7 Days to Die

Keep in mind you can remove mods at will. Like, if you get an axe mod, you only need the one for the entire playthrough (unless this got changed recently).

I'm not sure if it's still available, but in steam you also used to be able to change the version to experimental builds and go all the way to maybe A12.

Void said:

reduced zombie block damage, turned off hordes

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I suggested things to speed up progression, I didn't mean deactivate 67% of the game.

*edit*

the problem with turning off blood moons entirely is that the game is supposed to be a cycle of PoI progression, base building, base repair, repeat. Without hordes 2/3rds of the gameplay loop is missing and you're just just endlessly grinding PoIs so that...you can grind more/harder PoIs. Hordes are what the game is named after.

I mean if he doesn't find that aspect enjoyable, then might as well. Pretty easy to cheese bloodmoons anyways - if you're in a city biome, just find a large building and destroy the stairs. The building under construction is probably the easiest since there are limited stairs to access the top floor. If the building gets fucked up, doesn't matter since it isn't your base.

Void said:

I started a new game, reduced zombie block damage, turned off hordes, generated a random map so I don't know where anything is. Way more fun this way so far, but perhaps it is the new start/exploration thing that is enthralling me. The first trader ended up being right next to a small town-like area with tons to explore. I cleared out Bob's Burgers and am living on the roof. I even lived through my first infection because now I know about fucking honey! That killed me at least twice on my first playthrough because I had no access to antibiotics and knew nothing about honey. Managed to get a cooking pot early too so now I don't shit myself constantly with dysentery.

Definitely fun to start again while knowing a few things. Maybe I'll get frustrated or bored later, but so far it is fun again. I even went clubs as Gavin suggested, and one of my quest rewards was a tier 2 baton! Ha, amusing how that can be exciting this early. I do hate the animation for it though. And clubs and knives and sledges in general. The animation is literally the whole reason I picked spears the first time, because I poke right where the animation does.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and words of encouragement. Maybe with the settings making the zombies less of a constant design choice I'll enjoy it longer this time around.

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Definitely play with the settings as you see fit, the game can be quite different depending on how you play it. It's one of the reasons I have put as many hours into it as I have. Weapon choices, combat/building focused, questing/exploration all make a major difference in how the game plays out. I'm currently on a no-trader, no-death run and it's a very different game compared to standard even if you change no other settings.

Couple more beginner tips:

You can target certain skill books both by putting points into the skill and also by looting specific locations. Medical buildings have a bigger chance to have medical books, construction sites have engineering books, kitchens have cooking etc. A cement mixer or forge in the world will always have a Forge Ahead book in it so look for those.

Stun baton is the best eventually but all weapons are viable as long as you put points in it early on. A mix of melee and ranged will work best so you save ammo and can mag dump tougher enemies.

During a quest you can go outside the building to kite the zombies around it as long as you don't go too far outside the boundaries it will not reset the quest (text in quest list turns yellow). Running quests is the quickest way to get gear early on, the game becomes considerably harder just by not running quests.

Wood hatches can be easily made and can be used to block a doorway and give yourself some time to melee down enemies.

If you build a base inside a building don't run a quest for that location because it will reset it and wipe out your base.

I always run a “no-cheese hardcore no-death” type of game and find that it ramps up the excitement.

The Fun Pimps have repeatedly said that they like to go through the data to see what people use for base defense/game play and then change it if they don’t like it or find it too exploity. The triangle spike traps that used to blow up zombie feet were removed and zombie fall damage was heavily nerfed because their data at one time showed many people were building underground zombie defenses utilizing fall damage, pillars, and the traps and they didn’t like that type of defense. They also got away from the “skill up as you do repetitive tasks“ feature that Void likes because at one point their data showed that something like 80%+ of the player base always ended up maxing out mining first and a significant portion of those people rarely went exploring into other biomes.

It’s like…well, yeah, who knew that people like building bases in a zombie survival base building type of game and they’re going to use the base building skills to survive?


I will say though probably the worst change I felt they made to the game over the years was removing zombie cops and dogs from “cities“. At one point all cities were infested with zombie cops and dogs patrolling just outside even at the start of the game and it made it exciting and risky to venture into cities early on for the good loot. Now, unless you’re in the destroyed biome theres practically no threat at all.

Oh, yeah, tying loot more heavily to the game stage, quests, and loot finding perks blows too. I went from “oh hey I need a forge/wrench/hammer better find a construction site/store” to literally skipping all buildings early on unless they were food related. Just started and theres a police station/armory/shotgun building? Why bother, it’s filled with crap because low game stage/loot perks.

That reminds me of one of my favorite bases, which was built on bedrock where I'd dig all the way, make a 3x3 hole, and the bottom would open up. Zombies would fall and either die, or be close to death. You'd make an arena and just pick them off from the upper deck.

Void said:

Yeah, I'm contemplating that aspect right now before I saw your comment. I guess I was trying to kind of treat it like a cooler Minecraft, where there really isn't a ton of actual point to the game beyond gearing up and building a base, but at least this has skill and tech improvements to chase, and stuff like trader quests and PoIs.

To be fair, adding the hordes back in is just making that the focus of the game though, and one that I'm not finding enjoyable, so I guess it is a matter of whether or not I find the other half of the game enjoyable enough to grind on for a bit and then put down, like I do every year or so with Minecraft, or I just forget the game entirely. It seems the devs have a very strict focus of what they want people to have to do in the full game, and it isn't what I like, so maybe I just need to accept that.

So, what other game would anyone suggest then?

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Kenshi is a third person survival, base building, squad management, RPG-lite, with some RTS like battles. You control when and how much your base/crew gets attacked, by how you interact with the game and where you build your base (whose land you build on).

Valheim is a first person decent solo experience with mobs attacking the base, but not nearly as much as 7DTD seems to have (haven't played 7DTD, just from reading the thread).

Conan Exiles on your own "server" to make it solo, is close to Valheim, but different.

V Rising solo is third person base building, without NPC base attacks, and leans more into an Action RPG type game.

Subnautica is a great base building/exploration game, if you haven't played it. It also has no NPC base attacks. It is very popular solo game.