PC Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[Jost Amman]

The drone seems to teleport to the player / teleports through doors / flies over obstacles etc, so I don't think it would help all that much with bandit AI pathing.  It's mostly weird how much work went into the drone, then how little they seem to care about it. It would be like if one of the devs was like "I spent 4,000 man hours making a new system to spawn caves under the ground for players to explore!" and then it was never talked about on stream and no other parts of the game tied in or interacted with it etc lol

I def think Woodle finding one day 1 was a bug, Misuto has been streaming like 7 hours and hasn't found one even while finding all kinds of other stuff

Yeah, even the devs said it, the drone path-finding is not "good as it is" for walking NPCs, but it's definitely a step forward.

The teleporting mechanic was not done because the drone is not able to fly-path-finding, it was done to avoid the drone be left behind if the player is moving very quickly.

The problem is; much like zombies digging, many features are opposed vehemently by people who won't even be affected.

You're probably right on that, but hear this: those opposing some ideas don't do that just out of spite for something they don't want.

They probably do it because they know that the devs have limited time and resources. If an idea you (them) consider "bad" or useless gets approved, part of the devs time would be focused on developing that idea. That time is lost for them, because they'd rather have the devs focus their efforts on something else.

So, in that regard, they are affected by your idea.

 

[Burrfly]

why are there no new T5's?

This is what the alpha 20 official release notes states, tho:

• Many Tier 3 and 4s have been added with some new and updated tier 5s
  

 

[Beelzebubs Ghost]

Yeah, even the devs said it, the drone path-finding is not "good as it is" for walking NPCs, but it's definitely a step forward.

The teleporting mechanic was not done because the drone is not able to fly-path-finding, it was done to avoid the drone be left behind if the player is moving very quickly.

You're probably right on that, but hear this: those opposing some ideas don't do that just out of spite for something they don't want.

They probably do it because they know that the devs have limited time and resources. If an idea you (them) consider "bad" or useless gets approved, part of the devs time would be focused on developing that idea. That time is lost for them, because they'd rather have the devs focus their efforts on something else.

So, in that regard, they are affected by your idea.

Sure but then doesn't it beg the question of why people are so quick to silence critics?

Some things may be objected to even in principle, and if the devs got feedback and took it seriously, they could add something from votes for example (from the playerbase) and possibly save themselves from wasting time on less desirable features.

I am referring of course to things outside of their roadmap which we bought into originally.

Ark did the vote thing on giving the players options, for example, on which new dino they would like to see. I think it would be great if the devs did the same sort of thing once in a while with a shortlist of features of varying priority and let us vote on one. What do you think?

 

[stallionsden]

Another thing I'm confused on as far as the "You already did tons of work so . . . why not make it usable??" line of thought, is why are there no new T5's? 200+ new POI but none are t5's even though some seem as big or hard etc. Seems really weird to me to not just flag a couple as T5 for now to expand the end game more and then work on the "story t5s" later

Is ok I got plenty for you

 

[Khalagar]

This is what the alpha 20 official release notes states, tho:

• Many Tier 3 and 4s have been added with some new and updated tier 5s
  

Hmm, streamers are saying no new t5's, but they might be wrong, or the patch notes might be wrong since it was wrong on drone.

I was caught off guard when streamers started saying there are no new t5s, that would be pretty weird for an update that added so many POI

 

[Jost Amman]

Hmm, streamers are saying no new t5's, but they might be wrong, or the patch notes might be wrong since it was wrong on drone.

I was caught off guard when streamers started saying there are no new t5s, that would be pretty weird for an update that added so many POI

Maybe that's because, IIRC, some T4s have been revised and upgraded to T5s? (could be wrong on this)

 

[POCKET951]

If I recall there was 7  tier 5's in  A 19
1. Shotgun messiah Factory
2.Shamway foods factory
3. Large apartments
4. Crack a book HQ (skyscraper)

5. Dishong tower (skyscaper)

6. Hisaghi Pharmaceutical Tower (skyscraper)

7. Hospital
 

Am I missing any?

So isn't there 8? or did one of the 5's get downgraded to a 4?

according to patch notes :   

Factory_03 ( New Tier 5)

 So  Factory_03 is either a T5 and it hasn't been found yet.

Or it is a tier 4 poi and it is a typo, and there are no new tier 5 Pois.

Or did  one of the existing tier 5's  get  downgraded to a tier 4?

Or there are errors in the patch notes?

Could we please get this cleared up?

 

[Laz Man]

Another thing I'm confused on as far as the "You already did tons of work so . . . why not make it usable??" line of thought, is why are there no new T5's? 200+ new POI but none are t5's even though some seem as big or hard etc. Seems really weird to me to not just flag a couple as T5 for now to expand the end game more and then work on the "story t5s" later

The end game has technically been pushed out more with the inclusion of more POIs especially since players can now choose lower tiered POIs even after progressing to the next tier.

Labeling some T4s as T5s would only speed up progression since those can be cleared faster and would deincentivize doing the "true" longer T5s.

FYI, there is also a new T5 factory.

 

[POCKET951]

FYI, there is also a new T5 factory.

So then there is 8 tier 5 Poi's unless one of the 7 I listed was changed to a T4.

 

[Laz Man]

so then there is 8 tier 5 Poi's unless one of the 7 I listed was changed to a 4

Dishong, Higashi, and the crack a book HQ have been completely overhauled and are essentially new experiences.

Shamway (T5), the large apartments (T5), and the JBB skyscraper (T4) also underwent some updates but not as significant as the other 3.

Keep in mind T5s take an absorbent amount of time to create.  There will be more in the future but the teams main focus was to make sure there was enough variety in all of the new tile districts.

