Questions from a newb

[Sterlin]

Hello cata players, been watching this forum for awhile and decided it was time to ask some of my own questions to further my enjoyment of the game.

To start my questions will be divided by section (letter), second letter (sub section for extended questions) and number for ease of reply.

A: Gameplay
A1: what are some ways to get your melee/weapon skills up fairly harmlessly/low risk?
A2: when Getting a starter base what is preferred in a town?
A3: what kind of areas emit radiation (for mutating)?
A4: preferred melee weapon endgame/beginning?
A5: will you be able to reclaim towns/labs/etc. and advertise on radio, cellphone, etc. to attract NPCs to move in?
A6: will NPCs become able to scavenge for you at any point in the game?
AA1: will there be faction bases in the wilderness eventually?
AA2: will npc factions be able to trade/build/use custom vehicles?
AA3: will factions declare war on the player if said player is hostile (vandalism,murder,theft)?
AA4: if factions have a base if left alone for long amounts of time will they grow in population/vehicles/wealth (food, personal items, clothing, ammo, weapons) and become hostile to outsiders (player) if they refuse to join?

B: Game code
B1: what programming language is the game coded in?
B2: how would one go about contributing to the game on github?

That wraps it up, Thanks!
First post!

[Ian_Strachan]

B1: C++.
B2: https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md Has all the info you should need for that.

If you aren’t familiar with Github, they have various helpful pages as well in the Getting Started section for you.

[EkarusRyndren]

In order…

Depending on if you’re running the stable build or the nightly, kill critters lured to windows or books
I personally prefer to build or Modify an RV and just ride around but the few times I’ve held up I’ve found that with a decent construction skill any building will work. You generally want a bed, a fireplace/woodstove, and storage (or just piles) for your crap
I strongly recommend you use Mutigen instead of radiation, much safer, can be found in labs or on dead scientists. But if you’re intent on radiation Toxic Waste Dumps, Hazardous Waste Disposals, or patches of square rubble are good sources.
I generally avoid Melee, but I’ve come to prefer the Nodachi late game.
No idea
No idea
No idea, though I’ve managed to get an NPC stuck in a vehicle once, it sat there and starved to death.
No idea
No idea

As for the second section, you’re better off talking to someone else.

[jcannon98188]

A1. The best way is to fight. You will want to only take one or two zombies at a time. Make them walk through brushes or windows so you can get multiple hits before they can hit back. With a brush, you can get 1 or 2 hits in before you have to kite them back. You are faster than every zombie except for a zombie dog (and I think a brute?) so use that to your advantage.

A2. Your starter base will want to be near a town, but probably not IN a town. Ideally you want to be within a short walk of a river (so you have infinite source of water) and near a large open field (so you always have rabbits and squirrels to hunt). Once you get a vehicle going, just about every place will be reachable.

A3. I have no idea, I turn that off in the options

A4. The Katana seems to be a holy grail. They added a few new Japanese and Medival weapons that all appear to be pretty good. Starting weapon wise, I personally like using a combat knife or a knife spear. The perfect balance between speed and damage. Also, martial arts tends to be really strong right now.

A5-AA4. Right now, NPC’s are broken and disabled by default. Eventually they will be fixed and I believe the answer to every one of your questions will be yes, but I am really not sure. I don’t think even the developers know for sure, since I think NPC’s are a bit off from being fixeed.

[youtoo]

follow these step by step instructions, you will understand why as you play it out.

http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=3723.0

A1: what are some ways to get your melee/weapon skills up fairly harmlessly/low risk?

throw rocks at rabbits to get up throwing too. stay in woods. fight straggler zombies that you can lead out of town. just fight 1-2. if you get any pain,dont fight until its gone.
fungaloids (if any spawn near you) are good since there are alot and they are not real fast. you can’t go near them until you get a filter mask or you will die (has to do with you swallowing spores). filter masks are common finds. just find one and fight them. make sure to try to fight 1 at a time. i recommend picking up rocks off the ground and throwing at anything to weaken then move in and kill. see my instructions. encumbrance really hurts dodge. so see my suggestions about it.

A2: when Getting a starter base what is preferred in a town?

stay out of town. use the shelter. see instructions.

A3: what kind of areas emit radiation (for mutating)?

random locations outside.can see with geiger counter. anything with 'waste' or goo. dont worry about this early. radiation isnt bad. you can take advantage of mutations, but it doesn'tmatter for new players.

A4: preferred melee weapon endgame/beginning?

pointy stick. go outside get 1 rock. wield it. go [s]mash a bench, & to craft a pointy stick. lategame is mainly range weapons. dont worry about this.

A5: will you be able to reclaim towns/labs/etc. and advertise on radio, cellphone, etc. to attract NPCs to move in?

no. and npcs are disabled by default since they are buggy. no one has worked on them in a long time.

A6: will NPCs become able to scavenge for you at any point in the game?

no.

AA1: will there be faction bases in the wilderness eventually?

hope so. no one has worked on npcs in a long time. too many other things to do. dont expect any real NPC stuff until sometime next year unless you want to help do it and can grab some friends (we encourage this).

AA2: will npc factions be able to trade/build/use custom vehicles?

hope so. by all means code this.

AA3: will factions declare war on the player if said player is hostile (vandalism,murder,theft)?

if you could figure out how to code this, we would wuv you.

AA4: if factions have a base if left alone for long amounts of time will they grow in population/vehicles/wealth (food, personal items, clothing, ammo, weapons) and become hostile to outsiders (player) if they refuse to join?

you might be able to get some serious sex if you code this.