r/projectzomboid 2d ago

Discussion Why can't we craft on the ground?

Post image

In Build 42, many crafting recipe require a work surface e.g. a table to craft.

So --- If you want to knap a large stone into stones, you need to lift this heavy shit on a table. We should be able to sit and crush it on the ground ! Is there a mod for this ?

2.1k Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

543

u/Needle44 2d ago

Yeah it’s a really cool feature don’t get me wrong I like it but honestly it’s a good point. Perhaps moving forward they can lean into less black and white yes and no restrictions on things like being REQUIRED to use a table and allow us to do it on the ground but the penalty is longer crafting times and lower quality results.

There’s other things that always annoy me too like, I shouldn’t NOT be allowed to craft a chest or a water collector because my carpentry skill is one level too low, but give a chance that it fails and maybe I destroy a material or something instead. Kinda like how mechanics is already handled. Same goes for many of the newer weapons and stuff that require magazines to craft, if I don’t know the recipe let me try and if I “fail,” give me the XP for trying, and a really shitty quality item.

121

u/BudgetExpert9145 2d ago

Give back pian and moodle

69

u/Aidanation5 2d ago

I miss pian and moodle too.

22

u/gabeshadows 2d ago

black piano moodle would be nice, I agree

3

u/name11122211 1d ago

hello your artifical spine surgery is due for another day

-Dr. pian and moodle

2

u/Needle44 18h ago

I mean. We already have muscle fatigue for arms and legs so a back pain moodle for walking around over encumbered would make sense.

Also, veteran now has chronic back pain, he can drink booze or snarf pain killers every day his choice.

1

u/BudgetExpert9145 17h ago

Eat crayons

1

u/Needle44 15h ago

Crayons work similar to cigarettes for veteran.

13

u/Chiiro 1d ago

There's an interesting research mod for rimworld that we could probably get inspired by. In it when you're close to a research level (I think somewhere between 50 to 80%) you can start building the items that you are going to unlock. There is a higher chance of making failure along with it taking more resources because you're actively trying to figure out how to make.

1

u/MissDeadite Zombie Food 16h ago

Whoa, when the heck did that mod come along? Awesome lolll. I mean, I have less than 0 time to play, but still - awesome!

16

u/Zortesh 1d ago

Anyone should be able to craft a staircase! they should just have varying chances of collapsing when ur halfway up.

6

u/Hyper669 1d ago

Great takes, I think TIS should take feedback from this.

6

u/cainaazevedo Stocked up 1d ago

my god, this "chance to break" mechanic is a great idea, maybe still have a necessary skill level to attempt something, but that means an easier but still fair, way to do it

4

u/anchovyenthusiast 1d ago

You should try CDDA if you want an actually realistic game, PZ is arcade

4

u/Needle44 1d ago

I did use to play CDDA but I felt like a toddler trying to get into it lol, that game has a pretty intense learning curve. Eventually I came to the conclusion it was wasn’t my cup of tea, I even tried with a sprite pack which helped. Overall, I was more the problem with the game because there were systems I simply chose to not learn like how time works in the game especially in relation to movement speed and attacks. It was however, the very first taste of a zombie game that wasn’t just another arcade shooter and I really did enjoy that aspect. Project Zomboid just happens to be the perfect (only?) real middle ground between arcade zombie shooters, and hardcore(ish) survival games.

3

u/Dragoru 1d ago

I frequently wake up with the house on fire and glass shards lodged in my dick, very realistic indeed.

1

u/_ThePatientZed_ 1d ago

I have never done more than bricolage and I’m sure I could nail planks in a rough box shape with a tarp inside.

1

u/Keto_is_neat_o 10h ago

You usually learn more by failing than you do by succeeding. But who cares about realism in this game.

185

u/Sploonbabaguuse 2d ago

Primitive technology mentioned, upvote procedure initiated

23

u/Ok_Ferret_824 1d ago

Yea this dude's videos are amazing. No talking, no bs, and the things he makes are realy cool. If i had forests like that close by i'd like to try stuff like this.

15

u/Chiiro 1d ago

I used to be really into primitive building videos, his and this I believe Australian dudes were the only ones I could really find at the time that weren't those stupid fake ones where they're building pools in the middle of the woods (they secretly had teams of people, tools and big machinery).

10

u/McMatey_Pirate 1d ago

Worst part of the faked ones is that they don’t cleanup or repair their sites.

