Basebuilding, waste of time or useful ?

[WarMage]

Hey guys,

I'd like to launch this topic and see what the majority think. I've been dabbing into the subject lately testing things and so far I'm not impressed.

It's alright that the Zs can break things in order to get to the player but it makes little sense to see 3 of them destroy a log wall as if it was mere twigs loosely held together.

Also, most people tend to create floating platform on the first floor or above. Obviously, it's great because the Zs can't get there if you destroy the stairs and add sheet ropes. On the downside, it doesn't make a lick of sense that everything is floating.

Now, I don't play with runners yet but as far as bases are concerned, selecting a good location with a low Zs pop and covering all the ground floor windows and doors with curtains is enough not to attract anything. Boarding up the windows with planks is like a bonus that isn't necessary at all. Zs never raid my bases and I never bring them back there either. The only thing that caused a mass attack was an in-game gunshot event that brought 30-40 of them down on me while I was cooking in my base.

On top of that, you don't want to fight in or near your base because afterward you need to clean up all the corpses which takes forever. It's also a pain to remove all the bloodstains.

Also, everything that the player build or move (like a garbage can) suddenly start attracting Zs which may come to smash the thing then stand around for a while and eventually wander away. Meaning, building or displacing anything is worst than if you didn't do it as it attract Zs attention even if you make no sounds or haven't been seen.

Actually, I wouldn't even mind that the Z comes to my base if they weren't destroying all my crates. That is the annoying part. Leave my crates alone and come eat me instead FFS.

So far, base building has been a waste of time with very little usefulness out of the available options.

[Drizzt]

not gonna read yet - coz i haven't started base building yet (beyond barricading all the windows on the fire station on my first longish playthrough way back when i started a few months ago) - and i don't want to read any spoilers ;-)

but i'll be back :-)

[WarMage]

Originally posted by Drizzt:

not gonna read yet...

That's fair all things considered.

Originally posted by Drizzt:

...but i'll be back :-)

I'll be waiting with my shotgun in hands, Mr Cyberdyne model 101 ;)

[hektor]

I think it does need some balance. Base building, resource collection, skills reading, zombie fighting even on low, all at the same time..... It is quite a handful.

[WarMage]

The main reason why I'm starting this topic is because I like to build bases. I would love nothing more than seeing a reason to invest hours into making a log wall (or a high metal fence) around my camp to keep the Zs away. That would look awesome and feel great.

Unfortunately, it doesn't feel great when the Zs randomly come around, almost everyday, to tear it down. It takes you a very long time and a lot of work (especially in the case of log walls) to set it all up and it gets destroyed while you sleep !

That's just terrible. It doesn't push players to interact with the system at all. The system itself doesn't bring any upsides. Actually, all the opposite, it attracts Zs to your base more. It's all wrong.

I'm guessing that the very few items that player even bother to build are rain collectors.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by WarMage:

Originally posted by Drizzt:

not gonna read yet...

That's fair all things considered.

Originally posted by Drizzt:

...but i'll be back :-)

I'll be waiting with my shotgun in hands, Mr Cyberdyne model 101 ;)

you edited your post before i could reply lol

i figured your "shotgun model 101" was that reference in response to my reference - but i can understand you wanting to be sure we were on the same page ;-)

now if you'll excuse me, i have some dude over here who needs to be relieved of his clothes, his boots, and his motorcycle :-)

[WarMage]

Hahaha oh man, nice. So nice. Hahahaa.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by WarMage:

Hahaha oh man, nice. So nice. Hahahaa.

:-)

[Burning PeeHole]

Waste of time in terms of not dying. Not a waste of time if you like building things and making places more of a home.

You will spend lots of time doing nothing late game, so might as well make it look like a castle so the view is nice.

[Grishnerf]

i also think its a waste of time to completely build a base out of wood.
too much effort.

best spots for bases are in citys with HighFences all around like car mechanic with
parking lot and metal fence around it and only one entrance.
pretty much with zero effort completely safe once cleared out of zeds.

[Tasolth]

I'm starting to think that turning off zombie damage on player constructions is necessary, at least for sandbox. It takes too much work to build stuff, just to have it ripped down arbitrarily.

[Sotanaht]

Originally posted by Grishnerf:

i also think its a waste of time to completely build a base out of wood.
too much effort.

best spots for bases are in citys with HighFences all around like car mechanic with
parking lot and metal fence around it and only one entrance.
pretty much with zero effort completely safe once cleared out of zeds.

I usually go for existing high fences as well. Keep in mind that the zombies can see through the metal fences though, makes a pretty big difference having wood fences instead. I guess you could just build walls behind the metal fences, the zombies can't get through the fence to destroy the wall, and they can't see through the wall to want to chase after you.

[WarMage]

Or you build the high metal fence far enough it leaves a buffer between it and your base from which the zombies can't see you. I planned to wall the entire parking lot of the gas station west of Muldraugh. It would keep Zs away while letting me live peacefully in the gas station building.

But since Zs would randomly come around and start destroying the fence with no provocation whatsoever.... it would just be an exercise in futility.

Also, specifically for metal fences, the mats are limited. Once it has been destroyed often enough, I wouldn't even be able to repair it.

The way the building mechanic currently is, it also affect other parts of the gameplay like looting. There's little to no point looting the materials necessary to build metal fences if they're that useless. Meaning that a lot of potential cool and rare loot become useless garbage that would be a waste to pick up.

It's really sad.

I'm not even saying Zs shouldn't be able to destroy it but I'd like a more passive attitude from them to avoid forcing the players to babysit their constructions everyday. The occurrences of them destroying random structures should be 1 per two weeks or so making it a job to patrol the perimeter once in a while to fix things up. That would add to gameplay instead of making it a daily chore. On the opposite side, if you make too much noise or get seen and the Zs can't path around then yes, they would start getting more aggressive toward structures. Then again, I would bump the HP count of structures significantly and gives the Zs a force multiplicator relative to the amount of Zs present. Making structure, especially very solid ones like log wall or metal ones, feels like actual solid things while still being at risk versus hordes.

Again, all of what I've just said are merely tweaks of existing mechanics. It wouldn't take that much effort to make the necessary time investment from base building worthwhile for players.

[hektor]

I wish there was a hotkey to turn up or down zombie population. I like base building but even on low pop it can be way difficult. Like start with zero, base build then hot key them in.

[Grishnerf]

its like a paradox.
you struggle to build up the base first and then when finished you dont need it anymore,
cause you cleared most zed's in your surroundings while building the base.

there are some "towerdefense" "basedefense" mods, never tried them, but they spawn periodically in waves zombies around your base.

[G54B]

Feels kinda unbalanced and not worth it, and the things you brought up make me think even less of doing it; course changing sandbox settings may help in some ways.