Alpha 19 Intelligence tree feedback

[Bomjus]

so i'm going to work my way down through each perk and touch on the good and bad, in my opinion, for the stuff related to that perk:

 

electrocutioner: stun batons are in a decent spot now. IIRC in alpha 18 stunned zombies could still hit you. as far as i can tell from testing this is no longer the case. so now the stun baton's primary function is working and provide some extra safety. i think they should have a *slightly* decreased stamina cost (maybe 10%) so more hits can come out from the player leading to more stuns. i think the damage is fine because the stun deals damage over time. i think they have a purpose now, but at the same time i think they should still be looked at in some way because mid > late game hordes if you are using melee at all you would much rather be using an eletric fence and then a higher damage melee weapon like a steel bat, sledgehammer, or knuckles with beer. and for early game a intelligence user can use the junk sledge if they want an on-perk melee weapon (even if it is... not the greatest)

 

robotics inventor: so there are some great things here now, and some not so great things. great things: tech junkie makes this perk and its related gear a lot stronger. turret AP ammo is a really nice addition for clearing high tier PoI's and makes junk turrets more useable on late game hordes (they still set off demos extremely fast though). the fire rate bonus from the perk now affects handheld turrets. it did not in alpha 18. this is a big buff and really helps the junk turret close the gap compared to actual weapons. overall, i think ranged junk turrets are in a solid spot. 

 

the not so great: progression, to start. it is day 17, i am level 43, and i JUST crafted my first junk turret. i still have not seen one at a trader, in loot, or from a quest reward. and it took me 5 days before i scrounged up 12 robotics parts to craft one. junk sledges needs to be more prevalent in loot, from traders, and/or as quest rewards. pistols AKs and double barrel shotguns are pretty common for me at the moment. but it will be ages before i have another 2 turrets. 

 

junk sledges. these need there own paragraph. they need to be buffed HARD. firstly, they need more range. according to the game files they have the same range as spike knuckles at 2.0, this is not sufficient and it looks weird. you have this huge sledge coming out of this turret and it has the range of fists? in my opinion it should be increased to ~3.0 which is 0.4 more than the stone sledgehammer. this would also greatly benefit the turret when it is placed. currently a placed junk sledge has so little range it has very limited use. perhaps an "extended sledge" mod that gives it the range increase for more immersion? it needs lowered recoil as well. i understand it doesn't use stamina so it needs some sort of drawback, but currently the recoil is a little much. this is especially true because at 4/5 robotics inventor the fire rate of the sledge is pretty fast. it also kind of makes me sick? cause my screen is constantly jumping. next, this is more a bug, but placed junk sledges do not benefit from weapon mods when placed on the ground. they also don't seem to ragdoll zombies at all or push them with force like they do when you use it manually. overall, i think the damage of the sledge is lacking. i think it could be upped from 13.5 at tier 1 to maybe 17 or 18? i think this increase would make it more useful in the early game and scale better into the mid game. it doesn't need a massive increase because its fire rate is significantly increased by its associated perk. these sledges are really cool looking, but they need a stat increase to see the light of day. 

 

better barter: fine as is. i think it is a strong enough perk to warrant a 5 point cost. however, if trader inventory will eventually be changed to scale with the player like the world loot is, it should be reduced to 4 points. 

 

daring adventurer: in a great spot. it was always a nice perk, but reducing it to 4 makes it more accessible early and rewards players for questing more. solid change.

 

charismatic nature: will never be used until it affects the person who takes it.  raise the intelligence requirement to 5 7 9 10, make the last perk reduced stamina cost for tools/weapons and minor health regen (maybe 1 every ~10 seconds) and remove the attribute bonuses, and make it affect the perk user as well. by increasing the intelligence requirement it means people can't dip a few points into intelligence to get strong bonuses. by making it so the perk affects the user, peopel will also make use of this perk in solo and co op more often. 

 

Physician: good spot. by combining the chem station perk with this one means more people will take it and a squad can have a dedicated med maker. good change. However, i think the efficient gunpowder recipe that was moved to demo expert should be on demo expert 2, not 3. 

 

advanced engineering: has always been a great perk. perfect as is.

 

grease monkey: good changes. makes the perk a lot better. personally, i think the efficient gas can recipe should be earlier but that's my only critique. 

 

overall, great changes to the intelligence tree. i think with junk sledge buffs, better progression for junk turrets, and the eventual addition of the junk drone that intelligence will be in a really good spot. thanks for the update guys, thoroughly enjoying A19

 

edit: oh and i watched the junk drone footage from the stream. IMO you should be able to forego the self-healing and stun capabilities for a gun on it instead. maybe for balance reasons if you put a gun on it you don't get the stun, healing, OR the storage. have it deal half (or less) the damage of the junk turrets, use the same ammo. therefore you sacrifice the utility of the drone, gain a follower that can deal damage, but it's less ammo efficient than the junk turrets. allows variety in their use.

[Surrealialis]

No idea where this is at now, but I enjoyed your analysis!