Version 1.0 (Alpha 22) Dev Diary

[Adam the Waster]

4 minutes ago, Uncle Al said:

I'm completely fine with farming, the effort/reward balance seems fine IF what you do with the rewards (crops) is actually impactful. Which mostly means 'Are you a brawler?' because having a dependable beer supply is really impactful for fist weapon users.

 

The high end food buffs generally disappoint, and I'm surprised they haven't had a balance pass in all the time I've been playing the game (since A19).  The harsh fact is, adding a bonus to flat baseline stamina really doesn't do much. Stamina regen is far more important. Food could do so many useful things, buffing damage resistance or critical injury healing times or whatever, which would make being able to craft the highest tier foods actually feel impactful.

 

The current state of 'read 90 magazines and source varied rare ingredients so you can craft spaghetti, which doesn't really do much that's useful' feels like a let down. It doesn't surprise me that most players seem to just get to meat stew and crank that our for the rest of the game while not really engaging with the rest of the food crafting system at the top end.

Ima make a post in the pimp dreams about buffing food after the gym to discuss about it. 

 

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who focus on results of food rather then.

 

"Mmmm spaghetti" 

[DocRussel]

Yep, I plant 20 corn and 20 potato with 1 point into LOTL and just make meat stew in my single player games.  More than enough food to offset higher healing rates.

[Professor-Pip]

3 hours ago, wolfbain5 said:

Is it intentional that trader progression is no longer bound by trader, doing up to tier 5 unlocks up to tier 5 for everyone: Bob, Jen, all of em? instead of each of them having their own progression?

Yes, this was one of the new features announced during the Dev Streams. It may end up tying into future story mode and/or a reputation feature.

[FramFramson]

1 hour ago, DocRussel said:

For farming to be realistic, one crop harvest would always give one or more seeds but there would be a failure rate on crops, where a planted crop fails to fully grow.  So crop growth would be the variable, not seed drop.  If you really were a novice at farming, the failure rate would be much higher and you lose that seed.

 

Farming has always been pretty silly. Three days? Really?

 

There was a farming mod which gave larger rewards but greatly extended the growing time for plants to compensate. It also added a bit of a minigame where you can fuss over your plants (weeding, etc.) to get better yields but for the most part if you wanted to be lazy plants would still grow at a nominal yield though maybe a few days longer if you neglected them. If that's still functional in 1.0, I think I want to try a playthrough with that mod.

 

Last game I played I just refused to farm and it kept me poorer way longer since I was buying veg from traders - made money a lot tighter and more interesting, and while I was never starving, it did force me to make do with what I had more often, instead of just cranking out stacks and stacks of Meat Stew.

  

5 hours ago, POCKET951 said:

I wonder how many balance changes will be made to the armor set bonuses and various other things through the version 1.0 builds

 

 

I don't know, but if TFP don't rebalance some of the armour stats & bonuses you can bet there will be a mod that will.

 

I'm trying not to be mean, but like... adding stuff like the Preacher Gloves (but they are not the only OP damage add in the new armour system!) and then cranking zombie HP so that everyone is a dummy thicc bullet sponge was really a head-scratcher.

 

I know there's people who love to hate on TFP and I try not to just kneejerk complain, but those values just feel so amateurish, like some kid adding a blatantly OP god bat mod or something. Even acknowledging that this is just an experimental release, I kinda want to know what the hell happened? What talk was there in the office about these changes? How did they come out with these as the nominal results?

 

Edited Monday at 04:15 PM by FramFramson (see edit history)

[Riamus]

1 hour ago, FramFramson said:

I'm trying not to be mean, but like... adding stuff like the Preacher Gloves (but they are not the only OP damage add in the new armour system!) and then cranking zombie HP so that everyone is a dummy thicc bullet sponge was really a head-scratcher.

 

I know there's people who love to hate on TFP and I try not to just kneejerk complain, but those values just feel so amateurish, like some kid adding a blatantly OP god bat mod or something. Even acknowledging that this is just an experimental release, I kinda want to know what the hell happened? What talk was there in the office about these changes? How did they come out with these as the nominal results?