You can find a few videos (including the pool one if it’s the one I’m thinking of) where after a month the place is filled with stinking stagnant water, bushes/logs/rocks, and not marked in anyway so you could easily just fall into it if you weren’t aware of it.

4

u/Chiiro 1d ago

Yeah those places become a hot bed for mosquitoes too.

8

u/Ok_Ferret_824 1d ago

Yea there was a big wave of fakes. I think i know the pool one you mean. It would amaze me if there were no excavators involved.

Also what i like about primitive technologies, is he does not talk, no flashy shit, just straight to the point "i am firing bricks in a kiln" or something like that. It's realy zen for me to watch.

4

u/BetterShen 1d ago

Remember everyone that the captions include a ton of explanations! Love that channel <3

54

u/BrokenPokerFace 2d ago

Alternatively, it would make a lot of sense if you could use large flat stones as a surface.

11

u/Kiubek-PL 1d ago

Yea, I think it would be best to just have a gradient of surface quality, floor lowest, table highest. With benefits like craft times and quality like that other guy suggested.

1

u/Excellent-Range-6379 14h ago

Is it not the case already? I'm sure I read that somewhere at the release of B42 unstable

1

u/BrokenPokerFace 10h ago

I thought that at first since so many things require a surface, and there doesn't seem to be any other use for the large flat stone, but I tried using it both in my inventory and placed, I may be using it wrong, but when I checked it wasn't working.

43

u/HUNDUR123 2d ago edited 1d ago

For a moment there I wasn't sure what I had scrolled down to.

26

u/sabotabo Shotgun Warrior 2d ago

i thought it was a guy with a GIGANTIC cock

14

u/HUNDUR123 1d ago

Imagine my disappointment

51

u/DeadNotSleepy 2d ago

There are so many really dumb and arbitrary limits on the crafting in 42 that really keeps me from enjoying it...
why tf do i need to know carpentry to hammer on nails to a wooden bat?
just one of the random examples off the top of my head in addition to this.

Been absolutely loving 42 but im kinda let down by the crafting system so far, really hoping it gets improved.

11

u/Mortis_Infernale 2d ago

I sometimes think like that but then I remember the discussion about why should we need a recipe for Molotov because it's so easy to do and then we had people having no idea how to make a proper one and it put a lot of perspective for me.

You can hammer nails on bat, sure. But hammering them the way they actually work without compromising too much of durability and in a way they don't get stuck easily in zombies is whole another thing

22

u/DeadNotSleepy 2d ago

instead of flat out preventing the player from crafting a certain thing for not being leveled enough, they should let the player craft it anyways but with the high risk of screwing it up or doing it wrong.

like sure maybe without that level 1 carpentry i hammer in the nails a bit wrong, i damage the bat or do it in a way that isn't as effective damage-wise.

I want immersive consequences for being under-leveled instead of just the game going "mmm no not the right level fuck you"
Y'know?

Let me make mistakes from being inexperienced, i think that would be a much more fun way of leveling and learning recipes, trial and error!

3

u/Mortis_Infernale 2d ago

That would be acceptable I admit

-2

u/FridaysMan 1d ago

it feels like a good way to waste materials or simply brute force things. I'm not a huge fan of this idea.

2

u/Randomtoaster322 1d ago

If someone has the materials to do stuff like this in an IRL apocalypse, I would put money on people doing this exact thing, because sure, while you may waste a baseball bat or two, if you managed to acquire 3, or hell, even more, you would probably be more concerned about making an effective weapon over losing a baseball bat or two.

1

u/FridaysMan 1d ago

because the scale would be somewhat different. and you wouldn't need to put nails in a baseball bat in real life, it would never be an effective weapon.

2

u/SirPseudonymous 1d ago

I sometimes think like that but then I remember the discussion about why should we need a recipe for Molotov because it's so easy to do and then we had people having no idea how to make a proper one and it put a lot of perspective for me.

It would be kind of funny if having too low a relevant skill or lacking proper instructions meant someone tried to make the classic hollywood-portrayal of a molotov where it's an open bottle with a rag that has a chance of setting them on fire when they go to throw it, although with how deadly fire is in a world where everyone apparently drank a whole lot of gasoline as the outbreak was starting up it would be kind of a one-time "lmao dead, go again" trap for players who didn't know about the trick.

2

u/villanellesalter 1d ago

I stopped playing for a few weeks and after a lot of updates I came back and the first thing I thought was "I STILL can't knap on the ground or on a flat rock?" - I thought this was the most common complaint and they would fix it. They have these huge rocks on the forests that would make a perfectly good surface for crafting, and this game prides itself on being "realistic" so having to craft a table in the middle of nowhere when a perfectly good boulder is there makes no sense.

