Apocalypse

Remarks

Initially, as I was still working on what was supposed to be 0.7.6, the answer to the question of how much progress has been made for Apocalypse overall has been somewhat set aside to a slower pace as I was still busy tickering the spawn system and how dense should Zombies spawn be. While spawns from here on out will be a lot denser whilst still preserving as much performance as possibly can, it was only one of the many integral factors in progress being made towards bring Apocalypse into full release, which I wasn't too happy about and why I didn't want to release new versions on a regular basis.

Among the things that I wasn't too excited about was the general atmosphere of the game. More precisely, what makes Apocalypse apocalyptic? Just as, for instance, what separated the feel of early Minecraft from post-1.14 Minecraft. Part of making it more apocalyptic is there ought to be something which makes the nature of the gameplay feel abandoned and eerie, and the Zombies are just part of the equation. Sure, humanity is gone for the most part, but they didn't just leave behind cities, which is why I decided in favor of a major update with a strong focus on structures and consequently, exploring and scavenging. On top of that, further refining the progression is something also to be taken care of.

General Changes

Added Axes are Weapons. While I wouldn't recommend axes for killing Zombies, at the very least Axes will maintain a degree of usefulness when going against players.

Added Valhelsia Structures. Originally I hesitated on whether should Valhelsia make a return, but Valhelsia simply does an amazing job combined with Structurify, which allows me to filter the more unneccesary buildings from ones that fit.

Added Structory. Structory will add a lot of buildings that lean towards the abandoned side, making the world a bit more desolate.

Added Stamina. Given that skill trees, both before and with the current rework, players will quickly accelerate their movement speed without much concern and can outrun zombies with ease, thereby rendering the need for mobs like Donkeys less useful for long-distance travelling and Speed Potions less useful, which is not fitting for a modpack that demands resourcefulness from the players.

Added Fog. Gives the overall environment a more eerie feel with light impact on performance at worst.

Added Create: Easy Structures.

Added 3D Ladders, Motschen's Round Logs, Better Lanterns.

Partially disabled natural healing. From now on, the only sources of healing comes from either eating meals that grants the Hearty effect, drinking Potions or eating Golden Apples.

Removed William Wythers' Overhauled Overworld. There were two major problems with William Wythers' Overhauled Overworld, first being that the mod attempted to replicate biomes that were already made present by Biomes O' Plenty, and second being that it did not have good compatibility with Dynamic Trees. It certainly is good on its own, but only if it wasn't paired with terrain generation mods that introduce new biomes or overhaul trees like Dynamic Trees.

Removed Barbeque's Delight. The ability of certain skewers to grant players powerful potion effects at a random chance is unfitting for a modpack that should be keeping players on their toes.

Removed Snowy Tents, Old Fisherman's Swamp House, Desert House, and Sawmill. With the introduction of Easy Structures, and an aim for an overall more desolate, more modern and most importantly, abandoned atmosphere, having Villagers populating non-Cities structures at a disporportionate level is counter-intuitive to the apocalyptic feel of the game.

The skill tree no longer features any upgrades which increases your maximum health and instead focuses more on increasing your overall mobility.

Removed Crabber's Delight. Aside from growing crops, I don't think there should be a passive way to gather food, especially when chums (bait) for crustations and clams can generate a quick and steady food source. On top of that, items such as the Kelp Shake can be easily made in bulk number and can be abused as quick transporation tool through rivers and oceans.

Removed Abandoned. The main reason behind the removal is because despite attempts to introduce custom loot for Abandoned structures via LootJS, it cannot be done.

Zombie Changes

After some additional tweakings and establishing some additional rules to prevent lag as much as possible, Zombies will now spawn with a significantly higher amount. Keep in mind, however, that Zombies can still lag, albeit with less intensity than post-0.6.8 versions, should they have pathfinding issues (usually when not being able to climb hills and instead congregate into dense numbers) or getting stuck in bodies of water.

Implemented a semi-progressive spawn increase system for Zombies. Basically, during the first 20 days, Zombie spawns will be slightly less dense than after Day 20, which will be extremely dense.

After some deliberations about general progression, and with greater structure generations and consequently loot changes in Cities, Zombies spawned in Cities will start with buffs that would otherwise be applied to non-Cities Zombies between Day 11 and 20 before both Cities and non-Cities become stronger with a unified progressive stats improvement system.

Patched several issues with the implementations concerning Brainiac spawns in Bunkers. Brainiacs should no longer spawn randomly on the surface.

Stucture Changes

Cities will now generate in a slightly altered way for better terrain generation, i.e. better roads inside the cities. Cities will also be relatively rarer to find.

Villages will now spawn less frequently, and for the most part buildings throughout the world will feature vacated factories, railways, stations, watchtowers and houses.

Taverns will spawn in most biomes, and can be set up as a Village. However, unlike naturally generated Villages, Zombies can spawn here and the only way to prevent Zombie spawns is with Diamond Torches.

With the implementation of Valhelsia Structures and Structory, several structures from Nova Structures have been retired. For the most part, you'll commonly encounter Fire Lookout Towers and abandoned houses.

