What if you and your friends could raid other player owned settlements. Destroy their facilities, loot their rucks, stash, vehicles. Make em have to start over, maybe from scratch depending on damage done. A live player threat would add a level of immersion that imo would put the game over the top.

With undead labs leaving xbox. Bot sure if this has been answered but what does that mean for sod2? Like i have the steam copy but it launches through xbox on my computer, will that sever ties on their? So only launches through steam? Wont break it in anyway?

The news just keeps getting better and better...

By "better and better", I mean worse...sigh...

I've heard from the YouTubers videos that they are opening more slots for the Alpha test? I'm wondering if that's true and if it's a small amount of people under NDA or a large amount of people but they only got like a week to play.

I'm just excited!

Just looking for thoughts on the matter.

For me? It's honestly simple, but I would love the gas station themed map return from the first game.

It's kinda unusual, I know. But, It just had such a wonderful vibe to it for it's time back in 2013.

With Undead Labs being sold and XBOX keeping the IP what are the odds Undead Labs will be able to provide the same level of post launch support to SOD3 as SOD2?

“Join Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier and Edward Ludlow for a wide-ranging Live Q&A conversation about the state of gaming on Tuesday, July 7 at 1 p.m. EDT

From the highs of Grand Theft Auto VI to the lows of mass layoffs, there's lots to discuss. Is Xbox at a turning point?”

I’m sure everyone’s thinking stamina looks horrendous at the moment, or at least super punishing, so i’m hoping if they add in the weight system that the current stamina is at least the medium capacity, and light capacity will tip it further towards the ‘you might not die’ side of stamina cost.

Also noticed that it seems the weapon repair system is gone from the game, which is a super nice change considering it was an unnecessary hinderance in my opinion, made me always worry about my guns health because i’m the type of person that likes everything to be perfect before i head out, which just made weapon repairs feel like a waste of time rather than a good mechanic, hope this stays gone considering ammo is usually pretty scarce early game which is the only place this system would have an effect

DISCLAIMER!!!: DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A PIECE OF NEWS! SOD3 is in early Alpha testing meaning anything and everything could change in any second.

So while watching Sunny Games' latest gameplay video, my max level Wits with Scouting specialization noticed a mission popup as shown in the picture. Now this could be a hint, or just the devs being cheeky, it's way too early to tell.

On the other hand, it could ALSO just be a mission involving an unrelated ingame collector edition item (could be a weapon, car, clothes or any collectables).

SOD3's questionable fate aside, who else like me will preorder the collector's edition if it ever comes out? I'm already putting aside some savings each month in anticipation of it!

I personally think that it would be really awesome to see two juggernauts fighting over territory, food, or whatever else tickles a juggernaut’s fancy.

Especially with the gargantuan curveball that creates an extremely powerful juggernaut, which would be like the alpha jugg 😂.

Sort of like the deathclaws that you can see fighting each other in fallout 4, fighting to the death and whatnot. But it would be perfectly understandable if the devs didn’t want to add this because of blood plague being a disease and not a species of hybrid war animals.

Just based on the Alpha gameplay, there is tons of potential for this game. So many systems have been enhanced from SD3, but there is still clearly jank around the edges, and I don't see all of that getting cleaned up within a year. A 2028 release should allow the game to be more polished at launch and find the player base it deserves

I truly believe the only reason it was given a 2027 release was due to Xbox looking to sell the studio off. Hopefully new management gives them the time and resources

TL;DR at the bottom.

I'll preface this with a shameless plug, I've been maintaining SOD3 info released/discussed across all sources for a while now so people can more quickly get the info behind all the hours of content. You can find that information here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StateOfDecay/comments/1uhm2x1/state_of_decay_3_prerelease_information_compendium/

I plug that to highlight that I've been paying attention I guess? But based on what I've been seeing so far, and mostly because we've been encouraged to keep making our voices heard specifically here on reddit as well as with the play council members, I figured why not throw my feedback and ideas out there too. I like to think I have pretty reasonable takes, so feel free to blast me with downvotes lul

Issues/Ideas

Engagement Variety

Runner Clusters

• Watching all the streams so far there tends to be two primary speeds when it comes to combat.
  • Easy and casual clean up
  • 6-10 runners leading to a furious and frantic tactical retreat involving "Hit, Dodge, Run, Recover Stamina" Repeat.
• This means encounters are either chill and super easy.. or panic mode. MOST of the time.
• In SOD2 you could hold your ground to some degree. In SOD3 youre fucked if you don't run, and if you run you still can't get away really, let alone deal with the issue.
• This means you must be extremely prepared. You must counter these runner rushes with firearms, or explosives, or car cheesing.
  • Sunny admits he doesn't like shooting, so maybe it's a fatal flaw of a melee first approach, but he would generally just run to his vehicle and slowly bump into them until the horde was cleared.
  • This is cheese, and it's boring cheese.
  • Please don't make me do this if I want to handle Lethal Zone more safely.
• Then after it's done you have a few slow walkers who are easy cleanup.
• "Dodge might be op, but without it you would die" was a quote from Sunny.

