A21 Screamers

[Dautar]

Anyone else notice that screamers now scream and spawn hordes without seeing the player (IE when mining or when turret sledge hits them) unlike in A20?
Really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying

[Hellrazer001]

I watched Crypticfox on youtube stream and by day 25 or so He has had quite a lot, I am on day 85, and have not seen a single screamer ?

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Dautar:

Anyone else notice that screamers now scream and spawn hordes without seeing the player (IE when mining or when turret sledge hits them) unlike in A20?
Really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying

Its only super annoying when clearing a tier 6 POI.
At one point i had like 10+ screamers streaming into the building from the outside with like 200+ zombies in tow.
Was totally nuts. Was a wasteland POI but still. Was more difficult then the POI itself.

[MoistGamer]

Originally posted by Hellrazer001:

I watched Crypticfox on youtube stream and by day 25 or so He has had quite a lot, I am on day 85, and have not seen a single screamer ?

Day 85 and you haven't seen a single screamer? That means:
You dont have workbenches forges chemstations or mixers?
You havent used an auger or a steel pick to mine for more than a few minutes at a time?
You havent done a POI at such a level that requires you to use a firearm repeatedly?
You dont have any dew collectors, or very few?
You havent done a POI that has a screamer embedded in it? I wont reveal to ruin surprises...

Anyway... what? How is that possible? What are you doing in the game?!

[Aestrea]

Screamers will scream regardless if they see player if you make enough heat (such as collapsing a significant amount of terrain), see an active turret firing (robotics and smg/shotgun turrets), or they survive a player type trap hit (excluding spikes)

[Prisoner 76561197992841073]

Originally posted by MoistGamer:

Originally posted by Hellrazer001:

I watched Crypticfox on youtube stream and by day 25 or so He has had quite a lot, I am on day 85, and have not seen a single screamer ?

Day 85 and you haven't seen a single screamer? That means:
You dont have workbenches forges chemstations or mixers?
You havent used an auger or a steel pick to mine for more than a few minutes at a time?
You havent done a POI at such a level that requires you to use a firearm repeatedly?
You dont have any dew collectors, or very few?
You havent done a POI that has a screamer embedded in it? I wont reveal to ruin surprises...

Anyway... what? How is that possible? What are you doing in the game?!

hey man everyone games at different pace, some people operate at lower frequencies

[MoistGamer]

Originally posted by Prigozhin:

Originally posted by MoistGamer:

Day 85 and you haven't seen a single screamer? That means:
You dont have workbenches forges chemstations or mixers?
You havent used an auger or a steel pick to mine for more than a few minutes at a time?
You havent done a POI at such a level that requires you to use a firearm repeatedly?
You dont have any dew collectors, or very few?
You havent done a POI that has a screamer embedded in it? I wont reveal to ruin surprises...

Anyway... what? How is that possible? What are you doing in the game?!

hey man everyone games at different pace, some people operate at lower frequencies

Thats fine, I totally get that... of course. Everyone is entitled to play how they want, no doubt. I think its a fair question either way! Presuming vanilla settings (given that we have no further information from this person) that's... that's 11 day 7s. And given that, one could presume they wouldve naturally built a day 7 base by now. Which definitely means forges and cement mixers at the very least. Which means noise and heat.

To your point though, could well be they have the horde nights off and dont use guns nor workbenches.

But even shooting 100+ rounds of ammo in a row has attracted them in my experience. I dont doubt what the person has said, I always presume people are truthful from the start. I would say that that person's case is a fringe case and isnt representative of the average population. How many people out of 100 who've played to day 81 havent seen a screamer in your estimates?

I'd say one. This guy. Which is a statistical anomaly.

