Alpha 21 - Lightly modded Playthrough Recommendation

[caatalyst]

Just wanted to share my experience having spent a bit of time with A21.

I've got a lot of hours in the game since A15 and I've struggled playing vanilla since A17 due to the progression changes and increased focus on trader quest grinds. 

I feel like I've found a really good sweet spot using mostly quality of life mods and tweaking the game settings. You can actually get a good classic A15/A16 progression feel in A21 with a few world setting changes, rules and modlets in case anyone is hungry for the same time of experience.

 

WORLD SETTINGS

• Difficulty: Nomad (Although you can tweak this to your liking)
• Zombies walk only except on horde night they jog and ferals always run
• Loot abundance (25%) with all loot set to max respawn times or off
• XP Multiplier set to 150% 
• 64 zombies blood moon
• AI Block damage set to 25% for all scenarios
• Drop all on death

MODS

• Ragnars_FovChanger - As minor as this mod may sound it is an absolute game changer when it comes to immersion. It makes the game feel more modern and less like weapons are coming out of your face. (See image below). You may need to tweak this to your preference. I have it set to 60 in the config. Link: 
• 
• SMX Hud / UI - Another QOL mod I cannot play without when playing lightly modded. Looks absolutely fantastic. https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/22
• No Trader Quests - There is where one of hte major balancing issues lies with modern 7D2D. It makes the game way to easy and forces you into a repetitive grind loop where in old alphas you would explore. https://7daystodiemods.com/no-trader-quests/
• Research Station - Allows you to recycle already read magazines https://7daystodiemods.com/research-skill-magazine-crafting-a21/
• Dark Nights - Plays into the horror aspect of the game a lot more for those that want to feel they are in a nightmare https://7daystodiemods.com/dark-nights/
• Whole lot of fog - Same reason as darker nights https://7daystodiemods.com/whole-lotta-fog/
• Item Quality Degradation - Adds a bit more to the progression loop where you need to keep your gear maintained and replace when depleted https://7daystodiemods.com/item-quality-degradation/
• Re-balanced weapons - I've actually modded this a lot myself slowing the default reload speeds down of all ranged weapons 30% but increased the fire rate of some that feel slow. This to me adds a more realistic feel to the game rather than the vanilla arcadey reloads. https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/3153
• Drink Jars Return - Playing without the ability to fill up water from water sources just felt weird... https://7daystodiemods.com/drink-jar-return/
• Imagine better food - This not only rebalances food and drink to make it way more realistic but it also adds in some lovely new thumbnails. The rebalance works well with the 25% loot abundance. Find less food but food is more effective. https://7daystodiemods.com/imagine-better-food/
• Insurgency Weapon Audio - It's not perfect but miles better than currently vanilla weapon audio - https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/3261
• Torch - Helps with performance https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/3287

 

That's about it. 

In terms of gameplay, lowering the loot to minimum abundance, item degradation and combining that with removing trader quests is one of the biggest game changes IMO. This removes the repetitiveness of gameplay and makes each restart feel more unique. It also adds a level of difficulty and slows progression in a positive way.

 

You'll have to go out and explore, loot every POI to acquire loot.

 

These changes combined with the new book system actually feel really good.

I set AI damage to 25% as a more of a immersion / QOL feature. It feels odd how easily zombies can destroy stuff at default settings and its more creepy hearing them hammering away at stuff for longer periods of time outside.

 

Only things I wish we did have in vanilla or available as mods:

 

• A balanced action skill system that replaces a lot of the performance perks
• Item quality 0-600 like before which worked nicer with degradation
• Ability to upgrade / reinforce doors and hatches like before
• Wet concrete / polished steel  - The classic block progression
• No crosshair option
• Flashlights require batteries and / or degrade.
• Flashlights have tighter cones but are much brighter which would add to the horror aspect of the game
• More types of flashlights with different brightness cones
• Options to make different types of weather types more common. I prefer to play with fog and rain all the time to make the world feel more creepy.

Hope that helps anyone looking for a more immersive, classic 7D2D play through.

Edited August 22, 2023 by caatalyst (see edit history)