Kelvin is still absolutely useless

[Mordiicai]

Saw they had an update and decided to play the game again. I mostly like the game but jesus f'ing christ is kelvin the most useless thing I think I've ever seen in a game. His gather range is so small I just kill him at the start of every playthrough because he just annoys the piss outta me. I can literally cut down a dozen trees, make sure the logs are fairly close to my build spot, tell him to go get the logs (while they're in sight), and he just shrugs like there's nothing there. Instead of a raft how about making kelvin not an absolute waste of space in the game. Just damn remove the character, it would be better than having him. That alone makes me want to stop playing because he doesn't do the one ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing he's supposed to be there for. So dumb, wtf devs.

Edit: I skimmed over some of the patch notes. Some helpful changes to kelvin but also and I simply just copy pasted this. "Kelvin now has blood and wetness support on all his outfits instead of just the default". I seem to remember the way kelvin works being a problem throughout the early access and the launch. A year later and instead of fixing that they just.....fix the blood and "wetness". How utterly disappointing.

[Blaz1kenn]

make some big log holders in middle of forest, go there, tell kelvin to fill, profit.

[Ozzys_Dad]

If it annoys you that much then stop playing. He's useful for me just using the maintain base command. He will fill holders, reset traps repair damage, etc. He needs to be reminded sometimes but that's part of his story line with the traumatic brain injury. Kill him and remove his body with the console command then you never have to worry about him again.

[Mordiicai]

Originally posted by Blaz1kenn:

make some big log holders in middle of forest, go there, tell kelvin to fill, profit.

The point of telling kelvin to bring me logs is so I don't have to run long distances to gather them and bring them to where I actually am using them. Otherwise there is literally zero difference between doing what you suggest and just cutting them down and taking them back myself. If the option exists in the game to have kelvin do your gathering then it should work properly, otherwise just take it out.

[Mordiicai]

Originally posted by Ozzys_Dad:

If it annoys you that much then stop playing. He's useful for me just using the maintain base command. He will fill holders, reset traps repair damage, etc. He needs to be reminded sometimes but that's part of his story line with the traumatic brain injury. Kill him and remove his body with the console command then you never have to worry about him again.

Making excuses for poor game design and telling someone to stop playing isn't an answer. How about holding the devs accountable for the crap mechanic that doesn't work properly.

[onanonehand8]

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

Originally posted by Ozzys_Dad:

If it annoys you that much then stop playing. He's useful for me just using the maintain base command. He will fill holders, reset traps repair damage, etc. He needs to be reminded sometimes but that's part of his story line with the traumatic brain injury. Kill him and remove his body with the console command then you never have to worry about him again.

Making excuses for poor game design and telling someone to stop playing isn't an answer. How about holding the devs accountable for the crap mechanic that doesn't work properly.

Ok, how?

[Ozzys_Dad]

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

Originally posted by Ozzys_Dad:

If it annoys you that much then stop playing. He's useful for me just using the maintain base command. He will fill holders, reset traps repair damage, etc. He needs to be reminded sometimes but that's part of his story line with the traumatic brain injury. Kill him and remove his body with the console command then you never have to worry about him again.

Making excuses for poor game design and telling someone to stop playing isn't an answer. How about holding the devs accountable for the crap mechanic that doesn't work properly.

You are the one that said you were so frustrated you wanted to quit. I simply stated if it annoys you that much then you should. Kelvin obviously has a brain injury, so he is probably behaving the way the devs intended.

[Mordiicai]

When I say his gathering radius is so small I mean very small. The logs I want him to bring to me are literally in sight maybe 70 feet away (in game terms by my best guess). If I can see them and they're so close but the characters program just for some reason can't gather that then why the hell is that even an option for me to command him to do?

[onanonehand8]

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

When I say his gathering radius is so small I mean very small. The logs I want him to bring to me are literally in sight maybe 70 feet away (in game terms by my best guess). If I can see them and they're so close but the characters program just for some reason can't gather that then why the hell is that even an option for me to command him to do?

Have Kelvin follow you, set up storage racks, he will fill them.

[Mordiicai]

Originally posted by Ozzys_Dad:

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

Making excuses for poor game design and telling someone to stop playing isn't an answer. How about holding the devs accountable for the crap mechanic that doesn't work properly.

You are the one that said you were so frustrated you wanted to quit. I simply stated if it annoys you that much then you should. Kelvin obviously has a brain injury, so he is probably behaving the way the devs intended.

