PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Damocles]

An amateur without special tools cant realistically fix a firearm (only clean and oil it) unless he exchanges parts from another gun.

 

[PO_Man_3849]

I've seen people get forged steel from wrenching things like exercise equipment, so if it was required for repairing something and you haven't unlocked it yet there ya go!

 

[AtomicUs5000]

And to be eve more muddy, I mean clear, repair kits might stay, lol. After seeing how much localization there is... maybe we will just simplify the recipe.

Could they maybe stay as a lootable or purchasable item only that can repair anything regardless of material?

 

[madmole]

While I agree that it does not matter if someone makes a faulty T3 weapon, I thought you had been saying that the different Tiers would be earned through leveling up the perk. I could easily be remembering wrong though.
But you have said that T3 weapons will require steel, so that is the gate for T3 items.

So if you have Hammer/ Forge high enough to make steel, but Shotgun Messiah Rank 1, you can make a Brown Pump Shotgun.

I have no issue with that, just trying to get it.

Sorry there is an ongoing miscommunication about Tiered items and perk tiers.

So you buy the perk and get to craft guns, the perk rank does determine the quality of the gun you will craft. So rank 1 crafts faulty, rank 5 crafts great (blue). Pink is find only.

You will probably get to craft all the shotguns when you buy rank 1 of shotgun messiah, but they will just be faulty (brown).

For weapon tiers like tools there are three tiers, stone, iron and steel. Firearms will have primitive, mid range and advanced, like blunderbuss is primitive, needs no perk to craft. Double barrel is a tier 2 weapon, and a pump is tier 3 or the best there will be unless we decide to make a god tier class of weapon.

 

[Dimpy]

You can craft a new faulty AK from 10 AK parts, wood, forged iron, duct tape, etc, if you have the automatic weapons rank 1 perk. If you get rank 5 you could craft a great Ak from 50 parts, forged iron, duct tape, etc. The cost to craft a higher quality weapon will scale with each rank.

Hmm, so you need more of a key material for better quality. I like it. Will this rule apply to lower-tier weapons such as the the stone axe or iron-reinforced club?

 

[madmole]

How did these players ever get a minibike built if they are this challenged? I would think a player has to know as a minimum how he can type in "glue" or "repair kit" in the craft interface to see if there is a recipe for it.
Anyway, there is a big difference between using weapon parts to repair a weapon and using only forged iron/steel. Both seem to be on the table at the moment.

The former is actually a good replacement for repair kit requiring some planning as you can't simply take all needed parts with you all the time.

The latter is removing any need for planning as you can already build and repair a lot of stuff with forged iron and steel. They are on the way to being indispensable items like the First Aid Bandage you always carry with you. Eventually every player will reserve 2 slots of his inventory (or the bike inv) for 2 big stacks of them and practically ignore them for the rest of the game. Still a resource sink but not something you really have to manage.

Also, the more you remove the value of stuff you get out by wrenching cars..., the more useless the Salvage perk gets. I can onyl speak for myself, but subjectively I'd say a point in Motherlode is already worth a lot more than a point in Salvage Operations. And the more you add uses for iron/steel the balance gets only worse.

Most players quit in 2 hours and don't get that far, or their friend crafted them a minibike, spawned it in with cheats, etc.
We're probably just going to simplify the repair kit some. We want to support nomad player classes where you just quest and don't even have a base. That guy shouldn't have to spend 12 hours reading wikis on how to make a repair kit.

Bandages should just stop bleeding and not heal at all or be nerfed a lot, forcing medicated bandages and food use for actual healing.

 

[bayaholic]

Maybe keep the repair kit but make it a tool for the workbench (like the cooking pot for the forge) that allows for repairs to be done there more cheaply than when doing field repair. Then you still have the task of crafting it but just once per workbench and that would also give a reason to make repairs at the workbench. Field repairs in the backpack should be expensive in parts so that they are only used in emergency or you are paying for the convenience.

I like this idea. Maybe field repairs give 50-75% while workbench repairs are full 100%.

