Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[Khalagar]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:51 PM, Khalagar said:

"The drones abilities can be augmented and enhanced by the player’s intellect, but players can still acquire and use a Drone without perking into it."

 

 

Any dev able to elaborate on this? What does a fully perked drone look like compared to an unperked one? Like if a 10 int + all robotic perk and magazine user finds a drone vs a level 1 character that just spawned into the world gets handed one, what benefits does the int build drone have? Is it mod slots being tied to the drone perk , or is there something more intricate like fly speed and healing power etc?

 

This was a really good question that I noticed nobody answered yet, so I took the liberty of checking for you and -

 

 

 

 

Guess we'll find out tomorrow when our good friend @Capp00 can do the egregious task of pressing the open perk screen button and clicking on intellect for us and reading what the robotic perk line tooltip says >_>

[Capp00]

47 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

Guess we'll find out tomorrow when our good friend @Capp00 can do the egregious task of pressing the open perk screen button and clicking on intellect for us and reading what the robotic perk line tooltip says >_>

 

I dunno, that's a pretty tall order lol

[Laz Man]

7 hours ago, Dreyseth said:

@faatal, Any chance that TFP will create a tool to generate right-hand/left-hand versions of existing POI's?  (As long as they don't include signage in their blocks).

 

It would help to further extend current content by mixing things up a bit and might reduce some of the familiarity players have in revisiting another instance of a POI.

 

In real life, having been in houses that are mirrored floorplans of each other gives a very different vibe.  Familiar, but different. 

I feel that 7Days could benefit from such a huge boost in variety for -seemingly- little cost.

 

 

As cool as that sounds, probably will never happen for this game.  I would guess because the shapes in 7 days have more than 4 rotations, mirroring would probably be incorrect.  Just my best guess.

[Outlaw_187]

7 hours ago, SnowDog1942 said:

What if the sign says “MoM”?

I was thinking "BoB"....but same concept right. 

But what if the sign says "RedRuM".....if it's a house full of sexy party girls/strippers....I'm still going in! 

 

If I'm not back in 20 mins, just wait another 20 mins. I promise, I'm totally fine 😜

Got my herbal antibiotics on me at all times baby!!

[Robbing Zombie]

22 hours ago, Robbing Zombie said:

Thanks stallion! Gonna be a nice boy and wait. 

 

That being taken care of, TFP, has the armor/clothing/accessory regarding wear/scrap/edit been fixed? It's a wee annoying when some gear has these buttons and other gear has those buttons for commands.

Absolutely. I'm just being jumpy on the fast lane with the turn signal on, like a normal 42yo server hoster is expected to behave 😁 BTW, I love them compopacks a LOT and we appreciate what you guys are doing to enhance the game. Take your time and make it guuud.

@faatal any news on the wearables menu? I know it's not a huge issue, but annoying nevertheless, when you're going plaid-speed in the character menu tuning your gear. 

[NukemDed]

12 hours ago, faatal said:

you never know what may fix something.

im glad im not the only one

9 hours ago, SnowDog1942 said:

What if the sign says “MoM”?

WoW !

[stallionsden]

27 minutes ago, Robbing Zombie said:

@faatal any news on the wearables menu? I know it's not a huge issue, but annoying nevertheless, when you're going plaid-speed in the character menu tuning your gear. 

Clothing etc be a21

[stretch611]

9 hours ago, Khalagar said:

Guess we'll find out tomorrow when our good friend @Capp00 can do the egregious task of pressing the open perk screen button and clicking on intellect for us and reading what the robotic perk line tooltip says >_>

@Capp00, Maybe you can look at the farming and Living off the Land perk changes as well while your at it. (You do seem to enjoy explaining things in your videos.)

 

Also, *when* are you streaming this weekend? you are on the confirmed list but no times are listed.

[Gamida]

15 hours ago, Syphon583 said:

 

Can I suggest that it is a big problem to you? I fully agree with your original sentiment, that is that having more variety in how the same zombie model appears would be great, but zombie repetitiveness and game crashes are in two different categories:

 

1. Crashes - these can affect any player, and when a player is affected by it, it's a big deal. It literally stops them from enjoying the game, if not for a few minutes while the game loads back up, or in extreme cases, keeps them from playing the game at all.

