bobchaos

the game does state its set in modern times, but who said it's not some alternate universe where cell phones and computers never took off? That being said, I could see computers in game as a geny powered source of boredom/unhapiness reduction. Maybe it could have diminishing benefits over time as the internet slowly shuts down (Zombies can't operate data centers I'm afraid :/ ) A few months into the game it would only provide a minimal bonus from playing solitaire since presumably the world has fallen.
 
Reagrding the military jamming comms, I'm a sysadmin and architect telecoms, building telephony networks and trust me, if you have the power, you can certainly shut down all communications. Most of the methods involved are illegal or reserved for the military, such as flooding airwaves/servers with gibberish as previously mentioned or cutting cables, but the military could just call the ISPs and telephone operators and tell them to shut it down before they come and do it at gunpoint This game is set in the US, which now has some laws granting FEMA and the military some pretty extreme powers in case of zombopocalypse (among other things). If the military wants the comms out, they can do it with a few phone calls and a good electronics warfare unit from your corp of engineers.
 
Hell, it wasn't too long ago that a US president tried to pass a law giving him a magic red button to kill the internet on his desk. Had it passed, the technicalities involved are fairly simple (logistics are another story tho...).

I've been playing on build 32, which added 2 new professions and a skill: engineer and electrician (+ electrical skill). It just might be rotten luck but I've not been able to find recipe books for all the engineer's traps. Assuming they just don't exist, that's where I'm concerned.
 
This would create a system in which all players are no longer "equal", meaning that (as far as I can tell, new player) some professions can do things that others can't do at all. I just thought it was nice that you had to pick a specialization but you still could do anything with a bit more effort. Maybe have a skill lvl requirement for the recipe books, or make leveling more complex skills (like engineering, electrical and carpentry) downright dangerous when doing things that are considered innapropriate for your level. A lvl 0 carpenter for instance could cut himself with the saw or add his finger and blood to the barricade decorations. I could certainly see an amateur engineer exploding himself trying to fix up a pipe bomb.
 
Actually, now that I wrote that, yeah, that's what i'm going with: replace all level requirement with a chance for bodily harm! That's be brutal
 
All characters should have equal skill oportunities while finding their demise! Thoughts anyone?

raymond i'ma go ahead and assume you didn't read a word of what I said, seeing as your comment as nothing to do with mine
 
Further expanding on my idea, it occurs to mme there could be a range of failures, ranging from "I couldn't get it done" to "there was a brutal accident", with perhaps loss of tool durability or materials in between.

*WARNING* wall of text coming!
 
I'd never played this game before IWBUMS build 32 came out, and I downloaded this branch pretty much on day one, so I have no frame of reference when comparing this build to others. I do however have some observations I think are worth noting. All my experience so far is in survival mode.
 
This game is brutal and unforgiving of mistakes, and I love it The early game tho appears to be where all the difficulty is at a the moment. I've finally managed to get a character to live past week 2. It's in fact been 3 months, and winter is just around the corner. In that time, i've never been bothered by zombies in my home. I have in fact not seen a zed in my neigborhood since week 2. They all congregate in massive hordes of hundreds and abandon the rest of town, which kinda cuts on the mid/late game challenge. I can walk up to 90% of houses in West Point without bumping into any dead ones.
 
I'd suggest a mechanic of some kind to allow for dispersal of massive hordes. Maybe NPCs (Meta or in game when NPCs return) could come by and split the hordes with the sweet smell of their brains, or maybe some zombies get designated as "loud" or something and become "pack leaders", ignoring fellow zombies but calling them to it so that smaller packs break away from the main horde.
 
I also noticed that creeping vegetation is growing VERY fast. I'd personally tone it down a bit, feels like come spring the whole city will be a jungle and line of sight will be severely reduced. That would certainy add to the challenge, but I feel the jungle state should take over a year to achieve.
 
