just better. even for as a close quarters weapon, the M60 for example is better at what should be the shotguns niche, it'll kill enemies faster more reliably, and also knock them down more often, and if you have AP rounds you can do it with about the same number of bullets too.

[Laz Man]

Laz, with your next horde, place centered poles 3 high around 5 paces away from your base. and observe

 

AI bug? Back in the day the zeds would get stuck on poles laid flat and spin in circles...😂

[wolfbain5]

AI bug? Back in the day the zeds would get stuck on poles laid flat and spin in circles...��

 

they dont get stuck. they get distracted.

[ZombieSurvivor]

@Madmole & TFP and all to whom it may concern

 

As I'm sitting here eating a pizza and watching Neebs Gaming play minecraft. I started pondering about the lava and why the original creator (Markus Persson) went with that design choice. Upon analyzing all the possible reasons why an idea came to me. Granted I just got done smoking and I'm pretty stoned but none the less...it seems like a really good idea to me lol. Hear me out....

 

Bedrock, the pros and cons of it.

Pros:

Bedrock does a fine job fulfilling the role of creating a depth boundary for the playable area in the world and is a tried and true method used by verious other games.

 

Cons:

1. Decreases immersion by being an invincible type of stone that would not otherwise exist in this game.

2. Does not fit the overall feeling of freedom that most all other aspects of the game provides. (feels out of place)

3. Upon accidentally striking or hitting it, a god awful and annoying as F sound is played.

4. Provides the player the ability to have a invincible foundation which to build on.

 

Idea pitch for alternative system.

Minecraft used lava instead of bedrock to create a depth boundary (I could be wrong, it doesn't change my idea i'm pitching) which gave me this idea.

 

Instead of using bedrock, why not have a system in place so that once you dig past a certain depth tempature goes up. For every meter you dig deeper the temperature rises exponentially, thus extremely limiting how far one can dig down. This is much more realistic and based upon what is called geothermal temperature gradient.

 

The increase in tempature could be so extreme that just 5 meters bellow the cut of depth of playable area it rises to 500 degrees. Thats a rise of 100 degrees per meter insuring no player can live long should they keep digging down.

 

This would fulfill the intended role of a depth boundary without all the cons associated with bedrock. No more annoying sound, no more invincible stone limiting immersion and it creates a false illusion of freedom to dig forever.

 

obviously there must be some cons in this type of system vs bedrock that stops a player and zombies dead in there tracks. I have not come up with any as of yet but still giving it thought. In my honest and humble opinion, geothermal temperature gradient would fit this game much better than bedrock. Let me know what you think and if this is feasible for 7 Days to Die.

[SickPuppy]

So as a shotgun build I tried out a quality 3 M60 with no perk points in automatics, and honestly? It still felt better and stronger than my fully modded high damage roll Q6 Pump with 5 ranks.

 

It's not that they are useless, I love the shotgun, most of us talking here love the shotgun, the problem is that the other weapons of the same tier are as a general rule, Just better. even for as a close quarters weapon, the M60 for example is better at what should be the shotguns niche, it'll kill enemies faster more reliably, and also knock them down more often, and if you have AP rounds you can do it with about the same number of bullets too.

 

I don't mind the blunderbuss, it can be useful on first few days if something fast is on your heels and cheap ammo too. Then late game when I'm all tanky I bring out Q6 blunderbuss just for a fun day out. I like to test weapons on insane/nightmare run, shotguns aren't a guaranteed knock down even at close range which is a big problem with their small mag size and slow rate of fire. All this time ak47/m60 has killed everything in sight.

 

Not saying shotguns have to be on the same level but they should have its own benefits like a guaranteed knock down at close range, I mean 4 points into shotgun perk, Q6 blunderbuss and Q4 double barrel weren't even knocking down regular zombies nevermind doing anything to radiated. I'm sure on lower settings it's fine but atm machine guns are always the go to. An AA12 would help their cause especially now we have the drum mod it fits nicely.

 

 

-- edit

 

I've tried Agility build and with points into Gunslinger even pistols are better at popping zombie heads with their critical damage bonus. It's not right I tell u, shotties needs some luv.

[Roland]

Did Minecraft get rid of their indestructible bottom of the world blocks? They used to have them.

[MechanicalLens]

Did Minecraft get rid of their indestructible bottom of the world blocks? They used to have them.

 

I haven't played Minecrap in years, but the last time I checked, yes, they do still have bedrock at the bottom of their worlds.

 

Edit: Yep. https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Bedrock

[ZombieSurvivor]

Did Minecraft get rid of their indestructible bottom of the world blocks? They used to have them.

