Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[th3rookie]

I've played a couple of hours yesterday and honestly, The Fun Pimp, THANK YOU! Didn't play enough for a full review but it feels like a new game, me and my brother are having fun, we do play more as a team now. Not sure about the stamina/food relation but, it doesn't break the fun.

 

I've got a major question! The most anoying thing in A16 was inside a house with windows, you could ear the wind like I was outside, breaking a little immersion. I can understand if the windows are broken or holes in the walls, but is there something on the way to drop the wind sound when inside a somewhat airtight house ?

 

Thanks again for this huge and welcome A17 update!

[jdzane]

ummmm, anyone else stuck on the bicycle? I'm using an xbox one controller, and none of the buttons get me off the darn thing. Plus, my stamina only goes down to 97 and stays there no matter how fast I pedal. Is this a bug?

 

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ummmm, anyone else stuck on the bicycle? I'm using an xbox one controller, and none of the buttons get me off the darn thing. Plus, my stamina only goes down to 97 and stays there no matter how fast I pedal. Is this a bug?

 

nvm, yep it's a bug, headed to the bug thread now. Pressing <E> on the keyboard got me off, so it's a controller issue.

[madmole]

Anyone have melee tips? I can’t seem to find a fluid strategy of attack that doesn’t get me pummeled.

 

SPrint and time a power attack with charging bull with a two handed weapon typically knocks anything down with iron or better.

 

Get as many melee perks as you can like strength, mod your weapon, use a fire axe it has superior range and is awesome on power attack. Its bleed debuff is good and can cut heads off (insta kill) with higher perks.

 

I still come in hit, back up, come in hit again repeat until dead. It only takes two shots once you get a few perks and I'm starting to one shot some at level 40. Get the skull crusher perk if you are good at head shots.

[madmole]

So after all the tantrums about ‘release the game already’, now the toys get thrown out of the cot because it’s not optimised?

 

Wow...TFP have more patience for this than I ever could!

 

We could give them a check for a million dollars and they would review bomb it because the IRS takes 37%.

[Damocles]

The levelingsystem looks interesting.

But I cant really see the playerlevel requirements for the perks such as grease monkey.

Eg, what the unlock intellect attribute level must be.

 

It just opens up at some level.

 

---

 

edit: ok you wrote the lock icon will show it.

That should be displayed better

 

some popup like "must have intellect 4, playerlevel 6" or such.

[madmole]

-gampbler- there is a thin xp bar right above the toolbelt. Basically a fine med blue line growing from L to R.

 

-- Just had first horde night. Adventurer setting (90 min days, default 8 z's for horde night). Built a 5 x 5 w 50 colums in corners and horizontal poles across sides. Upgraded Flag to Cobb so all at 1500 HPs/block. Two rows of wood spikes all around. Even mirrored the poles at eye height so there was a double layer.

 

Horde hit and first 3 z's busted out a 3 wide path thru outer spikes, and one in inner. Only got a few shots off. Went to T1 Iron Axe, got a couple Ks. Lost a couple more spikes. Had to repair, there's 5+ z's in a 2-3 wide space, just whaling away. Tried taking a couple Axe swings, back to Claw Hammer repairing, "oh oh.." lost a pole. End is nigh. Didn't last 3 minutes.

 

## My take: default difficulty in single player, -once-the-horde-hits- is way too hard. *** I've only had the first horde night; that's what I'm specifically addressing. {had 4 deaths in first week. 2 to dogs. I'm ok w those}

-- Point is that yes, Horde Night should be tough. Scary & quite possibly deadly. But if it's simply not survivable unless you're uber-l33t then it should be looked at, imo.

Old base designs might not work. Two rows of spikes isn't enough. Make a guard tower with a walk way to your main base so you only have to spike the small tower. Leave no path to you and have coffee on your belt to make a run for it if they get to you.

[HerrKingsley]

all chores are done, all mail are sent, kids are put to bed! 1h of game time for dad!

Here we go.. status report will be delivered tomorrow!

 

Happy Apocalypse guys and girls!