Regarding the engineering mechanics, I feel some more in game instructions might be in order. Carpentry shows you what you need, I feel like bomb parts should be listed too, maybe in the skillbook's description or something. Someone else mentioned this too, but propane tank bombs would be very nice... I want my fort rigged to blow at a moment's notice! If the dead ones take over, I'm at least having one final barbecue >
 
I downloaded the IWBUMS because I heard there were generators, so I set out to get one and the manual, but ended up disappointed with the current uses for it. I'm guessing there's more to come, but at this time I feel it's mostly about getting the fridge to run so I can extend the life of all that cabbage my fields are churning out :/ I think some powered trap tiles might be fun, like a flamethrower rigged to a motion detector, powered by the geny, or maybe a rotary blade, things like that. Adding a freezer, or appliances that require constant power and have no substitute in skills/unpowered items, something to make the risk of having that noisy thing run in the backyard worth it. Hell, let me plug in 2 or 3 of those in series so I can restart the logging factory's saws or the lift in the auto-shops for them vehicules I heard mentioned around here
 
I've also found some skill progression curves to be unbalanced. Farming, for instance, levels up at an insane rate. My first 2 cabage patches got me to lvl 1 (with skill book read), and the rest of my garden (another 6 tiles of assorted goodies) got me to lvl 2 and a good ways along lvl 3 (without reading the intermediate book). By contrast, I've had a stick trap and a crate trap setup for weeks that I monitor a few times a day (when I'm not out scavenging that is) and they barely ever yield anything, meaning I'm still lvl 0 despite a lot more effort than my garden.
 
I thought food mechanics to be somewhat inadequate in certain situations: I can live on a handfull of berries for days as long as I eat whenever I get peckish. Same applies to violets. I have 150 weight units (whatever they are) of non-perishable accumulated from raiding houses and businesses in west point and I have never touched them. Most of my berries (and garden foods!) end up in my compost bin (That could be an interesting feature btw, compost bin that yields fertilizer) due to the insane amounts I pull from the wilderness while looking for chipped stones (never could find an axe )
 
Sorry for the lenghty text there, just my 2 cents. Devs, if you only look at one thing in my long rant, please let it be the bit about horde dispersal mechanics, it kinda kills my fun when all the zeds from any given cell gather in one tiny corner. I feel it's key to keeping the end game dangerous and bringing the occasional horde to your doorstep. Overall I gotta say this is great gaming as is, and knowing there's more to come makes me an extremely happy customer
 
*Edit* I finished reading all the other feedback on this build, seems something is already in the works to make sure giant hordes don't leave parts of town deserted. Lots of folks mentioned the gas stations being inoperable after the power goes out, something I hadn't noticed (got a nice stockpile of fuel and no real reason to use it :/ ), but I thought a hand pump might be more appropriate than a geny. Don't want that thing to explode on top of the pump's storage tank now do you? Plus, assuming eventual vehicules, a hand pump would certainly come in handy to drain abandonned cars and such or even just for water.

*WARNING* wall of text coming!
 
I'd never played this game before IWBUMS build 32 came out, and I downloaded this branch pretty much on day one, so I have no frame of reference when comparing this build to others. I do however have some observations I think are worth noting. All my experience so far is in survival mode.
 
This game is brutal and unforgiving of mistakes, and I love it The early game tho appears to be where all the difficulty is at a the moment. I've finally managed to get a character to live past week 2. It's in fact been 3 months, and winter is just around the corner. In that time, i've never been bothered by zombies in my home. I have in fact not seen a zed in my neigborhood since week 2. They all congregate in massive hordes of hundreds and abandon the rest of town, which kinda cuts on the mid/late game challenge. I can walk up to 90% of houses in West Point without bumping into any dead ones.
 
I'd suggest a mechanic of some kind to allow for dispersal of massive hordes. Maybe NPCs (Meta or in game when NPCs return) could come by and split the hordes with the sweet smell of their brains, or maybe some zombies get designated as "loud" or something and become "pack leaders", ignoring fellow zombies but calling them to it so that smaller packs break away from the main horde.
 
