PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[madmole]

It doesn't need to lose a mod slot. For the sake of simplicity, leave all the mod slots available even if equipment of that tier is not supposed to have them. It started out as a higher tier which means the manufacture was of good quality. That saves you the trouble and also makes the degradation a bit less painful.
Also, wasn't this system already in one of the earlier alphas, a15 or something? It even had a repair skill too, like Guppy mentioned, when items used to have a quality number like 535.

EDIT: Regarding the controversy of this system, I have seen other survival games that have degradation as a game setup option, by the way. You can make it so things in your game degrade or not. Granted if there was a repair skill that would be trickier to do in your case.

I like degradation, just not perma degradation. I'd be ok with skill based repair ability, so you use more repair kits or it loses durability to uselessness until you match it in rank, so tier 5 of boomstick to repair a purple shotgun.

 

[Survager]

The intent was to make nights potentially dangerous, not cause cheap deaths to noobs.

@MM, what do you think about the wild zombies feeling differently at night. It would be very atmospheric and scary if they screamed loudly in scary voices.

 

[madmole]

The extra slot arguement is for the bandolier, impact bracing, and helmet light. I 100% agree that insulation mods do very little. Bandolier is a massive bonus, impact bracing makes a significant difference because it prevents leg breaks and sprains which theoretically should never happen but happen to us all including you on your most recent play through being mauled by fatties, and helmet light is a huge deal now that nights are dark again....while helmet light is mostly convenience it is also safety since any scavenging trip that runs late gets very dark on you and fighting zombies in the dark is normally a pretty bad idea regardless of whether they run or not so helmet light ends up being pretty valuable in practice even though in theory it should be QOL. I don't consider the water purifier to be that great because you'll end up with huge amounts of thirst buffer just via leveling.
IIRC I read that yall will eventually have legendaries and will be able to craft Q6 then, and that feels appropriate, but being locked off from having pockets/custom fitting/armor/bandolier until you find a T6 at (by your words) day 60 - 120 is quite a big deal (60-120 hours in a single game). Again, we're not talking insulation here. Pockets/Custom Fittings/Armor/Bandolier/Helmet Light/Impact bracing are all must have mods. Insulation gets put into stuff that doesn't have it's own unique powerful mod just as a filler.

*Edit: Also I apologize for the insulation misunderstanding, that's my fault as I reread my original post and I was not clear. Your focus on insulation was mostly justified considering I very poorly expressed the difference between the insulation mods being convenience and the other mods being the actual must have mods that get gated by 4 slots. Hopefully this post is a bit more clear that I'm talking about the unique mods + the big 3 (pockets/fittings/armor) where not having 4 mod slots makes a real impact.

You don't need all those mods. I usually find the fall from great heights book and keep 5k on me. A broken leg is no big deal once you have a vehicle either. If you get the book that does "never slowed in combat" you don't need fittings. There is an athletic jacket that boosts run speed as well to remove a lot of movement penalty.

At the end of the day I'm sure people will get purples just fine, we didn't remove them, we just made a higher GS so it feels like it did a few days ago, later in the game. Ultimately we want everyone having purples, just not too many too soon.

 

[Kahrkura]

I'm not against it, but team xp still needs a MEGA nerf yet afaik. Looting should use the top guys gs, not combine it as well.

Perhaps it could be set that the XP received for a zombie kill is divided by the number of players that benefit from the XP?

 

[MechanicalLens]

You don't need all those mods. I usually find the fall from great heights book and keep 5k on me. A broken leg is no big deal once you have a vehicle either. If you get the book that does "never slowed in combat" you don't need fittings. There is an athletic jacket that boosts run speed as well to remove a lot of movement penalty.
At the end of the day I'm sure people will get purples just fine, we didn't remove them, we just made a higher GS so it feels like it did a few days ago, later in the game. Ultimately we want everyone having purples, just not too many too soon.

"Armor doesn't slow you down when in combat." Care to translate what that exactly means, please? Does it mean that you have no movement penalties from armor period, or do you lose all armor penalties when you hit/kill zombies with a gun, or if a zombie hits you, triggering this invisible buff?

