Alpha 21 Dev Diary

[Roland]

24 minutes ago, dcsobral said:

What does the Workstations unlock look like? Is Chemistry Station there or on Medical? And how do you unlock the Crucible?

Also, interesting that "repair tools" have their own 50-points crafting skill. Since stone axe is unlocked from the start, does that mean claw hammer at 25 and nailgun at 50? If so, that's harsh!

 

Chemistry station, crucible, and the new workstation are all unlocked through the Workstations skill tree.

 

I'm not sure about the exact unlock levels for the nailgun and claw hammer but remember that it is simply for crafting your own. I had to start a fresh game due to changes in a recent build and I had two claw hammer that I had found within the first few days. So just because you may not be able to craft a nailgun yourself until later, it doesn't necessarily mean you won't have access to a nailgun at all.

[Trankitas]

1 minute ago, Roland said:

 

Chemistry station, crucible, and the new workstation are all unlocked through the Workstations skill tree.

 

I'm not sure about the exact unlock levels for the nailgun and claw hammer but remember that it is simply for crafting your own. I had to start a fresh game due to changes in a recent build and I had two claw hammer that I had found within the first few days. So just because you may not be able to craft a nailgun yourself until later, it doesn't necessarily mean you won't have access to a nailgun at all.

Well? You're gonna tell us what it is? Or you wanna make us suffer?

[Callum123456789]

23 minutes ago, Trankitas said:

Well? You're gonna tell us what it is? Or you wanna make us suffer?

yeah we are getting teased so hard right now i really want to know now damnitttttt! lmao

[dcsobral]

1 hour ago, Roland said:

... the new workstation ...

Wait, what???

[Trankitas]

@Roland Okay, how much do you want for the info? 

[Orville Tootenbacher]

This crafting change is fantastic. Anything that encourages exploration and looting just makes the game better.
 

Hopefully one day we get unique/legendary items only found in loot as well. The amount of depth that adds to fallout is inedible. It would be awesome to see something like Kremvhs Tooth or Spray N Pray in 7 days…

[Roland]

Agreed!  I wouldn’t eat that either!!

[ArchonMal]

I have to admit: the crafting overhaul makes me pretty nervous. The current system works great because the majority of the key recipes (basic weapon for your tree, forge, bicycle, wrench, first aid bandages, etc) are all easily accessible and you can grab them with minimal investment. This means that with zero luck / RNG, you can get the basics set up. I always start a place from scratch in every new world and this is critical to me. With a minimal amount of luck to find a couple components to make the forge, I'm all set in a new world.

 

I'm afraid that the new system could potentially fall into the "progression blocked by RNG" trap where you can't make a key item because you haven't been lucky enough to find it. I still have war flashbacks to the A15 era Calipers. I distinctly remember a world where it was day 150+ and nobody on the server could make any bullets because we never found them. We were swimming in materials but no calipers to actually make anything with them. Our server admin eventually stepped in to give everyone some from the creative menu. 

 

How will the new system work to prevent this from coming back to the game? 

[Matt115]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

and the new workstation are all unlocked through the Workstations skill tree.

 

GOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDD 

GOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDD 

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

THIS IS SOO GOOD  AND POSITIVE!  

finaly good news 😄 Why you coudn't start by this one 😜

[Trankitas]

Please leak it @Roland. 

 

Edit: Wait, this sounds really bad.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Trankitas (see edit history)

[Roland]

17 minutes ago, ArchonMal said:

How will the new system work to prevent this from coming back to the game? 

 

Perks. Perk into what you really want to find and you'll have a greater chance of those things showing up. Also go loot containers in Working Stiffs and Gas Stations for a better chance at finding the magazines for workstations. I felt that I was able to get a forge up and running in a decent amount of time by scavenging in more industrial and hardware/mechanics oriented buildings and I wasn't even perked into Workstations. Even the new workstation was no problem.

 

What's interesting is that I find myself choosing to explore POIs without a quest because the quest takes me to a random POIs that isn't necessarily going to have the types of magazines I want to find. You do get a random bundle of magazines as a quest reward if you choose that but I feel compelled to go into POIs now if I think they will have more of what I am specifically looking for. It's tough to choose sometimes.... "Do I go loot that Police Station where there is sure to be mags that I want or do a quest?" The new quest type also makes it a tough decision the other way. Man, A21 is full of new tough decisions....haha

[Trankitas]

5 minutes ago, Roland said:

What's interesting is that I find myself choosing to explore POIs without a quest because the quest takes me to a random POIs that isn't necessarily going to have the types of magazines I want to find. You do get a random bundle of magazines as a quest reward if you choose that but I feel compelled to go into POIs now if I think they will have more of what I am specifically looking for. It's tough to choose sometimes.... "Do I go loot that Police Station where there is sure to be mags that I want or do a quest?" The new quest type also makes it a tough decision the other way. Man, A21 is full of new tough decisions....haha

Come on maaaaan...

