PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

  • A18 Stable is Out!

    Votes: 2 66.7%
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    Votes: 1 33.3%

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One thing I've seen brought up about mod quality would be the potential to have durability on mods themselves. Maybe only certain kinds take damage per shot/swing. Say barrel mods on weapons or spikes on clubs. Then you could have some that take damage as you yourself take damage. Think if you have a scoped rifle out and get hit by a zed. Makes sense they would smack the gun and potentially damage the scope.
The weapon itself degrades, I think mods degrading would be too much micro management, remove them repair them reinstall... 4 times, no thanks we had that with A16's weapon parts system.

 
just hearing that i can do a playthrough of only perking into the main attributes themselves and every skill can be found as books will make for an interesting game to play, I cannot wait.
That is not the case. Most of the perks that unlock crafting recipes, those same recipes can be found as a schematic, but that doesn't give you all the benefits that the perk would give you (in most cases). So if you want something just for the crafting try to find the schematic, but if you want it for its perks, then get the perk.

 
I have a question in one of the pictures in cm mode I noticed one was called "duke" is that referencing the duke of navezgane? and his mutant army of bandits it's the native looking guy
- - - Updated - - -

also people who complain about reading books to gain certain stats realise this game isn't built on relalism but some to most aspects of the game are
Yes his painting can be seen in A17 everywhere. Same with Noah.

 
That is not the case. Most of the perks that unlock crafting recipes, those same recipes can be found as a schematic, but that doesn't give you all the benefits that the perk would give you (in most cases). So if you want something just for the crafting try to find the schematic, but if you want it for its perks, then get the perk.
Fair enough, so its a better mix of both worlds, i keep liking it more and more, I can't wait to play

 
That is not the case. Most of the perks that unlock crafting recipes, those same recipes can be found as a schematic, but that doesn't give you all the benefits that the perk would give you (in most cases). So if you want something just for the crafting try to find the schematic, but if you want it for its perks, then get the perk.
Any chance you could give us some examples - for example some cooking perks/recipes - in your next video?

 
LOL, if you don't find a mine you will NOT have enough ammo, unless your a scrub who uses non specialized weapons.
I sell all my shotty ammo and keep a pistol for backup, only because I found a green pistol. But its kind of a waste my spiked knuckles are faster at killing than an unspec'd pistol .

The issue is when I run out of stamina.
Hi @MM,

This answer was surprising to me. can you plz explain the design choice behind this implementation a bit?

gameplay:

- the new design designate a melee + gun to each class.

- guns waist precious ammo while melee only use stamina (regenerate over time)

= i would think dmg-wise gun &gt;= melee ALWAYS, regardless of perks, and gun rarity &gt; melee rarity,

just for balance sake. (otherwise all the unperked guns are rendered useless to the player in cost-benefit terms, no?)

intuitive to new players:

- personally i would never have guessed that selling a gun/ammo i found to buy a new melee wep could actually up my DPS. im really not a realism nazi ;) gamplay &gt; realism always for me. but in this case i cant figure this one out, on both aspects.

Edit: with that being said, it would make more sense to me if it was just the accuracy taking a big hit for non perked guns. the gun still does &gt;= melee dmg, but a noob cant reliably land his shots so he might choose a perked melee wep instead in most cases, and only use the unperked gun in a pinch situation at a very close range (thus still preserving some player value in some situations, encouraging player choice).

 
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@Madmole in the video the tooltip in the list states that you gain 10% hypothermal protection, but the description on the book states 10% hyperthermal protection. Little typo I guess

 
This was before the XP nerf. I play default settings, but set air drop to once every 7 days, turn on the air drop marker, and set max alive to 16 or 24. Use molotov for crowd control on horde night with 24 zombies and get 5-10k xp right there with one shot.
Mining was super OP, at level 50 with all the perks and a decent steel pick you could level every 30 seconds. (I'm sure its this way in 17 yet). I play default length days, 60 minutes I think they are. Bear in mind every zed I see I kill traveling and I'd have nerd goggles for XP bonus. It wasn't uncommon with the zed density in the POIs to level up on the way to the POI, be at the POI when a wandering horde showed up outside, and level up 3-4 levels in the POI, come home gain more xp, turn in the quest and level again. So if you quest constantly, kill everything, mine most the night and do some daily upgrade to your fort, you could level super fast. Like level 20 by day 7 for sure, and then it got faster and faster as you could kill zeds faster, you are getting more xp.

You can see my current level in the screens I posted on twitter. Its 1 more than your max HP now. Its definitely slowed down to a good pace now IMO.

We've completely rebalanced XP since 17.4 so that each activity is fairly close.
Do you have game goals for what level a player "should" be getting to each few days?

Like day 7 you would like a player to be level x. Day 14 level x. And so on?

Why is the exp gained going faster at higher levels? I understand you gain more exp when you can mine faster, kill faster and harder zombies give more exp, but doesn't it take more xp to gain levels as you grow?

I think lvl 20 on day 7 is fine. So maybe the issue isent a need for an overall nerf but more of a steeper lvl requirement as you level up?

