Feedback from a new player

[euclid]

I got this game as a Christmas present (they knew I like building stuff) and enjoyed it a lot. After 300ish hrs of gameplay I thought it's time to provide a feedback as this nice game still is WIP after 10 years :d

• Even with the LCB down you are not able to pick up many (mis)placed blocks. Had to destroy lot of iron bars, doors etc., grinded for new iron, smelted etc. just because I could not pick up the misplaced one.
• Some shapes have sparse content (letters for example) and it is difficult to see where they have been placed. Of course you can figure it out by trying to place another block but an option to highlight the cube of a placed block would help here.
• I love to flip POIs, transfoming them into a horde base or into a home to stay overnight. But I do not like the sleeper respawn destroying everything I've built. Placing a bedroll will prevent the respawn but as you can only have one it doesn't help if you flip more then one POI. Either allow more then one bed(roll) or remove the sleeper blocks once an LCB has been placed.
• BM horde spawns closest at about 30 blocks from the player's position. If you want to prevent them to spawn in you base then you are restricted to a 29x29 (28x28 to be safe) building area. That is a shame as I'd love to build big. A setting for the minimum horde spawn distance would help here.
• BM horde attacks are too predictable. They always attack form one direction. Well, they are "stupid" zombies but wish they would be a bit smarter, like attacking from one direction (as a distraction) while sending a small team of spiders and demolishers from the opposite direction. At least allow them to attack from multiple directions simultaneously.
• There are many nice decoration options which I do appreciate. However most of them are eye-candy only. I'd like to sit one chair, sleep in a bed(roll), drink water from a sink, take a shower  etc.. Adding some animations would be nice.
• Clothing/armor option for female charaters are missing. There is only one skirt and no armor for females. I wonder what the female developers of the Funpimps team think about that
• Repairing used items (tools, weapons, armor) is fine and contributes to the immersion. But running around for hours checking every single block  of your base after a horde attack is not cool and a waste of time. It would help immensely if there is an option to highlight (color) damaged blocks.
• I do like all the electrical features but do NOT like the spaghetti of wires in many of my buildings. I'm aware that by placing relays in a smart way you can reduce that but most of the time it is not feasible and each relay drains addition power (which is hard to maintain). Please remove the visuals of wires unless the wire tool is used.
  

Some of the above can be "fixed" with mods but that should be a "last resort" imho.

Cheers Euclid

[Callum123456789]

26 minutes ago, euclid said:

I got this game as a Christmas present (they knew I like building stuff) and enjoyed it a lot. After 300ish hrs of gameplay I thought it's time to provide a feedback as this nice game still is WIP after 10 years :d

• Even with the LCB down you are not able to pick up many (mis)placed blocks. Had to destroy lot of iron bars, doors etc., grinded for new iron, smelted etc. just because I could not pick up the misplaced one.
• Some shapes have sparse content (letters for example) and it is difficult to see where they have been placed. Of course you can figure it out by trying to place another block but an option to highlight the cube of a placed block would help here.
• I love to flip POIs, transfoming them into a horde base or into a home to stay overnight. But I do not like the sleeper respawn destroying everything I've built. Placing a bedroll will prevent the respawn but as you can only have one it doesn't help if you flip more then one POI. Either allow more then one bed(roll) or remove the sleeper blocks once an LCB has been placed.
• BM horde spawns closest at about 30 blocks from the player's position. If you want to prevent them to spawn in you base then you are restricted to a 29x29 (28x28 to be safe) building area. That is a shame as I'd love to build big. A setting for the minimum horde spawn distance would help here.
• BM horde attacks are too predictable. They always attack form one direction. Well, they are "stupid" zombies but wish they would be a bit smarter, like attacking from one direction (as a distraction) while sending a small team of spiders and demolishers from the opposite direction. At least allow them to attack from multiple directions simultaneously.
• There are many nice decoration options which I do appreciate. However most of them are eye-candy only. I'd like to sit one chair, sleep in a bed(roll), drink water from a sink, take a shower  etc.. Adding some animations would be nice.
• Clothing/armor option for female charaters are missing. There is only one skirt and no armor for females. I wonder what the female developers of the Funpimps team think about that
• Repairing used items (tools, weapons, armor) is fine and contributes to the immersion. But running around for hours checking every single block  of your base after a horde attack is not cool and a waste of time. It would help immensely if there is an option to highlight (color) damaged blocks.
• I do like all the electrical features but do NOT like the spaghetti of wires in many of my buildings. I'm aware that by placing relays in a smart way you can reduce that but most of the time it is not feasible and each relay drains addition power (which is hard to maintain). Please remove the visuals of wires unless the wire tool is used.

