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The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Best place to get chains is to remove cranks from bicycles and disassemble them.

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Motherfucker
Jul 16, 2011

I certainly dont have deep-seated issues involving birthdays.

Angry Diplomat posted:

Fair warning: if your computer is a shitbox like mine, this may cause significant lag between turns whenever you're anywhere near the fire.

also the house will be in a perpetual state of burning forever unless you're deliberately right next to it iirc since it remains 'on fire' but not 'actively' on fire if you're not around to be inconvenienced by it.

Mr. Lobe
Feb 23, 2007

... Dry bones...


How likely is it to find an anvil somewhere in the game? It seems like forging one is a real hassle to do.

Roobanguy
May 31, 2011

Mr. Lobe posted:

How likely is it to find an anvil somewhere in the game? It seems like forging one is a real hassle to do.

pretty rare. i think i've found them sometimes inside boxes in craft shops.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Mr. Lobe posted:

How likely is it to find an anvil somewhere in the game? It seems like forging one is a real hassle to do.

It's actually really easy if you just remove a few steel frames from vehicles. You need a forge, but you need a forge anyway for an anvil to be of any use.
Hacksaws and wrenches are the real key tools. It's very hard to bootstrap from a position that lacks one of those two.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

The Lone Badger posted:

Hacksaws and wrenches are the real key tools. It's very hard to bootstrap from a position that lacks one of those two.
Yeah! See my previous posts about spending multiple days trying to scratch together enough metal to make an anvil without those tools at hand and then even more days to get more metal to actually craft them. It sucked!

Forging is deffo a cool thing to do in terms of how it upgrades your position but you also want to be stable in terms of shelter, food&water and have the needed materials and tools.

You need 80 rocks to make a charcoal kiln and a rock furnace. Then you also need a tool with wood sawing/tree cutting(you can craft a stone axe I think but a woodsaw/axe is what you want) to chop down a tree and then chop the trunks into logs. Put all the logs and wood scraps into the kiln and fire it up. Six hours later you'll have like 2000 units of coal to feed the forge. Then you need some more things before you can craft an anvil. First up is a clay crucible. You can find clay along river banks. Look for beige colored spots(also should say clay when you put your cursor on it) and dig it up. You don't need much something like 10 units iirc and to make the crucible you need an active fire. After that you have the tools and only need the metal to smelt. Getting steel frames from vehicles is the fastest route but also needs a wrench and at least mechanic 1. But since you need to remove all attached parts before you can remove a frame, you might need to hit multiple cars if you have low skills or lack certain tools. Otherwise you need to gather 160 chunks of steel or a ton of scrap metal to smelt it into chunks of steel. That can be rather tedious depending on your situation, skills and tools. You can smash metal objects like shelves for metal parts(deconstructing gives metal sheets which need to be cut with a hacksaw to get scrap), or deconstruct fridges and washing machines for a few chunks and units of scrap. You can also use a weapon with good bashing damage(build a homewrecker if you don't have anything) and smash the outer tiles of cars to get some chunks and scrap. It's a little wonky though and sometimes you'll hit the road instead of the car for some weird reason. If there is a dump in your area then you are lucky because it has a bunch of things you can deconstruct/smash for metal. Weight benches in particular. But yeah when you have the metal you can finally make the drat anvil which takes a few hours to do. After that you will need a few more tools to forge things though. Metal tongs are always needed and can often be found in cupboards along with other kitchen equipment. A metal chisel is a rather rare find but you can also craft one yourself. You need a hammer with quality 3 which is a normal hammer that you can find in kitchen cupboards or garages. And a lot of crafts also need a swage and die set which I have never found and always crafted myself.

I think that covers it :v:

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 15:45 on May 17, 2020

Angry Diplomat
Nov 7, 2009

Winner of the TSR Memorial Award for Excellence In Grogging

Motherfucker posted:

also the house will be in a perpetual state of burning forever unless you're deliberately right next to it iirc since it remains 'on fire' but not 'actively' on fire if you're not around to be inconvenienced by it.

I once made the mistake of starting a forest fire during the summer (I was trying to kill one of those gigantic regenerating zombie snail monster things). Right next to the secluded road I used to drive to and from my basecamp, far enough away that the fire unloaded whenever I went home.

