Pet peeve: I can't equip the way I want without cheating.

[ElCabong]

The random nature of the way equipment appears can keep me from equipping the way I want. I like to put scopes and silencers on my guns. I can play the entire game and not get either one. Usually I'll get one but not the other. Only occasionally will I get them both. I must cheat.

 

I don't think I should get these things right away starting out. There should be a reasonable period of time where I'm struggling to get situated and develop my character where I must rely upon a bow and a club. 

 

When I reach the point where begin the transition into the more difficult adversaries,  I want to use a 9mm and a crossbow. By that time I almost always have the parts and can spec into the skill sets that I need to get both.  I can't spec into anything that'll let me build a scope or a silencer. So I go into creative mode and give myself whichever one I need or both on the rare times that I don't have either. I do not see this as giving me an unfair advantage. 

 

If I don't have a workbench, I'll put points into int until I can build it.  I'm okay with that. By that time I usually have a hammer and a wrench. If not, I can spec into what I need to build both if necessary. I'm okay with that.

 

I would be just fine with the bow if I could put a scope on it. It doesn't make sense. I agree.

 

[Boidster]

Rolling Stones had a good song about this, and they weren't even living in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse! Though they kinda look like the zombies now. Especially Charlie Watts.

 

/too soon?

Edited February 10, 2022 by Boidster (see edit history)

[Fightingchook]

I don't seem to have this issue.... playing permadeath and insane level I get to restart often.

Every game in the beginning I'm always short of something... but find others...
one game I had schematic for forge, workbench and concrete mixer on day one but was staving for weeks.
current game found bacon and egg and red tea recipe day one and a nice compound bow week 1. but cant find a forge or concrete mixer. 

If your looting daily.... no need to cheat.
Good toys will turn up... eventually.

But if you want to cheat... you do you.

[Sjustus548]

The problem I keep seeing with these "RNG is horrible" posts is no one ever mentions how far into the map they are, how much they have looted or how often they visit the traders when they restock.  If you are just waiting for when you want to switch to a 9mm and a crossbow that could be day 2 or day 20 depending on how slow you play.  If you aren't going out looting and checking the traders then of course you aren't going to find what you are looking for.  We are on day 42 and have cleared out 2 towns and have opened up all the traders so we have everything that we want.  Every post about people not finding something we have had plenty of for a while because we go out looting often.  So if you are on day 2 and say you might as well cheat because you haven't found what you wanted in the first 3 houses you visited then that seems like of silly.  If you have most of the map cleared but still can't find what you are looking for then go right ahead and cheat if that's what you want to do.  If the only way for you to enjoy playing is to have those items then just start the map out with them if you are going to cheat them in anyway.  No biggie.  Do what you want to enjoy the game.

[ElCabong]

25 minutes ago, Sjustus548 said:

The problem I keep seeing with these "RNG is horrible" posts is no one ever mentions how far into the map they are, how much they have looted or how often they visit the traders when they restock.  If you are just waiting for when you want to switch to a 9mm and a crossbow that could be day 2 or day 20 depending on how slow you play.  If you aren't going out looting and checking the traders then of course you aren't going to find what you are looking for.  We are on day 42 and have cleared out 2 towns and have opened up all the traders so we have everything that we want.  Every post about people not finding something we have had plenty of for a while because we go out looting often.  So if you are on day 2 and say you might as well cheat because you haven't found what you wanted in the first 3 houses you visited then that seems like of silly.  If you have most of the map cleared but still can't find what you are looking for then go right ahead and cheat if that's what you want to do.  If the only way for you to enjoy playing is to have those items then just start the map out with them if you are going to cheat them in anyway.  No biggie.  Do what you want to enjoy the game.

I check the first trader I go to daily. When I have the second or third or fourth trader, I check my main trader daily and then the other traders every other day or so. I don't have a problem finding plenty of items I can equip or modify my weapons with. The problem is I'm looking for not one but two specific items and that is hard to do.

 

I've been playing this game since alpha 7, I don't hate the game.

[Blasphemous]

5 hours ago, Sjustus548 said:

The problem I keep seeing with these "RNG is horrible" posts is no one ever mentions how far into the map they are, how much they have looted or how often they visit the traders when they restock.  If you are just waiting for when you want to switch to a 9mm and a crossbow that could be day 2 or day 20 depending on how slow you play.  If you aren't going out looting and checking the traders then of course you aren't going to find what you are looking for.  We are on day 42 and have cleared out 2 towns and have opened up all the traders so we have everything that we want.  Every post about people not finding something we have had plenty of for a while because we go out looting often.  So if you are on day 2 and say you might as well cheat because you haven't found what you wanted in the first 3 houses you visited then that seems like of silly.  If you have most of the map cleared but still can't find what you are looking for then go right ahead and cheat if that's what you want to do.  If the only way for you to enjoy playing is to have those items then just start the map out with them if you are going to cheat them in anyway.  No biggie.  Do what you want to enjoy the game.

