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Leal
Oct 2, 2009


Don't know whats the bigger surprise, the ambulance practically exploding or the zombie that got ejected into my character.

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Xand_Man
Mar 2, 2004

If what you say is true
Wutang might be dangerous


Tin Tim posted:

Sure but to get that string I need to go back into zombie areas again and I don't think I'm in the shape for that right now. Still in mild pain, focus constantly below 50, unhappy, missing a health bar on every limb. Just seems like I should keep it safe for a bit now :v:

Just trying to hit fab 2 so I can upgrade my sword and once I have recovered a bit more I get back to clearing that little town

Huh, good to know about the value of sleeping to heal! Also I still have 4 bandages from the medkit I started with and first aid 1 from my background. National guard has some tight starting boons imo

E: Crude sword gotten! I wish my focus would stop being in the dumpster but I guess it's time to head back out since I can't really do anything else in my crappy tower

E2: So how do you actually go about doing healing right? Like assume you have been in a few fights and are missing like two or three pips on a limb. Do you just slap a bandage on it and then pass some hours until you heal back up?

You started in a shelter right? Check the windows with examine. They may have curtains you can tear down for string, a couple sheets and a heavy stick

Telsa Cola
Aug 19, 2011

No... this is all wrong... this whole operation has just gone completely sidewaysface
If you can get a seatbelt from taking it off a car (I think you just need a tool with screwing) you will be set for thread for a bit.

A seatbelt turns into a short rope which in turn breaks down into 6 long threads which you can break down into a total of 36 short threads.

Angry Diplomat
Nov 7, 2009

Winner of the TSR Memorial Award for Excellence In Grogging

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Is there any that let you literally suplex zombies?

I don't think so, but iirc going Krav Maga and cranking the poo poo out of your strength (particularly with Hydraulic Muscles) lets you flying knee zombies so hard that they soar 6 spaces away and then explode

Sillybones
Aug 10, 2013

go away,
spooky skeleton,
go away
I've played this game quite a bit, but I can never get past the early game (I think). I get some skills up, get my outfit and a reach weapon. Get a bit of a stockpile of food and stuff. Not sure what I am meant to do from there. Eventually I will come across too many dogs or a shock zombie and that is the end.

Any hints?

Telsa Cola
Aug 19, 2011

No... this is all wrong... this whole operation has just gone completely sidewaysface

Sillybones posted:

I've played this game quite a bit, but I can never get past the early game (I think). I get some skills up, get my outfit and a reach weapon. Get a bit of a stockpile of food and stuff. Not sure what I am meant to do from there. Eventually I will come across too many dogs or a shock zombie and that is the end.

Any hints?

I like to give myself a construction goal. A giant mobile home for example can take awhile to set up just right so that might carry you through for a bit.

With the new base changes that have been put in you might also be more driven if you set a goal of establishing a thriving community.

As for zombies, I find that once I can make a quarterstaff and some survivor gear Im pretty much set combatwise, for range I use whatever is handy with a sawed off shotgun for "oh gently caress" moments.

Wolfechu
May 2, 2009

All the world's a stage I'm going through


First time seeing a small amusement park tonight, complete with a horde of zombie kids and a miniature railway. The railway actually works, you can get in the single-seater trains and zoom around the track, which was momentarily amusing.

Also a trolley problem reference. I didn't set that up, it spawns like that.

Dareon
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin
One of the pipe dreams for my base is to set up a miniature railway around it and have an automated turret going around it constantly.

Sort of a waste without working hordes or some kind of base assault mechanic, but I can spawn some zombos and pretend.

PiCroft
Jun 11, 2010

I'm sorry, did I break all your shit? I didn't know it was yours

Are there any pure energy weapons that are mountable and could potentially run off a renewable source? Been a while since I played long enough to hunt down such weapons and they strike me as the sort of thing that’s too fun to be left in the game un-nerfed.

By pure I mean have no other ammo requirements than having a power source.