 

Hmmm I've never heard of that but then again I'm not a fan of minecraft and have rarely ever played it. I thought lava was used as a boundary......but now that i think of it. I believe you could dump water on lava and break the block so would make sense to have bedrock. If that is the case, my previous idea can also be applied to minecraft as well...shhhh no one tell microsoft, I'm not trying to give them any ideas that might help there game lol.

[meganoth]

New experminetal b6 is out. Nice bug fixes and changes. Notably shotguns were buffed.

 

"Eating glass is more efficient, generating a death penalty of 25%". Not that I mind the change, but I doubt it will have a lasting effect since there are lots of other easy ways to kill yourself, for example standing in a spike trap.

[MechanicalLens]

Hmmm I've never heard of that but then again I'm not a fan of minecraft and have rarely ever played it. I thought lava was used as a boundary......but now that i think of it. I believe you could dump water on lava and break the block so would make sense to have bedrock. If that is the case, my previous idea can also be applied to minecraft as well...shhhh no one tell microsoft, I'm not trying to give them any ideas that might help there game lol.

 

Minecraft is for a totally difference audience (ages 4-10), so even if they developed a better system for bedrock, it wouldn't affect 7D2D sales. Then again, the amount of kids that play COD and Battlefield is notorious, so, idk.

[THARN]

So there I was day 7-- lookin good... healthy... somewhat wealthy.... wise...? no..

I started back to camp to prep for the oncoming attack... excitedly I just started running... no bicycle yet due to harsh conditions/desert town...

 

so im running by a fortified camper.... didn't look around,... run over 3 mines...dead...

aww... man... dead is dead... time to start a new game. the zombies couldn't kill me but my lack of perception certainly did.

[ZombieSurvivor]

Minecraft is for a totally difference audience (ages 4-10), so even if they developed a better system for bedrock, it wouldn't affect 7D2D sales. Then again, the amount of kids that play COD and Battlefield is notorious, so, idk.

 

Lol I know, I'm just hating on microsoft in a joking manner. I would never give a single idea to microsoft that could help improve a game of theres.

 

EDIT: Hey now! lol i gotta defend Battlefield and DICE, its not fair to say battlefield is designed for kids. I do not know the statistics but I can assure you its not a kids game. It leans more towards teens and adults who prefer more realism in a FPS.

 

kids are more so attracted to call of duty since that is more arcade style that requires little skill which is appealing to children, that is not the case with Battlefield. Also minecraft was not created with the idea of it being aimed at any one age group, it just happens to be more appealing to kids but was never created with that intention in mind.

[Jugginator]

I survived day 35 horde. My Special K base took some serious damage. I used 30 grenades, 3 molotovs, 1000 762 and about 100 9mm, and 315 junk turret ammo. Still repairing, both drawbridges were severely damaged and one of my best chests almost got wrecked, had to have been acid spit coming through the windows, so I'll be sealing that place up like fort knox before the next horde. I got rank 3 of engineering so its trap time. I finally got my own chem station, the air drop dropped 2 beakers so I can save time traveling to the trader to use his chem station. I'm glad I made my base 2 thick, they can chew on it all night if I run out of bullets and I might be ok. I'm glad I'm done with spikes, time for real traps that give you XP.

 

SUcks about the chest, but that sounds fun! You should post a pic of the upgrades, I'm curious to see how it's coming along.

 

But jokes aside, I'm sure we'll all be fine with replacing ol' blundy with a new shotgun.

 

"Eating glass is more efficient, generating a death penalty of 25%." << Stop eating glass guys.

[MechanicalLens]

Lol I know, I'm just hating on microsoft in a joking manner. I would never give a single idea to microsoft that could help improve a game of theres.

 

EDIT: Hey now! lol i gotta defend Battlefield and DICE, its not fair to say battlefield is designed for kids. I do not know the statistics but I can assure you its not a kids game. It leans more towards teens and adults who prefer more realism in a FPS. kids are more so attracted to call of duty since that is more arcade style which is appealing to children. Also minecraft was not created with the idea of it being aimed at any one age group, it just happens to be more appealing to kids but was never created with that intention in mind.

 

That was exactly my point. Just because a game is rated 18+ doesn't mean kids don't play them.

 

Yeah, I know, but some things naturally fall into place. Minecraft, Flappy Bird (darn you!), Terraria, Plasticine/modeling clay, etc.

[skullpoker]

Maybe you need to post a proper bug report with all the requirements and a seed name so we can try to repro it instead of being snarky?

 

You might be right. It has happened any time I tried to build a 4k map, with different names. I'll look into reporting since I like to help you guys get better.

 

UPDATINGTON: This time I have been moving my mouse around, so rather than freezing up the PC at

GENERATING DETAIL HEIGHT DATA
15%

it has now got to

GENERATING DETAIL HEIGHT DATA
83%

and been stuck there for 10+ minutes.

