Tips, Tricks and Newb Questions: Reborn!

Game Talk The Bunker
#2227

A couple of new questions:
Dishwasher or washing machine, which items go where? The luxury RV I was lucky enough to find has both, but which do I use for which items? I’ve used the logic that softer stuff go into the washing machine and harder stuff go into the dishwasher, and so far it seems to have worked out, but I think I’ve throws some jewelry into the washing machine as well.
It wouldn’t make sense with a hard division based on category, as clothing is one, and the spare parts resulting from clothing through cutting/disassembling is another.

I found a desk fan and hauled it back, thinking it might be useful when it’s hot, but it doesn’t take any batteries and it can’t be activated. Am I right in guessing that it’s only a source of some spare parts (web searching indicates it once was used as a component in a nonsensical way, but no longer is)?

#2228

Both of your assumptions are correct. Washing machines clean clothes and soft objects while dishwashers are for hard objects. And desk fans are among many other items thats only use is getting scrapped for parts.

I’m not sure if a washing machine can wash jewelry because all non gold jewelry is pretty worthless so I usually don’t bother washing any I find.

#2229

Thanks Junknown.

My attempt to wash jewelry and binoculars seemed to work OK. I’d sort of hoped copper could be used as copper, silver as silver (a number of real world usages), gold as gold, and platinum as platinum (used e.g. as a catalyst).

#2230

Oh, there are ingame uses for all of those metals you listed. I should have clarified that it’s the actual jewels that are useless outside of collecting for fun (unless you play a stylish character). And there are usually easier ways of obtaining the useful materials than collecting dirty jewelry from zombies, like getting copper by smashing fridges.

#2231

hey guys,i wondering where is “experimental z-level” option located at? last time i remember it was on “World default” Section. now, i can’t find it anywhere,my game currently on experimental…thanks

#2232

Thanks Junknown.

Another question: I just encountered my first NPC (apart from the starting companion), who happens to be a bandit who went hostile as soon as I approached. I’m just turning around and leaving for now, but are bandits always hostile, or is there some way to win them over?
If I have to I’ll engage him at a later point, but it’s a bit sad to find the first other (living) human only to have to kill him.

Edit:
Another question: I’ve found a crashed airliner, and there are two metal doors in the cargo hold. The door can’t be picked, and don’t seem to take any damage with a heavy sledgehammer (I think that’s the most powerful wrecking tool/weapon). As far as I’ve found, it would be possible to use an acetylene torch to open them, but while I have a torch, I don’t have any source of fuel for it, and it’s almost empty as it is.
As a fairly new character, I don’t have access to exotic methods like explosives or building a vehicle down there to smash the doors.
Is cutting them open with a torch the only reasonable option (my character has an STR of 9, if that’s important)?

#2233

z-levels are now mainline, you can’t opt out of them.

#2234

Yeah acetylene cutting is basically your only option outside of explosives or probability travel, but I’m not sure the cargo hold is worth it. Don’t even bother trying to bash that door, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t get anywhere even with 50 str and a heavy sledge. However, if the walls aren’t metal you can usually demolish those.

You’ve just reminded me to check out the cargo hold of a nearby airliner.

#2235

Unfortunately, bandits are always hostile once they see you. You will have to either fight them, avoid them or use them to kill zombies. Depending on their equipment, NPC’s can take a surprisingly impressive amount of zombies down.

Also, you can destroy metal doors with a jackhammer if you find one.

#2236

Thanks Fload.

The walls are metal as well. I tried bashing a wall segment with my steel spear and a makeshift crowbar, but didn’t get any effect. With those I received a message that it didn’t seem to have any effect (on both the door and on the wall), but with the sledgehammer I didn’t get any feedback, although I guess that was because I lost 10% fatigue per hit, and didn’t get sufficient consecutive hits to prompt a message (rested up and hit the door again, to no avail). Given the lack of progress and the time it takes to rest up I didn’t try the walls with the sledgehammer.
I didn’t expect anything of particular value behind those doors, so I’ll leave it for some later time (probably when I’ve gotten hold of more than enough acetylene to not have to worry about the supply).
Lots of metal strewn about the place, and a number of broken down computer consoles in the cockpit to dismantle, though.

