PC V2.0 Storms Brewing Dev Diary

Has been a normal thing in the game for a long time now. Since Alpha 21 at least, and probably longer.
I don't think the zombie dire wolf existed in A21. Do you speak of the old dire wolf perhaps?
Anyhow, I don't remember ever seeing the new one in the forest before but maybe I got lucky?
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While I do use meds to brute force my way through a storm it isn't the way I would want to play for the entire game. I think there is a great opportunity for some new mods to add to outfits that can reduce or eliminate the damage. It's just like how you progress to a point where hunger and thirst are never an issue any longer. Eating canned food and drinking water are fine for awhile but nobody wants to play the whole game that way. Here's hoping they will add stuff like that.
The more I think about it, the more I think it's a missed opportunity to not use the biome smoothies for that purpose, because they're useless once you get the badge and that would give them a new purpose.
 
I don't think the zombie dire wolf existed in A21. Do you speak of the old dire wolf perhaps?
Anyhow, I don't remember ever seeing the new one in the forest before but maybe I got lucky?
The new one is just an updated version of the old one. AFAIK, they didn't change the chance of it spawning after updating it to the new version of the dire wolf. But yes, dire wolves (originally just wolves with red eyes) have appeared at night in the forest for a long time. They are uncommon, but are possible. Also, there are a few POI that can spawn one, so if you run past a POI and trigger a spawn, you could end up with one just because of that.
 
The new ones seem a lot stronger than the old ones. I remember an A21 playthrough where I got a wolf horde showing up relatively early game, and I managed to sneak around and pick off 3 or 4 Dire wolves and another 3 or 4 regular wolves (I needed the meat) but I don't think I'd want to try it with the new version. They seem like they have 3-4 times as much health, and the one I've fought (I mostly skipped 1.0) broke my leg as soon as it touched me.
 
The new ones seem a lot stronger than the old ones. I remember an A21 playthrough where I got a wolf horde showing up relatively early game, and I managed to sneak around and pick off 3 or 4 Dire wolves and another 3 or 4 regular wolves (I needed the meat) but I don't think I'd want to try it with the new version. They seem like they have 3-4 times as much health, and the one I've fought (I mostly skipped 1.0) broke my leg as soon as it touched me.
Yes, they have been changed more than just the image. They can jump higher and have more health and do more damage.
 
Yes, they have been changed more than just the image. They can jump higher and have more health and do more damage.
They also have an insane crit chance. I've never been hit in melee by one without getting an instant crit. Last time I was in full Raider heavy armour and it broke my leg with a single hit. Since then I have avoided melee with dire wolves...
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While I do use meds to brute force my way through a storm it isn't the way I would want to play for the entire game. I think there is a great opportunity for some new mods to add to outfits that can reduce or eliminate the damage. It's just like how you progress to a point where hunger and thirst are never an issue any longer. Eating canned food and drinking water are fine for awhile but nobody wants to play the whole game that way. Here's hoping they will add stuff like that.
Meds? Go for the rampage challenge. Perk into siphoning strikes and then try and survive an entire storm in the open just by killing things fast enough to offset the health loss.
 
I haven't gone head to head with one in a long time, so not sure how high the crit chance is for them. I don't remember getting a broken bone from them before, but I'm normally just shooting them. But if they have a high crit, that isn't a bad thing. They wouldn't be the first enemy with a high crit chance. And making enemies more difficult is a good thing.
 
While I do use meds to brute force my way through a storm it isn't the way I would want to play for the entire game. I think there is a great opportunity for some new mods to add to outfits that can reduce or eliminate the damage. It's just like how you progress to a point where hunger and thirst are never an issue any longer. Eating canned food and drinking water are fine for awhile but nobody wants to play the whole game that way. Here's hoping they will add stuff like that.
Hopefully if they readd tempature or biome effects they effect you more then just damage like cold makes you hungry faster, heat makes you thirsty faster etc
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Since then I have avoided melee with dire wolves...
Bears are even worst. One snuck up on me in the wasteland when I was trying to build a bunker (funny how a 800 pound bear is so sneaky) and he hit me once with capped mining armor and he broke My arm and leg.

All my Lever action did was tickle him. Same for Direwolfs but that's why I love them both. Mostly bears because later game you can kill them but early and mid. You ether use traps or you avoid them.
 
Yeah, I was hyped for the storms but it doesn't really add anything to the game for me.
Maybe I've missed it, but since there doesn't seem to be a cool way to sustain storms (apart from being indoors), like a special mod, outfit or even consumable like the smoothies (although I hear you @Roland with the medkit brute forcing), I feel I'm just trapped for a few minutes and waste time staring at the walls.

Yah, it sounds like bad design. There's no gameplay to it. In fact, it suppresses actual gameplay.
 
Yah, it sounds like bad design. There's no gameplay to it. In fact, it suppresses actual gameplay.
In games like this I like weather for the take shelter moments and slows things down as you hunker down and try to survive.

Like the old days with temperature randomly the forest gets really hot so you just head inside and cool off or you keep working and have a bottle of water.

