PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Wulf]

There is a nice workaround i figured out after some testing. Here it is:

If you die, start over.

Dead is Dead mode != Permadeath

Try again.

 

[madmole]

What?? +100% of one meat would be two meats. How is that OP? You would still have your granular increases from the perk (1 meat, 2 meat, 3 meat, etc) it would just be in different %'s which would still basically be in line with what we have now, but would still make sense for the golden goose 20 hr people that are the sudden focus.
Not trying to be critical, just trying to make sense of things. Maybe Roland can chime in being a math whiz.

(I don't understand the wood comment BTW.)

It screws the guy with no perk ranks. Sorry you only get 1 meat. Then the guy with 5 ranks gets 500% meat the guy with no ranks. The ranks are 20,40,60,80,100%. Also a tiny rabbit could only drop 1 meat so he'd drop 5 meats with the perk, way too much for one rabbit.

 

[Dimpy]

What?? +100% of one meat would be two meats. How is that OP?

Effectively you'd be doubling your resources by only have to spend a single perk point. How is double meat any less OP than, say x2 iron ore mined, or double duke reward for completing quests?

(I don't understand the wood comment BTW.)

One unit of wood is not enough to craft a club in the same way that one unit of meat is not enough to cook a meat slab.

 

[Gnomaana]

Yes, its a bite, not a full hamburger which is 5 meat. We needed to make everything granular so it could scale.

Im not sure why people even have a problem with this. I just think of it as how many grams or ounces of meat I get.

 

[madmole]

define "too many".
Potatoes dont count

I say its time to cut the dead weight. Min specs need to double atleast. In 2019 this is starting to be silly.

One is too many. Each player has 1, you have 50 guys on the server, thats 50 entities. We only can afford 64 zombies, that would mean 14 zombies on horde night for 50 players.

We're talking about unity and c sharp, not Unreal and C++. We need to make room for bandits and friendly faction NPCs not make things even slower with pets or farm animals. We have a lot of optimiztions planned though so we'll see. We might buy the source and rewrite some things in C++ to try and speed it up. Still that stuff is a low on the wish list so I doubt we'll see them. Modders can add them and guys with super computers can have them. We'll have a framework for friendly npcs so a farm animal would be easy enough.

 

[Jedo]

@Roland. Has that new feature been revealed yet, the shrimp thing or whatever

I've been away for a while. (Saw a minor update and came to check.) Is this some weather thing where when it gets cold there is shrinkage?

 

[Reddevil]

Dead is Dead mode != Permadeath
Try again.

yes he means start a new game and start over. sadly this doesn't work on servers where you can't ask the admin to delete you profile.

 

[TSBX]

Effectively you'd be doubling your resources by only have to spend a single perk point. How is double meat any less OP than, say x2 iron ore mined, or double duke reward for completing quests?

One unit of wood is not enough to craft a club in the same way that one unit of meat is not enough to cook a meat slab.

But we're not talking about wood, or stone, or iron or anything else. Obviously the meat quantity that is harvested would be adjusted down to scale with the 1 meat per meal like we've had forever. You could also role-play it by saying the guy with higher level in the perk learned to "use more" of the animal than the guy who just beats the corpse with an axe until he can chew it.

Anyhow I'll reserve judgement further until I play A18 but... there's a better way.

 

[Demonoid74]

Why? You can go kill deer and wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, snakes, bunnies and bears. This is adding features to do what you can already do and make the game too easy. If you want easy food start a farm. Everyone complains there is too much food as it is. Why make it even easier? Right now at least meat or scavenging is required for the best recipes if you can farm meat then the whole benefit of hunting is destroyed. I'd rather focus on new features for late game than add fluff slow lateral choices for players.
The only useful thing might be a chicken coop to farm feathers, otherwise none of that stuff has a single game play use, its just more fluff food. Want fish? Go find a can of tuna or Salmon. Sorry but I think most players would be interested in horizontal moves, not lateral moves. A new trap. Bandits. Elevators. New quest types. All of that is 100X more exciting than fish traps. I don't mean to sound grouchy but I know I do. But adding fluff doesn't help late game. Maybe in a year we can think about some stuff like that, right now we still have holes in late game.

Oh no worries here , I am used to your grouchy lol , just throwing ideas out there while we wait...no expectations on my part , while I work on my own Unity game and wait for the next alpha/beta/gamma/kappa

 

[Thecolours]

Workbench is unlocked at INT 4 or you can find them in the world, or buy them at traders or the schematic.

Wait, you can buy a workbench at the trader? How much does it cost?

 

[Drithyl]

...

You now spawn with 3 rows unencumbered and can craft enough pockets to completely remove all encumbrance without a single point of STR. There are schematics or books to unlock everything now so if you can be patient you don't have to buy the perk unlocks. You gain 1 HP and one Stamina each level, and stamina costs are not a problem any more you can left click all but two handed weapons endlessly at level 1. Sex Rex is mainly for less stamina use on combat but with my str build I didn't need it at all, I had plenty of stamina one shotting most zeds.

