PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[MechanicalLens]

I can't remember the ratio of clay/stone smelting into a forge (ie it's not 1 for 1), but does anyone know if brick blocks are more expensive to make than flagstone upgraded to cobblestone?

 

[MechanicalLens]

Edit; Or I can find this out in my free time tomorrow, nevermind.

 

[Jugginator]

Decided to test stealth out last night; maxed out pistol/archery and stealth perks and made sure my GS was high enough for feral/rad sleepers (insane difficulty, nightmare run speed), gave myself a silencer/desert vulture/compound crossbow/military armor with muffled connectors and did the shotgun messiah factory. If stealth is much more improved than what it is, it would be hilariously OP. Used the crossbow for the first 3/4th of it and if I messed up (hard to do) and woke one or two things up the vulture took care of it and nothing else woke up from it lol. Really op/funny to pick off a whole pack of sleepers one by one. The only "auto attack" volume I ran across I simply fell back a cpl rooms, crouched, waited for them to cool down, then snuck around the corner and blasted them with the vulture and carried on my Sam Fisher run.

Was fun, but borderline OP.

 

[Gazz]

Some people like to brush over the fact that "stealth" is not a weapon, implying that if "stealth fails" you are helpless.

The agility attribute does have plenty of effective weapons to kill zombies with, stealth or no stealth.

 

[hiemfire]

Decided to test stealth out last night; 3. maxed out pistol/archery and stealth perks and made sure my GS was high enough for feral/rad sleepers (insane difficulty, nightmare run speed), gave myself a silencer/desert vulture/compound crossbow/military armor with muffled connectors and did the 1. shotgun messiah factory. If stealth is much more improved than what it is, it would be hilariously OP. Used the crossbow for the first 3/4th of it and if I messed up (hard to do) and woke one or two things up the vulture took care of it and nothing else woke up from it lol. Really op/funny to pick off a whole pack of sleepers one by one. The only "auto attack" volume I ran across 2. I simply fell back a cpl rooms, crouched, waited for them to cool down, then snuck around the corner and blasted them with the vulture and carried on my Sam Fisher run.

Was fun, but borderline OP.

1. Older large POI with allot of "room" to move. The issues arise when you don't have that space and trigger an auto aggro volume.

2. This option doesn't exist in allot of the places with the auto aggro volumes. 

3. Try with padded and blades/archery and no tier 3 equip... (the journey getting to the point you tested at is just as important as what you tested)

 

[hiemfire]

Some people like to brush over the fact that "stealth" is not a weapon, implying that if "stealth fails" you are helpless.

The agility attribute does have plenty of effective weapons to kill zombies with, stealth or no stealth.

Not brushing over it. Stealth is a play style as well as a tool.

When that tool fails, resulting in every thing that hinges on it being shut off, despite every indication it'll work and it is what you're basing your play through on then it guts the playthrough.

Your second line is basically saying "Don't build for it, do this instead.". Sort of like, in the hypothetical, replying "Just spec shotgun." when someone is pointing out that MGs aren't pushing damage through.

 

[JCrook1028]

Not brushing over it. Stealth is a play style as well as a tool.

When that tool fails, resulting in every thing that hinges on it being shut off, despite every indication it'll work and it is what you're basing your play through on then it guts the playthrough.

Your second line is basically saying "Don't build for it, do this instead.". Sort of like, in the hypothetical, replying "Just spec shotgun." when someone is pointing out that MGs aren't pushing damage through.

No. He's saying use the other aspects of what you ARE speccing into. Which btw is NOT stealth, it is Agility.

 

[Aldranon]

Now I still am right because any weapon with a silencer IS part of a stealth core build (in this game), and that includes quite a lot of guns. If you think it is not, please explain

I would be annoyed if any rifle could effectively be silenced in the game.

The bullet of an AK going past you sounds like a firecracker going off.  

But I'm all for any subsonic round being silenced and would be perfect for a stealth build.

 

[hiemfire]

No. He's saying use the other aspects of what you ARE speccing into. Which btw is NOT stealth, it is Agility.

Then the assumption it is based on is flawed. I'm not mono-focused on building from that Attribute despite making use of the 2 weapon types I chose and grabbing the Stealth based perks (HS and FTS).

 

[MechanicalLens]

I would be annoyed if any rifle could effectively be silenced in the game.

The bullet of an AK going past you sounds like a firecracker going off.  

But I'm all for any subsonic round being silenced and would be perfect for a stealth build.

Nonetheless, if all zombies should be able to hear you fire a gun that is attached with a silencer, then why equip the silencer in the first place? Just some food for thought.

 

[Tmodloader]

Nonetheless, if all zombies should be able to hear you fire a gun that is attached with a silencer, then why equip the silencer in the first place? Just some food for thought.

Maybe they should make silencer work better and be a pistol exclusive thing? For gameplay sake

 

[pregnable]

Some people like to brush over the fact that "stealth" is not a weapon, implying that if "stealth fails" you are helpless.

The agility attribute does have plenty of effective weapons to kill zombies with, stealth or no stealth.

When I was testing stealth, I put all my points in hidden strike and from the shadows, so I was almost helpless when I hit scripted aggro, because I was basically just a guy with a quality 1 bow, lel. 

