This is written by an untypical player who often plays as a survivor who builds an elaborate central base (with outlying temporary bases) and a fleet of vehicles. Mostly classic zombies. Mostly bow. 0.C is the release that I have played the most, by far. There is nothing of value in this post to satisfied players of 0.F.
I’ve been playing 0.C Cooper again. It has been a plus, mostly, compared to playing 0.F. Higher density of productive activity. Less busywork. Less emphasis on feelings - focus/morale & weariness. In 0.C, one can get things done sooner with less real-life tedium. Crafting advances quicker. There are fewer barriers, e.g., no proficiencies. There are fewer steps to disassemble damaged vehicles and to assemble experimental creations. Those who seek to be creative are presented with fewer obstacles.
The things in 0.C that piss me off can be fixed through options and jsons. 0.F locks up feelings and proficiencies enough that satisfactory fixes were beyond my ability.
HOWEVER, the 0.F improvements in the user interface are huge. The user interface improvements spoiled me to the point that going back to 0.C has been very painful in this regard.
Of course going back from 0.F will be giving up many positive improvements in addition to the interface. But some of those improvements are meaningless to me. Bows have been redone a couple times but are no more fun than in 0.C. Vehicle control is different but is it really more fun? Washing clothes? Mysterious hunger? Nested containers are handled well compared to what I’ve seen elsewhere. (Thanks for letting us fix the worst part of the new containers by editing jsons.) But for me, the impacts of nested containers are mixed.
Still, there are enough positive improvements that setting aside 0.F for a previous release makes sense only if you are frustrated by the tedium, the new barriers to creating things, and the emphasis upon feelings. Becoming comfy with 0.C is likely more difficult for newbies. The vast majority of players who are attracted to CDDA are going to be happier with 0.F.
Focus and weariness in 0.F are realistic. In my particular case, increased game realism has reduced my real-life focus and increased the weariness to continue playing for long periods. No more all-nighters.
In the past 4+ decades since the beginning of the PC there have been only 2 or 3 single-player games that have consumed more of my time than CDDA. Thanks for creating a fun game and good luck.