Let me tell you, 10-second turns while driving are not fun. The fire didn't even kill the loving thing, either. I think I ended up shooting it with a recoilless rifle or something.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Currently I'm looking at the best way to carry a shotgun on a melee fighter for those "oh poo poo" situations. A shoulder strap gives me four extra encumbrance which brings me over 30 which kinda sucks but at least keeps the thing safe. A survivor harness is much better in terms of encumbrance and also offers some extra storage but gets ripped all the drat time while I'm in melee. Guess if I want to min-max it I have to saw-off a double barrel and see if I can cram it into a holster

Inexplicable Humblebrag
Sep 20, 2003

can't you layer the harness so it's inside your outer clothing, inexplicably?

megane
Jun 20, 2008



Tin Tim posted:

You can also use a weapon with good bashing damage(build a homewrecker if you don't have anything) and smash the outer tiles of cars to get some chunks and scrap. It's a little wonky though and sometimes you'll hit the road instead of the car for some weird reason.
I found this goes a lot faster if you find an already-wrecked vehicle (i.e. called "Wreckage"). It'll have lots of parts that are already at XX status, and those will break in just a few swings of your homewrecker. Busting up less-damaged parts is possible, but takes dozens if not hundreds of smashes.

There's also the tricky, but very stylish, technique of getting a horde of zombies to bash a car to pieces for you.

Oh, and it took me a moment to work out, but the level 1 anvil quality you need for some things is provided by a naturally-occurring boulder.

Xand_Man
Mar 2, 2004

If what you say is true
Wutang might be dangerous


BTW clay and rocks be acquired by just digging pits in uncovered ground where ever and that can be a lot easier depending on where you are (like say the inside of a prison :haw:)

Griz
May 21, 2001


Tin Tim posted:

Currently I'm looking at the best way to carry a shotgun on a melee fighter for those "oh poo poo" situations.
just put it in your inventory? a sawed-off mossberg 500 is like 1.6L and holds 6 rounds.

Carcer
Aug 7, 2010
Some of the smaller shotguns can fit into leg holsters, from what I remember.

Mzbundifund
Nov 5, 2011

I'm afraid so.

Griz posted:

just put it in your inventory? a sawed-off mossberg 500 is like 1.6L and holds 6 rounds.

You can, but it takes a lot longer to draw a gun from your general inventory than it does from a sling or holster or the like. Not great for a weapon intended for emergencies.

RabidWeasel
Aug 4, 2007

Cultures thrive on their myths and legends...and snuggles!
Also that isn't an option if you're on the lastest builds (which should hopefully be less broken soon)

Ms Adequate
Oct 30, 2011

Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling



Acetylene

Carcer
Aug 7, 2010
Unless they've changed it recently, sawing off the barrels of most shotguns and maybe adding a folding stock should let you put them in pistol holster. sawing it down also makes them really quick to aim, so even caught at close range you can probably draw, aim and fire off a really accurate shot.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Inexplicable Humblebrag posted:

can't you layer the harness so it's inside your outer clothing, inexplicably?
I've never really tried to manually layer clothes but I don't think it would work for the harness. It's on the waist so I guess I would need another waist item to go on top of it?

Griz posted:

just put it in your inventory? a sawed-off mossberg 500 is like 1.6L and holds 6 rounds.
That's more space than my current "fighting-inventory"(no backpack of any kind) can handle, also

Mzbundifund posted:

You can, but it takes a lot longer to draw a gun from your general inventory than it does from a sling or holster or the like. Not great for a weapon intended for emergencies.
Yeah that's the point. Holsters for any kind of weapon are extremely fast compared to your general inventory and you certainly want that in an emergency

Carcer posted:

Unless they've changed it recently, sawing off the barrels of most shotguns and maybe adding a folding stock should let you put them in pistol holster. sawing it down also makes them really quick to aim, so even caught at close range you can probably draw, aim and fire off a really accurate shot.
That's very nifty and exactly what I was hoping for :v:

megane posted:

I found this goes a lot faster if you find an already-wrecked vehicle (i.e. called "Wreckage"). It'll have lots of parts that are already at XX status, and those will break in just a few swings of your homewrecker. Busting up less-damaged parts is possible, but takes dozens if not hundreds of smashes.
Oh dang I didn't even think of that. Great idea!

