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

[Krougal]

3 weeks in A19 and not 1 screamer. 2 forges, 2 campfires, 2 cement mixers running almost 24/7. 

The pimps are like my wife, they don't know how to just adjust the thermostat by a degree or 2, they just fling the dial from 1 end to the other.

 

A19 was very lonely though, although probably because I wasn't traveling far. Although wandering hordes seemed very sparse, luck of the draw I guess.  Having come back to 1.0 It is very noticeable how many more normal spawns there are now (this is a very good thing). 

[edyonline]

Kill em all

[Adam the Waster]

I'm starting to enjoy it most if the time they die in my spikes but after that it's a nice wave defence with my style of base which is kinda like cod zombies 

 

It's ether one side or another 

[Scyris]

On 7/26/2024 at 11:31 AM, zombiehunter said:

Personally, I think the screamers are overdone.  It's too much when you get FOUR radiated screamers all at once.  You basically can't use guns when questing, which is fine until you're doing T5 and T6 quests, when guns are pretty much mandatory to survive.

 

Does anyone know if there is a keyboard command that shows how much heat you are generating?

 

Hit f1 turn on debug mode by typing dm and hitting enter, then hit f8 a few times, normally its just a fps counter, but in debug mode it can show heat and I think also the chunk ID.

[Scyris]

On 7/26/2024 at 2:40 PM, Roland said:

Where are all the people from the last 5-6 years complaining about an empty world devoid of zombies?  They should be in here testifying about how great it is now to have hordes of zombies showing up to fill the world with zombies….

 

I mean if it was natural spawns as in more wandering around naturally in the world it'd be fine, but screamers are just annoying, its not natural they are force spawned and way to easly. The game can handle it, I seen many mods that have like 3-4x the amount of spawn on the map at all times and it doesn't hit performance much if at all. Just like the game could handle vehicles being at least 50% faster in vanilla. I did a t2 infested in the burnt biome the other day, final room had 2 normals 2 ferals and a radiated biker. I fired maybe 20-30 shots with my pistol to kill the biker as they have WAY to much friggin health now for how weak the weapons are that early, and I had 2 feral screamers spawn on me at once, which then both of those called in a pack of zombies before they even got to me. I was done with the quest, so I killed the screamers and just left. It makes no sense, TFP nerfs stealth to the point your expected to run and gun, yet even using a gun in 1-2 rooms of a t1 poi is going to be enough to call screamers in most cases. I never used a gun that entire infested till that radiated biker showed up. The fact screamers exist period is just kinda silly, then again it kinda makes sense with how there is virtually no zombies walking around to come to the sound of the gunshots. It just seems contradictory is all, TFP wants us to run and gun, its clear with the nerfs to various playstyles, yet they also wanna punish us for doing so, it makes no sense. Melee is in a aweful place in a22 aka fake 1.0, Ferals seem almost immune to knockdown so clubs (my fave weapon) seem almost useless on them. I would go spears, but there is basically no other perk in perception I want, as rifles are useless once ferals are everywhere, and archery is only useful for sneak attacks.

 

Its a big reason why I hate the stat system so much, I hate the fact that weapons are locked to a stat, I don't mind the non-weapon perks being locked to a stat, but the weapon perks should all be in their own seperate single stat for all of them.

On 7/30/2024 at 8:40 PM, Riamus said:

I didn't think it is supposed to.  And if it did, with running dishes 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.

 

I mean they generally do not attack anything if they do not at least hear a player nearby, I get screamers under my elevated base (its 6 blocks off the ground), they never hit anything unless they actually hear me and need to try to path to me. They are harmless for the most part. Screamers can also call a horde after taking damage, as I was deep in a mine silent, no light cuz I heard the screamers coming, so I let the spikes take care of them, but while they were getting hit by the spikes they called a horde. So I now had 7 zombies trying to get into my 3x3 structure that leads into my mine. Entrance is at the top, this was also at night, so I basically just climbed out jumped down got on my bike and went back to base. Not going to waste my time with that annoyance.

[zombiehunter]

5 hours ago, Scyris said:

 

Hit f1 turn on debug mode by typing dm and hitting enter, then hit f8 a few times, normally its just a fps counter, but in debug mode it can show heat and I think also the chunk ID.

Thanks, that works.  It helps to see what your heat is and try to manage it.

[Skullfracture]

I liked the novelty of it at first, but it got real old, real fast. Mining especially is just a hassle made of annoyance now. Break a few ore blocks, spawn two screamers, break a few more, screamers, etc., etc., etc. Irritation and annoyance.

[Dtfauss]

Screamer spawns haven't bothered me. I hear them then I deal with them. Adds something for me to be on my toes about and deal with.

If I wanted to be left alone to do base stuff/mine/etc, I'd probably just find a mod or tweak the difficulty.

Everyone is going to have their personal preference and tolerance level.

I don't think it ruins the game, and I'm not prone to throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

[JayBiggS]

I'd love a server setting to control them or turn them off entirely

[BFT2020]

I am more civilized with the screamers, I got a customer service station set up so they can lodge their complaints

 

 

Even got 2 of them so they don't have to wait in line  😏

[omegaflames]

I built my base 45 blocks above the ground. Ladder to go up and hay stacks at the bottom and the midway point so I can get down quickly. At 45 blocks above them the screamers don't notice I'm there so they can't spawn anything and I can safely and easily snipe them.