Wolfechu
May 2, 2009

All the world's a stage I'm going through


So I just went to the trouble of putting a forge together for the first time, and then realized all the cool swords seem to need either fab 8 or 9 (I'm at about 6), or are recipes in books I don't have yet.

There anything cool I can make with this thing you'd all recommend?

Firos
Apr 30, 2007

Staying abreast of the latest developments in jam communism



I don't seem to be doing any damage at all with my bow to this loving swat zombie. My shots all continually reflect off of it.

PiCroft
Jun 11, 2010

I'm sorry, did I break all your shit? I didn't know it was yours

Firos posted:

I don't seem to be doing any damage at all with my bow to this loving swat zombie. My shots all continually reflect off of it.

What arrow types are you using? Check their piercing rating - SWAT zombies often have armour on that will stop most arrows that hit it

Firos
Apr 30, 2007

Staying abreast of the latest developments in jam communism



Carbon fiber. They're definitely not cutting it.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

PiCroft posted:

Are there any pure energy weapons that are mountable and could potentially run off a renewable source? Been a while since I played long enough to hunt down such weapons and they strike me as the sort of thing that’s too fun to be left in the game un-nerfed.

By pure I mean have no other ammo requirements than having a power source.

What mods are you running? I consider Aftershock to be basically core and I also use Blazemod, so my answer would be 'extremely yes'. But since I never play vanilla I can't really answer for that.

Wolfechu posted:

So I just went to the trouble of putting a forge together for the first time, and then realized all the cool swords seem to need either fab 8 or 9 (I'm at about 6), or are recipes in books I don't have yet.

There anything cool I can make with this thing you'd all recommend?

Don't worry too much about skill levels. If you can attempt the recipe you can make it, just might use a little more materials. If you can't attempt it, make something that is at the edge of your skill - forge recipes tend to take a lot of work-hours meaning you'll almost certainly skill up. Then you can make advanced stuff.
As for stuff to make without a book... machete might be your best bet. If you have melee 5 make a blade and turn it into the slightly superior Survivor Machete.
I do recommend finding books though. A Library will tend to have almost a complete set.
A suit of platemail is another nice thing to make once you have the books. It's 16/16 protection for 10 encumberance, and goes in the Outer layer.

Firos posted:

I don't seem to be doing any damage at all with my bow to this loving swat zombie. My shots all continually reflect off of it.

Bows do poo poo damage*. Anything with armour, like a swat zombie, will not be injured.

* for a few days around 0.E they did absolutely ludicrous damage, like solidly outperforming most firearms. Now they're crap. Get an M4.

PiCroft posted:

As I say it's been a while since I've played but if you're getting told your arrows are getting deflected when you hit the zombie, you'll either need to just get in there and melee it to death or switch to a decently powerful firearm. Deflection is caused by an armour being too strong for a given attack to pierce so no amount of carbon fibre arrows are going to help.

You can try switching to Precision shots to try to get crits. But.... it's still a bow.

The Lone Badger fucked around with this message at 13:18 on Apr 17, 2020

PiCroft
Jun 11, 2010

I'm sorry, did I break all your shit? I didn't know it was yours

Firos posted:

Carbon fiber. They're definitely not cutting it.

As I say it's been a while since I've played but if you're getting told your arrows are getting deflected when you hit the zombie, you'll either need to just get in there and melee it to death or switch to a decently powerful firearm. Deflection is caused by an armour being too strong for a given attack to pierce so no amount of carbon fibre arrows are going to help.

PiCroft
Jun 11, 2010

I'm sorry, did I break all your shit? I didn't know it was yours

The Lone Badger posted:

What mods are you running? I consider Aftershock to be basically core and I also use Blazemod, so my answer would be 'extremely yes'. But since I never play vanilla I can't really answer for that.


