Are the screamers unbalanced? (Mostly annoying and useless)

[Unamelable]

I don't understand the concept of screamers that only get caught in specific instances, and they are not a common enemy. They spawn in places where the player has hotness right? The problem is that early game player is forced to use torches/candles at the base, also we have forges that also give off heat. It would seem to find a modifier for the helmet flashlight and don't use the usual light sources.

 

But can someone tell me why the hell screamers spawns from the action of the drill? Especially the frequency of their spawns is much higher than from forges. I could understand if screamers were a common enemy in mission. It would make sense and not raise questions about their existence in this game. Moreover, the screamers sometimes spawn too close, I've had more than once situations where screamers spawned inside traps, inside my walls. What prevented them from spawning at the end of the LOD to avoid this behavior? 

 

Moreover, in concept screamers remind me of snitchers from Back 4 Blood. Except that in Back 4 Blood they had a clear division between "Normal/Momentary" where in the latter case killing them was guaranteed to summon a horde. In the case of the Screamers in 7DTD, it's whether you kill them in time. Or you ignore them. They almost always summon a horde no matter what. Which is why this type of enemy instead of being fair to the player and having good specialization. Becomes a nightmare that is a pain in your ass. I personally turned the hell off their spavn because their concept doesn't work and doesn't let you focus on the target. Plus they don't show up in normal missions and just @%$# your brains out.

 

And as a result we have the most annoying creature that only causes rejection from how poorly it is embodied in the gameplay. If there will be a rework of ZM NPCs, the first thing the developers should pay attention to is the screamer

[Riamus]

2 minutes ago, Unamelable said:

I don't understand the concept of screamers that only get caught in specific instances, and they are not a common enemy. They spawn in places where the player has hotness right? The problem is that early game player is forced to use torches/candles at the base, also we have forges that also give off heat. It would seem to find a modifier for the helmet flashlight and don't use the usual light sources.

 

But can someone tell me why the hell screamers spawns from the action of the drill? Especially the frequency of their spawns is much higher than from forges. I could understand if screamers were a common enemy in mission. It would make sense and not raise questions about their existence in this game. Moreover, the screamers sometimes spawn too close, I've had more than once situations where screamers spawned inside traps, inside my walls. What prevented them from spawning at the end of the LOD to avoid this behavior? 

 

Moreover, in concept screamers remind me of snitchers from Back 4 Blood. Except that in Back 4 Blood they had a clear division between "Normal/Momentary" where in the latter case killing them was guaranteed to summon a horde. In the case of the Screamers in 7DTD, it's whether you kill them in time. Or you ignore them. They almost always summon a horde no matter what. Which is why this type of enemy instead of being fair to the player and having good specialization. Becomes a nightmare that is a pain in your ass. I personally turned the hell off their spavn because their concept doesn't work and doesn't let you focus on the target. Plus they don't show up in normal missions and just @%$# your brains out.

 

And as a result we have the most annoying creature that only causes rejection from how poorly it is embodied in the gameplay. If there will be a rework of ZM NPCs, the first thing the developers should pay attention to is the screamer

Heat isn't heat as in temperature but as in activity.  The more you do in an area, the higher the "heat" level gets.  So any activity on workbenches will increase the heat map.  All zombies can spawn anywhere that has terrain, including in your base.  If you have only blocks (wood, cobblestone, concrete, steel) covering all the ground, they should not be able to spawn in there.  Besides, they are extremely easy to deal with.  They die easily and if you drop a few turrets around your base, they'll be dead before they ever have a chance to scream.

[8_Hussars]

56 minutes ago, Unamelable said:

I don't understand the concept of screamers that only get caught in specific instances, and they are not a common enemy.

"Heat/Activity" accumulates in a chunk.  When the heat/activity rolls over 100 a screamer is summoned.  If the screamer sees you they "scream" and summon a horde, with an added chance to summon another screamer.  The screamer loop can get real, but in general screamers are trivially easy to deal with.

Workstations, dew collectors, shot gun fire and especially the auger generate "heat/activity" as well as several other sources.   

I find it interesting that you state you don't understand the mechanic; yet based on incorrect assumptions have a "solution" for it.