 

I was able to restart the computer, generate the map, freeze on loading in, restart again, and get into the game on prior attempts. This time I can probably just Alt+F4 and go back in to get it working. If not, I'll post a bug report for you lovely people. I appreciate that you lot took my swimming skill and other suggestions into consideration, so I'll help you out.

 

Also, game not responding to ALT+F4 atm since it's partially locked.

[Grandpa Minion]

hello, anyone know which update it was that removed being able to see player's names over their head? If so is this a temp thing or well names be brought?

[Gazz]

Gazz only says it's OP because he's just looking at the raw numbers and not thinking abstractly about it. Ya each shell is more powerful then a single 7.62 but you have to take into account some of these things:

 

(stuff about DPS and range)

A shotgun does not have the DPS of a machine gun.

 

The ammo is super cheap and even if you only hit a feral soldier in the chest, a single shot knocks it on it's arse.

Basic shells are not good against armor but you can even fix that with the Penetrator perk.

 

Shotguns do AOE crowd control like no other weapon. This can be improved with the sawed off or duckbill mod.

(the scale of the effects could still be improved)

 

Even if shotguns are your "main weapon", nothing stops you from picking up a rifle or MG and use up all that 7.62mm ammo that is piling up.

[Blake_]

Did Minecraft get rid of their indestructible bottom of the world blocks? They used to have them.

 

Yeah But! You can destroy bedrock in Minecraft. That said, while I hate invincible stuff in 7 days to die alone, I do believe bedrock is the one thing I do not wish to part ways from.

 

My hopes are for a disposable trader system with solid failsafes from exploits:

 

For example:

 

.Traders won't sell stuff if player made blocks are at X distance

 

.You won't fail a quest because every trader in the world can have any quest reported like the current paper challenges .

 

Another trader can spawn in the area eventually if killed.

 

Same thing for the rest of npcs. Duke? Noah? You can kill them instantly but just as Mr Vegas, you ought to have an arsenal and huge level and let's be honest: contrary to Fallout, you can't save each step.

 

I believe in TFP to stay true to the destroyable everything. Bedrock? I don't mind and I think is kind of necessary.

 

Edit: I am about to hit the 3000 hour mark Lol.

[archergod]

Na, people need to pay attention. Warning pop up boxes are annoying and in a game like this where there is no pause in menus it can get you killed. We could make stuff with mods unscrappable, that sounds like the best solution. Who would want to scrap a mod, let alone a gun with a mod in it.

 

Or you can simply unload the mod in inventory and scrap the gun, like you guys do with Bullets, you unload bullets and then scrap gun. right? If not that is more sensible solution to me.

[Gazz]

I believe in TFP to stay true to the destroyable everything. Bedrock? I don't mind and I think is kind of necessary.

There is no "kind of" about it. Falling off the Earth should not be a game feature.

Only flat Earthers think that this is a sound concept and that should tell you something.

[minisith]

Or you can simply unload the mod in inventory and scrap the gun, like you guys do with Bullets, you unload bullets and then scrap gun. right? If not that is more sensible solution to me.

 

No I found out scraping auto ejects the bullets now. I do not know when that became a thing but now I scrap then cancel the scrapping since it is faster then going to the modify menu on guns.

[SickPuppy]

So there I was day 7-- lookin good... healthy... somewhat wealthy.... wise...? no..

I started back to camp to prep for the oncoming attack... excitedly I just started running... no bicycle yet due to harsh conditions/desert town...

 

so im running by a fortified camper.... didn't look around,... run over 3 mines...dead...

aww... man... dead is dead... time to start a new game. the zombies couldn't kill me but my lack of perception certainly did.

 

Yer those mines are nasty. I did a quick test with full steel armor and they still one hit kill me. The Infiltrator perk really helps on permadeath runs or get lucky with Urban combat book 5 and you won't trigger mines.

[SickPuppy]

A shotgun does not have the DPS of a machine gun.

 

The ammo is super cheap and even if you only hit a feral soldier in the chest, a single shot knocks it on it's arse.

Basic shells are not good against armor but you can even fix that with the Penetrator perk.

 

Shotguns do AOE crowd control like no other weapon. This can be improved with the sawed off or duckbill mod.

(the scale of the effects could still be improved)

 

Is that for default settings and do you mean 100% knock down or high %?

 

I've been trying to make them work on Insane/nightmare but they don't knock things over as much as I'd thought even with 4 levels in the perk. I just gave up and drank some fergitin elixir. Pump does ok but definitely not op feels, or are you secretly holding off that aa12 for xmas??