Why do dead ends exist?

[Naalith]

If you haven't seen yet, there are literally some areas of the map designated as "dead ends" where it says there is no way to exit them. I was unlocking a highway earlier and after unlocking it, I saw that the gate to the next area was blue. I thought this was weird, since I wasn't supposed to be going to another area.

So I drive through it, and I see that all 3 of the zones I could go to are "dead ends." They have no exits. You literally just have to abandon the run in order to leave them. I start Googling to see if there is a solution, but there is no secret way out or anything.

I go "well ♥♥♥♥, guess I'll portal out at this highway zone I'm already in then." But guess what, once you have gone through the gate to the next zone, you can't reopen the last map. You are FORCED to continue. So I was basically forced to continue into another zone and abandon the run, losing all my materials, a few of my tier 3 gear things that are annoying as hell to make like the Magnetic Hammer, and some pieces of my car fall off. How is this good game design in any way? This is my only complaint after like 20 hours in the game but this is like, the most feel bad moment I've had in a game in a long time.

[[GAS] JDUBS]

It's pretty easy to look at the map and plan your run.

[ShockedHearts]

simply dont end your run on a dead end, they are labelled as no exits, are dimmed out. generally you should always end your route on where you planned your final destination to be (aka a spot ensured to have an exit)

choosing to stray off the path is the players fault.

[Naalith]

Originally posted by GAS JDUBS:

It's pretty easy to look at the map and plan your run.

Sure, except I never saw the "Dead End" stuff on the map because they were in the junctions AFTER the route I had planned for. And I did a full loot run and saw the blue light, so I figured I was just 1 junction short of where I thought it was.

Not really my fault that you can drive into those areas, then it doesn't give you the option to unpause and go back to your current junction when you realize everywhere else is a Dead End and what that actually means.

[Quill]

Originally posted by Naalith:

Originally posted by GAS JDUBS:

It's pretty easy to look at the map and plan your run.

Sure, except I never saw the "Dead End" stuff on the map because they were in the junctions AFTER the route I had planned for. And I did a full loot run and saw the blue light, so I figured I was just 1 junction short of where I thought it was.

Not really my fault that you can drive into those areas, then it doesn't give you the option to unpause and go back to your current junction when you realize everywhere else is a Dead End and what that actually means.

It's pretty obvious. It's says Dead End by where the kLIM requirement shows up and at the bottom it literally says DO NOT ENTER

[MMMiracles]

it's all well and good to say "just don't enter them" but it begs the question why they exist if their only purpose is to be a noob trap that'll get ignored after the first time you go into one?

[matrixmod]

I tried it as well. What I learned from it is , just don’t go to dead end and never did xD. Sure there is a reason it is called “dead end”.

[Ramstar]

No one has answered his Q, and it’s a good point albeit I’ve never experienced it can see why I’d be scratching my head.

Why do dead ends exist? What is the gameplay value add? Point of games is to progress so why give you an option to put you in a map that you can’t progress in?

Those that say “you put yourself in that map “…yea kinda but what’s the point of that game design where it’s structured that way considering most of you are saying you avoid it anyway.

[Naalith]

Originally posted by Quill:

Originally posted by Naalith:

Sure, except I never saw the "Dead End" stuff on the map because they were in the junctions AFTER the route I had planned for. And I did a full loot run and saw the blue light, so I figured I was just 1 junction short of where I thought it was.

Not really my fault that you can drive into those areas, then it doesn't give you the option to unpause and go back to your current junction when you realize everywhere else is a Dead End and what that actually means.

It's pretty obvious. It's says Dead End by where the kLIM requirement shows up and at the bottom it literally says DO NOT ENTER

Yeah except you can't see that Dead End DO NOT ENTER thing unless you are either planning your route, but in my case these zones were after my route, or when you're in the screen between zones, in which case you cannot go back and are forced to go to one of those zones then abandon. And sure now I know not to go there, but what even is the purpose of literal boobytrap maps with no gameplay function?

[croggle]

I saw the "Do Not Enter" bit and thought it was just gonna be a bunch of modifier like swift storms and stuff like how other developers like to put cheeky things like "don't try this difficulty" on their hardest difficulties but nope it genuinely means don't enter and I ended up loosing like 7 junctions worth of loot.

I'm part mad at myself for messing around and finding out, but at the same time most other games usually use "Do Not Enter" as more of a scare tactic for more challenging parts of a game so can you really blame me for trying?

[HerbertWess]

hahah, yes, this happened to me on early runs, i honestly thought having collected every anchor on the way i was set for any area, then surprise! this is a dead end, gotta abandon....

On hindsight, now i read the map very, very thoroughly :D

On a more serious note, there may be a use for this. One of the workshop perks requires you scan a remnant ghost. As far as i know this can only be achieved if you return to the junction where you failed (it marks it with a little tombstone in map even). So having these dead ends sorta makes sense. Because just thinking i must scan my ghost while meteors fall from the sky in the deep zone is a hard pass.

Bear with me though, this is just a theory that i must try myself, i don't know if the remnant ghost counts when you simply abandon a trip, but since it marks it with the tombstone my guess would be it is likely. If anyone has tested this i'd love to know. Otherwise i'll edit this in a couple hours and just confirm it (finished the Well yesterday, so i am mostly collecting and testing stuff now).

[Zeropoint]

Dead ends exist as a product of possible exit junction randomization caused by an understandable wish to not let a player just revisit the same location multiple times. The game designates a portion of junctions as "exitable". As such some routes terminate without providing a way out.

I see a bunch of people are quick to blame you for being underprepared. And while i do agree this is a thing that's easy to mitigate with player actions, it is shouldn't be an issue in the first place. The problem is solvable by a simple ui confirmation popup stating you won't be able to get back from such a junction and letting you back out of a decision like this. And a ui button to cancel travel altogether, since as OP showed it's possible to get multiple dead ends as possible exits.
//i wouldn't expect a fix though, single player indie games are notoriously poorly maintained unless are a massive success

To avoid this kind of thing in future: open the inventory ui and navigate over to the "route map" tab. It shows what kind of junctions are available if you leave through a gate

[Prof.SplendorFaction]

Originally posted by heavy sledgehammer enthusiast:

it's all well and good to say "just don't enter them" but it begs the question why they exist if their only purpose is to be a noob trap that'll get ignored after the first time you go into one?

While they could be taken as a "noob trap" and I agree they should make it a bit more bold text or something to make the dead end stand out more they exist so that it is a challenge to plan a route instead of a endless mindless slog of click and go on repeat for hours with no forethought

[animal_PLANET]

I just got to dead end. Abandoned my trip and went back to garage. Went to map to plan another trip and same zone was no longer marked as Dead End?

[Insolent]

Originally posted by animal_PLANET:

I just got to dead end. Abandoned my trip and went back to garage. Went to map to plan another trip and same zone was no longer marked as Dead End?

Because the map is randomized each time you return to the garage.

[animal_PLANET]

Originally posted by Insolent:

Originally posted by animal_PLANET:

I just got to dead end. Abandoned my trip and went back to garage. Went to map to plan another trip and same zone was no longer marked as Dead End?

Because the map is randomized each time you return to the garage.

The map stays the same. Its the zones that are randomized.

However, if I go there again it will connect to another junction for a way out. Or still be a dead end but this time you can activate a jump point with enough stabilizer go go juice?