Stealth also seems to work just as well without from the shadows, so stealth is not really even an agility thing, other than a place to waste some points.  Hidden strike is okay though. 

 

[Jugginator]

1. Older large POI with allot of "room" to move. The issues arise when you don't have that space and trigger an auto aggro volume.

2. This option doesn't exist in allot of the places with the auto aggro volumes. 

3. Try with padded and blades/archery and no tier 3 equip... (the journey getting to the point you tested at is just as important as what you tested)

You missed where I maxed the difficulty+speed out and hit end game gamestage to get some of the hardest sleeper spawns. As I said before, if you wish to roleplay only blades and archery with stealth and refuse to use anything else then that's a self imposed gimp... The desert vulture with a silencer wouldn't wake up sleepers, that right there will clean out auto aggro volumes; but if you must only use blades and a bow, then that's not a game balance issue. Food for thought.

 

[Danidas]

When I was testing stealth, I put all my points in hidden strike and from the shadows, so I was almost helpless when I hit scripted aggro, because I was basically just a guy with a quality 1 bow, lel. 

Stealth also seems to work just as well without from the shadows, so stealth is not really even an agility thing, other than a place to waste some points.  Hidden strike is okay though. 

Your missing one of the best parts of From the Shadows which is that it lowers the time it takes Zombies to forget about you. Which comes in handy when ever you draw too much attention and want to escape. Just run around a corner or out of line of sight and toss a rock to draw them to where the rock lands. At which point you just need to wait for them to forget you and return to their spawn then you can reengage them with sneak attacks. Which also works on the auto aggro sleepers as Jugginator pointed out grant it that is as long as you have a way to break line of sight.

 

[pregnable]

Your missing one of the best parks of From the Shadows which is that is lowers the time it takes Zombies to forget about you. Which comes in handy when ever you draw too much attention and want to escape. Just run around a corner or out of line of sight and toss a rock to draw them to where the rock lands. At which point you just need to wait for them to forget you and return to their spawn then you can reengage them with sneak attacks. Which also works on the auto aggro sleeps as Jugginator pointed out grant it that is as long as you have a way to break line of sight.

I mean, it seems interesting... but I can kinda do the same thing by just escaping and hiding, without from the shadows. 

I did that early game with a dog on my stealth run, but he never even returned to a state where I could sneak attack him.  Meh. 

You missed where I maxed the difficulty+speed out and hit end game gamestage to get some of the hardest sleeper spawns. As I said before, if you wish to roleplay only blades and archery with stealth and refuse to use anything else then that's a self imposed gimp... The desert vulture with a silencer wouldn't wake up sleepers, that right there will clean out auto aggro volumes; but if you must only use blades and a bow, then that's not a game balance issue. Food for thought.

You should try and do the same thing, but without any stealth skill.  I am curious if you even see a difference at all. 

If you want to go the extra mile and try it with another silenced weapon, like a pump shotgun, that would be interesting as well. 

 

[Jost Amman]

You guys are all discussing if stealth gameplay is viable or not or if it's better than others or not.

But most still ignore the fact that there are still many broken mechanics pertaining a stealth approach to the game.

So, as I said in my first post on the matter: keep ignoring problems and I'm sure the game will become better thanks to your "help".

 

[pregnable]

You guys are all discussing if stealth gameplay is viable or not or if it's better than others or not.

But most still ignore the fact that there are still many broken mechanics pertaining a stealth approach to the game.

So, as I said in my first post on the matter: keep ignoring problems and I'm sure the game will become better thanks to your "help".

I was trying to help by pointing out that from the shadows does not really seem to do anything. 

Then maybe people would notice that stealth works just as well with a shotgun in a lot of places and see some of the problems. 

I feel like I am doing a bad job though, lel. 

 

[mr.devolver]

Guys, I'm not sure if this is intended or a bug, but when I'm crouched and throw a spear, I get no bonus from Hidden Strike. When I use a bow in the same situation, I get the bonus from that perk.

 

[Danidas]

You guys are all discussing if stealth gameplay is viable or not or if it's better than others or not.

But most still ignore the fact that there are still many broken mechanics pertaining a stealth approach to the game.

So, as I said in my first post on the matter: keep ignoring problems and I'm sure the game will become better thanks to your "help".

Which belong in the bug report thread and are not really feedback. 

Guys, I'm not sure if this is intended or a bug, but when I'm crouched and throw a spear, I get no bonus from From the Shadows perk. When I use a bow in the same situation, I get the bonus from that perk.

From the Shadows only makes you harder to detect and makes Zombies forget about you faster. It has no effect on damage as that is the point of the Hidden Strike perk. Also Bows, Crossbows, and Knives all have built in sneak attack damage bonuses baked into their stats. Which Spears do not have so only Hidden Strike will effect it by adding extra sneak attack damage.

 

[mr.devolver]

From the Shadows only makes you harder to detect and makes Zombies forget about you faster. It has no effect on damage as that is the point of the Hidden Strike perk. Also Bows, Crossbows, and Knives all have built in sneak attack damage bonuses baked into their stats. Which Spears do not have so only Hidden Strike will effect it by adding extra sneak attack damage.

No, it won't - see my post again, I mistakenly wrote "From the Shadows" when I meant to write "Hidden Strike".