Building System Thoughts & Tweaks

[patent marten]

So, playing a ton of hours since release I love the mod, its great, exactly what was needed for 7D.

I have some thoughts with the construction system.

It's better to take over an existing POI and add a bit of reinforcement than construct your own base especially at the start/early game.

The resources required to make a basic 100 block structure is 1000 wood, 100 pitch not taking into account the room for decor/etc which requires even more room to all put down that doesn't look like a slop.

Thats a cramped enclosure which is minmaxed with some decor, breaks very quick with the amount of zombies roaming about and spawning while dealing with 250hp walls.

upgrade that to the next level for 500HP, 1000 wood 200 nails. Nail's aren't that hard to find since you can break all sorts of things. Your base will be still ultra cramped and you'll need to expand, tear down, make a perimeter, etc...

It's better, more efficient and less time consuming to take over a POI that most likely has a 1000HP+ base blocks to begin with and you can just put spikes down to stop randoms at entry points. It just discourages base building with the effort it takes to make blocks early on.

This is what I suggest, ease the requirements for especially the earlier blocks.

Joined Wood (250 HP): 5x Wood, x3 Plant Fiber
Nailed wood (500HP): 7-8x Wood, x1 Nail
Cobblestone (1000HP): 7-8x Stone, 1x Mortar

Beyond Cobblestone of course I don't have any opinion on since its more late mid/late game stuff. Haven't thought about it too much.

At least it would promote more people getting their own bases going instead of taking over POI's. the building/tool system is interesting I do like it but as is its just not that fun with how steep the requirements are to build a base with the whole decor/vit function in game. I mean you can slosh decor around just for the bonuses but its going to look like shit without ample room, It's just a cramped space with stuff strewn around which isn't very homey.

Less to do with a 'skill issue' or any some sort of hardness of the game and more so 'oh theres a POI that needs a brief touch up with T3/T4 decor inside and lots of space with 1k hp walls' that you can just take over and ignore alot of the above. Which then asks why have this construction system in the first place?

I think players should be incentivized to build and not just slap a LCB down in a POI and call it a day, hell make it easier to build as per above and give a vit debuff for attempting to live in a 'Decaying Structure' POI. Or give a Vit Buff in a player-enclosed bed area that isn't in a POI as "Reprieve From Decay". Not sure how to balance that per say but want to give some player feedback on Constructions to see what people think.

[broken steppe]

with the way how building is, its kinda similar to ravenhearst where building is more of a med game thing and it is a slow, yet rewarding progress. however, with a weight system it gets even more time consuming that it is a good idea to take over a poi, convert. cobblestone is a good building source but it just... takes while to build a base lol

[copper aspen]

It is very interesting and see something towards builders, I am a builder at heart too...however players that do not build will be penalised by something like this.

I tend myself to invest a POI and gather gather GATHER until I am able to really build.

Also it is apocalypse...we think realism and things...will you go ahem make cement at all cost when everything is trying to eat your face

I wish people would build more too.

There are also people that modify POI and same they would be penalised by such system. Considering how slow it is in Afterlife I am not certain that something like this exactly would be possible. Also the way the map is divided and the chunk/POI plot what if ...only one block was considered on another POI, it is not like if you can pack your build and move it.

[broken steppe]

another thing that is kinda rough is the repairing.. holy, unless you got a claw hammer or nailgun, the repairs get very time consuming!!!!

[copper aspen]

What about the stone one

[broken steppe]

saint for using that, i would never do it lol

[copper aspen]

Better than mallet which is 1st one xD and it was adjusted already

[fluid bone]

definitely could use a few tweaks on the construction system. The nailed wood is virtually useless since it's easier to go straight from joined wood to cobble. I'd rather keep the nails for storage

construction still definitely doable, but just takes more focus to gather all the mats

[patent marten]

Yeh thats why I'd love to see a reduction in early-block mats, the time to effort/effectiveness ratio isn't very good

[copper aspen]

Pitch is cheap and wood everywhere.... will you build a shed with cardboards Probably not. Wood is not scarce at all and some people that I won't mention even build fort/Castle...so it just takes time and effort. Get that elbow grease and let's go!

[dapper tulip]

I actually really dig the apocalyptic vibe of "I live in this abandoned building with some extra boarded up walls/windows", so while I'm not against cheaper construction, I would really like to keep the ability to just live in a rundown building and make only required upgrades. Even the idea of "this place is so scratched up I need to move elsewhere because repairs are just unfeasable" just adds to the flavor.

[raven fjord]

yes this is so.. maybe a little buff to repair is in order

although one should expect wooden mallet with 0 construction skill to be crap

[dense sand]

I'm finally making concrete, and with a hammer I can make 9 new blocks per stamina cycle vs several cycles to repair just one.

Maybe half the stamina cost of repairs or quadruple the amount repaired each hit????

[versed tartan]

How difficult would it be to create a new "builder" class people could choose? This class could build/repair better, cheaper, faster, utilizing less materials etc. maybe also start with a hammer that he had when the apocalypse occured.

[copper aspen]

Difficult for now as we are still balancing the overhaul, more classes will be added in the future but nice idea

[copper aspen]

With a claw hammer where is your construct skills at

[raven fjord]

there used to be a builder class that started claw hammer, damn he was so op

[tardy talon]

i have problem with building , during direct building when i place a block i see when it will fall but with planing i dont so if i uprgade block which it can not support anymore everything will fall.

[modern minnow]

Yeah, currently building from scratch is so time consuming (to get resources), we all have to repurpose pois. I’d like to build more too. May be we can try - as your building skill improves - you need less and less resources for all blocks. This way at a higher level we can build easier. Alternatively may be with a better tool you need less resources, eg iron claw hammer can build with 2 wood , 1 pitch (instead of 10 wood)

[steep rivet]

"Afterlife. The mod bringing a feel of realism to the game!" If you were someone dumped fresh off the boat with nothing to their name, would you be just outright building a base from scratch or scrounging scrap to fortify an already existing building?

At first, I wasn't a fan of the building system, but it quickly grew on me. YES it is harder, but it does bring a different train of thought. And let's be honest, it stops POI abuse with nerdpoling your way up and cheesing into loot rooms.

[silk basin]

You can still build ladders to get onto the rooftop. But it is not as easy as in the other mods.

[steep rivet]

as it should be for a mod attempting to bring RL immersion into the game

[paper oxide]

What I'd like is to be able to place a plan down on the tile I'm standing on. The plan doesn't have a hitbox so I should be able to. It's very hard to build horizontally off the edge of an existing building otherwise. You gotta jump and hope you target the part you're trying to affix the new plan to. And when that tile is a tiny pole, and you're trying to do it 20 minutes before the 1st horde, it makes for some funny/frustrating moments 😄

[sterile totem]

not sure about the placing a plan inside an entity, but you shouldn't be jumping owo

[paper oxide]

That's just witchcraft

Oh yeah. If possible, building plans which have no structural stability shouldn't be allowed to upgrade. I'll make a 2 tile high fence, for instance, and accidentally upgrade the top tile before giving it support. It will get built and then fall down immediately.

[raven fjord]

yea if you aim just at the tip/corner of a block it will often actually target just over that tip/edge, i use it often

the hit area for it is very small though

would be nice if it were bigger