My first Hulk Kill, the supremacy of Dragon Style

Game Talk The Bunker
1

I just got my first Hulk kill. No guns. No mutations. No cybernetics. No traps. I killed my first Hulk like a man, WITH MY BARE HANDS… (Reality: the kill happened as I was panicked, trying to run away, and defending myself whenever it caught up with me :p)

Here’s what happened:

First, here what my relevant stats and traits are:
All world defaults kept, no mods set

Strength 8
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 14
Perception 8

melee: 8
unarmed: 8
throwing: 11
dodging 1

Quick
Shaolin Adept : Dragon Style

No torso encumbrance.

So, I got to the stage of the game where clearing towns of Zombies is pretty trivial. My long term goal is to get my character the Alpha post-threshold mutations, and then give him cybernetics that will further boost his stats and synergize with his melee + throwing style. Once I get there, I’d be confident to try to take on a Hulk, which has been my goal ever since my first encounter, several games back, that ended the lives of one of my characters I especially enjoyed. I know how dangerous they are now, and want to make sure I have a good amount of end-game stats before I start hunting them.

At the moment, I’m just clearing out a bit of town, and looking to replace the leather vest I accidentally dropped somewhere. I’m wearing a chef’s coat in the meantime. Being a bit impatient and sure of myself at this point, I’m running straight into non cleared areas, seeing my HUD fill up with Zs. I want to get a bunch at a time chasing me to speed up the process of clearing the town out. A Z appears on the HUD that’s colored in a way I’ve never seen before. Because I’m being so impatient, my finger is still held down on the movement key as I glance over to see what kind of Zombie it is.

…Zombie Hulk

I have a brief flashback to my first encounter. There’s no question what to do now. Back away, IMMEDIATELY, and pray that it didn’t see me…

I do an immediate about face. I’m getting worried, that Z isn’t disappearing from my HUD. After a few more seconds, I see that Z on my environment screen, headed right towards me.

Shit!

Now what? Do I fight? Do I run? No… maybe I should close the game and reload the game, and hope the auto-save happened before it saw me.

I decide against that. This game is about surviving against the odds. Trying to survive situations like this is what this game is all about. I’m going to play, I’m going to try to live. And that means getting the hell out of there, as there’s no way I’m going to kill that thing right now. I’m only armed with 3 throwing axes, 5 throwing knives, and Dragon Style. My melee skill is high, but with low base stats, and no stimulants, odds are it’s going to crush me.

I try to lose it around the corner of a house. Zombies are stupid and straight at you, paying no heed to obstacles in their path. Maybe if it gets caught at the house I’ll have a chance to get out of it’s line of sight and… it just smashed through the wall like they were made of legos… I’m fucked…

It’s closing distance, looks like I’m dead. I’ll have to fight it, but I’m still going to run until it catches up to me…

Aaaand it’s right no top of me. No choice now. I spin around…

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet.

Whoa! I hurl my throwing axe at it while it’s stunned, and it does a bit of damage, but who am I kidding, my 3 axes and 5 throwing knives aren’t going to be enough. I should run. Maybe it’ll be stunned long enough for me to get away.

Man, I’m going to miss that axe.

It’s back on the chase. A second later, back on top of me. Sigh. At least I got one good shot it before it snaps my neck. I spin around again.

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

Holy crap that’s lucky! Not wasting any time this time, I’m running away immediately. Maybe I can lose it at another house. Ya, it’ll tear through it, but maybe it’ll slow it down enough for me to sneak away somehow. I turn a tight corner, but the Zombie Hulk is too close, and as it smashes through the building some of the debris lands on me…

Am I dead? No, just stunned, and not all that injured. But it’s probably over at this point, there’s no way I’ll land a critical to get it off me at this point. I’m back to attention, and try to wobble my way out of the rubble as fast as I can. Luckily, smashing into the house did slow it a bit, but I’ve only managed to take one steps outside the rubble before it’s back on top of me. Here goes nothing…

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

NO WAYYY. I bolt. I remember there being a bunch of traps down south. If I can reach them, it might help slow it down a bit… it’s on top of me again…

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

Ahhhahahahahaha. Is this really happening?

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

Am I really going to get away with this? …do I have a chance at killing it this way??

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

I’ve never landed this many critical strikes in a row before. But then again, I’ve never run from anything like I’m running from the Hulk. With other zombies, after the first blow, I either stand in place and finish them off, or escape because I can out run them. I know movement increases Dragon Style’s damage… maybe this run for my life, with the adrenaline boost I’m sure I have, is causing this ridiculously lucky streak?

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

I can’t believe I’m kiting this thing. Is this really going to happen?

