Progression question from a noob

[A.J.]

I'm a new player and was curious about the progression in this game.. I'm pretty early on in my map. Just did a few quests and explored a bit. Do I just continue doing quests and getting level ups and money? Is the whole game doing quests or later on can you just explore on your own to the different POI locations? Oh and is it required to make a big ol base for when the blood moon happens? I just wanted to make a place to store all my items but not really into making big bases. (if it's required then I'll try to).I'm mainly a solo player and if anyone is knowledgeable on the Darkness Falls mod I am also using that (no clue what it adds exactly. Just heard it's good)

[jynx]

You can turn off the blood moons and even zombies if you want. Building a lot nets you about the same as doing missions. The level of difficulty and loot goes up depending on your level, and what biome you're in. Lowest to highest: forest, desert, arctic, wasteland.
As for bases, plan them out so you can later add defenses (spikes, turrets, blades, etc.) The only parts of the base that are covered by the durability bonus are what you choose in options.
This game is very flexible, and you can always change stuff in options.

[RasaNova]

Only focus on trader jobs if you like them. I personally do like having defined missions and rewards, so they're a big part of my own runs but you are completely free to just explore as much as you want and just sell whatever loot you don't need.

As for a base, I'm not really much of a builder, I'll take over a small-ish house or building, ideally something with built-in defenses like a walled house or cemetery chapel and I'll fortify it. For blood moons, I'll often use a another poi with good visibility and vantage points where I can shoot or throw grenades/molotovs, also something with a wall around it that can be reinforced.

[A.J.]

Originally posted by jynx:

You can turn off the blood moons and even zombies if you want. Building a lot nets you about the same as doing missions. The level of difficulty and loot goes up depending on your level, and what biome you're in. Lowest to highest: forest, desert, arctic, wasteland.
As for bases, plan them out so you can later add defenses (spikes, turrets, blades, etc.) The only parts of the base that are covered by the durability bonus are what you choose in options.
This game is very flexible, and you can always change stuff in options.

Oh I didn't even think to turn off the blood moon. Honestly I might just do that to avoid having to build a fortress. I'm not much of a builder. However, if I was playing with friends that'd definitely be something I'd keep on. Building bases is more fun with friends. (Cause I don't have to do it lol)

Originally posted by RasaNova:

Only focus on trader jobs if you like them. I personally do like having defined missions and rewards, so they're a big part of my own runs but you are completely free to just explore as much as you want and just sell whatever loot you don't need.

As for a base, I'm not really much of a builder, I'll take over a small-ish house or building, ideally something with built-in defenses like a walled house or cemetery chapel and I'll fortify it. For blood moons, I'll often use a another poi with good visibility and vantage points where I can shoot or throw grenades/molotovs, also something with a wall around it that can be reinforced.

Ahh this is also something I didn't even think of doing or that I could do. Just use an already built structure as a base. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Honorable_D]

Upgrading blocks from frames -> wood -> cobble -> concrete gives tons of EXP. Doing Blood Moons is by far the best way to get EXP fast though cause the zombies literally come to you and with a decent setup you can farm the hell outta them. Put on Nerd Glasses, drink Grandpa's Learning Elixir and get the perk book that gives more EXP for kills at night and you could get a bunch of levels per Blood Moon.

You can clear w/e POI you want, you don't need a quest to do it, though it is more efficient to clear POI you have a quest for cause them quest rewards can be really good. Especially if you go into Intellect tree and get the skill that eventually lets you choose 2 quest rewards.

[Tahnval]

Originally posted by A.J.:

I'm a new player and was curious about the progression in this game.. I'm pretty early on in my map. Just did a few quests and explored a bit. Do I just continue doing quests and getting level ups and money? Is the whole game doing quests or later on can you just explore on your own to the different POI locations?

You can do either. Or mix and match both, whatever you feel like doing at the time. All POIs are open to you. Including the hardest ones, that will definitely kill a lower level player. Trader quests are the fastest way to gain money and resources and unlock better items at the trader, but they're not the only option. It's also worth noting that you have different reputation with traders with different names, so if you want to gain reputation with a specific trader you'll have to do jobs for a trader with that name.

Oh and is it required to make a big ol base for when the blood moon happens?

If you have blood moons on, then yes. If you turn them off, then no. It's not so much about the size of the base as it is about its design and materials. Blood moon is completely different to normal play. It's arguably a different game.

