Is it time for screamers to be removed?

[pApA^LeGBa]

The thing is that removing the screamer and/or replacing it with wandering hordes would make your base an absolute safe space. Yes, wandering hordes might spawn when you are at your base, but that won´t happen too often. Unless they are way more frequently than now, but then your problem stays the same, you will still get hordes when doing quests.

 

That said, a rework of the mechanic couldn´t hurt. Right now a moat, 1 deep and 3 wide filled with spikes and no windows on the ground floor is enough to make sure you only get a screamer horde when you are unlucky entering/leaving the base or repairing the spikes. In theory it´s possible to never get a screamer horde at home ever if you want to go all the way for home safety. Make a tunnel entrance that you enter outside of the screamer spawn zone And if you need to repair spikes you turn off the heat sources.

 

Snow/Wasteland infestation quests and a screamer or two showing up are fun though.

Edited July 14 by pApA^LeGBa (see edit history)

[Bhaaltazar]

Personally I would prefer we get big roaming hordes - not just few zombies run by.

Secondly I would prefer you attract screamers with running forges, fires etc... and they should keep screeming if you do not get reed of them. There used to be much bigger hordes coming when they came over. The only time it got bit pesky was when you weer mining and they came.

But during this play through I really miss them. Only get a couple here and there if I used shotgun in T5 quests and few when I was burning forges for cement. But mostly I only get them around day 40, they are Rad version but when I let them call horde she mostly calls for bunch of normal Zs and ferals.

[BFT2020]

So far I been loving the screamer changes.  Has made me defend my main base rather than ignoring it and concentrating solely on my horde base.

[Adam the Waster]

4 hours ago, BFT2020 said:

So far I been loving the screamer changes.  Has made me defend my main base rather than ignoring it and concentrating solely on my horde base.

Your making me excited.  I can't wait 

 

I just hope that they add the special zombies like zombie bears and mutated zombies in the hordes and hordenight. 

 

 

[Riamus]

31 minutes ago, Adam the Waster said:

Your making me excited.  I can't wait 

 

I just hope that they add the special zombies like zombie bears and mutated zombies in the hordes and hordenight. 

 

 

The dire wolf is added to horde nights, so there's a chance. 

 

Screamers are easy to deal with - drop a turret on each corner of the base (or each side) and they'll pick off screamers before they scream.  And you won't use much ammo at all.  You should get through 1-2 weeks before even needing to reload if it's not near your horde base.

[Rotor]

19 hours ago, Outlaw_187 said:

It's crazy how random this seems to be.

 

RMGeezus be with all of you. 

 

All HAIL 

[Scyris]

On 7/13/2024 at 11:32 AM, Slingblade2040 said:

So idk what kind of changes this update did but screamers spawning like crazy is back again. Having so many spawn during a quest POI especially the infestations makes them even more annoying to do since the dang screamer horde usually ends up spawning so many mobs that it kills the FPS. 

 

Personally I hate them and would love for an option to either turn them off or on. Another option which I prefer is more frequent and larger roaming hordes. 

 

Skill issue, learn how to manage heat. Crouching makes guns produce less heat per shot, you can also stack this with a silencer assuming this feature is still in 1.0 anyway. I believe with both at once guns only generate ~30% of the heat they normally would. Which means 2-3 times as many shots before a screamer can show up. If your standing and shooting your doing it way wrong with how the heatmap works, as silly as it sounds its the truth, I never get screamers even in t5 clears, as I manage my heat properly. Granted I feel that screamers should be removed with the health things have in 1.0, as half the gun types are basically worthless once you have all ferals, about the only good ones is Shotgun and automatics. All the rest? pretty much worthless as they have too low damage and/or to low magazine size to be of use vs how much health things have. Guns IMO need to do a hell of alot more damage than they currently do, as most guns feel like pea shooters. Only gun that feels like it has some decent stopping power is a shotgun, and speaking of shotguns what the hell is with the effective range of 2-4? It should be more than double that, People hunt things irl from 50 meters away with shotgun buckshot, and can land solid hits. As a whole though gun damage needs to be increased by 50-100% across the board. Melee needs a buff too, as melee is basically worthless in 1.0 once your at the feral stage. Just does too little damage for too much risk.

Edited July 15 by Scyris (see edit history)

[zombiehunter]

I just did a Crack a Book on Day 19 in the snow biome.  I'm doing an Agility build so I only had a knife and a pistol.  I had to use the pistol because I was getting ferals and rads and before I even cleared the first room I had screamers.  I have noticed that they come in pairs now and they are radiated.  I've even had that happen at my base....two radiated screamers at a time.

