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Alpha 19 Dev Diary


madmole

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2 minutes ago, Vechs said:

Yeah I ended up just canceling the quest.

 

On that note, some of these Tier IV and Tier V clear locations are just... to be blunt, kind of a pain in the @%$*#! to clear.  I don't like how long it takes IRL to hunt down all the little forgotten monster closets of random zombies.

 

Could we make the helper pips on the radar show up sooner or otherwise be more aggressive, or maybe let the quest complete at a 90% clear or something?

 

I've gotten really good with the agility tree at clearing these places quietly and quickly, and then I spend hours wandering around an empty prefab trying to find some random zombie that was stuffed up in a roof block or down in some side room, you get the idea, and it just kinda sucks.

A few times I've literally wandered around the prefab firing my 44 magnum in the air trying to get the stragglers to aggro me or at least start making noise so I can figure out where they are.

the tier 5 quests are definitly a pain for that, the 4 isnt so bad, usually the first run of doing one i go in loud and proud so i can learn where they all are hiding

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7 minutes ago, Vechs said:

 

I did log out of the server in the middle of the quest because I had to go AFK for a while, I suppose that's what bugged it up?

Yep. It will be "locked" for I believe 1 game day if you log out in the middle of a quest.

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2 hours ago, Vechs said:

But I only had this 1 quest in my journal, along with a treasure map buried chest quest.

I did log out of the server in the middle of the quest because I had to go AFK for a while, I suppose that's what bugged it up?

Were you in a party?  They probably finished it without you.

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4 hours ago, EmpV said:

But is crafting an item really more convenient?  Maybe items that don’t now require parts, but since parts have been added back in, it is a lot of work to gather the materials to craft weapons/tools/armor. 

You can’t mine and sit in your base and craft these items. You have to be out there doing quests to earn dukes and looting parts just like everyone else. You are taking the same risks. You also can’t spam craft to get lucky specs due to the limited number of parts. 
So why couldn’t there be a small chance at least to craft a tier 6 just like there is a chance to loot a tier 6?

 

I do really enjoy looting and the new tiered loot, but I have also been trying to find usefulness in the current crafting system. The devs added parts back to the game, so I am making an effort to try to craft with them.
You are correct in saying that looting is more rewarding because the way things are balanced currently, the item parts I loot may as well be dukes.  Hopefully as things get tweaked the balance will get better. 

I'm not sure what you are talking about, crafting to me is always way more rewarding than looting. I haven't seen a single game where I looted a blue T3 gun before I crafted one. So crafting gets you to near top tier way before looting can.

Also you can craft all but the best stuff with common mats, iron tools are made from very basics, but they are pretty good. So yes you can sit in your base for the most part and craft quite a lot.

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16 hours ago, FileMachete said:

A new Candy, "That all ya got?!" when eaten it adds 10 to your gamestage.

 

Sure, already doable via the console, but only talking an Icon and a bit of xml. Would offer a vanilla way to bump GS for any that find things too easy, or don't really like the slower start.

That's why the loot perk was changed. This would only be a second loot bonus candy that you use after a POI is cleared.

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3 hours ago, Phoenixshade35 said:

One thing i think would be neat is if we could program the drone to go mining, tell it to gather a certain resource and then when its inventory is full it returns to the bedroll, that would be useful, you could mine for coal and it could mine for nitrate, sure it would take some survival out of it but it would help, i could be out looting and it could be out gathering stone for me, should it get attacked you could have a pager on you, made of junk of course that would notify you of drone has taken critical damage, please retrieve and it gives you a set of coordinates, would be a stepping stone to npcs living in your base doing your farming and stuff should u be able to recruit npcs down the road

I highly doubt there will ever be NPC's living in your base doing stuff for you. Mainly because 8 players on a server, if each had 5 npcs the zombie counts would be non existent, and also it has never been a stretch goal or roadmap item.