 

I kind of agree with you.  Certain design choices and then approval of those choices just leave you wondering why anyone would make those choices or approve them.  Just look at armor crafting.  No way to know what armor is light, medium, or heavy without clicking each one or memorizing them?  Armor comparisons that only show the bonus stats from the one you highlight and not from the one you're wearing (such as +2 inventory space but not the -2% bartering)?  Or removing co-op related shared progression from a game that is pretty much intended for co-op play?  The last may have been intended to "balance" MP speed of questing but now it's much slower than SP and it is actually very easy to balance any number of players for questing speed without removing co-op shared progression.  These and others, including the wildly varying armor stats, don't feel even remotely polished or even what a good development team would put out there.  They do some great stuff with this game but then you see things like these that feel like they're done by a completely different group with little experience in game development.  I really don't understand it.  Like you, I don't want to criticize them and as I said, they do a great job overall.  But these types of things just leave you scratching your head.  Other design choices that are not liked by a portion of the players but are still well-designed are entirely different.  These things just feel barely thought out or extremely early concept designs or temporary designs rather than finished designs regardless if you like or don't like them.

[unlike them]

I crafted an assasin set, the boots' bonus says "stealth sprint noise -100%" and it does indeed. When I crouch-walk, my stealth meter shows 5, but when I crouch-sprint, it drops to 0. So I'm not sure is it intended or not? Sprinting is more stealthy with these boots?

[seven]

59 minutes ago, Riamus said:

I kind of agree with you.  Certain design choices and then approval of those choices just leave you wondering why anyone would make those choices or approve them.  Just look at armor crafting.  No way to know what armor is light, medium, or heavy without clicking each one or memorizing them?  Armor comparisons that only show the bonus stats from the one you highlight and not from the one you're wearing (such as +2 inventory space but not the -2% bartering)?  Or removing co-op related shared progression from a game that is pretty much intended for co-op play?  The last may have been intended to "balance" MP speed of questing but now it's much slower than SP and it is actually very easy to balance any number of players for questing speed without removing co-op shared progression.  These and others, including the wildly varying armor stats, don't feel even remotely polished or even what a good development team would put out there.  They do some great stuff with this game but then you see things like these that feel like they're done by a completely different group with little experience in game development.  I really don't understand it.  Like you, I don't want to criticize them and as I said, they do a great job overall.  But these types of things just leave you scratching your head.  Other design choices that are not liked by a portion of the players but are still well-designed are entirely different.  These things just feel barely thought out or extremely early concept designs or temporary designs rather than finished designs regardless if you like or don't like them.

 

You can quickly see what the armor classes are on the magazine unlock page. It shows the Light, Medium, Heavy classes and you can hover over each icon to see the name. I also think the bonuses and stats are badly done. Actually, the only thing I can say I like about  the new armor system is you don't have to progress through light -> medium -> heavy anymore. I generally always stick with light or at most medium armor anyway, but people that like heavy will probably be happy.

[Jost Amman]

1 hour ago, unlike them said:

I crafted an assasin set, the boots' bonus says "stealth sprint noise -100%" and it does indeed. When I crouch-walk, my stealth meter shows 5, but when I crouch-sprint, it drops to 0. So I'm not sure is it intended or not? Sprinting is more stealthy with these boots?

Spoiler

 

 

[Riamus]

1 hour ago, seven said:

 

You can quickly see what the armor classes are on the magazine unlock page. It shows the Light, Medium, Heavy classes and you can hover over each icon to see the name. I also think the bonuses and stats are badly done. Actually, the only thing I can say I like about  the new armor system is you don't have to progress through light -> medium -> heavy anymore. I generally always stick with light or at most medium armor anyway, but people that like heavy will probably be happy.

Yes, but you shouldn't have to click on every armor or go to another place to see what it is when deciding what to craft.  It should all be easily available on the crafting screen.  Sorting/grouping by armor class should be a given.  It will become even more of a pain as they add more armors.

