Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[sillls]

1 minute ago, Laz Man said:

We will get that probably in the release notes.  If it was a stream it would be a 9 hour stream...😂

Don't you mean Seven hours of stream? lol 

[Sigil_Thane]

To address Nerd Poling TFP could introduce lateral slippage beyond the number of blocks that a block could normally support horizontally... this likely would break many if not all of the POIs in the game however.

[Laz Man]

1 hour ago, MajorMunchy said:

Any Confirmation we will be able to hang our weps up like this!??!?

 

They are just gun store loot containers/blocks.  However, in dev stream #4 madmole played with the idea they could so it but no promises and probably low priority since its cosmetic.

[madmole]

On 6/20/2020 at 1:12 AM, Aldranon said:

The Intelligence stat is prone to snowball the character in many games, Fallout 4 being an easy example.

Get 9 points in Int, eventually get the Int bobble head and way too soon you are a maxed out.

 

In 7d2d, if you are about as good as the shooter/melee builds and can make things that expand your game play, it becomes a No

Brainer (pardon the pun).  

Depends if you want to be OP as soon as possible, I'm playing a DUMB strength character and resisting the INT and having fun. Finding more of what you need instead of crafting it has its rewards.

[Grandpa Minion]

You know as will as i do it doesnt have to be a 9 hour stream: How about just covering what the a19 selected testers have discovered playing this last month. The point is we all know what wonderfull new things are coming in a19 but we dont know yet what headaches still persist. 

[madmole]

On 6/20/2020 at 5:17 AM, Jost Amman said:

I had to leave the last night's stream halfway so I had to skip the Q&A.

 

What baffles me is that people could have asked tons of good questions but most in the chat were just fooling around and wasting this opportunity.

Nobody asked, for example, about legendary items... it was a big feature announced several times, why is it not in A19?? Will it be in A20?

Also Mini-Bosses were announced for POI loot rooms, but they're not in either, why? Will they be in A20 or have they been scrapped like the behemoth?

 

When the sledge turret was first announced I actually thought it would be a new type of fixed turret you could use in your base design.

Will there ever be more turret types for our base designs? There has been talk for some time of a Flame Turret, but I guess that's been scrapped too?

It would be great to also have a fixed version of the Sledge Turret that we could place as a block: the INT portable version will probably mostly be used by INT guys IMO.

I wouldn't confuse forum chatter with "officially announced". Until its in release notes its speculation at best. Even if its work in progress, still speculative content. Until something is proven to work and perform, AND be fun AND mesh with the rest in the game its all potentially vapor ware.

That said once we dug into things it was really feeling over scoped. Legendary weapons is kind of dumb to work on, when we are still missing 3 tiers of weapons, and books to support every class. Now that that is done we can move forward with those things.

[Trankitas]

19 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

We will get that probably in the release notes.  If it was a stream it would be a 9 hour stream...😂

Isnt anything anyone ever posts in here their opinion? 😂

That's what I thought! Lol 🤭

[madmole]

On 6/20/2020 at 6:45 AM, meganoth said:

 

Does the candy bonus stack with perk boni? If it does people will still feel the need to always invest into miner69 and motherlode and want an auger asap.

 

If it does not stack it could be seen as an alternative to those perks.

 

 

I would have assumed a perked turret used together with an unperked weapon are supposed to be somewhat similar in power to a perked weapon with an unperked turret.

 

Perkwise it would mean you could solely rely on INT.

 

It stacks, it depends if you are building a castle or a small hovel. I can get plenty of resources over time without perks. If you need a castle by day 10 then sure, you might think you need those perks, but early game I typically work up my combat perks because I just don't need a super fort right away. In fact lately I've just been gathering ALL my cement and cobblestones from POIs and never wasting my hard mined resources on those things.