Now these storms are deadly and just kinda slow you down. Especially since you can't tell if it's happening in another biome
 
A general observation: the plague spitters - i mean the clue is in the name - eat through honey at a rate i've never seen before. I've put the fortitude mastery in place to have no need for a cure for 2 hours pretty much just so i can move freely through the desert without that level of attrition.

The mummy is not much of an issue if you get the drop on them, but its inevitable the flies will bite you often with just general passage through the region as they are a numerous mob.

Think it might need a tweak, just from my experience.
 
I haven't gone head to head with one in a long time, so not sure how high the crit chance is for them. I don't remember getting a broken bone from them before, but I'm normally just shooting them. But if they have a high crit, that isn't a bad thing. They wouldn't be the first enemy with a high crit chance. And making enemies more difficult is a good thing.
Oh I agree. It's a ton of undead devil dog after all. It should hurt.

I was just surprised as hell because I didn't think one hit crits were even possible, obviously the diminishing crit resistance mechanic has changed since A20 or whenever it was I knew how it worked. Moreso when the Q6 raider I was wearing gets 45 bonus crit resistance on top of the very respectable base crit resistance of Q6 heavy armour. Up to that point nothing had been able to more than scratch me in that armour, so I got cocky...
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A general observation: the plague spitters - i mean the clue is in the name - eat through honey at a rate i've never seen before. I've put the fortitude mastery in place to have no need for a cure for 2 hours pretty much just so i can move freely through the desert without that level of attrition.

The mummy is not much of an issue if you get the drop on them, but its inevitable the flies will bite you often with just general passage through the region as they are a numerous mob.

Think it might need a tweak, just from my experience.

I really like them. Scary enemies are good. They do also have their kryptonite, too...spears. The penetrating strikes book is a wonder for them as your thrust kills the swarm and goes through it to impale the spitter behind.

The fact they can hit you on a vehicle is just something to adapt to. The flying bike dismount and skewer a spitter in the head is becoming a staple of desert travel.

The fact that Frostclaws can get hit by their own rocks is also genius. It's hard to make it happen but it's hilarious when you pull it off.
 
A general observation: the plague spitters - i mean the clue is in the name - eat through honey at a rate i've never seen before. I've put the fortitude mastery in place to have no need for a cure for 2 hours pretty much just so i can move freely through the desert without that level of attrition.

The mummy is not much of an issue if you get the drop on them, but its inevitable the flies will bite you often with just general passage through the region as they are a numerous mob.

Think it might need a tweak, just from my experience.

Perhaps. I might be far enough along that I can one-shot the bugs with a power attack. They're a bit easier than a vulture to take out. Once you do, the plague spitter will sometimes charge. The bugs can do serious damage if you ignore them, so make them a priority. If you don't get them kind of quick he might be able to replace them.
 
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@faatal, how did your 500% storm setting run go?

I was in the middle of a job when one rolled in the burnt forest. I thought, cool, I'll get indoors and finish the job for it's duration. Well little that I knew I was pretty much done with the job. It was the Huenink (sorry if misspelled) family farm.
The one where you climb up the silo to jump over through the roof in the barn for the final fight.

Well the roof is pretty messed up so no storm protection there. Had to draw the fight down below, then back up in the loft to loot in parts as to not take damage from the storm above.
Then had to wait what seemed like forever in place to wait out the storm!
I think that 500% storm tic would be a hair pulling curse fest! No thanks! 😡🤬🙎
I dropped it to 300% as the forest was too gloomy, but I have since reduced forest storms and normal rain a bit too, so it will not be as bad. I have not played all week as I was trying to get work done. I tend to stop playing whenever I have a new idea I want to implement because I lose interest in the old way.
 
The zombies in 7 Days to Die are so not a threat, that I guess we need storms now?
I'd rather have a few new zombies (not glowing clones), and the old weather/smell system back.

Hunker down and survive the storm?
Where is the fun in that?

Ever since they added traders, the developers have neglected zombies.
 
I dropped it to 300% as the forest was too gloomy, but I have since reduced forest storms and normal rain a bit too, so it will not be as bad. I have not played all week as I was trying to get work done. I tend to stop playing whenever I have a new idea I want to implement because I lose interest in the old way.
Speaking of forest storms, is the design dead set on them having no mechanical impact? I completely understand not having a damaging storm in the starter area, but a minor annoyance would both encourage building or using roofed shelters and get starting players used to the mechanic before they hit the harder biomes.

Something like increasing food consumption if you're exposed to the storm...
 
Speaking of forest storms, is the design dead set on them having no mechanical impact? I completely understand not having a damaging storm in the starter area, but a minor annoyance would both encourage building or using roofed shelters and get starting players used to the mechanic before they hit the harder biomes.

Something like increasing food consumption if you're exposed to the storm...
Think the solution is a much much lower amount of damage, like a trickle bleed, but a much much reduced range of vision; I mean like semi blinded 5m or so. This would keep the "get indoors" logic but mean you don't end up time locked to a location. Just musing on it.
 
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