 

[Thecolours]

I started a new game tonight. I'm going full perception. I want to experiment with a horde base that will allow me to take full advantage of shooting through multiple zeds at once.

I put in 2 points into lucky looter right off the bat and it paid off right away on day 1. I was getting lvl 3-4 armor and weapons. Feels kinda broken getting loot that good on day 1.

 

[worf3k]

Honestly, I would prefer they not be available on traders.... only found by looting.

about the same as a truck does now with is expensive i saw one for 50k so i would say at least 100k for a legendary fully repaired item.

 

[Darthjake]

Really? I find the Stealth to be quite well balanced. Its not great (at all) at early levels, but once I hit level 50ish, had 7 agility, lvl 4 in archery/knives/stealth/light armor perks and most of the appropriate books, I was able to completely (except one occasion where I completely missed a cop zombie hiding in one obscure corner) able to stealth my way through the huge Shotgun Messiah building, and 1-shot kill everything except the radiated bikers/cops/fatties on the very top floor. This was using mostly leather/military gear, all with advanced mufflers in them, and without yet having the military stealth boots.
Once you have found most of the Night Stalker books, most of the smaller POI looting is even easier at night than it is during the day. Sure, you're probably dead if you screw it up, but 1-shots and stealth are even better at night. Admittedly I up the gamma to 60 instead of 40, so maybe that's a little cheaty, but hey I justify it by the fact that if you are genuinely a 'Night Stalker' you would have better night vision than most people anyway.

I can usually 2 shot the radiated cops provided my first is a stealth shot to the head, and their head does not blow off. Level 26 here, but 7 Agil, had 3 in the stealthy skill, now have a 4, and a 4 archery. I've found the polymer string schem, arrow rest, and ergo grip and crafted them all. I've found a rad remover and it's on the quality 6 wooden bow I've found along with all of the above.

My problem is finding Z's that are already awake in the POI, and waiting for me instead of crashing about trying to get to me.

And why do I have a 60 to 70 out in the wilderness were I can't see any Z's to a 40 to 50 when I'm coming up to a POI, and then down to 10ish when I'm breaking open a metal door? It makes no sense.

 

[Sam_Neill]

I have not seem that before. Looks like a seam where the near terrain meets the distant terrain. What does it look like at the height where it appears? Like on a slope is it fine, then appears as the slope gets higher? Is it all around you, like it happens in X and Y directions?

Happens on altitude 150 and higher and is all around me - at the borders of normal and distant terrain. At lower altitude the effect is also there, but less visible.

Damocles did a nice post about that too in the last 2-3 pages. It is more visible at higher altitude and especially in the snow biome.

Found it:

Happens at the edge of the local and distance terrain transition.
Here several ramps with different slopes:

View attachment 29928

Its mostly visible in the snow biome. The normals seem to be different at those transitions, leading to a different phong shading or similar.

Filed a bug report too with more information here

 

[dhlmaster]

do you have a pic or video as proof please? or reproduction steps...

I haven't personally seen it, but the logs on my server showed someone using tnt or dynamite (can't remember which one does massive block damage). He was using it to get around LCB protection and raid other players' bases. Another admin handled it. I'm not sure if the explosive broke the LCB or if the LCB failed to protect other blocks, or if both were true. Just saw the logs show the accused dropping explosives on top of the victim's base.

 

[ZombieSurvivor]

I haven't personally seen it, but the logs on my server showed someone using tnt or dynamite (can't remember which one does massive block damage). He was using it to get around LCB protection and raid other players' bases. Another admin handled it. I'm not sure if the explosive broke the LCB or if the LCB failed to protect other blocks, or if both were true. Just saw the logs show the accused dropping explosives on top of the victim's base.

*retracted these statements, see conversation that follows*

maybe dropping from a gyro... damn hate to be on your server if this is how its investigated, no offense. I hope no action was taken against that player without proof. It does not sound like he cheated at all. just butt hurt players crying because they got raided in a way that most do not think of. Been in his shoes plenty of times, being accused of cheating by admins when they just do not understand.

EDIT: not saying he was not cheating but.... just sayin'. I've also been an admin and have done full investigations in to cheating accusations. most yes are cheating but a few...just damned good skills and thinking out side the box.

