PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Dark_Corvid]

We could set the lore so it only affects 12 volt DC systems, Alternating current would be fine, or just restrict it to vehicles. Or you have to craft a fog dispenser/anti-emp shield around your base to prevent power outage in that area, and it wipes out all non protected spaces.

This sounds really cool. Reminds me of the Far Harbor dlc for Fallout 4.

 

[Sigil_Thane]

What about just adding a low chance to get a flat tire, which increases at night... Have to hop off and repair kit to continue.

 

[Blake_]

No plans to nerf shale, but I need to mine some (once I can't find gas) and make sure its not too OP. IMO you should be able to mine for one night and have gas for a week.

I saw a couple of bugs the other day:

Avatar creation eyebrow slider is not working (at least for males).

The Game Stage of the Admin is showing incorrectly for the clients in Multiplayer after said Admin dies a a few times. Admin sees one gamestage number for himself and clients see another (they see another for said Admin, theirs is ok).

I don't even think they account as REAL bugs as they are just tiny little things that may be fixed someday, but as you said earlier,

a18 is the polish alpha.

 

[madmole]

Oh I did, but then you removed it. So you bringing it back?

We want to at some point.

 

[Gazz]

I would love to see a "gamble box".
You pay lets say 500 Dukes for a box with a low tier random item, or 1000 dukes for a mid tier item (with rare high tier, low % drop).

That hooks me to games so much...

Oh, loot bo... pardon, surprise mechanics? That's not something players usually ask for. =)

 

[FA_Q2]

We'll probably do away with pistols in toilets, there are plenty of dedicated gun boxes now.

Well, yes but that was not really the important part of that question. Will a container have an upper limit to the quality of weapon or will any container that could hold a pistol on day one hold a rocket launcher on day 100?

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Oh no, if you work for it you will have unlimited gas IMO. If you just scavenge you might run out if you drive a lot or are lighting up an entire hospital with generators and traps.

What about tool gas?

My tools use 100x the gas my bike does. Always thought that was rather funny.

 

[Gazz]

Well, yes but that was not really the important part of that question. Will a container have an upper limit to the quality of weapon or will any container that could hold a pistol on day one hold a rocket launcher on day 100?

I had already changed the toilet pistols to only drop as quality 1 so they are always... crappy.

 

[OzHawkeye]

I had already changed the toilet pistols to only drop as quality 1 so they are always... crappy.

I can see that pun meeting with bowels of laughter... ;-)

 

[Weazelsun]

Oh, loot bo... pardon, surprise mechanics? That's not something players usually ask for. =)

Off-topic response, but for Skyrim I actually downloaded a mod that adds in loots boxes or in this case MILK - Many Immersive Lootboxes and Keys, M.I.L.K. Didn't madmole, have an idea of adding factions or something? I would think that would be something the DUKE would have, as a way to control his faction and possibly players that decided to ally themselves with.

You know how certain trader quest have that item to find, "Whiteriver Watch supply". I wonder how feasible it would be to add in an item variant of it that a trader could sell for players. Or as a reward itself, so rather than having to pick between a meagre pile of 30-9mm, upon completing a quest a player could instead get a "Whiteriver Watch Supply - Ammo" that contains a variable amount of ammo in it.

 

[Shineblossom]

How do you know? Depending on implementation electric storms might just make it more challenging or dangerous to drive around. Also MM specifically mentioned payed hotels as a substitute/sanctioned way to avoid the horde. Even in the worst case the gameplay will still be there (if you can call it that, I would call it an option, an option that must be balanced to have a balanced game). Just the driving around would be replaced by sitting in a cubicle at the trader.

From what you said, it is more of blocking driving during Horde. Which blocks people who do drive from their gameplay and their fun. I do not run, since i like building impenetrable bases and deffending them. But sometimes i get to base just seconds before zombies come, and i do need a car for that. Also, the base is not always as impenetrable, and i won't die just because i was pushed to last room and zombies are starting to get trough. It makes no sense.

Also, eletromagnetic storm should, by logic, also fry all eletronic deffenses.

Yes, even influenced, as a sense of danger is part of "7 days to die", it is a horror game.

We were already told that 7D is not that much of horror game as other horror games and more of survival with some horror concepts.

 

[Shineblossom]

They should, its the only way to pick up your workstations.

Well we can always craft another. I see point in multiplayer on PvP server. But in coop, there is no reason to use them. At least didn't have to pick workbench i once placed so far.

Not everyone survived the zombie apocalypse either.

That is true, but as currently (Alpha 17), you can play character without strenght and endurance perks fine. Aside from the ammo consumption which is fixed in A18. Well, we also get melee perks for each spec in A18, but there still will be differences between people who spec into melee combat and endurance and people who don't. I believe that with more ammo, the problem should go away. Because having to spec into melee combat (which is not cheap) would be exactly what you wanted to avoid. Right?

 

[HerrKingsley]

I'm on board with this movement.

Me too. But some consistency would be nice.

If I can craft fine mechanic for guns and vehicle I should be able to craft a bar stool.

 

[Shineblossom]

Relying on batteries in an apocalypse? I'd always have a gas generator for intense use times.
Are you saying if the chunk is unloaded solar cells do not charge?

I haven't touched elecricity in a real game, with FPS skills like mine who needs turrets and traps? A few molotovs and an ak, I'm in perma god mode. That said, it seems like a weird design that stuff uses more power when operating, it should be the same, so running a turret in "scan" mode is the same as if its shooting, and same with a blade trap.