 

They definitely changed the heat settings so that screamers spawn much easier now.  In A21 and before, you could go through a POI with guns blazing and never get screamers, unless it was a T5.

[Slingblade2040]

5 hours ago, Scyris said:

 

Skill issue, learn how to manage heat. Crouching makes guns produce less heat per shot, you can also stack this with a silencer assuming this feature is still in 1.0 anyway. I believe with both at once guns only generate ~30% of the heat they normally would. Which means 2-3 times as many shots before a screamer can show up. If your standing and shooting your doing it way wrong with how the heatmap works, as silly as it sounds its the truth, I never get screamers even in t5 clears, as I manage my heat properly. Granted I feel that screamers should be removed with the health things have in 1.0, as half the gun types are basically worthless once you have all ferals, about the only good ones is Shotgun and automatics. All the rest? pretty much worthless as they have too low damage and/or to low magazine size to be of use vs how much health things have. Guns IMO need to do a hell of alot more damage than they currently do, as most guns feel like pea shooters. Only gun that feels like it has some decent stopping power is a shotgun, and speaking of shotguns what the hell is with the effective range of 2-4? It should be more than double that, People hunt things irl from 50 meters away with shotgun buckshot, and can land solid hits. As a whole though gun damage needs to be increased by 50-100% across the board. Melee needs a buff too, as melee is basically worthless in 1.0 once your at the feral stage. Just does too little damage for too much risk.

You can't really manage heat doing tier 5 or 6 infestations especiallyif its at certain PoIs. The base heat generation spawning in 1 is fine. 

 

It's one thing to have a screamer spawn in because of heat it's another to make an artificial blood moon horde because screamers spawn in other screamers which spawn in more.

 

The screamer mechanic needs a rework. If anything they shouldn't be able to spawn in more screamers.

[Riamus]

2 hours ago, Slingblade2040 said:

You can't really manage heat doing tier 5 or 6 infestations especiallyif its at certain PoIs. The base heat generation spawning in 1 is fine. 

 

It's one thing to have a screamer spawn in because of heat it's another to make an artificial blood moon horde because screamers spawn in other screamers which spawn in more.

 

The screamer mechanic needs a rework. If anything they shouldn't be able to spawn in more screamers.

You can if you use melee.  I gave up on guns a long time ago except if I run into trouble.  It's more fun with melee, especially in the high level POIs.  The side effect is no screamers.

[Ray Garraty]

https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/5365?tab=description

[TWORDY]

On 7/15/2024 at 11:46 AM, Scyris said:

 

Skill issue, learn how to manage heat. Crouching makes guns produce less heat per shot, you can also stack this with a silencer assuming this feature is still in 1.0 anyway. I believe with both at once guns only generate ~30% of the heat they normally would. Which means 2-3 times as many shots before a screamer can show up. If your standing and shooting your doing it way wrong with how the heatmap works, as silly as it sounds its the truth, I never get screamers even in t5 clears, as I manage my heat properly. Granted I feel that screamers should be removed with the health things have in 1.0, as half the gun types are basically worthless once you have all ferals, about the only good ones is Shotgun and automatics. All the rest? pretty much worthless as they have too low damage and/or to low magazine size to be of use vs how much health things have. Guns IMO need to do a hell of alot more damage than they currently do, as most guns feel like pea shooters. Only gun that feels like it has some decent stopping power is a shotgun, and speaking of shotguns what the hell is with the effective range of 2-4? It should be more than double that, People hunt things irl from 50 meters away with shotgun buckshot, and can land solid hits. As a whole though gun damage needs to be increased by 50-100% across the board. Melee needs a buff too, as melee is basically worthless in 1.0 once your at the feral stage. Just does too little damage for too much risk.

 

Ohh, so now I get it why I had a screamer in tier 3 POI while clearing it with 3 other mates... too many gun sprays. I wouldn`t say that a screamer is a skill issue... framerate drops and stuttering kicks in when too many zeds are being woken up by 3 other party members. Screamer on top of another approaching screamer is an emanation of the heat issue.

 

Honestly, I have a feeling of being in a serious disadvantage with Perception and Intelligence perk in open areas, especially in a 4 player party squad. Sniper Rifle sucks and doesn`t have a separate class of ammo that would reflect higher cost and effectiveness with a slow rate of fire. When hordes of greens and ferals show up only automatics, shotguns, and perhaps SMGs are being left as a final solution to a problem 😅. Intelect should have a flamethrower or Plasma Welding gun as a range weapon. Melee is not a solution to 15 running and constantly spawning zeds.

