Hi, I like the game, but it HATES ME

[Rutilant]

It’s my first real roguelike past dwarf fortress and I used tiles for that! I’m way into the idea but I’m having a hard time doing much of anything besides spawning, filling a backpack, and dying.

Dying to… quite an astonishingly large variety of things, actually. I’m getting the hang of how to, er, handle zombies, and i my most recent game i managed to get a nice collection of tools and board up my starting evac center. I found a shovel for the first time so I was eagerly digging some pits under my windows, determined to carve out a little sanctuary for myself this time, but in the middle of digging my second pit, I found myself surrounded by GIANT FROGS. I was totally not ready for combat at the time, not anticipating instant frog sodomy, and though I managed to machete one to death, I was almost instantly gnawed to death by an amount of creatures so large that I couldn’t help but think it was the game’s way of saying “*&^% YOOOUUUU.”

I’ve yet to find a map tile type that isn’t trying to murdering me in unique and interesting ways, but even my evac shelter is subject to attacks by giant random wildlife during the day!

I guess the gist of what I’m trying to say is that I’m entranced by the enormous depth and complexity hidden away in this game, but the only parts of it I seem to be able to experience is BACKPACKS, then DEATH, in that order because the game is absolutely determined to throw every threat it has at me.

Please help me be a better survivor!

[ComputerWarrior]

Yes, Cata is very creative in planning the deaths of survivors. Ahem, whilst you might know this already, it is still important to note that your torso should not be encumbered more than one or two points. Anything above that will sharply reduce your char’s ability to dodge, which sucks if you are fighting anything that won’t go down in one hit.

So if you see an enemy, drop your backpack and (almost) everything you have on you and then go fight it. Now, there are certain places in Cataclysm which… are very dangerous. Like swamps, and hence if there is a swamp in a three map tile radius of you, the most logical thing would be to pack your bags and run somewhere else. Also avoid beehives, triffidgroves, and fungaloids. Fungaloids, whilst easy to kill at first, will reproduce so much that soon you will be fighting hundreds.

With the enemies out of the way, it would be wise to find a car lot and grab a motorcycle or anything except a bicycle or a truck. Bicycles are a quick way to help one dying especially if one is running away from something that is faster than a turtle, and trucks make noise which will help attract dozens or hundreds of zombies whilst wandering around in a town.

Oh and if you wish to kill a horde of zombies that are following you around, it would be necessary to find a 1x1 window, break it and crawl into the room behind it, and wait for the zombies to pass through it so that you can stab\hit\squash\punch them to death one-by-one.

Tl;dr: Avoid beehives, triffidgroves, swamps, and fungaloids like the plague. Find a vehicle that isn’t a bicycle to help you run away if things get too bad, and never fight whilst encumbered. Also, if you are fighting against zombies, find a 1x1 window and lure the zombies through it to kill them.

Ahem, as in DF, losing (dying, actually) is FUN! Good luck surviving.

[RBrandon]

Firearms can help a great deal if you manage to get a hold of them. They are very noisy and can attract Z’s in towns but outside of towns can make great panic buttons. Handguns in particular don’t take up much space and you can carry multiple loaded guns with you in case you need a quick swap.

The best way to survive swamps though is definitely to stay as far away as possible there’s not much useful to be gained from them anyway.

To deal with a horde of zombies you should probably just run away too seeing as they aren’t very fast.

[warwolf0315]

[quote=“Rutilant, post:1, topic:195”], I was almost instantly gnawed to death by an amount of creatures so large that I couldn’t help but think it was the game’s way of saying “*&^% YOOOUUUU.”

Please help me be a better survivor![/quote]
have you been sacrificeing you daily amount of wolves? if you have i suggest find some plankton and burn it to please the old god of RNG

[Rutilant]

Well, I’m doing a bit better; I started picking up the night vision trait when I realized that zombies are more reliant on vision than I am (luckily walking into walls doesn’t damage your head and make noise!) and started raiding things at night. I filled my lockers in the safehouse, busted apart a large amount of benches to board everything up, have pits dug in front of many of the windows, and an aluminum bat. I did have a baseball bat, but I ended up accidentally dropping it somewhere fleeing from zombies, so I’m kind of bummed about that. At least I can hang out and read and eat and accumulate experience, which seems to be as much of a goal as going and spending the experience. Really love the morale to experience conversion!

Then I accidentally picked up an npc because my options were abandon my shelter or pass a speech check. Then he tried to fire a longbow, the game logic bugged out so badly his brain exploded, and now I’m getting periodic debug errors all the time and think I might have to start a new game. I’ve read they’re just bugged in general so I’ll probably go ahead and debug kill them next time I see them.

Some questions;

Where generally are good places to try to fortify and live, that don’t get hordes of enemies spawned at them?
How safe is hiding out in the city if you’re silent during the day, for example in a windowless bathroom. Will zombies sniff you out anyway?
Did the frogs come from a swamp? I thought there was only forest in that direction from me.

I’m really into the spirit of exploration in games like this but I’m having a hard time finding a safehouse of some type where i can sleep and heal in relative safety. (I realize asking for total safety in a roguelike is a flawed concept)

[Vucar_Fikodastesh]

Player scent will travel through solid walls, and zombie spawns will accumulate. I’ve never had any luck with sleeping inside cities.

As far as I know, frogs only spawn in and around swamps.

