PC The relevance of lockpicks

Kyonshi

Kyonshi

New member
Pretty much useless since the Jailbreaker candy has been added. Its a real joke now, their appearance in vending machines is so frequent, the price is so cheap. You can get a good amount of them as soon as the first days of a new game hit. Hell, even before that, lockpicks would just rain down anyways. And once you unlock the Lockpicker perk, you can make them.

I didnt even bother using them for the tiny 2500 pts safes. Unlock Skullcrusher, make a level 2 Stone Sledgehammer and just pop them open. I consider the lockpicks for the 5000, 7000 and 10000 pts safes. But those are so scarce, you have time to get tons of Jailbreakers and lockpicks before finding one and once you do, just eat the sweets and get the stuff.

The spawn rate of lockpicks should drastically be lowered, as well as the quantity you get when you find some, and/or the candies should also be less abundant, if not actually removed from the game. As it is right now, i think its a waste of memory that could be used for more meaningful features. What do you think?

 
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I think they will balance things better in time. TFP always goes overboard with a new feature/addition at first and then dials it back a bit.

LOL, take a look at the wine barrels or the plastic cooler bottles, you know the ones that drop pure mineral water? I can almost guarantee that they shut the wine barrels down because they realized we were swimming in murky water, with no need to ever go find a lake or water tower. I imagine they will do something with the blue plastic water bottles soon as well, in the current EXP-180 that's all I drink because it is so easy to find.

 
Over half the blue water dispensers I find never have anything in them.   In solo games the water issue isn't bad, but in multiplayer say.. if you score a lottery hit and find 5 bottles in one dispenser it doesnt mean much because they get passed out among the crew.

 
Reckis said:
I think they will balance things better in time. TFP always goes overboard with a new feature/addition at first and then dials it back a bit.

LOL, take a look at the wine barrels or the plastic cooler bottles, you know the ones that drop pure mineral water? I can almost guarantee that they shut the wine barrels down because they realized we were swimming in murky water, with no need to ever go find a lake or water tower. I imagine they will do something with the blue plastic water bottles soon as well, in the current EXP-180 that's all I drink because it is so easy to find.
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Yeah i know what you mean. When i found out about the "wine" barrels and that i found the Pure Mineral Water book, i went on a shopping spree on those barrels. With all the ones i also found in toilets and those empty jars i filled, i was drowing in PMW in a single day lol.

But you see, i dont understand why this wasnt obvious to them. I mean, the minute you provide an over-abundent resource, people will exploit it and squeeze the lemon as much as possible, ultimately breaking the game or almost doing so. I can get that among the tons of work they have to do, some issues may have slipped away from their attention. But the Jailbreaker candy frature was most probably discussed and outcomes were expected and anticipated (that's what game design is about). I dont see how they didnt foresaw that it would unbalance the progress. But maybe that's just me, i dunno.

 
@Kyonshi I can't speak to that, don't know why they handle it the way they do. I just know after years of playing this game that this is inevitably the pattern they follow.

 
I think the lockpicks are just fine. But then I also don't believe in using magic candy pills to get temp boost so never use them.

 
Gideon said:
They're quieter than just smashing your way in.

I wish you could pick locked doors.
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See, that's a smart way to use their potential. Locked doors and car trunks could be picked. Lockers as well.

Of course its quieter to pick safes. But as for the 2500 hp ones, you just clear the Zs in the place and it barely take 1 minute or 2, real time, to bust open with the Sledgehammer. Even if that attracts Zs outside, you still have enough time to crack it. Honestly its way less of a hassle to crack them up than to waste 12 lockpicks.

 
Kyonshi said:
But the Jailbreaker candy frature was most probably discussed and outcomes were expected and anticipated (that's what game design is about). I dont see how they didnt foresaw that it would unbalance the progress. But maybe that's just me, i dunno.
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Anticipating what players will do is worth a mason jar of piss. You put in features with some initial settings and then test, gather feedback, and then make adjustments. The game is still unreleased. We are participating in the development so our playing it and giving feedback is what game design is all about. To someone who picks up the game for the first time after it really is released it will appear as though the developers anticipated everything with great skill and foresight. We just have a backstage pass during the construction time.

