PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[MechanicalLens]

[SIZE=1.4rem]I definitely agree with nearly all of those being solid perks, a few are build specific though. Some like Sex Rex and Cardio just don't age well as late game you just aren't going to be going melee with 8 irradiated military guys regardless of stamina, especially with the new injury system as someone else mentioned. They are great early game, but once you are driving around everywhere and basically don't use stamina they aren't doing much of anything for you.[/SIZE]

My list was just ones that are so QoL and consistent that *any* build will benefit from them. Health Regen could be dropped, I just keep it because I like passively healing while I'm off mining cement bags and digging through walls in a PoI and don't want to waste my healing items

I'm honestly considering going cold turkey on Cardio. Now that traders exist inside of towns, the smaller towns seem to be less common (just my observation), and the green biome is bigger, I no longer feel a need for it. Regarding Sex Rex, like I said, I'm a miner. Sometimes I mine stone or iron for days on end - my record so far as been over 400,000 stone in a single session. I don't have time to sit around for half that time waiting for my stamina to regenerate. Sure, it's not efficient to build a base pre-auger, but if one were to dig that deep (pun not intended), then they would realize that the most efficient way to play this game is to deposit dozens of chests in front of a trader, never build a base, never live anywhere, never gather resources, and instead loot non-stop, and avoid blood moon hordes instead of engaging with them. Some of us though, even seasoned or veteran players, don't find that a particularly attractive style of play.

Now that bleeding is a very rare occurrence, I don't even bother taking regular bandages with me anymore, and at most a couple first aid bandages. With how quickly food and water deplete anyway, I feel no need to regenerate one health per 40 seconds if I can just eat one charred meat and get everything back in a fraction of that time.

I also like to mix things up. One playthrough I'll go Strength, the next I might go Perception, then Fortitude, then maybe a hybrid mix between Perception and Agility. Not the most efficient? Absolutely not. But playing the same character (in terms of weapons, most perks) over and over again would kill my motivation for going further; I prefer variety, not the absolute meta.

 

[Ranzera]

This is a major problem with several perks like Cardio, Iron Gut, Sex Rex, the Insulated perk etc. They are good early game, but scale like hot garbage into late game so investing in them early just assures that you will need to respec down the line. A lot of the int crafting perks are still like that, but at least now I can justify putting two points into Grease Monkey to craft gas cans, but it's still debatable if it's worth it

Spot on with the rest of your thoughts too though, at least IMO if you are min maxing and actually trying to be optimal

Sexy Trex combos with Skull Crusher and the Strength passive buffs to make the most broken interaction in the game. Sledges don't work without Sexy Trex.

 

[Laz Man]

Wait an experimental came out that made something harder, people whined and TFP gave in and nerfed it, i would have never guessed

I kid, i do like more animals spawning.

Madmole just doing alittle slight of hand...dont worry...gives more animals but increases zombie dogs by 100!!!!

 

[madmole]

Wait an experimental came out that made something harder, people whined and TFP gave in and nerfed it, i would have never guessed

I kid, i do like more animals spawning.

Buffed and nerfed, just like that. Still testing

Madmole just doing alittle slight of hand...dont worry...gives more animals but increases zombie dogs by 100!!!!

Maybe not by that much, but there could be more. I completely redid the spawning tables so it adds up to 1, so it will be a lot different.

 

[MechanicalLens]

Buffed and nerfed, just like that. Still testing

Not gonna lie, and not complaining, just observing: you do have a habit of taking something, shooting it to the moon, and then tugging it back to Earth for it to rest underneath your boot. Just saying, and don't take this too seriously.

 

[Kosmic Kerman]

Yep, I got debated on all sides last time I posted it, but there's absolutely a list of "mandatory" perks for 90% of players. 

