cataclysm dark days ahead- You just cant win

[Deitus]

Bottom post of the previous page:

double poost:

new build is
>single pool (freeform just feels like cheating)
>evacuee
>swat officer
>addictive personality, lightweight, thin-skinned, trigger-happy, truth-teller, ugly, weak stomach
>animal empathy, fleet-footed, night vision, quick, self-defense (krav)
>strength 2, dex 1, perception 1
>dodging (2)

good/bad/ugly?

[D&B]

You could take heavy sleeper and glass jaw instead of lightweight and thin skinned.

if you make a knife spear you can forego taking points in dodging and take more in intelligence (for book reading.)

Ideally just practice with one newly made set of clothes instead of making new clothes. Level up your fabrication level by making fishhooks and then make a wood needle and grind tailoring away.

[Deitus]

You could take heavy sleeper and glass jaw instead of lightweight and thin skinned.

if you make a knife spear you can forego taking points in dodging and take more in intelligence (for book reading.)

Ideally just practice with one newly made set of clothes instead of making new clothes. Level up your fabrication level by making fishhooks and then make a wood needle and grind tailoring away.

glass jaw just seems like an overall terrible thing to have regardless of points, as well as heavy sleeper since you just sleeper harder and longer but still need to sleep just as often. are they not as bad as they seem?

also, if im going krav should i even bother with a knife spear? im unfamiliar with how martial arts work, is the wiki up to date on it or can you give me a rough outline?

and finally, what do you mean by practicing with one newly made set of clothes? like, disassembling and then reassembling them? im not sure what you mean here. and after i get a wood needle what should i make to grind tailoring with?

[Wyzack]

When you use a tailoring kit on any piece of gear, even a fully repaired one, you can try to improve it. At low levels you destroy it pretty fast bt as long as you have thread you can get xp. Honestly I usually just go directly to town unless I am playing a wilderness character. I will write a small guide soon, do you have epeirmental z levels on?

[Wyzack]

Also static or dynamic spawn and if static is wander spawns on

[Drynwyn]

Let me put together a quick "starter build", deitus, using single pool

"Glass Jaw" is a good trait to take for points because of relative limb hit chances- you're usually much more likely to die from running out of torso hit points then head hit points, so the odds of the extra 20% mattering are pretty low.


Okay, very hard to kill starter build:

Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, Int 8, Per 8.

Profession: Traceur/Traceuse. This costs 3 points, gives you Dodge 4, the Parkour Expert trait, and a whole bunch of storage space right in your starter gear.
Negative Traits: Animal Discord (Natural animals essentially can't land hits on you), Glass Jaw (See above), Chemical Imbalance (it's not particularly impactful and actually often helpful early game since one of the most common imbalance effects heats you up, which is good half the time), Truth Teller, Trigger Happy (automatics aren't that much better than semi-auto anyway), Wool Allergy (very little clothing is wool), other traits to taste.

Positive Traits: Parkour Expert (Free from profession. You can easily dance along a counter while zombies follow you, moving back after each swing while they never get a chance to take a swing back- not that they could hit you), Night Vision, Fleet-Footed.

Skills: 1 each in melee, Tailoring, and survival- dump everything else into Dodge.

Depending on what other negative traits you take, your Dodge should be between 8 and 10, since the +4 (which is stupidly high) from Traceur applies as a flat bonus (i.e, you still buy dodge as though you had no points in it, even though you really have 4.) For context, the highest I've EVER gotten dodge after character creation is 7 (very few things are difficult enough to advance dodge past 6.) You're starting as high as 9. Run away from threats, you're faster than them on both rough and even ground, and laugh when things swing at you because they will *never actually land a hit*. You only fear fire and electricity. (also guns, until you find an Uncanny Reflexes bionic.)

[Deitus]

werent z levels supposed to be super buggy right now? i think ill pass on them for the time being other than that my world is:
>base game, craftable gun pack, bright nights, makeshift items mod, more survival tools, dinomod, beta national guard camp, more locations, boats, vehicle additions pack, tanks and other vehicles
>default world gen options (no npc's, no wander spawns, etc)

ill also try out what you suggested, drynwyn. im still really confused on martial arts even after reading the wiki. if you guys are on steam i could just add you on there if you wanted a more streamlined way of me annoying you with simplistic questions.

[Wyzack]

When raiding towns it is super important to pick your point of entry very carefully. Certain areas in cities are much more enemy dense and therefore more difficult. At the beginning your best bet is to raid a ton of houses. Normal houses often have really good loot, and special basements like gun nut or prepper basements can be a goldmine for items.