 

[Survager]

Just expressing my opinion. They are bad for framerate, chunk building speed and at most 10% of players use them.

Quests of the 5th and 6th levels could be replaced by a sequence of quests of 3 and 4 levels ... if people so want complexity)

 

[beerfly]

@MM, what do you think about the wild zombies feeling differently at night. It would be very atmospheric and scary if they screamed loudly in scary voices.

+1

Like they scare from each other in the dark and not only.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

I haven't personally seen it, but the logs on my server showed someone using tnt or dynamite (can't remember which one does massive block damage). He was using it to get around LCB protection and raid other players' bases. Another admin handled it. I'm not sure if the explosive broke the LCB or if the LCB failed to protect other blocks, or if both were true. Just saw the logs show the accused dropping explosives on top of the victim's base.

I’m confused. Please excuse me because I don’t have much MP experience, but isn’t this how the game should work? In any PVP MP game I have played that involves groups or individuals with bases, the goal is to break through defenses and raid the base. I thought the goal was to find the LCB(s) and destroy them so that you can complete the raiding. This is how I would want to play. I don’t get it.

 

[dhlmaster]

maybe dropping from a gyro... damn hate to be on your server if this is how its investigated, no offense. I hope no action was taken against that player without proof. It does not sound like he cheated at all. just butt hurt players crying because they got raided in a way that most do not think of. Been in his shoes plenty of times, being accused of cheating by admins when they just do not understand.
EDIT: not saying he was not cheating but.... just sayin'.

We also had chat logs in which the accused was telling other players about how he uses explosives for base raiding. It's a strict pve server. We usually give people a chance, but in this case he knew exactly what he was doing. Everyone hates and admin who bans people for breaking the rules, but nobody wants to hate the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ who takes other peoples' stuff and ruins their base. We have a message that runs on auto, telling everyone on the server that base raiding is against the rules.

 

[ZombieSurvivor]

We also had chat logs in which the accused was telling other players about how he uses explosives for base raiding. It's a strict pve server. We usually give people a chance, but in this case he knew exactly what he was doing. Everyone hates and admin who bans people for breaking the rules, but nobody wants to hate the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ who takes other peoples' stuff and ruins their base. We have a message that runs on auto, telling everyone on the server that base raiding is against the rules.

oh pve well ♥♥♥♥ that changes everything. I retract my previous statement. i hope his ass got banned for life brotha!

 

[dhlmaster]

I’m confused. Please excuse me because I don’t have much MP experience, but isn’t this how the game should work? In any PVP MP game I have played that involves groups or individuals with bases, the goal is to break through defenses and raid the base. I thought the goal was to find the LCB(s) and destroy them so that you can complete the raiding. This is how I would want to play. I don’t get it.

PVE is right in the name of the server and we have LCB protection set to infinite. If someone can break in despite infinite LCB, I think that's wrong.

- - - Updated - - -

oh pve well ♥♥♥♥ that changes everything. I retract my previous statement. i hope his ass got banned for life brotha!

Only 100 years!

 

[ZombieSurvivor]

PVE is right in the name of the server and we have LCB protection set to infinite. If someone can break in despite infinite LCB, I think that's wrong. I guess you don't get it because you must not play pve.
- - - Updated - - -

Only 100 years!

100 years seems fitting for the crime. *fist bump*

 

[AtomicUs5000]

PVE is right in the name of the server and we have LCB protection set to infinite. If someone can break in despite infinite LCB, I think that's wrong. I guess you don't get it because you must not play pve.
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Only 100 years!

Ah ok... PVE. I don’t understand why this is always an issue with the LCB settings. You should be able to set for PVE or PVP. Forget all the fancy settings, just start with that.

 

[dhlmaster]

Ah ok... PVE. I don’t understand why this is always an issue with the LCB settings. You should be able to set for PVE or PVP. Forget all the fancy settings, just start with that.

That would be nice! My understanding is that the splash damage from explosives doesn't seem to register properly as belonging to the player. I don't know if it's still a thing, but I can remember in a previous alpha, getting killed by an ally's rockets with player killing turned off. We were doing bloodmoon together. I was on the ground and he was up on the base. He saw me get surrounded and pulled out the rocket launcher to try to help.