Edited May 20, 2022 by Trankitas (see edit history)

[Jost Amman]

20 minutes ago, Roland said:

 

Perks. Perk into what you really want to find and you'll have a greater chance of those things showing up. Also go loot containers in Working Stiffs and Gas Stations for a better chance at finding the magazines for workstations. I felt that I was able to get a forge up and running in a decent amount of time by scavenging in more industrial and hardware/mechanics oriented buildings and I wasn't even perked into Workstations. Even the new workstation was no problem.

 

What's interesting is that I find myself choosing to explore POIs without a quest because the quest takes me to a random POIs that isn't necessarily going to have the types of magazines I want to find. You do get a random bundle of magazines as a quest reward if you choose that but I feel compelled to go into POIs now if I think they will have more of what I am specifically looking for. It's tough to choose sometimes.... "Do I go loot that Police Station where there is sure to be mags that I want or do a quest?" The new quest type also makes it a tough decision the other way. Man, A21 is full of new tough decisions....haha

Can anyone from the dev team post a picture of the new workstation on Twitter please?

With just a picture, we can go on talking for a couple of weeks on Steam...  

[Matt115]

5 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Can anyone from the dev team post a picture of the new workstation on Twitter please?

With just a picture, we can go on talking for a couple of weeks on Steam...  

Yep i agree~!
 

[Trankitas]

10 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Can anyone from the dev team post a picture of the new workstation on Twitter please?

With just a picture, we can go on talking for a couple of weeks on Steam...  

True, let us speculate guys 

[dcsobral]

13 minutes ago, Trankitas said:

True, let us speculate guys 

I'll go ahead and speculate: the new workstation is the crucible.

 

[KhaineGB]

New workstation is the toilet to make prison wine.

You heard it hear first.

[Trankitas]

New workstation is the Water vehicle crafting station.

[faatal]

21 hours ago, Lord Morphleyes said:

Maybe I am not understanding "loot probability".  Are you saying that once my Shotgun crafting skill reaches 100% My chances to find shotguns and shotgun parts drops off? 

It does not. Only the chance to find that magazine returns to the normal default percent. I looked at how they did the percents today and it seems fine to me. Good stuff.

[rubens9311]

these new changes for the skills in alpha 21, does anyone remember alpha 16?
 it was quite similar.
 What good times.

[Laz Man]

2 hours ago, Roland said:

...The new quest type also makes it a tough decision the other way. Man, A21 is full of new tough decisions....haha

 

*whistles*

[POCKET951]

so with this new skill manual system, will the books  always add +1, or will there also be rare +2 and +3 versions(advanced skill manuals)

 

or will there be % bonuses to gain +2 or 3 skill points when reading books instead of +1if perked into from the skill tree?

I.e 10% chance for +3, 50% chance for +2?

I think everyone biggest fear before even touching the system is that it will be to long and grindy in nature. 

if that ends up being the case though I think there are many reasonable solutions like the ones I have listed above to help smooth out the progression curve if it's out of sync with the rest of the game progress

[saulysw]

Been playing 7D2D again after quite a long break. Two thoughts I wanted to share

 

1.  Can you please make it so that a trader doesn't give you a reward, and then have it fall behind the counter so you can't get to it? This is particularly an issue when you get a double reward, and of course an already full inventory. The frustration there is rage-quit real. I know, I should never front up to a trader with a full inventory, but still! I also had a dropped reward despawn really quickly, which sucked too.
2. At the POI which is a Bee house, I fully expected the standing bee hives out the back to breakdown and give me honey, like the logs stumps sometimes do. The hives really should too, and in much higher probabilities. Perhaps they do and I was just unlucky?

The world gen is AMAZING now, seriously good. The POI designers and all the team are doing such a great job. That sideways building was like being in an Escher drawing, and while a bit of a non-realistic moment, was very cool. I am still discovering new things.

Edited May 21, 2022 by saulysw (see edit history)

[Roland]

59 minutes ago, POCKET951 said:

so with this new skill manual system, will the books  always add +1

 

Yes. I can't answer whether the devs will want to include ways to speed through the progression though I highly suspect what they would say...

[Blake_]

32 minutes ago, Roland said:

 

Yes. I can't answer whether the devs will want to include ways to speed through the progression though I highly suspect what they would say...

Roland. You look fantastic today. While I cannot see you properly from this licking position, I would very much love to hear more about the new workstation and that splendid new quest. I can lick away towards Lazman or faatal too, or against whoever wants to share this sweet information. Thank you very much and have a wonderful day.