The night time... question

[Frostyxn]

As you can see I'm not a forum poster. I try to read as much here as possible. But busy life. I watch youtuber's and streamers but they cut out the night time stuff.

 

WTF do you do at night now? I used to spam craft, which i'm glad they got rid of (kinda).

 

Let me be more specific, during the first FEW crucial days what do you do? For example (Night 1): I'm in a secluded house in desert, just outside of a huge city in a snow biom. As a noobie i do not want to settle in the snow biom; however, nighttime is approaching and i'm on 120min days, which means a LONG A$$ night time with nothing to do... Should i just watch netflix on the other monitor and wait for daybreak? What is there to do in the mean time without attracting z's...

 

Just curious. Once I'm settled somewhere I know night time is the right time for mining to pass the time. But at the beginning stages where your not settled, what do you do at night?

 

Hope that all made sense, I'm not a poster lol And yes i'm a noob.

 

Thanks for reading and please poke fun if need be

[SylenThunder]

I go chopping wood and hunting Z's.

[Hillbilly_Dave]

The first week or so, until you have some decent armor and a mining helmet or night vision goggles, or at least a flashlight, I'd say yeah, watch netflix or something as you wait for night to pass but keep the game sounds on in case a wandering horde or something wanders up on you and you have to deal with it. That's actually what I do. I tab out and read/post on forums or watch youtube etc etc. IF, and I stress IF you're playing on super easy with zombie running off then maybe you can be brave and venture out at night without armor but if zombies are running I wouldn't chance it unless you're well equipped and have to tools to see at night.

[Reth]

The first night or two has always been boring, they are even more so now. Since TFP don't actually play their own game, they won't recognize or fix this issue.

 

You choices are limited - you can do some mining or crafting, browse skills or, as others have mentioned, tab out and watch youtube or netflix.

[qbot3000]

I'm in a similar situation now. Just started a game, couldn't find a forge or acquire enough leather to build one first night, so I'm camped on the 2nd story of a small building just outside a town. However, I usually gather enough resources on day 1 that I craft at night. Not spam craft, but craft what I will need for next day. Better tools and bow. Yucca juice, bandages, torches, clothing, etc. There may be a little waiting, but most of the night I spend crafting. And if I can't do that because I don't have enough resources, then I haven't planned well enough.

[saulysw]

There is usually plenty to do. In no particular order --

 

• Eat and drink, heal
  
• Inventory management (stuff to chest, sort messy chests)
  
• Use skill points to level things up
  
• Repair or create new tools and weapons
  
• Cook meals and water (watch for heatmap)
  
• (if workbench) combine things
  
• Scrap things around you (if in a POI)
  
• Dig a mineshaft directly down from your base
  
• Craft spikes / barbed wire
  
• Check if you can improve your armor
  
• Go outside (gasp!) and get wood/rock/clay/fibre
  
• Look at the map and plan your next days route
  
• Set up forge so that it can do stuff when you are out exploring, start it up at 4am.
  

 

So don't just cower in the corner, get busy! Also, it is a known event - you should not be surprised that it happens, so plan stuff in the list above to be done then. Don't waste time during the safer day hours doing these things, or at least minimize them.

 

I will admit that I'm much more likely to go outside once I find the night vision goggles. They are the new calipers.

[Gazz]

I do play the game and I recognise the issue - except that it's not the game that has the issue. =)

 

Yesterday I logged into some server as a level 1 and it was day 7, 1200.

I did some preparation and since I was a bit gung ho about it I died twice... but I defeated the horde.

 

So what did I do during the first night? I killed the 7 day horde. In an open field.

 

 

The next horde night I was prepared. Plenty of arrows and a barbed club and I fought the horde at my base.

My base being the same open field... but now with a forge, workbench, and 2 chests standing there.

I didn't die that time.

