New player questions

[gtgiygus]

So I have been playing off and on awhile, now that I have some of the basics down, but there are a few things that I can’t figure out/need advice on.

First is electricity. I have been collecting batteries from phones etc, plus I could go find some vehicle batteries as well. But I need a reliable way of charging them up. The only thing I can find by searching is vehicle mounted UPS items I don’t think I can craft. I did find the hand crank, but is that the only other way? Is there no construction based way of charging with wind/solar/steam etc?

2nd question related to first, the makeshift welder uses electric batteries as “charges”, correct? Found the recipe/looked online but doesn’t specifically say.

3rd: I have a shopping cart a zombie broke wheels off of, but can’t seem to find a way to repair it. I have no recipe for small wheels, maybe I just need to break some off another?

4th: I have a working sports car I wanted to modify/repair. I had gotten advice here: first thread that a vehicle can be used to quickly clear out a town. I tried ramming a few hoards of zombies but it only seemed to hurt the car. I assume I was not going fast enough though. Any advice on how to make that work?

And on that note: Do zombies/enemies respawn or wander around? I cleared out the area around my house, but now and then I keep finding new zombies in the woods north of house. I assumed they had wandered down from the hoards in that direction, but they have zero items on them, unlike ever other zombie I killed.

Further more: How important is it to fortify your base? I boarded up all but 2 windows and the only door. The windows are facing south (enemies are all north, except the wanderers/respawners) but the door is up that away. However, no zombie has tried to attack walls or w/e at all (two weeks in so far). Not sure if it would be wasted effort.

Thanks for any advice!

[ecchi_squid]

1.Welders and makeshift welders use batteries unless modified using a UPS conversion mod or a battery compartment mod that uses vehicle size batteries.
2. You can often do some repairs using a wrench or other tools. Like changing casters on a cart.
3. You need to be going fast to kill zombies with a car, otherwise you’re just pushing them while they’re smashing your car.
4. Zombies don’t stay dead unless you pulp or butcher the corpses. The ones you found were recently killed if they had no items on them.
5. Fortifying your base is pretty much important only if you have roaming zombies or random zombie spawns enabled. I cleared out a mall and I have my items laying about.

[ecchi_squid]

Also damaging vehicles won’t give you the same materials as properly removing the parts in the vehicle examine menu.

[ecchi_squid]

As far as a quick way to get electricity in your car batteries, just siphon all the vehicles you find, and run a vehicle with your car batteries in it. The alternator should allow your car batteries to charge. The main thing is finding an undamaged engine and alternator.

[Axema]

I have a shopping cart a zombie broke wheels off of, but can’t seem to find a way to repair it.

You’ll need proper tools and a descent mechanic skill level to do the repair. Vehicle-related tools are usually found in garages, while the books could be anywhere

[TheMurderUnicorn]

Yeah, if you’re to the point that you’re repairing vehicles, swapping out some casters should be no big deal. Alternatively, you can just drag the cart without wheels if you’re really desperate. Repairing partially damaged shopping carts (as opposed to swapping parts) probably requires welding materials.

I’d also suggest not ramming zombies with vehicles unless you’re treating it as disposable or you’ve armored it/put a ram on it. Most small cars will get torn to shreds from plowing into a horde, and because engines are located up front you run the risk of the car stopping before you can get away to freedom.

[gtgiygus]

haven’t actually repaired anything yet. Just found “under the hood” yesterday and got my mechanics to 3 plus the recipes, so it is within reach. Wasn’t sure if I even had the needed fuel was all.

I will have to figure out a way to hook up solar panel to car to recharge batter for welder I am thinking.

[ecchi_squid]

If you don’t have a battery compartment mod in your welder or aren’t using a vehicle welding rig it won’t work. Because welders use conventional batteries.

[TheMurderUnicorn]

EDIT: Oops. You meant it won’t charge because you can’t install that type of battery into a vehicle to get recharged by solar panels.

[draghi]

hello. for beginning i say definitely scavenge any batteries especially with the new battery overhaul, keep them around the base for your power tools. when you have enough electronics/mechanics consider creating a 1-tile generator with a 1 cylinder engine(you can scavenge those off scooters i think) and as big as an alternator you can find (7.5kW’s pretty rare, truck alt quite common) and charge car batteries in it, then make battery compartment mod and install it on your tool or whatever, you’ll get like 2500 charges for just a few centiliters of fuel, quite profitable but adds bulk to tools so I say keep those around the base, for something more compact but resource-demanding, you could also scavenge an UPS-recharging station (they spawn on Humvees) and also have a storage battery hooked up to your generator, and you can keep your tools inside the recharger and just use them from there, as time passes while you craft they will recharge but I notice fuel consumption isnt really optimal in this config as the engine doesnt stop when the battery reaches 100%.

so i recommend for this configuration, scavenge enough solar panels, and using a battery power welder, with enough electronics/mechanics craft yourself a solar array from the mod. i used to keep the thing outside my base as a recharging/welding station and welded my deathmobile outside while that thing kept charging, the remaining battery from day charging could be used to weld at night as well, till it drains out