PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[ZombieSurvivor]

One request I have for the future is a greater variation of choice (even up to day 7) on bloodmoon frequency. Currently the choices are disabled, 1, 3, and 7. While I'm happy enough with these numbers, having a 5 or a 6 in there would be nice, if possible.
My case: Sometimes I like to add a bit of blood moon range to my worlds. While having a frequency of 7 is good anyway (of course lol), having a frequency of 3 is not ideal for me, since a blood moon could occur on night 3, which I would not be the biggest fan of. So a blood moon frequency of 1-7, or even 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 would be a nice addition, imo. But at the end of the day of course, it's only fluff.

You can make this dream come true. Edit xml file, I cannot remember off the top of my head which one but i made it for one game, every 14 days or so.

 

[madmole]

Funny, I always had the impression that there are more zombies in the snow biome than in other biomes and not less. Maybe it's because the snow zombies always make so much noise.

Less trees might and the fact that they have a distinct loud sound might make them feel like there are more. So the "nerfed" zombies in 18 are like it is in the snow biome in 17. Still enough to annoy you.

 

[Adam the Waster]

One request I have for the future is a greater variation of choice (even up to day 7) on bloodmoon frequency. Currently the choices are disabled, 1, 3, and 7. While I'm happy enough with these numbers, having a 5 or a 6 in there would be nice, if possible.
My case: Sometimes I like to add a bit of blood moon range to my worlds. While having a frequency of 7 is good anyway (of course lol), having a frequency of 3 is not ideal for me, since a blood moon could occur on night 3, which I would not be the biggest fan of. So a blood moon frequency of 1-7, or even 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 would be a nice addition, imo. But at the end of the day of course, it's only fluff.

at lease your clear about your suggestion

when people read mine its like reading a dictionary (aka its alot)

 

[madmole]

Partially because electricity isn't a simple/elegant system yet. It's wonky and difficult to make work with ease.

Whaaaat??? No it is simple and elegant. You want us to complicate it and then it will be clunky and difficult to use. Only electricians and minecraft redstone nuts would be able to use those features.

 

[RestInPieces]

Why, just to try and poke at us?
Things change from a few hours in the game and certainly from alpha to alpha. Early game I don't want screamers. And I rarely pass on zombie XP unless its early game or I'm low on ammo or too injured to melee. There are so many situations in this game that change the context of what I say at the time that I imagine one might view that as flip flopping or saying the opposite, but it depends on the latest freshest memory in my mind from my current game usually.

Like early game I'm not going out of my way to melee. My armor sucks, my stamina sucks. I'm going to do my quest and nothing but the quest. But after I get some perks, some good armor, and modded out melee ? Hell yes I'm going to slaughter everything I can one or two shot for the XP, because why not?

To some players who aren't experts (I consider myself an expert) they might want to not power level too much. It depends on play style. If you are looter shooter, then by all means level up. If you are crafty base builder dude with limited time outside the walls, then you'd better slow down a bit. Gear and looting help augment your perk choices a lot, so I wouldn't be just a crafter guy because you need parts to craft, and you need loot to augment your crafts, recipes etc. Mods are craftable, but you have to unlock the recipe. So as long as you aren't one dimensional you should be ok, but some people are used to doing that one thing.

I don't think you are flip flopping, the point I am trying to make is exactly what you just mentioned. My beef is with scaling and some aspects of progression. I don't think players should be compelled to actively pace their experience rate. It's a meta thing - none really wants to be thinking of something like that when he is playing the game, but the item/enemy scaling is so obvious that even new players who haven't read any XML files will be thinking of how to pace themselves.

Also, some people are used to doing one thing because the game (and scaling) lets them to. I think you guys should encourage players to play holistically and that means that a "builder-only" playstyle or "shooter-only" shouldn't be 100% viable, *panic ensues*. Sounds horrible, I know, but you do understand that if "something-only" is perfectly viable, that fact alone is enough to undermine the use of everything else in the game. Won't get into details, you will never read the post.

Finally, have you ever entertained the idea of a leveled zones world, with some *slight* global level scaling? A world where each biome, each sub-zone, each POI, and maybe even dynamically changing zones due to events/weather etc have their own GS scaling, with a global scaling slightly affected by your level? I know it already *kind of* works like that, I've looked into entity group XMLs etc, but currently the way-too-obvious global GS is what determines the experience of the player.

 

[Ouch Quit It]

MM

Any chance of wind power being a thing...making a small windmill that can be hooked up to batteries?

I guess will weather systems be viable in game...would go hand in hand with temperature.

Asking for a friend

Coughs* VIDEO * Coughs

 

[Kattla]

Where's the middle ground? For those who want to face the horde one week and avoid it the next if they aren't prepared or just want to spend the night crafting?

The middle ground, that would be the minibike, the motorcycle and the 4x4. At least in A17. In A18 rumors of gas shortages pops up now and then.

 

[Adam the Waster]

MMAny chance of wind power being a thing...making a small windmill that can be hooked up to batteries?

I guess will weather systems be viable in game...would go hand in hand with temperature.

Asking for a friend

Coughs* VIDEO * Coughs

YES that would be good

 

[Roland]

Whaaaat??? No it is simple and elegant. You want us to complicate it and then it will be clunky and difficult to use. Only electricians and minecraft redstone nuts would be able to use those features.

Just simplify it even more to craftable "electricity boxes" that can power everything in a 20m radius.

#farmingistheway

 

[wolfbain5]

Whaaaat??? No it is simple and elegant. You want us to complicate it and then it will be clunky and difficult to use. Only electricians and minecraft redstone nuts would be able to use those features.

Sorry MM, it is simple. but definitely NOT elegant. you didnt want elegant, you wanted post apocalypse.

ps +1 on wind mills. but only after weather is fixed. perhaps a water mill.