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

critical… DRAGON KICK The Hulk’s knocked back a few feet

…

(Many dragon kicks later…)

… It’s dead…

IT’S DEAD, HOLY CRAP, I KILLED THE ZOMBIE HULK!!!

This is amazing! Vengeance, so much sooner than I anticipated! I’m elated, ready to celebrate! But first things first, let’s make sure this piece of crap stays down. Time to butcher it, then take care of the other Zombies that were following along.

Wait… what’s that up ahead? No…

A second Zombie Hulk.

WHYYYYY? How? It must have been near the first one, the noise of the chase must of attracted it? However this happened, it doesn’t matter anymore. I have to get away while there’s still a bit of distance between us. There’s a chance I can kill it like I killed the first one, but there’s a strong possibility that I just got lucky, and any number of things could happen that would disrupt me. Like, what if a bear or moose decided it’d be a good time to have a go at me?

The only choice is to run away. Unfortunately, the only safe path leads me towards unexplored territory. I get a building between me and Hulk 2. This time, I manage to be on the other side of the building before it starts smashing through. It’s getting through, it’s catching up, and there’s an open field ahead of us. Up ahead, I see a row of houses. Even if I have a repeat performance, what happens when i run into zombies in the homes ahead? With the first Hulk, I was running through a Zombie-free area, and didn’t have to worry about having to also content with Feral Hunters, Tough Zombies, or any thing else like that in my path.

It smashes through the other wall of the building, with a group of other zombies along with it. They reach a car, which I expect will be knocked away even easier than the house.

…Hmm, it didn’t smash through immediately

…It’s stopped there with the other Zombies. Maybe it’ll take a second?

…They’re not getting around the car, and I’m getting farther and farther away. loooool wut? Is this divine intervention? Have I proved my worth to the lords of the Cataclysm DDA by choosing not to cheat and reload my game? Am I being spared?

I’m not risking anything, I keep running towards the new houses. Hulk 2 is out of my sight now, but I dunno if it can still see me, or is still trying to find me, and I’d feel a lot more comfortable with at least one building between me and it. There are zombies here, but I’m diving in head first. I don’t care how many of them I have to fight. So long as I don’t run into another hulk, I’ll find a choke point and fend them off…

…

That evening I’ve set up camp in one of the houses at the end of the row. Fortunately, these houses are at the edge of the town, with only open field around it, and a forest a bit further down. Most of my supplies are at my old base, I’ll have to figure out whether to leave them behind, or take a long route around where Hulk 2 is. Rather, where both Hulks are, as the first one has surely come back to life by now. My character is in a bed, but doesn’t manage to get a minute of sleep that night. Maybe it’s 'cause of this close call… It’s dawn now, I may as well start making plans. Whatever happens, this game has totally been worth it.

I’m still alive

2

Good for you mate.

3

Even if it’s awesome, i still think it’s a bit… op.

4

No doubt :stuck_out_tongue: The Hulk is described as being as big as six men, and I invested 0 points into strength. I get that the point of damage scaling off of intelligence has to do with my character choosing the strategically best places and ways to strike, but somethings should be impossible, lol.

I’m guessing the knockback mechanic is something operates the same on everything it’s triggered on, once the conditions are satisfied. It should probably be refined, down the line.

5

Omg that story. Feel for ya. That string of criticals probably saved your hide.

6

No doubt :stuck_out_tongue: The Hulk is described as being as big as six men, and I invested 0 points into strength. I get that the point of damage scaling off of intelligence has to do with my character choosing the strategically best places and ways to strike, but somethings should be impossible, lol.

I’m guessing the knockback mechanic is something operates the same on everything it’s triggered on, once the conditions are satisfied. It should probably be refined, down the line.[/quote]

Missing information: what’s your Unarmed skill? Would need to be about 6 for the Dragon Strike to show up, IIRC. 8 melee and 6 Unarmed is a pretty competent fighter, and you’ve got the build for Dragon Style, so I’m thinking this is probably WAI.

(Further, everyone gets a bonus-to-hit on Hulks, as they’re much larger than you. Same thing that makes it tough to hit rats in melee.)

But yeah, KF forms are intended to be moved to later-game once we’ve got the structures for 'em.

7

[quote=“KA101, post:6, topic:6020”]Missing information: what’s your Unarmed skill? Would need to be about 6 for the Dragon Strike to show up, IIRC. 8 melee and 6 Unarmed is a pretty competent fighter, and you’ve got the build for Dragon Style, so I’m thinking this is probably WAI.

(Further, everyone gets a bonus-to-hit on Hulks, as they’re much larger than you. Same thing that makes it tough to hit rats in melee.)

