Setting up a base

[ianpwilliams]

Thanks, lots to think about there. I’ll definitely check out your guide.

[Rokmonkey]

Truly, the shelter is a great place to start, the terminal is a decent permanent light. That’s pretty much the biggest selling point, that and a basement.

The house you found sounds rather good too. You can stay there for a very long time. If you can, put up a screenshot of your world map, unless the towns are tiny and hugely far apart, you can stay in one location for longer than you think. Use canned goods until you have a better source for fresh food and then start stockpiling the canned goods for winter.

I highly suggest you get yourself a vehicle, I prefer a motorcycle that I put a sidecar-cargocarrier on. It’s nimble and great for base raiding. I’ve never been one to build a mobile base. Motorcycles and static vehicles (for powered lights, welders etc.) are my go to.

As for your carrying capacity, this may be silly to ask, but you are carrying a backpack right? Backpack/rucksack/dive bag. Toolbelt, Trenchcoat/duster, drop leg pouches are all things that is stereotypical cataclysm survivor gear that provides lots of storage, find them, even if they don’t fit and then modify them with your tailoring skill.

[pisskop]

If food is a concern, any swamp will have oodles of meat. Some cooking skill will allow you to make jerky, and later aspic.

Any hills are free food that dont decrease over time. Fun fact, most mammel populations decrease over time in the game, whereas the zombie animal populations increase. In the base game zombies dont even attack giant insects.

farming is viable. Foraging for seeds in summer will allow you to get a crop, and a shovel of any kind or a hoe, or a crashed vehicle, or wormsigns will let you plant those seeds. farm plots are literally maintainence free food.

Yea, I usually dont bother keeping the pelts nd hides of animals I kill with slings or crossbows or arrows or 22 rifles, but I do keep the fat, the meat, and the bones and chitin.

Bones are a part of aspic, which is an excellent nonperishable foodstuff. fat can be turned into lard and then you can use the leftovers to make deluxe eggs.

[deoxy]

[quote=“pisskop, post:5, topic:11543”]If food is a concern, any swamp will have oodles of meat. Some cooking skill will allow you to make jerky, and later aspic.

Any hills are free food that dont decrease over time. Fun fact, most mammel populations decrease over time in the game, whereas the zombie animal populations increase. In the base game zombies dont even attack giant insects.

farming is viable. Foraging for seeds in summer will allow you to get a crop, and a shovel of any kind or a hoe, or a crashed vehicle, or wormsigns will let you plant those seeds. farm plots are literally maintainence free food.

Yea, I usually dont bother keeping the pelts nd hides of animals I kill with slings or crossbows or arrows or 22 rifles, but I do keep the fat, the meat, and the bones and chitin.

Bones are a part of aspic, which is an excellent nonperishable foodstuff. fat can be turned into lard and then you can use the leftovers to make deluxe eggs.[/quote]

Farming is currently just stupidly easy. Crops never fail, no animals disturb them, and they won’t rot in the field (I store perishable crops by simply not harvesting them until I need them).

Also, I’m fairly sure he meat ANT hills. heh.

Triffids are another great source of renewable food. Instead of chitin and meat, they give plant marrow (which can be safely eaten raw!), fluid sacs (same! AND they don’t rot, they give more quench than nutrition to the point that they can replace water, AND they can be turned into cooking oil), and plant fiber, which is REALLY nice with the latest changes to tailoring (since we end up needing so much more thread). They also provide a way to make fungicide. In short, Triffid groves are really, REALLY nice.

[ianpwilliams]

Normally I’d be happy to stay in the shelter to start with, but it is usually quite far from the nearest town so it would be quite a trek when doing town raids. Although I’ve relied on food from houses etc up to now, so maybe I need to make a sling so that I can attack animals for food instead. Here is a screenshot of my map (I should have mentioned that I am playing on iOS, although I’m told it’s the same game), where “N” is the house with fireplace. As you can see the shelter is very far away:

As for a backpack, isn’t it just luck as to whether you find one in the basement at the start? Although I can make a sling from the emergency blanket, and then drop items to fight when enemies come close.

So for farming, you need to smash plants for their seeds, get a digging tool, dig holes, and drop the seeds in, is that right? And when should you do it?

I haven’t git the hang of vehicles yet. I’ve never managed to get one running. I’ll have to look at guides first I think.

[Arek_PL]

do not fear lack of resources around your base, before resources will be unreachable you will have solar powered truck with crafting rigs and water colection system anyway but if you play experimentals with hordes you will want to move out of city to some quieter place

get some sort of dragable vehicle like shoping cart, they will help you a lot at early game

[ianpwilliams]

[quote=“Arek_PL, post:8, topic:11543”]do not fear lack of resources around your base, before resources will be unreachable you will have solar powered truck with crafting rigs and water colection system anyway but if you play experimentals with hordes you will want to move out of city to some quieter place

get some sort of dragable vehicle like shoping cart, they will help you a lot at early game[/quote]

Not sure where I’d know where to begin with solar power and crafting rigs! I would need a guide for that. I like the shopping cart idea though, assuming I can find one.

