Hello, I feel like the crafting is a bit undeveloped…
I will go over my thought process for thinking so and some possible ideas for incorporating it.
My thoughts behind my claim are that:
You cannot create attachments,
You cannot alter your vehicles,
You cannot make any kind of alteration to melee weapons,
(don’t get pedantic on me and point out spray paint, I mean meaningful things)
But you CAN create ai portable rocket turrets from raw materials,
You CAN make magic bullets from raw uranium,
You CAN create a backflipping explosive puppy from string, copper, and gunpowder at a commercial quality and scale.
Does this not seem weird?
I don’t want to bash on the devs, because quite frankly, I love this game. But sometimes I wonder why the hell I can make repairs to a robot dog but I can’t add a grip to my gun or duct tape 2 magazines together?
The devs seem like they want me to, they have all the resistance gear and cobbled together experimental weapons, but then I as a player cannot make make my own addition to my weapons other than deciding between a barrel extension vs silencer and just filling in whatever slots the weapon is compatible with.
(I am ignoring the augment system as that feels like a really expensive resource sink with black magic involved.)
I think crafting could be the biggest game changer for generation zero, isn’t improvisation the most important part of the apocalypse anyways?(At least for me it is the coolest)
I would like to see crafting being a viable way to alter or create attachments that aren’t available in the game already so that they do not overlap with existing attachments. That means things akin to:
-altering stocks/altered stocks
-grips/grip tape/foregrips
-underbarrel attachments like flashlights/laser pointers/bayonets
-different magazine types like double sided/smaller/extra large
-new or just altered sights, stuff like zoom/reticle size/color
-barrel lengthening/shortening/thickening/etc
-saw blades or tasers or heated elements on melee weapons, just something.
Some may draw parallels to the weapon smithing found in games like call of duty or fallout 4 or dying light, and for all intents and purposes, yes it is basically that but generation zero-ified.
Why would the game need this? To be frank it doesn’t really but it is an avenue available to make crafting more meaningful.
For those wondering how you would balance this kind of new sub set of crafting, I have 3 ideas,
We already have the research tree in game so why not use that and just unlock points by deconstructing other attachments?
Maybe attachment types are unlocked by what tree you specialized in,
marksman gives you scopes,
vanguard gives melee and underbarrel,
Both support trees give you nothing because they are jokes… that was a joke in a joke
Supports both get magazines and grips
Commander has the laser pointer paint enemies and synergize with the damage buff.
Medic gets the ability to rapid swap the double sided mag to healing ammo.
Survival and commando both share stocks and fore grips
Tech gets to do optics and under barrel and melee because wires and lights.
I have been playing elden ring a lot recently and the cook books you get from characters makes me wonder if generation zero could use it’s characters to pass on valuable insights and survival techniques such as creating recipes or machine schematics instead of finding random books in the wild. This also extends to custom weapon modifications and the like. Maybe comes with personal quests
And finally 3 rebuttals to potential arguments
- Any version of “but doesn’t the dlc already do that?”
-if you are going to argue that buying the dlc to get precrafted guns and melee is better that creating them In base game from hard fought research and material gathering then I’m afraid we have to disagree on the meaning of fun.
I would like to spend the time to make my ideal mish mash of vehicle parts rather than pay 5 dollars for a dirt bike just to go up a hill because they made the pizza scooter so much less powerful.
Created vehicles and weapons do not need to be able to replicate the dlc stuff at all, but there should be a base game option to do what the dlc does from a role perspective.
Off-road vehicle, speed demon, not made from Popsicle sticks, etc maybe with more severe trade offs but there should still be a way.
- Any version of “you’re just going to make this game now like X other game”
-allow me to pose an exaggerated question for clarity sake, does adding base building and creating make this game like Minecraft?
No it isn’t the same, there are ways to execute a similar concept in a different manner, you can decide to make a crafting system like any other game or not, and merging that system into the gameplay of generation zero is what determines the similarities, comparing mechanics does not equate to comparing gameplay loops
3.“that is totally unrealistic to be able to craft X item because X reason”
-I have 3 cases I’d like you to examine:
Portable rocket turret
Health stealing minigun
50BMG healing ammo
All made at a wooden bench with only hand tools and raw materials.