PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[madmole]

@MM
I have a few questions about the role and consistency of the crossbows in-game:

(crossbow vs bow, sledgehammer vs clubs)

1. are crossbows governed by the same Agility perks as bows?

(Sledgehammer for example have their own perks under strength)

2. since bows now have 3 tiers and exploding arrows, I wonder, what purpose does the 2 crossbow tiers serve? a slower reloading faster shooting variant of a bow (similar to sledgehammer vs clubs)?

does it do more dmg?

3. why does it use a diff ammo type? in prev alphas I usually avoided investing in crossbows if i already found a good bow. with sledgehammer and clubs u can take both and use what u prefer taking only 2 inv slots.

with a crossbow and a bow it takes at least 4 slots to allow the same freedom of choice.

1, Yes.

2, Gazz can answer but I think you are correct.

3, It would be really pointless IMO to take a club and a sledgehammer, and it would be a waste of inventory space to take a bow and a crossbow since they are so similar in function. Its all about what you perked into and learning the timing and feel of each weapon, and if it works for you. Sure you could switch to crossbows at any time, but I would only take one with me, and take a firearm for some short range quick stopping power.

When I did agility I didn't fire a single arrow. I used a pistol with a silencer and a knife. Later game I had a magnum and SMG if things got ugly but typically I could clear pois with my pistol. So I'm probably not the best guy to talk to about the bowmen. Its not that I don't like bows, its that 17 alphas I used bows and I was ready for something completely different and I wanted to be sure you could mine and collect enough brass to do a pure guns play through.

 

[madmole]

can always try this build
View attachment 29230

or this. it is a variation on what MM did

View attachment 29231

How many games out there have such radically different player experiences? That is what I love about 7 days is you see so many different forts and play styles. A18 will bring "true classes" to the table with ability to specialize early and I think that combined with all the different bases and stuff is really going to make this Alpha stand out.

 

[madmole]

I enjoyed the video like it was already Christmas.On a side note, vulture aerial pathing on close quarters/near buildings is clunky and clippy and glitchy and annoying. The annoying part is of course granted and needed. What about the others?

Will there be more Skyrim dragon aerial navigation and less Morrowind glitchy Pterodactils in the future?

I think its mostly still some old bee code Chris improved some, it probably needs that nice Faatal touch yet.

 

[madmole]

I was thinking about this myself. The vultures attacking from above draw the player to firing directly upwards, exactly where the gimbal lock of the character controller is a problem.
Perhaps limiting the angle at which a vulture will initiate an attack run would help. Anything above 50-60 degrees and the vulture flies away for a better angle to attack from.

Yep my mouse maxed out a couple of times when I was just shy of being able to take the shot.

 

[madmole]

I'll keep an eye out for 7 Days of Darkness :smile-new:

And sorry for the late reply, but I'm a huge fan of 30 Day of Night and all the activity here almost made me forget. I would say I can see some of that inspiration in the game now that you mention it, but it could be just rationalization at this point.

Having random eclipses would be a really cool mod. Maybe days of darkness at a time. Combine that with a "night time" buff that makes zombies do double or triple damage and rage speeds, it would be terrifying to say the least.

 

[madmole]

Nice, I know my server mates will love using the 4x4 again (more of a Harley man myself). But wish we had an apocalyptic Winnebago with stove and beds.

I was thinking if you put down a claim you can set up camp anywhere and take your workstations with you, so not to much different than a big camper. It would be easy to add a camper I suspect aside from the "interior part" with workstations.

 

[madmole]

Place a bedroll inside to mark it your spawn point

That would be cool, it could just have a built in bed IMO, but maybe a big gutted truck with a voxel grid for placing stuff how you want would be the best, then people could customize it like an ark boat.

 

[madmole]

All right. Thanks. This is true that there very well could be something effective already in place but yet to be discovered and deemed as the go to method for dealing with that situation.

I'm pretty sure a machete would do the job nice. Shotgun works very well tbh.

 

[Devrix]

That would be cool, it could just have a built in bed IMO, but maybe a big gutted truck with a voxel grid for placing stuff how you want would be the best, then people could customize it like an ark boat.

That'd be badass... it gets destroyed, you lose everything. High reward, high risk.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

Yep my mouse maxed out a couple of times when I was just shy of being able to take the shot.