[Roland]

Screamers are the price to pay if you want to run multiple forges and campfires at once. Live a quiet simple life and you’ll hardly ever see them. Go large with industrial scale production and they will come often. 
 

You know how in Legend Will Smith sprinkled gasoline or maybe bleach around the perimeter of his base to mask the smells and keep a low profile so the mutant vampire zombies wouldn’t find him? It’s kind of the same concept. That’s how he kept the “heat” low.
 

If you make a lot of noise and create lots of activity you will get noticed. 

Edited May 10 by Roland (see edit history)

[Riamus]

One other point... Screamers do show up in normal missions.  They can appear on a couple of ways.  One, they could be part of the POI.  In that case, they don't summon more zombies when they scream.  The other way is again through the heat map.  If you generate enough heat (shotguns and automatic fire are good ways to raise this quickly), they will appear and will summon more zombies.

[zztong]

I see screamers as the zombie that is attracted to conspicuous activity. It seems to take a decent amount of activity (heat) to attract them, so early on in a game they're not really a factor. I kind of like that they're a reason not to bathe a base in torches and candles. I kind of like that they're attracted to workstations.

 

By the time I'm ramping up production of ammo, or whatever, I welcome the experience they bring. I let them scream. I've played on servers where we intentionally set a bunch of campfires alight to attract them, let them scream twice, and have a perpetual horde going as more and more screamers arrive.

 

They're also really easy to avoid by spreading out your workstations. Scatter forges around the town, or similar, so the "heat" doesn't get concentrated in one place and that most of the time those chunks aren't loaded.

 

The quirks about where screamers and zombies spawn are going to be all related to distance from player and distance from bedrolls. That can easily be within walls depending on the size of the base. Large bases are obviously going to suffer more frequently than smaller bases.

[pApA^LeGBa]

Screamers mean extra XP, unless it´s right before blood moon i am happy to see them.

 

Never had any issue with them early game as you don´t need a big base early on and one torch is enough usually.

 

Also they are easy to handle. A moat around the base, 1 deep, 2 wide and full of spikes. No windows on the ground floor. Now they are only a problem for you if you just happen to enter/leave your base when they are there. And that can be avoided if you have a tunnel entrance from a bit further away aswell.

 

 

Edited May 10 by pApA^LeGBa (see edit history)

[Arez]

Big Daddy from Land of the Dead would be a great additional screamer zombie!

[OneManStanding]

Heat (or activity) can be managed, minimising if not eliminating the threat of screamers.

 

My last experience of screamers was when the dev's turned on the heat/activity count for the dew collectors and we had already built nearly twenty of them in our base - believe me: screamer city! But we relocated a batch of them to nearby fields (places not connected to a poi) and we had no problem from then on. In any event, a good few rows of spikes around your base will see the screamer largely kill themselves before they do any harm or summon any zombies -- unless they scream first (ie, see you or maybe hear you).

 

 

 

As for the drill, it's not the drill that's the problem - it generates heat only the moment you start using it, then nothing for as long as you hold the button down. Mining in general is simply one of the most heat/activity-intensive actions you can perform in the game, even if it's with a pick. Especially mining iron! Whereas most other blocks generate heat when destroyed, iron generates heat with each hit. Drilling iron will certainly see your heat/activity just skyrocket.

[Kosmic Kerman]

On 5/10/2024 at 4:32 PM, 8_Hussars said:

"Heat/Activity" accumulates in a chunk.  When the heat/activity rolls over 100 a screamer is summoned.  If the screamer sees you they "scream" and summon a horde, with an added chance to summon another screamer.  The screamer loop can get real, but in general screamers are trivially easy to deal with.

 

I'm pretty sure there is only a percentage chance for a screamer to be summoned once the heatmap hits 100. Fataal reworked the heatmap/screamer mechanic several alphas ago and one of the changes was that screamers were no longer guaranteed spawns once it reached 100. 

[8_Hussars]

50 minutes ago, Kosmic Kerman said:

 

I'm pretty sure there is only a percentage chance for a screamer to be summoned once the heatmap hits 100. Fataal reworked the heatmap/screamer mechanic several alphas ago and one of the changes was that screamers were no longer guaranteed spawns once it reached 100. 

Tx for the clarification.  I must have missed that change.