Xand_Man posted:

BTW clay and rocks be acquired by just digging pits in uncovered ground where ever and that can be a lot easier depending on where you are (like say the inside of a prison :haw:)
I'm not sure if this is still correct. I've dug several root cellars so far and never got any clay. Only rocks, sand and huge amounts of soil

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 00:24 on May 18, 2020

Kevin DuBrow
Apr 21, 2012

The uruk-hai defender has logged on.
Wondering if there’s a guide about clothing choices. As a melee character, what’s a good balance between protection and nimbleness? Just a survivor suit with nothing else already takes 15% off melee skill.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Tin Tim posted:

I'm not sure if this is still correct. I've dug several root cellars so far and never got any clay. Only rocks, sand and huge amounts of soil

Is this a construction menu thing? Just activating my entrenching tool to dig a shallow pit got me clay.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Huh, maybe it's random or depending on the tile you dig? For the cellar you have to dig twice in the same spot with your tool and that never got me clay so :shrug:

Kevin DuBrow posted:

Wondering if there’s a guide about clothing choices. As a melee character, what’s a good balance between protection and nimbleness? Just a survivor suit with nothing else already takes 15% off melee skill.
I think the melee penalty isn't that big of an issue. Especially once your weapon and melee skill get to 4 and above. I'm wearing a heavy survivor suit and just hover barely below 30% penalty with the rest of my gear and never really notice it except against high-dodge enemies. And missing hits also isn't that big of an issue when you take next to no damage in return. Can become a bit dicey with stamina if you get stuck with a big group but that's what you try to prevent with tactics anyway. I think there is also the route of going for high dodge with lighter armors but for that you have to train the dodge skill and you're also weak to ranged attacks since dodge doesn't apply for bullets iirc. Might apply for spit attacks and such but I don't know

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 02:15 on May 18, 2020

Ms Adequate
Oct 30, 2011

Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling



I dodged a spit earlier, but it was a specific projectile attack rather than like, a big vomit one that coats a bunch of tiles. And it still left a tile of acid on the ground, but allowed me to step out of it before I took damage.

Kaewan
May 29, 2008
Wait, how do I see my melee penalty? I’m playing the latest stable release of that matters.

Kevin DuBrow
Apr 21, 2012

The uruk-hai defender has logged on.
View player info with @, the top center panel shows encumberance values and their effects.

RazzleDazzleHour
Mar 31, 2016

Honestly there's an almost impossible level of math involved in the payoff vs penalty numbers to the point where most people just have a memorized set of what armor seems good. Most people go for a leather armor kit early on and then transition to a Survivor suit, but honestly as long as you're not battling an acid enemy, Chitin armor rules. I took a sword, a full set of chitin armor, and a crossbow into a bee's nest and managed to clear the whole thing out.

Dandywalken
Feb 11, 2014

Im an ANBC suit fan, but its a pain in the rear end that they are all poor fits by default until you can sew em.

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Plate mail is a pretty good outer layer! 18 cut/bash for 10 encumberance is a good tradeoff against most enemies. (Warning: will not stop bullets)

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

I swear by light survivor everything (except heavy survivor helmet because head encumbrance doesn’t matter). ESAPI vest on the torso. MBR (Kevlar) is another option for slightly less encumbrance but much less protection. The MBR does give you 4 rifle magazine slots and a bit of storage.

Survivor harness with an M4A1 or similar, add a pair of leg ammo pouches to hold 4x rifle mags (or 8x with the MBR option). Fast draw holster with an M17, add two ankle ammo pouches for 2x more pistol mags. Scabbard with a crude/arming sword (or whatever sword matches your martial art.)

Grenade ammo pouch for 4x grenades or a survivor runner pack for more storage. I split the difference; pouch is always worn with a runner pack in my inventory when I want to grab a couple more things and I’m not dragging a cart behind me.

Qubee
May 31, 2013




I really want to get into this game, can anyone point me in the right direction on how to get set up with a tileset? And any worthwhile beginner guides, or should I just throw myself in and figure it out along the way?