I mostly rely on both. Fuel generators are for "Oh ♥♥♥♥ now i need the active deffenses" but can't run 24/7. Solar panel connected to battery bank is for lights and less big-red-button things.

And yes, we played coop with a friend and left base that was completely done on solar panels and battery banks. We went away for whole game week (left on blood moon since we killed all the zombies in middle of the night) and returned just before next blood moon and the batteries were dry.

I noticed same problem being talked about on forums, too, so i considered it already reported as bug.

Yes, i do agree that it is weird to use more power when activelly engaging. I think only place where it makes sense might be the eletric fence.

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Or you have to craft a fog dispenser/anti-emp shield around your base to prevent power outage in that area, and it wipes out all non protected spaces.

Hella cool. Even cooler if it was visible dome.

EDIT: Sorry, too much scifi i guess

 

[Shineblossom]

I would love to see a "gamble box".
You pay lets say 500 Dukes for a box with a low tier random item, or 1000 dukes for a mid tier item (with rare high tier, low % drop).

That hooks me to games so much...

Casino automati like in Borderlands 2 where you put in money and roll and get reward based on what you roll in 3 collums. You roll 2 bombs? Enjoy grenade the automat throws at you!

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If we do a tier 4 shotgun it would have to be an automatic one.

AA-12 Auto Shotgun with drum magazine for 30 shells please.

Also, with all the new ammo types, are we going to potentionaly see dragonbreath shells?

 

[Shineblossom]

Not a bad idea. It could give you a little break in the middle to re-think your strategy. The downside is that hordes will not be as intense as they are now.

Are you sure tho? What if the Hordes were jsut as intense but multiple times a day on the 7th day?

Yeah, i mean, having like 30 waves in a day of only 8 zeds equals one horde night of 240 zeds. Pretty intense, you're right. Maybe at 11:59 pm on "horde day" it comes a huge horde (like A17.4 hordes) to finish the day.
(awful english from me, sorry)

To be more specific, why not 10 waves of 240 zeds?

 

[Shineblossom]

Turd pistols confirmed!

I always called them pisstols

NSFW and disgusting.. But i had to share this... You have been warned

[link removed - not appropriate for this forum.]

 

[beHypE]

Yeah I get depressed in the other biomes so I always build in the forest. Snow isn't ugly but until we get weather fixed I'm not building a snow base, and desert is kinda meh to me, snakes sneak up on you and piss me off. The plan was to make forest the start biome and then make the other ones have various difficulty and resources. We might never do that though, we need to get weather survival fixed first.

I hope you do. Can't help but thinking all the work / art that has been done on biomes is pretty much pointless right now as there's really close to no merit to staying anywhere but in forests. A quick trip to snow for endless water and a quick trip to a desert for endless yucca / medicine and you're golden forever in the forest. Especially because it's the most forgiving and most aesthetically pleasant place to be.

 

[Shineblossom]

I hope you do. Can't help but thinking all the work / art that has been done on biomes is pretty much pointless right now as there's really close to no merit to staying anywhere but in forests. A quick trip to snow for endless water and a quick trip to a desert for endless yucca / medicine and you're golden forever in the forest. Especially because it's the most forgiving and most aesthetically pleasant place to be.

Snow biome is kinda sexy, too.

 

[RipClaw]

Group dynamics are a poor substitute for functionality and balance.

Sometimes you have nothing else. As I wrote before, players can log out from the server at any time. This cannot be prevented.

There are also challenges that you can impose on yourself. For example that you don't make weapons and tools yourself. You can't force it with the means in the game. So you have to trust the other players.

Consider if the game had an egregious bug where, say, if you stand on a landclaim block, all the zombies get confused and can't attack anything. Now, would you want your group to agree and trust each other not to use this landclaim exploit? Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn't mean this hypothetical bug is dismissable, not worth complaining about, or not worth fixing.

But that's not the solution to the problem of preventing a player from standing on a landclaim block, you have to fix the zombie's behavior.

Some of the solutions that were proposed on the subject of "Avoiding the Horde" were very extreme. Partly you can see it in this thread.

An EMP that only paralyzes the vehicles. Not exactly a balanced solution.

Zombies that get in your way. You can live with that if they doesn't overdo it. If you have to do a slalom that only a professional racer can master then it's too much. But if you can dodge the zombies as an average player if you watch the road then you should have an interesting horde night. Maybe some players will do that in general instead of fighting the Horde in a base because they enjoy it more.

Likewise, you might have a house rule like 'no vehicles on horde night,' but that doesn't mean there isn't an imbalance. As always, the 'if you don't like it don't do it' attitude doesn't allow for trying to make the game better.

Better is a very subjective term.

Is a 3m high zombie that destroys walls with a single blow an improvement of the game ? Some players think yes, others think no.

Is it an improvement of the game if food spoils ? Some players think so, the developers obviously don't.

Is it an improvement of the game if you prevent players from using vehicles during the horde night ? Some obviously think yes but I think it's no improvement.

Making sure the player has to watch the road and not just push W and drive away from the zombies is certainly something that makes the Horde Night more interesting.

 

[agrastiOs]

Lets save a role for bandits. Its not really fair for zombies to drop firearms who can't use them.

Yeah, but that would be really rare to happen with the current drop rates, and it would only happen if you kill a cop and get really lucky, because they are rarer than regular zombies. I see your point however, cops could drop something else.