Possible to disable robot respawns?

Feedback/Feature Requests
23

Basically, what you are saying, is that no enemy respawn would affect other core systems even though it might not be obvious for beginners who did not experience everything the game has to offer. Is that right? (Thanks for the explanation, by the way.)

Without spoiling too much, out of curiosity, is there a story explanation as to how the robots could re-appear every 4 hours (is that 4 hours?)?

I recently did a mission which brought me to containers holding Runners and Ticks in “suspended mode” (:sweat_smile:), so I guess that is the beginning of an explanation: fresh robots are regularly dropped in Sweden.

24

As you get deeper into the game, the game play itself will take you to places that by just what you see you can add it up and deduct for yourself why the machines seem endless. Even the lure of the reaper was something that for almost a year we didn’t know for sure what was going to happen to it. For a lot of us, the story has yet to end.

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25

Picture all of the people in this thread sitting together at a nice, big table in a deli. Everyone wants a BLT. When I order mine, I say “hold the tomato.”

Many people at the table are shocked. “Why would you do that?” they ask. “Don’t you know that the tomato is part of what makes it a BLT?”

I chuckle and say, “Of course I do. I love everything about the sandwich except the tomato. What’s the big deal?”

Now people are visibly agitated. “But we LOVE the tomato on the BLT! You can’t just ask to not have it! Think of how that affects the rest of us!”

“Um… is this a trick question?” I ask. “It would, literally,have zero impact on you. Ever.”

“You cannot order the sandwich without the tomato! We would not do that, so I will argue that the deli should not even give you the option, you weirdo.” another person says. “You should get a different kind of sandwich instead!” demands another.

“But I want a toasted bacon sandwich with mayo and lettuce.” I say.

“Then order a BLT, take the tomato off, and ignore it. Duh!” comes a reply.

Now a little confused, I ask, “But… no option to just not have the tomato in the first place, right?”

“God, NO! Please no! That would ruin everything! I mean, did you not hear us say that WE like tomatoes? Are you not following our logic? If you have the option to skip the tomato, we would be very unhappy with our own sandwiches!” comes the reply.

“Wait. You would be unhappy with your sandwiches, which have tomatoes, because…” I prompt.

“Because we like the tomato on our sandwich!”

========================

If I play the game, destroy the AI, and then ignore them when they respawn so that I can enjoy the game the way that I like it, that’s probably fine with everyone.

But to simply have the option to have them not respawn? Oh my god, the sky is falling.

You are literally arguing against an option that has no impact on you, and your reasoning is that no one should have an option that you yourself would not choose.

We have a word for that kind of thinking.

EDIT: Now I’m really annoyed because I want a bacon sandwich and I’m on a diet. Thanks!

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26

I hear you, and as a developer of complex ARMA 3 missions, I have a lot of experience with the nearly endless ways that new troops can appear in previously cleared areas. But it’s intellectually dishonest if I say that’s what’s going on in GZ. Here we have blatant copy-paste, infinite re-spawning of the vast majority of the AI. There is no reasonable sense of, “That makes sense.”

Again, some people like that. I am not the kind of person who says people should not having things that I don’t like.

This thread seems to have a lot of those types in it though.

27

Think the problem is that the chef might decide that instead of letting you have your BLT without tomatoes, everyone will get their BLT without, because that’s more efficient…

Can’t say that I’m that into programming but I imagine that a variable respawn functionality would be possible: none/small/normal/high/“are you nuts?”

28

That is exactly what they sound like. But I have been trying to assuage people’s fears by constantly saying “option”, and explaining that, as someone with a software development background, I know that it would be relatively easy for the chef to allow the omission of the tomato.

You can tell who is arguing because they like to hear themselves argue, are bored, or whatever. Those are easy to ignore. But for those who just don’t understand the nature of what I am asking, it’s hard to not try to keep explaining it.

29

I don’t know how their subroutines around it are set up, but the fact that some AI never re-spawn implies that it could be as simple as a per-AI-unit attribute. If there are larger sub-routines around the “general area” re-spawns, the proper application of a simple "If/Then function should be able to effectively bypass those routines. Complications might be that their trash collecting is not set up to enumerate and replace wrecked AI when a new session starts. Myself, I would be fine with an absence of previous wreckage… the “suspension of disbelief” would be far less for that than it is for endlessly copy and pasted re-spawns. IMO.

