(A21) Server Side Weapons

[arramus]

Here is a link to download the A21 Server Side Weapons:

https://github.com/arramus/A21-ServerSideWeapons

(This is a Server Side Only Modlet and it is not necessary for players who join your server to install it)

 

Holding the PP-19 Bizon and wearing a Hat Mod to assist players taking on more challenging entities such as the A21 Server Side Zombies.

 

Background
In April 2020, Snufkin shared Snufkin's Server Side WeaponS with the community for A18. He mentioned the influence came from a Borderlands type setup where players are treasure hunters.

 

In A19 and A20, the community was able to update and expand to the Snufkin Weapons Xpansion with a variety of additional weapons while retaining the originals. These weapons were/are pretty experimental and use only existing 7 Days assets to ensure they remain Server Side Only. With each update, change has been required with replacements where deprecated assets have been totally removed. A21 sees a lot of removal and this tentative first release reflects that. This pack currently contains the following:

 

12 Weapons

Melee Weapons

- Thor's Hammer (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)

- Brainsaw (arramus)

- Polearm (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)

- Vampire Gauntlets (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)

 

Close to Mid Ranged Weapons

- PP-19 Bizon (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)

- Kronos XII (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)

- Newcomen (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)
- Quad Shotgun (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)

 

Long Ranged Weapons
- Savery (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)
- DCLXVI Zeus (Oakraven with A21 updates by arramus)

- Black Widow (Oakraven with A21 updates by arramus)

- Vulcan (Snufkin with A21 updates by arramus)

 

Some of these weapons have required some intensive care to get them in some kind of working order. The removal of decorative attachments has seen replacements and overhauls. For example, the Kronos now uses the Auto Shotgun Model as base. The PP-19 Bizon had to be switched to the SMG since the MP5 has gone. This was a similar measure that the Savery saw in A20.

 

There remains a LOT left to do if other weapons are to be resurrected. In some cases, it is necessary to start all over again, but still incorporate the remnants of what made them special. This will require community input as it's a rather large undertaking.

Loot Box

In addition to these weapons, the Loot Box has gone from Add On to being bundled directly in the Mod.
The Loot Box can be crafted on the Workbench and does not require unlocking.

 

Collect Green, Yellow, Red, or Purple Tickets and use them on the Loot Box to get a Loot Box Container with a weapon. Craft 10 Green into 1 Yellow Ticket, and so on to get those higher Tier opportunities. Other than that feature from the beginning, it works a little differently now. In the past, players could only get what were considered to be higher Tiered weapons if they had a Red or Purple Ticket from the Green, Yellow, Red, and Purple hierarchy. That now changes. For example, a Green Ticket has a higher probability to get something considered lower Tier such as Thor's Hammer. However, there is still a slim chance to pick up a higher Tiered weapon with reducing chance as the Tier increases. In contrast, and as a trade off, the opposite applies for the Purple Ticket. You have a very strong chance to get the highest Tiered Weapon, but there is also a chance it may not work out for you on that occasion. ^^

 

The ratios for what was traditionally considered 'Low - Medium - High' Tier Weapons from the Loot Box Tickets are currently:

Green - 80% Low / 16% Medium / 4% High

Yellow - 60% Low / 30% Medium / 10% High

Red - 10% Low / 50% Medium / 40% High

Purple - 4% Low / 16% Medium / 80% High

 

It looks a bit like that:

 

There is no exact balance on what can be considered 'Low - Medium - High' Tier Weapons as there is overlap and subjectivity. A traditional consensus considers stopping power, special features, capacity, player risk. But there are also economic considerations such as maintenance requirements, ammunition drain, learning curve, and traits.

 

However, for the purpose of some kind of explanation:

 

- The Kronos is a High Tier Weapon and will have a better chance to be found with Red and Purple Tickets. It is a High Tier Weapon because of its 30 Shotgun Shell Drum, High Rate of Fire, Special Weapon Feature when eliminating 20 entities. Other weapons in this Tier are considered to be Brainsaw, Vampire Gauntlets, and Polearm.