It's also extremely common to make two bases if you play with blood moon on. One base as your actual base and a separate base as your horde base, the place where you fight blood moon hordes. That way the horde won't destroy your stuff if the base falls (or if the horde contains mobs that explode and/or have ranged attacks).

I just wanted to make a place to store all my items but not really into making big bases. (if it's required then I'll try to).

It will need to be big enough to fit your crafting tables in as well, not just storage. In the early game, it will also need to be somewhere you can hide at night. The top floor of an existing POI is a popular choice.

I'm mainly a solo player and if anyone is knowledgeable on the Darkness Falls mod I am also using that (no clue what it adds exactly. Just heard it's good)

I've played hundreds of hours of Darkness Falls, in A19 and A20. I haven't played the A21 version yet (it's still in beta). It isn't just a matter of what it adds. It's an overhaul mod and a very thorough one at that. It significantly changes the whole game. It is good, but I wouldn't recommend it for a new player. It's much harder than vanilla and the difficulty scales much higher during a game. You'll end up facing giant enemies that have explosive ranged attacks that set you on fire and which have far more HP than anything in vanilla and which regenerate HP so fast that many weapons are useless against them because they regen to full while you reload. Some of them fly as well. Darkness Falls makes vanilla look like a gentle holiday in a quiet place. It was deliberately made that way. It's not the hardest overhaul mod IMO, but it's way harder than vanilla.

As a rule of thumb, I'd recommend vanilla for a new player to start with. If nothing else, playing vanilla will give you a much better idea of what you'd like to be different about the game.

[Jonnson]

This game is not done, and it may be a long time before it is. The game will be the campaign map, which hasn't changed much in 10 years. I would recommend first and foremost that you avoid playing the campaign map (Navesgane) altogether for now. You will memorize it, and when the game releases, it'll kill immersion. That being said, if you play these random maps alot, and if you like the game you will, then you will get good at fighting. A base will not be needed for fighting bloodmoons once you are practiced, even at the highest settings. However, building a base from scratch and upgrading it, is FAR more experience than anything else, at low levels. As a new player, that experience will give you an edge long enough to master combat and learn the mechanics. More health, stamina, and skill points truly help the new player. Also, the game is designed in a way that you are intended to build a base, expected to. Don't miss out on that mechanic, it is quite entertaining. A lot of the older players dont see this anymore and will give bad advice in regards. Make no mistake, all of them made bases for years. It is fun to build electric fences, turrets, and more. Don't skip it. It is cool once you get into designing your base, and seeing it crumble, seeing your mistakes....getting overrun by zombies, feeling the panic. That IS a major part of the game. As far as missions go, I have to tell you man, avoid them for as long as possible. The missions are OP, and have been for quite some time. You will get the best gear and supplies really fast, and then find yourself bored, having missed 90% of the game content. The missions send you to the same buildings over and over. You will master those buildings, you will know them inside and out. They comprise at best 10% of the game content. Coming out of mission spam will make you so strong that you run through the rest of the game like a god. Don't do it. Explore the maps, enjoy the poi's. They are hard, and therefore fun. There is alot of them. Finding gear is nice. Discovery means something in a game. It makes the game. The treasure chest is an important factor in a game. Its accomplishment. The missions will give you everything very fast, and make moot the rest of the poi's. You will burn through a building and then be disappointed that you found nothing but junk. You will perceive it all as junk because you were granted everything via the mission rewards. Again, this game is unfinished, and if you kill all the content by doing missions you will bore rapidly, because there is no story line or end game yet. So, I'd say do the rank 1 missions, and then no more, until you are boring of the map, THEN start the rest of the missions.

The intended progression is to survive; locate water, build a shelter, hunt food, scavenge supplies, and explore ... then do the missions.

Everyone responding to you did this years ago, and do mission spam now because they cant let the game go. This is a fun azz game if you dont get rushed to what is basically the current "end game." We have 1000 hrs plus gameplay because we all did this, long ago.

[Jonnson]

Also, I'd uninstall darkness falls, and play vanilla until you master it, THEN grab the mod. That mod will add content that will make the game enjoyable again, once you've grown bored with vanilla. Right now, all you are doing is replacing the game content. Extend the life of the game.

[A.J.]

Originally posted by Jonnson:

Also, I'd uninstall darkness falls, and play vanilla until you master it, THEN grab the mod. That mod will add content that will make the game enjoyable again, once you've grown bored with vanilla. Right now, all you are doing is replacing the game content. Extend the life of the game.