 

 

If you don't want to go outside at night... fine. Your call. But don't blame that on the game. =)

[Vedui]

I love the night time. It's when the game truly comes alive. Daytime sure dogs/wolves can be a hassle, but night time is where all the zombies really shine (especially feral with glowing eyes

 

I usually do 50-60 min days tho, 18h day, 6 night, which gives a pretty nice mix of day and night time. 120mins works fine if you're building a lot and don't want to rush it, but normal game play it makes for very very long dull nights.

 

It's normally a comfort level thing what I see players do night time. Scared? Stick inside, organize, build, mine, craft, prepare. Gung ho? Go out and fight, search the zombies and have a club fest... or go chopping trees, mining boulders, and just kill whatever comes chasing after you.

 

With armour, you last a lot longer at night, and can avoid getting beaten into a pulp as fast. After you get used to it, if anything night time is just much more exhilarating

 

/Vedui -

[TehRoach]

day 1 ~6 pm`ish find a big house and clear zeds before doing any looting then board it up before looting it,

so by the time looting is finished and I mean properly finished

ie no curtains left etc.

It is generally nearly morning.

 

I suppose your biggest problem is probably to do with the 120min days as that is 5mins off being two and a half times the default!

 

is the 120min days a needed accessory?

if this is the case maybe

-F1

-st 2 6 00

 

or set Zombies run to 1 this way the normal Zeds will always walk, but the feral/irradiated ones still run.

 

I often find myself out side at night,

there is only a small period around midnight that I can't see anything,

but the rest of the night can see ok without mining helmet or Night Vision. (gamma set at 70)

 

If you do find yourself trying to kill a zed or two in the pitch black, place your torch on the ground and kite around it.

If there is more than two Zeds, I just run until they lose track of me in alpha 16 sneaking actually works (maybe too well) so I sneak almost all the time at night.

 

PS: the snow biome it the easiest biome to see in at night.

[Reth]

I do play the game and I recognise the issue - except that it's not the game that has the issue. =)

 

Yesterday I logged into some server as a level 1 and it was day 7, 1200.

I did some preparation and since I was a bit gung ho about it I died twice... but I defeated the horde.

 

So what did I do during the first night? I killed the 7 day horde. In an open field.

 

The next horde night I was prepared. Plenty of arrows and a barbed club and I fought the horde at my base.

My base being the same open field... but now with a forge, workbench, and 2 chests standing there.

I didn't die that time.

 

If you don't want to go outside at night... fine. Your call. But don't blame that on the game. =)

 

Yes, of course, it's the other guy's issue. My point, exactly. /shrug

 

Any professional software developer knows that sometimes you have to take a few steps back and reevaluate your decisions. And sometimes you have to drastically change them, because you didn't get it right the first time or two. That's just the nature of business.

 

Ignore the fanboys, they'll doom your game. Find somebody who never played it before, get their honest feedback. I'm sure there are professional, unbiased reviewers out there who can provide their insights. Make sure they play an un-modded version, too.

[katarynna]

The new stealth system is op right now and also a bit broken since the zombies are unable to smell and such right now.

 

If you turn your gamma up enough so you can see a bit and stay crouched, it is very safe to spend the night gathering stone/clay/wood. Unless you literally bump into a zombie, they will not see you when it is dark.

 

Night time is probably safer than day time now.

[Guppycur]

Spend the days finding a mining helmet or night vision goggles, then spend the night stealthing around looting. Stealth is incredibly Op right now, so do it while it's still easy. :-)

[iejen]

There is usually plenty to do. In no particular order --

 

• Eat and drink, heal Ingame & IRL
  
• Inventory management (stuff to chest, sort messy chests)
  
• Use skill points to level things up
  
• Repair or create new tools and weapons
  
• Cook meals and water (watch for heatmap) I don't care for heatmap, wandering hordes will walk by because my room with forge, campfire etc. has no windows and my base has no door
  
• (if workbench) combine things
  
• Scrap things around you (if in a POI)
  
• Dig a mineshaft directly down from your base This I do, A LOT
  
• Craft spikes / barbed wire
  
• Check if you can improve your armor
  
• Go outside (gasp!) and get wood/rock/clay/fibre
  
• Look at the map and plan your next days route
  
• Set up forge so that it can do stuff when you are out exploring, start it up at 4am.
  