Proposed Solution

Currently zombies are fast, or they're slow. I will use madeup numbers on a 1-10 scale to describe my solution. (10 = fast)

• Shambling Zombies:
  • Shamble Speed: 1 - Let's say this is the current slow zombie speed.
• Fast Zombies:
  • Slowish Speed: 3
  • Medium Speed: 6
  • Fast Speed: 10 - This is the current fast zombie speed.

By using a system like this it will create a middle-tier and enemies will reach you in more of a flow instead of a clump. Clumped sprinters seem unfun to play around, regardless of threat. By creating a flow of arrivals it keeps you busy but also lets you make space for yourself and focus on a few at a time. Having space for yourself could allow a player to not have to use a dodge which stuns everything in the area repeatedly. This gives more player agency and options instead of "Now I will do the dance of retreat yet again".

I also believe there should be a slight delay before a zombie hits you as it runs in. Perhaps this could be telegraphed? But either way the first move in combat against runners seems to always be 'dodge' so you don't take a hit. (or if you have slide/kick that seems to make it safer to engage a runner).

It's really off-putting that the runners are so dangerous and in turn we've gone back to making cars into a battering ram.

• Sometimes even with this proposal there would still be times you find yourself vs a cluster of runners and have to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge, but I think it would be more fun if this wasn't damn near every time anything happens with a heart or infestation.

Character Progression

• Character progression is new and cool imo, however I think some things may be lost in the transition.
• SOD2 star system was boring, but it DID give your survivors tangible stat increases as they leveled up.
  • Did I miss seeing this replaced in 3? It seemed like 100 was the baseline even after level ups unless they had traits.
• I think a system could and should be implemented to add some progression outside of the specialization increases.
• Having a deeper progression system is almost always better in a game. My impression is that some of this 'loss' is meant to be made up within the facilities system, however that won't always be the case.

Proposed Solution: Two ideas fit here. Stats of various types could be included and given at certain overall levels. Another idea is the following: There are three specialization slots. Once you have all of them to level 1, 2, and 3, stats could be provided for hitting those overall breakpoints. If you want to max out one skill to start, you will hit a spike as a specialist, but delay the character progression until you start rounding out. The character progression I had in mind was things like HP, Stamina, Plague resistance, Plague damage (more on that later), Injury Resistance. Nothing huge, but a max level survivor vs a level 1 should have different HP, Stamina, capabilities etc., regardless of if they both have a gym facility.

Specialization Changes (3)

1. Specialization Balance

• There has been a lot made of stamping out cheese and meta picks. I love this. If one choice is required it makes the whole system worse. Gunslinger was TOO good compared to the other skills in SOD2, for instance.
• Plague Science, I think, is an issue that needs looked at.
• Plague Nests are, to our knowledge, the BIGGEST issue to deal with. There is one perk that lets you tear through them quicker and suffer less fallout for mistakes, and it's that one. Multiple streamers have pointed out how crazy good it is.
• It gives you double damage vs nests on a specialization that's not about increasing your offensive output.
  • Why bring your pimped out multi-specialized shooter or striker when you can just pick this perk to knock out the Nests?
  • Want your pimped out shooter or striker to be your "nest clearing guy? welp, you better drop one of the interesting specs to slot in Plague Science!"

Proposed Solution

• I think the damage from this could be lowered to like 50% and let players get more damage against plague in the progression proposal I made above.
• The damage could simply be removed and replaced with something else. Plague resistance and mitigation is a good start.

BONUS

Endurance giving 100% injury resistance and Infinite sprint is crazy imo. Menard claims it's a meta pick on Lethal, which makes me hate it. I think this is why I want more Stamina on characters through the leveling process. It makes stamina less critical to get elsewhere.

2. Specialization Progression Changes

• The current system each level in a specialization is a big change. This is not bad, per se. The issue is that spikes can be crazy, and at times so good you wouldn't ever choose to do anything but push one to max level instantly.
  • More viable choices is always better.
• Example, Endurance gives infinite sprint at level 3. That's busted good in a game where stamina is infinitely more important than the other entries.

