Thanks everyone for your comments. Just in case I've confused anyone, here's what I'm getting at.
Screamers:
I don't mind Screamers being the risk factor when it comes to generating too much heat, but I feel like the current versions are far too sensitive to heat. It makes doing anything that functions off the heat system a headache because it takes so little heat to summon a Screamer, but there are so many things that generate heat. Even 3 dew collectors by themselves will generate enough to summon a Screamer. This is the main reason why I said that a player can't do anything because everything is unsafe.
Zombie Spawn Rule Expansion:
I don't mind that the zombie spawning rule for the wasteland was expanded to the other biomes. It makes building a base out in the wilderness away from the town pointless now, which sucks, but other than that it's not an issue.
Digging/Swimming Zombies:
In all zombies movies there is always a safe haven. The thing that usually messes up the safety of that haven is that someone forgets to do something, or overlooks something, and the zombies get in. If I'm building my base deep underground, high in the air, or in the water, it's because I'm trying to make it as safe a haven as it can be. However, on horde night, that's when nowhere should be safe. That's when zombies should be able to swim and dig in order to accomplish said aesthetic so a player can't just hide in their base on horde night with no risk whatsoever.
Zombie Super Hearing In Storms:
It makes no sense and isn't necessary, just like Screamers and cop zombies having x-ray vision. Why is there a feral sense option when it seems like zombies are slowly getting like abilities naturally? There's already a storm and it already does damage to the player if they go out in it. That should be the penalty. Why is there also a penalty for the player who follows the rules and finds shelter to wait out the storm?
*Screamers
I think you're vastly over-stating how often screamers appear(Even when babysitting 3-4+ stations in use, I only get them sometime), and if you aren't, I have recommendations: Keep your dew collectors a short hike from your base/crafters/dropchests.
You don't have to keep your workstations operating at all times, but if you are starting up a lot of crafting: once you get your fires and forges cooking, go on a little side project- hit a poi, chop some trees, go exploring for new targets, or find an airdrop. We can imagine those screamers came, looked around, didn't see anything and left.
*Zomb Spawns
The zombie spawning mechanic has never been an issue to me while building bases- maybe it could be in harder biomes, but by then you should be(And are expected to be) armed appropriately to handle the threat.
*Water/Digging
Zombies should probably move slower in water, but I fully support them swimming and coming after you. If someone wants to do a water build or an underground build because they don't want to engage vs the horde, why not simply disable hordes in the settings?
*Storm behavior
Particularly in videogames, I'm willing to suspend disbelief in favor of things being what I consider to be cool. -And I think it's pretty freakin' cool that the storms whip the zombies into a frenzy. If it's problematic, storm settings let you make them rarer, disable their effects, and I think you can turn off storms entirely.
If you need to feel safer still, next suggestion is to turn down zombie difficulty.
I don't understand this 'I need to feel super-safe in the undead apocalypse' mentality - if it were easy, 99.9% of the population wouldn't be trying to eat your face right now. That said with the tools already given to us you can already get pretty ■■■■ safe.. If it's just your crafting base, set up some traps- a few well-placed turrets will handle most problems.
