Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[Phoenixshade35]

One thing i would find interesting is if for a tier 5 quest, maybe have it set in two different lower pois, one task in one and one in another (i know it would be a pain to code im sure) but it could open it up a little more with sometimes being less of a hastle lol

[Aldranon]

10 hours ago, meganoth said:

It would be quite easy actually. Too easy. At the current damage potential of the zombies they could never breach a double concrete wall if every zombie attacked a different spot. So at a minimum their block damage has to be increased. Much damage all around the walls means that every horde night then needs 2 days of mining and boring repairs afterwards.

The random attacks on your fort was like that not too long ago. 

Eventually, repairing would take the better part of a day and it stopped being fun.

 

Now, I can make a Heat/Horde base all in one, with perimeter walls out to the limits of the LCB.

I can fight a horde without spending all my ammo or spending all day repairing!

 

BM nights are fun, even when you get several Demolishers.  You have to shoot carefully and place your sledge turrets on their left, so they tend to not explode them.  Still two have exploded, one right under me, I'm like "Wha-, wha- ... WOW!"  😄

[STyK_]

3 hours ago, khzmusik said:

I don't know if it's just me, but I also noticed that the compound bow sights seem to be broken in this update. You don't see any arrow being slotted, and when you zoom you just see the bow model without any arrow model. Then again I'm playing a save game from the previous build, so maybe that's just one of those things that breaks if you don't start a new save each build.

So your BOW seems to be BROKEN. A BROKEN BOW........😁 Yes that seems to be going around.

[Gr.o.m.]

48 minutes ago, Gazz said:

Is this on A19, though?

Jepp. Skyscraper. But I must admit, that I did not follow the path through the POI. I creared out a way though the stairway to bring down loot into a chest at the lobby.

Probably causing zombies to despawn. We also did not wipe the game instead only updating to the latest version.  That could also be a reason.

[DaVegaNL]

15 hours ago, madmole said:

We are just not willing to push new stuff in when large sectors of the game are completely unpolished and need optimized and improved.

There is character R&D going on right now for new player outfits that replaces UMA. It just *MIGHT* work for bandits too so once players are overhauled then we can decide if bandits are skinned meshes like zombies, or assembled parts via pieces after the new player clothing/armor system is completed we can do some stress tests and see and make the right calls. Then bandits can sort of fall out of the character system instead of a separate effort.

Fair enough! I'm just a bit disappointed to see them being postponed every time.

[STyK_]

7 minutes ago, Eighmy_Lupin said:

Fresh save and my fiancé and I are having the same problem with the primitive bow

Sounds like its going to be a big OPERATION to fix 😁

[Jay_ombie]

40 minutes ago, Gr.o.m. said:

Jepp. Skyscraper. But I must admit, that I did not follow the path through the POI. I creared out a way though the stairway to bring down loot into a chest at the lobby.

Probably causing zombies to despawn. We also did not wipe the game instead only updating to the latest version.  That could also be a reason.

I noticed some time not all the time we now get a indicator on the compass showing us where the last zombie is.

 

Not sure why it’s only

sometimes I get these in quests though. Maybe tied to specific quest types, though any clear quest this would make sense as much as the locate and grab ones with the crates which do always show up on compass. 

 

[Jugginator]

Any way/chance we can get the music selector to back off on Homeday/Homenight a bit? I like keeping the music on low because the ambiance it provides is great, but one step into the radius of the bedroll and it's instant, never-ending Homeday/night until you leave or a horde shows up lol.

 

Btw doing a run in the wastelands. @madmole you were not lying about it's practically a biome of hordenight, sheesh lol. Day 2 at night hiding in some rubble throwing rocks hoping the 18-pack of ferals (including 2 wights and a cop) wouldn't see me (8 actually ran right past me at one point in front of me chasing a rock I threw). Been a while since I held my breath and my heart raced a bit in the game Horde night lasted until 2:45am on my day 7 too lol -- more of all of this in the wastelands plz.

[Toban]

6 hours ago, Trekkan said:

That's great and all (and it is!), but... doesn't change anything when it comes to the crafting, or lack of needing to craft.

I personally look at the crafting part of the perk as just that, a perk. I choose my perks because they give me the ability to: A, mine faster and get more resources. B, do more damage.

So for me, once I get a better tool/weapon than I can craft, I just don't care that much because I didn't to begin with.

[Aldranon]

3 hours ago, Gazz said:

Is this on A19, though?

I get 4 of the 5 quest as tier 5 often.

 

Additionally and I don't know if its been mentioned or fixed somewhere is:

If you log out while on a quest, everything is reset (loot, zombies).  So in particular POI's its game breaking.  I only found this out when my wife kept asking for help when I was clearing the Red Mesa, which takes some time and has crazy loot.

[Jost Amman]

I just read someone from the Steam forum talking about different kind of death penalties.

