PC Back after a long vacation from the game, where can I catch up?

Pekiti

New member
Hello all,

After an 'interesting' year and a bit (the way the Chinese curse meant it), I got the itch to revisit 7D2D, but I came across a post in the Steam forums that was raging about the changes to the game - and most of that post seemed totally alien to me.

Leveled access to items and perks now?

4x4 trucks, motorcycles and bicycles?

Something about mining/digging is now totally unsafe/satisfying?

Lots of other commentary in the post made it sound like an entirely new game from the one I remember.

Is there a thread or guide anywhere that can bring me up to speed? Last time I played I think it was A16.4 or 16.5, and I played the game in three phases/styles (early - run and gun looking for stuff, mid - build a deep underground base to live and work in, end - set out to explore the world on foot/minibike). Is that even possible these days, or have they finally taught the zeds how to dig straight down?

Thanks,

Pek

 
Go to main page and read that book called patch notes.

There is no tl;dr to that and no one sane will attempt to even start explaining changes.

Or just go and play.

 
Thanks, that helped. So now I have to worry about actual character stats, and which skill tree to follow. Interesting. I also see that falling damage cannot guarantee a kill on a zombie, it says. That eliminates simple pitfall traps, I suppose.

Since mining/underground life was a key part of my previous game strategy, the critical question now is "Can zombies dig down to bedrock/etc?" In other words, can I still build an underground base to live/explore from, or is it pointless?

 
You can live at bedrock happily.

They only dig if they detect you (30ish block deep detection by memory).

Don't expect to be safe on horde night tho.

 
Since mining/underground life was a key part of my previous game strategy, the critical question now is "Can zombies dig down to bedrock/etc?" In other words, can I still build an underground base to live/explore from, or is it pointless?
I have a base of my own that is partially underground. The aboveground entrance is surrounded by a trench with spikes and access is via a drawbridge.

The forges and work stations are located on two floors on the bedrock. Therefore I have no problems with screamers.

Mining in depths of more than 35m is usually not a problem. At shallower depths, however, zombies often dig into the mine.

The auger should only be used at greater depths, otherwise you will have to deal with screamers all the time.

 
Also be prepared for some zombie AI changes. Zombies look for the easiest path to get to you. That means one mistake can lead to your base being overrun, on the other hand you can guide zombies to your traps now. A previously irrelevant detail about traps got important now: They work best when they are level with the ground.

Apart from that I would advise not looking for base designs on the internet, many streamers seem to use somewhat exploity designs that are really not neccessary for survival, I had great fun experimenting with my own ideas of how to lead zombies in front of my dart or electric traps.

 
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Also be prepared for some zombie AI changes. Zombies look for the easiest path to get to you. That means one mistake can lead to your base being overrun, on the other hand you can guide zombies to your traps now. A previously irrelevant detail about traps got important now: They work best when they are level with the ground.
Apart from that I would advise not looking for base designs on the internet, many streamers seem to use somewhat exploity designs that are really not neccessary for survival, I had great fun experimenting with my own ideas of how to lead zombies in front of my dart or electric traps.
The pathing is probably the biggest change along with dungeon type POIs.

 
The pathing is probably the biggest change along with dungeon type POIs.
I just consider it to be a maze and I do not follow the maze most of the time, I just use my fire axe and make my own entrance, but Yeah I do not really like this design and it is in way too many places. It should be used less often so that you can say "well this guy wanted to survive and made a lot of traps for the zombies" but instead you just think the developers made all the POIs the same. Luckily there are some places where you will still find a normal house where you think "well this guy got out of town quick and they did not spend time making defenses" which would be the case 80% of the time in reality.

As far as mining, I have had the most trouble in the desert with the auger and the screamer. You can mine relativity shallow with the auger in the start of the game but just use it sparingly and always stop after a time, climb out and take a peek around, otherwise it is difficult to defend yourself in a mine with limited space and not much room to back up and shoot 6 zombies coming at you.

All in all though I highly recommend you play, it had its drawbacks from A16 but it also has some good additions as well. The one thing I miss more than anything is the log spikes, I loved using log spike and while the iron spike trap is effective it is a pain to repair it as you have to be at the perfect angle and sometimes you damn near have to be right on top of them to find the angle to repair them.

 
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You can live at bedrock happily.They only dig if they detect you (30ish block deep detection by memory).

Don't expect to be safe on horde night tho.
On horde night they can dig down to bedrock?

 
On horde night they can dig down to bedrock?
They will dig down at any time they hear you or the AI is supposed to be aware of you, so they have on occasion dug down all the way 50-80 blocks down on me so you should use good mining practice and dig a large area out of the bedrock or under the bedrock so you have a place to fight them. It is also annoying when they dig down and collapse your entire mine, they did this to me looking for oil shale in the desert and made a massive crater out of my mine and I got killed.

Just be aware of this and mine anyway, screw them ruining your mining fun, just mine anyway and if they bug you kill them or mine somewhere else. No sense in letting the bastards keep you from mining if that is what you want to do.

