RWG / Spawn Point Thought

[zztong]

Right now, RWG places spawn points on a map.

Has anyone considered instead of using map spawn points, a character starts some short distance from a Tier 1 Wilderness POI? That, or maybe we come up with some POI specification for a Tier 0 POI with a "spawnpoint" Tag? The spec might list certain things to find there, no more than 4 zombies, etc.

If you wanted, a player a could perhaps find the starting gear there, instead of starting with it in their inventory.

 

[SylenThunder]

A similar feature was actually tested for a bit. RWG would create the spawn points to be within X distance of a trader POI, or just near that end of the city on the road. In the end, it was better for the overall experience to continue in a similar fashion to how it is now. I think the distance to the trader may be clamped some, so that you aren't 1-2km away when you spawn in.

Also may just be coincidence, but on the last several maps I had made, most of them spawned me in within 50 meters of a T1 or T2 POI. 

 

[zztong]

Also may just be coincidence, but on the last several maps I had made, most of them spawned me in within 50 meters of a T1 or T2 POI.

I noticed that too, but then I spent yesterday generating a dozen worlds or to so to test things, and a few times I started near something more substantial, with the highlight being starting next to Red Mesa. That had me thinking, an experienced player might go there immediately, and more power to them. A player new to the game might go there immediately and that's not really a good idea.

That's when the idea hit me.

And, as I was writing it up, it struck me knowing a certain kind of POI might be right there, you might get more options for the starting quest.

 

[Riamus]

I think the big issue with that idea is on larger maps without towns spread evenly around.  You could end up next to a POI in the corner of a map without a town for 3km+.  Granted, the spawn points we have now could potentially still be too far from a trader but they are likely to fix that again.  My biggest problem with spawn points isn't really where they are but how far apart they are when playing MP.  Too often when you start a new game with someone, you can be very far away from one another and if you want to play together, you have to spend a lot of time the first day just trying to get to each other.  I think there should be an option to spawn an invited player at the nearest spawn point to the person who invited them (an option, so you can also spawn them in randomly if you aren't playing co-op).

 

[Syphon583]

A similar feature was actually tested for a bit. RWG would create the spawn points to be within X distance of a trader POI, or just near that end of the city on the road. In the end, it was better for the overall experience to continue in a similar fashion to how it is now. I think the distance to the trader may be clamped some, so that you aren't 1-2km away when you spawn in.

Also may just be coincidence, but on the last several maps I had made, most of them spawned me in within 50 meters of a T1 or T2 POI. 

I typically am not one to quit a game based on bad starting location, but on one of my first A21 starts, I spawned > 2k away from a trader. I couldn't do it. I think part of the issue is that (unless something is changed) they send you to the closest forest biome trader, not just the closest trader. I understand the logic in that, but it just doesn't work well when we are now allowed to adjust the biome percentages. The particular map I had generated had less forest than I've done in the past, so I basically did it to myself.

I think setting up minimum spawn distances will help a lot. Another possibility that could work in conjunction with a minimum spawn distance is including desert traders in the list of possible locations to send the player.