[Arek_PL]

you can create one by yourself, you need wheel (best casters), and two frames (like one light and one normal)

for custom vehicles try get stadionary solar powered crafting stadion first

[Azrad]

For nomadic lifestyles, or looting runs in general, I prefer to get my survivors to do it on foot while dragging a wheelbarrow. Cargo carriers are ideal since they hold the most volume*, and they can be dragged inside houses and stores for easier looting.

Furthermore, adding a few extra parts you can covert that wheelbarrow into a unicycle.

Aside from the cargo carrier/trunk, and frame, you’ll need these parts:

-Bicycle wheels. Wheelchair wheels might work as well. Any other type of wheel won’t be considered enough for a one-tile vehicle.
-Foot crank.
-Vehicle controls.
-Sheet for folding seat. I’m not sure if using a seat for a military seat will work.

If a survivor has decent strength they can pedal the wheelbarrow unicycle even when it’s loaded**, though it’s best to avoid trying to bump into things with it as folding seats are very fragile.

*not counting the cargo dimension.
**unless you load it with extremely heavy things.

[Arek_PL]

i used to turn shooping cart into cargo carrier bicycle but after casters stoped to be wheels what can be used with foot crank and later when bicycles were nerfed (no more 3 tile cargo carrier bicycle what can maintain high speed for free) i started to use normal vehicles, mostly electric

[Azrad]

In any case, for me, I look for a base that is somewhat easy to access for my survivor. Like… if a base is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but forests, then chances are that I’ll go bored with it due to how hard it’ll be exploring other places. Even then, it’s somewhat negotiable for me, since later on in the game I’ll probably have a vehicle with lots of storage so my survivor can take long road trips exploring other places.

Aside from that, I like it if a base is somewhat close to a refugee center - or better yet, an outpost. I’m okay if the base is somewhat close to a town. Kinda okay if it’s close to a triffid grove. Definitely not okay if there’s any sort of fungal growth anywhere near it.

Ice labs have spoiled me though, since 90% of the time I want to make a base in an ice lab since it can store perishable goods for an infinite amount of time.

Still, I’ve made some bases in interesting places. One of my favorites was under a city. There was a tunnel sealed off by metal doors that connected the subway to a sewer. It made a nice slum-like base for my survivor who scavenged a horde-infested city during the night. Also managed to survive on a massive city by making a base in a fire station, and that run pretty much removed any chance of driving around since it was city everywhere.

[ianpwilliams]

Just drove my first vehicle, a school bus, which has plenty of storage. There’s a car too which is a bit more manageable, but it seems to be missing a wheel. I wonder if I can take a wheel from the bus for the car?. But this could certainly help with transporting supplies to my base.

[Arek_PL]

Just drove my first vehicle, a school bus, which has plenty of storage. There’s a car too which is a bit more manageable, but it seems to be missing a wheel. I wonder if I can take a wheel from the bus for the car?. But this could certainly help with transporting supplies to my base.

if you have skills and tools why not?

[pisskop]

Tools being a jack and a wrench, skills being 1 mechanics.

[ianpwilliams]

That sounds a little advanced for now. I’m thinking I might stick with the school bus (lots of storage in there), maybe even make it a mobile base. Are the worlds infinite in this game?

Is there a way I can raise my construction skill to 1 by doing small construction tasks? I wanted to be able to board up a window but I didn’t have the skill, and I haven’t found any construction books yet.

[Elidor_VON]

Yes, worlds are infinite.
And you can raise your construction skill to 1 by digging. Craft a digging stick and just dig around

[ianpwilliams]

Thanks, better get digging! And looks like I’m going on a road trip too…

[EditorRUS]

Fire station and garages with closed windows usually make the best bases. Metal door of a garage is almost invincible and therefore you can pretty much close yourself off the outside world. They also have enough space to accommodate a common car and tons of space.

[Arek_PL]

maybe in older versions, now zombies can smash walls and its far easier to break wall than door

[ianpwilliams]

Never mind, I died again. I had an infection in my left leg which killed me while I was reading a book by the fire. I am so good at dying in this game! Although I’m sure I’m learning a little bit more each time. I guess I should have driven to a hospital to try to cure the infection. Ah well, I always enjoy starting a new game with a new world.

Speaking of which, how does it work if you have the “Delete World” option off, and keep the world across multiple characters? I guess that your next character would start in the same shelter, and everything that happened would still be in effect eg dead zombies, crafted things etc? And would the same amount of the map be revealed, or would it start again from scratch? I’ve always set the world to delete when dying, but I guess it would introduce a new dynamic going through multiple characters in the same world?