IcedPee's In-Progress Cataclysm DDA Guide! (Newly Updated and Extra-Chunky!)

IcedPee · 2014-01-30T22:00:42.000Z

Hey there, welcome to my thread! Formerly, this just contained a collection of essential (and/or extremely useful) items and supplies for every level of survivor, detailing what the most important gear is to acquire.

BUT NOW, because I apparently don’t have anything better to do, I’m changing this into a FULL, complete guide to basically everything in Cataclysm. I’m working on the guide in GoogleDocs as we speak, and you can check it out in the link below.

v.001: The guide is pretty empty right now, and as such I don’t really need suggestions. I’m mostly working on planning out the formatting, getting the chapters set up and all that, so the guide isn’t much to look at. Check back in a few days!
v.002: Basic Controls chapter is up. Took longer than expected, I think it’s pretty helpful though. Check it out!
v.005: Skipping version numbers because I do what I want. Plus it’s been updated quite a bit since last time.

docs.google.com

Cataclysm: DDA Guide

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead A guide by IcedPee With help from the viewers like you. Yeah it’s rough right now, guys. It’ll get better. Suggest/comment stuff you think should be added, either up here or down where it fits. ...

THE THING IS:
I’m a Mac player (IcedPee dodges torches and pitchforks), so therefore it’s not possible for me to be up to date on the latest features added by the experimental builds. So, I’m opening this topic up to advice and discussion from players who know about more items and stuff that aren’t in my version of the game yet. Like all these fancy “wood needles” and “Dayquil and Nyquil have to be in bottles” and all that malarkey. So comment, and I’ll add!

The above also carries over into the guide. The Experimental build’s inner workings are still mysteries to me, so I’ll need help from lurkers like YOU to give aid to this guide. That, and some features of the game (coughcoughvehicleconstructioncough) I haven’t exactly mastered yet. So anybody who gives helpful suggestions to any part of the guide is greatly appreciated, and will even get their usernames immortalized for all time in the credits of the guide!

Thanks so much for reading, and remember:

GIVE HELP FOR THE GUIDE AND I WILL LOVE YOU LONG TIME

lootpack · 2014-01-30T23:54:17.000Z

Yeah, build a makeshift bed and a fireplace before the first nightfall?

Build a quick pseudo-vehicle with just solarpanels, a storage battery and all the vehicle kitchen/welder/forge installations and never need batteries, charcoal or that fireplace again.

Fish · 2014-01-31T00:20:54.000Z

You might need to knock back the time a bit or make a separate timeline for experienced players.
I say that due to the fact of when you get a gun (or bow) its possible to use that to get a lot of good stuff really quickly and experienced players usually know how to do it.

1D-1_T · 2014-01-31T05:38:27.000Z

Nice work, IcedPee. But I agree with Fish, the timeline seems a little off. For example, my current char is 1 and a half seasons in and already seems to be up to the badassery stage. They’ve got a home made vehicle, a Pneumatic Assault Rifle, and a rapier. Nothing can take them.

But other than that, it’s a good shopping list. If you have the time I would suggest you make it a full blown guide, as all the other guides are all over the place, so it would undoubtedly make it a bit easier for newbs.

Good job (also, I know your pain about not being able to try the experimentals)

Zireael · 2014-01-31T09:25:17.000Z

I like this guide a lot. The timeline might be off for experienced players who play 0.9, but in the experimentals, the recipe-locks slowed down the rate of getting into phases 3 & 4.

IcedPee · 2014-01-31T19:57:37.000Z

@ People with timeline suggestions/disputes: Yeah, the timeline settings I put on each shopping list were based off the progress of my most successful character, which was created when I wasn’t very skilled, so I took a little longer to get up to par because of making a lot of mistakes along the way. I’ll bump them all back a little bit to accommodate it for experienced players. The guide in general is meant for relatively new people to the game, I didn’t expect expert players to need much more help than they already have.

1D-1()T:

If you have the time I would suggest you make it a full blown guide, as all the other guides are all over the place, so it would undoubtedly make it a bit easier for newbs.

What exactly did you mean by this, 1D? Like, a full, all-encompasing guide for everything in the game? Because I definitely have the time and passion to do that (Making video game guides adds +1 morale per second for me in real life, especially games I love to play), I just wasn’t sure if it would be appreciated/necessary, since we already have the wiki, Candlebury’s illustrated guide in progress… all that stuff.

Basically what I’m wondering is, would people want it on top of everything else we already have?

1D-1_T · 2014-01-31T21:45:38.000Z

I dunno what I really meant
But if you enjoy it, go for it. If needs be you could merge it with the wiki guide.