 

As far as the progression, it's an odd choice for them.  They are adding progression to the game in other places and yet they remove progression from armor.  It doesn't really make much sense.  I don't know that I like the change even though I normally choose heavy armor but I suppose it really isn't important.

Edited Monday at 08:28 PM by Riamus (see edit history)

[4sheetzngeegles]

@POCKET951

To me the bow doesn't feel that weak. But I also re-enabled the stone spear throw.

 

The reason I don't see it as weak, is I have a primitive bow level 3 that I found.
I don't have to take as many risks as a melee player, so less anguish over infection
or bodily damage. Ive invested 3 points, head shots stun them often, decapitates them,
and removes limbs. The max hits is 4 with well placed shots. Shot one sneak damage, shot
two sneak damage, shot three take down.

 

Hunting just follow the rooster sound or the zombie sound crouch and snipe. Quite often I
one shot zombies if i sneak to the head from a far distance. With a bow you can stealth shot

back up and stealth shot again.

 

Using this technique I have more than enough food, and feathers, and sell the excess meat
to the trader. Patience is the key for POIs, creep slowly, and you are out of sense range, yet you can

tap em to the head.
If they make a waking sound wait then shoot and you can one shot many of the sleepers to the
head, without waking others.

 

Im on day nine, using just my bow, I live in the Ranger Golf Station T3, and just for @%$#z
and giggles, did the Sadie Witch farm it's either level 4.5 or 5 in the burnt biome.

 

Its also great for dispatching the tippy toe dogs that ninja gank you do it from an elevated position.

No I don't get to run and gun like an action hero, but I play dead is dead, so better safe than
dead. The most damage i have taken was falling off a roof.
My armor is the primitive level 5. So even as it is now, it can have deadly results.

[Fisher]

Just a thought.  Might want to prevent wandering sleepers from spawning on the roof.  They walk off the edge and away from the POI.

[jetZeds]

-Bring back clothing, they don't need stats.   It adds depth/atmosphere.

-Magazines need to be toned down slightly.  I had 4 of the perk mags 7/7 by day 8 and a bunch of others at 6/7.

+ I love that bridges can now spawn in RWG. 

+LOVE that burnt zone is back and you can actually see. 

-The new look of the zeds are great except that they are slightly too shiny which makes them slightly cartoony.

I think Nails should be used for crafting crates.  They are easy enough to find early game that you can still make crates to store stuff in before getting a forge.

 

Over all I like 1.0,  just need some TLC tweaks.   

 

[mo'guts]

I was going to wait until stable to play 1.0 but I just don't have the will power, downloading now and absolutely itching to play as it has been far too long. 

[gpcstargate]

JEN and all traders have Been fixed on my games.

 

NOW ... the only real issue I have is the animal are a hit and miss item _ As in ... they are Few to none for the most part ... in 25 game day set at 120 minutes, I have only seen maybe a half a dozen deer ... more chickens than rabbits ... but nothing like the old A21 version of game.

 

Just a thought from ... The OldGamer 

 

Maybe I can find a mod that has an increased for the animal count.

Anyway, Have a good one all.

[jetZeds]

19 minutes ago, gpcstargate said:

JEN and all traders have Been fixed on my games.

 

NOW ... the only real issue I have is the animal are a hit and miss item _ As in ... they are Few to none for the most part ... in 25 game day set at 120 minutes, I have only seen maybe a half a dozen deer ... more chickens than rabbits ... but nothing like the old A21 version of game.

 

Just a thought from ... The OldGamer 

 

Maybe I can find a mod that has an increased for the animal count.

Anyway, Have a good one all.

I'm swimming in meat by day 21.  My main base is in the desert and I'm constantly attacked by wolves and mountain lions.    

60 min/18hr days

loot default

Warrior

xp 100%

offline

 

 

[Syrex]

So far enjoying version 1. Chief complaint, however; the dedicated server seems to be destabilizing as time progresses. Crashes ramping up in frequency, parts of buildings disappearing in a land claimed areas (not structural integrity stuffs) - stuff like that. But -- I am enjoying (aside from that) the flow of the game. I did not partake in A21 so cant compare. 