Always approach a city towards the most isolated groups of houses you can. Cities often generate with little suburb areas containing nothing but houses, and they are usually a safer bet especially for daytime looting. Smash a back window of a house to get in, stay in the darkness. Approach windows from the sides and {c}lose the curtains to prevent zeds in the streets from seeing you. If you get spotted by a few zombies pull them into a window frame and fight them one or two at a time. Find a house with a nice basement and make it a mini base. Stash loot there and make a pile of blankets/clothes so you can sleep in it.

I'm Wyzack on steam, feel free to add me if you want

[D&B]

I'm a little iffy about breaking windows since you can make a makeshift crowbar real easy and I think opening the window with it makes no noise.

With a makeshift spear you can f to hit from a 2 tile range. This is good for the fat zombies since infections are a bitch to deal with.

Tailoring is easy to train and a good investment. If you can find a grocery shop, try to get shopping carts and G grab them. The ability to move lots of stuff makes looting easier.

When raiding cities and houses you can do it during the day, but the lighting that allows you to see zombies also lets them see you. The inverse is true at night too. If you can't see them, often they can't see you either.

Always, always, always try to butcher zombies. Treat them like lings. If you don't get rid of them, they will come back.

[Wyzack]

you can also mash the corpses, but this can damage your weapon and i dont think it gives any survival skill. Also drains stamina really fast.

Smashing windows does make a bit of noise but i dont think i have ever aggrod a zed that way, other than ones in the house i would have had to fight anyways

[TheWiznard]

dinomod might make some things people are telling you about zombies a little wrong and/or more difficult. I don't think it only adds dinosaurs but also changes zombie behavior

[lntigracy]

The only thing it changes about non-dino shit is it modifies the sewer and swamp spawnpools to have dinosaurs, and adds a map feature that spawns dinosaurs.

t. guy who read the github files

[Super Aggro Crag]

Deitus if youre still having trourble you should cheat

[John_Oxford]

im disapointed that for how much you people play you havent suggested this

if you want a easier start but not to easy but manageable

evacuee
scoundrel
and take eskrima as a fighting style

use your drugs if you get fucked by moose being moose and kicking your shit in
or take animal empathy and dont get your shit kicked in by moose

take a point in melee or dodge to help even more

switchblade is fucking good but it breaks eventually, you can use other shit like knives and what not that you find or make after it breaks

don't wear handwraps and gloves and glove liners if your trying to stab shit.

make -SURE- your layers are in the correct order, i don't remember the keybind but make sure its glove liner < glove

you should be starting in spring anyways where it isn't super mega ultra cold

also try save whoring if you aren't super duper good at the game its a good way to get a start going at the beginning of the game

[Drynwyn]

moose ain't shit

they are feared because they have high attack damage, but their accuracy is pretty poor.

if you have at least Dodging 4, they can barely hit you

Dodging is, IMO, the most valuable skill to get at char creation because:

-It's hard to raise from 0 to not 0 in game (because you get killed).

-It's nigh impossible to raise to values higher than 6 in game.

As a result, points 0-4 in Dodge are a valuable investment, and points above 6 are similar to Traits and other things that can't be reliably picked up after character creation.

[RandolfTheMeh]

Butchered a shit ton of bioweapons, got like 8+ Mk. II Power augments, and a bunch of other random ones, none too powerful, but things like the fingerpick and torsion ratchets. Had to drive a looted luxury RV across the map, since my puny bike couldn't carry all my sick loot, and absolutely trashed it on all the stuff I ran into. Finally get back, and get started prepping the procedure to install the bionics- took three-four codeine pills, took an aspirin, drank a few swigs of fruit wine- then my heart stopped.

fug : DDD

EDIT: FUCKING SMILIES RUINING MY EMOTES

[ColonicAcid]

i dont fuck with purp thats the only reason yams died

[Wyzack]

Take two codeine and wait, once your painkiller slowdown hits ten percent you can install. The restriction is fucking retarded anyways, given that the game already has a system for simulating pain, you can willingly inflict pain on yourself in other ways like cauterizing wounds or stepping in lava, installing cmbs doesnt actually increase your pain level and in their descriptions cbms explicitly state that they are entirely self contained and have everything you need to install the bionic. It's not consistant, it's not realistic and it's not fun. Kevin just refuses to backpedal at all on it because he for whatever reason seriously feels like it needs to be in the game

[Super Aggro Crag]

Kevins a fag

[DemonFiren]

it's scientifically proven that people named kevin don't get very far in life

[Deitus]

FUCKING COYOTES

I HAD A MEDKIT AND SOLDERING IRON AND SEWING KIT AND EVERYTHING

but hey look a farm with a water pump

sure hope i dont die immediately while trying to clear it out hahahahaha

[D&B]

Managed to melee solo a hulk with a zweihander and mid level melee and dodge skills.