Creature spawning is based on spawn zones, in and around cities you have zombies, triffids groves have triffids, fungal spires have fungaloids, swamps have swamp creatures, etc. So, your best bet for a safe base is in between zones; where you don’t have to worry about anything other than natural wild life. No animals can force entry into a closed building.

There are a number of structures with the potential to spawn distant from cities. Labs, sewage treatment plants, mansions, military bunkers, military bases, remote houses, mines, evac shelters, are all that occur to me at the moment.

I prefer to base out of an evac shelter, they are reasonably spacious, have plenty of furniture, and most importantly, have a basement. I’ve lost enough bases to fires to know that you need to have a basement to hide in during lightning storms.

If you don’t have any where else safe to sleep, look for the house at the furthest edge of the town from downtown. Frequently the zombie spawn zone will not extend to the furthest houses.

Also, watch out if you are frequently traveling from your base to the nearest city and back. I’ve noticed that zombies chasing you from the town tend to slowly “pull” the spawn zone toward your base. In one long running game I had to move to a different shelter after zombies from a town 30+ squares distant were spawning outside my shelter!

[The_Darkling_Wolf]

One point, lighting is currently disabled

Most evac shelters are nice bases anyway, the only problem is the amount of entry points, really.

[Rutilant]

[quote=“The Darkling Wolf, post:7, topic:195”]One point, lighting is currently disabled

Most evac shelters are nice bases anyway, the only problem is the amount of entry points, really.[/quote]

In what way is it disabled?

[The_Darkling_Wolf]

Erm. That’s a typo. I meant to say light[size=18pt]n[/size]ing.
And during thunderstorms it just doesn’t strike. So you don’t wake up to find your entire year’s stockpile of stuff has vanished.

[Rutilant]

Oh, phew. I was worried I was doing something foolish and only tricking myself into thinking the light level mattered haha. Thanks for responding so quickly.

[The_Darkling_Wolf]

I check in on the forums every few minutes when I’m online, I don’t like to leave people’s questions unanswered.

[RBrandon]

For a shelter, I usually try to find one of the houses generated outside of towns in the forest somewhere. They are easily accessed and fortified and they have the bonus of potentially having useful loot or food within.

Works out great until the fungus makes it to you

[Rutilant]

Day 5, I finally found a wooden baseball bat and of course covered it with nails. The +3 to hit is great while I suck or if I’m a little encumbered! I ended up taking on a zombie brute in the middle of a field and came out very much the victor!

Day 6, I decided to work towards getting into the nearby military bunker. I spent the night looting the library for all the related material I’d need, and after a couple days of EXP, I’m getting pretty good at melee too.

Day 7, was a rather clear night and I decided to go check out a parking lot I’d spotted during the day. Bingo! There was a car with half a tank of gas. Even better, I decided on a whim to check next door since I hadn’t revealed that tile, and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a gun shop. I had to bat a few zombies back through the windows, but I eventually loaded everything that store had to offer into the back of the car and a few smashed zombies later I get it all home and safe in my basement. I think I got enough food to last me a couple days, so I might spend them reinforcing my shelter further and fixing up my car.

I might just survive this whole apocalypse thing!

[jimy]

Don’t underestimate worms.
If you think everything is alright then don’t use fields too often.

I’m pretty sure there is a “sucess” value that determines how good it is going for you and then spawns worms.
(Warning: Don’t take the nonsense above seriouse. Though worms are dangerouse and it’s always adviced to keep your safe modus ON.)

[system]

They only use hearing don’t they? I would throw a rock or active radio to lure them away.

[Rutilant]

Worms? Let me guess, they’re giant? I’ve been cutting across a lot of field to get into town over the last few days - What’s the real danger, that they’re extremely powerful or that they tend to pop up when you’re holding down a movement key and you accidentally fight it for 30 turns with your backpack on?

[Vucar_Fikodastesh]

If you are a melee focused character with a good amount of dodge, they are not a serious threat. Always have auto safemode on, in any case.

Though, giant worms will only spawn in giant worm infested areas. Those are fairly uncommon, and inside of those areas, they spawn very frequently. So, if you haven’t seen any worms in an area after a couple of days, it’s probably safe.

[system]

But still, don’t they rely on sound? Just throw something and run like hell.

[kevin.granade]

Player scent will travel through solid walls, and zombie spawns will accumulate. I’ve never had any luck with sleeping inside cities.

Didn’t technically go through walls, but it went through doora and wendows and around walls so efficiently that it might as well have in most situations. I’ve made closed doors and windows block scent to a large extent, so this should be less of an issue now. Also zombies have has their scent ability downgraded slightly.

Also, watch out if you are frequently traveling from your base to the nearest city and back. I’ve noticed that zombies chasing you from the town tend to slowly “pull” the spawn zone toward your base. In one long running game I had to move to a different shelter after zombies from a town 30+ squares distant were spawning outside my shelter!

This shouldn’t be an issue anymore, there used to be a situation where monster spawn radius would keep increasing every time you pulled a zombie out of its home spawn zone and then lost it, but I made it cap the increase, so it shouldn’t happen any more. Let me know if it’s still happening with recent builds.

[Vucar_Fikodastesh]

This shouldn’t be an issue anymore, there used to be a situation where monster spawn radius would keep increasing every time you pulled a zombie out of its home spawn zone and then lost it, but I made it cap the increase, so it shouldn’t happen any more. Let me know if it’s still happening with recent builds.

Wow, this used to be one of my biggest beefs with Cataclysm. Thanks a ton for fixing it!