 

- The Savery is a Medium Tier Weapon and will have a better chance to be found with Yellow and Red Tickets. It is a Medium Tier Weapon because of its 12 Round Capacity, Good Range, and Good Damage. It has no Special Weapon Feature. Other weapons in this Tier are considered to be PP-19 Bizon, Newcomen, and Quad Shotgun.

 

- Thor's Hammer is a Low Tier Weapon and will have a better chance to be found with Green and Yellow Tickets. It is a Low Tier Weapon because it requires being in Very Close Proximity, Requires Stamina, and Relatively Slow Hits Per Minute. It is still a devastating weapon when used in one on one situations and will be hard to be bettered for its best case use. It does accept the Repulsor Mod and Candy for additional destruction. Other weapons in this Tier are considered to be Vulcan, Black Widow, and Zeus DCLXVI.

 

Again, these descriptions and evaluations are relative and subjective. Find something that suits your style and you'll be comfortably meeting your preferences regardless.

 

Loot weightings and balance will take time but these 12 weapons are good for now and no more updates will be required beyond bug checking and clear imbalances.

 

Opening 20 Green Loot Boxes shows that most will return what is considered a lower Tier Weapons... but not always.

 

Crafting Tier and Quality
Players can craft all weapons on the Workbench to Quality Tier 6. However, this will be from the final 6 levels for its crafting magazine. Feel free to edit the levels for your own preference in the progression.xml file.

 

The Loot Box will rarely drop a Quality Tier 1 weapon. There is a much greater weighting on Quality Tier 4 - 6. This reflects the time and effort players put in to looting Tickets.

 

Loot will contain from Quality Tier 1 to 6 based on luck. There is no difference in chance.

 

In summary:

Craft to Quality 6b but only at the very end of the crafting skills levels
Loot Box with greater weighting on Quality 4 - 6
Looting weapons directly is very random

 

Looting

Weapons and Tickets can be found in a loot that can be considered higher end.

For example, Tickets can be found in:

 

- Zombie Loot Bags for Boss, Strong, and Regular types. Higher Tier Tickets are found in the most difficult entities. This encourages installing the A21 Server Side Zombies, and is something Snufkin considered when making the entities, weapons, and vehicles as a package.

 

- Safes and ATMs. Tickets can be found in these secure locations with a weighting on lower Tier Tickets to match the collection and upgrading features of converting 10 Green into 1 Yellow Ticket, and so on.

 

Weapons can be found in:

 

- Safes and Buried Treasure. Weapons are found with a weighting on lower Tier to ensure players aren't flooded with high end goods too quickly.

 

Helmet Mod Additions

A feature kindly added by Oakraven was the Mod Hats that could be attached to Helmets in the Dye Slot. These have all returned expect for the speaker hat since it no longer has a purpose. There is one 'bug' in that the large bag that increases inventory will not remove from the player. This bug carries over from A20 and the buff to remove it is simply non functional in the way it works for everything else.

 

A few images to demonstrate:

 

Thor's Hammer already gives a shock but can also accept the Repulsor Mod

Charge the Zeus to full capacity to benefit from its potency. It will have longer range and much greater stopping power. The trade off is costly ammo.

Eliminate 20 entities and then use the 'F' key to enter advanced mode for a limited time as a reward. In this mode you will have closer crosshairs, and shooting speed... as if this weapon needed it. It is much more comparable to the Auto Shotgun for A21 as it was rather beastly in the past. It may still need a tweak here and there.

 

The Savery was a Winchester/Revolver Rifle before the Lever Action arrived but is still incredibly viable. It has twin chambers for 12 shots.

 

A little damned cabin in the woods with possibly a shotgun and this. It has decent one on one potential and will go straight through the tree and the zombie bashing at it from behind. It can decapitate quite nicely and will have players seeing red. A21 decapitations are something special.

Adventures await... ^^

Edited July 24, 2023 by arramus
Updating (see edit history)

[MrSamuelAdams]

I'm confused about the "loot box" are those around the map or do you have to craft one?

[arramus]

I updated the first post to read:

 

In addition to these weapons, the Loot Box has gone from Add On to being bundled directly in the Mod.
The Loot Box can be crafted on the Workbench and does not require unlocking.

