PC Are screamers still going to jump you if you light your base with torches in a17?

ElCabong

ElCabong

Survivor
I keep my base much darker than I like. I'd also like to have some burning barrels in front.

I don't any of that because they add to your heat signature and that brings on the screamers. Usually at the end of the day when I'm forging iron and cooking.

It takes some fun out of the game. My base is dark and dreary.

 
Why would you not celebrate Screamers showing up?

Two rows of plain ol' wooden spikes and any Screamers die.

Free loot [well... not in A17] and they aren't hard.

I run forges in my mines all night and have spikes up top on the ground.

In the morning I just loot the corpses.

Though.... in the early stages it's a bit scary but that doens't last long right? ^_^

 
I've never found screamer much of a issue, they have low hp, just surround your base with some wooden spikes, as Luckystar said 2 blocks think is usually enough to instagib screamers. They only actually scream to call in zombies if they see you, otherwise they do nothing but loiter around like most zombies.

 
Quite a lot of time earlier on one of my playthroughs (when i was more of a newbie than now), i built a small base ground up and surrounded it with spikes to enter and leave it from a nearby platform. I had to regularly repair the spikes (i built it in a forest biome outside of city), but apart from that never had much trouble with the zeds.

 
Quite a lot of time earlier on one of my playthroughs (when i was more of a newbie than now), i built a small base ground up and surrounded it with spikes to enter and leave it from a nearby platform. I had to regularly repair the spikes (i built it in a forest biome outside of city), but apart from that never had much trouble with the zeds.
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The spikes are pretty fragile but they do rip apart zeds something fierce. For infinite lasting spikes you could use the log ones, zombies can destroy them like any block but they won't get damaged just by being walked on. They don't hit nearly as hard though even fully upgraded. Good for busting legs off zombies easly though.

 
I have a love\hate thing with screamers. They're generally annoying because they always seem to "scream" no matter how quick I kill them (this looks to have been fixed in a17), and the constant hordes they bring are a bit tedious.

At the same time though, I feel like it would be boring if they weren't there.

I think the real problem is lack of variety and the sameness of all the screamer events. It would be great if there were multiple events and horde types that could occur instead of just the same screamer hordes. (Bandits, sneaky zombies that infiltrate your base, pests that can mess with your crops, hordes of dogs, birds, etc.)

 
The true improvement is to the screamers themselves. In A17 you will have a fair chance of killing them before they scream and bring a horde. So torch it up and stay vigilant and you should be fine.

 
The true improvement is to the screamers themselves. In A17 you will have a fair chance of killing them before they scream and bring a horde. So torch it up and stay vigilant and you should be fine.
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Improvements are great!

But: "a fair chance of killing them", sounds very much like: "Made much easier to kill, before they detect you".

This seems a little worrying to me, since you're easily able to get 3 in 4 screamers, before they pop in A16. So now they are going to be an annoyance, more than a threat really. Since you still have to keep dispatching them, but the danger is gone.

Guess I have to wait for A17-e to know :)

 
Improvements are great!
But: "a fair chance of killing them", sounds very much like: "Made much easier to kill, before they detect you".

This seems a little worrying to me, since you're easily able to get 3 in 4 screamers, before they pop in A16. So now they are going to be an annoyance, more than a threat really. Since you still have to keep dispatching them, but the danger is gone.

Guess I have to wait for A17-e to know :)
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If it's going to be easier to kill them before they scream, perhaps having them show up for a few extra things might be fun.

I'd love to see trees create a LOT more heat.

Knock down a tree or two and you're okay.

Farm 25 trees and you're getting a screamer for sure kinda thing.

 
I have a love\hate thing with screamers. They're generally annoying because they always seem to "scream" no matter how quick I kill them (this looks to have been fixed in a17), and the constant hordes they bring are a bit tedious.
At the same time though, I feel like it would be boring if they weren't there.

I think the real problem is lack of variety and the sameness of all the screamer events. It would be great if there were multiple events and horde types that could occur instead of just the same screamer hordes. (Bandits, sneaky zombies that infiltrate your base, pests that can mess with your crops, hordes of dogs, birds, etc.)
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I'd like to see a little more variation with screamers. They show up like clockwork. :(

- P

 
The spikes are pretty fragile but they do rip apart zeds something fierce. For infinite lasting spikes you could use the log ones, zombies can destroy them like any block but they won't get damaged just by being walked on. They don't hit nearly as hard though even fully upgraded. Good for busting legs off zombies easly though.
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Is this confirmed?

I was under the impression that log spikes lasted a lot longer than normal spikes, but not that they lasted forever (unless attacked).

 
Is this confirmed?
I was under the impression that log spikes lasted a lot longer than normal spikes, but not that they lasted forever (unless attacked).
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All melee traps in the game (spikes, log spikes, iron log spikes, barged wire, blade trap) take damage as they deal damage.

So the above info was incorrect.

Yes they can get attacked directly by zombies and get damaged, but they will also break eventually on their own from dealing damage.

 
If it's going to be easier to kill them before they scream, perhaps having them show up for a few extra things might be fun.
I'd love to see trees create a LOT more heat.

Knock down a tree or two and you're okay.

Farm 25 trees and you're getting a screamer for sure kinda thing.
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Well that would be one solution, to our imaginary issue :) .

I must admit that I never actually liked the screamer all that much... My wish would be, that the screamers are much much rarer. But if you find one, and she screams, all hell would break loose! That could be cool...

I like the idea, that chopping trees creating heat. But isn't that a thing already?

 
Well that would be one solution, to our imaginary issue :) .
I must admit that I never actually liked the screamer all that much... My wish would be, that the screamers are much much rarer. But if you find one, and she screams, all hell would break loose! That could be cool...

I like the idea, that chopping trees creating heat. But isn't that a thing already?
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I don't see anything right away in the XML.

Maybe I missed something or it's hard coded.

[More likely I missed it... still haven;'t had first coffee!]

 
I don't see anything right away in the XML.Maybe I missed something or it's hard coded.

[More likely I missed it... still haven;'t had first coffee!]
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You must excuse me if the following is incorrect. But I seem to remember reading on the forum once, that any activity creates heat.

It's just that things like the forge and torches and so on, are static items that create heat, where you as the player are moving around chopping, mining, shooting, farting...

Maybe someone wise will either confirm or deny. Since I'm not at all 100% on this.

 
What I've found hugely effective for non-horde night base attacking zeds is two rows of spikes attached to the wall face pointing outward and two rows of spikes on the ground pointing up. A row of barbed wire between the two rows of ground spikes makes it doubly effective.

As long you don't get into the recursive loop of screamers spawning screamers who spawn screamers :miserable: ....which shouldn't happen if you just let the screamer kill itself on the spikes without ever seeing you.

 
Never found screamers to be an issue. I would let them scream so I could loot.... not much of a thing in A17 though lol

 
Never found screamers to be an issue. I would let them scream so I could loot.... not much of a thing in A17 though lol
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Yup same.

I consider it delivery.

Especially in the beginning when a few wooden spikes will deal with whatever she calls in and that's some potential decent loot.

I've gotten some pretty good weapons that way in the first week. Nothing spectacular but ... pretty good.

 
I like the idea of light be an attracting force. You can use them to lure zombies into traps. Definitely think they need more trap options. Placing a fresh carcass on wood spikes should be a meat attractant. Then you simply placed that all sides of a pillar lit by torches in a spike lined pit trap.

 
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