2 hours ago, Phoenixshade35 said:

Ok now to get back on topic, after eating some hamburgers, what do people think about compounding food, like you cook the meat and make grilled meat as always, then take the grilled meat and make stuff like a steak sandwich or a hamburger, would that be a good fit for 7 days to die?

and i sent it to u as well

There is a bit of that in the game. You make corn bread, then you can make chili dogs.

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10 hours ago, Kalen said:

IMO, mods shouldn't be swappable anyway.   Item degradation and locked mods introduces difficult decisions, which is a good thing.   Without item degradation you devalue, to some extent, looting and crafting.... two core aspects to the game.

You can set that flag in a mod but then players wouldn't use mods in items until they had QL 6 ones or could craft infinite mods.

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2 hours ago, Vechs said:

Yeah I ended up just canceling the quest.

 

On that note, some of these Tier IV and Tier V clear locations are just... to be blunt, kind of a pain in the @%$*#! to clear.  I don't like how long it takes IRL to hunt down all the little forgotten monster closets of random zombies.

 

Could we make the helper pips on the radar show up sooner or otherwise be more aggressive, or maybe let the quest complete at a 90% clear or something?

 

I've gotten really good with the agility tree at clearing these places quietly and quickly, and then I spend hours wandering around an empty prefab trying to find some random zombie that was stuffed up in a roof block or down in some side room, you get the idea, and it just kinda sucks.

A few times I've literally wandered around the prefab firing my 44 magnum in the air trying to get the stragglers to aggro me or at least start making noise so I can figure out where they are.

This is a known issue. We are planning on enabling the helper that leads you to the next volume of zombies before you are at 90% or whatever, because I've had that same thing happen to me a dozen times, and 2 hours of real time into a T5 and get ripped off out of your reward because you can't find a few remaining monster closet sucks.

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2 minutes ago, madmole said:

This is a known issue. We are planning on enabling the helper that leads you to the next volume of zombies before you are at 90% or whatever, because I've had that same thing happen to me a dozen times, and 2 hours of real time into a T5 and get ripped off out of your reward because you can't find a few remaining monster closet sucks.

That's already in experimental.

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15 minutes ago, madmole said:

I'm not sure what you are talking about, crafting to me is always way more rewarding than looting. I haven't seen a single game where I looted a blue T3 gun before I crafted one. So crafting gets you to near top tier way before looting can.

Also you can craft all but the best stuff with common mats, iron tools are made from very basics, but they are pretty good. So yes you can sit in your base for the most part and craft quite a lot.

That... goes against a lot of what you have been advocating for the past years. Unless I am mistaken, you believe (or believed) that looting should always take priority over crafting, correct? Or were you only referring to top tier gear? (ie quality level 6's)

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As for the whole item degradation topic:

A lot of the suggestions are way too complex and fiddly or worse - introduce a whole bunch of junk items that you are supposed to carry around.

 

I'm not convinced it's a good idea to begin with but what is doable:
- Only allowed to repair at a workbench. Easily circumvented by keeping a workbench in your vehicle.

 

What would be modable:

- No item repairs ever. It really is pointless to want item degradation... but not.

- Book series to add +1 crafting quality.

 

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2 hours ago, Vechs said:

But I only had this 1 quest in my journal, along with a treasure map buried chest quest.

I did log out of the server in the middle of the quest because I had to go AFK for a while, I suppose that's what bugged it up?

You said server. That situation also happens when another player (within your team) had quested there and didn't turn in the quest yet after completing it. You aren't playing alone is my guess. Difficult to help you for certain because you deliverately cutted the screenshot so we can't see your name or if you are with someone. Thankfully we know better.

 

 

 

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To temper negative feedback about high tier clears with positive:

 

The agility tree is very satisfying and fun.  I just maxed out the entire tree last play session.  The weapons in agility feel like "Pick this if you want to dabble at everything".  It's got a submachine gun that got less damage but cheaper ammo than the proper machineguns.  It's got crossbows that can snipe like sniper rifles, but without fast follow-ups.  It's got knives that are decent at melee and also free up a hotbar slot by serving to butcher animals too.