[MrSamuelAdams]

Cool, I think you sold me. These are super cool. :D. I have too many modlets. My game is basically an overhaul now HAHA 

 

Thank you! 

[arramus]

Here is a small update:

 

Polearm (Snufkin)

The Polearm returns to the Server Side Weapons and has been there from the beginning. It is considered a lower Tier Weapon and can be found in Loot and the Loot Box Machine with a Green Ticket at a greater rate. It is hooked up to the Javelin Skill and Flurry of Perception. It is about 10% slower to use than a spear type weapon but it lethal from a further range and will put the new decapitation features to good use.

 

It is a melee weapon, but due to its range and devastation, will be equal to close range ballistic weapons.

 

 

10 Green Loot Boxes returned two instances, with others in the same Tier getting similar to more selection.

 

[arramus]

Here is a small update for the Server Side Weapons:

 

1. Newcomen

The Newcomen was created by Snufkin in A18 and remained practically the same throughout A19 and A20. Unfortunately, A21 removed practically every decorative feature that made it look the way it did. The Newcomen is named after Thomas Newcomen, who is considered the inventor of the atmospheric 'steam' engine. This weapon certainly displays those qualities even with the A21 overhaul. Newcomen and Savery were most probably acquainted and their namesakes are Server Side Weapons.

 

Its base weapons is the pistol, and it has some attachments for a 'steam' powdered look. It can accept under barrel mods to give it a fuller look.

It is very different to the original and looks a touch more compact. It fires just the same though. Fires in semi automatic in primary mode and a burst of 30 rounds with secondary mode. It is hooked up to the same loot chance as the Savery and PP-19 Bizon.

 

 

[yongqi]

Hi, if I want to improve the quality of Snufkin weapons based on the new version of skills like A20, should I create the following code and add it to progress.xml:

<append xpath="/progression/crafting_skills/crafting_skill[@name='craftingHarvestingTools']">
        <effect_group>
            <passive_effect name="CraftingTier" operation="base_add" level="70,80,90,100" value="1,2,3,4" tags="meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw"/>
        </effect_group>
    </append>

Then gradually add each special weapon according to its different stages?

Edited July 22, 2023 by yongqi (see edit history)

[arramus]

5 hours ago, yongqi said:

Hi, if I want to improve the quality of Snufkin weapons based on the new version of skills like A20, should I create the following code and add it to progress.xml:

<append xpath="/progression/crafting_skills/crafting_skill[@name='craftingHarvestingTools']">
        <effect_group>
            <passive_effect name="CraftingTier" operation="base_add" level="70,80,90,100" value="1,2,3,4" tags="meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw"/>
        </effect_group>
    </append>

Then gradually add each special weapon according to its different stages?

progression

    <append xpath="/progression/crafting_skills/crafting_skill[@name='craftingHarvestingTools']">
        <display_entry item="meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw" unlock_level="60,70,80,90,100" />
    </append>
    <append xpath="/progression/crafting_skills/crafting_skill[@name='craftingHarvestingTools']/effect_group">
        <passive_effect name="RecipeTagUnlocked" operation="base_set" level="60,100" value="1" tags="meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw"/>
        <passive_effect name="CraftingTier" operation="base_add" level="70,80,90,100" value="1,2,3,4" tags="meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw"/>
    </append>

recipes

        <recipe name="meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw" count="1" craft_area="workbench" craft_time="240" tags="workbenchCrafting,learnable">
            <ingredient name="meleeToolAxeT3ChainsawParts" count="4"/>
            <ingredient name="vehicleBicycleHandlebars" count="1"/>
            <ingredient name="smallEngine" count="1"/>
            <ingredient name="resourceForgedSteel" count="50"/>
        </recipe>

items

            <property name="UnlockedBy" value="craftingHarvestingTools"/>

81 Q3

100 Q5

[arramus]

Alternatively, because the rows are restricted to 5

    <append xpath="//crafting_skill[@name='craftingHarvestingTools']/display_entry[@icon='meleeToolPickT3Auger']/unlock_entry/@item">,meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw</append>
    <append xpath="//crafting_skill[@name='craftingHarvestingTools']/effect_group/passive_effect[@level='60,100']/@tags">,meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw</append>
    <append xpath="//crafting_skill[@name='craftingHarvestingTools']/effect_group/passive_effect[@level='70,80,90,100']/@tags">,meleeToolAxeT3Brainsaw</append>

 

[arramus]

Here is an update for the Server Side Weapon.