Edit: And....we are not done yet lol.  More will keep being added up until stable since New POIs will not break existing saves.

 

[POCKET951]

Dishong, Higashi, and the crack a book HQ have been completely overhauled and are essentially new experiences.

Shamway (T5) and the JBB skyscraper (T4) also underwent some updates but not as significant as the other 3.

Keep in mind T5s take an absorbent amount of time to create.  There will be more in the future but the teams main focus was to make sure there was enough variety in all of the new tile districts.

Edit: And....we are not done yet lol.  More will keep being added up until stable since New POIs will not break existing saves.

Current tier 5 Pois in Alpha 20:

1. Shotgun messiah Factory
2.Shamway foods factory
3. Apartment_brick_6_flr 
4. Crack a book HQ (skyscraper)

5. Dishong tower (skyscaper)

6. Hisaghi Pharmaceutical Tower (skyscraper)

7. Hospital
8. Factory_03 (new tier 5)

 

[Doomofman]

From what I've seen of A20 on the streamer weekend so far, it's looking really good.

The one gripe I have with any of the new stuff is that the triggers for opening doors at the end of POIs are one and done, so once you open the door you can't close it again. I'd love to see that be an on and off switch, rather than a one use thing. Maybe that's not possible with however it's been done though

 

[Adam the Waster]

Soon ill boot my PC up and its old AF!


prey for me

 

[bilibili-wayne]

I think the A20 green snow features different booty quality of the result, be honest, don't go to the early, mid dare not go, too lazy to late. Personally, I must to make the early game base, middle busy mining, upgrade, free access to loot, equipment basic it is late and businessmen to buy 6 quality.
After my personal test, when the player 1, green land, spoils the range is T1 level 1 quality - T1 level 3 quality. Devastation: loot range is T1 level 3 quality - T2 level 1 quality (but during T1 level 6 quality very much). In other words, if the grass is 1 quality goods, so should be 2 quality goods in the desert, in the snow should be 3 quality materials, 4 quality supplies in ruins. Overall, above at 3 o 'clock this quality, individual attractive to me is so small, not enough to let me to risk their lives to get.
我觉得这次A20绿地雪地等地貌不同带来的战利品品质不同这个效果，说真心话，初期不会去，中期不敢去，后期懒得去。我个人游戏初期肯定要造基地，中期忙着挖矿，升级，免费获取战利品，后期装备基本都是和商人买6品质的。
经我个人测试，当玩家1级，绿地，战利品范围是T1级1品质---T1级3品质。废墟地：战利品范围是T1级3品质---T2级1品质（但期间出T1级6品质非常多）。换句话来将，草地如果是1品质物资，那么在沙漠应该就是2品质物资，在雪地应该就是3品质物资，在废墟地就是4品质物资。总体来看，高出的这3点品质，对我个人的吸引力实在是太小，不足以让我冒着生命危险去获取。

The old driver Wayne from China（老司机wayne）

 

[MechanicalLens]

My only real concern about the farming is super corn. What if you get to the point where you run out of the stuff, seeds included? Therefore I have the following questions:

1. Are there more POI's that have naturally growing super corn in A20?

2. Do traders sell super corn / seeds?

3. Can you find super corn / seeds in loot in the wild?

If the answer to all of these questions is "no", then I can easily imagine generating a world with only 1-2 Bob's Boars present, you collect the super corn at max level Living off the Land, do a few harvests, and then by bad RNG you are left with nothing to plant.

 

[POCKET951]

My only real concern about the farming is super corn. What if you get to the point where you run out of the stuff, seeds included? Therefore I have the following questions:

1. Are there more POI's that have naturally growing super corn in A20?

2. Do traders sell super corn / seeds?

3. Can you find super corn / seeds in loot in the wild?

If the answer to all of these questions is "no", then I can easily imagine generating a world with only 1-2 Bob's Boars present, you collect the super corn at max level Living off the Land, do a few harvests, and then by bad RNG you are left with nothing to plant.

the solution to that would be to get trader quest to reset the bobs boars. and as crappy as that solution is, that is it

they also added a supercorn recipe that unlocks with grandpas elixirs

 

[Survager]

Secret Martial Art of Mutant Zombies in Alpha 20 )))
I think it's capoeira )

 

[Adam the Waster]

My only real concern about the farming is super corn. What if you get to the point where you run out of the stuff, seeds included? Therefore I have the following questions:

1. Are there more POI's that have naturally growing super corn in A20?

2. Do traders sell super corn / seeds?

3. Can you find super corn / seeds in loot in the wild?

If the answer to all of these questions is "no", then I can easily imagine generating a world with only 1-2 Bob's Boars present, you collect the super corn at max level Living off the Land, do a few harvests, and then by bad RNG you are left with nothing to plant.

you can only find it via Bobs boars or Charles corn...

and you mean Glue corn?

2 minutes ago, Survager said:

Secret Martial Art of Mutant Zombies in Alpha 20 )))

he is trying his best OK!

you don't know what he will do Neck!

 

[MechanicalLens]

Still, if people are concerned about farming as a whole and don't want to participate in it, that's fine. Just make a trip to the snow biome and butcher a bunch of cougars, bears, and dire wolves for stacks upon stacks of meat. (Imho bears should be replaced with zombie bears in the snow biome, and dire wolves and mountain lions should only give rotten flesh, but that's another can of worms.)

 

[Blake_]

Farm changes are ok. They are a bit tough right now, but just wait for the farmer outfit and crazy legendary tools and you will notice that we will be better off. This change gives seeds a significant increase in importance, both from loot and harvesting. Before it was just plant and forget.