# Getting past the tedium stage

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [June 1, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816 "2017-06-01T16:24:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Michi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/michi/32/2213_2.png) [@Michi](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Michi)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/1 "2017-06-01T16:24:35Z")

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So, my games seem to play out like this:  
Die a lot.  
Finally, don’t die.  
Get lots of leather. Make plated leather armor  
Find lotsa books  
Build out my deathmobile!  
Craft heavy Survivor Armor  
Craft broadsword/katana/etc

… and then it gets tedious…  
Labs are annoying, but as long as it isn’t a cold lab, its OK, but slow  
Towns become too annoying - Masters turn everything into Hulks, Nightstalkers, etc… even with great armor and weapons, I get swarmed, and acided to death

What do people do at this stage of the game?

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**Author:** ![StopSignal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/stopsignal/32/1923_2.png) [@StopSignal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/StopSignal)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 11:36pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/2 "2017-06-01T23:36:50Z")

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Idk pal, try to tweak around world settings? I for one got asskicked so much by fast zombies that I only play with slow ones now. Sadly I think now the new speed thing makes ALL monsters slow, which isn’t really what I like, but oh well.

It’s the most moddeable thing in the world! Just tweak it, it’s not like you are cheating. And if you were, it’s just a singleplayer game. Tweak it all!

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**Author:** ![Rot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/rot/32/454_2.png) [@Rot](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rot)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/3 "2017-06-02T03:03:22Z")

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Switch your play style. Martial arts only, only guns, bows, explosives, etc. Play during the winter, start in a lab and escape, etc.  
Role play as a character, be a maid, religious zealot, samurai, martial artist, lab mutant/scientist, etc.  
Try mutating or having some kind of dietary restriction  
Make it a goal to collect rare objects, brave mines, temples, military outposts, etc.  
Make the most overpowered character you have and complete the “gods of the cataclysm” challenges.

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**Author:** ![Azrad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Azrad](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Azrad)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/4 "2017-06-02T04:53:26Z")

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Avoid your usual choices in the game.

Like, aside from dying a lot in the start, it seems you follow the same template which leads to tedium. Setting a goal where you craft heavy survivor armor and a katana will inevitably lead to an OP character, and the steps taken to get to that point will only add to tedium.

So, change it up, try out new ways to get by and avoid your usual rules in playing the game.

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**Author:** ![\_k1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/_k1/32/1335_2.png) [@\_k1](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/_k1)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 8:50am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/5 "2017-06-02T08:50:48Z")

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Town is still challenging.

I lost my car twice and rescued it once in town, now walking home with a broken cutlass and tattered survivor armor.

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**Author:** ![nick0010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@nick0010](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/nick0010)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/6 "2017-06-03T00:42:25Z")

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I like to occasionally shake things up by making monsters. Bionic or mutant or both. See what happens. Add schizophrenia and genetically unstable for the least tedious most hated game youve ever played.

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**Author:** ![MorCel\_374](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/morcel_374/32/1169_2.png) [@MorCel\_374](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/MorCel_374)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 7:41am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/7 "2017-06-03T07:41:19Z")

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Play as an Experiment with Genetic Chaos. Learn to hate (or love) your new mutations and hunt down that purifier. Add PK’s mod or Cata++ for fun shit. Clear a Necropolis. Add NPC’s and do quests for the Commune, Refugee Center and Necropolis. Try to mod some shit and add a new mutation tree (tweak the JSON’s).

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**Author:** ![zombiechow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/278dde/32.png) [@zombiechow](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/zombiechow)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/8 "2017-06-04T21:52:57Z")

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Towns do indeed suck big time. They are kind of an oddity at this point in the game dev cycle – high risk, high tedium, low reward. The items you can obtain from it are really only useful for early game characters, and they are the ones least likely to be able to take one on. Early shocker brute can seriously ruin your day.

If I must, I usually use a deathmobile and whittle the hoard down block by block, ready to jump in the car and run if need be (extremely tedious, but safe).

Or just speed through town once (much more dangerously), trying to avoid the center and checking to see if there are any valuable structures on the map. Binoculars or survivor telescope is great for this, as it reveals more map while letting you stay farther away. Banks for the vault loot, doctor offices, vet offices for the medkit safes, libraries and bookstores for the skill books, high end electronics stores for the CBMs, etc. If there are none then I just put the pedal to the metal and drive to the next town. If there are no valuable structures it’s just not worth it.