Day 60, char level 140, zombies - 64 per horde. Treasure hunter, goggles, pills, whatever boosts to looting you can think of, I have them.

I got 15 traders, all visited after each restock, all cities explored across the entire map, most major PoIs cleaned - not a single silencer schematic.

I have found the actual silencers, three to be exact, versus like 50 muzzle brakes or cooling meshes.

Found approximately 10 augur schematics and twice the number of the actual augurs, just to mention for the sake of comparison.

Something is definitely skewed against silencer mod schematics and/or silencers in general and not just in this version of the game. Had the same problem with all A20s.

[BFT2020]

FYI

 

Traders don't have the silencer schematic in any of there groups, this is only found through loot

 

and not skewed against silencers as it is in the AllBooks lootgroup which is found in many loot containers, though it is a T2 loot item.  The group it is in, your first chance to get it is around loot stage of 102 (p=0.03) and loot stage of 134 to start having 50% chance of that loot group.

[Maharin]

Pro tip: mod in recipes to make the things you can't find so you don't have to "cheat" and get them for free.

 

By the way, cheating in a creative game like this with the ability to (not) get things by pure random chance is very subjective, in single player mode at least.  Giving yourself things you could realistically find in the next container you open isn't exactly a sin against heaven and earth.

[8_Hussars]

RNG makes each play though different.  Only ever getting comfortable with one build seems to limit a players enjoyment of the game even more so than the game mechanics.

[asmosnuts]

      RNG is one of the best components of the game. Having to adapt to not finding the very thing you want encourages exploration and foolhardy behaviour. Not having a certain weapon/tool/schematic forces you to think in different ways.

 The option is there to cheat, so why not use it instead of these endless " Rng is so unfair " posts. The hint is in the name, its random!

[bloodmoth13]

Would it break the game if stealth perks unlocked the silencer?

Its a nice benefit that isnt necessary and if you are planning on using it you might want to go stealth anyway. I dont think it would @%$# anyone off and would still need parts to craft, perk investment ought to be enough and if its on the last point that is very heavy investment for a QoL mod that helps specific gameplay that the perk promotes.

[RipClaw]

47 minutes ago, bloodmoth13 said:

Would it break the game if stealth perks unlocked the silencer?

 

I think not. It would also be fitting to unlock the schematics when you have completed the Urban Combat series. The bonus for completing the book series is that silencers no longer reduce damage. So it would be fitting that you are then be able to craft one.

 

[meganoth]

1 hour ago, RipClaw said:

 

I think not. It would also be fitting to unlock the schematics when you have completed the Urban Combat series. The bonus for completing the book series is that silencers no longer reduce damage. So it would be fitting that you are then be able to craft one.

 

 

Yes. But finishing a specific book series is as much up to luck and often a larger gamble as finding the silencer schematic and especially silencers themselves.

 

The chance of finding silencer or schematic in a long game should be quite high actually. I often play AGI in single player and I can't remember any game where I didn't have found a silencer (not necessarily the schematic) long before I quit the game. Though, would I really remember it if I didn't have?

 

Now, @ElCabong since you also mentioned the 2x scope, here it gets strange. The scope is one of the mods that drop quite frequently. Since you say you have long games where you can't even find a 2x scope, either you are exaggerating somewhat or your "long" and my "long" are very different things. 

 

So I'm not sure this needs changing even though giving it out for urban combat or one of the stealth perks seems like a passable idea.

But if someone wants to play the same schtick every time in this game and needs to be "creative" for that in a SP game, he has my blessing.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Vaeliorin]

I've gone 80+ hours in a world without finding a silencer...which isn't really that big a deal for me, honestly.

 

I played ~800 hours of A16 and only found the sniper blueprint once (and snipers are one of my preferred weapons.)  That was awful.

 

Anyways, as I think people are probably sick of hearing at this point, you can always mod it.  I'm currently using a mod that allows you to scrap books/schematics into parts (6 per) that allows you to make other schematics/books.  It takes 250 parts for a book (so 41 2/3 schematics scrapped) and 150 for a schematic (so 25 schematics scrapped) and I feel it works really well.  Makes all those repeat schematics/books less of a letdown.