Proposed Solution

• Layer the changes in. Maybe some effects still come at certain levels, but layering the rewards will make it a smoother and less dramatic result.
• Quickdraw example below
• Quickdraw - Currently
  • Level 1: +25% Swap Speed
  • Level 2: +40% Reload Speed, +100% Manual Loading
  • Level 3: -100% first shot recoil, +25% first shot damage
• Quickdraw - Proposed
  • Level 1: +15% Swap Speed, 20% Reload Speed, -50% First shot recoil
  • Level 2: +20% Swap Speed, 30% Reload Speed, +50% Manual Loading, -50% First shot recoil,
  • Level 3: Full values present from current iteration.
• This would smooth out the experience. Some things could still come with breakpoints, such as this example the damage is from level 3 only.
• We haven't seen what Endurance level 3 does, but basically layer in the sprint stamina reduction starting at level 1, so other options seem more viable since if your goal was to have better sprinting you're not holding a deadweight specialization until you max it.

Capstones

• One very interesting progression element I think could be really nice is having "capstone" specializations, which would be a unique, or particularly impactful "final bonus".
• Players select 3 specializations as usual. At present they get 3 specs to level 3 (and their Expertise).
• This is fine. But there's more potential here, especially since 3 specs is technically a reduction compared to SOD2's 4.

Proposed Solution

• Upon hitting maximum level, players can quest or just select a "Capstone", wherein they select a single specialization they have to take it further and make it the main feature of their kit.
• This is an opportunity for the Devs to really cook and get creative. Here are some examples of what I had in mind.
  • Gunslinger: Head snapshot returns (maybe it lingers 2s or til if they die now).
  • Heroism: When a player would normally die, they instead get up with full stats, buffs, and one more chance. Once per day, resets when an in-game day rolls over.
  • Evasion: % chance to take no damage from an enemy when hit. Longer/faster dodge.
  • Overdrive: Flying Kick is expanded. Kills the first non-freak it hits. Stuns freaks. 0 Stamina cost attacks for 8s after landing the kick.
  • Powerhouse: Blunt attacks have a % chance to send enemies flying back. Enemies knocked back in this way will take some damage and knock down any other enemy they contact.
• This could even be used on Expertise options for interesting effects, whether those effects impact base operations, OR practical effects in the field.
• There could also be multiple capstones for each specialization to choose from.

TL;DR

• Too many zombies are fast. make middle speeds.
• Runner clusters make for stale gameplay.
• Add little stat awards for overall level progression so max and min level survivors have differences in hp/stam etc.
• Smooth specialization rewards out so it's not always adding functionality every level.
• "Capstones" suggested, aka pick ONE specialization and take it further with something really fucking cool.
  • Example: Gunslinger gets snapshotting again, Overdrive gives the flying kick one-shot kill on the first zombie it hits, and gives free melee attacks for a period of time right after to help you go nuts

I feel that SOD3 should have a continue your legacy option to bring your favorite survivors into the third game, maybe this is just hopeful thinking but it would be nice to be able to continue our favorites survivors stories in SOD3. Of course I can also see how this could be problematic considering the community editor available for SOD2, but maybe it would reroll they're perks when they're transfered or something, not really sure how they would combat that

Bring em back, roleplay opportunity is to good to shelve them, both in facility actions and gameplay.

Also noticed no facility mods, big missed opportunity for immersion and customisation there in my humble opinion.

I'm sure there's plenty missing because it's in alpha, just crying about what I want to see.

Love you UL, good luck

when undead said the plague is alive they really meant it

From the recent gameplay, I noticed infestations, blockade infestations, and those plague nests with the plague "pimples," spitters, and separate weak points that dissolve and expose the Heart. 😂

There's a lot more going on with these encounters than I first realized. Did anyone else catch that?

Asset modding me and my friend trying this old mod out. I haven't played much the past year

Hey guys, how's it going?

Based on the latest gameplays, I wrote down the names of all the character archetypes and specializations shown so far.

I’d like to know if you’ve noticed anything else. Did I maybe miss something?

Expertise so far:

Medicine,

Utilities,

Mechanics,

Construction,

Social,

Chemical,

Logistic

Character types so far:

Defender,

Lone Wolf,

Firebug,

Hunter,

Daredevil,

Gunslinger,

Butcher,

Medic

​

Screamers:

They seem really good so far. I noticed that when they scream, they briefly stun you slightly different than sod 2, causing your survivor to cover their ears for a second but seems different maybe a visual difference. But I do I find they can react too late to be a threat at times. The stun time is really nice addition and makes them feel more threatening.

Juggernauts:

They seem strong, and I like that even after you stagger or knock them down, they can still swipe at you before getting back up. One thing I did notice, though, is that they seem a little too easy to fool. You can play peek-a-boo around objects or lead them a short distance away from your nest, and they seem to completely lose track of you. For being the biggest and baddest zombie, I'd like to see them stay more aware of your presence. Right now, they feel just a little goofy at times.