[⚜Смэагол⚜ #Hot24]

For it was like this:
They see me they scream - sometimes instantly or some seconds after
Im mining or opening containers - so they can hear me and start to scream

And it was happening in A20 too

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by MoistGamer:

Originally posted by Prigozhin:

hey man everyone games at different pace, some people operate at lower frequencies

Thats fine, I totally get that... of course. Everyone is entitled to play how they want, no doubt. I think its a fair question either way! Presuming vanilla settings (given that we have no further information from this person) that's... that's 11 day 7s. And given that, one could presume they wouldve naturally built a day 7 base by now. Which definitely means forges and cement mixers at the very least. Which means noise and heat.

To your point though, could well be they have the horde nights off and dont use guns nor workbenches.

But even shooting 100+ rounds of ammo in a row has attracted them in my experience. I dont doubt what the person has said, I always presume people are truthful from the start. I would say that that person's case is a fringe case and isnt representative of the average population. How many people out of 100 who've played to day 81 havent seen a screamer in your estimates?

I'd say one. This guy. Which is a statistical anomaly.

I've played to day 150+ without seeing a screamer besides the ones that spawn in a POI specifically.

It's all about moderation; And your post pretty much tell-tales why you see screamers all the time. ForgeS, Cement mixerS.

If you have just one of each work station and don't have them ALL working 24/7/31/365, You pretty much never see a screamer at your base. Moreover, If you don't condense them all down into a singular chunk but instead spread them over a wider area, you reduce that even further.

As for mining, if you don't insist on mining a whole inventory every time you go out, or on not taking a break to do other things, you pretty much never see them when mining either. Iron is the most notorious for it, as even mining with an iron pick can get you a screamer. But if you do it in moderation, get a little at a time every day, it's not an issue. Mining screamers are further compounded when you're mining enough to feed multiple forgeS, instead of just one.


Your playstyle essentially puts you in contention with screamers constantly because you don't apply any patience towards things; You do things in the Now, you want them in the Now; You don't plan ahead very far- If you did, you wouldn't be running multiple of every work station. (And to be clear, this isn't a slight against you- Everyones playstyle is different.)

I on the other hand plan for the long game from the moment go. I get to making cement early in the forge while I lack the iron and other metals to melt so that later on it's already made and doesn't need to be made at the same time as the concrete mix. Once I can make concrete mix, I've already built my base in a way that minimal amounts of reinforcement get maximal effect; letting me weather the next horde with concrete defenses and then over the next week concrete the whole build. Stuff like that.

The only work station I ever have two of is a forge; By mid-late game, I dedicate one to making cement the other for metals. One campfire, one chem station, one work bench, one cement mixer.

Dew collectors put a bit of a wrench in the works now that they produce heat, but just by moving them to their own chunk and managing my activity as I have in the past, I haven't had any screamers so far.


As for firing a gun, sure; If you just spray and pray and unload a hundred rounds in a minute you're probably going to see screamers. Me, I eliminate priority targets with careful shots (regardless of weapon type), and then melee the remainder down to conserve ammo and avoid activity.

Just about the only time I ever see a screamer anymore in the last 5~ alphas is when I take an impact driver to a large POI and just wrench literally everything top to bottom without any pauses or waiting- And go figure; No moderation, screamers abound.

[atom heart]

It may sound like typical old man methodology but I roster days for production. At those times, I set my forges, workbenches and chem stations to burn a set amount of fuel sufficient to process their job for the day. I then pack up a good lunch & drinks and go harass a town far away & for long enough to loot the target rescource. At the same time, my stations have finished, hopefully the heat map has cooled enough before Ireturn to base with the setting sun and that is that.

Screamers are only a hazard in Infestation quests when I am usually low on first aid items because I suck at combat but each punch in the teeth is a lesson learnt. If so I rival Einstein by now. They scream when they cannot see me so they probably hear me recycling the contents of the POI.

Of crouse you can 'tactically withdraw' via a side door/roof and pretend that never happened.

[ElDudorino]

It always boggles my mind when people are posting like screamers are unavoidable and meanwhile in 500+ hours I had to go out of my way to get one single screamer at my base. Only ever seen the one at my base, and 2-3 that visited PoIs I was shooting up.