 

[Callum123456789]

One of them is called sharp sticks.

I remember sharp sticks in the early days of 7 days to die

 

[ZombieSurvivor]

Just simplify it even more to craftable "electricity boxes" that can power everything in a 20m radius.
#farmingistheway

*gasps* how dare you...ideas of simplifying game play mechanics is not welcome round these here parts.

ahhh that takes care of that *walks away whistling*

 

[Adam the Waster]

One of them is called sharp sticks.

really?

- - - Updated - - -

*gasps* how dare you...ideas of simplifying game play mechanics is not welcome round these here parts.

ahhh that takes care of that *walks away whistling*

thats how i feel in the morning

- - - Updated - - -

The spiked ones are steel.

i was the one to ask that but

 

[MajorMunchy]

Just simplify it even more to craftable "electricity boxes" that can power everything in a 20m radius.
#farmingistheway

Can we also change the electricity to be red colored? its more familiar

#farmingistheway

 

[Morloc]

While I've never wanted to be completely "safe" in an underground base, there's just no point in trying unless you've found a natural cave or something disposable. Zombies that attack a surface fortress will punch through in fairly predictable paths while trying to get to you. Once they make a few breaches, they're coming for the meat, not demolition. If you survive, and are not foolish enough to make your last stand in your workshop/storage area, then, live or die, you can rebuild the place.

Underground, you will have little idea of how the zombies will path to you. Soft dirt, gravel and even stone gets torn up in jagged paths and when they break though it'd be ridiculous to try and make a stand as new tunnels keep opening up around you. You can't harden this base...I suppose you could put a "lid" of concrete on the surface a few blocks deep to delay things along with spikes or turrets, but this is just buys you a little time since you can't effectively kite the zombies through those defenses which become useless the moment the zombies break down through. You're wasting your time.

As I've suggested before, if you're including digging zombies, then don't have them excavate voxel material (they can still smash concrete, wood, etc. of course). When moving though the ground or stone, they have NO way of removing material, so just let them pass through (albeit at a slower speed) and then pop into your cavity below. This doesn't make the underground base any more defensible, but it does allow you to "rebuild" afterward (like the surface fortress) and eliminates the Swiss-cheese landscapes which are VERY hard to repair.

Any zombie flick I've seen always has zombies clawing and pushing their way through the ground, not excavating tunnels.

*Disclaimer....I'm basing these points on the last time I saw digging zombies in action which may in fact behave much differently in A18.

-Morloc

 

[Aldranon]

Just simplify it even more to craftable "electricity boxes" that can power everything in a 20m radius.
#farmingistheway

Well, if the Land Claim Block can keep inter-dimensional Zombies from teleportation near the player, it obviously has vast power.

I say tap that sucker like a keg of beer and call it win!

 

[Kattla]

TROLLED!

Thank you.

 

[madmole]

I don't think you are flip flopping, the point I am trying to make is exactly what you just mentioned. My beef is with scaling and some aspects of progression. I don't think players should be compelled to actively pace their experience rate. It's a meta thing - none really wants to be thinking of something like that when he is playing the game, but the item/enemy scaling is so obvious that even new players who haven't read any XML files will be thinking of how to pace themselves.
Also, some people are used to doing one thing because the game (and scaling) lets them to. I think you guys should encourage players to play holistically and that means that a "builder-only" playstyle or "shooter-only" shouldn't be 100% viable, *panic ensues*. Sounds horrible, I know, but you do understand that if "something-only" is perfectly viable, that fact alone is enough to undermine the use of everything else in the game. Won't get into details, you will never read the post.

Finally, have you ever entertained the idea of a leveled zones world, with some *slight* global level scaling? A world where each biome, each sub-zone, each POI, and maybe even dynamically changing zones due to events/weather etc have their own GS scaling, with a global scaling slightly affected by your level? I know it already *kind of* works like that, I've looked into entity group XMLs etc, but currently the way-too-obvious global GS is what determines the experience of the player.

Lets revisit this after you have assimilated A18.

 

[madmole]

MMAny chance of wind power being a thing...making a small windmill that can be hooked up to batteries?

I guess will weather systems be viable in game...would go hand in hand with temperature.

Asking for a friend

Coughs* VIDEO * Coughs

Sounds like another way to do solar panels, so probably not. I'd rip those out too, get off yer ass and get gas IMHO. Battery banks are clunk as well.

 

[Zaroff]

What is the difference between disabling blood moons? You get what you want. Clearly you just want a time out space and sorry the game is about facing impeding doom not being safe with utter certainty or massive preparation. If roof top bases are such a safe haven, do your thing there then, problem solved. Its already been identified as a lot of work, so either deal with it, mod it yourself, or wait for a modder to do it.
I learned the 90/10 rules 40 years ago. No amount of argument gets this done.

You can:

Build 50 meter thick steel

Get naked and die every blood moon for a mere 20% xp loss, spawn in your base and do whatever the rest of the night.

Build spikes or turrets above your base to kill screamers

Turn blood moon off

Set blood moons to once every 30 days

Reduce zombie block damage

Go away or play something else or wait for a mod.

Sorry but working on this is an injustice to players waiting for more polish, bandits, fps improvements etc when there are valid work arounds.

Well Said MM.

I find it funny as **** that people want you the devs to add features in the game that take away from the premise of the game. "no digging Zs as a toggle option because i want a safe space to craft my stuff." this is a Zombie Apoc game where you could at any moment face certain death. this is not Berkeley or Stanford where everyone gets a Safe Space. it takes very little effort to screamer proof your underground crafting base. just ignore these college kid trolls. they are used to their Safe Spaces they get in college.

A18 looks Amazing BTW can't wait to play! i got myself and 4 friends waiting!! So Hurry it up already!!!