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

Undead People seems to be the thread consensus tileset, https://github.com/SomeDeadGuy/UndeadPeopleTileset/blob/master/README.md .

https://www.reddit.com/r/cataclysmdda/comments/cg8m95/how_to_survive_your_first_day_in_the_cataclysm/ is a decent first day guide for “how do I play this game”.

goatsestretchgoals posted:

You can also make the official goatsestretchgoals endorsed OP character of maximum asskicking (tm):

Scenario: Helicopter Crash
Profession: Bionic Soldier
Stats: 10 STR, 10 DEX, 9 INT, 9 PER

Positive traits:
Fast Learner - Faster skill gain through crafting/fighting.
Indefatigable - More stamina means more hitting/stabbing/running before you tire out.
Melee Weapon Training - I like Medieval Swordsmanship because the arming sword is arguably the best melee weapon in the game. Silat is another good choice; the makeshift/(normal)/survivor machete isn’t as good as the arming sword but they’re easier to make and aren’t shabby.
Pain Resistant - Pain tanks your stats and lowers your speed. Less pain means this doesn’t happen as fast.
Strong Back - Carry more weight before you’re overloaded. At STR 10, you will be right on the edge of overloaded with late game armor/weapons if you wear an ESAPI Ballistic Vest (which you should). There is an implant that does the same thing but who knows if/when you will find one.

Negative Traits:
Addictive Personality - You get addicted to drugs easier. Not a big deal, see Lightweight.
Fast Metabolism - You need more food but also get more stamina. This is arguably a positive trait because you’ll never run out of food and stamina is good.
Hates Books - You take a small morale (happiness/focus) hit when you read books. Get your experience from crafting instead and only read when you need to get skill X to value Y to craft item Z.
High Thirst - Water is trivial to get/boil. Free trait points.
Lightweight - Drugs gently caress you up quicker and the negatives are worse. Not a huge deal because this is an OP build and you’ll only do drugs to go to sleep when you gently caress up your schedule.
Rigid Table Manners - You take a tiny morale hit when you don’t eat at a table. It’s tiny enough to be ignored, free trait points.
Squeamish - You can’t wear filthy (looted from zombie) clothes. You shouldn’t anyway because you take a morale hit and are more likely to get infected.
Weak Stomach - You throw up if you eat rotten food. Don’t eat rotten food.
Weight: XXXL - You’re fat. This means you heal slowly (hidden health stat), but only until you fix it by losing weight. You can eat less at first or just turn on your Metabolic Interchange implant (and disable power save mode) and burn the pounds away in a day or two.

Skills:
Mechanics 2 - Getting mechanics up to 2 is a pain in the rear end if you don’t find a book. Once you’re at 2 you can remove doors, trunks, etc to train it higher.

E: My version of the day 1 guide for the above build:
- Look around with (x). There are a few different versions of the helicopter crash scenario. You _want_ the one with a bunch of zombie soldiers right behind you. Zombie bio-operators are even better; silencers are good and they usually have one on their gun.
- Check the map (m). What are you near? Your character can take drat near anything even on day 1, but not everything at once.
- Use (“) to start running and put about 10 tiles between you and the closest zombie. Use (w) to wield your HK 123xyz and use (p)recise shots to take all the zombies down.
- Check the corpses to see what you have to work with. (u)nload magazines to reload your rifle and try to stash 2x more STANAGs in your MBR vest by (a)ctivating it. Take first aid kits and hemostatic powder. If you’re bleeding (red body part on the top right or check the (@) screen), you need to fix that. (a)ctivate a first aid kit to disassemble it (contents drop at your feet). (a)ctivate one of the bandages or the bag of hemostatic powder and use it on the bleeding body part to stop the bleeding.
- Look for your temporary home base. Cabins are best at this point but houses on the outskirts of town will also work.
- I’m tired of writing this on my phone so...uh...start training up tailoring, fabrication, and electronics (to craft a soldering iron).
- Enjoy and ask questions here!

goatsestretchgoals fucked around with this message at 06:01 on May 18, 2020

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007

Qubee posted:

I really want to get into this game, can anyone point me in the right direction on how to get set up with a tileset? And any worthwhile beginner guides, or should I just throw myself in and figure it out along the way?

The above post is good and it's real easy to install mods and tilesets. I actually have the game living on my desktop because it's just a matter of unzipping folders into obvious places if you want tilesets, mods whatever.

Qubee
May 31, 2013




Thank you very much. Any must have QoL mods or should I just play the vanilla game for starters?

For the latest stable release, am I meant to download each one of those links separately? I can't tell if I'm blind, I'm not seeing one large .zip file that I can download.

