How are you dealing with the increased chance of spawning a screamer?

[pApA^LeGBa]

50 minutes ago, Roland said:

 

You misunderstand me. I'm not trying to convince anyone that they can act as a replacement. I'm just surprised that people complain about any mechanism that brings more zombies into the game. If people get fatigued fighting zombies that are brought in by a few rounds of screamers what makes them think they would enjoy any game that has environmental zombies standing and wandering around everywhere? You would arrive at a location and get swarmed by dozens and dozens of zombies every single time-- just like you get swarmed intermittently by screamer hordes.

 

I agree with a slider for such things, btw. I already do slide it now by changing values in the xml.

 

I doubt those are the same people tbh. I didn´t check their post history though...

[GigglingZombie]

I have to go with the "it's a fantastic mechanic" line of thinking; yes it can get too much sometimes but this is a zombie apocalypse after all; it is taking time getting used to have them attacking your home when you're not there, as you can potentially return to big piles of rubble and all your stuff gone; however i just have to invest more time into making home more resilient and stronger ; definitely makes the initial 7 days much more tricky and they seem to be able to summon hordes simply by murmering instead of full-on screams but all in all i love the screamers. 

 

In regards to 'towns and cities are still empty of zombies' it does sometimes feel like there's a reduction if the environmental zombies in v1.0 and even though there seemed (to me) to be more environmental zombies in Alpha 21, even if Alpha 21 i added KhaineGB's Wandering Horde Frequency mod;  i've used this is quite a few A21 playthroughs now and a few times in v1.0 and just noticed he has a v1.0-specific version of the mod, i'm still using the A21 mod in v1.0 so i will check out the new version tonight

[Suxar]

On 7/27/2024 at 1:54 AM, pahbi said:

Make your base on a tall building, and make a long winding set of stairs that path into your crafting area.  Line the stairs with wood spikes.  Then make a non spike shortcut for you to enter the base that zombies can't path through.

 

Early game to mid game, screamers will path up the stairs with spikes and usually die before they reach the top.

 

I usually use a drawbridge at the entrance.

Edited July 29 by Suxar (see edit history)

[warmer]

I feel like I must be doing something wrong, because I haven't had a single screamer except a POI.

 

I had 17 campfires lit for a good ten minutes trying to kite zeds over them to try and light them on fire and they never caught flame. Neither did a screamer show up and my heat would have been climbing super fast with 17 campfires lit.

Edited July 29 by warmer (see edit history)

[RipClaw]

1 minute ago, warmer said:

I feel like I must be doing something wrong, because I haven't had a single screamer except a POI.

 

I had 17 campfires lit for a good ten minutes trying to kite zeds over them to try and light them on fire and they never caught flame. Neither did a screamer show up and my heat would have been climbing super fast with 17 campfires lit.

Screamers spawn more often but not as consistently. The chance of a screamer spawning is 20% as opposed to the 70% previously. On the other hand, a screamer can spawn already at 25% heat.

 

Yesterday, for example, I had 3 screamers spawn just because of the heat generated by my 4 dew collectors. On other days I can run my full production and nothing happens.

 

[SylenThunder]

IMHO, I like that is back to more like it used to be. A21 was extremely boring with getting hardly any screamers. 

 

I do see more often that I am getting two scouts in the initial trigger than one, but they aren't any harder to deal with than they were previously. 

[Krougal]

On 7/28/2024 at 5:59 AM, pApA^LeGBa said:

Same as before. A moat 1 deep and 3 wide filled with spikes and the wall of my base  with no windows on the ground floor so they can´t see you. If you want to be really cautious you can dig a a tunnel entrance that leads outside their spawn radius so they can´t catch you when entering or leaving your base.

 

Don´t mind them when not in my base.

 

@Roland I am here. World is still empty. We need the slider for spawn percentage back. Screamers do not solve that problem. The towns and cities are still empty af when you go trough them.

 

A screamer horde is not the same as a more populated world. Not even close.

 

Yeah, this.

 

In the old days when you had to clear a town BEFORE you started clearing POIs, when they weren't POIs but merely buildings the world felt populated.

 

The screamers still don't do it. Even the wandering hordes don't really do it since they are so hit or miss.