 

1. All weapons have been added to progression up to Quality 6. However, they will only unlock at the very end of the crafting skills level. This is something individual server admin can amend for their own purposes. In the event where all 5 slots in the crafting list are taken, it is not possible to scroll further and see the weapon in the crafting tier list. However, the Workbench will clearly show current status.

 

A few images to demonstrate:

The Brainsaw unlocks at Q1 from Level 95 and then up to Q6 at the final crafting level limit at Level 100.

 

For Thor's Hammer, unlocks begin at Q1 from Level 70 and then up to Q6 at the final crafting level limit at Level 75.

 

The Polearm shows a Level 6 crafting level on the Workbench when its crafting level limit is reached. There is no additional progressive recipe increase since it'll be a rather redundant feature with single incremental levels.

7 hours ago, yongqi said:

Then gradually add each special weapon according to its different stages?

All weapons have been added to Progression and you can flexibly change the unlock tier to match your preferences. They are all currently added to Q6.

[yongqi]

28 minutes ago, arramus said:

Here is an update for the Server Side Weapon.

 

1. All weapons have been added to progression up to Quality 6. However, they will only unlock at the very end of the crafting skills level. This is something individual server admin can amend for their own purposes. In the event where all 5 slots in the crafting list are taken, it is not possible to scroll further and see the weapon in the crafting tier list. However, the Workbench will clearly show current status.

 

A few images to demonstrate:

The Brainsaw unlocks at Q1 from Level 95 and then up to Q6 at the final crafting level limit at Level 100.

 

For Thor's Hammer, unlocks begin at Q1 from Level 70 and then up to Q6 at the final crafting level limit at Level 75.

 

The Polearm shows a Level 6 crafting level on the Workbench when its crafting level limit is reached. There is no additional progressive recipe increase since it'll be a rather redundant feature with single incremental levels.

All weapons have been added to Progression and you can flexibly change the unlock tier to match your preferences. They are all currently added to Q6.

Wow, that's great. Thank you for your work

[arramus]

Here is an update for the Server Side Weapons.

 

Black Widow (Oakraven)
This weapon has deadly precision from range and uses two kinds of arrow; Blue and Red. The Blue Arrow causes electrocution and the Red Arrow causes knockdown and bleed damage. It is added to the Kronos and Zeus Tier with greater chance from high value and rare Tickets.

 

 

 

 

[MrSamuelAdams]

IMO either the loot box machine should be locked behind something for later game or a better idea is increase the amount of tickets it takes to craft a green/yellow/red/purple box.. .Because on day 6.. I got a red ticket, able to craft it the loot box machine and get a tier 5 Bizon. When all I had at the time were pipe weapons. Progression feels off. Maybe you need like 10 green, 20 yellow, 30 red, 40 purple to craft the loot box?

 

So I switched it to above and changed crafting upgraded tickets from 10 each to 5 each. 

Edited July 23, 2023 by MrSamuelAdams (see edit history)

[arramus]

The amount of tickets being found was off. They have been throttled back and updated a few times in the background, and the most recent test (about 6 hours ago and pushed to the download area) feels the best yet. A20 overhauled the way loot works and A21 further expands on that. When this mod and the zombie sister mod first came out, progression was a lot more forgiving with the ability to find AK47's and so on quite comfortably within the first 7 days, and this mod was using that feature as a template.

 

Here's how the most recent update handles things:

- The crafting capability has been totally locked down now until finding book 95/100 or 70/75 for that type. No more crafting a level 1 on day 1.
- The groups which the tickets were added to have received a variety of other items (small ammo types, and 'trivial' things like that). It was guaranteed to find 1 Ticket from each of the loot locations but that will no longer be the case as they are competing with some higher chance items.

- It will still be possible to find a higher Quality low Tier Thor's Hammer, Polearm, and Brainsaw more readily than a high Tier PP-19 Bizon, Savery, or Newcomen, which in turn is easier to find than the highest Tier Zues, Kronos, and Black Widow. However, they will all be found at random Quality level.