Also I get you kill every zombie you see and you had nerd glasses and did all the quests. But that's you playing a hardcore exp gaining gameplay style. Please keep this in mind. Not everyone likes to play like that.

I hope your balance the game in a "balanced" fashion. Maybe someway to give xp to the builders? I dont want to only kill zombies all day and mine all night. I love to build too.

You guys havent let me down yet, so I have faith. Just some things to think about.

Oh, also this is page 848, woot 😆

 
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gameplay:- the new design designate a melee + gun to each class.

- guns waist precious ammo while melee only use stamina (regenerate over time)

= i would think dmg-wise gun &gt;= melee ALWAYS, regardless of perks, and gun rarity &gt; melee rarity,

just for balance sake. (otherwise all the unperked guns are rendered useless to the player in cost-benefit terms, no?)
Don't forget there are two factors:

Guns - use ammo

Melee - exposes you to counter-attacks

So from a design/game point of view, the balance needs to take both of those into account. If being able to attack from a distance without being counter-attacked is much more of a benefit than having to acquire ammo is a penalty, then you'd expect guns to be weaker than melee attacks (otherwise no-one would ever use melee). Similarly, if having to acquire ammo is a much bigger penalty than being able to attack from a distance is a benefit then you'd expect guns to be stronger than melee attacks or no-one would use them.

 
I suggest weapon perks to be separated from character building perks to encourage more variety of choices.

You could still have an optimal character build for a weapon but keeping it separated would allow us both the weapons and character build of our choosing.

Having to unlock weapon perks by putting attribute points on a skill tab you don't plan to use seems counterproductive and silly. Effectively making the choices into "do you want your favorite weapon" or "do you want your favorite character build." Maybe adding a separate weapon skill point to perk just your weapons would work too.

 
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Then what do you propose for higher tier crafting? Level gates?
Higher quality items taking higher amounts of materials is a universal game mechanic. Think of it as taking tiny pieces of each gun part and combining it with only the best of the others. So you cannibalize a bunch to get a few good ones.
Well you could do one of two things.

1. A crafting level. In which the player spends points into crafting higher quality weapons. That way the player seems like they are learning and getting better at there craft as the game progresses.

2. Scrap. You should get something from parts, why not scrap.

I would have suggested getting better by doing the things you do, sometimes called grinding. Works well in Skyrim. But TFP's tried that in Alpha 15 and did not like it.

 
Having to unlock weapon perks by putting attribute points on a skill tab you don't plan to use seems counterproductive and silly. Effectively making the choices into "do you want your favorite weapon" or "do you want your favorite character build." Maybe adding a separate weapon skill point to perk just your weapons would work too.
Its about choice and consequences. Silly or not, it is a deliberate design decision by TFP, not an oversight, MM talked a few times about it.

PS: I 'm fine with that, this will surely improve replayability.

 
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If you actually ever watched original kickstarter trailer, you'd noticed they are going for survival RPG approach, not realism.
I do wonder what was the "Protect your livestock" in that video about. Were farming animals initially planned or was that just a saying which makes sense in the context? (The zombies are coming)

 
Its about choice and consequences. Silly or not, it is a deliberate design decision by TFP, not an oversight, MM talked a few times about it.
PS: I 'm fine with that, this will surely improve replayability.

You did not understand my comment. The thing that's silly is to waste a lot of skill points on attributes that you don't want just for your weapon of choice. I see more bad than good to bundle weapon improvement perks in with character playstyle perks. They are the two choices that players should make without negotiating a compromising with the perk system.

("it is a deliberate design decision") Not to ruffle the feathers of the devs but they change the skill system every update. I think they need some help on a direction. Choices and consequences would still be a part of the equation if this idea was in effect.

Example: If you want to be a master with the shotgun and perk into fortification you would have to waste points lvling up strength just to unlock those shotgun perks. The system is not flexible for the choices I think people want to make.

 
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You did not understand my comment. The thing that's silly is to waste a lot of skill points on attributes that you don't want just for your weapon of choice. I see more bad than good to bundle weapon improvement perks in with character playstyle perks. They are the two choices that players should make without negotiating a compromising with the perk system.
("it is a deliberate design decision") Not to ruffle the feathers of the devs but they change the skill system every update. I think they need some help on a direction. Choices and consequences would still be a part of the equation if this idea was in effect.

Example: If you want to be a master with the shotgun and perk into fortification you would have to waste points lvling up strength just to unlock those shotgun perks. The system is not flexible for the choices I think people want to make.
I understand you completely. Look at some RPGs, there are some that allow you to select perks freely (GURPS). And then there are RPGs where you spec into a class, automatically limiting you to a subset of perks. And there are RPGs where your perk choice closes off other perks. And there are RPGs where your attributes determine which perks make sense even though you can select from all. Whether you like that or not

Restricting you in your choices IS deliberate.

 
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You would also need to make attributes its own separate thing.

Attributes: gets a separate perk point

Weapon: gets a separate skill point

Character Playstle: separate skill point

this way they don't conflict with each other and you get to make the character you want to be.

Stealth, Damage Dealer, Tank/healing, Support and then Weapon that you'll use with the attribute to support it.

 
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