Most of the time the ‘endgame’ I am shooting for is to become an alpha mutant with several useful bionics. The ‘midgame’ for me is obtaining acid protection (usually from survivor wetsuit) and dialectric CBM for lightning protection. Control laptop, some form of night vision, a good gun (usually a .50 cal) all the stuff necessary for safely exploring labs. Once I have those I start lab diving.

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**Author:** ![Neonwarrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@Neonwarrior](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Neonwarrior)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/9 "2017-06-06T06:33:00Z")

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I would really like if new threats would pop up as the game goes along. New zombies that come out at night (volatiles), roving bands of military, random air strikes or artillery strikes, a nuclear threat that you can disarm that destroys a large portion of the map, quests over the radio, factions, etc. In addition to events, I’d like it if there could be added biomes and natural structures like hills and mountains (imagine driving over a bridge 500 feet above a valley). Could try to survive in the desert, on the snowy mountaintops, on a tropical island you can only reach by boat, etc.

I can’t help but think to how Dwarf Fortress does this; there’s no telling what exactly will happen, and the fortress is always under threat from something. This game needs something like the forgotten beasts, goblin invasions, and hostile biomes that just get worse over time.

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**Author:** ![stk2008](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@stk2008](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/stk2008)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/10 "2017-06-06T06:42:58Z")

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Yeah full z levels would be awesome though so far the current z levels have come along way from what we did have.

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**Author:** ![Eisen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Eisen](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Eisen)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/11 "2017-06-07T18:19:00Z")

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-Start actually roleplaying  
-add self imposed challanges like

> no bionics/mutagens  
> only muscle powered vehicles  
> no melee or no ranged  
> no drugs  
> -take challenges/scenarios  
> -make a suboptimal character  
> -mods

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**Author:** ![nick0010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@nick0010](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/nick0010)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/12 "2017-06-07T18:54:26Z")

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[quote=“Neonwarrior, post:9, topic:13816”]I would really like if new threats would pop up as the game goes along. New zombies that come out at night (volatiles), roving bands of military, random air strikes or artillery strikes, a nuclear threat that you can disarm that destroys a large portion of the map, quests over the radio, factions, etc. In addition to events, I’d like it if there could be added biomes and natural structures like hills and mountains (imagine driving over a bridge 500 feet above a valley). Could try to survive in the desert, on the snowy mountaintops, on a tropical island you can only reach by boat, etc.

I can’t help but think to how Dwarf Fortress does this; there’s no telling what exactly will happen, and the fortress is always under threat from something. This game needs something like the forgotten beasts, goblin invasions, and hostile biomes that just get worse over time.[/quote]

Most of that would fall under z-levels or npcs, which though they currently are… sub-optimal, are supposedly in the queue (Well after the current slew of bug fixes and stability improvements)

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**Author:** ![RedPine](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/redpine/32/4995_2.png) [@RedPine](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/RedPine)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-past-the-tedium-stage/13816/13 "2017-06-13T05:56:34Z")

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[quote=“Michi, post:1, topic:13816”]Labs are annoying, but as long as it isn’t a cold lab, its OK, but slow  
Towns become too annoying - Masters turn everything into Hulks, Nightstalkers, etc… even with great armor and weapons, I get swarmed, and acided to death[/quote]

Sounds like you enjoy the early-mid progression, but stall out towards the end because you’re starting location (towns) are now the most difficult and impossible thing in the game (despite mediocre rewards). I can think of two solutions:

1. Start a new game, and extend playtime by using different tactics and destinations.

2. Design a character with the sole goal of clearing out towns in the late game.

Hunt down mininukes, gather an army of 8+ npcs and arm them all with pnuematic bolt drivers, and put them on a death van join ride, cover a vehicle in laser turrets, etc. Alternatively, built a zombie killing camp at the edge of a city where you set up every single lab turret you have ever found. Heck, put a lab turret on every street corner.

In short, option 2 is to make a goal so ridiculous that even an endgame character will find it a challenging scavenger hunt.