PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[Jay_ombie]

So... do you guys like the current amount of animals? I do ! Kinda makes me want more animals in the game. If only there was a way to balance all  that meat.... Snowdog? anyone?

The gliding sausage snake needs an animation pass, and probably a complete animal pass for every model wouldn't hurt a bit. Maybe more animals!, different shaped dogs with the same texture for example, I refuse to play make believe in a world in which ALL of them are Dobermans lol.

I really like the animals, the spawns seem okay to me and natural. Increases the danger too as I got killed by wolves, cats and dogs in my current game so far.

Animations are still stiff for animals, also when they die there mesh mangles up to and deforms for some reason. 

Only that most agresive animals are not in the wild. The 5 Bears and 10 Direr Wolves i saw wher all in cities and towns. I saw not one of them in the wilds the only things that are the  normal wolves.

Animals in towns is geographically correct, the power of nature ! Over the lock down we had Goats coming down from the mountains into towns and bears wondering around the built up areas... 

 

[madmole]

How was that you tie loot and enemies to gamestage? The animals are since the patch yesterday not tied to game stage any longer. A fresh character with a club a bow and a few arrows will now get Bears and Dire Wolfs on every corner. Because you need to runaway most of the game you will not rise you gamestage in the near future to get any guns ... If you are at later stage and have guns food is totaly meaningless again. I was on of the few who loved the progresion ... but if animals are not tied to game stage then i am done.

I will probably move the worst predators dires and bears to night spawn only so you can be safe from them unless you go out at night, and if you want to hunt them, then the big challenge is there.

 

[wolfbain5]

@madmole don't stress too much yet. knee jerking all around. moving the dire and the bears to night sounds good. getting killed day 1 by a dire at 1100 am was a sight, seeing a bear at day 1 3 hours later, all in the city. well, that is what sneaking the other way around a building was for. brought survival down. but with animal spawns up, you can lower meat harvest back down. I mean they want the challenge but are crying about too much meat. leave rabbits, snakes, and chicken be tho. now I can finally complete a buy the farm or nail some chicks challenges

 

[Aldranon]

Best use of the sledge turret I've seen to date.  The Zombies started to focus there attacks on damaged areas so the streamer put his sledge down perfectly!

 

[madmole]

Here is what I'm testing locally now:

Small game spawns any time of day or night.

Large game spawns every 9 days at night.

Predator animals spawn at night only every 10 days.

So if you want lots of meat hunt at night, otherwise it won't spawn. Risk and reward. Otherwise work your butt off scrounging on chickens and rabbits.

Scared of predators? Stay indoors at night, they won't spawn except perhaps in your immediate area once every 10 days.

 

[canadianbluebeer]

Oh, forgot to mention, THANK YOU for the new ragdoll effects on the zombies. Absolutely hilarious!

Horde base is a 7x7 block a bit back from one of the trailers. zombies go up the ramp or the trellis, across the roof, then 1 block hop up to the single line of blocks leading to the top of the base.

that 1 block hop worked great in 18, but now? Comedy gold.  When they're all piling up, they jump, stagger and .... some fall off.

Shoot them in the leg? Stagger and the one behind, so eager to get to my minimal braaaiinnsss... pushes the wounded one off.

The zombie dogs? hee-hee. Hop. fall. hilarious yip when they hit the ground. repeat.

Run out of the crypt in the church. stagger, then trip over the gravestone and faceplant?

This effect is a solid winner!

Here is what I'm testing locally now:

Small game spawns any time of day or night.

Large game spawns every 9 days at night.

Predator animals spawn at night only every 10 days.

So if you want lots of meat hunt at night, otherwise it won't spawn. Risk and reward. Otherwise work your butt off scrounging on chickens and rabbits.

Scared of predators? Stay indoors at night, they won't spawn except perhaps in your immediate area once every 10 days.

I hope we still get SOME larger critters in the day. (deer, boars) 

The odd bear/wolf would be nice too.  (just not 5 in one 800m stretch)

I know, yer gonna be tweaking this a bunch. (so Ima stockpile while I can)  

 

[PoloPoPo]

Here is what I'm testing locally now:

Small game spawns any time of day or night.

Large game spawns every 9 days at night.

Predator animals spawn at night only every 10 days.