[RipClaw]

3 hours ago, meganoth said:

Now, @ElCabong since you also mentioned the 2x scope, here it gets strange. The scope is one of the mods that drop quite frequently. Since you say you have long games where you can't even find a 2x scope, either you are exaggerating somewhat or your "long" and my "long" are very different things. 

I find a lot more 8x scopes than 2x scopes. This was also the case in A19. So I'm not surprised that @ElCabong hasn't found a 2x scope yet.

 

There are always items that you would think would drop regularly but for some reason you just can't find them in the current game. For example, I'm on day 74 and looking for anvils. So far I've only found or bought 4 of them. I have not yet found the schematics either.

 

[ElCabong]

4 hours ago, meganoth said:

 

Yes. But finishing a specific book series is as much up to luck and often a larger gamble as finding the silencer schematic and especially silencers themselves.

 

The chance of finding silencer or schematic in a long game should be quite high actually. I often play AGI in single player and I can't remember any game where I didn't have found a silencer (not necessarily the schematic) long before I quit the game. Though, would I really remember it if I didn't have?

 

Now, @ElCabong since you also mentioned the 2x scope, here it gets strange. The scope is one of the mods that drop quite frequently. Since you say you have long games where you can't even find a 2x scope, either you are exaggerating somewhat or your "long" and my "long" are very different things. 

 

So I'm not sure this needs changing even though giving it out for urban combat or one of the stealth perks seems like a passable idea.

But if someone wants to play the same schtick every time in this game and needs to be "creative" for that in a SP game, he has my blessing.

 

It is very rare that I don't find a scope but it has happened. 

[Ramethzer0]

the rareness of silencers is pretty disheartening.  The schematic is.. many times worse.

Were on day 100+ of my 120m/day MP server and between the 6 of us we have 3 silencers total.

[Boidster]

15 hours ago, Maharin said:

Pro tip: mod in recipes to make the things you can't find so you don't have to "cheat" and get them for free.

 

I was just thinking it'd be super easy to make a mod which adds recipes for:

 

10x of [thing]  = [schematic of thing]

 

Maybe more than 10, maybe less, but once you've found enough samples, you can figure it out. Maybe require Advanced Engineering 1 or 2 to unlock this ability to reverse engineer things.

[seagas]

Current game, day 46, and still no crucible found of for sale fro any of the five traders I visit. So I at level 3 better barter, I put my .44 in my hand, ate a pumpkin cheese pie and threw 9000 dukes on the ground and and went Creative Mode and gave myself one. Day 49, guess what every trader has for sale. LOL

 

Oh well, I had a forge chuck full of smelted iron, 1100 steel ingots worth waiting for the crucible, well at least I had my horde tower reinforced with steel at the critical areas, luckily no Demos had shown up.

[Musicianized]

I'm on day 68. I have 2 jeeps, 2 motorcycles, 2 kilns fully upgraded. I have combat assault rifles, a pump shotgun, compound bow and Compound crossbow.. I have an excess of 19 bottles of acid and spare tires.. 

 

 But I'll be damned if I can find a cement mixer. 

[Sjustus548]

2 hours ago, seagas said:

Current game, day 46, and still no crucible found of for sale fro any of the five traders I visit. So I at level 3 better barter, I put my .44 in my hand, ate a pumpkin cheese pie and threw 9000 dukes on the ground and and went Creative Mode and gave myself one. Day 49, guess what every trader has for sale. LOL

 

Oh well, I had a forge chuck full of smelted iron, 1100 steel ingots worth waiting for the crucible, well at least I had my horde tower reinforced with steel at the critical areas, luckily no Demos had shown up.

We couldn't find a Crucible either and I finally just put the points into Advanced Engineering to unlock the ability to craft them.  The next day the trader had them for sell lol.

[bloodmoth13]

31 minutes ago, RipClaw said:

 

I think not. It would also be fitting to unlock the schematics when you have completed the Urban Combat series. The bonus for completing the book series is that silencers no longer reduce damage. So it would be fitting that you are then be able to craft one.

 

Or perhaps the silencer manual could be part of the series like the drum magazine is part of the automatic weapons books

[Maharin]

Books should be more prevalent in zombie loot bags.

[Rotor]

2 hours ago, Maharin said:

Books should be more prevalent in zombie loot bags.

 

Yep, I believe they can read War And Peace in a single night.

[Maharin]

1 hour ago, Rotor said:

 

Yep, I believe they can read War And Peace in a single night.

 

Only the ones with glasses. 

 

But you can bet at least some of the people that turned into zombies were researching survival stuff before they turned.