Perks you invest at least 3 points in, and probably max out eventually

• Miner 69
  
• Motherlode
  
• Daring Adventurer
  
• Better Barter
  

Perks you put at least 1 point in

• Gardening perk
  
• Health Regen Perk
  
• Stun Resist perk
  

Basically no matter what build you go with, you are going to find it hard for those not to be a pretty core part of your build if you play long enough. You can make it to day 21 or something without gardening or without barter or daring adventurer etc, but you are playing the game on hard mode. If you aren't purposely gimping yourself, all of those perks are 100 times better than any random other perk you think you need imo

I considered the Junk Turrets near mandatory in A18, but in A19 the Auto Shotgun is just so ridiculously better than everything else combined that you can get by without them. I wouldn't though still, and would still say every build will eventually want to put some points into them

In A18 I never put points in intellect so no better barter and no daring adventurer. I also never bothered with with healing factor. I would usually put one point in pain tolerance. In A19, I’ve spread my points across all 5 attributes to see what’s changed. I still don’t care for daring adventurer or better barter. Healing factor seems worth it for increased crit healing. I have not put any points in pain tolerance.  I always put points in miner 69er, mother lode, sex-Rex, lucky looter, salvage operations, master chef, and living off the land. 

 

[Ranzera]

In A18 I never put points in intellect so no better barter and no daring adventurer. I also never bothered with with healing factor. I would usually put one point in pain tolerance. In A19, I’ve spread my points across all 5 attributes to see what’s changed. I still don’t care for daring adventurer or better barter. Healing factor seems worth it for increased crit healing. I have not put any points in pain tolerance.  I always put points in miner 69er, mother lode, sex-Rex, lucky looter, salvage operations, master chef, and living off the land. 

You'd be surprised at what Better Barter does at higher ranks. You go from kinda scraping by to stockpiling stacks of dukes. You can use those to just buy all the ammo you need... or you can check out the explosively larger Secret Stash tab (that has 2-3 pages) and what all you can pick up there (like way more ammo, mods, guns and solar panels). I'd say it's in the top 5 best perks.

 

[madmole]

I'm honestly considering going cold turkey on Cardio. Now that traders exist inside of towns, the smaller towns seem to be less common (just my observation), and the green biome is bigger, I no longer feel a need for it. Regarding Sex Rex, like I said, I'm a miner. Sometimes I mine stone or iron for days on end - my record so far as been over 400,000 stone in a single session. I don't have time to sit around for half that time waiting for my stamina to regenerate. Sure, it's not efficient to build a base pre-auger, but if one were to dig that deep (pun not intended), then they would realize that the most efficient way to play this game is to deposit dozens of chests in front of a trader, never build a base, never live anywhere, never gather resources, and instead loot non-stop, and avoid blood moon hordes instead of engaging with them. Some of us though, even seasoned or veteran players, don't find that a particularly attractive style of play.

Now that bleeding is a very rare occurrence, I don't even bother taking regular bandages with me anymore, and at most a couple first aid bandages. With how quickly food and water deplete anyway, I feel no need to regenerate one health per 40 seconds if I can just eat one charred meat and get everything back in a fraction of that time.

I also like to mix things up. One playthrough I'll go Strength, the next I might go Perception, then Fortitude, then maybe a hybrid mix between Perception and Agility. Not the most efficient? Absolutely not. But playing the same character (in terms of weapons, most perks) over and over again would kill my motivation for going further; I prefer variety, not the absolute meta.

I quit buying cardio, just don't wear armor until you get to the POI. Running is fine unarmored. Or wear padded.

Bleeding is coming back with a vengeance.

BTW I built every cool base you saw without an auger, or 90% of it. I never get one until my base is pretty well done.

 

[Laz Man]

You'd be surprised at what Better Barter does at higher ranks. You go from kinda scraping by to stockpiling stacks of dukes. You can use those to just buy all the ammo you need... or you can check out the explosively larger Secret Stash tab (that has 2-3 pages) and what all you can pick up there (like way more ammo, mods, guns and solar panels). I'd say it's in the top 5 best perks.

Agreed.  I doubt it will stay that way after the trader rebalance in A20.  I'm up for the challenge though!  Come at me Fun Pimps!

 

[madmole]

You'd be surprised at what Better Barter does at higher ranks. You go from kinda scraping by to stockpiling stacks of dukes. You can use those to just buy all the ammo you need... or you can check out the explosively larger Secret Stash tab (that has 2-3 pages) and what all you can pick up there (like way more ammo, mods, guns and solar panels). I'd say it's in the top 5 best perks.

You can do that just fine without it. Once the average drop is a yellow iron tool, or non primitive firearm you are swimming in dukes, 300-700(ish) per tool/weapon adds up fast.