One-Eyed_Jack · 2014-02-01T15:22:18.000Z

I used to play like this more or less but lately I’ve just been doing

get a decent weapon (more often found than made these days, but spears/nail borad etc are good enough)->clear a house (one with basement bed if possible, otherwise just no zombies around and intact windows/doors around the bedroom)->raid sporting goods/milsurp/library->if I get a lot of books, read them and do some crafting->move on to next city->once my skills are all high, build endgame gear and start raiding labs for cbms

Fish · 2014-02-03T03:09:13.000Z

Also, we must not forget fellow forum lurkers…

[glow=red,2,300]GOOD JOB ICEED PEE![/glow]

He’s taking on a big task that will benefit the comunity and that deserves some thanks.

IcedPee · 2014-02-03T22:18:02.000Z

Let it be known that from this point on, this thread is now the thread for my complete guide to the Cataclysm, with (lots and lots of) help from the other members of this board and anybody who wants to assist.

[size=5pt]What fresh hell have I gotten myself into?[/size]

Inadequate · 2014-02-04T00:24:01.000Z

Mostly, you’ve gotten into making a list of ‘things to nerf’, because that’s how these threads always seem to go. Good job!

IcedPee · 2014-02-04T00:35:41.000Z

Inadequate:

Mostly, you’ve gotten into making a list of ‘things to nerf’, because that’s how these threads always seem to go. Good job!

I don’t quite follow your logic. Just because some things are useful to have for a new player doesn’t make them overpowered.

Inadequate · 2014-02-04T02:41:51.000Z

It’s not directed at you, it’s directed at the general community around here, which loves to nerf anything remotely useful to the point of uselessness. Right now there’s someone suggesting grafting on an entirely new mechanic to melee combat, increasing tediousness a hundredfold, for no other reason that extra complexity.

juliawang87 · 2014-02-04T07:23:18.000Z

Yeah, I get that Roguelikes are traditionally hard, but there sure seems to be a handful of users on the forum here with a real elitist chip on their shoulder who are downright angry that anyone else is having any measure of success in the game. It’s frustrating.

I get that they think they’re improving things, but they’re like vegetarians trying to “fix” a barbeque so it’s to their tastes rather than the community’s.

deadmerits · 2014-02-04T08:38:24.000Z

IcedPee please consider updating the wiki yourself. Not that I don’t appreciate your guide, just that the wiki can always use contributors.

Zireael · 2014-02-04T09:40:24.000Z

deadmerits:

IcedPee please consider updating the wiki yourself. Not that I don’t appreciate your guide, just that the wiki can always use contributors.

Good point.

IcedPee · 2014-02-04T21:59:18.000Z

deadmerits:

IcedPee please consider updating the wiki yourself. Not that I don’t appreciate your guide, just that the wiki can always use contributors.

I would, but most of the stuff that needs to be done on the wiki, like stats of items and other stuff that requires digging in the game code… I have no idea how to do. I will definitely do what I can when I have time, though.

IcedPee · 2014-02-05T00:12:52.000Z

deadmerits:

IcedPee please consider updating the wiki yourself. Not that I don’t appreciate your guide, just that the wiki can always use contributors.

Actually, scratch my previous statement, I tried to help on the wiki, but wiki writing is confusing as shit. I added a page for lemonade but don’t know how to put in or format all the crafting tables, then I tried to add lemonade to the table of drinks in the comestibles page, but when I went to preview it the whole thing was garbled text so I gave up, unable to find a tutorial or basic guide or anything. If you can direct me to a half-decent guide to how to do these sorts of things, I would be more than happy to give another go at helping your wiki.

AngryFrenchKanadian · 2014-02-06T09:48:30.000Z

The wiki is powered by MediaWiki, so here would be a good place to start: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Contents

It’ll take a bit of reading but it should be pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

IcedPee · 2014-11-06T02:42:36.000Z

Hello pals and gals, IcedPee back again with some news regarding the DDA guide! As you may have noticed, I’ve been linking to the guide in a couple of other threads. That’s because I’ve gotten some help from the fine Anons of 4chan’s /vp/ board and we’re starting to finally whip this guide into shape! If you’d like advice on surviving in DDA (the guide is designed for stable but experimental players will find a lot of helpful info as well), check it out, even though many chapters remain empty what’s there is good stuff!

And as always, if you’d like to help contribute a fact here or there or even a piece of a chapter, feel free to do so! Edit suggestions are open to all and I can turn them into permanent text with one click of a button!