 

Solo is not a problem but it is clear in co-op parties that some of the classes do not hold up to a task or against hectic situations with lots of zeds in the area.

[DatDamnDutchie]

On 7/14/2024 at 7:51 AM, Outlaw_187 said:

It's crazy how random this seems to be. Now I haven't played b316-317 yet so now sure if it changed here. 

 

I'm on day 19 on b313. I have everything running, chem station, camp fire, forge, cement mixer, and 1 dew collector going. I do all this at night while I wait for morning to go out & about. 

I have yet to spawn a screamer. However in past builds, I have had screamer issues & yes it can be a bit much but it does add to the excitement/danger factor. 

We are on day 130 on our server and have not seen a single screamer

[Riamus]

5 hours ago, TWORDY said:

 

Ohh, so now I get it why I had a screamer in tier 3 POI while clearing it with 3 other mates... too many gun sprays. I wouldn`t say that a screamer is a skill issue... framerate drops and stuttering kicks in when too many zeds are being woken up by 3 other party members. Screamer on top of another approaching screamer is an emanation of the heat issue.

 

Honestly, I have a feeling of being in a serious disadvantage with Perception and Intelligence perk in open areas, especially in a 4 player party squad. Sniper Rifle sucks and doesn`t have a separate class of ammo that would reflect higher cost and effectiveness with a slow rate of fire. When hordes of greens and ferals show up only automatics, shotguns, and perhaps SMGs are being left as a final solution to a problem 😅. Intelect should have a flamethrower or Plasma Welding gun as a range weapon. Melee is not a solution to 15 running and constantly spawning zeds.

 

Solo is not a problem but it is clear in co-op parties that some of the classes do not hold up to a task or against hectic situations with lots of zeds in the area.

I use a spear almost exclusively in the game except for horde nights.  A gun is only backup is needed.  Even with many feral and radiated zombies, it isn't hard to control them.  You just need a corridor of some sort to keep them in front of you and max books so you have stamina regen on kill and the ability to hit multiple zombies at once.  I backed into a cell in the loot room of the tier 5 jail where I was trapped but used that to kill everything with the spear.  And there were a LOT of wights.

 

The only thing that is a struggle are the spider zombies as they force you to attack toward the ground and that lets the rest charge in. 

 

This is probably why I never see screamers.  Since I don't shoot up the place, I don't generate much heat.

[Outlaw_187]

Same here, I only use guns when absolutely necessary. I'm a knife/machete user myself. I like dual purpose items to kill & harvest with so as to not waste inventory space because I am a hoarder when it comes to this game. 

 

I even ditch the bow & arrows once I have a decent firearm to free up two additional inventory spots.

 

Sneak be damned....I'm coming in loud & proud!! 🤘

[Scyris]

7 hours ago, TWORDY said:

 

Ohh, so now I get it why I had a screamer in tier 3 POI while clearing it with 3 other mates... too many gun sprays. I wouldn`t say that a screamer is a skill issue... framerate drops and stuttering kicks in when too many zeds are being woken up by 3 other party members. Screamer on top of another approaching screamer is an emanation of the heat issue.

 

Honestly, I have a feeling of being in a serious disadvantage with Perception and Intelligence perk in open areas, especially in a 4 player party squad. Sniper Rifle sucks and doesn`t have a separate class of ammo that would reflect higher cost and effectiveness with a slow rate of fire. When hordes of greens and ferals show up only automatics, shotguns, and perhaps SMGs are being left as a final solution to a problem 😅. Intelect should have a flamethrower or Plasma Welding gun as a range weapon. Melee is not a solution to 15 running and constantly spawning zeds.

 

Solo is not a problem but it is clear in co-op parties that some of the classes do not hold up to a task or against hectic situations with lots of zeds in the area.

 

Well the guns are honestly way to weak to deal with the hp things have later on. They need a 50-100% damage boost at a minimum, melee needs a fairly big damage buff as well. The game combat balance is completly crap atm, enemies have WAY more hp but none of the weapons were buffed to deal with it.

[crimson_binome]

too many screamers. simply upgrading my base and a screamer spawns. and another. and another. also zombies are now able to easily break cobblestone walls. not sure how to get through horde night untill i get a cement mixer.

[Riamus]

Well, I finally had screamers show up.  First as soon as I loaded the game, 2 radiated screams appear and call in reinforcements.  Then right before I exited the game, 2 more radiated screamers showed up and called in reinforcements, including another radiated screamer.  Maybe it is a bit much now.  At least it should only have 1 screamer to begin with and then a chance of another being called.  Right now, it starts with 2.

