PC Alpha 18 Party Time!
- Thread starter stasis78
- Start date
OldManBrian
New member
This is awesome. As someone who went back to a16 I gotta say that this is exactly the type of stuff that's going to pull me back into a17\18 eventually.
Here's hoping crafting will go back to schematics... (Weapons, tools, vehicles, paint, etc) Not knowing if you're going to find what you need\want is part of the thrill, perks ruin that because they're a guarantee with enough grinding.
My 18 wishlist off the top of my head would be
Better AI - improvements thus far really good but everyone knows pathing still has issues. I am not sure that pathing will ever be fixed though because the player just has so much power is what they can do to confuse
the AI.
Legendary gear
Boats
Mods, mods mods and more mods - I love the replacement to weapon parts but there just are not enough options yet
Animal Husbandry
More things to make
LOTS more POI's - the new POIs are really good but we really need a massive number (like over 100) simple POI that are very close to the old style to act as filler to explore in between the dungeon crawl style ones. Enough so that you are unlikely to memorize where everything is.
Better AI - improvements thus far really good but everyone knows pathing still has issues. I am not sure that pathing will ever be fixed though because the player just has so much power is what they can do to confuse
the AI.
Legendary gear
Boats
Mods, mods mods and more mods - I love the replacement to weapon parts but there just are not enough options yet
Animal Husbandry
More things to make
LOTS more POI's - the new POIs are really good but we really need a massive number (like over 100) simple POI that are very close to the old style to act as filler to explore in between the dungeon crawl style ones. Enough so that you are unlikely to memorize where everything is.
madmole
Fun Pimps Staff
The problem with random drops is you can potentially be blocked major portions of the game. I had a game where I couldn't find a minibike book. Games where the forge ahead book was never found. It makes it frustrating and its a bad design to be blocked from content TFP put thousands of man hours into developing.
I can see some kind of hybrid where perks get you the meat and potatoes, but the gravy and desert are from books and looting, so the best of the best requires perks + books and looting.
OldManBrian
New member
See, that's what my group loves about a16 becuase it makes each playthough completely unique. a17 is pretty predictable because you have that guarantee of the perk tree to unlock pretty much everything.
Forge, concrete, steel, workbench, chem set, etc make sense as perk unlocks gated via skill by doing and/or level.
Bicycle makes sense to start spawning in traders inventory at a certain level as a failsafe in case players are unlucky in their looting.
But for everything else, it's just more fun and exciting to have to loot schematics to be able to build tools, items, vehicles, armor, repair weapons, etc. Being able to build guns at all kills the thrill of finding guns, and being able to build guns from a perk even more so.
DatDamnDutchie
New member
Yeah, your group, easy if there's more people playing and sharing. What if you play solo? Or on a pvp server? I remember several times doing nothing but loot for a Forge Ahead book. Most annoying thing ever - progress shouldnt be based on looting luck. Hell I still have it in A17 with the beaker.
You guys must have the worst luck. Out of over a dozen games played in A16, not once did I ever have a problem getting the books I needed. Did it sometimes take a little longer than I would have liked? Sure, but it motivated me to hunt for it and was more satisfying when I finally did. Anyway, now that there are more vehicles, it wouldn't be the end of the world if say you couldn't find a motorcycle book for a while but found a minibike/truck one early, at least you would still have options for vehicles. It was worse before because the minibike was the ONLY vehicle so if you couldn't find the manual, well tough luck.
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OldManBrian
New member
I totally agree that the forge shouldn't be a book. In fact when I mentioned it before as a perk unlock that was a mistake, I think it should be available from the start to be honest.
Either way, please see the rest of my post as I think you might have skimmed it. I agree with you that key items definitely should be perk \ skill unlocked instead of loot:
OldManBrian
New member
I agree with all this. I play solo as well as with a group and I've never had a problem. As you say, it's satisfying to get those rare finds after hunting for them. Unlocking via perks after grinding for xp is about as unsatisfying and predictable as you can get.
hotpoon
New member
I agree with you. I think the more we are made to rely on scavenging, the more exciting and different each playthrough will be. I also don't mind if it takes me a while to find what I want. For me it was usually the crossbow schematic. I knew if I kept hitting bookstores, I'd find it eventually, but sometimes it took a while, and as a result I tried other weapons, and experienced a different play style. For me RNG is a better way to extend* gameplay because you can play without a vehicle or your favourite weapon for an extended time. When you do find it, it's a particularly joyous occasion, and feels like you got a reward.
* The current way to extend gameplay seems to be to downgrade your initial abilities so that you spend a lot of time feeling like an absolute invalid who can barely walk, struggling to get yourself back to normal so you can actually start playing. My husband stopped playing the game because of the new stamina hunger system. I battled through it (hating every second of the induced asthma and punishment for dying), but eventually quit as well when I realised how intelligent the AI was. These are the specific deal-breakers for us. I hope A18 is playable for us again, because I was a huge fan girl of previous iterations of this game.
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