I do actually, I basically no longer play without it. I also have additional vehicle parts but I don't think they include energy weapons (could be wrong though)

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

PiCroft posted:

I do actually, I basically no longer play without it. I also have additional vehicle parts but I don't think they include energy weapons (could be wrong though)

The Turbolaser Cannon is your bae for a manually operated weapon. Draws a ton of power but will level whatever you point it at. Do NOT put it on automated mode, it will kill you. Needs a Laser Cannon or Fusion Blaster to make.

The Pulse Laser is a powerful but sane laser, suited for automated mode. Needs a laser pistol or rifle to make.

If you want something much less powerful, then you can mount an A7 Laser Rifle or Laser Cannon directly without any intervening crafting. You could also try mounting the craftable Shoddy Laser Rifle I guess, I've never tried.

The Lone Badger fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Apr 17, 2020

RabidWeasel
Aug 4, 2007

Cultures thrive on their myths and legends...and snuggles!
I think the heavy bows might still be good but arrows make much less difference than they used to so you can't do damage with a weak bow with good arrows any more. I don't really use bows especially since it's so much easier to get ammo now.

Wolfechu
May 2, 2009

All the world's a stage I'm going through


The Lone Badger posted:

As for stuff to make without a book... machete might be your best bet. If you have melee 5 make a blade and turn it into the slightly superior Survivor Machete.

Not quite up to 5 yet, but I've been using a machete with this guy since day 1. I have a habit of playing random chars, and this one was a 'naked and afraid' start, in one of those farms with a barn full of angry zombies and animals next to the house. Guy's been an absolute badass, and I've just been trundling around between rural towns macheteing zombies for about 30 days now.

Definitely gonna look to upgrade to that survivor machete though, thanks!

Vib Rib
Jul 23, 2007

God damn this shit is
fuckin' re-dic-a-liss

🍖🍖😛🍖🍖
It's a shame bows got nerfed so hard as to basically be non-viable, at least for the time being. I'm sure they'll swing back eventually but it feels like a good niche early on. I'll miss it.
Or I'll just find/make a mod that de-nerfs the fuckin bows.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Holy poo poo a rot-weiler sure can chew you up good. Was real hard to hit that fucker even with low encumbrance and it cost me three bars on my sword arm so I'm back to keeping busy while healing

Xand_Man posted:

You started in a shelter right?
Nope! I picked the "missed" start where you spawn in a house with an NPC at the edge of a city. I probably should have gotten a few more things from their house before leaving but my first char got swarmed and eaten doing that so I was scared

Telsa Cola posted:

If you can get a seatbelt from taking it off a car (I think you just need a tool with screwing) you will be set for thread for a bit.
Oh hey that's nice to know! There are two wrecks on the route between my base and the town I'm working on that I can scavenge for that.

E: Dang, seatbelts need mechanics 1. Need to find a way to train up to that first

Right now I'm looking to get my tailor to 2 so that I can try some repairs to my army jacket and backpack before they fall apart. Already lost my compression top and my tac vest is also damaged. But I'm also missing rags since you apparently can't disassemble a large portion of clothes. Can you use filthy clothes for rags when all you want to do is train your skill? I'm never going to wear the stuff anyway

Also, what's the verdict on smaller guns? I found a .380 pistol and a box with 50 rounds for it but it doesn't seem that great of an idea to use it. I mean it does 8 damage and only has six shots so I would assume the noise is way more trouble than the ranged attack is actually worth

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Apr 17, 2020

PiCroft
Jun 11, 2010

I'm sorry, did I break all your shit? I didn't know it was yours

Last time I tried, bows and carbon fibre arrows were fine for regular zombies provided you had the following expectations:

1) You understand that you can/should only take on max 2 zombies at once
2) All the usual rules about kiting and splitting off smaller and smaller groups to pick off apply
3) Understand that you'll need to use maybe 3-5 arrows depending on skill, how much you aim or use precise shot and plain luck. Again, see 1) if you don't want to risk running out of arrows in the middle of a fight.
4) Make god drat sure you collect your arrows and reload your quiver whenever possible.