[Khalagar]

4 hours ago, Cork55 said:

Since we are on the topic of Nerd Polling, has there been any discussion about players "double looting" quest POI's? Players will get a quest to go to a certain building, loot it and then turn around and activate their quest, which resets the building immediately which allows the to loot it again.

 

 

 

It's not an exploit, you are putting in the work to clear the same building twice, why would you not get the loot? It's no different from finding two identical PoI across the street from each other. People have the weirdest requests to nerf things in ways that just punish players and make things more tedious for no benefit. IMO, if you do the work, you should get the loot.

 

I think the weird 24 hour delay on doing missions at the same PoI should be fixed too.If I stack 4 quests at the same PoI, why can't I just do them back to back? I can understand them changing it so you can't just do all 4 at once anymore, but at least let me just do them on a loop so I can go turn them all in

[madmole]

On 6/20/2020 at 1:43 PM, hiemfire said:

@madmole have you guys considered adding more caplock muzzle loading firearms (musket/rifle, vollygun or pistol) as primitive tier 1 options?

We have. It might be nice having primitive rifles and pistols so people can specialize in those... but the agility guy has bows... maybe we just need rifles.. but then the auto weapons guy is screwed unless we make a pipe machinegun... Honestly it just sounds like cans of worms, the blunderbuss and bow are plenty to get started with.

[Blake_]

19 minutes ago, madmole said:

I wouldn't confuse forum chatter with "officially announced". Until its in release notes its speculation at best. Even if its work in progress, still speculative content. Until something is proven to work and perform, AND be fun AND mesh with the rest in the game its all potentially vapor ware.

That said once we dug into things it was really feeling over scoped. Legendary weapons is kind of dumb to work on, when we are still missing 3 tiers of weapons, and books to support every class. Now that that is done we can move forward with those things.

A20 : Water,  Vehicles (ISS, mods, paint) , some QOL, Legendary weapons, more POIs, workstation kitchen and industrial forge, redone Zds and at least 2 new special infected.

 

Geeez,

sounds to me like bandits SHOULD wait a bit more. 

 

#whateverjustgiveittome

 

 

 

 

[madmole]

On 6/20/2020 at 8:49 PM, BadPlayer said:

Your opinion

Crafting should be a last resort, not the best way. Look at real life, the only thing I've ever crafted were things I couldn't find or buy anywhere. In an apocalypse where time is needed for finding food, supplies etc would you spend hours smithing something, or just go raid the neighbors garage and have a look? They are dead on the lawn for days now. I think I'd have a look before bothering with firing up a forge and learning to smith, create smoke and noise that might draw unwanted attention. Crafting is unrealistic, especially when we're talking about high quality firearms. Armor, perhaps. Still though I'd go take a bullet proof vest off a dead cop before I'd be tinkering with plate chest armor.

[Aldranon]

43 minutes ago, madmole said:

Depends if you want to be OP as soon as possible, I'm playing a DUMB strength character and resisting the INT and having fun. Finding more of what you need instead of crafting it has its rewards.

Yeah, I cant say how I will play A19, but looking forward to that day!   

[Guppycur]

5 minutes ago, madmole said:

Crafting should be a last resort, not the best way. Look at real life, the only thing I've ever crafted were things I couldn't find or buy anywhere. In an apocalypse where time is needed for finding food, supplies etc would you spend hours smithing something, or just go raid the neighbors garage and have a look? They are dead on the lawn for days now. I think I'd have a look before bothering with firing up a forge and learning to smith, create smoke and noise that might draw unwanted attention. Crafting is unrealistic, especially when we're talking about high quality firearms. Armor, perhaps. Still though I'd go take a bullet proof vest off a dead cop before I'd be tinkering with plate chest armor.

This.  I'd go a step further and eliminate tier 5 items altogether.  1-4 crafting, 6 loot.  Hell maybe ditch 4 and 5, to widen the gap. 

[madmole]

On 6/21/2020 at 11:25 AM, STyK_ said:

I asked a bunch of questions during Madmoles stream that didn't get answered and came up with a few new ones I'm hoping can be answered here.  Some are directed to the talks of the end of the project.