But yeah, KF forms are intended to be moved to later-game once we’ve got the structures for 'em.[/quote]

My unarmed skill is 8 as well. I’ll update the first post too.

I can believe the ability to land that many crits and dragon strikes can be expected at that level. To me though, the notion that my character could actually knock back a Zombie Hulk is a bit absurd :stuck_out_tongue: (Not that I’m complaining!) Maybe it’s not a bug, but down the line I could see knock back logic being refined a bit. Like, I think I probably should have died in that encounter. (Again, not complaining!)

8

Yeah, the fact that you were critting that much is most likely working as intended, but the fact that a tiny average person can run around knocking back things like jabberwocks is a little silly IMO. Probably should eventually add some sort of size check that can modify the distance you knockback something (or potentially stop the knockback if they are large enough comparatively).

9

I dunno if knockback is always paired with stun, but you could also consider situations where the stun is applied while the knockback isn’t, and/or neither are applied.

10

That was beautiful. I remember my first zombie hulk. I looked at the ‘Z’ on the map, looked at the description and I thought: Bwahahah, it’s just a little stronger than a zombie brute. Another easy kill. I met it head on with my sawn-off pipe shotgun ‘Sluggy’ and blasted it in the face.

Critical! You hit the zombie hulk for 103 damage!

Ha. Easy. But just as I turn I realize that the bloody thing is still alive. In a brief panic, I got out my fire axe and faced off to it. But every hack wasn’t enough to kill it. All I could do was watch as my poor character’s legs & arms were being pulled apart like I was an insect, then it finished me off by squashing my head.

Zombie hulks… never again. Next time, I will be prepared! Learns dragon style [size=10pt]Mehehehe OP kiting here I come…[/size]

11

FYI: I’m not going to attempt to fight them again, just in case this was a fluke. Plus, I’m not sure what would have happened if I didn’t land a Dragon Kick one of those times and took damage from it. User beware :wink:

12

FYI: I’m not going to attempt to fight them again, just in case this was a fluke. Plus, I’m not sure what would have happened if I didn’t land a Dragon Kick one of those times and took damage from it. User beware ;)[/quote]

Fear not! I shall be the test subject of the infinite dragon kick awesome crit kiting-ness. Out of interest did you use the Blackbelt profession?

13

Haha, good luck! I used backpacker, just for the slightly easier start. I also always get Fast Learner, just so I don’t have to spend so much time grinding, and Robust Genetics, because I plan on mutating myself. I got enough negatives traits to pay for those, and used all my default points on intelligence.

14

Optimist or stylish are basically poor mans fast learner. Worth taking to save that point.

Generally I find once you get your skills up to about 6-7 you can take hulks on the flat with a decent weapon (or just drop some shotgun blasts into its face). Ive always felt they need upping a little on the badass stakes.

Though my most recent char met one at about midday day 1. He came smashing through the wall of a gas station I was near, I had no guns, no armor and was armed with a makeshift crowbar.
So I prepared my final words and dashed into the nearest house and waited. Nothing. ooook. Loot the house, still nothing. Poke my head out and see the entire gas station was on fire. Turns out hulks will attack and explode fuel pumps :slight_smile:

15

I killed one on day 1 with a molotov once. Smashed the molotov, lured it in, and tanked it on the edge so it burned up. I died two turns later to a zombie dog. I like to think that that survivor was reanimated as a Zombie Tank to replace the one it incinerated.

Typically I carry a shotgun with slug rounds. Point blank slugs put down pretty much anything.

16

[quote=“jimboblordofeskimos, post:14, topic:6020”]Though my most recent char met one at about midday day 1. He came smashing through the wall of a gas station I was near, I had no guns, no armor and was armed with a makeshift crowbar.
So I prepared my final words and dashed into the nearest house and waited. Nothing. ooook. Loot the house, still nothing. Poke my head out and see the entire gas station was on fire. Turns out hulks will attack and explode fuel pumps :)[/quote]

That’s hilarious :smiley:

17

[quote=“Paquito, post:16, topic:6020”][quote=“jimboblordofeskimos, post:14, topic:6020”]Though my most recent char met one at about midday day 1. He came smashing through the wall of a gas station I was near, I had no guns, no armor and was armed with a makeshift crowbar.
So I prepared my final words and dashed into the nearest house and waited. Nothing. ooook. Loot the house, still nothing. Poke my head out and see the entire gas station was on fire. Turns out hulks will attack and explode fuel pumps :)[/quote]

That’s hilarious :D[/quote]

Yeah, I tested it with another one I found just to be sure, he ran up to the pump, punched it and BOOM, no more mr hulky. Ive seen them take a molli to the face and come out through the flames, no such luck for this guy though.