PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[bloom_meister]

It would be cool to be able to give basic commands to nearby zombies.

In A 16 You already can

Try /dev_mode

At which point they run around in circles in a twitchy spastic fashion....or was that the A17 playthrough...hmm..hard to differentiate!

 

[ecv]

Never heard of /dev_mode. Where would you enter that? Or are you talking about dm in console? Or is it some kind of joke I'm not getting?

 

[NeferPitou]

Videoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo joel are you there?

 

[NBornkilla]

Videoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo joel are you there?

no video for you

 

[Dimpy]

If playing as a zombie becomes a thing then that would be one of the most obvious features.Also acquiring skills like climbing, acid spitting, regen, maybe buffing nearby zombies if you become bosslike enough.

Maybe you'd have to fight and eat other zombies to get a shot at gaining their skills so you either use them (as followers) or snack them.

Wasn't it said that Duke's Elite Guards would have some mutant powers?

 

[DaVegaNL]

Each quest has a rally marker at the POI that when activated resets that POI to be ready for the quest. So, yes, all player made changes will be erased if that marker is activated.
Obviously not a feature designed for players with bad etiquette playing MP. However, I’m pretty sure all quests are for level designed POIs so just avoid building in those and you should be fine.

Wait. Arent the majority of the poi's now these level designed dungeons? So just avoid them at all?

 

[The Gronk]

Wait. Arent the majority of the poi's now these level designed dungeons? So just avoid them at all?

I remember last year when certain balancing measures, such as the reduction of the amount of wood you got from chopping trees, were introduced it was said by TFP (possibly the great Mole himself) that new players were expected to take over a POI to make the early game easier. This was in direct response to a question I had about being able to build a base from scratch with the new restrictions.

Now this idea has been thrown out of the window, especially in a multi-player environment, and new players are expected to avoid POI's in case all of their work is suddenly destroyed by someone else doing a quest? How will they know to avoid an action which seems quite an obvious way to start the game?

As I said earlier, the resetting of POI's is going to cause more problems than it solves.

Wouldn't it make more sense to only allow quests in buildings with a limited amount of altered blocks or only reset buildings that haven't been visited within a certain time-frame?

 

[DUST2DEATH]

As I said earlier, the resetting of POI's is going to cause more problems than it solves.

Does POI have marker outside?

Yes: Dont Build.

No: Build.

Seems pretty easy to avoid problem.

Molehills to mountains again.

 

[The Gronk]

Does POI have marker outside?Yes: Dont Build.

No: Build.

Seems pretty easy to avoid problem.

Molehills to mountains again.

The quest marker doesn't appear until somebody has started a quest as far as I know, still a problem.

Otherwise every third house is going to have a bloody great immersion-breaking exclamation mark outside for the entire game.

 

[Drithyl]

I remember last year when certain balancing measures, such as the reduction of the amount of wood you got from chopping trees, were introduced it was said by TFP (possibly the great Mole himself) that new players were expected to take over a POI to make the early game easier. This was in direct response to a question I had about being able to build a base from scratch with the new restrictions.
Now this idea has been thrown out of the window, especially in a multi-player environment, and new players are expected to avoid POI's in case all of their work is suddenly destroyed by someone else doing a quest? How will they know to avoid an action which seems quite an obvious way to start the game?

As I said earlier, the resetting of POI's is going to cause more problems than it solves.

Yes, I remember the whole suggesting that players take over POIs and upgrade them. I also dislike the idea that a POI that a player has taken over could be reset because a totally unrelated player got a quest there; it just seems like poorly thought-out design. If you can prevent zombies from spawning inside a certain radius of a bedroll, I don't think that making it so a POI cannot be a quest holder if a player has a bedroll in it would be too hard. I suppose we'll have to see what TFP end up deciding.

 

[DaVegaNL]

On September 26, I'm flying to Greece. I hope the devs will release a17 by then lmao.

Well. Thats what i said to my wife back in Christmas of last year, when we were planning our current honeymoon.. and see where we are. With nothing.

 

[The Gronk]

Yes, I remember the whole suggesting that players take over POIs and upgrade them. I also dislike the idea that a POI that a player has taken over could be reset because a totally unrelated player got a quest there; it just seems like poorly thought-out design. If you can prevent zombies from spawning inside a certain radius of a bedroll, I don't think that making it so a POI cannot be a quest holder if a player has a bedroll in it would be too hard. I suppose we'll have to see what TFP end up deciding.

Then you go to your secondary base where you have all of your forges set up to avoid adding to the heat-map of your main base to find all of your resources and forge upgrades have been wiped out?

 

[DUST2DEATH]

The quest marker doesn't appear until somebody has started a quest as far as I know, still a problem.
Otherwise every third house is going to have a bloody great immersion-breaking exclamation mark outside for the entire game.

Quest marker is there to activate the quest is how I understood. not that it appears after activation.

 

[The Gronk]

Quest marker is there to activate the quest is how I understood. not that it appears after activation.

Yes, but the marker isn't shown until you get the quest from a trader from what I understand.

From the first page...

+Trader initiated quests 3/5/18

 

[Drithyl]

Quest marker is there to activate the quest is how I understood. not that it appears after activation.

As The Gronk says, the trader would give you a quest, which spawns a quest marker, which you activate when you go to the POI. At least that's as much as we can understand so far with the information given.

Then you go to your secondary base where you have all of your forges set up to avoid adding to the heat-map of your main base to find all of your resources and forge upgrades have been wiped out?

Fair point, that's still an issue. I don't know if they'd be able to avoid resetting a POI at all, though. Seems like a can of worms to code quests accounting for whether a POI is intact or damaged. If they can do it, I'm all for it, but it's not simple.

EDIT: Perhaps POIs that can be quest holders could spawn with a special land claim block somewhere inside it, which would allow quests to happen in it as long as it hasn't been destroyed, although this leads back to the initial issue of griefers destroying all possible quest POIs.

 

[The Gronk]

It shouldn't be too difficult to determine how many blocks have been changed by comparing it to the original blueprint nor should it be hard to determine the last time the chunks the POI is on were last spawned.

If I were doing it then resetting any POI at will would be pretty damn low on my list of solutions.

 

[DUST2DEATH]

As The Gronk says, the trader would give you a quest, which spawns a quest marker, which you activate when you go to the POI. At least that's as much as we can understand so far with the information given.

so, still a non issue then..

Can issue be avoided by player choice/decision?

Yes.

Priority: 0.

 

[The Gronk]

so, still a non issue then..
Can issue be avoided by player choice/decision?

Yes.

Priority: 0.

What if it's somebody else's quest? Someone who may not be aware, or care, that you're already using the building?

Still a problem.

 

[DUST2DEATH]

What if it's somebody else's quest? Someone who may not be aware, or care, that you're already using the building?
Still a problem.

Nope. You're forcing it to be a problem. Dont build in a POI.. adapt.

 

[The Gronk]

Nope. You're forcing it to be a problem. Dont build in a POI.. adapt.

I rarely do but I don't expect everyone else to play the same way that I do.

Unless there's some kind of warning how is a new player to know that setting up in a POI is a bad idea? Having all of your work wiped out during your first game is going to be pretty rage-inducing to a new player. Just look at the vitriol spewed by the console players over the md5 bug.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey everyone, just wanted to calm everyone down about this. The quests will not reset occupied POIs (bedroll-ed/land claimed/player inside). I'll try to post some more info when the last few details are finalized.

Good to hear. Some news on the safety of secondary bases would also be appreciated.