PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[quyxkh]

You can also take out boars by placing wood spikes in front of them. The dumb things just walk into them until they die.

I just kite the things when I need meat that bad, even the Q1 primitive bow can eventually take them down.

 

[Odetta]

@madmole

Since stone age will last longer, have you thought about a stone pick and a dedicated stone repair tool? For consistancy and being able to power attack with the axe?

Seeing as this will be a far more important part of the game now. 

 

[madmole]

This really isn't much of a spoiler, but more of a general question. Given the increased length of the stone age in A19, has the rate at which the player accumulates gamestage (through the various difficulties) been adjusted to compensate, or has it remained the same? (Ex. In A18, ferals appear at gamestage 40, cops/spiders at gamestage 50, soldiers and wights at around gamestage 80, rads by around gamestage 100, and Demolishers begin to appear at gamestage 150+)

Nope. There isn't some long grindy stone age. It actually exists now, but with traders and loot you will have a brown or orange gun and ammo should be conserved for those kinds of situations. I welcome the challenge. I'm playing Nomad with 24 alive on bm, air drops once every 7 days. What the change does more is extend the tier 1 and teir 2 ages considerably and teir 3 won't start dropping until very late game now. Crafting is relevant. As long as you perk you can craft tier 2 guns with rank 4, so you won't be screwed if you specialize. Parts are more abundant too.

This really isn't much of a spoiler, but more of a general question. Given the increased length of the stone age in A19, has the rate at which the player accumulates gamestage (through the various difficulties) been adjusted to compensate, or has it remained the same? (Ex. In A18, ferals appear at gamestage 40, cops/spiders at gamestage 50, soldiers and wights at around gamestage 80, rads by around gamestage 100, and Demolishers begin to appear at gamestage 150+)

The other thing to consider here is a lot of auxiliary perks went from 5 ranks to 3, so you can have more for your money now too, so the loot had to happen, it was incredibly easy on my first play through. This adjustment was great, it feels a bit harder than 18, but not impossible and a proper carrot on the stick exists now, I've been playing non stop day and night its great. I've uses a q1,2,3,4 and now I just got a q6 blunderbuss. I crafted the T3 the rest I looted.

 

[MechanicalLens]

deleted

 

[Laz Man]

Because after he sent me to go find Jen I told myself I wouldn't come back there ever but after I cleaned out Jen's food I was desperate and when I got there and he was stacked with food I remembered. Then the @%$*#! had a motorcycle for sale, so I spent 2 days looting everything near him and selling it, and bought two ranks of barter just to have that sweet bike. I'm just loving this strength build so far and the loot rebalance. Since loot isn't raining high quality guns early game I was selling every little thing I could to make some dukes. I even sold all my 762 rounds, I just kept what was in the mag for hunting.

That's awesome.  The game needs alot of tough choice moments like that.  The early game is arguably the best part of the game.

 

[madmole]

Zombies (also Dogs) should randomly make no sound at all. This will make the player never trust to hear them in time approaching.

No, we decided ninja cheap deaths weren't good for the game. At least not early game. Maybe down the road when we get some more improvements to pacing.

And your typical towers are 4-5 blocks above the zombies (where you stand), yes?

Ahh, okay, makes sense.

How did your base work anyway, in your previous world? I didn't look too closely at the images, just at the castle itself.

It worked great they never even breached the original tower which is a 7x7 with bars around it, but I had r concrete and vault doors and 25 grenades that said you aren't getting in bro.

That's awesome.  The game needs alot of tough choice moments like that.  The early game is arguably the best part of the game.

Mid game is the new early game. Not sure what is next but I'm excited to find out. Level 35 and I'm getting mostly brown and orange t1 tools and weapons.

 

[CholulaSouls]

Madmole, what is the most effective way to level in A18? How will this strategy in A19? also, I'm absolutely loving the new weapon models. Rip iron reinforced club.