[SnowDog1942]

Is there a way to make the old vehicle steering controls the default. The mouse steering is just not nearly as good

[madmole]

So in order to get lvl 2 pack mule you need 4 points in STR .. which you can only get at lvl 20...correct??

 

No if you buy 2 strength (3) you can buy the first two tiers of pack mule. 4 Strength requires level 20.

[madmole]

Well.. To be fair; my FPS dropped by 40%. Two friends of mine just tested A17e, and found they had average FPS values of 11 and 15. So.. It's a valid complaint imho.

 

I doubt there will be some magic switch in the code which brings back that 40% after reaching stable.. ;-)

 

Not sure when but tests have shown 10 to 30% increases. I think older hardware is suffering more because of all the overdraw when inside a POI because they are more detailed you are drawing layer after layer. We are adding a culling system.

[jhast07]

One thing I noticed about playing for a couple hours is that the penalty for dying once or twice is so ridiculously high. After dying twice between the death penalty and the penalties from having roughly 60 food/drink my health pool was a whopping 25. stamina was at 40. I could swing my axe once before my stamina was basically empty. Just seems a bit excessive to punish players that much. Also in multiplayer there's massive amounts of stuttering. my fps sits at 60-80 and feels like i'm watching a slide show at times. I'm the host for the game too...so I'm not sure what the issue is causing that.

[BeatKitano]

Just passing by to say this: the game changed DRASTICALLY.

And while I've not yet reached the first horde night (I fear it's going to be such a pain with zeds digging up and down now)... I'm loving it.

It's a slow progression but it's challenging. I still miss a bit the zombie loot (ok the few bags dropped were goodies but it feels too little).

Good job, I was worried with the whole melee thing and loot disappearing (but you compensated with xp killing zeds) but the game feels right (although A LOT tougher and that may deter new players from trying)

[madmole]

My first 5 after starter quests are....1 point in STR, AG, Rule #1 Cardio, Fully Hydrated, Slow Metabolism....makes the most sense with limited stamina and food. I am a big bow user, but my 6th point goes into Pack mule.

 

I never used the slow metab stuff. Harvest more meat seems like a better choice if your on the go like me. This build changed me. I used to be the home body guy who built a big base, now I'm doing quests and traveling the country and clearing pois. I have loot caches all over the map now loaded with loot waiting for a vehicle to one day take it all to a trader and sell it.

[madmole]

No I actually dont know anyone who doesn't know how to cook, at least an egg or corn

Except kids. But I might be cultural. Where I'm from every one learns how too cook in school. Its Basic knowledge here!

 

Well then role play you have some amnesia and forgot how to cook. You do wake up naked with a can of chili. What is up with that? In Ark you cant even make a campfire without a perk so don't feel bad.

[sillls]

I burped while upgrading a block of my shed and it was so sinchronized with the hit and sound of upgrade with stone axe, that a lumberjack came angry and destroyed me , I though he heard me via the mic. Fantastic .

 

Well done grasshopper!

[cearrdorn]

I've watched the videos on how the new system works, and a few streamers, but I cannot find anything (even searching 'flashlight weapon') about why you suddenly can't attach flashlights to level 2 weapons. I understand the lack of mod on level 1 items, but if flashlights aren't a mod anymore and mining hats are thin on the ground because workers no longer drop them, what are we doing for light at night now? you can't dual wield a gun and a torch (even though that really should be possible, as well as a club/torch combo.)

[sillls]

We could give them a check for a million dollars and they would review bomb it because the IRS takes 37%.

 

You can give me a check for even a quarter of that and I would not complain.

[unholyjoe]

Well then role play you have some amnesia and forgot how to cook. You do wake up naked with a can of chili. What is up with that? In Ark you cant even make a campfire without a perk so don't feel bad.

 

dont forget Joel... also in Ark... the newly created character spawns with absolutely nothing! at least we have stuff on our belts here.

[sillls]

Anyone have melee tips? I can’t seem to find a fluid strategy of attack that doesn’t get me pummeled.

 

Sprint with a normal attack just out of reach of a zombie. If done right, you can kill them without taking damage. Practice and you can even do it in a small room.