 

Some of the above can be "fixed" with mods but that should be a "last resort" imho.

Cheers Euclid

the last one about the wires is getting changed in alpha 21 they will only show when you have the wire tool in-hand.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Callum123456789 (see edit history)

[Roland]

On 1/21/2023 at 7:39 AM, euclid said:

I love to flip POIs, transfoming them into a horde base or into a home to stay overnight. But I do not like the sleeper respawn destroying everything I've built. Placing a bedroll will prevent the respawn but as you can only have one it doesn't help if you flip more then one POI. Either allow more then one bed(roll) or remove the sleeper blocks once an LCB has been placed.

 

I believe that in the options menu for A21 you will be able to designate how many active LCBs you want to allow. I could be wrong but I think they added that option due to the new chunk reload option so that you can place one at your base and another at your mine etc and not experience a chunk reset at those locations. I believe LCBs also block zombie sleeper spawns so that will hopefully solve your issue there.

 

On 1/21/2023 at 7:39 AM, euclid said:

BM horde spawns closest at about 30 blocks from the player's position. If you want to prevent them to spawn in you base then you are restricted to a 29x29 (28x28 to be safe) building area. That is a shame as I'd love to build big. A setting for the minimum horde spawn distance would help here.

 

Unfortunately, the BM zombies currently spawn the furthest away that they can without it causing issues with them falling out of the world or unable to path. This was tested extensively and their current distance is set at the limit.

 

On 1/21/2023 at 7:39 AM, euclid said:

Clothing/armor option for female charaters are missing. There is only one skirt and no armor for females. I wonder what the female developers of the Funpimps team think about that

 

Everyone on the team hates it too. The whole clothing/armor system is the original system from the beginning of the game and is planned for an overhaul in A22, most likely. Everything should look better and be more....uh....form fitting in male and female styles. They want everyone to look epic instead of kind of puffy due to all the current layers.

 

And as Callum mentioned, you'll get your wish with the wires in the next update!

 

Everything you wrote that I didn't comment on are all great ideas in my opinion but I have no idea whether such things are on their radar or not.

 

[euclid]

Thanks both for the feedback,

 

Some great news there but:

Quote

...I believe LCBs also block zombie sleeper spawns so that will hopefully solve your issue there....

Is  that a new feature with A21? Because my tests (A20.6 build  9) suggests  that  only the bed (roll) prevent sleppers to respawn, not the LCB alone.

 

Cheers Euclid

Edited January 23, 2023 by euclid (see edit history)

[Roland]

I’m not certain. I thought the LCB did prevent spawns so if it doesn’t then I guess no good news there. 

[Syphon583]

1 hour ago, euclid said:

Thanks both for the feedback,

 

Some great news there but:

Is  that a new feature with A21? Because my tests (A20.6 build  9) suggests  that  only the bed (roll) prevent sleppers to respawn, not the LCB alone.

 

Cheers Euclid

Well the description in the game literally says that the LCB will prevent respawns. Keep in mind that this does not mean all zombie spawns, meaning wilderness and random hordes can spawn in the area (actually, these types will never spawn within a POI, but they can wander into one). Looking back on your tests, there could have been a number of different factors that caused your sleepers to respawn, not the least of which as others pointed out, artificially advancing time using the DM may not produce normal results.

