Frostclaws are nonsense

[regiz72]

It seems like the devs highest priority is to add things that are just annoying and make for bad gameplay, like just sitting around doing nothing while storms are active. Another one of those things are frostclaws. Their spawn rate is way too much in the snow, there's no couterplay to their stupid boulders and they also prioritize throwing boulders at animal carcasses... I was driving around in the snow forever to find some animals to kill and frostclaws showed up almost every single to hurl their fxing boulders at the animal carcasses... Animals carcasses get instantly destroyed by the boulders, so I just ended up wasting time because of this BS.

Also, the boulders that the frostclaws throw during hordes nights are totally ridiculous. They show up, instantly thrown a boulder and there's no time to stop them. The only thing I could do was walk back into my base when boulders were thrown. The boulders managed to phase through multiple walls and splash inside my base. The first one destroyed ALL my switches and relays. This BS SHOULD NOT be happening!!! I made it to day 100+ on V1.0 using a similar base without any swithes or relays being destroyed.

1. Make it so they ***DON'T*** throw boulders at animal carcasses.
2. Their boulders shouldn't phase through MULTIPLE walls and splash a large area inside your base. The collider for the boulder should be a significant size and they really shouldn't be passing through most block shapes.
3. They should drop their boulder and not throw it if you hit them during the boulder throwing animation. Hitting them at all should also delay them from trying to throw a boulder for 10 seconds.
4. Reduce their spawn rate by half in the snow and up the animal spawns. There shouldn't be 10 frostclaws for every animal that spawns in the snow.
5. Make new walking / running animations for them. They move around exactly like soldier zombies.

 

[Lax]

What happens if you rush him immediately and shank him with a blade? How easy or hard is it to kill it with a sneak attack from a bow?

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

I can already see TFP reducing the spawn of the Frostclaws and spitters (people complaining on steam) and people will then cry that is now even more annoying to do the biome badges.

I don´t want them reduced. It´s too hard? Take your time and try again a few days later. Don´t make us run around forever desperatly to find those buggers.

 

[4sheetzngeegles]

1. Make it so they ***DON'T*** throw boulders at animal carcasses.

That may be the equivalent, of basic zombies eating a carcass. I have not had it happen yet,
I hunt them before they hunt me, also take a look around, kill all errant walkers in the area,
then it can be closer to a one to one strafe fight.

2. Their boulders shouldn't phase through MULTIPLE walls and splash a large area inside your base. The collider for the boulder should be a significant size and they really shouldn't be passing through most block shapes.

I don't think it is the actual phasing, It is basically a concussive area effect,
the boulder you see phasing, is the gib animation similar to when chopping
wood or a stone. I don't know if those can be regulated by the colliders it is
more of an animation spawned within the aoe.

3. They should drop their boulder and not throw it if you hit them during the boulder throwing animation. Hitting them at all should also delay them from trying to throw a boulder for 10 seconds.

This is repeatedly possible, but it is a short sweetspot for the timing. It is when the boulder is
over their head and they rear back, but it has to be in the face. That is how I fight them and the
PlagueSpitters.

What happens if you rush him immediately and shank him with a blade? How easy or hard is it to kill it with a sneak attack from a bow?

Unless you have some resistance, they hit hard. If you want to melee sneak, the best helpers are added sneak on armor,
Sneak sprint, and a decent tier weapon. The bow is a good counter, and a killer. I did with primitive lvl 2 with approx 8,
I learned afterward, came back with wooden bow stone arrows, level 6 the draw string, preacher gloves lvl 1 and it took
between 4 and 6 each time, that is including the first sneak hit. The key is patience and timing your shots or it will head to
double digits.

 

[regiz72]

I can already see TFP reducing the spawn of the Frostclaws and spitters (people complaining on steam) and people will then cry that is now even more annoying to do the biome badges.

I don´t want them reduced. It´s too hard? Take your time and try again a few days later. Don´t make us run around forever desperatly to find those buggers.

There's like 10 frostclaws for every animal in the snow. Even at half their population, the badge would be easy to complete. They can reduce the numbers of frostclaws required to kill for the badge slightly. Despite all that, the snow biome badge is TEMPORARY. Finding leather, meat and animal fat is an ongoing task for the rest of the bloody game. You'd rather have a temporary task be easier over that??? Think for a second.

 

[Morloc]

There's like 10 frostclaws for every animal in the snow. Even at half their population, the badge would be easy to complete. They can reduce the numbers of frostclaws required to kill for the badge slightly. Despite all that, the snow biome badge is TEMPORARY. Finding leather, meat and animal fat is an ongoing task

I'm going to agree with this.
I do acknowledge that some people play differently, and may have to repeat unlocking the keyed biomes over and over, and that'd be annoying, but I'd wager the norm is to complete the challenges in a couple (RL) days, and proceed to the normal glory of the game.
I feel that TFP will reduce the spawns dramatically, and will probably reduce the challenge requirements a bit too.

The new creatures are well-done. I'd want to showcase them a bit too!

 

[Vaeliorin]

there's no couterplay to their stupid boulders

You can literally just walk toward them without sprinting (or sprint if you want), and the boulder will never hit you. They might be the least threatening enemy in the game, if you're aware of them, and they're not really hard to see (unlike the Plague Spitter.)

For horde bases, build a low ceiling out of solid blocks, and the boulder should collide with the ceiling (unless it's bugged, but seems to have worked for me.)