 

Not a big deal really.  I'll have to put up some guns to deal with them.  But still a little overkill.

[pApA^LeGBa]

1 hour ago, Riamus said:

Well, I finally had screamers show up.  First as soon as I loaded the game, 2 radiated screams appear and call in reinforcements.  Then right before I exited the game, 2 more radiated screamers showed up and called in reinforcements, including another radiated screamer.  Maybe it is a bit much now.  At least it should only have 1 screamer to begin with and then a chance of another being called.  Right now, it starts with 2.

 

Not a big deal really.  I'll have to put up some guns to deal with them.  But still a little overkill.

 

I have 3 dew collectors and i got 3 screamers at once. Nothing else running, no shooting, no using iron/steel tools, no torches. Now i can´t tell about the frequency yet, but that seems a bit over the top.

[SKullcap_GotZ]

Day 4,  ~150 rounds for a tier 1 pipe pistol, ~50 rounds for a tier 4 pipe rifle, tier 2 stone spear, and bone knife. I have been running quest 9/10 but all the quests offered today are over 1.1 km away.   I do some base building around noon after looting a neighbor for leather instead of running a quest.  I show up at my base.  It is on the second floor of an abandoned house with no pathing to the second floor.   I collect water from 4 collectors and toss it into the campfire.    Then built my forge with the leather.   Put down the forge, load in metal and clay, and start 20 minutes of wood.   Immediately I hear screamers.   
My base area is completely enclosed in basic blocks.   No need to panic.   Yet the second scream is a call.   I immediately realized they would not wait.  I leave my base and run around to find the two screamers.   Rifle down one but the second falls into the basement after a few pistol shots.   I catch sight of a third screamer outside of the house.   My path down to the second screamer is blocked by 5 zombies.   I almost get them cleared when another 5 zombies show up.    Screams are coming from multiple directions.   I hear noise from my base behind me.   pop into the base and find three groups of zombies beating through 2 walls.   I start clearing a group and have it down to one zombie before 10 more zombies beat in my door from a third direction.   I am trapped now with 16 zombies coming from 3 directions in a 4x5 room.   One group just destroyed my forge.    I can still hear the screamers the whole time.   
Seems a bit overkill for day 4.  

Edited July 17 by SKullcap_GotZ
grammar (see edit history)

[armidil0]

I get a screamer every single night so far. That's with 2 forges, 2 campfires, 2 dew collectors, and a workbench. Not everything running all the time either. 

 

It's way more than it used to be. I can definitely think of ways to lower my heat generation. I usually grab my water from the dew collectors when I get home so that starts generating heat again, then I cook it and that generates heat, and I turn yesterday's water into glue so that's generating heat, etc. I like my routine though, and I wouldn't know what to do without my screamer showing up every night now. I've gotten used to it. 

[OneManStanding]

Okay -- I made a previous comment where I said screamers were a part of the game and all that, but I hadn't experienced the higher level quests in the current version. Up to this point I had managed my heat easily enough and only summoned a screamer when I had to destroy an iron shed next to my HQ, but I expected that. However, I need firearms if I'm to keep going on quests because there's so many irradiated -- and seemingly firing off just ONE magazine of a silenced AK47 was enough to bring down a screamer on me.

 

I've blasted my way through infested missions in A21 and though we got screamers it was never that quick. Has something changed in the way heat is generated?

[8_Hussars]

On 7/16/2024 at 2:06 PM, Scyris said:

 

Well the guns are honestly way to weak to deal with the hp things have later on. They need a 50-100% damage boost at a minimum, melee needs a fairly big damage buff as well. The game combat balance is completly crap atm, enemies have WAY more hp but none of the weapons were buffed to deal with it.

The weapons were not buffed because the armor (and set bonuses) were...  They make the difference.

(current play through an Unspec'd Auto-Shotgun is still clearing ferals with one headshot and clearing radiated with 2-3, with the armor bonuses.  Preacher gloves for the win!)   

[Riamus]

1 hour ago, OneManStanding said:

I've blasted my way through infested missions in A21 and though we got screamers it was never that quick. Has something changed in the way heat is generated?

They can trigger every 25% instead of only at 100%.  The chance they trigger is lower but you will seem to get them sooner.  It is more that they are coming in pairs of radiated screamers now.  I rarely saw a radiated screamer before 1.0.  Now it seems like that is all there are.

[onovbuton]

i love the screamers in the game....especially when they spawn more and it gets outa hand real fast.... one of the last good things in this game that is becoming a controlled mess...  the sandbox is dying and the whining redditors are getting their way