 

My first 1.0 screamer experience at a radio station (t2 power/clear quest) that I was wrenching the consoles and most everything else. My only weapon for clearing was a wooden club, so the heat had to be all from salvaging. I heard the screamers outside, 2 of them hugging the wall. 1 was @%$#ing off somewhere nearby. So horde started coming, it was night still, but I was done anyway and not far from base. I rode home hoping they would give chase, but they seemed locked on the spot they were called in. Even though it was only a couple chunks away, it was far enough for them to de-spawn. 

 

Now of course I am getting them at home frequently. Doesn't bother me since my craft base is still a horde base. Their behavior is odd though. They don't scream a lot of the time, even though they obviously triggered. I've also gotten stealth kills and yet still have them scream and trigger. The feedback is not very good when it is inconsistent like this.

 

I still don't understand why they don't spawn in singles or spread out so that the people who don't want to deal with the hordes at least have a decent chance of neutralizing them. I mean when I'm at home sure, it's free xp and it breaks up the monotony and loneliness. On a mission, they are an unneeded distraction, especially since you need to finish a mission once you start it.

 

Oh, and my base heat gen is nothing extreme. Right now I've got 2 campfires, 1 forge, 1 workbench, 1 dew collector, 3 torches. Forge tends to run fulltime, campfires and workbench not so much.

Edited July 29 by Krougal (see edit history)

[OneManStanding]

My most recent experience with screamers has been mining all the iron I need to make steel for a range of high quality stuff. I mine an amount in the ~2000 range and then leave the area to cool. Returned to the spot a little later -- and there were TWO tell-tale single-square horizontal pits dug on either side of my mine hole. Clearly screamers had spawned, come to the heat source, dug down and then despawned.

 

It's a little ... disconcerting.

[RipClaw]

16 hours ago, SylenThunder said:

IMHO, I like that is back to more like it used to be. A21 was extremely boring with getting hardly any screamers. 

I'd rather be bored than constantly annoyed.

[seven]

So, I did a bit of experimenting. TLDR, Screamers don't need to see or hear you to scream and call in more zombies.

 

First experiment I put my character in a sealed room, all concrete blocks, no doors or windows. No discoverable path. I had 6 campfires going (with 6 you hit 25+ every event cycle). Two screamers spawned. One spawned inside a vehicle and eventually blew herself up trying to beat her way out. The other never left wander mode and after some time despawned.

 

Second experiment, I added an entry tunnel with 3 steel doors. When 2 screamers spawned they saw that as a path and went to investigate. My character wasn't moving (in debug with detached camera) so no noise, and no line of sight and yet there was a scream and more zombies spawned in. They all came and banged on the doors. After some time they all gave up and changed to wander mode. My character made some noise by opening and closing the innermost door, and a screamer summoned 2 more screamers. Again, they all banged on the doors for a while but eventually gave up and went back to wander mode.

 

So, the summary is screamers don't need line of sight to scream and summon her minions. Perhaps they don't give up so quickly if they see you though. Maybe another experiment.

[OneManStanding]

A few more sessions in and I'm finding this a little more awkward to deal with, less of a challenge and a little more of an annoyance. Previously, I appreciated the general rule that if you were being industrious then you best be on the lookout for screamers -- but that was like horde base construction and large quantities of ammo. Currently even one campfire has a chance to summon a screamer it would seem -- all I was doing was making 20 mineral water.

 

Previously I felt confident in running two campfires - one for food, one for water - or one campfire and either a forge, a chem station, or work bench. Or leaving either of them alone for a big singular job and going off to do a big quest. But I feel I need to almost babysit my base more.

 

I'll probably feel happier once someone breaks down the new rules more, but I'm beginning to find screamers a little too easily triggered. 

[Riamus]

10 minutes ago, OneManStanding said:

A few more sessions in and I'm finding this a little more awkward to deal with, less of a challenge and a little more of an annoyance. Previously, I appreciated the general rule that if you were being industrious then you best be on the lookout for screamers -- but that was like horde base construction and large quantities of ammo. Currently even one campfire has a chance to summon a screamer it would seem -- all I was doing was making 20 mineral water.

 

Previously I felt confident in running two campfires - one for food, one for water - or one campfire and either a forge, a chem station, or work bench. Or leaving either of them alone for a big singular job and going off to do a big quest. But I feel I need to almost babysit my base more.

 

I'll probably feel happier once someone breaks down the new rules more, but I'm beginning to find screamers a little too easily triggered. 

Note that the screamers may be there when you return, but they aren't there while you are gone because the chunks are not loaded.  If you see them when you return, they probably spawned as those chunks loaded ahead of you.  So you don't have to worry about them destroying your base while you are gone.  At least not unless you are questing closer enough to your base that the chunks are still loaded.