If only the biker zombie had this helmet...

That would keep them off your head.

 

[Aldranon]

A screamer head would be the perfect tactical weapon in pvp base attacks.

That one gave me chills! Would be OP most likely, but OMG game on!!

 

[AtomicUs5000]

That one gave me chills! Would be OP most likely, but OMG game on!!

Clan wars would be kinda like a game of hot potato, lol

 

[faatal]

I think its mostly still some old bee code Chris improved some, it probably needs that nice Faatal touch yet.

I actually rewrote most of the vulture logic (circling, following, attacking, going home), but picking a point near the player to move around is still using our standard helper functions to find an empty location, which is basically brute force block checking. We don't have sky pathing.

 

[andrough]

Man, I love the sound of this customizable winnebago. If it ever could happen and had voxel grids on the sides and top, I'd deck that thing out like Lone Starr's Eagle 5.

That was a fun video. That flock of vultures when you stepped out the door. :laugh: I have to admit I was hoping a vulture would fly in the path of a contact grenade like the one that ate that round meant for a zombie. Perception build seems reeeally strong if you can get them grouped the way you like- either in a line or hugging and waiting for a boom. Real clear why Gazz mentioned some further balancing a while back.

 

[RevenantWit]

Today I fixed our movement speed cap on zombies. Now 5 of the zombie walk types are a bit faster in nightmare speed and when they rage boost, look out. I'll enjoy watching that video. layball:

Sweeeeeet thank you so much for this I was really worried about how the rage mechanic would work for those of us that play on nightmare speed and now it's fixed so I can look forward to this like everyone else. :thumb: :rockon:

 

[MechanicalLens]

@madmole It says in the patch notes, "Air conditioners and new car radiators models drop radiators when destroyed." I saw you wrenching a radiator in a house and getting a brass radiator out of it in one of your videos. I'm just wondering, are these the air conditioners you were talking about? (As in, will these types have a chance of giving you brass radiators when you wrench them?

 

[Goero]

The real question, unless its been answered in the past 1868 pages is, Has Trader Jen finally gotten over that throat condition?

I'm so excited for A18 I just cant stand it. It'll be hard times for me to not sit and watch any streams so I can just dive in without getting myself worked up. But I'll probably end up watching some eventually. I always crack under new 7dtd content.

 

[Laz Man]

The sleigh hammer.Because it sounds interesting. Never have played with it. Is it a secret weapon in A18?

I think it's a special christmas item, traditionally used by Santa claus...lol

 

[kuratowakiru]

wow, I would just throw a junk turret on the roof for those vultures.

 

[sinkler]

1, Yes.2, Gazz can answer but I think you are correct.

3, It would be really pointless IMO to take a club and a sledgehammer, and it would be a waste of inventory space to take a bow and a crossbow since they are so similar in function. Its all about what you perked into and learning the timing and feel of each weapon, and if it works for you. Sure you could switch to crossbows at any time, but I would only take one with me, and take a firearm for some short range quick stopping power.

When I did agility I didn't fire a single arrow. I used a pistol with a silencer and a knife. Later game I had a magnum and SMG if things got ugly but typically I could clear pois with my pistol. So I'm probably not the best guy to talk to about the bowmen. Its not that I don't like bows, its that 17 alphas I used bows and I was ready for something completely different and I wanted to be sure you could mine and collect enough brass to do a pure guns play through.

1. is there a reason for this inconstancy?

(bow and cbow governed by the same perks, club and sledgehammer each have their own perks)

i would think they should be handled the same way, should`nt cbows have some unique advantages?

2. sounds good. I like archery, and the cbows have cool models, they should be put to good use.

hope a18 weapons balancing made cbows different enough vs bows to justify their existence as a separate rewarding variant. I enjoyed both sledge hammer AND clubs, yet cbows never felt satisfying to me.

3. I totally get what u r saying, and also looking forward to playing other builds without archery at all, where i no longer farm for feathers constantly early-mid game like in EVERY alpha. xD

but since bolts are not that different from arrows, i wish I understood why u chose to add a different ammo for cbows instead of just unifying bows and cbows to use the same generic arrows for each arrow`s tier/type.

after the recent "realism vs fun" debate, i find it hard to justify.

while definitely not being as realistic, its simple, easy to understand/use and take less inv. space.

(and half the work for u guys to add and support)