 

The versatility of the tree is pretty great, and jumping 3 blocks and maxed out stealth is very satisfying.

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20 minutes ago, Gazz said:

That's why the loot perk was changed. This would only be a second loot bonus candy that you use after a POI is cleared.

hmm. hadn't considered that.

 

But wasn't thinking of it as a 5-10 minute duration (my bad for not clarifying that). It would raise gamestage permanently by 10.

 

Min/maxers could abuse it like you said a couple times, but they'd also have to deal with the increased difficulty, for the rest of their game, while not being at 'par' toon progression wise (multiple lvls behind zed difficulty compared to player lvl).

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I’ve had the most fun on this Alpha since A16. Finally got a rough version of the Spencer Mansion done on Survival, Day 135ish, Permadeath. This is my 3rd map, about 300 90 minute days in A19 so far.  I really don’t have any complaints aside from wanting more paint textures and decor. 
 

I am also someone who prefers to loot versus craft.  Even in A19, I find quality tools and weapons long before I care to craft them.  Tool, weapon, and armor parts are just extra dukes to me. 

A7BA66BE-FFB5-45EE-87E3-E5BF1F4E0D49.jpeg

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9 minutes ago, wolfbain5 said:

is something going on with blade traps? I have noticed that they are being damaged alot faster in the last 2 builds. on a typical horde night I only have to repair them 2-3 times, this last horde night was 8 times

They probably nerfed them as sitting back and watching something kill all the zombies without effort is to cheesey. 

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21 minutes ago, wolfbain5 said:

is something going on with blade traps? I have noticed that they are being damaged alot faster in the last 2 builds. on a typical horde night I only have to repair them 2-3 times, this last horde night was 8 times

Comparing blocks.xml, a17b240(1st stable) & a19b178 (can't find a18.4 files atm) there doesn't appear to be any changes in the Damage bits.

Still 20 dealt for 4 taken, and max of 2000, break percentages the same.

 

Might be that zeds are targeting the center of blade traps more than previously? I know from trying various designs in previous alphas that if you can keep the central hub of the blade traps out of the zs path they rarely hit it, and that made a noticible difference in the damage taken.

 

Oh, and if by chance you were using a half-block height design before and aren't now, then the central hub may be seen as an obstruction, so zs are trying to break it.

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6 minutes ago, DaVegaNL said:

So.. Bandits being postponed another Alpha again? That's like.. I don't know.. The past 7 Alphas?

can be but thats ok, because they worked on a lot of player animations, Traders and stuff that will also be on the Bandits. We are getting there, step by step...

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1 hour ago, FileMachete said:

Comparing blocks.xml, a17b240(1st stable) & a19b178 (can't find a18.4 files atm) there doesn't appear to be any changes in the Damage bits.

Still 20 dealt for 4 taken, and max of 2000, break percentages the same.

 

Might be that zeds are targeting the center of blade traps more than previously? I know from trying various designs in previous alphas that if you can keep the central hub of the blade traps out of the zs path they rarely hit it, and that made a noticible difference in the damage taken.

 

Oh, and if by chance you were using a half-block height design before and aren't now, then the central hub may be seen as an obstruction, so zs are trying to break it.

I can also read the xml's, and I too noticed that part didnt change, but this part

 

    <property name="BreakingPercentage" value="0.5"/>
    <property name="BrokenPercentage" value="0.25"/>

 

doesnt seem to be calculating. it is taking damage all the time instead of the percant chance

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12 minutes ago, Matt 1977 said:

TFP are doing a fantastic job adding content with each Alpha..... and yet its not enough for some. Unbelievable. 

Don't mistake a grumpy anticipation with something that is not enought.

Bandits are probably the most anticipated feature, of course we can make a small sound because another delay, Pimps are used with that ..us :)

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