This game is awful difficult

GlyphGryph · 2013-10-08T16:52:06.000Z

If you’re having trouble getting started, get skills.

Stats are great for skilled players who can survive long term through the early part of the game and want higher caps, but newer players should favour skills a lot more heavily. Decide what sort of combat you want to do, and purchase skills to support it! If you want to do melee, put some points in melee, a damage type (I’d recommend bashing or piercing, since most early decent weapons are of those types) and dodge, and also mechanics, fabrication, and survival.

Starting with a strong base of skills to work from makes the game much much easier.

i2amroy · 2013-10-08T16:52:45.000Z

General method I use for survival is to lure a zombie onto a bush, hit it once/twice, and then back away to another bush. Repeat until the zombie is dead, then repeat it until all the zombies in an area are dead.

I also like to toggle on auto-safe mode (you can set it to be on by default in the options) with ", that way if I forget to turn it back on it automatically does so after a while.

Also you might want to consider watching this. It’s a little long, but he does a fairly good job at explaining some of the basics of surviving.

Edit: Developer ninjas!

Jager · 2013-10-08T16:56:38.000Z

What do I do about Zombie Dogs? Their very annoying.

i2amroy · 2013-10-08T16:59:12.000Z

Jager:

What do I do about Zombie Dogs? Their very annoying.

If absolutely possible try to avoid them early. They are faster than you, so about the only way I’ve found is just fo find a bush to give you a free hit or so, and then just man-up and kill them as quickly as possible; running away or attempting to kite them just leads in you getting even more damage then you would fighting (try to not do this when other zombies are around though!).

Once you get a digging stick/shovel you can make a row of pits somewhere, and those should slow down zombie dogs enough that you can use them to kill them without taking damage just as you do with zombies and bushes.

Jager · 2013-10-08T16:59:54.000Z

I don’t think this game is for me. Sorry.

i2amroy · 2013-10-08T17:02:43.000Z

Sorry to hear that. Feel free to hang around the forums if you have any ideas for things that might improve the game, we’re always welcoming to new ideas on how to improve or make the game more accessible. And who knows, maybe you’ll find some tactic that you can enjoy and allows you to survive again.

Chiko · 2013-10-08T18:25:10.000Z

It takes a bit of practice. I used to die alot. I mean, I could see the corpses of my previous characters everywhere. But after a while I managed to get the hang of it.

You can still die easily at higher lvls if you make silly mistakes but one of the fun things about this game is that the world is not reseted when you die so you can still reclaim your stuff and continue what you were making in your previous life, even if that is a bit of a cheat.

FunsizeNinja123 · 2013-10-08T19:05:08.000Z

Jager, the person to quit Cata after dying a bunch.

Do you want to be the person we (kinda) mock for not having the balls to play cata? Do you give you after a few deaths in a regular video game? No! You keep trying! Don’t be a lazy arse.

prytoclasm · 2013-10-08T21:04:20.000Z

Let’s look back: the first few games … omg, I die all the time, WHY?

Now: Come at me, MORE MORE MORE!

-> when your char looks like that, after roughly an ingame year (4x14 days), then you’re quite set, but, well, it’s still deadly.

charttjm1.png660×716

-

(yes, I switched off “Skill Rust”, but the “Forgetful” I got through mutation, it’s not a starting trait)

Don’t give up :), learn it by playing. Get better … it’s quite easy.

Lost · 2013-10-09T01:12:05.000Z

Yeah, this game is really designed for people who want a game that wants them dead and doesn’t tell them ANYTHING. Recent builds have made the game considerably harder, because that was necessary.

This game has a sort of escape velocity related to time. If you manage to survive the first few days, you have a higher chance to survive the next few days, and so on.

I think the big problem right now is once you’ve survived several months in post-apocalyptia, the game becomes too EASY, because your character is egregiously overpowered and fisticuffs with Hulks for breakfast. And sure, you can ratchet up the spawn rate now, but increasing the number of zombies to kill is not increasing the difficulty. There should be harder monsters and zombies to fight once you get to higher levels, and, so level 0 characters don’t get killed instantly, these monsters should only be triggered to spawn once your character’s combat skills are at a certain level.

KA101 · 2013-10-09T01:27:39.000Z

I’m pretty confident that my testicles don’t markedly affect my ability to play Cata.
If Jager’s not enjoying the game, then it’s not worth xyr time.
Dynamic Spawn was one method for controlling zed difficulty…

Luissen · 2013-10-09T01:41:47.000Z

remember, nailboard is your friend

system · 2013-10-09T01:44:54.000Z

My friend used to be knife spear…I can’t craft him now.

i2amroy · 2013-10-09T01:49:57.000Z

ajwilli1:

My friend used to be knife spear…I can’t craft him now.

1 survival should be enough to unlock the recipe.

Chiko · 2013-10-09T02:03:22.000Z

The knife spear is like the only melee weapon I use.

Lost · 2013-10-09T02:33:26.000Z

I preferred it when it was called Steel Spear, because it reminded me of the Steel Knights from SaGa Frontier II who also used Steel Spears, and how absurdly powerful they were.

Honestly, the crowbar is my favorite starting weapon. You get easy access to the components right from the start, and it can open doors.

system · 2013-10-09T02:36:49.000Z

[quote=“Lost, post:18, topic:3411”]I preferred it when it was called Steel Spear, because it reminded me of the Steel Knights from SaGa Frontier II who also used Steel Spears, and how absurdly powerful they were.

Honestly, the crowbar is my favorite starting weapon. You get easy access to the components right from the start, and it can open doors.[/quote]

Hey! It’s The One Freeman.

Labtop_215 · 2013-10-09T02:57:09.000Z

I prefer to have a rapier as a starting weapon, but that never happens as zombies tend to fill mansions now, and mansion are considerably rarer in recent builds.

So basically, I just start with a stick and bash zombies over the head with it until I get something better. I prefer not to defile the starting shelter for some reason. I guess it’s just asthetics.

prytoclasm · 2013-10-09T03:10:58.000Z

Labtop_215:

I prefer to have a rapier as a starting weapon, but that never happens as zombies tend to fill mansions now, and mansion are considerably rarer in recent builds.

After I’ve been able to craft that NoDachi … damn, nothing else is needed, except against turrets and other mechanical exploding stuff.

system · 2013-10-09T03:18:31.000Z

prytoclasm:

[quote=“Labtop_215, post:20, topic:3411”]I prefer to have a rapier as a starting weapon, but that never happens as zombies tend to fill mansions now, and mansion are considerably rarer in recent builds.

After I’ve been able to craft that NoDachi … damn, nothing else is needed, except against turrets and other mechanical exploding stuff.[/quote]

An auto-mag could solve that turret problem.