 

2. Zombie model repetitiveness - this affects all players, however I'd be willing to bet a large portion (may or may not be the majority) does not think it keeps them from enjoying the game. Can it break immersion? Sure. Would it be nice if the models at least had some color variation? Of course. However, does it cause EVERYONE from enjoying the game? Certainly not.

 

I'm not saying it isn't a big deal to you. But what breaks immersion and enjoyment for you is not the same for every player. So naturally, TFP will do their best to make sure things like crashes are minimal, and if they have the time and resources available, and if the demand is there, we can certainly hope that zombie color variation is added one day.

Who knows? Maybe when a storyline gets released we will find the outbreak was started during some secret government/big business cloning experiment gone wrong.

[Dreyseth]

9 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

As cool as that sounds, probably will never happen for this game.  I would guess because the shapes in 7 days have more than 4 rotations, mirroring would probably be incorrect.  Just my best guess.

 

Ah!  I hadn't thought about it that way; thank you for the insight.  I haven't looked at 7Days modding yet so I am not familiar, but have planned to give it a go after systems are more stabilized into place.  Perhaps following this release.

[Laz Man]

43 minutes ago, Dreyseth said:

 

Ah!  I hadn't thought about it that way; thank you for the insight.  I haven't looked at 7Days modding yet so I am not familiar, but have planned to give it a go after systems are more stabilized into place.  Perhaps following this release.

There is actually a mirror function within the prefab editor but it doesn't work with all the blocks so the results are hit/miss.

[vergilsparda]

Piggy-backing off of someone else in this thread previously and also a few of my own questions:

 

1. Will there in the future be updates to how decoration blocks are placed? I know there's a bunch of new shapes with rotations, but a lot of a19 decoration items (lamps, trash cans, coffee makers, candles, etc) only sit in the center and rotate in that central point. Will there be any updates planned for them to have rotations where they are on the outer edge of the square and/or in the corner of the square (in terms of block placement).
2. Is there going to be a blog post (or something similar) showcasing the original and changed textures between a19 and a20 (if not, it's totally fine and I can do it myself when it drops if people want that)?
3. Will there be an option when using RWG to lower the amount of grass that spawns in the world? I have a mid-tier system and I find that manually editing the XML (or in recent cases downloading a modlet) to lower the amount of grass in a map helps my FPS out a lot. I know there's an option for grass quality, but I don't know if grass amount would be tied to that or not. 
4. "When placing a new prefab it is centered with its front side on the position you selected and are aligned with the ground level in that position"
   Was this shown off at all on a dev stream I haven't had the chance to watch, or is it possible to get a preview or explanation of what this means in a little more detail? Does it mean that when a POI is placed, it's placed not along a corner in front of the player, but on the front-facing center in front of the plater? (that's so cool if that's what it means, it's going to save a big headache placing POIs!!)

 

Sorry, I'm terrible at wording questions but I can absolutely clarify if needed!

[Roland]

A20 has been released to the streamers and they are in the process of downloading it. Streams should be starting soon.

[Reddevil]

please post steams as they go live if anyone can. I'm off and sick so it'll be great to just sit around and watch some of them.

 

 

 

[Roland]

Here's one

 

https://www.twitch.tv/vertiigogaming

[Aldranon]

If you search on youtube: 7D2D A20 stream, there are a lot of streaming now.

 

You'll see the red boxes "Live Now"

Edited December 3, 2021 by Aldranon (see edit history)

[Khalagar]

Streams are live and I've had them check the drone stuff and I see why the devs never answered for the last year as it was as I feared =(

 

Answer for anyone curious is . . . intellect and robotic perk investment do not effect drone in any way. So a level 1 player with a drone is the exact same as a level 50 player with 10 intellect and all robotic perks and magazines. Seems weird to me that the attributes defining t3 capstone is not uniquely buffed for the attribute investment, since currently every build will just have a drone following them for "free" (perk investment wise). There's no reason for every build *not* to have the drone follow them, and they will all be the same as someone who fully invested into the attribute

 

I'm confused on why the patch notes say Drone is affected by attribute, so far nothing in the GUI shows any buff to drone and Jonah spawned one in at level 3 and it was fully functional and ready to go and QB1 read through all the magazine and intellect attribute stuff and nothing said anything about improving the drone

Edited December 3, 2021 by Khalagar (see edit history)

[bdubyah]

I know they seem against giving it offensive capabilities, but that seems like a logical thing to tie to the perk so INT heavy build gets more from the drone than others. Then it could get the same style bonuses the junk turret gets.

