To give y'all an idea of where things stand in terms of progress on Fallen Earth: currently there are around seventy towns or major encounter areas that have been laid out with around fifty that are functionally complete in terms of content (not polished, mind you, just functional); there are currently almost three thousand missions implemented; and our database has around seventy-five hundred items. We've gotten a lot done, but we still have a lot left to do. This is a deadline week for us, so things are bit more hectic than normal. This week we're working on New Flagstaff, Thorne's Bluff, Last Stop, Dieseltown, Docuer's Court, and Aesterly.
1. I assume that making items near your level to earn XP and skillups means the items need to be near your crafting level, not character level, since that would lead to problems like out-leveling your crafting, etc.
Actually the experience points gained through crafting are based on the level of the item produced compared to your character level. High level characters don't get anything for making low level items. Thus players are encouraged to work continually on keeping their tradeskills up, and high level players can't get free experience points by making cheap low level items.
2. Seems to have been implied that "basic" recipes will be available at faction trainers for each "crafting level." I.e. if anyone can craft all the time to the point it is built into the system, then doesn't that mean you don't have to dedicate time and energy to finding the recipes/resources that a dedicated crafter would?
Certain basic recipes are available from factions to a point, and those recipes may not be available to everyone in a given faction. Players will have to go looking for certain rare recipes to make some items, or deal with their faction allies. Also, the time requirement for being a dedicated crafter comes not so much from finding the recipes (as long as your faction is competent in that skill, otherwise you may have to go far afield to find recipes) as finding all the components you need to make an item. In the later stages of the game, finding the components you need, like hunks of Pristine Titanium or a Pure Shiva Sample, can be a real issue, so players will spend a lot of time picking through scrap, mining, or salvaging parts from finished items.
Most players will craft continually with a few skills until the resources for them get too expensive or hard to find for their personal enjoyment, and then they'll branch out to other skills until those reach a similar spot. It's the dedicated crafter who will be keeping everyone in the best gear.
3. Could you shed some light on how the UI will work while in combat, as far as will we be able to change Armor and weapons in mid-combat? And how all the slots on the paperdoll will work in conjunction with this?
Players can have up to six weapons in slots at any given time, and can switch between them using CTRL+mousewheel to cycle through them or by clicking directly on the weapon on their character. This means weapon changes are not instantaneous, but rarely take more than a second or so. Changing the armor requires having the gear window and inventory open so you can drag armor from one window to another. In combat this is not a very easy operation, especially considering the fast-paced nature of our combats.
4. Will the more we carry make more noise vs. carrying less gear?
The items you carry in your inventory do not affect noise, but are limited by your Strength. Each item has a weight associated with it, and characters can only carry so much before they are overloaded. For most characters this won't be much of an issue, but those characters who want to carry two full suits of armor, extra rifles, etc, will run into problems.
The clothes and armor you wear produce a certain amount of noise for each step you take, and weapons produce a certain amount of noise each time they are swung. The amount of noise generated depends on the item, the materials it's made of, its weight, etc. Guns make more noise than knives, for example. Your character's noise generation is mitigated by his Stealth skill, and NPCs detect enemies out of their range of vision based on a character's noise vs. the NPCs Perception.
5. What types of sound effects can we expect to hear (dogs barking in the night, strange moaning sounds, the wind howling, or the sound of rain hitting the ground)?
Not all the sounds have been finalized yet, but I can say the winds are damn creepy, especially at night. Also, our ambient noise is time-based, so you hear birds in the morning but not at night, for example.
QotW#37: Crafting, Combat UI & Game Sounds
Moonshadow delivered the Questions of the Week a bit early this week, but who is to complaint! This week we get the lowdown on the crafting system, combat slots, effects of carrying items and game sounds:
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