PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Grue]

I like this solution much better than getting rid of repair kits altogether.

You mean, exactly like what we already had in A16?

Field repair causes quality damage.

Combine items in workbench to avoid/undo that damage, but is more resource intensive because it takes the whole item.

No need for "parts".

Just combine whole items like we did before.

 

[Lonestarcanuck]

as much as I like Killing zombies, I really prefer the questing and building out a base. pre-A17 I liked that I could find a place to hide and zombies would ignore me. every zombie movie/show/book had limits on Zombies - basically no smell and no noise and no light and you could hide from them.

Horde night is fun but would be better if I could control boundaries again like if I am at bedrock or at least 50 blocks away they won't find me.

let me build and hide and quest and sneak.

 

[meganoth]

You mean, exactly like what we already had in A16?

Since in A16 there was a lot of micromanagement with weapon parts incuded even with repairs it isn't exactly like in A16.

We should not forget that A17 has the first version of a new weapon system with mods, and because it is alpha we get to see this (incomplete) version. Just look at the few available mods to see it isn't finished. If the next version has a few more traits that worked well in previous alphas that is a good thing.

 

[Trankitas]

Sorry, it's 100 iron. Probably a typo?
<recipe name="meleeClubIron" count="1">

<ingredient name="resourceScrapIron" count="100"/>

<ingredient name="resourceWood" count="10"/>

</recipe>

Did you mean:

<recipe name="virusCure" count="1">

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

</recipe>

??

 

[Grue]

as much as I like Killing zombies, I really prefer the questing and building out a base. pre-A17 I liked that I could find a place to hide and zombies would ignore me. every zombie movie/show/book had limits on Zombies - basically no smell and no noise and no light and you could hide from them.
Horde night is fun but would be better if I could control boundaries again like if I am at bedrock or at least 50 blocks away they won't find me.

let me build and hide and quest and sneak.

Thank you! This is what I am talking about.

I hate the new omniscient zombie XP-bags.

Zombies should be an environmental horror element, to be confronted or avoided as I see fit in order to survive.

Holing up in a deep underground bunker should be a valid play strategy. Especially when you want to crank up the difficulty and make it so you only venture out when you need to sneak out to do something.

While we are at it, we should have "insulation" for our bases to help us avoid detection better.

It should be so horrible outside that you are not out running around taking pot shots for XP.

That is the missing horror element in my opinion, you should be trying to scrape by and survive while running for your freaking life to get somewhere safe if detected by more than a couple of zombies.

 

[Aldranon]

Thank you! This is what I am talking about.I hate the new omniscient zombie XP-bags.

Zombies should be an environmental horror element, to be confronted or avoided as I see fit in order to survive.

Holing up in a deep underground bunker should be a valid play strategy. Especially when you want to crank up the difficulty and make it so you only venture out when you need to sneak out to do something.

While we are at it, we should have "insulation" for our bases to help us avoid detection better.

It should be so horrible outside that you are not out running around taking pot shots for XP.

That is the missing horror element in my opinion, you should be trying to scrape by and survive while running for your freaking life to get somewhere safe if detected by more than a couple of zombies.

I liked Roland's idea where you get exp based on days alive. This way, zombies are pure threat and not something to go looking for.

 

[Frekton]

Thank you! This is what I am talking about.I hate the new omniscient zombie XP-bags.

Zombies should be an environmental horror element, to be confronted or avoided as I see fit in order to survive.

Holing up in a deep underground bunker should be a valid play strategy. Especially when you want to crank up the difficulty and make it so you only venture out when you need to sneak out to do something.

While we are at it, we should have "insulation" for our bases to help us avoid detection better.

It should be so horrible outside that you are not out running around taking pot shots for XP.

That is the missing horror element in my opinion, you should be trying to scrape by and survive while running for your freaking life to get somewhere safe if detected by more than a couple of zombies.

This is why i asked to have the ability to turn off digging zombies via settings, but all I got were snarky responses from MM and Fatal.... I don't care if we have to mod out digging. Sadly it's hard coded I'm told and that to me is a complete turn off.....