 

 

You can also use a shovel as a spear. It has a better range.

 

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?85897-Shovel-spears&highlight=shovel+spears

[ReDelicious]

We wanted to get the basic combat feeling pretty good then do stealth. So stealth is kind of broken and missing, we can tune it in over the next few weeks.

 

Ah this explains why the zombies were so overly alert then and the suppressor not working. POIs should be much better once you have this up and running. Had a feeling that wasn't working as intended. Love all the new and updated POIs visually though.

 

Higher quality weapons have more mod slots. Each installed mod regardless of its type, add more damage. So higher tier weapons ultimately have more damage potential when fully modded out.

 

I understand that, but I just feel like making extra damage being down to exclusively mods a bit odd and could use some more balancing. A perfect quality compound bow fully modded (could only find 3 compatible mods for it) is only a bit over twice as powerful as a level 1 wooden bow.

 

Tools get hit to a much harder degree though, as a perfect steel pickaxe fully modded (only seems to be 2 mods for them) isn't even twice as powerful as a level 1 stone axe. Perfect steel pickaxe = 36 block damage (fully modded), level 1 stone axe = 26 block damage.

 

The sense of progression just feels near non-existant there considering how much time and effort it would take to get between the 2 beginning and end points I mentioned. I feel like certain chores like mining tunnels or opening safes should become less tedious after a sufficient amount of time and perk points has been put into your progression. But as it stands now it seems like even the best of the best weapons, mods and perks don't really lead to being a whole lot more efficient. Weapon and tool tiers really need to be more distinct instead of just being more durable in my opinion.

[faatal]

I'm a sneaky and stealth player and loved the bow and crossbow in the last Alphas for silent takedowns.

It seems in A17 the bow is not completely stealth anymore and draws aggro? Is this intended?

 

The bow is silent, but arrow hits do make impact sounds.

 

Also, stealth x2 projectile damage does not actually do any bonus damage. That fix will be in next build.

[Ouch Quit It]

Perks have attribute requirements and attributes have level requirements. You can see the requirements by clicking on the LOCK icon in your backpack. We're working on improving the messaging there so its clear when you click the buy button why you can't buy it.

 

Got it...thx

 

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I never used the slow metab stuff. Harvest more meat seems like a better choice if your on the go like me. This build changed me. I used to be the home body guy who built a big base, now I'm doing quests and traveling the country and clearing pois. I have loot caches all over the map now loaded with loot waiting for a vehicle to one day take it all to a trader and sell it.

 

Im a nomad player as well...guess i havent been lucky finding as much food....I like several bases over one large one

[faatal]

I'm fine with the number of sleepers I think, but sometimes they are WAY too alert and become active from several rooms away. Some looked like they probably came out of some neat hiding places too but the surprise got kind of ruined by them being alerted too early. Though I'm thinking this may have been because the From The Shadows perk wasn't working possibly? I noticed my sneak meter was still going up for every little thing I did even with the perk maxed. Playing sneakily just didn't seem to be working for me.

 

Well, the designers complained a lot about them not waking up, so I fixed that good.

 

The perk should be working and reducing your volume, but you will still make some noise. Balancing continues.

[faatal]

I havent built vehicles yet but if i build one is there a way for someone else to own it and have it display on their radar and not mine? If i play with a friend i would like only one of us to spend points on that perk

 

In 16.4 it was whover placed the chassy and parts in it owmed it.

 

Whoever locks it gets ownership now. So you can lock, then unlock. That method needs some cleanup when I have the time.

[Wardronex]

Clothing doesn't have any negative values. In other words shorts keep you some warm, but keep you a lot cool. So in most cases you don't need to change clothing once you get enough good stuff.

 

I seen that but they do not cover the full range of each biome type talking mainly Desert and snow.

Not to mention added/subtracted weather values of having it be-day night shade wind cloud fog rain. or lack of these depending.

 

In previous alpha I was able to make the core temp of my character change gradually over time so that once I step into a different Biome it would take anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes before the first temperature debuff even hit me.

Now If i step back and forth between 2 blocks right next to each other it changes instantly.