And thank you. This is the kind of discussion any thread like this should have. Not the “but why?” un-helpfulness.

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30

I agree that there should be some kind of option to adjust the robot re-spawn rates, other details, and then fixes for a few other things.

Had I know that Generation Zero would turn into a seriously frustrating experience I wouldn’t have bought the additional DLCs. As an individual casual gamer who doesn’t enjoy multiplayer games all that much. Yes Generation Zero reaches an entertainment peak and then the joy starts to leave the game. It stops being fun and becomes… not fun! So you managed to get money out of me. You’ll be hard pressed to get another dime out of me or a positive review.

Everyone who pushed me to buy this game left out the details that they were looking for help with assaulting robot bases and control points. This would only be of interest to me if we could use our single player characters interchangeably for local LAN games now. My son, and friends, who discussed playing this multiplayer are really not interested in starting from scratch. I think that is all reasonable considering the fact that there is a bug where weapons simply vanish from inventory. That issue added to the difficulty enjoying the game. A lack of a little more open flexibility has limited my ability to recommend the game to anyone else. Nothing is more exciting when five and six star items vanish without a trace. Or is this a game feature where you get to spend dozens of hours of grinding for equipment to have those items beamed out of your inventory to… orbit? Are we arming the Martians?

That’s not fun it’s just down right frustrating. I wonder how many people have suffered serious psychological stress thanks to that vanishing items from inventory feature. There are other issues involving some of the quest lines. Yes… there might be a software quality assurance and engineering challenge in the code. I’m glad I didn’t drop another 30.00 for DLCs. I also stopped short of buying three licences for my grand children.

It’s too bad. I was trying to sort out if there was supposed to be an element of RTS with the bases and control points. Unfortunately the frustration level is simply deflating my interest in playing the game. Everyone I know personally who owns the game… doesn’t play it anymore. The attempts we’ve made to play LAN games and over the Internet have fallen far short of being anything close to positive or encouraging.

The good news is: You got money out me.

The bad news, for your company, you’re not getting anymore money out of me until you open up more play options and hopefully fix a few things.

It’s not like you can’t. You have the power. There isn’t any shortage of FPS games out there waving “open world” at their target markets. The demographics behind some of these target markets is also interesting. With growing ageing populations in most of Europe and North America the people with the money to buy original games and then extensive DLC libraries is narrowing along various channels of opportunity. I stopped playing Total War War Hammer over a number of nagging issues. I have to commend the producers of Total War:

  1. That company fixes issues.
  2. They listened to their customers and changed the way somethings play out as dynamics inside several of their games.
  3. They used to give refunds, or steam credit, for DLCs that were released buggy and or broken. I don’t think they do anymore. But I haven’t asked for a refund in years. Getting two was inspiring enough for me to re-invest the value into other Total War title DLCs.

The above probably explains why I’ve spent hundreds of dollars buying Total War titles and accompanying DLCs.

I’m hoping something positive evolves out of what Generation Zero presently offers. It’s a great concept. I enjoy the man verses machine story lines. In a lot of ways Generation Zero comes across like an old Electronic Arts type product that crossed a deadline after blowing the budget. Out the door and off to market the game went regardless. EA has pushed more than a few games out to the masses in what I’d call… pre-Beta states. Software development is a challenge. Regardless when you present a product for sale and then accept money from “customers,” their is a contract. Your customers expect to be entertained and feel rewarded by the experience using the game. There is a gold mine of potential in Generation Zero. I’d love it if there was a way to adjust the play balance for different types of game play styles. At this point in single player mode I’m finding it too difficult to deal with the machine bases. I can see how assaulting bases might need three players with armed pets. The machines spawn fast enough it’s like trying to play an arcade game from way back. I spent a huge mess of time trying to equipment myself with experimental and 5 star weapons. Then of course experiencing the, near paranormal like, loss of some of these items was a shock. A very disappointing experience. So… back to the fields I went chasing around tanks, harvesters,… and such. After more time I managed to replace lost equipment and went back to base attacks. I must be too old and discombobulated to over come the machine re-spawn rates. Then the key bindings changed for me. Again another near paranormal experience. I tried to blame that one on Linux. Then I discovered the same keybindings were assigned in Windows 11. The game works so much better in Linux. Thank you for that. That’s a good reason why I’m trying to stick with Generation Zero. It works like a charm in Linux with Steam and Proton. I’d like to experience the base assaults, the control point focus, and how I assume that plays into a bigger strategy element in side Generation Zero. Is that all pointless? It’s too bad I can’t have three pets… one of them being a hunter. That would help.

