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%
  • Total voters
    3
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@Madmole
Can't wait for A18! I haven't had this much anticipation for an alpha since A12. Hopefully get to see it soon.

Also, any plans to represent at E3 when the game goes gold?
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That probably depends on timing.

 
A question, if you do not mind to spoil so much, MM.Which perk family will spear be in? I understand that bladed weapons are goin to be in agility and clubs are going to be in strenght. Spears..? Endurance is my guess so far. If i remember correctly, endurance is where the hunting perk is, and spear makes most sense to go along with it.

Also, any thoughts on having chest armor mod that would allow us to automatically swap spears?

To explain it - a mod that would add, let's say 2 additional slots to backpak, a bit to the side, not main part, that could contain only and ONLY spears. So when you throw the one you have on action bar, you would automatically equip one from this mod in it's place.

Maybe am asking too much, just had a "bright" idea after eating smart porridge heh.
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Perception, because throwing a spear takes a perceptive eye to calculate arc, distance, etc.

 
I doubt melee weapons will be included, most of them would have terrible penetration anyway.
A sledgehammer deals a lot of damage but it would be likely to destroy a door instead of poking a hole in it. Even a fire-axe doesn't go far through a door until it's damn near destroyed.

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No melee weapons will penetrate, that would be just dumb and OP if you could sit behind a wall and safely poke endlessly.

 
It would be very cool if they did add an enhanced character creator.
As it is now you simply get to fool around with appearance, but I agree with Guppy here that getting to make a selection of choices on who your character is and was would be awesome from an RPG standpoint and also in regard to the development of the character via perks moving forward.

Could go like this...

Gender

Age

Profession(what were you in the previous life)

Points

The gender one would be skill neutral of course.

Age would give you a number of perk points and the older you are the more points you get but with the drawback of negative values to things one could expect from higher age.

Profession would be from a selection and each one would have its own set of benefits and drawbacks perkwise.

Points would be “freebie” points that you get to distribute at will.
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The problem with that is your making this huge decision to the new player who doesn't have any idea what weapons and abilities he actually likes and they are locked into that. The older Fallout and Elder Scrolls games had this and took it out because it was just too overwhelming to new players.

We prefer a more open canvas and let players decide who they become as they play, not be forced into a character before you have even seen your first zombie.

 
Hey Madmole, what do you like most about A18? Could you give us a summary of your impressions and everything that the new Alfa A18 generates?

 
I am sure perception is not just about sniper rifles but also bows right?
Some Ideas.

Powershot (bows, maybe rifles):

Skilled in lining up a good shot, if you take the time to aim you can zoom out further and possibly deal more damage for that shot since you took the time to aim. Maybe a 2nd bar under the first one will fill up to show that you are aiming and zoom in your sight even without having to press the zoom (which could also still be used alongside). This could very well also extend to rifles.

Conservationist:

Your arrows are more likely to stick in the target and do not break as often. Even arrows that would normally break you can still recover a part such as feather or tip by breaking it off the zombie. (effectively almost all arrows stick but some recover as part(s) instead).

Called Shot (bows, rifles):

You can aim for the legs to cause enemies to stagger or trip over on a good hit, reduce the attack speed/damage of fists/zombie hands when you strike that or cause bleeding if you strike the chest. Chance can increase with multiple levels.

Scrounger:

You know that valuable items are often hidden in plain sight. You can loot containers that are seemingly looted or empty and have a chance to find some extra loot such as bullets, coins, dollars, small parts etc. (Effectively this perk allows you to loot containers that appear as opened and cannot normally be looted).

Alertness:

You have much better senses than most people and this translates in better chances of detecting hostiles earlier. Close enemies appear as red blimps on your radar. These blimbs are not super accurate on lower levels of this perk, showing off a bit or blinking out on random intervals. But they give a hint some hostile was nearby that your character sensed. Could also be a screen effect that flashes and gives a general direction where you detected something.
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Guys I was joking when I said we wanted ideas. We have about everything mentioned here in a book or perk now. 100's of new perks dudes and its pretty well thought out.

Archery is under agility, which is about stealth killing up close to mid range. Perception is about long distance combat with sniper rifles, explosives, cracking locks, tracking animals, etc.

 
The problem with that is your making this huge decision to the new player who doesn't have any idea what weapons and abilities he actually likes and they are locked into that. The older Fallout and Elder Scrolls games had this and took it out because it was just too overwhelming to new players.
We prefer a more open canvas and let players decide who they become as they play, not be forced into a character before you have even seen your first zombie.
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Yeah I guess I am looking at it from a 1K+ hours perspective. And the fact that some of the big overhaul mods come with some form of class selection.

Could be cool to have the possibility to make a character that way but also have an Amnesia mode which could be the way it is now? That way one could cater for both worlds maybe? Then if you select something else than Amnesia you could setup a character more specifically?