 

I almost exclusively play permadeath, so I rarely place a bedroll (no need) and I'm almost positive I've placed a LCB in an existing POI and have never seen a sleeper respawn there. If you are seeing evidence that POI sleepers are respawning, then you should report it as a bug.

[euclid]

Thanks for  your input,

 

Concerning  the test I've  made  a  new game (same map),  approached  the POI  with AI turned off, noted  the sleeper  spots, went back in the original game  and marked the spots. Then  I left the  area, advanced the time  (7  days  in my case) and went back to the  POI with AI off.   I did that twice with only  a bedroll  and  with only an  LCB. Only in the  latter case  the sleeper had respawned (exactly at the marked  spots).

 

Of course you (and others) are right that using ST to advance the time may bias  the result.  However,  since there is no official statement from the developers on this issue I cannot be sure it qualifies as a bug. In any case, I'm on day 6 now (no artifical time advance) and soon will be able to check the LCB only case.

 

Cheers Euclid

Edited January 24, 2023 by euclid (see edit history)

[BFT2020]

Now I am curious about this, or maybe just curious about the testing part.

 

When you advance time, are you advancing the actual date and time or changing the rate that time changes (sorry at work so I can't reference exactly what it says in debug mode)?

 

Adjusting the rate that time changes in game should not affect spawns (in theory) because that would be the same as make the adjustment in the options menu prior to starting the game and I didn't notice any issues with zombies spawning.  Also from previous experience, I know that 120 minutes per day is 4 on the slider while 60 minutes per day is 5.

[DanLW]

On 1/21/2023 at 9:39 AM, euclid said:

• Even with the LCB down you are not able to pick up many (mis)placed blocks. Had to destroy lot of iron bars, doors etc., grinded for new iron, smelted etc. just because I could not pick up the misplaced one.

 

While not necessarily a bug I do wish there could be a 5 second "oops" timer where the last placed block could be picked up before it becomes stuck.  I'd also make it so that if the block takes any damage, it becomes stuck the same way the wood frames do when damaged.

 

Don't know why this isn't a thing... Probably because it can be exploited in a way I haven't thought of.

[euclid]

@BFT2020:

 

I'm using the console command settime (st). All my games have the same day length setting 120 Min.  so I can get things done 😉   However, Sometimes during decorating I've used +/- in god mode to slow down movement of the freecam but as it turns out, it acually slows down time.

 

Cheers Euclid

[Ramethzer0]

On 1/21/2023 at 9:39 AM, euclid said:

• BM horde spawns closest at about 30 blocks from the player's position. If you want to prevent them to spawn in you base then you are restricted to a 29x29 (28x28 to be safe) building area. That is a shame as I'd love to build big. A setting for the minimum horde spawn distance would help here.

 

Cheers for mentioning this.

 

One of the things I really enjoyed in past alpha stages was that zombies used to swarm a bit more sparsely.  I used to be a big stan for the Prison as a starting base and I would get absolutely wrecked by spiders who could at the time simply scale walls.   The hordes felt more random and dangerous then.  Currently the AI causes them to bunch up on their own very often without the need for using area denial tactics and funneling them down into killing fields.   While I feel the current changes make sense from a developmental standpoint, I had to make my bases *less* secure in order to preserve my own sense of excitement.

 

And you did mention that mods are a last option, but as someone who felt the same for years I can tell you that some overhaul mods (like Undead Legacy, Darkness Falls, or Romero mod) are VERY MUCH worthy of checking out as game changers.   Don't knock it till you try them!

Edited January 24, 2023 by Ramethzer0 (see edit history)

[euclid]

According to vedui42's test  Zombies can spawn up 100 blocks from the player's position. I was able to verify his results doing an own test of similar setup (yes, they still cannot spawn in/on water).

I'm now confused as to why the BM horde in particular (see Roland's reply above) has these problems:
"Unfortunately, the BM zombies currently spawn the furthest away that they can without it causing issues with them falling out of the world or unable to path. This was tested extensively and their current distance is set at the limit."
But it may be some technical issue related to the tracking the player's position.