Now in a21 you get the ones that appear as part of a PoI but they've run up to me without screaming so maybe they've lost their voices.

[MoistGamer]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

I've played to day 150+ without seeing a screamer besides the ones that spawn in a POI specifically.

I cant imagine the circumstances that would lead to that, but again, I believe you as I did the person before. Probably just a different playstyle.

Originally posted by Shurenai:

It's all about moderation; And your post pretty much tell-tales why you see screamers all the time. ForgeS, Cement mixerS.

Agreed

Originally posted by Shurenai:

If you have just one of each work station and don't have them ALL working 24/7/31/365, You pretty much never see a screamer at your base. Moreover, If you don't condense them all down into a singular chunk but instead spread them over a wider area, you reduce that even further.

Agreed

Originally posted by Shurenai:

As for mining, if you don't insist on mining a whole inventory every time you go out, or on not taking a break to do other things, you pretty much never see them when mining either. Iron is the most notorious for it, as even mining with an iron pick can get you a screamer. But if you do it in moderation, get a little at a time every day, it's not an issue. Mining screamers are further compounded when you're mining enough to feed multiple forgeS, instead of just one.

Agreed

Originally posted by Shurenai:

You don't plan ahead very far- If you did, you wouldn't be running multiple of every work station. (And to be clear, this isn't a slight against you- Everyones playstyle is different.)

Hard Disagree. I plan ahead very far in the future. I stock things up with multiple stations for a reason. Lots of water, lots of concrete mix, lots of food, lots of ammo. Get prepared early so I can explore later without worrying. I don't think planning ahead and the # of stations you have correlate very well. My perspective is that running multiple and creating a stockpile of mats and ammo is "planning ahead" better than what... running one station of each for some reason? Your crafting times must amount to hours in queue times. There's no reason to slow yourself down like that, it has nothing to do with planning. Forges are basically free, why gimp yourself? The screamers are a non threat if you ***plan ahead****
What future are we planning for anyway, again? You build a day 7 base and it basically lasts for eternity once upgraded to steel.

Originally posted by Shurenai:

over the next week concrete the whole build.

Disagree again... planning ahead for me doesnt mean taking a week to concrete my base. It takes a day with my method. Leaving me 6 days to loot and do missions whilst you are concreting your base. I think I plan ahead better, this is subjective.

Originally posted by Shurenai:

The only work station I ever have two of is a forge; By mid-late game, I dedicate one to making cement the other for metals. One campfire, one chem station, one work bench, one cement mixer.

Fair enough, difference in playstyle, I'll try it sometime.

Originally posted by Shurenai:

Dew collectors put a bit of a wrench in the works now that they produce heat, but just by moving them to their own chunk and managing my activity as I have in the past, I haven't had any screamers so far.

I mean... delibertly moving the dew collectors to another chunk completely negates the entire reason they put a heatmap on it anyway... But, agreed on the wrench in the works regardless.

Originally posted by Shurenai:

As for firing a gun, sure; If you just spray and pray and unload a hundred rounds in a minute you're probably going to see screamers. Me, I eliminate priority targets with careful shots (regardless of weapon type) and then melee the remainder down to conserve ammo and avoid activity.

Fair enough. Perhaps our settings are different. Have you done the T6 Infested Nav jail yet? I'd love to watch a video of you making careful shots. In fact, I'd love to watch a video of ANYONE on Vanilla A21, Feral sense on, run daytime, doing that POI infested mode, without attracting a screamer. Irradiated screamers at that. Ferals and irradiated zeds in that poi on sprint are insane. You could try locking yourself behind a jail door or in a tower but those doors snap fast...

Originally posted by Shurenai:

Just about the only time I ever see a screamer anymore in the last 5~ alphas is when I take an impact driver to a large POI and just wrench literally everything top to bottom without any pauses or waiting- And go figure; No moderation, screamers abound.

Based on what you've said above about your fairly... stretched out playstyle, I could see this and believe you.