Basically provided you don't bite off more than you can chew, small groups of zombies can be whittled down and even if you use up your arrows, you will end up having to use melee anyway as you would if you weren't using arrows.

However, I do accept that firearms are the superior choice and unless you have the means of making fletched arrows with proper arrow tips, once you run out of carbon fibre arrows, don't bother using the crappy non-fletched, no-tip makeshift or fire-hardened types, you'd be better off just trying to stab enemies with the arrows rather than shooting them at them.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Tin Tim posted:

Right now I'm looking to get my tailor to 2 so that I can try some repairs to my army jacket and backpack before they fall apart. Already lost my compression top and my tac vest is also damaged. But I'm also missing rags since you apparently can't disassemble a large portion of clothes.

What you need to do is (B)utcher them in order to cut them up. However filthy clothes will give filthy rags which are no good for crafting until washed.

Sheets are the main source of rags, but you can also try (S)mashing certain types of furniture, like sofas or beds.

Leal
Oct 2, 2009
Is it more efficient to clean an article of clothing then chop it up or to chop it up then wash the rags?

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

The Lone Badger posted:

What you need to do is (B)utcher them in order to cut them up.
This doesn't work for me fyi. However you can apply a knife to clothing items to cut them up. Pretty convoluted when there is a disassembly function for other clothes in the game but that's how it is

Also still stuck on getting mechanics to 1. The wiki says to repair things with a soldering iron but l'm far away from having that

E: Found a way. Make a wooden frame, start vehicle construction and get xp

Pretty ugly method for 15xp a pop. Also I can't seem to be able to deconstruct the vehicle/frame? Removing it needs mech 2 for some awful reason. Luckily I have a broken barn near where I can scavenge all the planks and nails I'm gonna need but yeah this is much more tedious than it should be

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Apr 17, 2020

Admiral Funk
Oct 1, 2012

Please send them a very large crate marked "SCIENCE. PROBABLY DANGEROUS. BUT VERY SCIENTIFIC. YES."

Tin Tim posted:

This doesn't work for me fyi. However you can apply a knife to clothing items to cut them up. Pretty convoluted when there is a disassembly function for other clothes in the game but that's how it is

Also still stuck on getting mechanics to 1. The wiki says to repair things with a soldering iron but l'm far away from having that

E: Found a way. Make a wooden frame, start vehicle construction and get xp

Pretty ugly method for 15xp a pop. Also I can't seem to be able to deconstruct the vehicle/frame? Removing it needs mech 2 for some awful reason. Luckily I have a broken barn near where I can scavenge all the planks and nails I'm gonna need but yeah this is much more tedious than it should be

Cataclysm: This is much more tedious than it should be

Angry Diplomat
Nov 7, 2009

Winner of the TSR Memorial Award for Excellence In Grogging
To clarify, you must be standing on top of an item (not carrying it) in order to Butcher it.

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007

The Lone Badger posted:

I'm gonna talk about downspouts for a moment. They are very important.

If you're being chased by a horde climb up a downspout, walk to the other side of the building and climb down. You've probably lost 2/3rds of your pursuers. Repeat another couple of times and you're free.

If you decide to melee a mob of zombies, stand on a downspout first. You start facing increasingly severe penalties once your stamina drops below about ||| , so when that happens climb onto the roof and have a breather. Climb down and keep chopping.

After reinstalling this game, I can't figure out how to climb down these things. Climbing up is no problem but it tells me I can't just do the opposite and climb down afterwards using the other caret.

It was funny the first few times basically hurling myself off roofs just to get back down to the ground, but eventually that got old (none of my characters did though :v:).

edit to add:
Also, I don't know how I was doing it before, but these days it seems impossible to avoid getting noticed by zombies. Even with the "Sound" indicator it's never clear how loud I'm being really, or else there's some other reason no matter what I'm doing I inevitably attract a swarm to whatever building I'm looting. I even tried "crouching" and moving around, but while that was better, it didn't actually change the end result. It just meant it took a bit longer for zombies to start breaking into whatever building to find me.