 

[madmole]

More time for what exactly? Your constant removal of complexity is clearing the way for? Farming is super simple and easy, repairing bases is super simple and easy, crafting is whittling down to nothing with the removal of actual items, biomes are disappearing and maps are becoming incredibly stale and boring. Player level gates are being completely removed.
You keep saying the focus on the 20 hour player is to open them up to this world of post 20 hour gameplay. But there IS no post 20 hour world left. So whats mid and end game? Wandering hordes are easy and barely exist, blood moons can easily be cheesed even if you dont mean to cheese it by building around the simplistic ai. Levelling is super fast and without gates those tier 3 plus weapons will be found and used up in days.

It may just be a repair kit but its the ripple effect of ALL these removals. Now theres less need for oil and mech parts. So the reason to keep looting for those resources is cut down, which decreases time spent finding them, which leads to people wondering why they are even bothering to scavenge to begin with after a few days in game. At this point just start players off with everything.

Yeah I know someone is going to try to diminish my opinion because of my mod or try to say Im really not allowed to have an opinion on Vanilla, except I am allowed. Population is severely down and that DOES impact how many people are playing both vanilla and modded. Making things simpler and removing even more complexity is going to lead to a lot of regrets.

The issue with 17 wasn't the actual game. It was that people grew bored of what there is to accomplish and face in the game. Getting people to end game quicker is not going to help with retention, especially amongst streamers and the like.

That's because the perk system gave too many crafting unlocks and the first draft of gun crafting had just grindy stuff to find. With parts acquired through looting and a strong desire to make more advanced crafts require harder to obtain trinkets, I think we'll be scratching a lot of that old itch that was lost in A16.

 

[madmole]

If complexity of the games mechanics for crafting or other stuff is an issue then why not make the in game journal easier to use and guide new players in the correct direction? Maybe instead of stuff unlocking in the journal as you find it have it all available from the start to explain where to find things and other stuff new players might need help with?
Also better detailed explanations for perks and easier to manage UI for reading all that text would be helpful.

Alpha 17 has taken away alot of the reasons to go out and scavenge for items and making things simple to create will take away from the exploration and scavenging aspect of this game.

One item in the game that is over complicated getting simplified will not change our goal to make much more reason to loot. Its a sharp stick that should be streamlined a bit. But stuff like gun crafting is dumbed down too much without parts. Vehicles could use more unique parts too.

 

[SnowDog1942]

Will vehicle building still be a perk in A18, that one just feels off to me, maybe modding them should be a perk instead.

 

[TSBX]

What if these summer children can't figure out how to use a forge? Will scrap iron be the new repair material?

 

[Cop4Terminator]

As as suggestion for the new alpha, i would like to see new decor blocks/items like scarecrows in the farmhouses on navezgane or RWG, and maybe also an option for windowed full screen in video settings, it's kinda annoying when you have more than one screen, and every time you switch to a different tab your game shrinks in the taskbar.

 

[spacepiggio]

I am saying that 10% of the time spent playing the game is mining, at most, on average. You can get by without large amounts of mining. I wouldn't call mining trees or surface rocks mining, I'm talking about full on making caves and digging deep being something you don't have to do. You can buy GP and bullets from traders, so its not an essential part any more.

Just made it to Bedrock in a longtime now, been exploring Nav again, I hate the new texture for Bedrock, kind of blinds you with it's Bluishness'

 

[Weazelsun]

Has anyone else done a POI Quest (big exclamation mark at POI) BUT before doing it you clear it, kill the zombies and loot the chest. sometimes leaving items in the containers.
then you accept the quest and the POI RESETs but you still find dead zombies (usually the dogs) and also the old loot in the containers that you left? this seems to mess up the POI loot and zombies. I have had this a few times, mostly the house with the detached garage where you have to follow the torches through the roof.

On the multiplayer server I player, I've noticed that happen sometimes.

 

[madmole]

3 tier weapons each attribute and 9 tools total 24 different partsit's not too much?

is it not better use only weapon parts and tool parts?

I think a unique weapon part per weapon or weapon is essential if we unlock recipes via the governing perk. So if we went with shotgun messiah unlocking all shotgun crafting, then you would need double barrel parts, and pump shotgun parts. If we went with books that unlock them, then you could a more generic route.

Personally I like specific parts for guns. Tools might need to just remain generic and use forged iron and steel. The problem is we overlap melee into tool area. Like a fire axe is a great tool and weapon at the same time. So it makes it harder to balance these decisions.