I also use up to 6 forges all on at one time and I don't care if the screamer come around, she usually dies on my spike traps anyway.

Also do not make the same mistake as me starting A17 after A16 and pick a standard navezgane map. I started a new map with NitroGen and I am glad I did, I have lots of cites lots of traders and a boatload of random things thrown in. The Navezgane map is boring in my opinion. You could start a 8K random map and have a boatload of options to pick from. https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?114207-Tool-NITROGEN-a-random-world-generator-for-7DtD

I misread your question on horde night but I would think that it would be much, much more likely on horde night to get at you wherever you are even 100 blocks down. My bases are above ground and even with the terrain so I never really had to worry about the horde digging anywhere to get to me.

 
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Take much of what you find in A17 with a grain of salt. A18e should be available to opt in within a couple weeks, with A18 stable out some time after that. Don't get too invested, as you'll undoubtedly want to restart for A18.

There are huge changes coming (pretty much all for the better, imho). Read the first page of the A18 Dev Diary to see what's planned, and watch some of madmole's videos about the new character progression scheme.

 
The experience is different from A16. Different type of skills, new vehicles, more advanced zombie AI and especially many new POIs, as well as old ones refreshed.

Navezgane has been expanded if i recall, so choosing it you'll have a bit more to explore. RWG is currently not so good, more of a hit or miss with finding a good map. It is also different in many aspects from A16 with how the cities and POIs are placed.

Skills need a bit of time to determine what you need. Weapons don't have parts, but use mods (tools too) which give various attributes to them, but also increase stats. Some armor also use mods.

Also, there are a couple bugs still on the table, so be prepared for a bit of frustration.

Either way, good luck with exploring the game now. A18 will come soon, so you don't have much time 🙂

 
Take much of what you find in A17 with a grain of salt. A18e should be available to opt in within a couple weeks, with A18 stable out some time after that. Don't get too invested, as you'll undoubtedly want to restart for A18.
There are huge changes coming (pretty much all for the better, imho). Read the first page of the A18 Dev Diary to see what's planned, and watch some of madmole's videos about the new character progression scheme.
All of my posts yapping I never realized I should read this first myself.

 
If you've been away from 7 Days for more than a year and are now returning you will have a blast no matter what you may read. Glad you got the itch again!

 
Take much of what you find in A17 with a grain of salt. A18e should be available to opt in within a couple weeks, with A18 stable out some time after that. Don't get too invested, as you'll undoubtedly want to restart for A18.
There are huge changes coming (pretty much all for the better, imho). Read the first page of the A18 Dev Diary to see what's planned, and watch some of madmole's videos about the new character progression scheme.
^This. A18 is just around the corner :)

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?111778-Alpha-18-Dev-Diary!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheFunPimps/videos?disable_polymer=1

 
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To OP: one of the major changes vs prior versions is the emphasis on PoIs. It seems it's here to stay, regardless of all other mechanics that may or may not change in A18. PoIs are, in essence, mini dungeons with somewhat better loot.

If you want to catch up quickly, you can mod yourself a head start (faster levels, for example) and check out various PoIs, just to see if you like them or not. Some people like them, some hate them.

 
That's cool and all but starting a new game is a bummer for me to do all the time. I had 2 game starts in A16 and now 2 game starts in A17 and I am hoping that I can stick with A17 even if A18 is to update via Steam. I will try A18 sometime down the road but not soon.

All in all the game is great beyond measure and anyone that needs to decide if they want to play in my opinion should play or at least just wait for A18 and then play. The time you take to decide could be time that you put into the game and could be at level 25 with a minibike and a good starting position.

I do find it hard to believe some of the bad comments about the game and how people want this or that or nothing at all, that just does not make sense to me with a game this enjoyable, but that's just my opinion and I suppose I should not judge.

 
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Oh A18 looks good, and I am excited to see **spears** listed. I hope they are reach/melee weapons, not just thrown. Kind of concerned about the mentions of possibly removing minng (its in the last 10 pages or so), but it looks like something they are just casually debating the pros and cons. Digging in (literally and strategically) has been a core part of my play style, removing the ability to dig would ruin the game for me.

 
Oh A18 looks good, and I am excited to see **spears** listed. I hope they are reach/melee weapons, not just thrown. Kind of concerned about the mentions of possibly removing minng (its in the last 10 pages or so), but it looks like something they are just casually debating the pros and cons. Digging in (literally and strategically) has been a core part of my play style, removing the ability to dig would ruin the game for me.
MM mentioned at one point WHAT IF there was static terrain and voxel POIs as they started developing the game. Fiscussions went on, but in general they are not planning to remoce digging.

 
It's more like a bad omen for the successor of 7d2d in a few years. They might start with static terrain there and everyone joining the next EA would be a guinea pig who tests out how much of our enjoyment depended on a fully modifiable world.

 
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