Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[NukemDed]

4 hours ago, Matt115 said:

@faatal i have a question : did you make a grass? because one with red fruits sometimes trolling me so much 😂

didnt they remove snowberries but leave in the plant?

[Aldranon]

1 minute ago, Tmodloader said:

More feedback on A20 so far, there's something wrong with the traders. It seems like the game world is more fun without them currently. Just exploring the wilderness. The quests give too much reward I'd say.

You playing Permadeath too? That seems the most fun way to go solo. I'm running everything nightmare speed with daytime running and 300% ai damage to make it extra fun.

 

Permadeath is the only way to really get that survival feeling IMO.  Your settings are respectable for sure, but for me, with "dead-is-dead", I feel the danger more.

[Tmodloader]

12 minutes ago, Aldranon said:

 

Permadeath is the only way to really get that survival feeling IMO.  Your settings are respectable for sure, but for me, with "dead-is-dead", I feel the danger more.

I'm doing the same, I totally understand what you mean, how do you deal with traders for the best survival feel? I'm trying to figure out how to have fun with them but I realized going quest to quest is quite boring so I haven't even gone to my first one on my newest run. Survival feeling is pretty great just going out and doing your own thing but I want to put int trader perks to work if possible.

[Aldranon]

Just now, Tmodloader said:

I'm doing the same, I totally understand what you mean, how do you deal with traders? I'm trying to figure out how to have fun with them but I realized going quest to quest is quite boring so I haven't even gone to my first one on my newest run.

 

I still use them, just like I use the best weapons I find and crank out and much ammo as I can.

I find the traders to be extremally underwhelming as I don't have any trader perks.  As far as the huge amount of dukes you get there, some of the dukes get turned into bullet casings in my forge.  I now have almost a full secure chest worth of ammo!

 

So, to get my latest character to die, it will have to be some type of ambush or surprise attack.   Probably in the wasteland as that is a scary place! 

 

[Tmodloader]

19 minutes ago, Aldranon said:

 

I still use them, just like I use the best weapons I find and crank out and much ammo as I can.

I find the traders to be extremally underwhelming as I don't have any trader perks.  As far as the huge amount of dukes you get there, some of the dukes get turned into bullet casings in my forge.  I now have almost a full secure chest worth of ammo!

 

So, to get my latest character to die, it will have to be some type of ambush or surprise attack.   Probably in the wasteland as that is a scary place! 

 

Is there any reason not to just run quests over and over all game if you use the traders? 

[Blake_]

22 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

Can't say I remember a past alpha where exploration was more rewarding / immersive than it is now.  More POIs added/updated  then ever, the tile system more seamlessly connects everything in different configurations.  POis don't repeat within the same towns/cities like in the past.

 

It should only continue to get better. As more POIs and tiles get added.  Keep in mind different variations of each tile type can be made quickly for even more variety. (E.g. downtown_straight_02, 03, 04)

Well.... In my opinion, while exploration is THE BEST it's ever been, there's a sizeable factor that's missing from ancient alphas: virtually endless underground exploration, with huge cave systems and stuff like that (it was pretty basic (and dangerous) back in the perlin worm days, but the feeling of the unknown underground became a wonderful memory from the time).

 

Well, we have sewers, and they are amazing if a bit lacking in depth. It's a start. This game will become a tech dream if it manages to pull off extreme underground exploration.

[NukemDed]

1 hour ago, Tmodloader said:

Is there any reason not to just run quests over and over all game if you use the traders? 

because it is boring?

[Aldranon]

1 hour ago, Tmodloader said:

Is there any reason not to just run quests over and over all game if you use the traders? 

 

Of course!  Its boring to do them repeatedly, for me.  But, I'm sure some people like just that exactly.

 

I'm doing the tier 5 quests and I'm sure I will do each one... eventually.  But I will not do them over again during this playthrough.

[Zombiepoptard]

I've been playing for 8hr where the H E double hockey sticks is the special infected? I want to see at least one in every quest. 

[Firecat]

11 minutes ago, Zombiepoptard said:

I've been playing for 8hr where the H E double hockey sticks is the special infected? I want to see at least one in every quest. 

 

Have you been to the wasteland? If you mean the green dude with the bubbly top who looks like a mutated asparagus with limbs, he is ALL OVER the place in the wasteland. Spits at you like a cop and is super annoying.

[Zombiepoptard]

8 minutes ago, Firecat said:

 

Have you been to the wasteland? If you mean the green dude with the bubbly top who looks like a mutated asparagus with limbs, he is ALL OVER the place in the wasteland. Spits at you like a cop and is super annoying.

no any special infected

[Noctoras]

3 hours ago, Tmodloader said:

Is there any reason not to just run quests over and over all game if you use the traders? 