[theFlu]

24 minutes ago, Riamus said:

At least not unless you are questing closer enough to your base that the chunks are still loaded.

Hmm, I'm thinking vehicles might keep a chunk loaded, but I'm not sure at all (if a thing / a bug / something else...).

[Riamus]

On 7/30/2024 at 6:15 PM, theFlu said:

Hmm, I'm thinking vehicles might keep a chunk loaded, but I'm not sure at all (if a thing / a bug / something else...).

I didn't think it is supposed to.  And if it did, with running forges non-stop with hundreds of wood in each, not to mention other heat sources, my base should be Swiss cheese as I always have vehicles at the base.

Edited August 4 by Riamus (see edit history)

[Rotor]

Let's hope someone makes a screener delete mod.

[Suxar]

10 hours ago, OneManStanding said:

A few more sessions in and I'm finding this a little more awkward to deal with, less of a challenge and a little more of an annoyance. Previously, I appreciated the general rule that if you were being industrious then you best be on the lookout for screamers -- but that was like horde base construction and large quantities of ammo. Currently even one campfire has a chance to summon a screamer it would seem -- all I was doing was making 20 mineral water.

 

Previously I felt confident in running two campfires - one for food, one for water - or one campfire and either a forge, a chem station, or work bench. Or leaving either of them alone for a big singular job and going off to do a big quest. But I feel I need to almost babysit my base more.

 

I'll probably feel happier once someone breaks down the new rules more, but I'm beginning to find screamers a little too easily triggered. 

On the one hand, the screamers began to come with less warmth. On the other hand, they added a pause when appearing.
With a large number of forges before, I could not normally work on my base; I had a constant war. Now they have arrived, I killed them and I know that no one will bother me in the next 10 minutes.

[InfiniteWarrior]

By getting rid of them altogether until a better solution comes along.

[GigglingZombie]

Screamers are tame pussycats compared to the dire wolves on horde night and in a random wandering horde, surprised nobody has started threads on dire wolves (not saying i don't like the dire wolves, just saying if you see one, get the hell out of there !) 

[RipClaw]

25 minutes ago, GigglingZombie said:

Screamers are tame pussycats compared to the dire wolves on horde night and in a random wandering horde, surprised nobody has started threads on dire wolves (not saying i don't like the dire wolves, just saying if you see one, get the hell out of there !) 

The danger of screamers is not the screamers themselves, but that they can spawn other screamers. And the resulting hordes can become very nasty.

 

[GigglingZombie]

I know, but for me personally, one of the best parts of this game is the screamers; yes they can be disruptive and destructive, as can resulting mayhem, but (again for me) the games just wouldn't be the same without screamers

[RipClaw]

9 minutes ago, GigglingZombie said:

I know, but for me personally, one of the best parts of this game is the screamers; yes they can be disruptive and destructive, as can resulting mayhem, but (again for me) the games just wouldn't be the same without screamers

I find them quite annoying. They're like the coworker who distracts everyone else from doing their job.

 

[GigglingZombie]

Maybe part of it is that i am one of those people who likes to distract others (with humour, nothing else) from doing their job ; i just couldn't imagine the game without screamers. yes they seem more troublesome than in A21 (especially when the screamers are radiated) but i still wouldn't change it

[Suxar]

1 hour ago, GigglingZombie said:

Screamers are tame pussycats compared to the dire wolves on horde night and in a random wandering horde, surprised nobody has started threads on dire wolves (not saying i don't like the dire wolves, just saying if you see one, get the hell out of there !) 

Direwolf is simply an ingredient for Hobo Stew. He is easily killed. And screamers can call other screamers, and then some more, and so on.

[GigglingZombie]

I hear you both, i've had waves upon waves of screamers and their resultant chaos; plus a few times now, waves upon waves right after a horde night has just finished. plus i use KhaineGB's Wandering Horde mod so i sometimes think i'm in a real life zombie apocalypse; such intense fighting/deaths in some games i do find irritating (example - i had to stop playing Conan Exiles as i could never stop dying) but in 7 Days i love the pressure and don't mind how much hassle it causes or how many times i die

Edited August 2 by GigglingZombie (see edit history)

[ElCabong]

I used my workstation a lot and my forge just a little bit this morning and spawned four screamers. FOUR!

 

At least they had the decency to wait until my tier 6 smg was finished before spawning.