With houses there are usually curtains on the windows but a lot of the stores have just those big plate glass windows so if it's visually I'm attracting attention, I'm not sure what I can do about it.

HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Apr 17, 2020

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Took me 7 frames to get to mech one. So a total of 35 planks and 140 nails. Really glad about that busted up barn in the area :v:

It's past 23:00pm on my first day now so I'm gonna rest and get to collecting seatbelts and tailor grinding in the morning

Angry Diplomat
Nov 7, 2009

Winner of the TSR Memorial Award for Excellence In Grogging

HiroProtagonist posted:

Also, I don't know how I was doing it before, but these days it seems impossible to avoid getting noticed by zombies. Even with the "Sound" indicator it's never clear how loud I'm being really, or else there's some other reason no matter what I'm doing I inevitably attract a swarm to whatever building I'm looting. I even tried "crouching" and moving around, but while that was better, it didn't actually change the end result. It just meant it took a bit longer for zombies to start breaking into whatever building to find me.

That's because zombie attention snowballs - the first zombie will beat on doors and break windows trying to figure out where you are, and a dozen more will wander over to find out what the gently caress that noise is. The ongoing noise agitates them, and they start beating on poo poo, and pretty soon all the corpses in the neighbourhood are cooperating to tear down your safehouse.

Also, zombies have a sense of smell! If you pass too close to one, it might catch a whiff of you and start floating dreamily after you like a cartoon hobo seeking a pie cooling on a window sill.

The trick (apart from choosing a manageable start and just being lucky) is actually to combine sneaky patience with frantic, noisy haste. In the sunlight, zombies will reliably spot you from far away, so try to stay out of town and carefully scout from sight distance, mentally taking note of zombie locations (especially large groups, and especially the really dangerous types). At night, walk in to carefully loot in the less dangerous spots, crouching when you hear anything or are getting close to a known zombie location (including a seemingly empty house with broken windows or doors that you aren't responsible for) - and make sure you always maintain a clear path to sprint back to the safety of solitude. If you're starting to get surrounded, sometimes you can deke close pursuers by climbing in one side of a vehicle, scrambling out the other, and closing the door behind you - zombies path erratically and cannot operate doors, so they often waste time crashing around inside the cabin like pinballs, beating on windshields and falling over seats (the noise also draws attention away from you). Doesn't always work for the speedier types (since they're more likely to beeline for you), and it won't help against hunters and the like (since they will literally just jump over the car and continue to eat you).

If there aren't any especially dangerous zombies in the area you're burgling, you can always use the cover of night to lure a few of them out into the open field, then either beat them to death or run away into the gloom to come back and pelt them with projectiles during the day. Be wary of skeletons, runners, sprinters, hunters, and any type of zombie animal when doing this, as they tend to be quite a bit faster than your usual shambling corpse - and will happily slow you down for the stragglers to munch on.

Finally, keep an eye on your encumbrance and movement speed! If you're not wearing shoes and/or have a lot of leg/foot encumbrance, you'll move quite a bit slower than usual, which makes it a LOT easier for zombies to catch you.

Angry Diplomat fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Apr 17, 2020

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007
Yeah the feral runners and the zombie dogs are in particular extremely large pieces of poo poo and take too long to kill in melee usually to deal with them quickly enough to get away before the slower crowd catches up.

It sucks for my PCs but especially so for any NPCs I recruit, they always end up getting swarmed and grabbed.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

How do you manage your focus right?

I'm not in pain, well fed and hydrated and in a good mood. But my focus goes down rather quickly while doing crafts. I tried just passing some time but I don't regain much from an hour of hanging out. Just feeling like I get lovely xp returns from the limitied materials I have

Doomsayer
Sep 2, 2008

I have no idea what I'm doing, but that's never been a problem before.