 
Roland said:
Anticipating what players will do is worth a mason jar of piss. You put in features with some initial settings and then test, gather feedback, and then make adjustments. The game is still unreleased. We are participating in the development so our playing it and giving feedback is what game design is all about. To someone who picks up the game for the first time after it really is released it will appear as though the developers anticipated everything with great skill and foresight. We just have a backstage pass during the construction time.
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In other words, every fart released in a crowded backstage stays in that backstage, it's never released to the public. :gossip: :painkiller: 😁

 
Tombuilder said:
Is it quicker to crack a safe with a sledge than a pick axe?
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Probably not. Its just that you get access to a stone sledge much quicker than an iron pick axe. Unless you find one very early, but now with the loot system avantaging stone tools and weapons, you're much more set to find a level 1 (and higher) sledge first.

 
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Kyonshi said:
See, that's a smart way to use their potential. Locked doors and car trunks could be picked. Lockers as well.

Of course its quieter to pick safes. But as for the 2500 hp ones, you just clear the Zs in the place and it barely take 1 minute or 2, real time, to bust open with the Sledgehammer. Even if that attracts Zs outside, you still have enough time to crack it. Honestly its way less of a hassle to crack them up than to waste 12 lockpicks.
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Well...if you want LEAST hassle, and greatest speed...

Shaped charges for the win!

 
Hey, now that we've wondered (shambled?) far enough off topic...

I think, but I also could have been imagining this, that you can attach those explosives to zombies. Am I remember this correctly?

 
Kyonshi said:
Probably not. Its just that you get access to a stone sledge much quicker than an iron pick axe. Unless you find one very early, but now with the loot system avantaging stone tools and weapons, you're much more set to find a level 1 (and higher) sledge first.
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Thank you, that's really helpful. I'm planning a bat playthrough for my next run but this makes me think I'll keep a sledge on the toolbelt early on for those pesky safes.

 
JCrook1028 said:
I think the lockpicks are just fine. But then I also don't believe in using magic candy pills to get temp boost so never use them.
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Perfectly said. I have yet to eat one single piece of candy. I just sell mine to the traitors as soon as I find them. 

Same with the steroid injection....have no use for it.

 
One irreplaceable use for Lockpicks is opening up the Trader Safes.

Other than that, and along with the loot changes for early game where there isn't as much point to opening safes, I save the ones I loot when there's room, but don't fret if there isn't.

On Candies in general.. can kinda see them. guessing they were really 'cheap' to add in, just an icon some text and a bit of xml.. so "new" content that in total might have taken a day to put in.

Maybe it mimics something similar in other games?

As to their relative usefulness vs. cost, some seem about right? If they only lasted 1-2 minutes more folks wouldn't bother, but maybe they'd be more attractive if something like the mining & salvage ones were say two thirds the power but 3-5 times the duration for 2-4 times the cost?

Just thinking for myself here as the only one I've used was the Health bar, and I just forgot to use the barter one and bought a 9000 Duke Crucible at full price.

Guess for me when I'm playing with vanilla backpack size, slots are too valuable to use for candy.

 
I think being able to pick locked doors would be enough to make lockpicks worth carrying around (though uh, the skill for them is still awful because you can have it max level and still dump 15 lockpicks on one safe)

 
Personally I don't see the greater availability of PMW as being an oversight but a balancing measure to offset the food drain. Before this alpha the efficient digestion mechanic did not have much benefit.

PMW and red tea have some actual benefit now and I think the only way it's really overpowered is if it so greatly offsets food that it's no longer an issue early game and IMO that's not currently the case. It's not like it's difficult to get hydration otherwise in this game. Trips to a lake mean nothing. Orr you see a snow biome, spend 10 minutes digging snow and have all the water you will need for 50 days.

But that isn't to say the drink mechanics are perfect as they are. Personally I would like to see some form of water filtration workstations along with all environmental water sources being 'infected'. A basic filtration unit would just filter/cook the water and be easy to make early game. An upgraded version would make teas without needing RNG recipes. A final version would produce pure mineral water. It would give the player more agency over their survival and more things to do.

 
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