• Fortify my base on the inside (walls)
  
• Decorate my base (I used to play The Sims a lot)
  
• Visit my mate's base who plays way too much because he is 24/7 at home with a broken foot and always builds giant bases which collapse and then he starts panicking on the headset
  

[Samcharles]

In the first week of the game night can be a bit boring if you don't go out in it. I'm a big chicken so I almost always hole up during the night. I try to save as many crafting tasks as possible for nighttime. Chest organization is a really good thing to do early on. During the days when dumping items in the chest just throw them in there, save the organizing for the night.

Nighttime is also a good time to have a look at the skills. Especially being new you can actually have time to read them and understand what they will do. You can plan what skills will be most beneficial for you to get next.

Look at crafting recipes to get an idea of what you will need to create things you may want. Then during the day you can keep an eye out for these items.

 

As the game progresses you will have tons to do at night as you make items like the forge, workbench and chemistry station.

[Bimbie]

What to do at night instead of Spamcrafting?

 

Level up by SpamMining

Level up by SpamBuilding

Level up by SpamChopping

Level up by SpamDigging

then spend those points on Craft perk

 

Or spend the time doing stuff other than spamming for levels,

like building, chopping, mining, cooking, skirmishing zeds

 

Or turn off your IM HERE COME GET ME beacon light and do stuff just outside the safety of the base

[HungryZombie]

As you can see I'm not a forum poster. I try to read as much here as possible. But busy life. I watch youtuber's and streamers but they cut out the night time stuff.

 

WTF do you do at night now? I used to spam craft, which i'm glad they got rid of (kinda).

 

Let me be more specific, during the first FEW crucial days what do you do? For example (Night 1): I'm in a secluded house in desert, just outside of a huge city in a snow biom. As a noobie i do not want to settle in the snow biom; however, nighttime is approaching and i'm on 120min days, which means a LONG A$$ night time with nothing to do... Should i just watch netflix on the other monitor and wait for daybreak? What is there to do in the mean time without attracting z's...

 

Just curious. Once I'm settled somewhere I know night time is the right time for mining to pass the time. But at the beginning stages where your not settled, what do you do at night?

 

Hope that all made sense, I'm not a poster lol And yes i'm a noob.

 

Thanks for reading and please poke fun if need be

 

You can dig a hole and mine all night, or you can go out on the surface and sneak about. With the new stealth it's very easy to crouch around and walk right past the zeds. It's still risky but it's much much easier than it was in A15.

 

Carry spikes and barb wire fences and if you get spotted drop a few down quickly. Might take a bit of practice but it will stop almost anything once you get it down.

 

Or if you play single player just turn off zombies run at night.

[meganoth]

Stealth really is different now than in A15. I know, everyone else said it already, but it needs constant repeating.

 

Try it out, you can safely roam around outside if you have found a poi. Put a ladder on the side. Put a candle where your ladder is, so you know the way to safety. Sneak around and hack away at boulders or trees, even in complete darkness. If you hear something, run to the ladder and safety. Just have enough arrows ready, you need them for wandering hordes anyway.

 

Also your poi is normally just a temporary base for the first 1 or two nights, so what does it need a roof for, except for the parts you want to stand on. Hack away at the rim so that you have enough wood in the morning that you don't have to waste precious time to gather wood. If you still miss some stones for your arrows, cobblestone walls are a source for stones. Is there anything out of metal in the POI? Dismantle it, you need the iron for an iron reinforced club, if you don't have one yet, and anyway, more iron is always good.

 

Yes, you can also just do nothing in the night (and make something to eat for your real life stomach, I often have to do that if I get home late and the co-op session starts) and that is the most risk-free method. But the (overpowered) stealth system at the moment rightfully makes the zombies shout "chicken" at you from below.