 

[Kosmic Kerman]

You'd be surprised at what Better Barter does at higher ranks. You go from kinda scraping by to stockpiling stacks of dukes. You can use those to just buy all the ammo you need... or you can check out the explosively larger Secret Stash tab (that has 2-3 pages) and what all you can pick up there (like way more ammo, mods, guns and solar panels). I'd say it's in the top 5 best perks.

I always end up with more duke coins than I can use somewhere between day 28 and day 35. The faster I get a motorcycle the faster it happens. I stop scraping by as soon as I get the motorcycle. 

If you are already putting points in intellect, I understand the reason for taking better barter. But I never spend points in intellect. I loot all of the schematics. This alpha I spent a point to unlock forges, put a point in daring adventurer, and accidentally put a point in better batter. The extra secret stash isn’t worth it to me because I can find everything I need in loot. 

 

[madmole]

Not gonna lie, and not complaining, just observing: you do have a habit of taking something, shooting it to the moon, and then tugging it back to Earth for it to rest underneath your boot. Just saying, and don't take this too seriously.

To me it is more efficient to double things then cut back in halves until it feels right. Moving something 5%, 2% etc takes too long. We've been telling Gazz more crits for 6 weeks now and its still not there yet. It is getting close. I'd have turned it up so eating stew broke 6 bones and gave you infection, then dialed it back some

Agreed.  I doubt it will stay that way after the trader rebalance in A20.  I'm up for the challenge though!  Come at me Fun Pimps!

I can nerf the by sell ratio even more right now. I've been thinking about it.

 

[LilMissNorti]

I'd have turned it up so eating stew broke 6 bones and gave you infection, then dialed it back some

What is in that stew

 

[madmole]

What is in that stew

Rotten flesh, zombie dog teeth, acid and essence of Rekt

 

[Kalex]

Added night is darker when the moon is not full.

There are 7 moon phases, so 7 variations of darkness now.

I know about it. Probably be fixed some day, but not a high priority.

I don't really see this as an exploit since you can use something very similar in real life to keep cattle from going in a certain area because the cows won't step on the slats.

 

[faatal]

Changed: Blade trap hits don't prime the demolition zombie.

Darts apply their damage directly, so they were fine.

 

[Kalex]

I wish there was an auto-team option on your friends list so it would automatically team you up with those on your friends that you select when they log in to the server.

It is a bit of a pain in the rear to have to keep going into the friends list and re-sending and re-accepting team invites every time someone logs in or out of the server for whatever reason. This would be a great little QoL improvement for co-op players who regularly team with the same people.

 

[Roland]

Well yeah, every game has filthy casuals, but who cares about filthy casuals?!

Joking aside, there's no point in talking about role players and uber casuals when talking about which perks are best, you'll have people like my friend who will invest 15+ perks in Agility solely to get the ability to jump 3 blocks high and not pick up a single other agility perk or use a single agility weapon.

Madmole is a roleplayer through and through....lol

I think you and Ranzera make good points about the relative strengths of the different attributes and I very much enjoyed Ranzera's outline. But when it comes down to it the game is amazingly fun and enjoyable for many playthroughs when you are a filthy casual or roleplayer because we don't care about optimal gameplay. We aren't purposely gimping ourselves--we just don't think in terms of spreadsheets. We think in terms of building a character with strengths and weaknesses and then seeing what story for that character emerges. The min-maxers are always going to have just one path to take because they will always suss out which one is the almighty optimal one. Then they are doomed to forever follow that same path over and over again until words such as "grindy" and "samey" fill their every description of the game.

Meanwhile, us roleplayers and filthy casuals are playing the game differently each time having fun because THIS time I'm awesome at jumping three blocks high and NEXT time I'm going to be awesome at finding treasures...

I'm not denying that Madmole needs to continue to fine tune and balance the perks and I agree that the Strength build blows all the rest away in its power, but just informing you that for you Speed Runners the balancing will never be good enough because the One Almighty Path of the Optimal will simply shift slightly to the next best activity but since there always can only be one, you will quickly land back in the dissatisfaction of your own making.

Relax. Get casual.

 

[Gazz]

Git bad, man!

 

[Marinxar]

Another suggestion, could you maybe reduce or remove the nozzle smoke from the Draganuv ? It's the only gun where the scope view is completely blocked after each shot. I don't know if it is realistic or not, but it aint a Musket, and it makes the weapon least favorable to use in horde nights, as you have to wait for the smoke to clear before you can aim to fire again.