One idea that I think is great is having some time pass after you die.

 

Imagine if after death you simply skip one full day: it would be a serious handicap toward getting ready for the next blood moon.

Maybe in case it's exactly the day just before BM this could skip you directly a few hours before it (e.g.: to 19:00).

 

That would be a nasty penalty to get, more than anything TFP have come up with until now... 😈

 

Edit : FYI the context was about people dying to skip the injuries penalty.

[Laz Man]

7 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

I just read someone from the Steam forum talking about different kind of death penalties.

One idea that I think is great is having some time pass after you die.

 

Imagine if after death you simply skip one full day: it would be a serious handicap toward getting ready for the next blood moon.

Maybe in case it's exactly the day just before BM this could skip you directly a few hours before it (e.g.: to 19:00).

 

That would be a nasty penalty to get, more than anything TFP have come up with until now... 😈

 

Edit : FYI the context was about people dying to skip the injuries penalty.

1 day sounds too harsh.  Maybe half a day and it would only work in SP obviously....

[FileMachete]

Little feedback on zombie Sleeper Spawns popping in when they shouldn't.

 

Was clearing a house, coming down some stairs, across the room there was one of the zombie closets (single block wide).

I crouched, shot a crossbow bolt to break the door (it did), nothing inside.

Came down last couple steps, turned to look left and right real quick, looking forward there's a zombie stepping out of the closet.

Not 'coming my way', I saw her step down out of the closet that had been empty when I shot the door.

 

I'm running vid qual at lowest, so could well be an edge case due to this.

[RipClaw]

2 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

I just read someone from the Steam forum talking about different kind of death penalties.

One idea that I think is great is having some time pass after you die.

 

Imagine if after death you simply skip one full day: it would be a serious handicap toward getting ready for the next blood moon.

Maybe in case it's exactly the day just before BM this could skip you directly a few hours before it (e.g.: to 19:00).

 

That would be a nasty penalty to get, more than anything TFP have come up with until now... 😈

 

Edit : FYI the context was about people dying to skip the injuries penalty.

Players who have no problem committing suicide to skip injuries also have no problem getting killed by the Horde.
 

[Galifrey1965]

3 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

I just read someone from the Steam forum talking about different kind of death penalties.

One idea that I think is great is having some time pass after you die.

 

Imagine if after death you simply skip one full day: it would be a serious handicap toward getting ready for the next blood moon.

Maybe in case it's exactly the day just before BM this could skip you directly a few hours before it (e.g.: to 19:00).

 

That would be a nasty penalty to get, more than anything TFP have come up with until now... 😈

 

Edit : FYI the context was about people dying to skip the injuries penalty.

So it's the morning of day 7 and I can't be bothered to do Horde night..... Ah death yes....

[Dethar]

3 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

I just read someone from the Steam forum talking about different kind of death penalties.

One idea that I think is great is having some time pass after you die.

 

Imagine if after death you simply skip one full day: it would be a serious handicap toward getting ready for the next blood moon.

Maybe in case it's exactly the day just before BM this could skip you directly a few hours before it (e.g.: to 19:00).

 

That would be a nasty penalty to get, more than anything TFP have come up with until now... 😈

 

Edit : FYI the context was about people dying to skip the injuries penalty.

Not exactly. There was quite a few people that hated the one hour death penalty. So they change it. Definitely sounds like a Pimp Dream.

[meganoth]

11 hours ago, Trekkan said:

That's great and all (and it is!), but... doesn't change anything when it comes to the crafting, or lack of needing to craft.

Well, there is lots of conflicting evidence. There are people who complain about not needing to craft anything and there are other people who have crafted lots of weapons and armor. In SP I seem to often craft my own tier3 quality5 weapon and use it a relatively long time until I find a better quality6, if at all.

 

My guess is that in SP the chance is high to craft the main weapon and find the armor, multiplayer co-op the chance is high to get a quality6 weapon faster through looting (because more people are looking and sharing their finds), but someone will learn an armor perk and built most of the armor for everyone. Also the trader isn't correctly balanced yet and might skew the balance away from crafting.

 

This is balancing and TFP hopefully will get some accurate information through telemetry whether crafting of weapons and armor happens too seldom.

 

Your feedback might also be considered. But when you are making false claims that you don't get anything out of your weapon perk that will cast a doubt about the accuracy of your other feedback being accurate. Just saying, accurate feedback might get noticed, hyperbole claims might get some ridicule instead.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

I just read someone from the Steam forum talking about different kind of death penalties.

One idea that I think is great is having some time pass after you die.

 

Imagine if after death you simply skip one full day: it would be a serious handicap toward getting ready for the next blood moon.

Maybe in case it's exactly the day just before BM this could skip you directly a few hours before it (e.g.: to 19:00).

 

That would be a nasty penalty to get, more than anything TFP have come up with until now... 😈

 

Edit : FYI the context was about people dying to skip the injuries penalty.