Edited Tuesday at 07:56 AM by Syrex (see edit history)

[Outlaw_187]

Some others were mentioning structural integrity issues a few pages back. I also have been experiencing such and have had 2 base collapses. 

I don't go all crazy with my builds, just built a 5x5, not solid base. Just with 4 support pillars. Extended the roof, where I live & all my stuff is, out by one block & put up a roof made of bars. 

Collapsed on me twice and no blocks were showing as yellow. 

So then I even put a support in the middle coming up from the ground.

Still collapsed!! 

 

I just kind of wrote it off as I just did something wrong but now that I see others are having issues...there it is.

[Robbing Zombie]

Dunno if already answered, is there going to be changes to creating your own dediserver?

Oh, and gotta hope all them optimizations will help with the massive lags at our base around midnight (currently having fun with joke mod, while waiting for full release). We have way too many lights, forges etc and a massive quarry down to bedrock on the next door property lol. 

[BFT2020]

23 hours ago, Riamus said:

 

I don't know if you can change that with a simple XML mod.  Might be something to ask in the mods forum.

 

 

It isn't (currently) that hard to get the magazines.  Without even trying, in my 2 player game, I had armor magazines completed by day 8.  In my single player game, I'm on day 6 and at level 4 armor.  Again, without trying.  My 2 player game I did a single Crack A Book store and hit mailboxes on my travel routes but don't go out of my way.  On my solo game, I haven't done any Crack A Book stores and still only hit mailboxes on my travel routes.  Armor magazines are probably too abundant right now.

 

That isn't to say that the prices make sense, of course.

For you, armor magazines seemed too abundant.  But you also mentioned in another post that you purposely limit perks at the beginning so as to not dilute your chances to get specific crafting magazines.  Based on that, one could rightly assume that those specific perks that you are concentrating on, you are also advancing a specific attribute very quickly.  So in two playthroughs, you can craft Q6 armor on Day 8 and Q4 on day 6.

 

In comparison, I was 3 magazines shy of crafting Q6 armor when I ended it, but I was at Day 35 - which for me feels right.  If you focus your perk choices on specific crafting trees, then some of those trees are going to go fast.  If TFP makes changes based on your approach to the progression aspect of the game, it will likely affect others.  So changing it to slow down armor in your case could result in Q6 crafting in 24 days, it would also slow down in other cases and I could see myself trying to unlock Q6 armor crafting at Day 90.

[Cruiser]

18 hours ago, Adam the Waster said:

Yeah but I kinda understand what they are going for. Make crops harder but they need to be better. 

 

My main go too is aloe and corn for first aid, potatoes and hops if I do a fortitude playthrough.  Oh and coffee

My main issue with the crops setup, is that I feel it becomes obsolete at one point. you use 5 crops to make 1 seed, and you get 6 crops out of 1 seed. Which I get, since they dont want to flood it with easy food. But as a hobby farmer myself (I grow mostly carrots, peas etc in my own garden), I have a serious issue with potatoes. This is because a real potato, will become a seed, once in the ground, and the amount of potatoes it gives, are reflected by the amount of "eyes" the seetato has (thats the crude way of putting it)
I know, this is one thing I will eventually be able to ignore, but right now, it annoys me 😉
This is totally fine, though I would love it, if it was much more annoying, to make crops, or at least obtain the components to make them.

Now, i also want to point out, with maxed skills all over (server owner decided that should be available, since it is PvE only, with a hard learning curve on zombies) you end up with skills that, once you do high tier infested missions, will return the obnoxiously high reward amount. Not to mention, that they also basically make you into a living god, if your gear is correct (70%+ damage reduction, self heal 1 hp every 6 seconds, AP penetrates zombies and the list goes on).