So if you want lots of meat hunt at night, otherwise it won't spawn. Risk and reward. Otherwise work your butt off scrounging on chickens and rabbits.

Scared of predators? Stay indoors at night, they won't spawn except perhaps in your immediate area once every 10 days.

Have you also thought of decreasing amount of meat that can be looted from animals? Could be a middle way to solve meat abundance problem but simultaneously keep animal count (also predators and big ones) higher. Once every 10 days for the bigger guys isn't much again.

Just an idea

 

[MechanicalLens]

Here is what I'm testing locally now:

Small game spawns any time of day or night.

Large game spawns every 9 days at night.

Predator animals spawn at night only every 10 days.

So if you want lots of meat hunt at night, otherwise it won't spawn. Risk and reward. Otherwise work your butt off scrounging on chickens and rabbits.

Scared of predators? Stay indoors at night, they won't spawn except perhaps in your immediate area once every 10 days.

Sounds like good changes. The perks The Huntsman and Animal Tracker went from semi-decent perks in A19, to being mostly pointless in the current patch, and now they're back in the game again.

I suppose "large game" refers to boars, deer, and bucks? Or is large game bears, dire wolves, etc. and predator animals refer to wolves, coyotes, etc.?

 

[madmole]

Have you also thought of decreasing amount of meat that can be looted from animals? Could be a middle way to solve meat abundance problem but simultaneously keep animal count (also predators and big ones) higher. Once every 10 days for the bigger guys isn't much again.

Just an idea

People have complained a lot about how stingy we are about the meat drops for years.

Sounds like good changes. The perks The Huntsman and Animal Tracker went from semi-decent perks in A19, to being mostly pointless in the current patch, and now they're back in the game again.

I suppose "large game" refers to boars, deer, and bucks? Or is large game bears, dire wolves, etc. and predator animals refer to wolves, coyotes, etc.?

Large game is doe, stag, boar. Predators are bears, wolves and dire wolves.

 

[MechanicalLens]

Large game is doe, stag, boar. Predators are bears, wolves and dire wolves.

Right, right. Got to work on my terminology a bit more it seems.

So with rabbits and chickens (snakes as well?) being the only creatures that will spawn during the day, this should be an interesting shake-up.

Edit: Just so I'm understanding this correctly, the larger game will only spawn at nighttime specifically every 9 days and for the predators every 10 nights, and if we miss those specific nights we'll have to wait a further 9-10 days? Also, how are the spawn rates for those three categories going to be like?

 

[SnowDog1942]

Can't wait the stable build!

Can someone give a hint when its done?

Other than done when is done.

Sure, when its not not done

 

[Onarr]

That is just over thinking it. Ideally they could do more, but at the end of the day they will always be a gate with something small. If they did more, then the perks themselves would start to feel watered down and that is no fun buying a watered down perk. The way it is now, the attribute is the week before Christmas, and once you get through that, you have access to a variety of presents. It teaches people sometimes you have to be patient to get what you want, or pay a price, or make a choice. Something too many kids these days don't understand, but natural selection will school them eventually.

I have no problem with hits, what I hate is for certain playstyle you are locked with 1 melee and one ranged option. Imho perks should be separate from weapons. A possible solution I offer:

• Remove weapon specific perks, put their damage progression into weapons themselves and add perks similar to penetrator, run and gun or flurry of blows. For example
  
  Perception - Exploit weakness - body shots have chance for criticals
  
• Strength - Unstoppable force - Higher chance for ragdolling enemy
  
• Fortitude - Berserker - you increase your damage based on damage taken
  
• Agility - Combo attack - every third attack is critical strike
  
• Intelect - Calculated strike - after not attacking for 5 second your next strike will be critical strike
  

These would still guide you towards certain weapons (fast vs slow, long range short range etc.), but you would not be hard locked to them and you could enjoy their benefits with all weapons. With some more with others less.

 

[PoloPoPo]

I have to play as much as possible then before the next update comes in to further enjoy the increased animal frequency

 

[madmole]

Right, right. Got to work on my terminology a bit more it seems.

So with rabbits and chickens (snakes as well?) being the only creatures that will spawn during the day, this should be an interesting shake-up.

