PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Jedo]

I’m mainly referring to the example of making turret ammunition from iron. The “old way” would be to smelt iron ore into iron and craft ammo from that. Without the scrapping penalty, you could essentially scrap iron ore into iron and make ammo immediately. Now, you don’t have to do any of that because you get iron straight away. It was never about saving space. It was about the process, choice and time management. It’s not something I’m going to go on and on about, but I still think it should be noteworthy that some people still think crafting is fun when it’s a bigger process.

Again, I have thousands of scrap iron just from regular activities. I do not need to use iron ore to make scrap iron, and, in fact, I never have pumped out scrap iron from my forge.

We are nuking rare ore (diamonds etc) to allow players to craft asphalt roads.

Oh, Lord, another round of whining incoming. See what you did, MM?!

 

[madmole]

Wtf are you even talking about. You used to melt the iron ores into the forge, had to wait, and then crafted scrap iron out of it. How was that "fundamental gameplay" ? Now you just keep whatever you need for crafting and melt the rest, much easier and in line with all the other resources. If anything it's a much welcomed change that will make us all have more scrap iron early game until we have access to a forge, since there's no more scrapping penalty.
These kind of overexaggerated kneejerk reactions for such small changes that have 0 influence on actual gameplay are the reason we all, as a community, have less impact when we actually do make valid criticism.

Pretty much. You could scrap iron ore to scrap iron though already. So all we really are doing is getting rid of a sharp stick.

 

[Adam the Waster]

We are nuking rare ore (diamonds etc) to allow players to craft asphalt roads.

seams right.....

also people just use gravel

 

[SickPuppy]

Actually, the game is balanced for Nomad difficulty.That is the base line.

We just call the next lower one "default" because

- changing this text is easy enough

- whatevs

And no.

No weapon is as effective on Insane as it is on Nomad.

Thx, that's actually good to know, I started to think I was doing something wrong.

Balancing will and should never be done based on any setting but default. Do you know how whacked balance would be if they balanced for insane? shotguns would be one shotting irradiated on normal.
Why do people play on insane and then complain about sponges and difficulty. It boggles the mind.

Well the thing is machine guns are intended to be powerful and clear zombies efficiently, it still does on insane with just 2 levels in the perk.

Gunslinger have a crit damage every 5, 4 and 3 shots depending on perk level. It pops heads very efficiently on insane.

But then comes shotty's job of knock down and it doesn't do it's job on insane efficiently. So that's why the shotty's feel 'off' and puts Strength at a disadvantage. I mean if the benefit of the perk isn't working why would we put points into it? Maybe 'knock down' has it's own values to calculate whether or not it knocks down instead of just raw power output, but that's not my forte and just a suggestion.

Dunno for other players but I play on insane for challenge, it doesn't mean I don't want my character to not progress his build. Think of it as feedback for the betterment of the game, definitely not a complaint.

 

[Locusta]

Not a bad idea, although the recipe would have to be identical for each item. I'm not sure what balance implications that would have.

Seriously? Removing having to craft a dozen or so items to appease someone’s miss management of resources and time? Please don’t fuel the fire people. Crafting enthusiasts are getting the short end of the sharp stick already.

Loc

 

[Locusta]

See my previous post. We want to unify every class of items. Lead can be used right out of the mine to make batteries. Coal is usable for GP or burning, crafting pure water. Iron was this weird one off raw iron item, why have a sharp stick iron? It had a weird stack size too of 1200 vs 6000. Inventory management.

Please see Rolands post on the matter. He does a better job of explaining than me. (Hopefully the link works...never done that before)

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?111778-Alpha-18-Dev-Diary!!&p=1056496&viewfull=1#post1056496

Loc

 

[meganoth]

We are nuking rare ore (diamonds etc) to allow players to craft asphalt roads.

Is this just the rare ore block (i.e. the visually distinct block) in the ground that is nuked?

I assume here that you could still mine or loot diamonds etc, but while mining it would just be a small chance for every block instead of finding a special block. Or am I wrong and diamonds as an item is removed completely from the game?

 

[timi]

@madmole Any plans for adding Chinese? 100k player Waiting for it ！

 

[SickPuppy]

shooting the mine gives xp from dead zombies?

No, I mean shoot the mine when there are many zombies grouped together on horde night, need to place mine where it's not easily triggered.

 

[Adam the Waster]

Is this just the rare ore block (i.e. the visually distinct block) in the ground that is nuked?
I assume here that you could still mine or loot diamonds etc, but while mining it would just be a small chance for every block instead of finding a special block. Or am I wrong and diamonds as an item is removed completely from the game?

i hope they don't remove the ores!

 

[Locusta]

i hope they don't remove the ores!

The ores are a nice “hell yeah” moment maker when grinding down in a mine, no doubt.

Loc

 

[meganoth]

Would it though? The way I would have the journal entry would be like this:
- Perception: Useful for spears and rifles

- Strength - Useful for clubs and shotguns

- Fortitude - Useful for fist and machinegun

- Agility - Useful for bows and pistol

- Intellect - Useful for stun baton and turret

Just a general overview, not a full on guide like, use Agility if you want to be a badass stealth ninja. If the text was like that, a player would get a hint on what skills goes with what weapons and then plan accordingly.

The perk tree shows that almost immediately. IMO renaming the attributes into classes would be much better in conveying the "style" of each specialization.

