The solution to the gap between early game and late game.

[justaruse]

The difference between early game and late game is too large, partly because their is no mid game( you either have guns and armor to push out the little guys from resources or you get pushed).

With the recent patch48, it provided some salvation for those that did not make it to late game. It allowed those that did not make it to late game saftey in their homes, however, it did not provide any safety when they left to gather resources.

As of right now, as soon as you get armor and gun bp you are nearly unstoppable against those only using early game projectiles, bows.

Do I necessarily want to see a nerf for guns? Not really. But with the current meat system it makes armor way too strong and seperates those that made it to the late game and those that didnt. It makes it so people can continuesly meat because they are not dying quickly like the early game people are.

Now, I am sure that the meat systems will be changed, as it is completely ridiculous. But even when it does, do we really want armored people slaughtering nakes with bows because the damage reduction is 50-90%( also reduces bleed)? These numbers are too high.

To bridge the gap between these to I would also suggest that armor and guns bps be more available in barrels but cost much much more, I mean significantly more resourses. This will allow individuals to save up and finally contest larger powers. And those that are super powers to not.be able to mass produce weaponary.

I actually enjoy the early game much more than the late game and would like to see it extended instead of the late. Having a bow fight where both people only have a few arrows have have to pick up the opponents arrows is knee shakingly fun. Moreover, early game armor and weapons should be increased.

1) have types if armor that is more resilient than cloth(leather, chainmail)
2) have a use for bone frags by creating an entire armor and weapons system from them( skull mace, buff the bone knife, bone armor, etc)
3) different types of bows and projectile attacks(crossbow,sling, javs)
4) provide shield items that you can hold in the off hand

There are plenty more but this is what i can currently think of.

All of these items and late game item cost change will extend life of the early game and and create a mid game that allows those with guns to be contested.

Too many players wait for the game to wipe before playing. They do this because they didnt make it to late game and they most likely will never at a certain point because those that reached it already have a monopoly.

[paca0502]

I prefer the early game too. Maybe because it's because I have always run solo and have a hard time making a lasting foothold and stockpiling weapons. While I enjoy the gun pvp, I found the most enjoyment in the naked or semi naked gathering and crafting and killing early on.

[Dark Dragon]

You raise some valid points, and I believe the current balance is far from what is planned for the game when its coming closer to being a finished product.

I especially have to agree with the way you currently progress in the game. Often times running around naked making no effort to gather resources you need to protect is too effective, because you can check all the possible spawns in rad towns before you die even if you go with the default ~50% hp. Basically the plan is to find blue prints and simply learn them before you die. Death is not really a penalty right now and can easily be used to quickly traveling between rad towns on many maps (given you know the map well enough)

There are already a few decent but probably not perfect ideas to make the progression in the game less of a death fest.

First of all I think there should be some benefits when you actually go through the effort to progress step by step instead of get all the necessary BPs and then start to gather resources for the first time to build a base and craft the top tier of weapons and maybe even raiding tools like c4. To do that i would expect to see more tiers of armor that actually provide you with a greater chance to survive combat. Right now there is metal plates which provide and incredible amount of defense and all the other tiers are close to being useless for combat (hazmat of course has its other benefits, i'm not trying to deny that.). So right now the other armor types are basically only either scaring other players away because they think you might be better equipped than them or making you a more attractive target to attack because people will assume you have goods with you. While I love these two effects clothing has right now and definitely want that to stay in the game, giving people a reason to armor up that is less dependent on other players suspicions would greatly promote progressing in more than just by finding blue prints.

To reduce the efficiency of roaming rad towns naked using 'kill' to travel between them i would suggest, that blueprints can only be used when you're next to some sort of furniture - lets call it research table for simplicity - to unlock the item for crafting. It should require not too much resources, but from all areas currently in the game (wood, stone/metal, cloth). that would make sure that you at least have to plan for surviving your trip to rad towns to gain anything from it. Also balance wise, I would suggest killing naked men quicker in rad towns while adding more rad reduction to other clothing other than hazmat. I don't think there should be 1 kind of armor that provides very efficient defense and very efficient radiation defense at the same time, but there could be lower tier hazmat clothing, that provides less rad reduction but is easier to get, while the current hazmat could be buffed and harder to get. Now a naked man should probably still have the chance to check some of the spawns in rad town and make it out alive, just not nearly as many as someone who comes prepared.