I am trying all game can spawn any time, every day or night now, with the larger game being really rare. Then there isn't ever a dumb blackout period of no chance of getting a stag which seems like a better design. One problem with the old setup was a guy joins a server on day 2 and all the other jerks cleared out all the meat so you are stuck waiting for 2 weeks before anything respawned. So I think this will actually be better the more I think about it, a constant supply of small game and very rare chance for wild game to spawn too, at any time, with only a 1 day delay.

 

[SnowDog1942]

I am trying all game can spawn any time, every day or night now, with the larger game being really rare. Then there isn't ever a dumb blackout period of no chance of getting a stag which seems like a better design. One problem with the old setup was a guy joins a server on day 2 and all the other jerks cleared out all the meat so you are stuck waiting for 2 weeks before anything respawned. So I think this will actually be better the more I think about it, a constant supply of small game and very rare chance for wild game to spawn too, at any time, with only a 1 day delay.

When do the naked amazon women spawn?

Also, does Masvidal have a chance in hell??

 

[MechanicalLens]

I am trying all game can spawn any time, every day or night now, with the larger game being really rare. Then there isn't ever a dumb blackout period of no chance of getting a stag which seems like a better design. One problem with the old setup was a guy joins a server on day 2 and all the other jerks cleared out all the meat so you are stuck waiting for 2 weeks before anything respawned. So I think this will actually be better the more I think about it, a constant supply of small game and very rare chance for wild game to spawn too, at any time, with only a 1 day delay.

Speaking of game, will there be any adjustments made to the Bob's Boars POI? To my current knowledge the boars respawn in that POI every 5 days, creating a very exploitable farm that could be alright for crowded MP servers, but if the player chooses to ruin their own experience by exploiting this... Again, all on their hands, but perhaps the boar spawns should occur much less frequently, or perhaps be a single occurrence?

I suppose the counterargument though would be that if the player finds this POI on day 1 (metaphorically or literally) then they are set for life with one trip anyway, and again, this could be a useful mechanic on MP servers.

 

[PoloPoPo]

I am trying all game can spawn any time, every day or night now, with the larger game being really rare. Then there isn't ever a dumb blackout period of no chance of getting a stag which seems like a better design. One problem with the old setup was a guy joins a server on day 2 and all the other jerks cleared out all the meat so you are stuck waiting for 2 weeks before anything respawned. So I think this will actually be better the more I think about it, a constant supply of small game and very rare chance for wild game to spawn too, at any time, with only a 1 day delay.

This sounds promising. 1 day delay for wild game, maybe not "very rare" but "rare"

Or very rare chance at daytime and a more common chance at night but you have to leave your base for that?!

 

[Gr.o.m.]

Here is what I'm testing locally now:

Small game spawns any time of day or night.

Large game spawns every 9 days at night.

Predator animals spawn at night only every 10 days.

So if you want lots of meat hunt at night, otherwise it won't spawn. Risk and reward. Otherwise work your butt off scrounging on chickens and rabbits.

Scared of predators? Stay indoors at night, they won't spawn except perhaps in your immediate area once every 10 days.

Great Idea!

I like it and can't wait until we can have that all.

Thank you MM

 

[madmole]

When do the naked amazon women spawn?

Also, does Masvidal have a chance in hell??

Masvidal is going to wreck Usman and shock the world. He trains with Yoel, so he will be ready for any weak sauce wrestling Usman can do, and Usman doesn't want to grind him against the cage because look what Masvidal did to Diaz against the cage? He diced him open with elbows. His cardio might suck though since he took the fight on short notice. I'm hoping he can do some big damage early and get a finish, Usman is boring.

Speaking of game, will there be any adjustments made to the Bob's Boars POI? To my current knowledge the boars respawn in that POI every 5 days, creating a very exploitable farm that could be alright for crowded MP servers, but if the player chooses to ruin their own experience by exploiting this... Again, all on their hands, but perhaps the boar spawns should occur much less frequently, or perhaps be a single occurrence?

I suppose the counterargument though would be that if the player finds this POI on day 1 (metaphorically or literally) then they are set for life with one trip anyway, and again, this could be a useful mechanic on MP servers.

We want to overhaul spawning and properly reset chunks based on server preference.

 

[Laz Man]

44 minutes ago, Aldranon said:

Best use of the sledge turret I've seen to date.  The Zombies started to focus there attacks on damaged areas so the streamer put his sledge down perfectly!

Yeah it got a good boost in recent update.  There even better in a funnel and barb wire combo.