I can never understand why people have this brain dead logic of "oh just quit then". You like the game, I also said I mostly like the game. Is it a bad thing I want to see the game improve? Where the hell is your logic by telling people to quit a game that you enjoy? Isn't it more prudent to want people to play and enjoy the game instead? Instead of making the community smaller wouldn't you want to build it up and make it better?

[Mordiicai]

Originally posted by onanonehand8:

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

When I say his gathering radius is so small I mean very small. The logs I want him to bring to me are literally in sight maybe 70 feet away (in game terms by my best guess). If I can see them and they're so close but the characters program just for some reason can't gather that then why the hell is that even an option for me to command him to do?

Have Kelvin follow you, set up storage racks, he will fill them.

Again that doesn't fix the issue. By having him fill racks that are away from the build spot that completely removes the purpose of having him gather them for me. I might as well just leave them on the ground and go gather them myself. It would be the same thing.

[onanonehand8]

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

Originally posted by onanonehand8:

Have Kelvin follow you, set up storage racks, he will fill them.

Again that doesn't fix the issue. By having him fill racks that are away from the build spot that completely removes the purpose of having him gather them for me. I might as well just leave them on the ground and go gather them myself. It would be the same thing.

Yep, you might as well.

[Ozzys_Dad]

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

Originally posted by Ozzys_Dad:

You are the one that said you were so frustrated you wanted to quit. I simply stated if it annoys you that much then you should. Kelvin obviously has a brain injury, so he is probably behaving the way the devs intended.

I can never understand why people have this brain dead logic of "oh just quit then". You like the game, I also said I mostly like the game. Is it a bad thing I want to see the game improve? Where the hell is your logic by telling people to quit a game that you enjoy? Isn't it more prudent to want people to play and enjoy the game instead? Instead of making the community smaller wouldn't you want to build it up and make it better?

Once again, you are the one so frustrated you are thinking about quitting. If something frustrated me that much I wouldn't do it anymore. You still don't seem to understand Kelvin isn't supposed to be smart. He may have been before the crash but he isn't now. That's sort of how TBI works. I know from real life experience.

[Mordiicai]

Originally posted by Ozzys_Dad:

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

I can never understand why people have this brain dead logic of "oh just quit then". You like the game, I also said I mostly like the game. Is it a bad thing I want to see the game improve? Where the hell is your logic by telling people to quit a game that you enjoy? Isn't it more prudent to want people to play and enjoy the game instead? Instead of making the community smaller wouldn't you want to build it up and make it better?

Once again, you are the one so frustrated you are thinking about quitting. If something frustrated me that much I wouldn't do it anymore. You still don't seem to understand Kelvin isn't supposed to be smart. He may have been before the crash but his isn't now. That's sort of how TBI works. I know from real life experience.

That is a ridiculous notion. It's a video game with incredibly unrealistic, grotesque creatures. You can't have both hyper realism and super fantastical elements at the same time. It doesn't mesh well. It's also, is say it with me...frustrating. Pick one. You should want better for the games you enjoy.

[Ozzys_Dad]

Originally posted by Mordiicai:

Originally posted by Ozzys_Dad:

Once again, you are the one so frustrated you are thinking about quitting. If something frustrated me that much I wouldn't do it anymore. You still don't seem to understand Kelvin isn't supposed to be smart. He may have been before the crash but his isn't now. That's sort of how TBI works. I know from real life experience.

That is a ridiculous notion. It's a video game with incredibly unrealistic, grotesque creatures. You can't have both hyper realism and super fantastical elements at the same time. It doesn't mesh well. It's also, is say it with me...frustrating. Pick one. You should want better for the games you enjoy.

It doesn't frustrate me though. Why can't they have both? It is a game after all and it is the game they wanted to make. Why make him have a brain injury in the first place? Because that's what they wanted to do.

[distantlight]

Yeah, I really hate Kelvin. He's the worst part of the game. Usually I just play the game without him. I love the game but every time I try to utilize Kelvin for anything, it just ends in frustration.

Usually what happens is he ends up walking so far to gather materials, it takes him an eternity to accomplish anything. Or if I try to set things up for my own convenience, he gets stuck on part of the building and just stays there walking in place indefinitely.

The "maintain base" command never seems to work how I'd expect. For example, Kelvin will start filling the log sled with stones or rocks (when I don't need any). Or he'll just not do anything. Or he just lies down to relax. I had a bunch of easy-to-finish structures that only required sticks to finish, but does he ever finish them? Nope!

Sometimes I leave the base and come back hours later and he's gathered a lot of sticks, which is great, but he's rarely helpful for anything else. Maybe if I understood how his AI worked, I could optimize things for him, but it just seems so random. Specifically the "maintain base" command needs some serious work.