Why are antibiotics so hard to find?

[Cog]

Ambulances, hospitals, pack-a-pill factories, I'm not surprised the zombie apocalypse happened because it seems the most common medical drug in the real world is as rare as hen's teeth in the 7 days to die universe, but you'll still find them in random trash, indeed you're seemingly more likely to find them in the trash than anywhere else.

Like I get that it's a game mechanic and it wouldn't mean much if the pills were easy to find but at least spawn them in sensible places, if I raid an entire pill factory and I don't find ANY PILLS in an entire PILL FACTORY then why is it called that?

Under level 6 there's no point even trying, just kill yourself, save yourself the frustration and just get it over and done with, and over level 6 it's still kinda worth it, sure you lose some experience points but the game's not about levelling up anymore it's about finding books so save yourself the stamina debuff and get back to book hunting.

So in effect the mechanic is defunct anyway, maybe there could have been a crafting recipe based on using flour to make bread and that bread to make penicillin which would be a trade off with using that bread to make a nice sandwich. But as-is the mechanic isn't engaging, like the idea is if someone gets infected they're motivated to go looking for antibiotics which encourages them to take risks they otherwise wouldn't (like raiding a high level POI) to increases their chances of finding those pills.

But if the pills don't seem to spawn in those locations more often than anywhere else then there's no point to go looking for them, because you can't, you just have too keep looting everywhere and hope they turn up or just say ♥♥♥♥ it and kill yourself.

[carl.wear]

Chop up tree stumps to get honey. That works as an antibiotic.

[JCD]

Think of it this way, when the apocalypse hit everyone needed antibiotics so the logical places for them to be would be looted and empty.
As Carl said tree stumps can give honey which works for 5% against infection or you need a lot if its higher.
It can be a challenge if you can't find any for a while, I've been at 50% infected before and managed to fully recover.
The early trader missions usually give antibiotics as a reward after a number of them so just keep at them.

[Miserable Northern B@st@rd]

Originally posted by JCD:

Think of it this way, when the apocalypse hit everyone needed antibiotics so the logical places for them to be would be looted and empty.
As Carl said tree stumps can give honey which works for 5% against infection or you need a lot if its higher.
It can be a challenge if you can't find any for a while, I've been at 50% infected before and managed to fully recover.
The early trader missions usually give antibiotics as a reward after a number of them so just keep at them.

Your opinion is rendered pointless when you take airdrops into account. If it is exactly how you say with with people looting med areas first, then realistically the airdrops would prioritise meds and food first before anything else, but you do not see them in there, and if so not in early game when they are needed the most.

Any country in the world that falls on dire times, is sent food and medical aid to prevent starvation and disease. This is the number one priority in a situation like this.

It is the same old story that people just do not question the devs changes and defend them without even thinking. It more often than not makes matters worse for everyone, not better.

[Miserable Northern B@st@rd]

But if the pills don't seem to spawn in those locations more often than anywhere else then there's no point to go looking for them, because you can't, you just have too keep looting everywhere and hope they turn up or just say ♥♥♥♥ it and kill yourself. [/quote]

This is the problem that overrides every argument. If it is far easier just to kill yourself than to play on to mitigate a problem, then there is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

Who would want to carry on with that life if you get so far with the infection that your stamina is ruined and you cannot do a thing without getting tired every few moments.

Raise and aim any weapon, out of stamina. Draw a bow, out of stamina. Mine for a few seconds, out of stamina. Run a few paces, out of stamina. Use a wrench, out of stamina, and so on.

So you cannot fight or run in this state if there is more than 2 zombies, so that even puts looting POI's out of the question in most cases. Even if looting or mining, you spend more time waiting to regen stamina than you do on anything else. With time being the essence, especially in early game the logical choice is to just kill yourself.

The armour system is now broken because i have level 5 military helmet, level 6 military leg armour, level 3 iron boots, level 3 iron armour and level 2 steel arm armour yet i can get infected, bleeding or laceration, abrasion, concussion and possible sprain or broken bone within 1-2 hits from a zombie. This definitely needs a rework, just like the stamina system now.

I just hope the devs are aware and are planning on fixing this, and do not put in some cheap countermeasure to prevent us from killing ourselves, to force us into dealing with it in this way.

[Realty13]

I have the same problem in early stages with tree stumps and honey. It seems like I always get snake bit and infected early on the first day and have to drop everything to go tree stump pounding the rest of the day.

[MiSFiT77]

As mentioned above. From day 1 prioritise tree stumps over trees when gathering wood. If you are travelling from A to B, keep an eye out of tree stumps (and nests). Chop every tree stump you pass until you have at least one jar of honey. This will cancel out exactly one infection, if used immediately. If you focus stumps (day 1) and the rng gods treat you fairly you should get yourself 2 maybe 3 jars of honey. You are now ahead of the game in terms of infection.

Nests are for eggs and feathers. Feathers equals arrows. Arrows equals avoiding melee and avoiding infection. Nests also provide eggs which you can eat raw. Early game eating raw eggs while on the move is a great way of fighting off hunger.

To those trying to rationalise the availability of antibiotics (or anything else) via some logical back story. Stop it. Its a game, it doesn't make sense and it never will.

Yeh I know you need some loose rationale for immersion, but when it becomes micro analysis then it strays into the territory of not understanding what games are.

[Miserable Northern B@st@rd]

Originally posted by MiSFiT77:

As mentioned above. From day 1 prioritise tree stumps over trees when gathering wood. If you are travelling from A to B, keep an eye out of tree stumps (and nests). Chop every tree stump you pass until you have at least one jar of honey. This will cancel out exactly one infection, if used immediately. If you focus stumps (day 1) and the rng gods treat you fairly you should get yourself 2 maybe 3 jars of honey. You are now ahead of the game in terms of infection.