Qubee fucked around with this message at 05:46 on May 18, 2020

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007
Imo just use vanilla but maybe add in Aftershock, just nothing else. Ppl might have differing opinions but it's the crazy random poo poo I've associated with the game from when I first touched it before it became an official mod extra. Aftershock comes with the base game so don't bother looking for it.

Make sure you don't bother with the wiki either except for reference material (e.g keybindings and shortcuts), it's horrifically outdated otherwise

Plus the tileset, because ASCII in 2020 is an affectation rather than a feature :colbert:

Edit: if you're on windows you probably want the last one (the x64 one)

HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 05:50 on May 18, 2020

RazzleDazzleHour
Mar 31, 2016

The big secret for this game and living more than two days is to not play multi-pool stat points and to go to single-pool so you can funnel all your points into stats. Here's my lovely Game Player Approved build:

Crashed Helicopter Start for +5 stat points

STATS:
12 STR
14 DEX
10 INT
12 PER

Maxed out DEX for accuracy but most importantly Crit chance and skill activation. Goes great with the cudgel AKA the best early-game weapon that has three skills. A wood axe crit will instakill a zombie, and that's a relatively common early-game find. 12 STR for damage and carrying heavy items. 12 Perception for aiming guns accurately, which can be really really important against the high-end enemies that you absolutely need to stop in their tracks with a successful gunshot or two. Ammo/guns are much more common now so it's worth it. 10 INT because w/e.


POSITIVE TRAITS:
Night Vision - absolutely necessary, lets you see farther in the dark, which is when you should be doing your looting runs for safety
Indefatigable - 25% more stamina, which is important because if you ever run out of stamina and an enemy can see you, you're dead. PRESS " TO RUN.

NEGATIVE TRAITS:
Addictive Personality: Just don't do drugs
Far-Sighted AND Near-Sighted - Four stat points in exchange for making you rely on a pair of bifocals. I've had them break on me one time ever in all my time playing, normal zombies almost never go for the head.
Glass-Jaw - Lower head health. Like I said, zombies almost never go for the head. Helicopter crash start gives you a free helmet to totally negate this.
Heavy Sleeper - free points basically, makes you less likely to wake up for sound/light, but you'll still wake up if a window breaks in your base.
Lactose Intolerant - Milk goes bad so this only matters for like an in-game week before all milk/cheese/yogurt is rendered inedible anyways.
Pyromanic - Makes you sad if you don't light a fire, but makes you happy if you do light a fire. In conclusion, light a fire.

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

Grab the CDDA Game Launcher from https://github.com/remyroy/CDDA-Game-Launcher/releases . You can unzip tilesets and whatever else into the directory structure it creates. Agreeing with above that you should start with vanilla (except for Undead People tileset) at first.

One more link, http://cdda-trunk.chezzo.com/ . The in-game crafting menu (&) is great, especially once you learn the search terms, but it only shows you what your character already knows. The above link is great when you can’t remember what levels of tailoring and fabrication you need to craft a light survivor suit.

goatsestretchgoals fucked around with this message at 06:10 on May 18, 2020

Caidin
Oct 29, 2011
Be warned that the Launcher is gonna piss your antivirus software off something fierce.

megane
Jun 20, 2008



I just forged myself a nodachi out of broken car parts and then went out and cut down a dissoluted devourer with my invincible hanzo steel. :zoro:

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

Caidin posted:

Be warned that the Launcher is gonna piss your antivirus software off something fierce.

I’ve never had that problem with the built in Win10 AV. Are you trying to install into \Program Files? Windows does not like unsigned programs trying to do that, just put it on your desktop.

Qubee
May 31, 2013




Can I go and build my own cabin in the woods in this game, and are you able to start farming and becoming self-subsistent with rain catchers etc? Or if I just built my homestead by a river. If so, I'm excited to play.

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goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

You definitely can! It’ll take somewhere in the range of 2 in game weeks to set up a 7x7 cabin (5x5 internal) and I’m pretty sure you can do it with tools you can make yourself with enough survival skill. You need seeds but you can craft wild vegetable stems and I think you can forage berry seeds?

E: Funnels for catching rain are definitely a thing but most forest tiles have a 1-tile pond that has infinite water.

goatsestretchgoals fucked around with this message at 07:03 on May 18, 2020

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