...

Are Pack Mule and T-Rex the same as in A17? Because from your experience it sounds like it's going to be completely pointless to grab even one point of them. T-Rex for melee maybe, but then you also get 1 stamina per level, so it doesn't matter much.

It's fine to let people specialize and play how they want, but it needs to have downsides as well. Going 10 strength and 0 anything else (or other ultra-specialized builds) should have major issues, because that's beyond specializing, it's more "I don't need anything other than hitting hard to beat the game".

 

[sillls]

I'd like for some kind of pipe tech that is the track you can put together like a modular set of pipes. Straight section, elbow, 22.5 degree incline, 45 incline etc that you can place and power. Then you put a platform on it or maybe a cart and have either elevators or moving platform or minecart thing. A zipline you stand on?

Why? Why did you have to me mention zip lines??? Roland is going to go crazy. :crushed: lol

 

[Yournympho]

@MM

Gday,

Long time player who reads the forums avidly. In my current 8k map (I run a server and to not pay out the arse I'm limited to 8k) my crew and I are having difficulty finding a trader past the initial starter quest. In games past it hasn't been an issue. I try to play honestly but I put on god mode and spent some time flying around and could not locate another.

May I suggest, even a convoluted system that can direct players to another trader? Maybe an "exploration" book, straight up request to meet another trader given a gated level requirement or some other solution?

I love, and my crew loves to explore but setting aside such time when we play on max difficulty is taking away from the simplistic joys of the game.

Even just one other trader would make things loveable.

Cheers,

Valhura

 

[SrslyGTFO]

@MM
Gday,

Long time player who reads the forums avidly. In my current 8k map (I run a server and to not pay out the arse I'm limited to 8k) my crew and I are having difficulty finding a trader past the initial starter quest. In games past it hasn't been an issue. I try to play honestly but I put on god mode and spent some time flying around and could not locate another.

May I suggest, even a convoluted system that can direct players to another trader? Maybe an "exploration" book, straight up request to meet another trader given a gated level requirement or some other solution?

I love, and my crew loves to explore but setting aside such time when we play on max difficulty is taking away from the simplistic joys of the game.

Even just one other trader would make things loveable.

Cheers,

Valhura

If you're truly stuck finding a trader, open prefabs.xml in the world folder, and search for "trader". It will show the coordinates of the traders. You can at least validate the number of traders you have. Since 17.3, I've always had 5 traders, one of each, on 8k maps.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

Meat. Scaling weirdness.

Why bother trying to scale it for the amount by perk rank?

This is how I would deal with it... Everything has set amount of meat. Instead of % increase of amount with rank, % increase in chance to get double meat.

Rabbit and snake = 1 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 2 meat.

Chicken = 2 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 4 meat.

Doe = 3 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 6 meat.

Wolf = 4 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 8 meat.

Stag = 5 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 10 meat.

Boar = 6 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 12 meat.

Dire Wolf = 7 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 14 meat.

Bear = 10 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 20 meat.

Then, edit the recipes to use the amount of meat that you would expect more and is balanced.

1 meat can safely go back to 1 charred/boiled meat.

 

[SrslyGTFO]

Meat. Scaling weirdness.Why bother trying to scale it for the amount by perk rank?

This is how I would deal with it... Everything has set amount of meat. Instead of % increase of amount with rank, % increase in chance to get double meat.

Rabbit and snake = 1 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 2 meat.

Chicken = 2 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 4 meat.

Doe = 3 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 6 meat.

Wolf = 4 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 8 meat.

Stag = 5 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 10 meat.

Boar = 6 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 12 meat.

Dire Wolf = 7 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 14 meat.

Bear = 10 meat. 20,40,60,80,100% chance for 20 meat.

Then, edit the recipes to use the amount of meat that you would expect more and is balanced.

1 meat can safely go back to 1 charred/boiled meat.

I actually kinda like this. Definitely thinking outside the box.

 

[Gnomaana]

But we're not talking about wood, or stone, or iron or anything else. Obviously the meat quantity that is harvested would be adjusted down to scale with the 1 meat per meal like we've had forever. You could also role-play it by saying the guy with higher level in the perk learned to "use more" of the animal than the guy who just beats the corpse with an axe until he can chew it.
Anyhow I'll reserve judgement further until I play A18 but... there's a better way.

You don't understand MM's point. If you lower the meat to 1 and change the %s to 100, 200, etc, then the first level perk DOUBLES your meat harvest. That would make it a HUGE advantage. It would turn that perk into a "must have" which is what MM has basically spent 100's of hours trying to get rid of. With the %s at 20, 40, 60... the perk is a nice little bonus, even at 1st level, but it's not a complete game changer all on its own.