 
@madmole seeing as there will be books that add to gathering more resources such as one of the books apparently giving the benefit of gather doorknobs from doors. Will there be more of a resource sink to conteract more resources added to the game?
I mean surely we don't want players to be able to become gods with all the brass for ammo, eh? (JUST KIDDING!) I must get a brass bath.
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To me its a dedicated effort to get enough ammo. I mean I spent a whole day mining nitrate/lead/coal to craft enough ammo to kill the horde that came, half the day before the horde smelting forged iron for metal spikes. So I spent a day and a half and I easily wrecked the day 14 horde. To me the game played as expected. People who don't mine and don't scavenge brass will definitely have a bullet shortage, and the new better ammo is a higher cost to maintain.

We're balancing every day but I like what I'm playing now a lot. I probably played 10 hours on a Sunday, so it must be good. I'm actually working on "castle like details" to my fort that wouldn't ever do on previous tests because in 16 I could sit on a roof and be safe, and in 17 the loot wasn't interesting enough to keep me hooked. So its a good sign I'm working on my base (although barely any time for this as the desire to loot is super strong). With agility Im a night owl so my base time is limited. Im out hunting dudes with my bow and have found the no encumbrance at night book, so I go fetch my loot stashes I placed during the day and snipe everything with my bow for massive sneak damage.

 
Im out hunting dudes with my bow and have found the no encumbrance at night book, so I go fetch my loot stashes I placed during the day and snipe everything with my bow for massive sneak damage.
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Hunting dudes?

 
I either play this game hardcore/ dead is dead, OR in creative mode with no enemies and build stuff with "legos"

I really think creative mode could use a one button click to remove any block. Any chance this could happen? Am I missing a way that already exists?

 
I either play this game hardcore/ dead is dead, OR in creative mode with no enemies and build stuff with "legos"
I really think creative mode could use a one button click to remove any block. Any chance this could happen? Am I missing a way that already exists?
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You're missing it... it's called super digger (had to look it up, couldn't remember), looks like an smg.

 
I get the skepticism, but 17 wasn't the first dud alpha we shipped. 13 was a dud and we made 14 awesome. Any time you bring in a ton of new features it takes time to work out the kinds. The new harvest system of 13 was cool tech, but the game wasn't balanced. Same with perks in 17. Amazing power there, but poor balance and distribution. 18 is 1000% better IMO.
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For those who like to accuse me of being a yes-man...

I disagree completely (but not about A13).

A17 is no dud. It is an embryo of A18.

A17 brought back the magic. A16 in every way (except LBD for those who enjoyed it) was inferior. The zombie AI made it unplayable. A17 is a departure from A16 in some significant areas and for those who preferred the old that got changed I can understand their disappointment but for those of us who see the merits and weaknesses of both versions, A17 comes out way ahead overall. I have put more time into A17 than A16 and A15 combined and that was before I started working on my mod.

So, no, Mr Mole. I stand opposed to your remark. If I get fired for saying A17 is awesome. So be it!!!

;)

 
For those who like to accuse me of being a yes-man...
I disagree completely (but not about A13).

A17 is no dud. It is an embryo of A18.

A17 brought back the magic. A16 in every way (except LBD for those who enjoyed it) was inferior. The zombie AI made it unplayable. A17 is a departure from A16 in some significant areas and for those who preferred the old that got changed I can understand their disappointment but for those of us who see the merits and weaknesses of both versions, A17 comes out way ahead overall. I have put more time into A17 than A16 and A15 combined and that was before I started working on my mod.

So, no, Mr Mole. I stand opposed to your remark. If I get fired for saying A17 is awesome. So be it!!!

;)
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The rebellion has started.

 
The problem with that is your making this huge decision to the new player who doesn't have any idea what weapons and abilities he actually likes and they are locked into that. The older Fallout and Elder Scrolls games had this and took it out because it was just too overwhelming to new players.
We prefer a more open canvas and let players decide who they become as they play, not be forced into a character before you have even seen your first zombie.
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It's cool how much does everything feel different when you're a new player. I started in Alpha 12, and the game was much scarier for me back then, but I also constantly explored (and I really enjoyed exploring the world, even with the terrible A12-A15 RWG) and I only dug down a hole to hide from zombies (some times worked, sometimes not). I was terrible at the game, and it took a while until I got my first Forge. The journal system really helped (when it was added).

I also remember a really memorable time when I was really scared, hiding in a huge house in the second floor in the night, and hoping no zombies come, holding a torch. But zombies broke down the door in the first floor and I heard them destroying ♥♥♥♥ there, and then they rushed to the second floor and whacked me. That scared me, and it was a really cool experience.

 
Mods. Quests. Dungeon POIs. Smarter AI. Vehicles. Better visuals. Pre-gen’d, better running random maps. Awesome new game options. PARKOUR! No more post-horde half-day cleanup, just some sweet yellow bags to loot.

Not a dud. Agreed. 17 was a huge improvement in so many ways.

The improved AI alone makes the game dramatically better, and finding whole guns and sick gun mods is awesome, rather than your 100th shotgun stock. I can’t believe how much time I spent sorting and combining endless piles of gun parts. I enjoy tedious things in general, but that ish got old quick. Being able to have a couple different AK’s or shotguns modded to different needs is really great and I hope to see more sweet mods in the future.

 
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