 

But I agree, it's silly the perk gives no benefit to the drone, if true.

[unholyjoe]

drone was redone to be basically a small pack mule for the player.. not something to make anyone over powered. so you basically have him/her follow you during a poi raid and fill it up as you go. enjoy... its not an air mounted turret weapon.

 

dont forget to ask it for a heal if you have medicated bandages in its inventory and it can give you light if you have the mod, or a mod that gives you a small heal over time when near it automatically.

Edited December 3, 2021 by unholyjoe (see edit history)

[MechanicalLens]

So every time you punch a crop, the seed doesn't automatically go back into the ground. There's only a 50% chance you get the seed. AFAIK, Living off the Land has received no changes. I guess farming is no longer sustainable???

 

Edit: Since you get 2 crops per harvest by default, I suppose if you max out Living off the Land, it'll be doable?

[Roland]

19 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

Streams are live and I've had them check the drone stuff and I see why the devs never answered for the last year as it was as I feared =(

 

Answer for anyone curious is . . . intellect and robotic perk investment do not effect drone in any way. So a level 1 player with a drone is the exact same as a level 50 player with 10 intellect and all robotic perks and magazines. Seems weird to me that the attributes defining t3 capstone is not uniquely buffed for the attribute investment, since currently every build will just have a drone following them for "free" (perk investment wise). There's no reason for every build *not* to have the drone follow them, and they will all be the same as someone who fully invested into the attribute

 

I'm confused on why the patch notes say Drone is affected by attribute, so far nothing in the GUI shows any buff to drone and Jonah spawned one in at level 3 and it was fully functional and ready to go and QB1 read through all the magazine and intellect attribute stuff and nothing said anything about improving the drone

 

I never messed much with the drone as a fully perked intellect player. Could it be that it is simply referencing that a fully perked player can have 3 robots functioning at once so an unperked player would have to choose between drone and turret?

[MechanicalLens]

1 minute ago, Roland said:

 

I never messed much with the drone as a fully perked intellect player. Could it be that it is simply referencing that a fully perked player can have 3 robots functioning at once so an unperked player would have to choose between drone and turret?

 

Pretty sure TFP mentioned that you can only have one drone at a time and/or it doesn't affect your "robotics count". 

[Aldranon]

23 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

Streams are live and I've had them check the drone stuff and I see why the devs never answered for the last year as it was as I feared =(

 

Answer for anyone curious is . . . intellect and robotic perk investment do not effect drone in any way. So a level 1 player with a drone is the exact same as a level 50 player with 10 intellect and all robotic perks and magazines. Seems weird to me that the attributes defining t3 capstone is not uniquely buffed for the attribute investment, since currently every build will just have a drone following them for "free" (perk investment wise). There's no reason for every build *not* to have the drone follow them, and they will all be the same as someone who fully invested into the attribute

 

I'm confused on why the patch notes say Drone is affected by attribute, so far nothing in the GUI shows any buff to drone and Jonah spawned one in at level 3 and it was fully functional and ready to go and QB1 read through all the magazine and intellect attribute stuff and nothing said anything about improving the drone

 

I bet that will change.  Int is weak with little reason to stay in it for more than a few days Mid-Late game.

[bdubyah]

15 minutes ago, unholyjoe said:

drone was redone to be basically a small pack mule for the player.. not something to make anyone over powered. so you basically have him/her follow you during a poi raid and fill it up as you go. enjoy... its not an air mounted turret weapon.

 

dont forget to ask it for a heal if you have medicated bandages in its inventory and it can give you light if you have the mod, or a mod that gives you a small heal over time when near it automatically.

But isn't it supposed to be under the INT tree? What benefit do INT players get with the drone that others don't?

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by bdubyah (see edit history)

[KhaineGB]

Just had a look in progression and can't see the drone hooked up to anything in there.

Including recipe unlocks.