Tips, Tricks and Newb Questions: Reborn!

[KiBoy]

Hello everyone. I’m a returning player and with some of the new features ( food freezing ) I found myself with some questions. Unfortunately, it seems the previous TTNQ hadn’t been replied to in ages, so I decided to open a new one, where you can ask for questions and tips and where more experienced players can answer. ( I hope it’s alright, since I haven’t seen any similar topic opened )

So to start with, here are some of my questions:

1. Are the refrigerators actually working? As in, is it just the early spring that freezes my drinks and food or is it because I put it in the fridges?
2. I seem to have gotten irradiated for an unknown reason, and my only ideas are either:

• the rubble in the mansion I holed up ( slowly digging through it )
• all those spiral stones ( that I don’t know what to do with )
• food dropped from zombies ( which would kinda make sense in a way, considering you’re getting food of a corpse )

This is it for now. Hope this topic can get as helpful as the previous one.

[Rose]

Are the refrigerators actually working? As in, is it just the early spring that freezes my drinks and food or is it because I put it in the fridges?

They are, but it’s just the early spring. The fridge won’t let the food temperature rise above probably 6 or 8 degrees Celsius. As for whether the fridge turns off automatically when the temp around it is lower than its working temp, I can’t say.
There are also rumors about minifreezers that keep your food frozen no matter what, but I’ve never seen any.

[Delerium]

" 1. Are the refrigerators actually working? As in, is it just the early spring that freezes my drinks and food or is it because I put it in the fridges?"
Depends on the refrigerator. The ones in houses don’t have power, but do have insulation (very recent change). Your food is freezing because of spring. Refrigerators in a vehicle with power on the other hand will keep your food cold, but i’m not sure if it prevents food from freezing in the spring/winter. I doubt it.
" 1. I seem to have gotten irradiated for an unknown reason, and my only ideas are either:

• the rubble in the mansion I holed up ( slowly digging through it )
• all those spiral stones ( that I don’t know what to do with )"

Could be either of these places. You’ll need to get/make a Geiger counter (there are other methods too) to detect if you are in a location that is dosing you with radiation.

" * food dropped from zombies ( which would kinda make sense in a way, considering you’re getting food of a corpse )"
Butchered zombies produce tainted meat, which is bad for you to eat anyway, but not sure if it gives you radiation. On the other hand, food labelled as “irradiated” usually just means that it is safe to eat. Irradiating food (in real life) is an real method of killing off microorganisms and parasites that could do you harm. It doesn’t mean that the food will give you radiation poisoning.

[KiBoy]

Thanks for all the answers so far.

" * food dropped from zombies ( which would kinda make sense in a way, considering you’re getting food of a corpse )"
Butchered zombies produce tainted meat, which is bad for you to eat anyway, but not sure if it gives you radiation.

What I meant is, if I kill a zombie child and it drops necco wafers or whatever. I did not mean literally their meat.

I found out the source of the radiation… kind of. It was that bit of rubble that I cleared, but I found nothing that could cause radiation. Nails, rocks, 2 by 4, pillows etc. My hypothesis is that there could be something rare there ( like an atomic lamp ) that was crushed and that’s where the radiation came from.

Also, a new question:
What is the most efficient way of butchering animals?

[Rose]

They are, but it’s just the early spring. The fridge won’t let the food temperature rise above probably 6 or 8 degrees Celsius. As for whether the fridge turns off automatically when the temp around it is lower than its working temp, I can’t say.

Oh, yeah. That’s about the vehicle-mounted fridges, I forgot to notice. Thanks to @Delerium, you’ve got both parts of the question sorted out now.

What I meant is, if I kill a zombie child and it drops necco wafers or whatever. I did not mean literally their meat.

Perfectly safe, if you’re not intolerant to certain foods and if it’s not rotten.

What is the most efficient way of butchering animals?

Field dress, then full butchery. Watch the log, it’ll tell you what you need to complete both options.
Don’t forget that zombie scientists, zombie bio-operators, shockers and shocker brutes are worth dissecting (for CBMs).

[Pyrite]

Is there a benefit to field dressing before full butchery if you’re ready to fully butcher immediately?

[Rose]

Probably. Maybe my skill is too low, but I don’t remember getting stomachs when performing a full butchery.

[barbascientiam]

I found out the source of the radiation… kind of. It was that bit of rubble that I cleared, but I found nothing that could cause radiation. Nails, rocks, 2 by 4, pillows etc. My hypothesis is that there could be something rare there ( like an atomic lamp ) that was crushed and that’s where the radiation came from.

The game randomly places circular areas of about 7x7 and destroys everything in them to simulate bombs dropping as the cataclysm was unfolding. These places are always radioactive, and it might be that yours doesn’t look like a neat circle because the surrounding walls collapsed.

There are also rumors about minifreezers that keep your food frozen no matter what, but I’ve never seen any.

Find ice cream trucks. Minifreezers are great, basically all food is unperishable so long as you can power them.

Is there a benefit to field dressing before full butchery if you’re ready to fully butcher immediately?

Supposedly field dressing is going to make the corpse rot slower, so your meat might be a tiny bit fresher when you finish recovering it, particularly on a large animal where it takes a while to butcher, and especially in summer when meat spoils fast. I’ve tested it a bit but I can’t seem to find a noticable difference though.

