Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[Gamida]

9 hours ago, MechanicalLens said:

 

Mining metal, which includes iron and lead, generates significantly more heat than mining stone related blocks, such as stone, nitrate, coal, or oil shale. Just an fyi.

 

Also, in case you don't know this trick, crouch while mining. You generate 50% less heat that way.

 

Did not know that. Thank you.

[dcsobral]

12 hours ago, Gamida said:

 

I just used an auger for first time in maybe a couple of alphas. Within 10 minutes I got a screamer. Killed her and 10 minutes after that...I got 3...at same time.  I was within 200 meters of our base so maybe that affected the heatmap. I had used a steel pickaxe before that mining nitrate (a lot further from the base) and mined 5 stacks and never got one screamer though.

The way to deal with screamers is not to avoid screamers, is dealing with screamers. It is super easy to make an entrance to your mine that will kill the screamers.

[Blake_]

Lately, I've been playing with Living off the Land level 3.

 

My feedback:

 

[Morloc]

On 1/2/2022 at 10:03 AM, xyth said:

So its about feature balance.  TFP likes to keep it simple, and that way works well too.

 

 

Soo...what you're saying is......that........

 

Learn-By-Do is coming back!!!

 

 

 

 

-Arch Necromancer Morloc 💀

[Adam the Waster]

1 hour ago, Blake_ said:

Lately, I've been playing with Living off the Land level 3.

 

My feedback:

 

Corn is for the weak
CHADS EAT POTATOS!

[MechanicalLens]

2 hours ago, Adam the Waster said:

Corn is for the weak
CHADS EAT POTATOS!

 

 

Weaklings may eat corn, chads may swear by potatoes, but kings live off of meat stews.  

[Kalex]

Just a little feedback:

 

As a crafter/builder, I think the XP from upgrading needs to be halved at the minimum. Otherwise if you do a large base build, your game stage will FAR outlevel your loot stage and totally bone you and your group (if you are co-op) on horde night.

 

 

Anybody else noticing normal/feral zombies making leaps that previously only a spider zombie could make and definitely more than any non-parkour player can jump. Last horde night, we were routinely seeing feral Steves jumping 5 - 7 block gaps.

[MechanicalLens]

6 minutes ago, Kalex said:

Just a little feedback:

 

As a crafter/builder, I think the XP from upgrading needs to be halved at the minimum. Otherwise if you do a large base build, your game stage will FAR outlevel your loot stage and totally bone you and your group (if you are co-op) on horde night.

 

 

Anybody else noticing normal/feral zombies making leaps that previously only a spider zombie could make and definitely more than any non-parkour player can jump. Last horde night, we were routinely seeing feral Steves jumping 5 - 7 block gaps.

 

Alternatively, you could build out of the tougher shape menu blocks themselves (cobble, concrete, steel, etc.) and you won't get a single pinch of XP.

[Kalex]

16 minutes ago, MechanicalLens said:

 

Alternatively, you could build out of the tougher shape menu blocks themselves (cobble, concrete, steel, etc.) and you won't get a single pinch of XP.

You can't use the higher level blocks for layout as you cannot pick them back up.

[MechanicalLens]

1 minute ago, Kalex said:

You can't use the higher level blocks for layout as you cannot pick them back up.

 

Then place particle board frames first, get the layout of your base in place, and replace them with the solid blocks.

[Tmodloader]

33 minutes ago, Kalex said:

Just a little feedback:

 

As a crafter/builder, I think the XP from upgrading needs to be halved at the minimum. Otherwise if you do a large base build, your game stage will FAR outlevel your loot stage and totally bone you and your group (if you are co-op) on horde night.

 

 

Anybody else noticing normal/feral zombies making leaps that previously only a spider zombie could make and definitely more than any non-parkour player can jump. Last horde night, we were routinely seeing feral Steves jumping 5 - 7 block gaps.

Doesn't leveling up increase your lootstage too along with gamestage? 

It sounds like a good thing that they can now leap far, I have not seen it yet however.

[Kalex]

8 minutes ago, Tmodloader said:

Doesn't leveling up increase your lootstage too along with gamestage? 

It sounds like a good thing that they can now leap far, I have not seen it yet however.

Nope, it doesn't appear to keep them together. My game stage is 82 but my loot stage is only 48.