For now Generation Zero is a good game to play while drinking beer, eating pizza, and trying to forget a disappointing sporting event result. Just for an hour or so. Then it gets frustrating and repetitive again. There is only some much repetitive grinding to do before some players throw in the GenZero towel, stop playing, and then go play Minecraft. Or something else. An association who encouraged me to buy Generation Zero told me that game reminded him of Doom and Duke Nukem. Well… it’s an FPS. When I’ve stopped, or decide on not, playing Generation Zero I’ve found myself diving back into other games. I’ve rediscovered older Far Cry titles. Generation Zero frustration has also inspired some of us to re-install Elder Scrolls and then the hacks to make it multiplayer. It’s nice to roam old code on display with friends. It’s always better to do that in good company. Especially when these gaming sessions don’t involve the over head and annoyances presented by all MMORPGs. Generation Zero is good for one thing: it’s making Steam money! When people get frustrated with a game they might buy other games. It seems that happens frequently.

Yes after a few shared, non-joyful, Generation Zero experience cycles… a bunch of us have ended up buying competing products. I’m the last hold out hoping Generation Zero comes around and surprises us with something nice for a change. Just don’t expect me, or anyone else, to pay for it. At this point if there are fixes and a few more options offered up to us, your customers, it would be prudent marketing to give that away for free to try and re-invigorate interest in the game again. If that works you’re back in the DLC business again and if you’re really lucky a bigger fish will buy your organisation and finance the development and subsequent, world shattering, product title release of… Generation Zero 2: Operation Earth!

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31

First of all:
I think that’s the wrong topic. You should have Made your own.
Then: Many right words.

Just a few comments by me.

Of course you can.

Regarding the product and the company, trying to earn money: that’s normal.

No media is there to stay forever. Or at least to be of interest for everyone forever. So it’s a normal process that at some point we get bored or frustrated and tend to look for something else. We made experiences that we’ll remember for a long time… and maybe we’ll pick the media again some day to see how it feels that day… or if it even changed since our last look.

What I didn’t fully understand when reading your text:
What exactly do you want to be changed?
Bugfixing, of course, that’s what everyone wants.
But what are your demands?
Being able to destroy a fully advanced FNIX base alone? Well, how should I say that…maybe it’s up to you.

It’s just a matter of strategy and preperation.
Or, like Roger Murtaugh once said, maybe you’re just too old for that shit now.

There are so many brillant games I played in the past… but now, If I pick them again… I wonder how I was able to play them in earlier days. And them I’m frustrated by a game I never was frustrated of before. Maybe you know what I mean.

Nevertheless. Nobody is sad If you move on to play something else, except maybe yourself. That’s ok, that’s normal. I just recommend to express short and in detail what you suggest to be changed. That’s easier to read for a Dev than such a long text. And stay informed. I personally come back to GZ every few weeks. In general if there was a new update. Play some hours, maybe with a friend, enjoy the game… and then play on other games.

Greetings

32

Well , the game is pretty far from being polished, if it were at that stage i maybe would ask the respawn to be random , the AI fighting distance to be greater & to relocate like when they fight you! Also In many cases nearby AI does nothing while the fight is on!

Otherwise this is not far cry but an optional “end game” dlc maybe could be made with a story that clears the map but the rest of the player base may not want it and prefer the sandbox but still would miss it as extra content so not the best thing to ask.

For now that big island north of Hijmfall is sitting there empty…

33

You are not asking for a BLT without tomato, but asking for a BLT without the BLT. We call that two slices of toast with mayo instead of butter. And it is no longer called a BLT.