 

[madmole]

This.
@MM

In truth, you have not created anything interesting recently (for gameplay)...But this of course only my subjective opinion

You will soon remove all the accumulated features and dry up of Game.

Bet.

 

[madmole]

A) Of course no one has a problem with stone axes being easy to repair they are easy to make why should the repair be hard? Better item but harder to repair has worked so far just can't figure out why all of a sudden it is to complex for new players.
B) This whole discussion has been about item repair not structure repair. Why throw that in?

C) We obviously have vastly different ideas of what "overly complex" means. Not a single thing crafted in this game is overly complex. It would have to be complex to have a chance to be overly complex.

B: Because system design governs the system. Inconsistencies are bugs not cool designs. The dog wags the tail, not the tail wags the dog. Why should things be complicated that aren't rewarding or fun? Lets make crafting and acquiring specific loot deep, not repair. Anyhow I already said after evaluating this mess its unlikely to change much now. We'll simplify the repair kit a bit probably and move on.

 

[PurgatoryWolf]

You keep saying pink/purple is find only , but we can already craft "epic" weapons, tools, armor. unless you are taking that away. We craft them all the time.

will armor have the new parts system too, or just tools / weapons?

 

[Sirillion]

After playing New World this morning I would like to propose a change to the sleeping bag if I may.

How about, through books or perks, you learn to make a small camp (in addition to the sleeping bag) where you get an option in the radial menu to rest when near the camp. The player then sits/lie down and immobilizes and you receive the REST buff which over a duration heal you up like food or first aid would do. When you start moving or get attacked the buff is lost. This camp should be placed and interacted with like vehicles are.

This camp could even contain a small storage if possible, creating a new one would move the spawnpoint but not the items inside the storage. Furthermore there could be an option in the radial to open a campfire for cooking.

Could also be cool if this "wilderness camp" could be in addition to the sleeping bag you have in your base, so with this perk reward you get two spawn points.

Should be able to be packed up and moved to a new location maybe? Much like with vehicles.

Could look something like this...

EDIT: Proposed change to the repair kit. Name it Weapon Cleaning Kit and make it with cloth, a piece of scrap metal and some oil. A gun is a complex piece of engineering and in-the-field repair should be cleaning only, as someone already mentioned. The oil in the recipe should be a new oil item called "Weapons Oil" and be lootable from gun stores, gas stations, hardware stores...then put a normal to high prob on it.

 

[madmole]

A bit hyperbolic in the "12 step repair kit", right now in-game the repair only requires mechanical parts, duct tape, oil, and cloth. All of which are easy to obtain.

If you find a gun on day one and don't know the game, it is a massive process to craft a repair kit.
<ingredient name="resourceMechanicalParts" count="2"/>

<ingredient name="resourceOil" count="1"/>

<ingredient name="resourceCloth" count="1"/>

<ingredient name="resourceDuctTape" count="1"/>

For the parts, you'll need to find a wrench and figure out the harvest minigame, and also figure out what actually drops mechanical parts.

The oil you will need a chemistry station which requires a perk and this:

<ingredient name="toolBeaker" count="2"/>

<ingredient name="burningBarrelPlayer" count="1"/>

<ingredient name="toolCookingPot" count="3"/>

<ingredient name="resourceMetalPipe" count="15"/>

<ingredient name="resourceWood" count="40"/>

and then you'll need to go to the desert and mine shale, and need shovel and pickaxe to do that.

I could list recipes but won't for now. You'll need to find an empty can.

Cloth you'll need to find some drapes or tent to harvest or clothes to scrap.

Ductape requires glue and cloth so next you will need to get a campfire and cooking pot, water and bones.

Finally you can make everything and have your repair kit. Of course you can find it all in loot, even that is going to take some work. Its not impossible, but it is a classic example of overdesign.

Anyhow, as I've said we might keep repair kits, but the process to make one could be simplified and the game would be better. And please people no we're not dumbing the game down, we're just making it easier to enjoy. There will be deep crafting, that is where it actually IS enjoyable. Repair sucks. I don't want to spend time at it, I want to acquire new tech.

 

[Roland]

I liked the idea of the new parts being used for repair instead of the repair kit.