[Rotor]

3 hours ago, omegaflames said:

I built my base 45 blocks above the ground. Ladder to go up and hay stacks at the bottom and the midway point so I can get down quickly. At 45 blocks above them the screamers don't notice I'm there so they can't spawn anything and I can safely and easily snipe them.

You gone done did it, next patch the zombies will levitate.

[Krougal]

On 8/4/2024 at 9:06 PM, BFT2020 said:

I am more civilized with the screamers, I got a customer service station set up so they can lodge their complaints

 

 

Even got 2 of them so they don't have to wait in line  😏

Hmmm...How are those windows working out? I forget to use new blocks a lot.

[LeStudd]

I made a base design video which shows how I deal with screamers.

 

[omegaflames]

On 8/5/2024 at 11:36 AM, Rotor said:

You gone done did it, next patch the zombies will levitate.

oops. sorry! To be fair this was sort of revealed during the great stealth debate. Someone (Roland I think?) did a test to see how far away you had to be for a zombie could notice you and it was something like 25 or 30 blocks. I went to 45 since that was the highest I could go with 2 platforms of hay stacks and it gave me wiggle room incase something changed at some later date.

Edited August 7 by omegaflames (see edit history)

[Riamus]

On 8/4/2024 at 2:43 PM, Skullfracture said:

I liked the novelty of it at first, but it got real old, real fast. Mining especially is just a hassle made of annoyance now. Break a few ore blocks, spawn two screamers, break a few more, screamers, etc., etc., etc. Irritation and annoyance.

If you have high robotics, drop a turret at the top of the mine or even just inside the initial hole and let it deal with them as long as you aren't too far away from it.  😁

 

But yeah, they are a bit much.  They are supposed to not spawn again for 22 minutes (I think that is correct) after they spawn, but I'm not sure if that is working correctly.

[myrkana]

All my houses are surrounded in spikes. Vehicles can go through them so no need to put an entrance. My base in the wasteland has 2 deep iron spikes all around it. Ive onde up to 5 layers of spikes before. Never deal with screamers and their hordes. Dire wovles get through ti but theyre not hard to take down.

[ElCabong]

I'm starting a new game in Navasgane and got two screamers the first night just by cooking two chard meat. Now I've got a forge and bacon eggs going and nothing's happening.

[Syphon583]

3 minutes ago, ElCabong said:

I'm starting a new game in Navasgane and got two screamers the first night just by cooking two chard meat. Now I've got a forge and bacon eggs going and nothing's happening.

Yeah, it's really weird. When they patched the game and added the increased screamer chance, I got 2 almost immediately. After that, it seems to happen just about as often as it did in A21, and nothing has changed with my playstyle. I feel like the biggest change is that they come on earlier days whereas I feel like it took a couple weeks for them to start spawning previously.

[Suxar]

15 hours ago, Syphon583 said:

After that, it seems to happen just about as often as it did in A21

I don’t know how it was in A21, but in A20 they could come much more often. When I launched 8 forges, 2 concrete mixers and 2 chemical laboratories, the game turned into hell. I only managed to kill one screamer when another came. They just came one after another. Now a couple has arrived, you killed them and calmly go about your business.

[Syphon583]

9 hours ago, Suxar said:

I don’t know how it was in A21, but in A20 they could come much more often. When I launched 8 forges, 2 concrete mixers and 2 chemical laboratories, the game turned into hell. I only managed to kill one screamer when another came. They just came one after another. Now a couple has arrived, you killed them and calmly go about your business.

Yeah, my screamer experience between A20 and A21 seemed about the same as well. Of course, running that much heat will summon screamers much more often, but I rarely had that much activity going at once. Then again, I only play single player, so I've never had the need to run 8 forges at once. I think 4 has been my max by late game.

[Suxar]

13 minutes ago, Syphon583 said:

Then again, I only play single player, so I've never had the need to run 8 forges at once. I think 4 has been my max by late game.

In single player this is exactly what I need. When I play on a server, I start the forge, turn off the computer and go to bed, wake up, turn it on, connect and I have everything ready. In single player I have to be in the game to do something.
I have 8 forges:
2 - stone - cement
1 - brass - cartridges
1 - lead - bullets/shot
3 - iron - steel
1 - household needs - ingots, pipes, nails, bulletproof glass and so on.

[Professor-Pip]

I tend to spread out more. Ideally, my base will be a POI with a 0-Skull POI next to it. Something like a bar for the main POI and then a broken building remnant for my secondary space. I move the dew collectors and crafting stations to the second POI and build a bridge across. This way, I will still get screamers but they are attracted to an area slightly apart from my primary base where I'm cooking and farming. I can choose to engage or not, snipe them from a distance or run away, depending on the time of day/night. Not a perfect solution but works pretty well, especially early game.

[Krougal]

I can't remember if I said it or not, but my main base has been a horde base since A20.

It makes it easy to deal with screamers day or night.

[zztong]

I'm far enough into a game now to have evolved my thinking on this.

 

In the past I would normally not have a base early in the game. I'd just plop down stuff in a field, keep a sparse inventory as I would likely be a nomad. With V1.0, screamers show up enough that having a small defensive position is handy.

 

Now, later in the game, with a vehicle and settling down into a base, I find myself fixing up a remnant in a snow biome city and I'm amazed how little it takes to get screamers to show up. I swear, I was just digging out rubble with a pick -- my various workstations all still in the motorcycle inventory -- and two of them wandered in. While it was a fun encounter, it feels like their too sensitive. I mean, I think my heat was 0. There were no workstations deployed, much less operating. There were no torches or candles, and I had dismantled the burning barrel that was part of the POI.