I also noticed that creeping vegetation is growing VERY fast. I'd personally tone it down a bit, feels like come spring the whole city will be a jungle and line of sight will be severely reduced. That would certainy add to the challenge, but I feel the jungle state should take over a year to achieve.
 
Regarding the engineering mechanics, I feel some more in game instructions might be in order. Carpentry shows you what you need, I feel like bomb parts should be listed too, maybe in the skillbook's description or something. Someone else mentioned this too, but propane tank bombs would be very nice... I want my fort rigged to blow at a moment's notice! If the dead ones take over, I'm at least having one final barbecue >
 
I downloaded the IWBUMS because I heard there were generators, so I set out to get one and the manual, but ended up disappointed with the current uses for it. I'm guessing there's more to come, but at this time I feel it's mostly about getting the fridge to run so I can extend the life of all that cabbage my fields are churning out :/ I think some powered trap tiles might be fun, like a flamethrower rigged to a motion detector, powered by the geny, or maybe a rotary blade, things like that. Adding a freezer, or appliances that require constant power and have no substitute in skills/unpowered items, something to make the risk of having that noisy thing run in the backyard worth it. Hell, let me plug in 2 or 3 of those in series so I can restart the logging factory's saws or the lift in the auto-shops for them vehicules I heard mentioned around here
 
I've also found some skill progression curves to be unbalanced. Farming, for instance, levels up at an insane rate. My first 2 cabage patches got me to lvl 1 (with skill book read), and the rest of my garden (another 6 tiles of assorted goodies) got me to lvl 2 and a good ways along lvl 3 (without reading the intermediate book). By contrast, I've had a stick trap and a crate trap setup for weeks that I monitor a few times a day (when I'm not out scavenging that is) and they barely ever yield anything, meaning I'm still lvl 0 despite a lot more effort than my garden.
 
I thought food mechanics to be somewhat inadequate in certain situations: I can live on a handfull of berries for days as long as I eat whenever I get peckish. Same applies to violets. I have 150 weight units (whatever they are) of non-perishable accumulated from raiding houses and businesses in west point and I have never touched them. Most of my berries (and garden foods!) end up in my compost bin (That could be an interesting feature btw, compost bin that yields fertilizer) due to the insane amounts I pull from the wilderness while looking for chipped stones (never could find an axe )
 
Sorry for the lenghty text there, just my 2 cents. Devs, if you only look at one thing in my long rant, please let it be the bit about horde dispersal mechanics, it kinda kills my fun when all the zeds from any given cell gather in one tiny corner. I feel it's key to keeping the end game dangerous and bringing the occasional horde to your doorstep. Overall I gotta say this is great gaming as is, and knowing there's more to come makes me an extremely happy customer
 
*Edit* I finished reading all the other feedback on this build, seems something is already in the works to make sure giant hordes don't leave parts of town deserted. Lots of folks mentioned the gas stations being inoperable after the power goes out, something I hadn't noticed (got a nice stockpile of fuel and no real reason to use it :/ ), but I thought a hand pump might be more appropriate than a geny. Don't want that thing to explode on top of the pump's storage tank now do you? Plus, assuming eventual vehicules, a hand pump would certainly come in handy to drain abandonned cars and such or even just for water.

*WARNING* wall of text coming!
 
I'd never played this game before IWBUMS build 32 came out, and I downloaded this branch pretty much on day one, so I have no frame of reference when comparing this build to others. I do however have some observations I think are worth noting. All my experience so far is in survival mode.
 
This game is brutal and unforgiving of mistakes, and I love it The early game tho appears to be where all the difficulty is at a the moment. I've finally managed to get a character to live past week 2. It's in fact been 3 months, and winter is just around the corner. In that time, i've never been bothered by zombies in my home. I have in fact not seen a zed in my neigborhood since week 2. They all congregate in massive hordes of hundreds and abandon the rest of town, which kinda cuts on the mid/late game challenge. I can walk up to 90% of houses in West Point without bumping into any dead ones.
 