1. Are you guys leaving nerd pole-ing in the game? The way the game is played will be drastically changed taking this out from building to looting buildings. As it stands a player can get to where the best loot in the game is with two frames. Who needs a helicopter?! That's a problem right?

2. Currently you can pick up your vehicles and put them in your pocket or store them anywhere, is that always going to be a thing? If you look at playing 7DTD from a fixing problems point of view like I do your making it too easy. Your fixing a problem the players should have to figure out themselves by building a ramp for there base or underground garage.

3. Are you abandoning the radiation zone? Seems to me there were plans to have a zone in the map that you needed a radiation suit to be able to enter kind of like rust.

 

4. Wasn't there also something about food spoiling and needing a fridge powered by electricity? Cooler would have been an earlier version. I've paid attention to the project on and off over the years and I thought this was supposed to be in the cards. I also play a lot of survival games and everything is in alpha so this may have been confused.

5. Base building feels like its missing an end game weapon doesn't it? Something to spend that surplus brass on. I suggested a 50 cal on a bipod. Something you can go beachhead with at the beginning of horde night thats extremely satisfying. Then go to using small arms when the zombies form up on the walls. Make it so you can only build one.
On the turret note the 4x4 could also use one. It would be a great upgrade. Make it only loot-able in military installations.

6. Will you be making another pass on the tower dungeons? They have been around so long if your not new you have them memorized.

7. Since you guys have more people now, another project on the go, and things are wrapping up with 7DTD can we get set release dates for patches? Alpha 20 by Christmas, alpha 21 by next june/july ect. Seems like a suitable time to ask since you guys are confident enough to start another project.

1, Yes.
2, Probably.

3, The wasteland will be radiated.

4, Food seems shippable now.

5, No.

6, Probably.

7, No release dates will ever be promised. Its done when it's done.

21 hours ago, JCrook1028 said:

I'd say the exact opposite. taking the club shown as example. Why is there cloth wrapped around the club before any mods are added? Why would you make a melee weapon SOFT by adding cloth. It is absolutely counter productive to remove hardness from a blunt melee weapon. It's a tree branch for heaven's sake, it does not need cloth to hold it together. It makes me almost as crazy as their newest fad of wrapping some cloth loosely around the grip of almost every gun in the game. All that does is make for something to loosen up and not allow you to get a firm grip on the weapon, leading to inaccuracy. C'mon, we all know how fast that piece of leather tied on with a string would get loose and fall off, a magazine or two. We can forge metal and even make glue but we tie grips on our gun with a string? Urgh it just looks awful.

Its meant to protect your grip on the base from the rough bark, up top maybe to hold it together because it started to crack and separate from thumping stuff. People's lack of imagination is endless. Overall its meant to just make the club more interesting to look at, a piece of bark is boring visually.

[Cork55]

20 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

 

It's not an exploit, you are putting in the work to clear the same building twice, why would you not get the loot? It's no different from finding two identical PoI across the street from each other. People have the weirdest requests to nerf things in ways that just punish players and make things more tedious for no benefit. IMO, if you do the work, you should get the loot.

 

I think the weird 24 hour delay on doing missions at the same PoI should be fixed too.If I stack 4 quests at the same PoI, why can't I just do them back to back? I can understand them changing it so you can't just do all 4 at once anymore, but at least let me just do them on a loop so I can go turn them all in

Just raising the question. I have heard players say that this falls into the same category as nerd poling, so I figured I would pose the question. 