The thing about all of this is, I feel like people are presuming I'm bothered by seeing screamers. I'm not, not remotely. With 8 workbenches, 4 cement mixers, 6 chem stations, 4 forges, and 6 dew-hickies, I basically see a screamer every 5 IRL minutes. It doesnt bother me, not remotely. You're gifted so many SMG turrets (and I crank out so much ammo), that each SMG turret has 900 HP rounds in it and I have 8 turrets surrounding my square-ish house. 1 in each cardinal direction, 1 at each diagonal point facing outward.

Extremely rarely do I go outside with the sledgehammer and swat them away from the outer wall. Made of steel btw. Because I Have 4 forges and plan ahead for that. And in the mines? I absolutely mine 24,000 lead in one go. You put the junk turret at the bottom, you put the drone out that tells you before a screamer comes into the mine-hole, one shot and the non-existent threat is gone like a gnat swatted against the wall. Then, it's back to mining. because why go do something else just to avoid another non-threat. Even before the drone existed it was a non issue. The screamer for some reason announces its presence with the occasional weird "rehhhh" noise so you know its coming. Dunno why they made it do that, but they made it too easy.

Edit: Random comment (and serious) I noticed you mentioned day 150 and that's pretty cool. I'm not sure if its because of my playstyle but I generally exhaust all the content this game has (since A17 at least) by day... 49... 56 maybe? Gyro, full airport, unbeatable home base, unbeatable horde base (I dont cheese btw I just make a giant steel cube walls 4 blocks thick with 45-50 blade traps and dozens of turrets)... but point is what else are ye doing? Perhaps some roleplay?

Originally posted by ElDudorino:

It always boggles my mind when people are posting like screamers are unavoidable and meanwhile in 500+ hours I had to go out of my way to get one single screamer at my base.

What can I say. Today I learned that people play this game vastly differently than I do. I'm glad it caters to so many different playstyles and that people can enjoy it with dozens of creative approaches.

[JimmyIowa]

I get the occasional screamer because I have 8 water collectors due to bad beer and melee habit. I think maybe if I played a sober build I would never see a screamer.

Anyway, quite contrary to OP, the screamers that spawn around my base in A21 mostly don't even scream for a while after me being easily in LOS. I go up and punch them in them in the face with knuckles and they don't scream. Only the ones that show up when I mine metals scream and summon a mob the instant they see me. Not sure what the difference is.

[MoistGamer]

Originally posted by JimmyIowa:

Oddly, quite contrary to OP, the screamers that spawn around my base in A21 mostly don't even scream for a while after me being easily in LOS. I go up and punch them in them in the face with knuckles and they don't scream. Only the ones that show up when I mine metals scream and summon a mob the instant they see me. Not sure what the difference is.

I'm noticing this as well AND noticing some cases where they have no LOS to me whatsoever (fully opaque steel walls) and they'll just randomly scream instead of wailing on the door.

[thestile]

On the contrary, I've also seen them not scream and let me kill them without making a peep.

I don't think this (the screaming without being seen) is really a new thing though. I used to have screamers outside my base in A20 or before, scream before they saw me. I think that they detect you sometimes, even if they don't see you. And it is pretty annoying.

[Hellrazer001]

Originally posted by MoistGamer:

Originally posted by Hellrazer001:

I watched Crypticfox on youtube stream and by day 25 or so He has had quite a lot, I am on day 85, and have not seen a single screamer ?

Day 85 and you haven't seen a single screamer? That means:
You dont have workbenches forges chemstations or mixers?
You havent used an auger or a steel pick to mine for more than a few minutes at a time?
You havent done a POI at such a level that requires you to use a firearm repeatedly?
You dont have any dew collectors, or very few?
You havent done a POI that has a screamer embedded in it? I wont reveal to ruin surprises...

Anyway... what? How is that possible? What are you doing in the game?!

I have all them things, only one could be I have not found a POI with one in it.