During a playthrough, my estimate is, that I use about 3 antibiotic pills, 5 band aids and a couple of first aid kits. But I am also the miner/builder for the first 80 levels or so. But my partner doesnt even use double that, as the zombie hunter (he farms houses)
 

19 hours ago, Adam the Waster said:

Crops should produce more and need more useaged for crops. Like better buffs for food..it would encourage more people to grow crops and cook unique food for specific uses. (I'll make a post later about foods) 

 

Medical items. Like herbal painkillers. Weaker but better then nothing, 

crops definately should be harder to make, and require a variety of materials for production. I would suggest a station, specifically unlocked by maxing the farmer skill and should require specific tools, which in turn, should only be accessible through trader quests as a part of the reward system. like a special mission you can take, instead of a special reward (the reward in question, is the one you get for doing X amount of regular quests, but I dont even know if that is humanly possible to setup, without going nuts)
Once you have the station, it also requires certain tools to be installed (like the forge). And dirt... not clay, but dirt blocks.


I may or may not (I defiantely did) have gone off track a few times. I apologize for that 🙂

[Watermelon]

Strange, it's already day 9 after the release of the experimental version, and the build is still the same (b309) where hotfixes?

[Thaledwyn]

Day 30 on insane and we had only greens / ferals during horde night. Working through tier 3 quests now. No rad remover yet 😅.

 

Tier 5 armor complete (armor books come just too fast), just waiting for more books to get better weapons.

[Kosmic Kerman]

3 hours ago, BFT2020 said:

For you, armor magazines seemed too abundant.  But you also mentioned in another post that you purposely limit perks at the beginning so as to not dilute your chances to get specific crafting magazines.  Based on that, one could rightly assume that those specific perks that you are concentrating on, you are also advancing a specific attribute very quickly.  So in two playthroughs, you can craft Q6 armor on Day 8 and Q4 on day 6.

 

In comparison, I was 3 magazines shy of crafting Q6 armor when I ended it, but I was at Day 35 - which for me feels right.  If you focus your perk choices on specific crafting trees, then some of those trees are going to go fast.  If TFP makes changes based on your approach to the progression aspect of the game, it will likely affect others.  So changing it to slow down armor in your case could result in Q6 crafting in 24 days, it would also slow down in other cases and I could see myself trying to unlock Q6 armor crafting at Day 90.

 

And maybe more importantly, if someone's playstyle is to rush to get the bike on day 2-3 and then go hit bookstores, mailboxes, libraries, etc., progression will be much different than someone who just goes through quest progression while taking breaks to mine and build. I've noticed a big difference in my two playthroughs where the only difference was time spent building and mining. In the first playthrough I built a starter base, a horde base, and mined.  In my second playthrough, I built a 2x2 platform next to the trader and put all my storage and crafting on the ground. The difference in progression was noticeable. I'm currently on Day 10 and about to move to the desert. I anticipate that my progression will accelerate quickly as I've already seen multiple book stores and a library in the desert city. But I don't think progression should be balanced around my second playthrough which was optimized for both early questing and for perk allocation. 

 

In my opinion, the game should be balanced around the intended progression. And skill progression will also be heavily RNG dependent. If you end up with good book locations near you early on your progression will skyrocket.  

Edited Tuesday at 01:18 PM by Kosmic Kerman (see edit history)

[XYR0]

 

Here is a clue why armor books are so easy to find for everyone.

[Adam the Waster]

36 minutes ago, XYR0 said:

 

Here is a clue why armor books are so easy to find for everyone.

Yeahhh.... that should change. Each class should have a armor perk..that buffs the armor like light. And lowers weigh like for heavy 

4 hours ago, Cruiser said:

crops definately should be harder to make, and require a variety of materials for production. I would suggest a station, specifically unlocked by maxing the farmer skill and should require specific tools, which in turn, should only be accessible through trader quests as a part of the reward system. like a special mission you can take, instead of a special reward (the reward in question, is the one you get for doing X amount of regular quests, but I dont even know if that is humanly possible to setup, without going nuts)
Once you have the station, it also requires certain tools to be installed (like the forge). And dirt... not clay, 

I think the clay is just too save time. 

 

But the farming I do agree. 5 seeds for 1 is crazy. 

 

I think their should be a book about farming