[Viktoriusiii]

1 hour ago, madmole said:

Depends if you want to be OP as soon as possible, I'm playing a DUMB strength character and resisting the INT and having fun. Finding more of what you need instead of crafting it has its rewards.

but... its a survival game. Trying your hardest to survive SHOULD be your main incentive.
Yes roleplaying is great and I totally support that. But you can't say "just roleplay" when people are looking for a challenge.
To give you an example of a gmae I know you know:
If there is an exploit in Fallout, you can bet your @%$*#! that the devs (before bethesda had gone full onlinepurchase-fck-the-consumer mode) tried to patch it.
They didn't say "just don't use it", because it isn't the players job to balance the game.

*edit* just so nobody can misrepresent this: this is not limited to exploits but to balance as well and in a survival game, balance is even more important than in an RPG. NO YOU ARE NOT AN RPG YET. You might one day, once NPCs and an actual story have been implemented, but currently you are a looter-shooter with survival-sandbox elements.

[hiemfire]

21 minutes ago, madmole said:

but then the auto weapons guy is screwed unless we make a pipe machinegun...

That's what I was thinking the volleygun would be tied to. Thanks for replying. Looking forwards to A19 and onwards.

[madmole]

19 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

Keycards would be kind of immersion breaking.

Why can I break down literally everything in the game and then inside (mission) POIs I'm not able to bypass doors just by tearing down the walls?

 

IMO they should find a more natural/coherent way to avoid loot cheating.

The best way would be the one someone mentioned, to have a few random places for each POI where the loot room can spawn.

Oh you can, but have fun smashing a 100k hit point titanium steel block or whatever it is.

[Jarod_Silverstar]

12 minutes ago, madmole said:

Crafting should be a last resort, not the best way. Look at real life, the only thing I've ever crafted were things I couldn't find or buy anywhere. In an apocalypse where time is needed for finding food, supplies etc would you spend hours smithing something, or just go raid the neighbors garage and have a look? They are dead on the lawn for days now. I think I'd have a look before bothering with firing up a forge and learning to smith, create smoke and noise that might draw unwanted attention. Crafting is unrealistic, especially when we're talking about high quality firearms. Armor, perhaps. Still though I'd go take a bullet proof vest off a dead cop before I'd be tinkering with plate chest armor.

That is pretty much how I treat crafting in the game. 90% of my crafting is stuff I use in bulk; cement, bullets, gunpowder, gas, etc.

 

Since much of my playtime is single player, it was never worth it to me to level up a skill to make high quality armor or weapons when I could find it and spend those points on other things like stamina boosting or better sneaking.

[Damocles]

The gun racks might look cool and all. But having guns dangeling in front of the player, without any guns that can be picked up would be a downer and teasing the player.

Will the gun rack be empty after looting it?

[Jarod_Silverstar]

32 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

 

It's not an exploit, you are putting in the work to clear the same building twice, why would you not get the loot? It's no different from finding two identical PoI across the street from each other. People have the weirdest requests to nerf things in ways that just punish players and make things more tedious for no benefit. IMO, if you do the work, you should get the loot.

 

I think the weird 24 hour delay on doing missions at the same PoI should be fixed too.If I stack 4 quests at the same PoI, why can't I just do them back to back? I can understand them changing it so you can't just do all 4 at once anymore, but at least let me just do them on a loop so I can go turn them all in

Personally I don't like the quest stacking like that. I would vote for limiting it so you can only get one quest per trader at any one time.

 

The other option is to make quest locations have a wider range of area they can be in. Like each tier of quest adds distance to the location. Tier 1 quests will be within 1km of the trader, while tier 2 would be up to 2km away. If you get 3 tier 4 quests from a trader but they are spread out in different directions and 3-4km from the trader, it would be a lot more effort to complete.

And this would also give players an incentive to explore further away.

[Laz Man]

1 hour ago, sillls said:

 Please no more personal pictures.

 

One sec, forgot to turn on my nerd pole...😅

 

[Damocles]

9 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

One sec, forgot to turn on my nerd pole...😅

 

Shadiversity?

[sillls]

11 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

One sec, forgot to turn on my nerd pole...😅

 

Real Nerds don't forget to turn on there Nerd poles.