 

[Damocles]

No, we decided ninja cheap deaths weren't good for the game. At least not early game. Maybe down the road when we get some more improvements to pacing.

Could be a different sound effect. Like just the tapping sound of a running dog, not the growling.

It would be still fair, but less obvious.

 

[MechanicalLens]

deleted

 

[Blake_]

No, we decided ninja cheap deaths weren't good for the game. At least not early game. Maybe down the road when we get some more improvements to pacing.

It worked great they never even breached the original tower which is a 7x7 with bars around it, but I had r concrete and vault doors and 25 grenades that said you aren't getting in bro.

Mid game is the new early game. Not sure what is next but I'm excited to find out. Level 35 and I'm getting mostly brown and orange t1 tools and weapons.

I like what I hear.

Also, can you tell us if it's been any changes to the " radial saw machine workbench thingy " in a19?  And , can we expect some new stuff regarding block shapes, building , paint textures ....etc ?

 

[Adam the Waster]

you know what 7 days to die Really needs?

not new guns or zombies...... IT is!

Spoiler

Canned Cheeseburger 

 

[madmole]

Madmole, what is the most effective way to level in A18? How will this strategy in A19? also, I'm absolutely loving the new weapon models. Rip iron reinforced club.

I'm not sure, I'm no min maxer. I just like to keep busy. I kill almost every zombie I see, loot every trash bag then I chop up the sack for paper/plastic (if being a shotgun build), I mine at night, keep building. I think building is a really fast way to level, but only after you've got some perks so you can get a lot of mats. I keep working on my base and add on a bit every week or two. Stop, adding on and get that upgraded, etc. Once I get a motorized vehicle I start harvesting cars for fuel and parts I'll need for vault doors and traps. Leveling up means zombies get harder too, so I don't really try to power level, but I don't mind leveling up either because I get perks.

I like what I hear.

Also, can you tell us if it's been any changes to the " radial saw machine workbench thingy " in a19?  And , can we expect some new stuff regarding block shapes, building , paint textures ....etc ?

Table saw is no longer a thing, you can find them in POIs but they are just a decoration you can harvest for some parts, no longer a workstation. No new shapes nor paint afaik, but lots of textures have been upgraded.

 

[hiemfire]

you know what 7 days to die Really needs?

not new guns or zombies...... IT is!

Spoiler

Canned Cheeseburger 

Why the heck does that sound good??

 

[Operator_Death]

I'm not sure, I'm no min maxer. I just like to keep busy. I kill almost every zombie I see, loot every trash bag then I chop up the sack for paper/plastic (if being a shotgun build), I mine at night, keep building. I think building is a really fast way to level, but only after you've got some perks so you can get a lot of mats. I keep working on my base and add on a bit every week or two. Stop, adding on and get that upgraded, etc. Once I get a motorized vehicle I start harvesting cars for fuel and parts I'll need for vault doors and traps. Leveling up means zombies get harder too, so I don't really try to power level, but I don't mind leveling up either because I get perks.

Table saw is no longer a thing, you can find them in POIs but they are just a decoration you can harvest for some parts, no longer a workstation. No new shapes nor paint afaik, but lots of textures have been upgraded.

No new paint the current paint selection is meh at best. But that's OK because A19 sounds awesome w/o new paints

 

[Ti2xGr]

Noone is happy with the sound system yet. All we have is distance fading, no occlusion. This gives me an idea though.

Is there a way to add distance fading to modlet object sounds? I'd really like the line of code to add to a video we added on one of the TV modlets, and kind of poked through the XML's but haven't found it yet.

 

[Worrun]

Table saw is no longer a thing, you can find them in POIs but they are just a decoration you can harvest for some parts, no longer a workstation. No new shapes nor paint afaik, but lots of textures have been upgraded.

Can you add the wedge tip to the "Wooden Frame" optacle then, if you haven't already?