 

Normal zombies should not be able to leap farther than players can.

[meganoth]

Wouldn't it be nice if you could only repair a weapon if you know the schematic for that weapon?

 

It occured to me that that would have a few advantages, like

1) schematics for non-perked weapons would still be useful to you

2) durability mods would actually be worth using

3) A lucky find of a high tier weapon would have to be used sparingly until you also have found the schematic

 

(just wanted to throw out this idea to see how others think about it)

[Mahnogard]

19 minutes ago, meganoth said:

Wouldn't it be nice if you could only repair a weapon if you know the schematic for that weapon?

 

It occured to me that that would have a few advantages, like

1) schematics for non-perked weapons would still be useful to you

2) durability mods would actually be worth using

3) A lucky find of a high tier weapon would have to be used sparingly until you also have found the schematic

 

(just wanted to throw out this idea to see how others think about it)

Since I only play single player, this would be quite painful. I can't just hand my stuff of to someone else to fix it. I generally only use guns for backup, I don't skill into them so I don't learn them that way, and the schematics haven't been dropping much for firearms. Right now I'm melee & archery and I'm using the compound bow that Rekt gave me for a quest reward. I wouldn't be able to repair one of my primary weapons because I don't know how to make it.

 

Do you mean "know the schematic or unlocked the recipe" or actually having to find / buy the schematic, not just unlock recipes with perks? I would find either option to be unpleasant but the latter would be even more painful. I've put the days of relying on looting books to function behind me and I don't want to revisit it. LOL

[bdubyah]

Maybe limit it to only being able to repair it a certain amount if you haven't unlocked the recipe? If they still had quality level degradation you could make it lose even more levels if you haven't unlocked that item yet.

 

With the way it is now items may as well not even have durability. There's no degradation of stats as it wears down, no downsides, and repair kits are too easy to get and even massive vehicles only need one to repair fully. And most items have way too much durability, especially once you're above q1 items. 

[meganoth]

46 minutes ago, Mahnogard said:

Since I only play single player, this would be quite painful. I can't just hand my stuff of to someone else to fix it. I generally only use guns for backup, I don't skill into them so I don't learn them that way, and the schematics haven't been dropping much for firearms. Right now I'm melee & archery and I'm using the compound bow that Rekt gave me for a quest reward. I wouldn't be able to repair one of my primary weapons because I don't know how to make it.

 

Do you mean "know the schematic or unlocked the recipe" or actually having to find / buy the schematic, not just unlock recipes with perks? I would find either option to be unpleasant but the latter would be even more painful. I've put the days of relying on looting books to function behind me and I don't want to revisit it. LOL

 

I meant "know the recipe no matter where you got it from". If the schematics don't drop that is the usual RNG that may force you to change your plans. I assume you perked into archery if you use it as your main weapon. So you would have to rely on the wooden bow instead for which you have the recipe and use the compound sparingly or just for the time until you wear it down. Means 9.5 less damage on average for same quality.

 

Depends on your level whether that is just normal for your stage or really bad luck. In my SP game I already found the recipes/schematics for lots of guns, and I also find new guns all the time. So I could just use the guns I already know how to fix or switch to unused guns

 

[Mahnogard]

20 minutes ago, meganoth said:

 

I meant "know the recipe no matter where you got it from". If the schematics don't drop that is the usual RNG that may force you to change your plans. I assume you perked into archery if you use it as your main weapon. So you would have to rely on the wooden bow instead for which you have the recipe and use the compound sparingly or just for the time until you wear it down. Means 9.5 less damage on average for same quality.

 

Depends on your level whether that is just normal for your stage or really bad luck. In my SP game I already found the recipes/schematics for lots of guns, and I also find new guns all the time. So I could just use the guns I already know how to fix or switch to unused guns

 

No, I wouldn't like this. Too much reliance on RNG. It would feel like a push to either "use only what you know" or hunt specific loot types to fix what I've already found / received from quests.  

 

I do, however, think there are other players that would want this, so it might be good for a mod.

 

I use modded progression so my level doesn't indicate much. But I don't think I've seen a compound bow schematic in any of my A20 saves, which range in gameplay hours with the longest being just over 60 I think. Loot has been so random for me in A20. LOL I'm not complaining, really. I haven't found a beaker on this save but I was able to buy a chem station so that's fine. In my longest save, I found a beaker, and I also found schematics for all of the workstations except the chem station so I still ended up caving and sinking the INT points just to build it.  