Tin Tim posted:

How do you manage your focus right?

I'm not in pain, well fed and hydrated and in a good mood. But my focus goes down rather quickly while doing crafts. I tried just passing some time but I don't regain much from an hour of hanging out. Just feeling like I get lovely xp returns from the limitied materials I have

Sleep deprivation can affect it, as can bright sunlight if you don't have sunglasses. Studying from a book also eats your focus like candy compared to "real-world" training. Certain addictions and mental afflictions (happens a lot to Schizophrenics) can also drain it or give you a malus. You also have an "equilibrium" (I think you can see it in the morale panel?) that you trend toward as a result of your traits and whatnot; it can take a lot longer to "recover" your focus if the equilibrium was shifted downward as a result of severe pain or w/e.

Generally if your focus is really tanked you just need to focus on clean living for a bit: go hunting/scouting and eat healthy food for a day or two before you come back to the training session.

Doomsayer fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Apr 17, 2020

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

HiroProtagonist posted:

After reinstalling this game, I can't figure out how to climb down these things. Climbing up is no problem but it tells me I can't just do the opposite and climb down afterwards using the other caret.

(e)xamine the tile with the downspout, you’ll get an option to climb down.

E: MP3 players also help with focus, it’s a permanent +20 to morale which is huge in this game.

E2: Huh, I never tried on any tile other than the one with the downspout, good to know!

goatsestretchgoals fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Apr 17, 2020

SpacePope
Nov 9, 2009

HiroProtagonist posted:

After reinstalling this game, I can't figure out how to climb down these things. Climbing up is no problem but it tells me I can't just do the opposite and climb down afterwards using the other caret.

If you (e)xamine the ledge, it should let you climb down.

Doomsayer
Sep 2, 2008

I have no idea what I'm doing, but that's never been a problem before.

goatsestretchgoals posted:

(e)xamine the tile with the downspout, you’ll get an option to climb down.

You can "e"xamine any ledge spot and it will prompt you to jump down, even if there isn't a climbable part or it's more than one story. It will just say "You may not be able to get back up", with an additional "it may hurt" warning if you're heavily encumbered and/or aren't a Parkour Expert.

Incidentally this makes Parkour Expert an excllent trait pick. If you get spotted, just beeline for a ladder/downspout (pretty much every building has at least one now) and hop on the roof. Patch yourself up and shout while the big horde gathers ineffectually below you, then sneak over to the other side and hop down while they smash their faces into the wall. (bonus points if you have Z-levels turned on and can lazily toss a molotov or something down behind you)

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Thanks for the input on focus!

goatsestretchgoals posted:

E: MP3 players also help with focus, it’s a permanent +20 to morale which is huge in this game.
Oh hey guess who knows of a zombie corpse that has one :v:

Also I found a working electric car which is very nice. Driving itself is awkward though

Arven
Sep 23, 2007
The biggest hurdle I had with driving was that I was alternating between holding down the gas and the brake. When you get over your instinct to hold down the "go forwards" button it suddenly makes sense.

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

Your character drives with one foot on the gas and one on the brake until driving 1, checks out.

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Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Changing directions is the more awkward part for me but I'll manage

Do you need experimental z-levels enabled to climb a downspout? I'm standing on it but it tells me I can't go up here

E: So uh fire is really dangerous. I previously made fire for cooking with a plank that I had dropped on the asphalt outside. I dropped a few pieces of misc trash on the same spot while playing thinking it would prevent the fire from going out so quickly. Like I had to light the plank several times while making one piece of meat before. Well I just tried to finally boil some bandages and got hosed up pretty hard by the fire which is now also raging...I mean there is nothing flamable around it but I'm gonna try to douse it anyway because the whole thing sucked

Oh hey a full stockpot of water did nothing to it. Needed to to it three times. Dang, don't play with fire I guess :v:

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Apr 17, 2020

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