[Rose]

Okay, my turn to ask a question.

What’s up with the turrets? What’s the difference between a turret mount and a turret chassis?
How do I make turrets to fire automatically? Can they reload themselves? What other cool features do they have?
So far I’ve managed to install a slingshot cannon on a turret mount specifically to fire it manually, but there are some strange options in the vehicle control menu that I don’t understand. Using the turret is very awkward, by the way, since you have to unwield your weapon every time, and then there are some reloading issues which are kinda weird.

[DeWolf]

From blaze mod the turret mount is they thing that you mount a turret to. The turret chassis is supposed to (before the mount became a thing) act as both a mount and an automator but all it really is in game is a fancy storage battery box.

[KiBoy]

The game randomly places circular areas of about 7x7 and destroys everything in them to simulate bombs dropping as the cataclysm was unfolding. These places are always radioactive, and it might be that yours doesn’t look like a neat circle because the surrounding walls collapsed.

This must be it, since the rubble was smack dab in the middle of my mansion. I didn’t suffer much besides the Snout mutation, which is, ironically enough, probably my first ever legit mutation. Sadly I don’t have anything to decrease my radiation for now so probably more random mutations will ensue. Hopefully something good this time.

What’s up with the turrets? What’s the difference between a turret mount and a turret chassis?
How do I make turrets to fire automatically? Can they reload themselves? What other cool features do they have?

I’m not really sure about the first two questions since it’s been a while since I messed with turrets ( shooting depleted uranium shells from a tank into buildings, fun times ) but you turn them into automatic mode from controls menu. Note that they won’t shoot if you’re in their line of sight ( or at least they shouldn’t ) As for automatic reloading, I believe you need the ammo racks, but I think they are from the blazemod. Not sure though.

[Rose]

From blaze mod the turret mount is they thing that you mount a turret to. The turret chassis is supposed to (before the mount became a thing) act as both a mount and an automator but all it really is in game is a fancy storage battery box.

So a standart turret mount is enough to make an automated zombie shredding machine?

[KiBoy]

It should be sufficient. Granted, I believe you need a turret that can be automated, as not every type can be automated.

Anyway, been having a blast after returning. I lost my Snout mutation but gained Rough Skin ( which does nothing, apparently ) Seems like Shopping Cart’s volume has been buffed, which is always great.

1. Now that dehydrated/smoked meat can rot, what is the current, relatively easy to obtain, infinitely lasting food source? Or is dehydrated/smoked still the way to go, but you probably should have a ( powered ) minifridge or two?
2. Can dehydrated/smoked meat ( or anything really ) become mushy? Because they were always my go-to stockpile food types.

[Rose]

Now that dehydrated/smoked meat can rot, what is the current, relatively easy to obtain, infinitely lasting food source? Or is dehydrated/smoked still the way to go, but you probably should have a ( powered ) minifridge or two?

Protein powder. Canned stuff. I stick with dried meats, since they still take a lot of time to rot.
Two fridges is an overkill, if you’re not an eternally hungry super mutant.

Can dehydrated/smoked meat ( or anything really ) become mushy? Because they were always my go-to stockpile food types.

Nope. Other things can and will. It’s in the description. But hey, mushy foods are still edible. They’re just not enjoyable (more like awfully tasting).

[DrakeDragon8]

Sealed jars of soup are from what I have found the best especially Woods Soup.
Good automated turret is a Storm Bolter with the bolt hopper mag 5-6 shots to kill skelli jug with good bolts.

[mlangsdorf]

Yes, and all blazemod turrets should be automated now, even they say they’re mounted or manual only.

If you use a blazemod turret on a recent experimental and it’s not capable of remote firing, that’s a bug. Tell me and I’ll fix it.

In due course, turret chassis are going disappear and be replaced by some other stuff, but first I need to fix vehicle power to speed calculations and then I need to get the vehicle interaction window to show how much electrical power your vehicle components are draining or producing. So it’s going to be a while.

[Rose]

If you use a blazemod turret on a recent experimental and it’s not capable of remote firing, that’s a bug. Tell me and I’ll fix it.

Point is, I don’t know what’s from the mods and what’s from the core. I’ve seen three variants of a scorpion ballista (probably), two completely identical yet separate variants, so I can’t even make anything out of it.

[Pyrite]

Importantly, it doesn’t seem to matter if you cook something out of mushy ingredients, which makes enough sense to me.

Dehydrated food doesn’t literally last forever, but it lasts a really long time. It may be best to just keep a special container for anything that’s going to go bad in the next month and make sure to eat that first.

[KiBoy]

Okay, so it seems my save is either bugging out, or there was something implemented to prevent savescumming.

So yeah, I died. ( Hint: Surprise Hulk )

I tried loading the game, however this time I had to run from 2 hulks. Died close to my mansion.

Reload.

Another Hulk comes literally out of nowhere.

This happened two or three more times. Now I have to dodge 5-6 Hulks and get upstairs. The reason why I think this is intended is because a Shocker Zombie ( which also got “cloned” ) started speaking stuff like “Top 10 Facts about bionics that will shock you!”

And for some bizarre reason, I kinda like it. Getting out of this situation is enough of a challange that I think it’s fine for me to continue playing this character. ( If I can get away, that is )

[Delerium]

I save scum all the time, and never encountered this. something else might be going on, but I don’t think save scumming is causing it.