As far as I know the current way rad town spawns work could be improved as well. Servers with high population make it really really hard to ever get loot from it, as there's very few rad towns and and they are usually crowded by many people. To make it less frustrating i would want to see spawn times relative to the amount of players on the server (or in the area..?) or overall more rad towns (would need some redoing of balance of course). For instance stuff like the hangar could be radio active and have one or two spawns. These smaller rad areas with fewer chances to find loot should be easier to visit for people without proper equipment, while the larger areas should require at least some sort of equipment to visit efficiently.

Last point I'll speak about for now are the research kits from legacy. I think they could be tweaked and brought back in the game, maybe even replacing BPs at least for the highest tier of armor weapons and c4. It would basically mean find something precious you want to craft, for instance an AK bring it home safely to later research it with a kit (which you would also need to find I guess).

Okay I lied, there is another thing i was thinking about. What if crafting something frequently would make you more efficient/better at it? Someone who crafts top tier items like AKs for the first time could need a much larger amount of resources, due to not being trained yet or have a chance to produce malfunctioning goods. I'm not fully sure if this last part is a good idea, but at least I was thinking of that and found it an interesting idea.

Anyways, greetings and thanks for reading i guess.

[justaruse]

I think the tool kit is a great idea. However, I dont think its tbe only idea floating around. I wouldnt mind seeing it in action as it would solve many balance issues.

An xp system for crafting is a touchy subject, im not sure if xp belongs in this game. But then again I could be wrong.

[CBaller420]

[QUOTE=justaruse;47203524]I think the tool kit is a great idea. However, I dont think its tbe only idea floating around. I wouldnt mind seeing it in action as it would solve many balance issues.

An xp system for crafting is a touchy subject, im not sure if xp belongs in this game. But then again I could be wrong.[/QUOTE]

Honestly I havent been playing in the last week (due to so many issues with stability) but only minor changes to the bow are needed damage-wise. The thing that makes a Bow so deadly is the LARGE, difficult to remove projectile. There needs to be a more in-depth bandaging system. Honestly, a quick patch on a bullet wound is much easier than removing a frickin' arrow from your stomach/arm/leg. The whole point of a bow and arrow is to cause blood loss. You should bleed heavily and have to take some time to remove the arrow, applying normal Bow hunting strategies (only to humans :)) by shooting your target, following obvious and large blood trail, find your target/prey dead/bled-out somewhere.

[mrknifey]

arrows and their ilk could hamper a players movement, and deal damage when removed(context action of some sort). would probably be more realistic to that.

[Jim Bibby]

To OP
Honestly if you want to get to the late game you just bust barrels and run rad town until you find C4/explosives/ak/bullet blue prints Bam instant late game with nothing in between. you go from zero to hero with out ever crafting a thing. Now this may take you a half hour (seriously I've known guys to get this damn lucky!) or weeks. Personally I believe the current blue print system needs a big work over to fix this "Gap"

To CBaller420
It is not easier to remove a bullet lodged inside your body and/or stop the bleeding, than it is an arrow sticking out though. I am all for arrows doing more bleed damage but only if bullets do more initial damage. would also like if people/animals left a momentary bleed trail. just for game play reasons not realism.

[CBaller420]

[QUOTE=Jim Bibby;47208189]To CBaller420
It is not easier to remove a bullet lodged inside your body and/or stop the bleeding, than it is an arrow sticking out though. I am all for arrows doing more bleed damage but only if bullets do more initial damage. would also like if people/animals left a momentary bleed trail. just for game play reasons not realism.[/QUOTE]

I agree with all of this. I just said a bullet wound is usually easier to deal with in the short-term (hold a rag or bandage on it and apply pressure), since having an arrow sticking out of your leg is kind of difficult to apply pressure to lol. But yes, definately have varying types of damage for the specific attack, IE-lots of bleed damage from a bow/shotgun spray, lots of initial damage from meelee/bullets. Broken bones are obviously a thing too, but I dont think they should go too far in depth with it (Metal Gear Solid fans: Remember having to bandage/splint a broken finger and stuff every bit of damage you took? They had burns, snake bites, lacerations, broken bones/sprains, etc)

[Insub]

[QUOTE=justaruse;47203138]

Too many players wait for the game to wipe before playing. They do this because they didnt make it to late game and they most likely will never at a certain point because those that reached it already have a monopoly.[/QUOTE]

I thought most players waited for the wipe because they were excited for the new things and didn't want to put time in something that was just going to get wiped the next day. If servers were up for longer, this early-late game idea you are putting up here is much different than you describe.