 

[madmole]

I dunno, Roland. They said weapon parts were dead a long time ago ... and suddenly we have weapon parts back. (And I am IN NO WAY endorsing this drop the backpack lunacy, just to be clear.)
But that's okay, I love storage boxes, and can make lots and lots of storage boxes for weapon parts again.

I just wanna see the new stuff, I'm sold already, release the Kraken! Now y'all are just teasing us.

BTW, I want that die ... a nice big one that I can throw at people.

To be clear, guns will scrap and be crafted from gun_parts. A single item, not a barrel, stock, receiver, and parts like before. Guns would be crafted from x number of parts, and other standard materials like forged metal, wood, glue and whatever makes sense.

 

[madmole]

I will be incredibly sad and angry if they continue to take away paint textures to save memory, and then add in ten billion new textures just because someone doesn't like the fact that a brown level item looks the same as a blue level item. It's a gun. It looks like a gun. It should look like a gun. I don't care if it looks like every other gun. It shoots things and hopefully kills them dead. Good enough.
I'm already upset over the removal of most of the paint textures and the uglification of the ones that remain.

Yes, I know, it's a zombie game, blah blah freaking blah. I know the devs think we should all be freaking Rambo and do nothing but shoot and loot all damned day and night. Not everyone plays the same way, not everyone enjoys the same things. I like to have a place look nice, and I can barely manage that now with the paints as they exist, and having them even more negatively impacted over something this utterly stupid would be complete bull. Give us our paints back please, or at least make it modifiable.

What are you on about? We went from ugly photoshopped 16 to 256 pixel hack textures to proper 3d PBR textures that are 1024, and added many new ones. What was removed?

 

[madmole]

Nope ... he said AK will break down to AK parts, shotgun will break down to shotgun parts, etc ... and that you use those parts to make new AKs or Shotguns. I don't think it's going to be as clunky as what we used to have which was a million different pistol parts ... I'm at least open to seeing how it works. As long as the "AK Parts" stack, I think it'll be kind of neat. And it's a compromise between what was (A16) and what is now (A17) ... to make what sounds like a pretty interesting what will be (A18 and beyond).
But, it also sounds like this is still in progress, so things may (of course) change. We will see what we wind up with.

But I am very much against having to find tool parts ... I don't mind the parts, but I think we should be able to craft them ... perhaps that would be a good use of the Hammer and Forge perks ... levels there to be able to create tool parts in the forge.

Maybe for basic tools, like fire axe, pickaxe, shovels, etc. For auger and chainsaw, find the parts. Yes the parts will stack.

 

[TSBX]

What are you on about? We went from ugly photoshopped 16 to 256 pixel hack textures to proper 3d PBR textures that are 1024, and added many new ones. What was removed?

They're clearly not talking about updating existing textures, but the texture array has A.) Decreased, and B.) The ability to add custom paint textures has been removed or disabled via the new " texture streaming" thing.

 

[madmole]

The point was not that it will never ever happen. The point is to stop pestering once the dev has said, "no". If they later change their mind, great. But if they do change their mind it won't be because Orsey wore them down with additional repetitive posts where the "Pleeeeeeeaaaaase" just gets longer and longer and longer.
Also, I'm pretty sure that AK parts, Shotgun parts, Pistol parts, etc are going to be on the same level of abstraction as electrical parts, mechanical parts, scrap plastic, etc. We aren't going back to barrels, stocks, etc. that have quality levels nor will it be a separate assembly screen. So it's more of an abstract icon that will be part of the recipe for guns. I haven't seen it yet myself so I could be wrong but "return to parts" is being used loosely I suspect.

Right think of it as a streamlined hybrid of the old system and new, throwing out the old assembly part and maintenance and combining of parts and just craft better guns by scrapping what you have and recrafting with some additional parts when you upgrade your crafting ability by buying the next tier perk. So as your perk grows you can craft better guns but always find brown guns useful because you need those parts for crafting, and possibly even repair.

That latter part excites me, you might be saving up more parts for the next tier, but a few field repairs has you short of the parts you now need. So a decision not to repair could end up with a gun going out mid battle and costing you your life because you were hoping to scrap the gun before it broke and craft a better one when you got back to your base.