 

[beHypE]

But does it screw single player people like a17 currently does as it forces us to get specific stats if we wanna do much of anything, namely int and str. I mainly play single player, and every game is pretty much the same up to a certan level like 30 or 40, because I just lack the skill points to afford to branch out. I understand about the wanting people to build certan characters aspects but the game has some required things you need to get: Workbench, chem station, motherload, pack mule, sex t-rex, miner 69'er are all IMO pretty much stuff you need asap. After these, to a certan level maybe 5 str 7 int or so, I usually get fortitude up a bit for farming and the hp regen. Agility i've never touched, as I find the stat mostly useless in a17. I haven't seen how effective the stealth perks are and only one I *really* care about is the one that muffles sounds.

Well, while I agree INT is a must-have in A17 because it's the only way to unlock the content, I strongly disagree there's other things you absolutely need. As a matter of fact, I don't spec sex t-rex, motherlode, miner 69er at all and i'm doing just fine. I mostly go for things like Boom! Headshot, Skull crusher, etc.

Not trying to spark a debate over what's the meta, but most of the time people think something IS essential while the only part that holds true is they can't fathom playing without it. But that's mistaking your own comfort and routine for an universal need.

Still, I'm pretty eager to see how the A18 skill-tree will be playing out. But I already know my min-max OCD will prevent me from speccing in any recipe unlocks to avoid finding the related book later on and feeling like I wasted a point...

 

[Scyris]

I've been successfully pumping just one attribute and grab just a tiny bit from the other attributes when the RNJ doesn't cooperate.
You now spawn with 3 rows unencumbered and can craft enough pockets to completely remove all encumbrance without a single point of STR. There are schematics or books to unlock everything now so if you can be patient you don't have to buy the perk unlocks. You gain 1 HP and one Stamina each level, and stamina costs are not a problem any more you can left click all but two handed weapons endlessly at level 1. Sex Rex is mainly for less stamina use on combat but with my str build I didn't need it at all, I had plenty of stamina one shotting most zeds.

Workbench is unlocked at INT 4 or you can find them in the world, or buy them at traders or the schematic.

Farming I don't really think you need perks at that. Maybe one rank is all I'd buy, but TBH I don't farm until mid to late game, I find plenty of food. Recipes unlock foods now, so the perk is optional.

A18 is more about playing how you want to play, not using what you are given. Sometimes you do that a bit but eventually you get what you need to play your style. Agility governs bows, blades (not axes anymore), pistol, magnum and SMG, and stealth. So if your the sneaky type that should be your go to perk. It sounds to me like you would be a strength or fortitude guy. Of course you can have both if your patient. I'd recommend going heavy into the most useful one for your style, and then lightly into a second, again depending on play style and cherry pick a few others. So far I've avoided INT entirely with STR and AGL builds and its great. Knowing I can unlock something by a schematic keeps me looting instead of wasting points. Once you get to rank 3-5 of your weapon you are a badass even with a tier 2 weapon at least agains non ferals then you keep scaling with gear as you go to keep up with ferals and radiated.

But on day one its tough killing a zombie can be hard, but as you buy ranks that increase damage with your favorite melee and ranged you are smashing basic zeds pretty easily, then the ferals come and you can handle 1 or 2 maybe but then need armor and can start dealing with them and handle them, then radiated come and you need better gear, this is the mid to late game stretch where you loot for the best gear because crafting isn't worth it or going to rock against these tougher zeds.

Anyhow, we've worked really hard on decoupling the NEED for any one perk. SOme people will argue you still need it but you don't. You could play the game with no perks now, there is enough gear upgrades I think it would be viable.

This post just got rid of most of my a18 worries, its nice that we can like unlock workbench etc with a book insted of needing the int for a perk (unless you want to that is). I can be a very patient player especally if I find a trader poi or some other poi with a station I need close by where I am camping out. I also love looting, giving me more reasons to go out and loot is a win in my book.

I do use a lot of melee in the game at least vs normals and ferals, but its much less effective vs radiated zombies I find, if the radiated runs and has 541 hp or something simmlar, i'll take to many hits in melee to down it.

Also, any edits down to how spawning works? for example make it like loot in a17? where higher gamestage=chance of better loot but your never guarnteed anything, make spawnign work the same way? this way past a certan point your not stuck fighting only radiated zombies. Mostly ferals with some radiateds at high gs's. One of the top complains I see is once your gamestage gets so high, it just costs to much resources to loot any poi's anymore.

 

[Scyris]

yes he means start a new game and start over. sadly this doesn't work on servers where you can't ask the admin to delete you profile.

I don't get why we don't just call it hardcore mode like every other game. When I play HC I delete both the save AND world when I die. As I like having something new to explore every time.