Solving Nerd Poling !

[Listening]

Firstly, let me say that in a game where you can build and destroy everything, where you have ladders, nerd polling is not the issue. It's there by design. So why the constant whining about it. Because when you know where the loot is you can go there directly, often avoiding all zombies. THAT IS THE PROBLEM.

 

The solution is actually obvious. For any given POI with a major loot instance, assign more than one possible location. For lower tier POI's maybe 2 or 3 possible places, for the higher (and bigger) POI's then more. The more the better. For each game gen one of the locations is set at random. If you have a respawn period set in your game options, then the game selects location at random again each time. This could be included in the new A21 scenario where chunks can be set to reset, just randomise them again.

 

One response may be that the balance of zombies in the POI may be upset by this. The usual protector zombies may be in the wrong place. This is actually the same problem. Zombies spawning in the same location is not good, but I think there is some randomness there already. If necessary, the adjust them as well. But if all the randomness is working well then finding a mass of zombies and NOT getting the prime loot is not a bad thing.

 

As a brief example, Crack-a-Book tower. In A21 the main loot was moved. This doesn't solve the problem once you find it. It will be then same in all of them. However, with a set of major loot spawning points you might have to search the roof, the basement or one of the other floors. This would greatly enhance the gameplay, you would have to be prepared to cover the whole building, or you might get lucky. 

 

From my point of view this would add a lot of depth to the game. I can't see any downsides (except the programming) can you? Does this solve the problem?

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Listening (see edit history)

[stallionsden]

1 hour ago, Listening said:

Firstly, let me say that in a game where you can build and destroy everything, where you have ladders, nerd polling is not the issue. It's there by design. So why the constant whining about it. Because when you know where the loot is you can go there directly, often avoiding all zombies. THAT IS THE PROBLEM.

 

The solution is actually obvious. For any given POI with a major loot instance, assign more than one possible location. For lower tier POI's maybe 2 or 3 possible places, for the higher (and bigger) POI's then more. The more the better. For each game gen one of the locations is set at random. If you have a respawn period set in your game options, then the game selects location at random again each time. This could be included in the new A21 scenario where chunks can be set to reset, just randomise them again.

 

One response may be that the balance of zombies in the POI may be upset by this. The usual protector zombies may be in the wrong place. This is actually the same problem. Zombies spawning in the same location is not good, but I think there is some randomness there already. If necessary, the adjust them as well. But if all the randomness is working well then finding a mass of zombies and NOT getting the prime loot is not a bad thing.

 

As a brief example, Crack-a-Book tower. In A21 the main loot was moved. This doesn't solve the problem once you find it. It will be then same in all of them. However, with a set of major loot spawning points you might have to search the roof, the basement or one of the other floors. This would greatly enhance the gameplay, you would have to be prepared to cover the whole building, or you might get lucky. 

 

From my point of view this would add a lot of depth to the game. I can't see any downsides (except the programming) can you? Does this solve the problem?

 

I did this with a few of my pois and a few others  but glad they getting rid of nerd polling . The end loot zs are a good usage at times tho to. Regardless of knowing. Spreading the loot or the spots end loot can be isn't always the answer 

[geengaween]

Problem with this is that it goes against the current design doctrine of making every PoI a linear dungeon. This would mean that they'd have to change the design so that there was no longer a start or end point.

 

TBH I don't think nerd poling is a real issue, the game isn't designed to be competitive, it's a co-op dungeon looter. If people want to cheese the game and play it wrong, they'll figure out a way. But they're only hurting themselves because without the atmosphere of the PoI's what's the point of playing the game? To stockpile a million units of iron? Why bother?

 

Hopefully by release there will be a user-friendly PoI maker so the community can create hundreds of them and place them on the steam workshop. Ideally every map should only have one poi of each type to keep things fresh and interesting.

Edited February 15, 2023 by geengaween (see edit history)

[SylenThunder]

I would think there could be a few different ways to implement something like this. First it would require adding a max weight capacity to the blocks. Then a wood frame could not support having 30+ frames stacked on top of it. In addition to this, the outer structure of the POI would need to be configured to have zero stability. Since this isn't feasible from a design standpoint to not have any support glue on the outer wall, it would need to be an invisible block on the outer wall that is basically air, but doesn't allow a block to be placed in it's spot.

 

The caveats to this kind of method though are basically the destruction of any playstyle that includes taking over POI's for bases or repairing/rebuilding existing POI's. It is really a heavy-handed approach. 

 

On MP servers, the nerd-polling of POI's can be a real nuisance. I can definitely see the desire to banish this type of gameplay. It is essentially cheating anyway.

[Old Crow]

On 2/14/2023 at 7:45 PM, stallionsden said:

I did this with a few of my pois and a few others  but glad they getting rid of nerd polling . The end loot zs are a good usage at times tho to. Regardless of knowing. Spreading the loot or the spots end loot can be isn't always the answer 

 

Who said they're getting rid of nerd poling?

[mprojekt]

The Ravenhearst team appears to have implemented an anti-nerdpole mechanic. When I try to jump-place a shape, the action seems like it simply can't be triggered. It forces me to first build stairs, ladders, or scaffolds, with supports as needed. Once I have the first level assembled, then I climb or jump onto the structure in order to build the next level. Rinse and repeat, and slowly I go up or down to the level I am trying to reach. I feel that this works alongside the slower progression that JaxTeller and his crew baked into RH.

 

Undead Legacy might also benefit from this. On the other hand, some overhauls almost need nerd-poling so we can quickly get a break from a random ultra-horde - that or die and start over. 😄

[RipClaw]

On 2/15/2023 at 3:05 AM, Listening said:

As a brief example, Crack-a-Book tower. In A21 the main loot was moved. This doesn't solve the problem once you find it. It will be then same in all of them. However, with a set of major loot spawning points you might have to search the roof, the basement or one of the other floors. This would greatly enhance the gameplay, you would have to be prepared to cover the whole building, or you might get lucky. 

The main loot is in the basement of the Crack a Book Tower but guarded by dozens of zombies. It seems to be the case with newer and updated POIs that the main loot is always guarded by many or particularly dangerous zombies. Have fun, for example, in the updated Bear Den with the main loot between the two zombie bears.

Edited February 18, 2023 by RipClaw (see edit history)

[Roland]

17 hours ago, Old Crow said:

 

Who said they're getting rid of nerd poling?

Not nerdpoling, nerd polling. If you never got the surveys in the mail then….

[Maharin]

The worst the nerds have to offer is Nerd Soiling.  /shudder

[Scyris]

Another way to fix it is have loot in a invincible room that the door only opens if X amount of the zombies are killed say 75% of them or so. Players cannot bust into said room, this solves the problem. Fetch quests will need to be edited a bit to make sure the parcel doesn't spawn in the loot room, although this is fine if its a fetch+clear variant. I've seen in some mods where specific rooms in poi's are denoted as invunerable to player/zombie attacks and it works pretty well. If modders can do it, I am sure the devs could too. Easy ghetto way to do this? Create a locked door that only opens on a kill amount trigger for that poi, form the Walls/floor/cieling of the room out of bedrock, and just use the paint system to make it match the rest of the poi. Only problem really is the door, I am sure that'd need some new coding for it to work. But building the loot room out of bedrock is a easy ghetto way to make it indestructable.