I'd suggest a mechanic of some kind to allow for dispersal of massive hordes. Maybe NPCs (Meta or in game when NPCs return) could come by and split the hordes with the sweet smell of their brains, or maybe some zombies get designated as "loud" or something and become "pack leaders", ignoring fellow zombies but calling them to it so that smaller packs break away from the main horde.
 
I also noticed that creeping vegetation is growing VERY fast. I'd personally tone it down a bit, feels like come spring the whole city will be a jungle and line of sight will be severely reduced. That would certainy add to the challenge, but I feel the jungle state should take over a year to achieve.
 
Regarding the engineering mechanics, I feel some more in game instructions might be in order. Carpentry shows you what you need, I feel like bomb parts should be listed too, maybe in the skillbook's description or something. Someone else mentioned this too, but propane tank bombs would be very nice... I want my fort rigged to blow at a moment's notice! If the dead ones take over, I'm at least having one final barbecue >
 
I downloaded the IWBUMS because I heard there were generators, so I set out to get one and the manual, but ended up disappointed with the current uses for it. I'm guessing there's more to come, but at this time I feel it's mostly about getting the fridge to run so I can extend the life of all that cabbage my fields are churning out :/ I think some powered trap tiles might be fun, like a flamethrower rigged to a motion detector, powered by the geny, or maybe a rotary blade, things like that. Adding a freezer, or appliances that require constant power and have no substitute in skills/unpowered items, something to make the risk of having that noisy thing run in the backyard worth it. Hell, let me plug in 2 or 3 of those in series so I can restart the logging factory's saws or the lift in the auto-shops for them vehicules I heard mentioned around here
 
I've also found some skill progression curves to be unbalanced. Farming, for instance, levels up at an insane rate. My first 2 cabage patches got me to lvl 1 (with skill book read), and the rest of my garden (another 6 tiles of assorted goodies) got me to lvl 2 and a good ways along lvl 3 (without reading the intermediate book). By contrast, I've had a stick trap and a crate trap setup for weeks that I monitor a few times a day (when I'm not out scavenging that is) and they barely ever yield anything, meaning I'm still lvl 0 despite a lot more effort than my garden.
 
I thought food mechanics to be somewhat inadequate in certain situations: I can live on a handfull of berries for days as long as I eat whenever I get peckish. Same applies to violets. I have 150 weight units (whatever they are) of non-perishable accumulated from raiding houses and businesses in west point and I have never touched them. Most of my berries (and garden foods!) end up in my compost bin (That could be an interesting feature btw, compost bin that yields fertilizer) due to the insane amounts I pull from the wilderness while looking for chipped stones (never could find an axe )
 
Sorry for the lenghty text there, just my 2 cents. Devs, if you only look at one thing in my long rant, please let it be the bit about horde dispersal mechanics, it kinda kills my fun when all the zeds from any given cell gather in one tiny corner. I feel it's key to keeping the end game dangerous and bringing the occasional horde to your doorstep. Overall I gotta say this is great gaming as is, and knowing there's more to come makes me an extremely happy customer
 
*Edit* I finished reading all the other feedback on this build, seems something is already in the works to make sure giant hordes don't leave parts of town deserted. Lots of folks mentioned the gas stations being inoperable after the power goes out, something I hadn't noticed (got a nice stockpile of fuel and no real reason to use it :/ ), but I thought a hand pump might be more appropriate than a geny. Don't want that thing to explode on top of the pump's storage tank now do you? Plus, assuming eventual vehicules, a hand pump would certainly come in handy to drain abandonned cars and such or even just for water.

*WARNING* wall of text coming!
 
I'd never played this game before IWBUMS build 32 came out, and I downloaded this branch pretty much on day one, so I have no frame of reference when comparing this build to others. I do however have some observations I think are worth noting. All my experience so far is in survival mode.
 