#2237

I’m pretty sure regular bashing can’t break metal walls/doors, despite what the game may or may not say. I’ll warp through the nearby cargo hold just to confirm if it’s even worth getting in there

Edit: I don’t think those metal doors beneath crashed airliners open into anything. Probability travel tells me no.

#2238

that means i can’t turn it on or off? is it slowdown the game?

#2239

Thanks for checking, Fload.

Another issue: How do you process a large kill in a reasonable manner?

I just went up against the dreaded Moose, and have spent 3 days without sleep (coffee) processing as much as possible, but a lot has been lost nevertheless.
What I’ve done (to allow people to point out better ways):

  1. Brought all the tools needed for butchering (replayed the encounter when I discovered that I needed a saw for the butchering).
  2. Brought a large backpack to be able to carry as much as possible back immediately (would a travois be a good complement in forests?).
  3. Full butchery, followed by loading up liver, fat, and some meat) (should probably have waited with the fat until after the meat).
  4. Went back to the “base” and stuffed everything into a minifridge.
  5. Dropped the combat gear and went back for more meat.
  6. Stored the meat in a minifridge, filling it, and moving the excess to the “main” minifridge.
  7. Went back for the last bits, stuffed it in fridges.

Repeat cycle:
8. Foie Gras on the liver for food when hungry.
9. Dehydrating 20 pieces of meat at a time using a dehydrator, replacing the battery between each set and dropping the spent one on a recharger.
10. Coffee when tired.
Repeating this until running out of battery power for the rehydrator due to darkness.
11. Converting fat into lard.
12. Finding that the extra minifridge didn’t have any power during the night (same vehicle as the recharger).
13. Once FINALLY out of meat to dry I made the mistake of starting a 20 batch of pemmican (that’s a 15 hour job, interrupted several times for food and drink).
14. Finding that the hides that didn’t fit into the secondary fridge started rotting, and so processed the ones that were still fresh.
15. Went to sleep and then finished the pemmican run.

I think a more sensible approach is to make 2 pemmican per batch rather than 20. There’s no batch saving, and the companion might be able to help (think he’s too poor at cooking, though). And then, rather than making pemmican for the next week, make one or two batches per day for as long as it lasts (I think the last batch of dried meat only had 1 out of 3 seasons left in it).

Much of the liver spoiled, and all the other intestines did as well. Is it even possible to process all of a large animal without access to freezers?

#2240

There are two ways to go about processing large game:

  1. Freeze it in a mini-freezer or ice lab. It won’t spoil once frozen so you can take your time to do with it whatever you want.

  2. Use smoking racks. Smoking racks once loaded with charcoal are able to smoke the meat without you having to babysit them all the time, allowing you to process the other butchery products. You will need to build a charcoal kiln to have enough charcoal for mass smoking.

#2241

You can hunt big game during winter when the ambient temperature is already freezing.

Otherwise you could set up a huge row of charcoal smokers on site of the kill and just go to town smoking/dehydrating the meat.

EDIT: Ninjaed by Junknown

#2242

Thanks both of you. I’d expected the smoking rack to be as stupid as the dehydrator and require baby sitting. Looks like it’s time to try to produce the means to produce charcoal, then!

#2243

My last big thread dealt with this issue actually. Might want to take a read.

#2244

Thanks gtgiyus, that was a useful reference.

#2245

any form of lockpick works on a gun safe just pick up a hairpin from a zombie corpse they have almost no weight or volume

#2246

or a pickaxe, but that is way slower, or a sonic resonator but that’s a rare cbm and that has a 40% chance to instantly break any tiles surrounding you no matter what they are