Even if you don't want to make the repair kit become a tool for the workbench it would still be interesting to make it cost lots of parts for field repairs and fewer parts for workbench repairs. It would make finding a random workbench at a POI great for pausing and doing some quick repairs on the cheap. Right now, when I find a working workbench its meh because I usually am not ready to setup a big crafting project right then when I'm scavenging but to do some good repairs it would be a nice find.

And the functionality of something being cheaper to craft depending on whether you use a particular workstation or not is already in the game so should be intuitive for new players. They can still repair their gun anytime with 8 gun parts but at a workbench they can repair it for 4 gun parts. They're never blocked from repairing and having to figure out what to do to be able to repair.

 

[Guppycur]

You can mine forged steel? Mining is 10% of the game at best. If you weren't paying attention you'll need "pickaxe parts" to even craft a pickaxe. So you'll have to leave your base to get a better pickaxe. And as mentioned we might make pickaxe parts the repair requirement. In short, we're doing away with a 12 step repair kit, the rest is up for debate. I'm liking the idea of parts for repair the more I think about it.

10%? You have played long games, right? Mining is essential. Far more essential than it should be.

 

[Survager]

A18 has even more ways to reduce encumbrance than ever. Craft pocket mods for clothes for example, is a book you can learn, and the adrenaline thief book will never be encumbered at night.

But what about immersion in the game? Books, steroids as well as dropping a backpack are situational solutions to a problem.

The ability to drop a backpack will not make a player’s life very easier if you worry about it. Maybe you just do not want to do it, because you think that no one will use it?

If this is the case, then you need to think about removing from the game, Blanderbass) nobody really uses this type of weapon)

 

[Damocles]

in general I would boost the number of functional crafting stations (workbench, forge, mixer, chem station) in POIs, but on the other hand make crafting one of your own harder.

I like the dynamic to plan ahead to have to travel to a discovered station and bring the resources in the early to mid game.

 

[Guppycur]

No we don't, some people are married to old legacy ideas. Trust me, repair kits were a sharp stick and complex crafting will be more rewarding and replace whatever void we leave here. If we would keep repair kits they would be greatly simplified.
We want to do repair quests, but when the team saw what it took to make a repair kit it was like who made this dumb idea? KISS for the win. Repair kits were overly complex. I think they were ok a few alphas ago, some forged iron, cloth and oil. Now they need duct tape which is a mini quest itself just to craft some.

I can't even ... C'mon ...

 

[Guppycur]

Maybe keep the repair kit but make it a tool for the workbench (like the cooking pot for the forge) that allows for repairs to be done there more cheaply than when doing field repair. Then you still have the task of crafting it but just once per workbench and that would also give a reason to make repairs at the workbench. Field repairs in the backpack should be expensive in parts so that they are only used in emergency or you are paying for the convenience.

Benches are great, but what we are losing is the need to find materials. Yes sure once, for the bench itself, but having to constantly find oil, cloth, etc is what drives this game.

Oh good, we have all the benches, we never need to leave the area ever again. C'mon.

- - - Updated - - -

This.
@MM

In truth, you have not created anything interesting recently (for gameplay)...But this of course only my subjective opinion

You will soon remove all the accumulated features and dry up of Game.

Nothing new since electricity in a15. Sure, we got "more" but at the expense of even more than that.

 

[Ouch Quit It]

Mayday Mayday!! TFP is in a FLAT SPIN...HEADED OUT TO SEA!!

Talk to me Goose!!

 

[Roland]

But what about immersion in the game? Books, steroids as well as dropping a backpack are situational solutions to a problem.
The ability to drop a backpack will not make a player’s life very easier if you worry about it. Maybe you just do not want to do it, because you think that no one will use it?

If this is the case, then you need to think about removing from the game, Blanderbass) nobody really uses this type of weapon)

I think maybe something has been lost in translation.

The answer is no.

You got a dev to hear your request, consider it, and answer you. You tried again. He answered again. You tried again. He said the debate is over and its time to move on because it won't happen. You're just being a poor sport at this point, man.

Maybe if you roll a die you can get a different answer. Here......borrow mine....