This game is brutal and unforgiving of mistakes, and I love it The early game tho appears to be where all the difficulty is at a the moment. I've finally managed to get a character to live past week 2. It's in fact been 3 months, and winter is just around the corner. In that time, i've never been bothered by zombies in my home. I have in fact not seen a zed in my neigborhood since week 2. They all congregate in massive hordes of hundreds and abandon the rest of town, which kinda cuts on the mid/late game challenge. I can walk up to 90% of houses in West Point without bumping into any dead ones.
 
I'd suggest a mechanic of some kind to allow for dispersal of massive hordes. Maybe NPCs (Meta or in game when NPCs return) could come by and split the hordes with the sweet smell of their brains, or maybe some zombies get designated as "loud" or something and become "pack leaders", ignoring fellow zombies but calling them to it so that smaller packs break away from the main horde.
 
I also noticed that creeping vegetation is growing VERY fast. I'd personally tone it down a bit, feels like come spring the whole city will be a jungle and line of sight will be severely reduced. That would certainy add to the challenge, but I feel the jungle state should take over a year to achieve.
 
Regarding the engineering mechanics, I feel some more in game instructions might be in order. Carpentry shows you what you need, I feel like bomb parts should be listed too, maybe in the skillbook's description or something. Someone else mentioned this too, but propane tank bombs would be very nice... I want my fort rigged to blow at a moment's notice! If the dead ones take over, I'm at least having one final barbecue >
 
I downloaded the IWBUMS because I heard there were generators, so I set out to get one and the manual, but ended up disappointed with the current uses for it. I'm guessing there's more to come, but at this time I feel it's mostly about getting the fridge to run so I can extend the life of all that cabbage my fields are churning out :/ I think some powered trap tiles might be fun, like a flamethrower rigged to a motion detector, powered by the geny, or maybe a rotary blade, things like that. Adding a freezer, or appliances that require constant power and have no substitute in skills/unpowered items, something to make the risk of having that noisy thing run in the backyard worth it. Hell, let me plug in 2 or 3 of those in series so I can restart the logging factory's saws or the lift in the auto-shops for them vehicules I heard mentioned around here
 
I've also found some skill progression curves to be unbalanced. Farming, for instance, levels up at an insane rate. My first 2 cabage patches got me to lvl 1 (with skill book read), and the rest of my garden (another 6 tiles of assorted goodies) got me to lvl 2 and a good ways along lvl 3 (without reading the intermediate book). By contrast, I've had a stick trap and a crate trap setup for weeks that I monitor a few times a day (when I'm not out scavenging that is) and they barely ever yield anything, meaning I'm still lvl 0 despite a lot more effort than my garden.
 
I thought food mechanics to be somewhat inadequate in certain situations: I can live on a handfull of berries for days as long as I eat whenever I get peckish. Same applies to violets. I have 150 weight units (whatever they are) of non-perishable accumulated from raiding houses and businesses in west point and I have never touched them. Most of my berries (and garden foods!) end up in my compost bin (That could be an interesting feature btw, compost bin that yields fertilizer) due to the insane amounts I pull from the wilderness while looking for chipped stones (never could find an axe )
 
Sorry for the lenghty text there, just my 2 cents. Devs, if you only look at one thing in my long rant, please let it be the bit about horde dispersal mechanics, it kinda kills my fun when all the zeds from any given cell gather in one tiny corner. I feel it's key to keeping the end game dangerous and bringing the occasional horde to your doorstep. Overall I gotta say this is great gaming as is, and knowing there's more to come makes me an extremely happy customer
 
*Edit* I finished reading all the other feedback on this build, seems something is already in the works to make sure giant hordes don't leave parts of town deserted. Lots of folks mentioned the gas stations being inoperable after the power goes out, something I hadn't noticed (got a nice stockpile of fuel and no real reason to use it :/ ), but I thought a hand pump might be more appropriate than a geny. Don't want that thing to explode on top of the pump's storage tank now do you? Plus, assuming eventual vehicules, a hand pump would certainly come in handy to drain abandonned cars and such or even just for water.