 

Agreed. Traders and airdrops just feel like they don't belong in the game (hey, we outside have a fully working economy, sending you airdrops, but we don't bother to pick you up). It feels like elements taken from other games and just implemented here, but they rather take away from survival and sandbox than add to it. 

 

I made my peace with them, though. Playing and not using them feels wrong as well, so _I shrug my shoulders and swim with the flow ... 

[Burrfly]

14 minutes ago, Noctoras said:

Traders and airdrops just feel like they don't belong in the game (hey, we outside have a fully working economy, sending you airdrops, but we don't bother to pick you up).

But that's why it's great that there is an option to disable airdrops. Personally I like airdrops every 3 days because when you hear the airplane flying over I'm instantly like 'airdrop!!!!' And I find it fun to then go there and I'm happy that airdrops don't have a very OP reward but I agree that traders give too much away, especially ammo, in their quest rewards

[Tmodloader]

For traders, I just think the rewards are overtuned a bit, if that was less, they wouldn't feel as mandatory... maybe. The exploration survival part of this game without them is great though.

[Tmodloader]

Is there a way to sneak while having feral sense at max?

[Red Eagle LXIX]

9 hours ago, Matt115 said:

@faatal i have a question : did you make a grass? because one with red fruits sometimes trolling me so much 😂

That is the left-over remnant of the Snowberry.  Snowberry plant was made to give only grass back now (no more snowberry) but since it is still plant growing, it interferes with block placements and must be destroyed.

[Guest]

@faatal, will an under-barrel grenade launcher be added as a modification in the future? That would be convenient. And yes - I understand that for this you will have to make animations and a model.

[Tmodloader]

Wow this was one of my most fond memories yet of the game. Injured and hiding while surrounded. Ended up dying in the end cause I'm impatient. Playing permadeath. Enemies on nightmare speed. It's tough even when doing traders apparently.

[MechanicalLens]

54 minutes ago, Tmodloader said:

Wow this was one of my most fond memories yet of the game. Injured and hiding while surrounded. Ended up dying in the end cause I'm impatient. Playing permadeath. Enemies on nightmare speed. It's tough even when doing traders apparently.

 

[Outlaw_187]

I'd personally like to see a reputation system between the traders. That way they don't all feel the same & would give them some purpose/variety. 

 

Maybe only certain traders would send you to certain poi's & or possibly have you do something to pi$$ another trader off, unless you do the job in a certain manor. 

Hell idk, just ideas.

[Matt115]

8 hours ago, NukemDed said:

didnt they remove snowberries but leave in the plant?

Well this looks like normall grass but with "red" points 

[zztong]

21 hours ago, dcsobral said:

So, stealth seems broken. All padded armor, moving around crouched at night with all the books and a point in From The Shadows but I can't through a single room in a tier 2 POI without disturbing zombies.

 

I was doing fine stealthing through Tier 2 quests with 2 points spent on From the Shadows, padded armor, bow kills, difficulty nomad, feral sense: all. I'm not sure how it would be with stealth melee kills where you must get close.

 

At Tier 3, with 3 points in From the Shadows, padded armor, night vision, bow kills, around game stage 100, difficulty nomad, feral sense: all, stealth is working around 50% of the time, mostly failing at close range. I've not acquired any armor mods to enhance stealth yet. At this point they may have assumed only Agility specialists were stealthing, but I tend to spread my points around all the areas, so I'm not as far along as somebody who focuses on agility would be.

 

This I guess is the ultimate question. Is stealth broken or are we making choices that are putting us behind the curve? I assume in my case, I'm just a bit behind the curve or maybe with the curve but with feral sense all making it extra challenging.

[Matt115]

Maybe not directly connected with A20 but.. well i hope we will hear about another TFP games soon. 

And guys Merry christmass and good luck with dealing with zombies 🎅

[Kosmic Kerman]

8 hours ago, Tmodloader said:

For traders, I just think the rewards are overtuned a bit, if that was less, they wouldn't feel as mandatory... maybe. The exploration survival part of this game without them is great though.

Maybe but they seem to be the only option for weapon/tool progression until late in the game. I'm on day 31 (60 min days, 100 XP) and all of my weapons except a crafted SMG are from Trader rewards or Trader purchase (a Q4 pistol bought in the first week) and most of my tools are from the trader as well. Steel shovels just started dropping for me in loot.  Weapon/tool drops from loot caches seems to have been drastically reduced in A20. Even if trader rewards were reduced they would still be worth doing. You could always do a no trader run. Nothing is truly mandatory.

[dcsobral]

Curious thing I found out: if you scrap brass items you get more cash for them than otherwise. It doesn't even need a forge: 75% of the brass content is more expensive than the item.