 

It's going to take some time to get the balance right on looting and finds but the recent incremental updates are a big improvement on the first release. I simply don't keep posting about it as there may very well be more. With these last updates, the 'development' reference in the main title was removed because it is starting to show stability.

[arramus]

In addition, this mod has traditionally been used along with the Server Side Zombies. At default settings, the Server Side Zombies will appear between 1 in 20 to 1 in 40 of a regular zombie in the biomes (one regions are opened up), but more frequently during a Horde Night. The last ticket update is attempting to balance that with chances to find the tickets in regular loot (safes and other high end loot locations) with a bit more chance in loot bag drops (which was very much off in the first release and was scaled back) to reflect the Horde Nights. The A21 release considers a few things, and continues to make a few traditional connections:

 

- This mod is typically used in partnership with the Server Side Zombies for greater parity.

- Regular looting will find tickets at a lower rate than Horde Night since loot bags are a good resource.

- Low end grunt loot bags have a weighting on lower Tier weapon tickets (throttled down and  no longer guaranteed).

- High end boss loot bags have a weighting on high Tier weapon tickets (throttled down and  no longer guaranteed).

[MrSamuelAdams]

Cool. I will have to test it and see how the spawn rate for the tickets are because still with one green ticket and opening a green loot box, did it three times I got a level 3, brainsaw, level 4 polearm and, level 4 thor hammer. That is with just one green ticket, seems pretty good/easy to get. 

 

After playing a while I do like the changes and I set myself on these for now but will monitor your settings as changes as well. 

 

To make an upgraded ticket you need 5 instead of 10. 

And to make each loot bad you need 2 green, 4 yellow, 6 red and 8 purple to make a loot box. I know finding them is loot is harder so I will monitor changes through my playthrough! Love the mod! 

Edited July 24, 2023 by MrSamuelAdams (see edit history)

[arramus]

Here is an update for the Server Side Weapons:

 

- 3 Additional Weapons for each class of 'low - medium - high'.

 

The Vampire Gauntlets make a return with their regular feature. These have traditionally been classed as lower tier. Get in 20 hits and use 'F' key to activate Vampire mode which can restore player health.

 

Quad Shotgun assets no longer exist in 7 Days. It was reliant on M5 additions which are long gone.

Instead, to give the hint of Quad Shells, the sticks of dynamite are placed in such a way to allow 2 to show with the sparkles at the front of the barrels.

Primary fires single shells at a regulated rate (more than the double barrel) while Secondary fires the burst of 4 shells. This was considered a low tier but A21 has increased it to medium tier with the upgrades to the Double Barrel.

 

 

 

The Vulcan is a high powered ranged Gatling type weapon and is high tier. It still requires a little work for attachment features. Access to Unity to understand the pathways will be necessary to seek out new locations of .fbx assets.

 

Until the new locations can be found to ensure certain things don't show, it will look a little scrappy.

 

Loot Re-balance

With new additions and extended play testing comes re-balance. In this test with Boss Loot, the results are as follows:

 

20 Boss Loot Bags returned 1 Server Side Weapon Durability Mod.

 

The bags seen in the above image relate to the next test.

37 Boss Loot Bags returned 1 Green and 1 Red Ticket. This will provide the chance to get a high probability of a low tier Server Side Weapon at a higher Quality Tier from the Loot Box Machine for the Green Ticket. The Red Ticket will provide the chance to get a high probability for a medium Tier Server Side Weapon and some chance for a high Tier weapon. As Tickets move to Red and Purple, the chance of seeing a low Tier weapon greatly diminishes. In contrast, a Green, and Yellow ticket are pretty proportional in the opposite scale of things with weighting very much on low to medium.

 

 

The ratios for the Loot Box are currently:

Green - 80% Low / 16% Medium / 4% High

Yellow - 60% Low / 30% Medium / 10% High

Red - 10% Low / 50% Medium / 40% High

Purple - 4% Low / 16% Medium / 80% High

 

Loot weightings and balance will take time but these 12 weapons are good for now and no more updates will be required beyond bug checking and clear imbalances.