 

And yes, one day I will try some mods but atm I'm still on the vanilla gameplay 😉

 

Cheers Euclid

[Roland]

2 hours ago, euclid said:

According to vedui42's test  Zombies can spawn up 100 blocks from the player's position. I was able to verify his results doing an own test of similar setup (yes, they still cannot spawn in/on water).

I'm now confused as to why the BM horde in particular (see Roland's reply above) has these problems:
"Unfortunately, the BM zombies currently spawn the furthest away that they can without it causing issues with them falling out of the world or unable to path. This was tested extensively and their current distance is set at the limit."
But it may be some technical issue related to the tracking the player's position.

 

And yes, one day I will try some mods but atm I'm still on the vanilla gameplay 😉

 

Cheers Euclid

 

I won't pretend to understand it. I can only repeat what faatal had said. The difference between normal spawns and bloodmoon spawns is that normal spawns stand around and don't have to find pathways to you. Bloodmoon spawns are supposed to path directly to the player. It was problems with zombies pathing properly and falling out of the world and faatal made adjustments until he found the distance that worked. More than that, he would have to say. You could ask if bloodmoon spawns will be increased in distance for A21 in the dev diary with his name tag. He may respond. That is totally his baby.

 

Thinking about it, if zombies could successfully path to the player from 100 blocks away then we would be back to the perfect information zombies we had in A17. That's just a guess though. For my part, I loved the terminator style zombies so if my guess is true I'd be fine with restoring their longer path algorithms and pushing them back. I know there was mention about zombies falling off the world or maybe it was just spawning outside the path grid or something. Hard to remember as this was A18 or A19 2-3 years ago...

Edited January 24, 2023 by Roland (see edit history)

[Riamus]

On 1/21/2023 at 10:39 AM, euclid said:

 

• BM horde spawns closest at about 30 blocks from the player's position. If you want to prevent them to spawn in you base then you are restricted to a 29x29 (28x28 to be safe) building area. That is a shame as I'd love to build big. A setting for the minimum horde spawn distance would help here.
• BM horde attacks are too predictable. They always attack form one direction. Well, they are "stupid" zombies but wish they would be a bit smarter, like attacking from one direction (as a distraction) while sending a small team of spiders and demolishers from the opposite direction. At least allow them to attack from multiple directions simultaneously.

A couple things on these two that I don't think were mentioned...

 

Zombies will not spawn on certain blocks, such as wood or concrete.  You can build as big as you want without them showing inside as long as you have a floor of some sort other than terrain.  Then you don't have to worry about the size.  Also note that the distance is from any player, so you can run into problems having a horde if you have a really large base and everyone stands in the center with no one near the edges.  And note that if you do have a really large base and everyone stands on one corner, you will pretty much only get zombies from that corner.  If it is smaller or you spread out, you can get the from all sides regardless of base size (not all sides at once).

 

They can attack from more than one direction at a time.  Often, they will come from two different corners at the same time for at least part of the blood moon.  I am unsure what determines how often this happens as sometimes it is only from one corner at once, but it does happen.  Also, depending on your base build, they may come around your base and some may attack the walls as they do, causing then to somewhat attack from all sides at once.  That does require a base build that creates an area zombies will find to be easiest to get to you (such as the chute build), which not everyone is interested in.  You can avoid that type while still giving a target by doing something like building a base that is all steel, but had at least one block that is concrete.  Zombies will generally target that, so anything on opposite sides will go around the base and may attack the walls on the way.

 

Not necessarily what you are looking for, but gives at least something like what you are interested in.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Riamus (see edit history)

[euclid]

Quote

Zombies will not spawn on certain blocks, such as wood or concrete.  You can build add big as you want without them showing inside as long as you have a floor of some sort other than terrain.  Then you don't have to worry about the size.
......
giving a target by doing something like building a base that is all steel, but had at least one block that is concrete.  Zombies will generally target that, so anything on opposite sides will go around the base and may attack the walls on the way.

 

That is very interesting! Thanks for the info.

 

Cheers Euclid

Edited January 25, 2023 by euclid (see edit history)