Agi -> Inflitrator

Int -> Tinkerer

Strength -> Miner

Per -> Scavenger or Sniper

Fort -> Tank or Brute or Heavy

In order for it to stay we'd have to make regular firearms impossible to get early game and add flintlock pistol, muzzle rifle, slingshot for perception guy, and something crude for the other ones. I'd rather do super late game loot only sweet stuff; such as auto shotgun, assault rifle, etc.

I don't think the goal should be to make all attributes/classes have counterparts to everything. Especially in early game any weapon can be used by everyone since nobody is deeply specced into his attribute yet. Everyone uses a primitive bow and a club the first days, it doesn't matter that they belong to agi and strength.

Please don't remove asymmetry just because its asymmetric, it is what makes playing different attributes interesting. I don't remember the Agi player having any AoE weapon and still nobody is calling for an agility hand grenade.

The blunderbuss is a speciality-weapon that only a few players will use, like the timed charge is a specialty explosive or the stick of dynamite is a speciality mining utensil.

 

[Gareee]

The hard choice WAS do I tie up my forge making scrap iron from iron ore (to craft turret ammo for example) or do I make forged iron or iron bars (to base build)? Again, you actually had to smelt before getting scrap iron (unless you took the ore scrapping penalty, which I never did), now you don’t have to think about it. Make ammo and forge the rest at the same time. :sleeping:

Loc

Which also meant there was a reason to get the materials to craft multiple forges, and risk the chance of getting screamers as a result. And a reason to be lucky finding multiple crucibles or advanced bellows, or being able to craft them.

 

[Numberz]

The fundamental gameplay I’m referring to is choice. You said it yourself it’s “much easier” which removes choice and having to prioritize your crafting. Having “more scrap iron early game” also changes fundamental gameplay as you pointed out yourself. So while I appreciate your opinion, you kinda put your foot in your mouth. :smile-new:
I don’t feel my comments are over exaggerated knee jerk reactions either. I’m simply stating a point that I’m a fan of choice and hard decisions when it comes to gameplay. I’m not asking for over complication. I just don’t want things to get too streamlined where you don’t have to think about anything because there is only one way to do everything.

Edit: I didn’t realize that scrapping iron ore had no penalty anymore. That basically paved the way for the change, so I guess I’ve already lost the argument...

Loc

FYI

<property name=“NoScrapping” value=“true”>

Is a great addition in A18...

 

[Gareee]

We are nuking rare ore (diamonds etc) to allow players to craft asphalt roads.

Is something else being added to replace the rare diamonds for the diamond tool mod, or will its recipe be removed and it only becomes a lootable/trader sold mod?

 

[Zaroff]

No need to repost, I deliberately did not reply.

RIP!!

 

[Haidrgna]

See my previous post. We want to unify every class of items. Lead can be used right out of the mine to make batteries. Coal is usable for GP or burning, crafting pure water. Iron was this weird one off raw iron item, why have a sharp stick iron? It had a weird stack size too of 1200 vs 6000. Inventory management.

Seems like another reaction in the wrong direction. Just adding Lead Ore, Coal Ore and Niter would have done the same thing without further dumbing the game down. The fact you can instantly use raw iron to do stuff with is just plain weird in my opinion. I remember a few post where you said something about players using debris and scrap iron to build with, but now they also build with iron ore...

 

[DemiurgeRedux]

Does the change to iron ore break existing saves from 18.1b5 if you had iron ore in a chest or in your inventory? No big deal to me if it does as I knew what I was getting into running experimental.

Also, loving A18 so far!

 

[Grandpa Minion]

what a18 update was names removed from players heads?

 

[Zaroff]

I been loving A18 alot (i love the new weapons mostly)
but theres a few things that i have some problem with it (its few)

1: lack of clay in deserts

2: Brain dead mountain lions :aka they like to freak out when attacking you.

3: bag's like to disappear. even when you dont die on a slop. i died in house and when i came back. poof gone!

4: lag in snow and desert biome !

thats it! every thing else is a ok. i think!

the desert should not have clay soil as it is made of sand at least that is what the intent is. you can't have every resource in every biome. if the did that there would be ZERO incentive to travel to different biomes.

I personally wish one day that they add more raw ore types to the game and strategically place them in separate biomes here is what I was thinking what TFP "could" do now to spread out the raw materials.

Forest Biome: Iron, Nitrate

Snow Biome: Iron, Lead

Desert Biome: Iron, Oil Shale

Burnt Biome: Iron, Coal

Wasteland Biome: Iron, Coal, Oil Shale, lead, Nitrate (but very random and more spread out)

This is for the surface indicators. I'd keep in the fact that if you just dig under ground that you can still encounter random ore chunks. but at least this forces people to go to the different Biomes to gather the ore they need.

this is a long shot but I do hope that they add more depth to the mining and crafting system. like add in things like copper, cobalt, tin, zinc, over time. if not i am happy with what we got. I am all for additions to the game. I love Conan Exiles crafting system as there is just soooooooo much dept to it. I am not asking for 7D2D to go that route but I feel like they have a way more robust crafting system in place. I am confident Joel will take a look at the crafting systems and flush it all out in due time and if not that is what the moding community is for.

over all @MM just an incredible Alpha. Can't wait for what is coming!!

- - - Updated - - -

Is something else being added to replace the rare diamonds for the diamond tool mod, or will its recipe be removed and it only becomes a lootable/trader sold mod?

the art of mining book is the replacement for getting rare gems (silver, gold, diamonds)