Firearm Balance Changes

Now that I've figured out how to configure Iron Sights zoom and ADS FOV value, all iron sights no longer zoom your vision, and the iron sights will now occupy a significantly less portion of your FOV.

Reduced weight and ADS time for the M700, as well as increased the effective range and toned down the damage-per-shot.

Massively increased the muzzle velocity of the AWM, making sure it rivals high-end 5.56x45mm Assault Rifles.

Several drastic changes have been made to how AR-15 rifles recoil. AR-15 rifles (M16A1, M16A4, M4A1, HK416D) now have a snappier recoil profile to demonstrate that they perform best as accurate Assault Rifles with a relatively spammable semi-auto or quick tapfiring, in contrast to the slower impulse of non-AR platform rifles (except the AKM and QBZ-95) which have a preference for more sustained, prone automatic firing.

Stocks, Handgrips, and Muzzle devices will reduce recoil at a decently lower level than before. While still essential for mitigating recoil, the changes are done to ensure that automatic cheesing with powerful recoil reduction setups are less useful, and could grant additional negatives. Suppressors will reduce your recoil at a lesser degree, and Muzzle Brakes/Compensators retains better efficiency at reducing recoil but could lower bullet velocity and/or decrease ADS accuracy.

The M16A4 now has a faster and higher recoil pulse, making burst-firing more unreliable at distance. Likewise, the RPK now has higher recoil, making it more of a more portable and lighter machine gun than an assault rifle.

Increased the weight of the HK416D, SCAR-L, and RPK.

Increased the ADS time of the M870 from 0.15ms to 0.20ms.

Significantly increased recoil reduction for the M249 when firing prone, ensuring its parity with the RPK in terms of sustained fire capability, whilst maintaining the lack of mobility and poor on-the-move firing characteristics.

The M320 now can destroy blocks.

RPG rockets and 40mm Grenades are no longer craftable. The only source for RPG rockets and 40mm Grenades are chests and barrels in Underground Bunkers.

Loot Changes

With the introduction of new structures from mods listed above, generally speaking, there are three types of loot, divided by their classifications, utilizing several tables. Buildings that are abandoned or ruined will typically carry the least amount of loot, but nonetheless they still carry important items. Places that are still inhabited or had only recently been abandoned carry larger amounts and more important loot. Finally, areas that were of industrial importance (e.x. Train Stations or Factories) carry loot that are somewhere in between the two, and can be separated into two categories: one carrying immediately useable goods, and the other raw materials that are crucial for building materials or tools.

Barbed Wire Fences can only be found in Cities or Bunkers. Structures outside of Lost Cities or Bunkers no longer carry them.

Increased the odds of Weapons chest generations in Lost Cities. Overall, you should come across these chests containing different guns, ammunitions, attachment, and soforth in Cities.

Removed Leather from loot tables. Leather should only be obtainable by herding cows or rabbits (if you're willing to breed that many rabbits).

M1911 Pistols can be obtainable from most Loot Tables, with the exception of Bunkers'.

Food from chests and barrels are now significantly rarer, in order to balance out the stronger presence of structures. Generally speaking, more recently abandoned buildings like houses and castles carry the most food. Cities, on the other hand, typically do not generate food aside from the seldom-founded Sweet Roll.

Bread is no longer craftable by simply placing wheat onto the Crafting Table. Instead, you'll have to turn the wheat into flour, combine it with eggs or water, then bake the dough. Similarly, Pie Crusts require a similar process.

Drastically reduced the chances of getting Golden Apples from Loot Chests.

Loot tables carrying lanterns (with the exception of ones from Fire Lookouts) will carry unlit lanterns instead. Additionally, you could find sleeping bags there.

Lowered the chance of finding 5.56x45mm rounds in non-Bunker chests as chests containing loot are relatively more common. The only exception to this rule aside from non-Bunker chests are those of Fire Lookouts, which could also carry an M16A1 at a higher rate.

Complete Blaze Burners are no longer craftable. Instead, use the regular burner and figure out how to synthesize an easy and plentiful source of fuel for it and engines.

Reduced the amount of Brass required for fabricating 7.62x39mm, 5.56x45mm, and 5.8x42mm rounds.

Trade Balancing Changes

Made a temporary rework of trades offered by Fisherman Villagers, as Crabber's Delight has been removed. Parts of the new (perhaps temporary) trades are transferred from Cartographers.

Temporarily (again, perhaps) removed some Cartographer trades that relates to items from Abyssal Chasms.

Butchers will no longer offer any trades that involves Barbeque's Delight, and Farmers will sell seeds instead of any of the spices and sauces of Barbeque's Delight.

Farmers will no longer ask for Flax Cheese Wheels at Level 5, and they will instead sell tree-growth related potions.

Overhauled Toolsmiths' offerings at a significant level. In line with the current direction in favor of "soft removal" via uncraftability of multitools like the Paxel, Mattock or special ones like Hammers from Create: Ironworks, Toolsmiths will no longer offer them.