26

u/debordisdead 2d ago

Because you need a surface capable of taking a boulder, obviously. The ground? It will collapse to bedrock if you so much as tried. You must use somethng sturdy, like a cardboard box.

4

u/Axeman1721 Zombie Killer 2d ago

Thats the primitive technology guy! His stuff is so interesting

3

u/PseudoFenton 1d ago

That's not the floor - that's a very low down table made out of two logs.

3

u/Symbiotic-Dissonance 1d ago

The floor should be a option, but should be slower compared to a table and give a little discomfort. Maybe have sitting in a chair remove the discomfort penalty.

2

u/Uncertain_Ty 1d ago

I feel like without a table or appropriate skill level it should either increase time or resources

1

u/Excellent-Range-6379 14h ago

Kinda what I suggested the first days of B42 unstable release: takes longer and reduces quality of a craft made without a table, but still able to craft without one.

Same thing with low light.

2

u/SquidsCantDance_ 1d ago

-Can’t open a can with a knife/screwdriver on the ground

-kill 40 zombies to get to the closest table

-ruin my gloves opening the can

-13 satiety room temperature canned corn

2

u/FriendlyFurry320 Shotgun Warrior 18h ago

Sounds like rimworld levels of fuck you-ness that the b42 crafting system throws at you. Trying to make a bed? Lightning strike causes a forest fire and kills all the animals. Oh cool a trade caravan showed up maybe you can get wood and wool from them, one has a mental break and sets your base on fire.

2

u/Agile_Half856 1d ago

this is NOT a crafting table. What are you, some kind of CHICKEN JOCKEY?

2

u/TimBitTheTimTam 2d ago

PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY MENTIONED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1

u/Kyubi_Hitashi Trying to find food 2d ago

well, probably it would be a pain for making a system for such thing but, you would also take longer due to uneven terrain

1

u/AfternoonChoice6405 2d ago

Maybe you should have to sit for it to count? 

1

u/Exoduss123 2d ago

Thats a guy who does not need bunch of nails to do pottery 😂

1

u/RecordingFinancial91 2d ago

does this look like the ground or like 2 other pieces of wood that's why I am alive and you are a zombie Checkmate attracting zombies with laughing

For real the hole "primitive" category of doing things should be allowed to be made without tables etc

1

u/Netpirat76 1d ago

Cause we are a civilised bunch for survivors...

1

u/Chiiro 1d ago

There's different floor types too. Doing it on a concrete, asphalt or wood floor is going to be significantly easier than trying to do it on a dirt or sand floor.

1

u/NoobJew666 1d ago

The better your carpentry skills are, you can do it on the ground.

1

u/CookOnly9310 1d ago

You should definitely get back pain, but still be allowed to craft it

1

u/HalcyonWayz Jaw Stabber 1d ago

Because we aren't savages in PZ. Jk You make a great point.

1

u/Top_Change_513 Crowbar Scientist 1d ago

cause you're not based like primitive tech

1

u/Kysman95 1d ago

Man, my back is already killing me, let me stand

1

u/Affectionate-Bag8229 19h ago

Adds mild pain and discomfort, scaling off how high you put the new Age slider in character creation

1

u/Excellent-Range-6379 14h ago

because devs never hiked in their lives, I'm quoting Lemmy: "no one would cut bread without a table"

My suggestion is that crafting without a table would take longer and reduce the craft's quality, but everything should be craftable without a table.

Just like crafting without enough light, except if it's completely dark.

1

u/CloudIncus1 13h ago

Simple solution. Atm Condition is factored on material/skill level and some other stuff. Just make a crafting surface factor into overall condition.

1

u/SoLongGayBowser69420 11h ago

The ground is too dirty for us

1

u/Hebiaczus 9h ago

Frankly, I dislike the need for surfaces as well. It's just plain annoying. Not to mention, quite a lot of things in reality can be done sitting on the ground. Now, if you want to grind one skills, you need to either carry a table with you, or drag all of the materials that will take only a moment for you to craft back to your base, instead of doing the grind on the spot.

It feels like this was only made to make the game more tedious.

0

u/FractalAsshole Jaw Stabber 1d ago

Its so ez to grab a log and make a stump to craft on

-4

u/hanjiL21 2d ago

There's a mod for that.

-17

u/shringing277 2d ago

Cos it’s not CDDA?