Yeah I ended up doing this. When I do mod it it'll be undead legacy. That seems more of what I want.

[Tahnval]

Originally posted by Jonnson:

[..] Make no mistake, all of them made bases for years. It is fun to build electric fences, turrets, and more. Don't skip it. It is cool once you get into designing your base, and seeing it crumble, seeing your mistakes....getting overrun by zombies, feeling the panic. That IS a major part of the game.

To you. Not to everyone.

I have never made a horde base. I have never played with the tower defence minigame turned on. Because it's not what I like. It's what you like. You claim to speak for everyone, but you don't.

There is nothing wrong in different people liking different things in 7DTD.

[A.J.]

Originally posted by Tahnval:

As a rule of thumb, I'd recommend vanilla for a new player to start with. If nothing else, playing vanilla will give you a much better idea of what you'd like to be different about the game.

Yeah. I'm already starting to miss Undead Legacies crafting and the change to inventory. I'll keep playing Vanilla though. Thanks for all the advice in your post. I'm also currently making a big base to make sure I have enough room... in fact I might be making it a little too big lol. I decided to leave blood moon on as well. After all, I've never done one so I should experience it to see if I like it or not.

[Jonnson]

I will point out that guys claiming not to have ever made a base are playing the game on low settings (or were, in able to do so until they got skilled), and have the horde turned off or turned down really low. This does make for an extremely casual experience, and many like that sort of play. But remember, you would be disabling the main theme of the game. You can do that now, but the game will eventually be finished. It all has to do with what you enjoy, but you have no idea what you will enjoy until you do it. I can't recommend disabling major themes of gameplay until you have experienced it, and made your own decision. These people will remove potential 1000s of hrs of fun that they had in order to direct you to what they do now, years later. Removing mechanics out of a game that isnt even finished is simply reducing the game to a skeleton. I believe your inquiry was about progression. To experience everything the game has to offer in its current state, I'd max out all the settings, then tone done as you figure out what you like and dislike. It does have a lot of options. The 2 biggest things I can say is; dont play navesgane, do the missions last.

That being said, I dont build a base anymore either. But I played several hundred hours when I did, and have so much practice now that I can fight the max horde, bare fisted in pajamas. Consider our experience with the game.

[Jonnson]

Originally posted by Tahnval:

Originally posted by Jonnson:

[..] Make no mistake, all of them made bases for years. It is fun to build electric fences, turrets, and more. Don't skip it. It is cool once you get into designing your base, and seeing it crumble, seeing your mistakes....getting overrun by zombies, feeling the panic. That IS a major part of the game.

To you. Not to everyone.

I have never made a horde base. I have never played with the tower defence minigame turned on. Because it's not what I like. It's what you like. You claim to speak for everyone, but you don't.

There is nothing wrong in different people liking different things in 7DTD.

The ridiculous echo chamber does get old. I can only respond by saying, no ♥♥♥♥.

[admos]

Originally posted by Jonnson:

I will point out that guys claiming not to have ever made a base are playing the game on low settings (or were, in able to do so until they got skilled), and have the horde turned off or turned down really low.

I'm playing DF no hordenight, insane difficulty, morning jog speed, with wandering horde size maxed at 60, and minimum time between wandering hordes to 12 hours (iirc).

What happens is every single day, if I'm unlucky, I get a horde or two that ranges from 30 to 60 which is always a step above current gamestage due to it being DF mod.

This is not a casual experience at all. I'd be willing to argue it's even worse than having horde night since these come out of nowhere and at anytime. It tests your game knowledge a lot more than just building a horde base with only one entrance.

Just let people enjoy things, your opinion isn't fact.

[kkitts]

Originally posted by A.J.:

I'm a new player and was curious about the progression in this game.. I'm pretty early on in my map. Just did a few quests and explored a bit. Do I just continue doing quests and getting level ups and money? Is the whole game doing quests or later on can you just explore on your own to the different POI locations? Oh and is it required to make a big ol base for when the blood moon happens? I just wanted to make a place to store all my items but not really into making big bases. (if it's required then I'll try to).I'm mainly a solo player and if anyone is knowledgeable on the Darkness Falls mod I am also using that (no clue what it adds exactly. Just heard it's good)

The game has changed a lot since previous versions. The main mechanic now is that you have to get magazines to unlock buildable stuff, and you do that through either luck (not recommended), or raising specific skills. As such, say goodbye to specific character builds. I prefer sniping with guns, but that won't come up in the trader buildings until you level up machine gunner, lucky looter and better barter skills. So, I level up tools until I get iron tools, then I get a fireaxe and melee until I get an AK47 and sufficient ammo.