Stained my pants a little tbh.

[Drynwyn]

Hulks aren't all that bad tbh. I find shocker zombies worse.

Just walk backwards along a counter (if you have Parkour Expert) or sprint around rough terrain. It's pretty easy to get hits on hulks without letting them swing back.

[Wyzack]

Shockers suck but once you get diaelectric capacitance CBM they are easy modo and a good source of power storage CBMS. Acid zeds on the other hand remain deadly forever unless you wear a survivor wetsuit below your other armor which adds shitloads of encumbrance

[Super Aggro Crag]

Dont stand in acid or electric clouds idiot

[Super Aggro Crag]

Things wot should be added

Shoes that light up when you walk for bonus styles. If they run out of charge they act like regular sneakers.

Glow in the dark t-shirts that make you more visible at night but give styles and vision

Bladed hats for throwing

[Wyzack]

That last one is hilariously easy to code, even I could do it. Just take a bowler hat or fedora and modify its throw damage

[Super Aggro Crag]

Bolas to tangle up zombies so you can stab em

Bombolas that tangle around a zombie then explode a few rounds later

Katana scissors for cutting zombies in half

Monowheels

Steampunk clothing. They require goggles and copper to make but provide no eye protection whatsoever

Mannequins in stores. Slather meat on them for a zombie bait.

Realdolls. Slather meat on them for a zombie bait you can use for a morale bonus.

Boomerangs

Gun that shoots sawblades that pierce zombies so you can kill a bunch of them in a hallway.

[Super Aggro Crag]

Compressed gas knives so when you stabs a zombie it blows up

[Drynwyn]

I never found acid zeds to be particularly bothersome. The acid is harmful, but they're fragile and easily shot down. They consume a little ammo and dropping them makes noise, but they haven't given me any serious grief.

[Wyzack]

If you are in a confined space or they get a lucky shot spitters can cause some major damage to your legs and even break them, if you have to move several squares to escape the acid pool. On characters of mine that reach late mid game spitters are usually the only basic zed type that can still cause me any significant damage

[Super Aggro Crag]

Dragon mutagen

[DemonFiren]

keep going crag

[Super Aggro Crag]

Giant hamster balls to roll over zombies in

[XSI]

I think Dead Rising did that at some point

[Super Aggro Crag]

Giant craftable drill for impaling zombies and drilling through walls

[Alipheese]

Found this game via xhuis and a few others i forget on the comfy discord and i love it. But jesus i cannot for the life of me find out how to cook.

[D&B]

Light a fire and open the crafting menu, then switch to the cooking tab and select what you can make.

[Wyzack]

depending on what you are making you will need a certain cooking level, all the proper ingredients, a heat source, something to cook with like a pot or pan, and in the case of many nonperishable foods like oatmeal and rice some water as well

[Super Aggro Crag]

You can cook a meat with a splintered wood or a bone skewer and boil a water with an empty tin can. These lightweight tools will allow you to sustain yourself while you search for more effective tools

[Super Aggro Crag]

Gastropod mutation tree. Get slime ropes, a tongue that can be used as a saw, scent vision, a curly shell, and slip out of zambie grasp easy. Beware of salt intolerance

[D&B]

That already exists

[Super Aggro Crag]

Are you serious?

[D&B]

http://cddawiki.chezzo.com/cdda_wiki/in ... Cephalopod

[DemonFiren]

gastropods =! cephalopods

[Super Aggro Crag]

That's a nautilus not a snail you dumb FUCK

Dont you even DARE tell me it'd be redundant in a game with Beast, Feline, and Lupine trees!

[D&B]

Meh honestly I don't care about mutations.

Waiting for the devs to code weight lifting so I can consume 10 lbs of protein powder in a day and work out enough to leave humanity behind.

[Super Aggro Crag]

The metro 2033 bicycle gun is pretty good for killing jabberwocks

Its almost fall of year two and I haven't found a single science lab OR sewage plant. I've had to resort to making tainted tornado for that sweet sweet mutation and I got big bulgy lizard eyes and can't stop screaming. Good thing I wear a mask to muffle my voice/become immune to all the gas bombs I make to FUCK ANTS

[Iatots]

static or dinamic spawn?

[Super Aggro Crag]

Dynamic rules

[Armhulen]

Static, it's great to actually finally clearing out a town.