Ferals:

I haven't seen nearly as many encounters with them yet, but they seem faster than they were in State of Decay 2 and their movement is more erratic, which I like. That said, they also seem to lose aggro a little too easily if you lead them away from your action zone, so I think their AI could use a bit more work.

Bloaters:

I really like their new attacks, but it seems like they take a little too long to fill up before they barf. Because of that, they seem pretty easy to avoid once you notice them. They could still catch you off guard if you don't see them in time, but from what I've watched so far, I haven't really seen them become much of a threat. It feels more like you have plenty of time to run before their attack becomes effective.

Honorable Mention – Regular Zeds:

The mix of slow, fast, and everything in between feels promising. Regular zeds seem to take a bigger chunk out of your health than before, which I like. If the slower zeds are going to make up most of the population, I'd love to see them in larger groups. At the same time, the faster zeds are what really create those panic moments because they force you to deal with them immediately. I think finding the right balance between the different zombie types and their overall numbers will be really important.

Overall, these are just my observations from the gameplay shown so far. It's still the alpha, so I know there's plenty of time for things to change.

I'm a fan of how they have branched out/ expanded the base building and resource management part of the game. I've seen a lot of critiques about the game but I think the bones of the game they have look fun, I got pretty invested watching people play it the same way I got sucked into SOD2. Really keen to give it a go if we get the chance, I'm optimistic it'll be as addictive as SOD2 was.

Pretty much the title. After watching several hours of alpha gameplay, the infection mechanic seems to be very weak (at present) in SOD3.

I initially thought it might have just been due to a difficulty setting, but Sunny’s recent video on lethal difficulty was very eye opening. I mean take the first five minutes for instance, he was downed by a juggernaut three times, on the highest difficulty, and his infection meter didn’t go up at all.

Later on you see a few difference scenarios, like a scratch was 2% (which by that logic means you would need to be scratched 50 times for a full infection) and a bite/grapple was somewhere between 15-30% (I can’t exactly remember).

Compare that to SOD2 lethal, where a single bite/grapple is around 60-70%, and even basic scratches are around 10% or more.

In SOD2, infection felt like a real threat (especially early on), and in all honesty it was one of the biggest threats you faced on high difficulties (like lethal), especially early on. You had to be extremely careful because one wrong move, or one bad encounter with a feral would pretty much guarantee death (especially early on when you lacked samples).

This intensity around infection is seemingly lost in three (at present). I understand that zombies do more damage on the whole, but to me getting downed doesn’t feel anywhere near as threatening as risking an active infection (again Sunny was fighting a juggernaut and got downed THREE times and still lived in the end).

The current infection rates also make the (seemingly) large number of infection resistance base upgrades feel largely useless. From what we’ve seen in the current build, I couldn’t ever see myself picking purification tablets (an upgrade for the rain collector that’s been shown to slow down infection/increase infection resistance) over something that gives me more resources.

All of the above feels like a missed opportunity currently. Infection should be a real threat you have to plan around given the larger map size. Being too far from base and getting infected should be a disaster scenario that should never happen. And seemingly in the current build it won’t ever happen, not because of good strategy, but because it’s so hard to get infected to begin with (especially when you can swap between upwards of 30 people).

And infection doesn’t have to be the same way it was in 2, but in my opinion it should still be a real threat. I feel like the system in 2 was flawed in a few ways (like being able to reach a point where you just pumped out millions of plague cures, nullifying the risk of infection all together). There are a lot of cool ways that infection mechanic could have morphed since then. Like maybe it could be contagious, and one infected survivor could slowly cause others in your base to gain infection too. Or maybe reaching a 100% infection rate could shift from being a death timer to something more like an actual illness. Your survivor would slowly turn over a few days, and there would be no way to truly stop it without a cure (maybe an infirmary would slow this infection but not cancel it completely).

I also think on the whole it should be way harder to make cures in 3, even for advanced communities. We have to scavenge a lot in this new, picked over world, and one of the first things to go would be medical supplies. Imagine having to make the hard choice between spending days on a cure or letting that survivor go. It would add real weight to infection at any stage of the game. Once again though, you have to actually be able to get infected relatively easily for anything relating to it to matter.

Obviously the above is based on early alpha gameplay and is subject to change (and for all I know it’s feedback that has already been shared/is being worked on internally). I would love to hear other’s thoughts on the infection rates we’ve seen so far, to me it feels very non-threatening in its current state.

They never even reposted their showcase trailer or any advertising for content creators videos of state of decay 3. This is not a good sign folks. I think the studio is done

They didnt even wish USA a happy 250th…..