That said, by that time, I have to have a forge set up for forged iron, salvage tools for a wrench and a workbench (you can't always get a cheap AK from a trader). Unfortunately, to get the skill books, randomly or at a trader, you have to have sufficient skill to have that type of book occur in loot or traders. So, at first, you need to make your way to a mid-size or large city and play the magazine lottery - go through the residential section and loot every mailbox. Even bookstores don't drop as many magazines as mailboxes in the beginning. I typically go for Str 5 and Pack Mule 5 ASAP, for carrying capacity and axe damage, then 2 in Lucky Looter and Better Barter.

Then find a temp base, clear it out, and put down your land claim block to prevent respawns in the radius.

Start working on Miner 49er and other prerequisite skills (see the magazine tab in the Skills screen). Don't go out at night until you at least have a helmet light (and a helmet to mount it on). Torches don't allow you to see very far at night, and attract more undead than headlamps (which you do NOT want early on, especially large wolves and packs of small dogs, which can quickly kill you without sufficient armor). Once you have the helmet light, prioritize book stores and news stand boxes along the city streets.

Soon enough, you'll have enough magazines for the basics, and you'll be able to customize your character to what you want. You'll need a campfire with a pot to boil water (which you should gather from every toilet, sink, etc), which will be necessary for food, glue (duct tape and mods), etc. You'll need a forge to create necessities like forged iron (iron tools, repair kits, etc). You'll need a workbench to create any vehicle (including bicycles), and for creating weapons, mods and other workstations.

If you stick to the basics, you should have all of the above within day 5, and be able to do trader missions for ammo and money (to buy more ammo). I recommend the buried treasure missions, because you can run a short distance away from your dig site and be able to dodge and kill the inevitable zombies that show up, especially if you put two points into Treasure Hunter to make digging quicker. You might get lucky and be able to buy a level 2 AK47 and some ammo by day 5 as well.

For the first week, save all your ammo for horde night. Learn your bow well, as it will be you primary weapon until you get a fireaxe - once you have an axe, most zombies stagger on one hit, go down on two hits, and die on three hits, some even less than that, if you aim for the head. Don't aim for the legs, TFP decided to mess with the players and have zombies doing pro football moves to dance into hit radius and stun you, and sometimes make them run even when you have all zombies set to walk at all times. Always take a split second longer and aim for the head - it has less HP, and once it pops, the zombie is done (unlike with arms and legs...for some reason, arm and legs being hacked off and losing all a zombie's blood doesn't kill them, they keep coming).

Once you get past horde night, the game stage is high enough that better items will appear in loot, and raising Lucky Looter and Better Barter will raise that chance even higher. At that point, since there's no endgame yet, you can start working on perfecting your character.

And no, you don't have to make a defendable base. There are several multi-story buildings that make great horde night bases, where the zombies can tear stuff up and you don't have to fix anything...just find another building if the zombies make horde night problematic. If I could remember their names, I'd tell you, but there's too many POIs to remember names for.

One last thing: make your main base at least 4 stories tall, or you'll have zombies trying to wreck your stuff while you're out looting. You have to leave the forge on because it takes forever for stuff to melt into the forge, and the campfire too, in the beginning, because it takes so long to boil water and create food items.

[Jonnson]

Originally posted by admos:

Originally posted by Jonnson:

I will point out that guys claiming not to have ever made a base are playing the game on low settings (or were, in able to do so until they got skilled), and have the horde turned off or turned down really low.

I'm playing DF no hordenight, insane difficulty, morning jog speed, with wandering horde size maxed at 60, and minimum time between wandering hordes to 12 hours (iirc).

What happens is every single day, if I'm unlucky, I get a horde or two that ranges from 30 to 60 which is always a step above current gamestage due to it being DF mod.

This is not a casual experience at all. I'd be willing to argue it's even worse than having horde night since these come out of nowhere and at anytime. It tests your game knowledge a lot more than just building a horde base with only one entrance.

Just let people enjoy things, your opinion isn't fact.

Well, ahem,
"I'm playing DF no hordenight"

Apparently, in your case, my opinion was indeed, fact. Thank you very much for supporting my points. Again, I "recommend" that a new player refrain from installing a mod, starting on navesgane, or turning off major game components to satisfy someone elses playstile, until they themselves have experienced what the DEVELOPERS created.