 

Try this: In daytime (just to be safe) sneak in bow shooting distance to a zombie. Shoot him. You will notice he gets hit, but doesn't know where the shot came from. Shoot him again, same reaction. If you shoot him enough, he eventually will see you, but normally you should have killed him by then. And while sneaking you immediately know when you have been spotted and have a massive head start to get to safety.

 

Now do the same in the night (when the moon is up and you can see a bit). There is no difference, just be sure you have a safe spot to run to and the risk is fairly minimal.

[Gipothegip]

Do some work around wherever you're settled. Even if you don't quite have a base.

 

As long as the area is cleared, just sneak around and gather supplies. Maybe fortify whatever POI you're held up in, or work on a temp shelter (if you haven't already) so you have a place to fall back to and a position to defend from.

 

Honestly, if you're doing nothing at night you're wasting time. Besides, it's not like spam crafting was very engaging to begin with, so it's hardly worse. With the new stealth improvements I'd say it's better / easier to find something to do.

 

The key to surviving the nights is being stealthy, and prepared for a wandering horde. Remember you can run, and in A 16, due to the new stealth system, it seems a bit easier to shake them too.

 

I've even been able to travel and scout around at night. You can't do it quickly though, and you risk stranding yourself away from safety.

[Cash Wiley]

Rule 1: Cardio

[jdifran]

As others have posted, stealth is a bit OP right now so prowling around at night isn't suicide. If you stay crouched, even a wandering horde that stampedes over you will not see you, except maybe if one runs directly into you. Fight it while stealthed and the rest will just keep running by.

 

It also took me a long time to realize that regular zombies who run at night aren't suddenly invincible - they're not feral, just faster. Make yourself an iron-reinforced club, buy a rank or two of Pummel Pete, and you should be okay.

 

Venturing into smaller POIs at night is fun, but it is very hard to see. Until you get night vision goggles, options include cranking up your gamma (a little cheaty) or bring one candle to place here and there to provide a wee bit of illumination without waking up the neighborhood.

 

Mining is also a fine use of time, and will level you up quickly, too.

[Hillbilly_Dave]

Rule 1: Cardio

 

I appreciate this reference.

[Minandreas]

You're not alone in asking this. I asked as soon as A16 experimental dropped.

 

Unless something changed on the stable launch, stealth is completely OP. Toss a bedroll down just to be safe, and then crawl around mining and chopping trees. You will be shocked at just how utterly oblivious the zombies are to your presence. Just don't have a light source active.

 

[Yes, depending on weather this may be damn near impossible. Sometimes you're basically blind without a light source. In these cases I log out, change game speed to 10 minute days, log back in, and let the night pass in hyperdrive before setting it back to 60 minute days and continuing about my business.

 

Or of course, just go make a snack. IRL]

[madmole]

There is usually plenty to do. In no particular order --

 

• Eat and drink, heal
  
• Inventory management (stuff to chest, sort messy chests)
  
• Use skill points to level things up
  
• Repair or create new tools and weapons
  
• Cook meals and water (watch for heatmap)
  
• (if workbench) combine things
  
• Scrap things around you (if in a POI)
  
• Dig a mineshaft directly down from your base
  
• Craft spikes / barbed wire
  
• Check if you can improve your armor
  
• Go outside (gasp!) and get wood/rock/clay/fibre
  
• Look at the map and plan your next days route
  
• Set up forge so that it can do stuff when you are out exploring, start it up at 4am.
  

 

So don't just cower in the corner, get busy! Also, it is a known event - you should not be surprised that it happens, so plan stuff in the list above to be done then. Don't waste time during the safer day hours doing these things, or at least minimize them.

 

I will admit that I'm much more likely to go outside once I find the night vision goggles. They are the new calipers.

 

So this! Go outside, I promise you won't be bored.

[Gazz]

(because MM is waiting outside with a baseball bat)

[Tin]

I think with the advent of gamestages they should remove that all zeds run at night. Allow the gamestages to do the job at making the game get more difficult as time goes on and start making zeds here and there turn feral and start running as the intensity as your gamestage increases.

-imo