That said, the spawn rates of frost claws and plague spitters does seem much too high.

 

[Roland]

Back before sleepers were added there were a lot more wilderness zombies roaming around. You would always have to take a bit of time clearing the surrounding area of spawns before doing whatever activity you wanted to do.

All I’ve heard since sleepers were added is that the world feels empty and please bring more roaming zombies back into the world.

They’ve done so and now it again requires us to clear areas we wish to play in before we get to business.

 

[theFlu]

All I’ve heard since sleepers were added is that the world feels empty and please bring more roaming zombies back into the world.

They’ve done so and now it again requires us to clear areas we wish to play in before we get to business.

Ye, props where due: I've started taking a lap around a quest POI to clear anything before starting. Granted, I'm mostly after the XP, but at least there are things to kill now.
I think the basic forest felt a little empty still, but for the "first few hours biome" that's probably ok. After that, even burnt forest wilderness has some decent hostiles now, didn't feel too bad.

 

[Rotor]

Back before sleepers were added there were a lot more wilderness zombies roaming around. You would always have to take a bit of time clearing the surrounding area of spawns before doing whatever activity you wanted to do.

All I’ve heard since sleepers were added is that the world feels empty and please bring more roaming zombies back into the world.

They’ve done so and now it again requires us to clear areas we wish to play in before we get to business.

I havent had an issue. Well, because i havent ventured in the snow yet. However, if and when I am able to substitue Jeti for something else, I will welcome the multitude.

 

[Vaeliorin]

Back before sleepers were added there were a lot more wilderness zombies roaming around. You would always have to take a bit of time clearing the surrounding area of spawns before doing whatever activity you wanted to do.

All I’ve heard since sleepers were added is that the world feels empty and please bring more roaming zombies back into the world.

They’ve done so and now it again requires us to clear areas we wish to play in before we get to business.

Just to be clear, I was referring to the ratio of frost claws/spitters to normal zombies. While I don't really want more biome zombies (yes, I'm unusual in my wants for the game) I'm not complaining about the general number of zombies.

 

[Morloc]

Aye, the quantity of roamers is ok (bring even more on!), but too many of the NewTwo.

 

[Javabean867]

Just got to the snow biome, i felt i had a hard time finding the frost claws, for the kill 15 lol. But yeah, no issues with taking them out before they throw a boulder. i just sprint up to it, and take its head off with a sledgehammer. I'm sure they die just as quickly with stealthy shots to the head.

You just need to be more aware of what's nearby when you go hunting. but honestly in the winter biome there are so many bear that i'm swimming in meat without trying.

 

[BFT2020]

When they get ready to throw, I usually run at an angle towards them. They have missed every time and I was able to get engaged with them to prevent them from throwing more of them.

First time I came across them though, I did the same technique I did with the plague spitters - run straight at them. While that works with the spitters, the frost claws can still toss the boulder right at their feet and damage you.

 

[Kazgrel]

Frostclaws are a lot less annoying than the plague spitters. When you hear/see them pick up a rock, either run perpendicular to them or approach at an angle. I did this in heavy armor and never got hit by a rock.

Denying them line of sight is more important than it was for cop vomit when it comes to base design.

I'd be fine with lowered spawns so long as the challenge amount is brought down with it

 

[vom]

bad gameplay, like just sitting around doing nothing while storms are active.

I play on feral sense so there's plenty to do.

there's no couterplay to their stupid boulders

Have you tried using a gun?

 

[regiz72]

You can literally just walk toward them without sprinting (or sprint if you want), and the boulder will never hit you. They might be the least threatening enemy in the game, if you're aware of them, and they're not really hard to see (unlike the Plague Spitter.)

For horde bases, build a low ceiling out of solid blocks, and the boulder should collide with the ceiling (unless it's bugged, but seems to have worked for me.)

That said, the spawn rates of frost claws and plague spitters does seem much too high.

For my fighting position on horde night, I was using a 2x3 cage made out of bars with an extra layer of bars criss crossed on the outside. No cop spit has ever gotten through. I was literally walking 5-6 blocks back from the front of the cage into my base when the frostclaws threw boulders. They still damaged me and destroyed all my switches and turrets. That's total BS.

 

[Grandpa Minion]

I can already see TFP reducing the spawn of the Frostclaws and spitters (people complaining on steam) and people will then cry that is now even more annoying to do the biome badges.

I don´t want them reduced. It´s too hard? Take your time and try again a few days later. Don´t make us run around forever desperatly to find those buggers.

What amuses me is that the very individuals who are voicing complaints about them are also the same ones who have been persistently urging TFP to include bandits. it is quite ironic.

 

[Riamus]

For my fighting position on horde night, I was using a 2x3 cage made out of bars with an extra layer of bars criss crossed on the outside. No cop spit has ever gotten through. I was literally walking 5-6 blocks back from the front of the cage into my base when the frostclaws threw boulders. They still damaged me and destroyed all my switches and turrets. That's total BS.

They intentionally made it so those can pass through areas like bars, from what faatal said. It just means updating your base design. That is actually a good thing, though. If you don't need to change your base after they add new zombies, they did it wrong.

 

[theFlu]

made out of bars with an extra layer of bars criss crossed on the outside. No cop spit has ever gotten through.

I'll take you at your word, but cop vomit is a projectile, it'll pass through actual bars without any issue. Bars only block "melee". Scaf ladders block ranged as well, if hit in the bars.