Signal Void - the Good, the Gad and the Ugly

[ChillPlayer]

Hi all,

I've finished the Quest last week and had quite some fun for the most part. Here are my thoughts about the latest expansion based on my Stalker experience (yours might be different thanks to RNG gods/difficulty setting). My route was: Airfield -> BRR -> FM -> BI -> FM -> MT -> HRV -> MT -> ML -> PV -> CH -> PV -> ML -> FM -> BRR -> Airfield

The Good

• it provides real incentive to explore the world (again) other than simply collecting items
• it does not feel too arbitrary and fits well into survival/sandbox play
• the voice acting of the reports is superb and unexpected, this was the first time in over a thousand hours that someone actually "talked" to me in survival
• the story itself is intriguing albeit still very confusing
• I love the new bunker design
• new food items one can carry around without attracting predators
• aurora spawn times seem to be drastically increased while questing (not 100% sure that this isn't true without quest)
• bunkers are near the map entrance
• items needed for repair are for the most part near by (see The Ugly)

The Bad

• personally, I didn't like that the Radio Mechanic is coupled to Auroras/Glimmer Fog (which is even worse, no visibility)
• the bunker in Pleasant Valley is too close to a bear den
• MT and PV require you to haul a 20kg battery over quite some stretch and one has to either walk really slow or strip and track back
• cache placement is often in or one has to cross through predator territory but the loot they contain are rarley worth the risk, especially post 100 days survived
• wolf encounters are almost unavoidable to reach some places (Tower in FM), I don't like wasting bullets on animals I don't intend to eat
• I didn't like that the last bunker had me track all the way back to the starting point

The Ugly

• Carter Hydro Dam, the most obvious place I would've expected to find wires and fuses in all maps, did not contain any of them
• Up until PV I've found items necessary for repair either close by or brought some from previous bunkers. But PV was a real let down, I was still missing a wire and couldn't find wires or fuses in all the obvious places Pleasant Valley (Radio Hut, Barn, Farmstead, Crossing) and eventually had to go to CH's Quonset Garage to finally get the missing wire. It seems the game expected me to reach PV via CH but that feels like twice the distance crossing way more predators then reaching PV via Winding River (which exits near Radio Hut).

So that's it, as said, all in all I had good fun for almost a week, playing a few hours after work every day and I already miss having an incentive to continue to play, I am looking forward to (hopefully) more signals to find and tales to hear.

Side note: as a seasoned player who on this playthrough has already looted all of the maps in this scavanger hunt before Signal Void was released, I would've preferred that it were limited to the new maps in the DLC, even if it would've ment to delay the release to after more maps are released. I think the Signals are a great way to have players explore the new maps and I hope that future tales will be centered around the DLC.

Edited April 17, 2023 by ChillPlayer

[Serenity]

I found a battery in the radio hut. And had more than enough fuses and wires for everything. Took me ages to find a hacksaw though, so scrap metal of all things was sometimes an issue.

The thing I don't like with the backtracking to the airfield is that it seems so arbitrary. There is nothing in the notes you find that it indicate it. It's just kind of implied maybe, but the goal appears in your journal for no real reason.

 

aurora spawn times seem to be drastically increased while questing (not 100% sure that this isn't true without quest)

I think there is a scripted aurora the night after you repair a transmitter

Edited April 17, 2023 by Serenity

[ChillPlayer]

7 hours ago, Serenity said:

I found a battery in the radio hut. And had more than enough fuses and wires for everything.

Yes I know that others had better RNG luck but I've also read from people experiencing the same as I have, here and on reddit. I wish they would've limited the RNG to places within the region with the tower, so that if you picked up everything in the first bunker you'd find the rest in the region with the 2nd radio tower and so on. And again, Carter Hydro Dam without any items besides having tons of cables lying around everywhere is quite odd.