Nests are for eggs and feathers. Feathers equals arrows. Arrows equals avoiding melee and avoiding infection. Nests also provide eggs which you can eat raw. Early game eating raw eggs while on the move is a great way of fighting off hunger.

To those trying to rationalise the availability of antibiotics (or anything else) via some logical back story. Stop it. Its a game, it doesn't make sense and it never will.

Yeh I know you need some loose rationale for immersion, but when it becomes micro analysis then it strays into the territory of not understanding what games are.

Exactly the point i made about defending the devs choices at all costs without even questioning it!

[onanonehand8]

Forgive my soap box. Finding antibiotics when infected is frustrating, and can be time consuming. But hard? Hard is explaining Old English in Sumerian.

Don't forget this is 7 Days to DIE . It's right there in the title. Originally 7 days was the time till death, once infected, if no cure was used.

That is fundamentally what this game is. A countdown to death. At some point, it is almost a certainty that the zombie grim reaper will find your character and have his way.

[slaideri]

Originally posted by Miserable Northern B@st@rd:

realistically the airdrops would prioritise meds and food first before anything else

What is the rationale behind the stuff found in airdrops anyway? How does useless garbage help survivors? Why do they waste plane fuel just to litter environment with boxes of essentially nothing of value?

Yet another detail that makes no sense.

[MiSFiT77]

Originally posted by Miserable Northern B@st@rd:

Originally posted by MiSFiT77:

As mentioned above. From day 1 prioritise tree stumps over trees when gathering wood. If you are travelling from A to B, keep an eye out of tree stumps (and nests). Chop every tree stump you pass until you have at least one jar of honey. This will cancel out exactly one infection, if used immediately. If you focus stumps (day 1) and the rng gods treat you fairly you should get yourself 2 maybe 3 jars of honey. You are now ahead of the game in terms of infection.

Nests are for eggs and feathers. Feathers equals arrows. Arrows equals avoiding melee and avoiding infection. Nests also provide eggs which you can eat raw. Early game eating raw eggs while on the move is a great way of fighting off hunger.

To those trying to rationalise the availability of antibiotics (or anything else) via some logical back story. Stop it. Its a game, it doesn't make sense and it never will.

Yeh I know you need some loose rationale for immersion, but when it becomes micro analysis then it strays into the territory of not understanding what games are.

Exactly the point i made about defending the devs choices at all costs without even questioning it!

Not exactly. The OP was about antibiotics being hard to find. And yes they are. But the actual solution to that is tree stumps, which are easy to find from day 1, with very little effort. So the solution to the problem is already in the game.

All the rest, trying to rationalise why there should/shouldn't be XYZ in certain locations is kinda irrelevant.

If you don't want to get infected, take steps to avoid it. Avoid melee if you aren't good at it. Always carry bandages. Always craft cloth armour asap. And always, always, always chop tree stumps for honey as a precautionary measure.

If people are walking past tree stumps and ignoring them, then who's fault is it when they get infected and then have to carry out a mad search for honey after the fact ? You can't counter poor preparation with "there should be antibiotics at location X because I desperately need them now"

[Dracon]

Originally posted by carl.wear:

Chop up tree stumps to get honey. That works as an antibiotic.

You need skillbook for that.

[onanonehand8]

Originally posted by Dracon:

Originally posted by carl.wear:

Chop up tree stumps to get honey. That works as an antibiotic.

You need skillbook for that.

Getting honey from trees, requires a skill book. Honey has ~20% chance from stumps.

[zombygunner]

its hard because its a survival game..thats my guess and a very small percentage has any issues with the game because of the diff sliders.

[LokitheWeaver]

Originally posted by onanonehand8:

Forgive my soap box. Finding antibiotics when infected is frustrating, and can be time consuming. But hard? Hard is explaining Old English in Sumerian.

Don't forget this is 7 Days to DIE . It's right there in the title. Originally 7 days was the time till death, once infected, if no cure was used.

That is fundamentally what this game is. A countdown to death. At some point, it is almost a certainty that the zombie grim reaper will find your character and have his way.

This : )

Yes boys and girls, the game's title actually made sense at one time. It was harsh, but a game loop was 20-30 hours. And very early on the Fun Pimps added broken glass to deal with infection . . . just eat one handful and the infection was cured <LOL>

For those who want to be logical, the idea that honey or antibiotics cures a zombie infection, is problematic. Why so many infected zombies running around if a spoonful of honey would have cured them? Just one more inconsistency in the 7d2d "story."

I can accept the honey / antibiotic mechanic since it does create (one of the few) actual in game reasons to do something and there is a role-playing benefit to doing it vs. eating glass and magically respawning.

[LokitheWeaver]

Originally posted by slaideri:

Originally posted by Miserable Northern B@st@rd:

realistically the airdrops would prioritise meds and food first before anything else

What is the rationale behind the stuff found in airdrops anyway? How does useless garbage help survivors? Why do they waste plane fuel just to litter environment with boxes of essentially nothing of value?

Yet another detail that makes no sense.

Once upon a time, there were specific air drops that were different each day, to support the "tower defense" option. Those air drops provided building materials and gear / medicine so a player could focus on building their tower and defend it. Horde over = end of game.

Zombies also had specific loot drops, so you could supplement what you got from air drops with targeted zombie kills. An interesting mechanic as it gave players the option to risk using valuable resources (ammo, consumables) in the hopes of getting more resources than were spent.

The tower defense option became the main game loop. Air drops got nerfed. Zombie drops got nerfed. Air drops were retained since they were easy xml code adjustments and were dropped a significant distance from the player, forcing them to go out and risk exploring (i.e. wasting resources fighting zombies from an unprotected position.)