how does the heat system actually work now?

[Lizara]

what actually generates heat now? I know that running workstations, shooting guns and mining/chopping trees generates heat, but I've been doing a T4 POI only using my machete just to come down with the loot at end to my surprise being greeted by 3 irradiated screamers. I thought I understood the heat system but I guess not.
I also didn't use satchel charges or other explosives. all I did was salvage a few things and pick up cement.

[CatPerson]

My understanding is that it's a (usually pretty fast) build up to a 25% marker point for a chunk - not 100% like in the past - and screamers then have a rng *chance* to spawn 2, close to the heat-proudcing chunk. The "heat" then resets to 0, there's a cooldown period before heat can start risiing in that chunk again. Repeat. You could get 5 cycles where they don't spawn or 5 cycles in a row where they do, anything between. So in this case you probably just hit the RNG "yes".

And almost EVERYTHING, every action the player can do, creates at least a marginal amount of "heat." Including killing zombies/animals, opening drawers, and so on. Generally speaking, outside of workstation blocks, "heat"="player noise." A lot of things are a small amount vs. the big things like workstations/campfires/gunfire that could get you to that 25% marker in mere seconds without too much effort, but sometimes it adds up I guess.

You can open up the data/config/sounds.xml and search heat_map_strength to see what I mean.

[Lizara]

I will have to look into it, but it sounds very silly if I can just attract the wrath of zeus upon my ass just by looting any medium sized POI

[CatPerson]

To be sure, I'd highly doubt one would reach that 25% heat point just by opening a bunch of drawers or knocking down a bunch of curtains. Or it'd have to be hundreds of drawers opened in 30 seconds, heh. Generally it's going to be a combo of other stuff and liny stuff like that might be what pushes over the edge occasionally, I'd guess. So killing Z's even with a machette, opening or hitting anything on the way down, maybe it added up.

Even the Trader announcement generates a little "heat".

[Lizara]

I mean i literally took my motorcycle to the POI and did the quest objective. if it's not looted before I do it I obviously loot it twice, but even then it hit me with 3 screamers on the first run. doesn't really make sense to me

[CatPerson]

Publicado originalmente por Lizara:

I mean i literally took my motorcycle to the POI and did the quest objective. if it's not looted before I do it I obviously loot it twice, but even then it hit me with 3 screamers on the first run. doesn't really make sense to me

I suppose it would depend on how you define "looting a POI". Most POI's are probably going to be one or three "chunks" so everything you do is concentrated into them.

I tried a test game and I semi-easily got to the 25% in a T4 (a highschool) by opening things, looting a lot of bookselves in a room, whacking wastebaskets/doors, and using a ratchet to dismantle all the computers and other things in it. I say semi-easily, because if you were doing it slowly, heat created by any action does disappate over time, so if you are slow about doing all of that, it might go up and down enough to avoid the 25%. EDIT: so you hit the 25% heat at some point, and got the lucky random lottery of screamers spawning in, instead of not spawning.

You can look at all this yourself by hitting F1/type DM, exit F1, then hitting F8 a couple times, to see the heat-chunk measuring number under the FPS counter number.

From the test, salvaging makes a lot of noise. Salavaging one car put the chunk heat up to around 2.5%. Opening a car to loot it, small but noticable rise (maybe .5%). Opening out in the open loot piles, like large ammo pile, .25-.5%.

Strangely, killing most zombies (with melee) did nothing. The ones I killed were all silent on death - I guess/maybe you have to get one that makes a lot of death noises or a death scream.