Additional Updates:

- The selling price of Server Side Weapons has been decreased to reflect A21 buy/sell ratio values and to ensure the value is more on the weapon functionality and not the economics of it. The goal of this mod from the outset was to create a collection with ever increasing Quality across all tiers.

 

- Descriptions for the Bag Mod and Rabbit Hat Mod ensure players are familiar with potential bugs.

The Bag Mod does not remove until a player leaves the server as the buff is not working. It works for all other Mods of this nature.

The Rabbit Mod causes vehicle instability when sitting as a passenger. This is notable in flying vehicles. The description warns players to remove it when entering a vehicle as a passenger. This will also require a visit in Unity to see if there is a static version of the rabbit.

Edited July 24, 2023 by arramus (see edit history)

[arramus]

For those that prefer a more visual understanding of how the Tickets have a dynamic edge about them when switched out in the Loot Box Machine.

 

Loot Box Slime Chart

See how the slime slides and pushes back and forth between the Tiers. It's a bit like that.

[MrSamuelAdams]

This all looks fantastic. Can't wait to test it out! 

[arramus]

There will continue to be some testing with the safes and treasure chest as they haven't been given sufficient testing yet. They have the best looting potential since weapons can also be found there. The loot bags are all about the tickets and are looking very reasonable now. A player/group should find something worthy during a Horde Night but it will certainly take a lot of bags unless good luck is involved.

[arramus]

Just tested a Day 35 Horde Night. I could snap up about 25 loot bags of mixed type and received a single Weapon Maintenance Mod.

 

Just the single Mod alone from all that is going to save a heap of maintenance on a primary weapon and for this stage of things all good there. Another player would have got lucky and picket up a ticket or two, and my turn will come. As loot bag drops increase over time, that will also increase the ticket potential.

 

For Day 35, it was better to be on the low side and allow Server Admin to increase to suit their preferences. Just getting that single Mod was a hint of things to come.

 

This test was on a dedicated server and an opportunity to see how things were comparing to a very controlled SP test. The result was comparable since the Weapon Maintenance Mod has higher chance to appear than Tickets. One result of having to fill the group a little to calm the Tickets appearing too often is a little more junk in an extra slot on the loot bags. Junk such as ammo related specifically to small, medium and large group for yellow, blue and orange loot bags ^^, an extra book here and there, and regular random stuff. The balance was there and regulated to A21 values, which changed quite a lot from how previous Alphas handled things.

 

Feedback on this will be very helpful but if this SP test and a dedicated server test were anything to go by, it's looking reasonable where  tickets are very much the exception and not the norm. It will be quite something on a community server when the first player in a party is the lucky one to have a ticket when they clean up the loot bags.

[AndrewT]

hope to see the railgun soon as khaines behemoth modlet has been fixed for A21 and the railgun is the most effective especially with headshots

[arramus]

Sorry but there was no intention to add the railgun. Base entity damage was 300 and with headshot and other skill accumulators, it was a bit too much in testing for A21. Since the UMA type Juggernaut and friends with their very high HP can no longer be added, the railgun was pretty much instakill even with body hits for what remains. Since the Zeus is practically identical in many regards and remains at an equally, but more forgiving high of 200, it allows body shots to be heavily damaging but not always instakill. I hear what you're saying about the Behemoth at 5000 HP and this was very much of high level Snukin Zombie level. It is still possible to release the Railgun as a stand alone Modlet without changing any of its settings beyond the needed updates for A21.

[arramus]

The Railgun has been added to the Server Side Weapons download area as a stand alone option modlet.

 

In the days of the Juggernaut, it was viable. Since the entity mod it was made for has brought the HP down to levels just above default, it is a touch too much.

It is there and optional for those who want that.

 

Railgun

This weapon can be made from Level 75 of the Rifles Crafting Track. It can be made to Quality 6 at Level 100 in increments from 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, and 100. It cannot be found in loot, and is not available from the Loot Box Machine. It remains as close to the A20 version as possible, and apart from re-calibrating aiming sights, it stay true to form.

 

It can take a scope, if you really need one.

 

One shotting a Demolisher.

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by arramus (see edit history)

[AndrewT]

much appreciated for the railguns return