So on MP servers people constantly get one or multiple of your "death penalties" whenever they start playing again after a break where other players continued playing on the server for at least an hour. Or on co-op servers when you miss a play session.

 

Even if your idea had merit for SP I don't think TFP is willing to have different penalties for SP and MP when they removed the ability of the server to distinguish between SP and MP a long time ago.

 

[Jost Amman]

58 minutes ago, Galifrey1965 said:

So it's the morning of day 7 and I can't be bothered to do Horde night..... Ah death yes....

Re-read my post... doesn't work that way.

20 minutes ago, meganoth said:

So on MP servers people constantly get one or multiple of your "death penalties" whenever they start playing again after a break where other players continued playing on the server for at least an hour. Or on co-op servers when you miss a play session.

 

Even if your idea had merit for SP I don't think TFP is willing to have different penalties for SP and MP when they removed the ability of the server to distinguish between SP and MP a long time ago.

Yeah, I guess this would only work for SP.

[Pegasus]

6 hours ago, Jay_ombie said:

I noticed some time not all the time we now get a indicator on the compass showing us where the last zombie is.

 

Not sure why it’s only

sometimes I get these in quests though. Maybe tied to specific quest types, though any clear quest this would make sense as much as the locate and grab ones with the crates which do always show up on compass. 

 

It should be on every quest, but it is my understanding that it only appears when you've completed a certain percentage of the task ... and for some of the higher tasks that "percentage" is so high that people are having difficulty getting enough of the clearing done for the indicator to pop up and help them.

13 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Re-read my post... doesn't work that way.

Yeah, I guess this would only work for SP.

Remember ... SP is really only MP with only one player. There is no single player mode any more.  

[meganoth]

7 minutes ago, Pegasus said:

It should be on every quest, but it is my understanding that it only appears when you've completed a certain percentage of the task ... and for some of the higher tasks that "percentage" is so high that people are having difficulty getting enough of the clearing done for the indicator to pop up and help them.

The problem might be that it isn't a percentage at all but a set number between 1 and 3 (at least I seem to remember it was this way initially). Which works for small POIs but might not scale up to tier5 buildings.

[Pegasus]

3 minutes ago, meganoth said:

The problem might be that it isn't a percentage at all but a set number between 1 and 3 (at least I seem to remember it was this way initially). Which works for small POIs but might not scale up to tier5 buildings.

 

Well that would certainly explain it.  Hopefully someone in charge can take a look and maybe see about balancing it a bit for the bigger POIs / higher tier quests.  I'm seeing a lot of frustration regarding this issue.  Thanks.

[RipClaw]

3 minutes ago, meganoth said:

The problem might be that it isn't a percentage at all but a set number between 1 and 3 (at least I seem to remember it was this way initially). Which works for small POIs but might not scale up to tier5 buildings.

Even in T4 quests you sometimes have this problem. I had the problem for example at the new Shamway Food Store. The last zombies were so well hidden that I had to search for a while.
 

[MechanicalLens]

Has the gamestages/lootstages between tiers been increased? I'm currently at level 45 and only now am I finding T6 pistols and such. (I've been looting a ton and I've been seldom coming across weapons, so maybe that was changed as well?) Anyway, I swear that in previous builds I would have on quality level 2 or 3 pump shotguns by this point, but maybe I'm incorrect about that.

[Darinth]

I know that people having difficulty doing T5 clears is a real thing... multiples of my players also have this difficulty... but I just don't understand it. I don't know if there are more T5 clear POIs available, but as of A18 the only ones that I've seen are the shamway factory, shotgun messiah factory, and 6 floor apartment... and not once have I ever had an issue where a POI was unable to be cleared. Never even personally had an issue with finding a zed spawn volume. But I've gone in to help people on multiple occasions now... I follow the path through the POI and properly check every place and I've always found the zombies on my first run through the building.

I 100% support a bit more guidance to find that last of the missing zeds... but am still confused by the level of difficulty a lot of people have. Also, I appreciate all of the shortcuts that exist to go up the POIs if you find them.

Spoiler

Digging underneath the tower of the shamway factory and going up through it's center literally takes you all of the way up to the top of the POI.

You clear one room and you're at the top and looting the final cache. Then you can easily drop back down through the POI to find your cache for the fetch quests and you can be in and out of a T5 fetch in 10-15 minutes.

[STyK_]

1 hour ago, meganoth said:

That's great and all (and it is!), but... doesn't change anything when it comes to the crafting, or lack of needing to craft.

Sorry I couldn't find his original post. This is totally subject to what your loot percentage is set at. On 25% loot you pretty much need to craft or buy everything till way later. Your only saving grace is trader rewards which are likely to not actually give you what you need. Also because the loot is low so are your dukes from selling things and that money in the beginning likely needs to go to food. So crafting is needed, you just don't need to on your settings.