 

Didn't we used to need to know stuff to fix it in the past, or am I thinking of another game? 

[Aldranon]

4 hours ago, MechanicalLens said:

 

Weaklings may eat corn, chads may swear by potatoes, but kings live off of meat stews.  

 

Simple and common kings eat meat stew, but "Hobo Kings" go one step further for three Michelin Star dining!

 

 

[Quantum Blue]

Who likes or dislikes dynamic music?  I have done with and without.  With does add some 'ambiance' but quite a few times I stop what I'm doing and find nothing.  But without 'allows' me to hear more 'ambient' noise.  Which is ok most of the time, but holy cow, wasteland scares the bejeebus out of me.  (And, a btw, parkour (2) seems to be an awesome perk for the wasteland...)

[Tmodloader]

1 hour ago, Quantum Blue said:

Who likes or dislikes dynamic music?  I have done with and without.  With does add some 'ambiance' but quite a few times I stop what I'm doing and find nothing.  But without 'allows' me to hear more 'ambient' noise.  Which is ok most of the time, but holy cow, wasteland scares the bejeebus out of me.  (And, a btw, parkour (2) seems to be an awesome perk for the wasteland...)

The game is scarier without it in your opinion?

[Firecat]

1 hour ago, Quantum Blue said:

Who likes or dislikes dynamic music?  I have done with and without.  With does add some 'ambiance' but quite a few times I stop what I'm doing and find nothing.  But without 'allows' me to hear more 'ambient' noise.  Which is ok most of the time, but holy cow, wasteland scares the bejeebus out of me.  (And, a btw, parkour (2) seems to be an awesome perk for the wasteland...)

 

I don't play with the music on, because I've found it A) breaks the immersion for me (I like things to feel as "real" as possible, and music kinda ruins that lol and B) it is a lot harder to hear important sounds when music is playing. Without music I can do what I would do in real life, keep me ears constantly attuned to any noise that wasn't there before. That's just my preference, though. I know that a lot of people love the music.

 

(P.S. I can't live without the parkour perk anymore. I put two points each into sexy rexy and pummel pete, then my next points are all going into getting parkour to level 2. It just makes everything faster what with being able to jump up places or hop fences, and it is VERY handy in a pinch too, if you get cornered by something nasty. One of my top 2 or 3 favorite perks in the game.)

[Demonoid74]

5 hours ago, Aldranon said:

 

Simple and common kings eat meat stew, but "Hobo Kings" go one step further for three Michelin Star dining!

 

Is it made from real Hobo's?

 

Just like in the original Fallout game...Wasteland...Hobo Dogs...they were in FACT...made with real Hobo's!

[Doomofman]

Please fix the teleporting vehicle issue soon. Logged in and my minibike was in one of the traders, finish a quest and it's 100m away in the desert. I've had to retrieve my bicycle from under the world multiple times. It's so frustrating

[Quantum Blue]

3 hours ago, Tmodloader said:

The game is scarier without it in your opinion?

 

In the wasteland it sure is (without).  And I do believe it is because I am more 'immersed'.  (Which is interesting as I am a musician.)  Firecat's response (right after mine) is 100% in alignment with me.  (For music AND parkour.)

[Uncle Al]

12 hours ago, Kalex said:

Nope, it doesn't appear to keep them together. My game stage is 82 but my loot stage is only 48.

 

Normal zombies should not be able to leap farther than players can.

Gamestage still works off level + days alive, while loot stage is purely based on level (which is then heavily multiplied by biome, POI tier etc.).

 

Very rapid levelling will actually bring your lootstage closer to your gamestage, as your days alive isn't going up.

 

That said, you'll be in the position where you're getting tougher zombies right now and you haven't had time to actually loot at your new loot stage, so your gear will be outdated for your gamestage.

 

If you're playing solo you could dial down your exp setting before a big build then put it back up again afterwards.  Otherwise, using pre-crafted blocks is probably your best bet.  Even if you use frames for the finesse/aesthetic stuff, doing the big simple blocky stuff, like foundations, in pre-crafted will noticably reduce the building xp you're seeing.  You'll need a fair few workbenches though as concrete shapes take a while to craft and steel ones are absolutely absurd.