 

[Sigil_Thane]

I see Zombie dogs have been added to the burnt forest in 18.2...

How about "Hell Hounds" that are essentially a mix between Burn Victims and Zombie Dogs... Fast, and can set you on fire.

Hey, this has been hiding in this thread on page 13... I still think it could be cool (and terrifying) to watch a Hellhound horde rushing your outpost by at night.

 

[Blake_]

Can you add the wedge tip to the "Wooden Frame" optacle then, if you haven't already?

Yes, that one I needed right at the moment I started doing the fancy stuff and even not so fancy stuff.

Actually I would like for wood frames to have EVERY shape. Rebar ones too. Right now shapes are missing in concrete forcing players to upgrade and dry . While that might be a progression thing ,  as of right now, it's very inconsistent and arbitrarily made.

 

[meganoth]

...You should always do headshots. Regardless of weapon. Saves lives, time, ammo....

As for the balance debate, well, you basically affirmed what I said, if you need to carry 2 shotguns in the belt to compensate.

Headshots, in general yes. I was mainly refering to 'Oh @%$*#!' situations where a sure hit can often be more important than a headshot (because of the push-back). And if you are moving and shooting at the same time hitting a twitchy steve zombie (EDIT: in the head I mean) is also exceptionally difficult.

2 shotguns: Not to compensate. I had the second shotgun with me for emergencies, but I used it very seldom. In a way the second shotty is like the AK I still run around with as agi player (until I have an MP5), but the AK gets used less often (because the pistol can compensate easier if you make silly mistakes like having an empty magazine). But as long as you have ammo in your shotgun, you simply remove anything in your way with a lot less circumstances than with a pistol

If you don't mind ammo consumption, then yes, the pistol can kill faster than the same tier shotgun. But if ammo consumption doesn't matter neither pistol nor shotgun matter at all in the presence of an AK

 

[madmole]

No new paint the current paint selection is meh at best. But that's OK because A19 sounds awesome w/o new paints

I might be a minority, but I feel like 2% of the users paint. Paint cannot stream and also has a finite limit so we're kind of limited there. I don't think its meh the world builders have used it to create the entire game and it looks great. It might be meh if you think your base needs to look all perfect and brand new or something. It is unlikely we will add anything like that due to the fact that we wouldn't use those materials ourselves so it would be waste of atlas space for a 2% er feature.

Is there a way to add distance fading to modlet object sounds? I'd really like the line of code to add to a video we added on one of the TV modlets, and kind of poked through the XML's but haven't found it yet.

Mod discussion is not allowed here.

Hey, this has been hiding in this thread on page 13... I still think it could be cool (and terrifying) to watch a Hellhound horde rushing your outpost by at night.

And it belongs in pimp dreams. Maybe we can make zombie dogs that are burnt and on fire in the burnt forest on the gold push.

Headshots, in general yes. I was mainly refering to 'Oh @%$*#!' situations where a sure hit can often be more important than a headshot (because of the push-back). And if you are moving and shooting at the same time hitting a twitchy steve zombie is also exceptionally difficult.

2 shotguns: Not to compensate. I had the second shotgun with me for emergencies, but I used it very seldom. In a way the second shotty is like the AK I still run around with as agi player (until I have an MP5), but the AK gets used less often (because the pistol can compensate easier if you make silly mistakes like having an empty magazine). But as long as you have ammo in your shotgun, you simply remove anything in your way with a lot less circumstances than with a pistol

If you don't mind ammo consumption, then yes, the pistol can kill faster than the same tier shotgun. But if ammo consumption doesn't matter neither pistol nor shotgun matter at all in the presence of an AK

Ak's are nerfed hard to make room for the new assault rifle. I used one in my first play through when it was still like A18 and I was an int character and I didn't even need any perks, the blue ak I found destroyed anything easily. I'm glad we have changed it. A, you won't find a blue AK for ages, and B, its going to be a POS compared to what it once was. Specialization is the key.