# Tips, Tricks, and Newb Questions!

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [January 3, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42 "2013-01-03T03:04:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 135

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**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2681 "2014-03-21T15:24:08Z")

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> [@FunsizeNinja123](#):
>
> [quote=“Caconym, post:2679, topic:42”]Is the CQB bionic worth installing on a char already highly skilled in melee and unarmed, and knows judo and karate?

It’ll give you a bigger edge.[/quote]

If by “highly skilled” you mean less than 5 points in either, yeah. It pegs your skill to 5 and gives you access to Judo, karate, Muay Thai, and the Bionic Combative styles whilst active. Use it a LOT and you may learn a style for use when it isn’t active.

(So it’s generally most useful for folks with the claw/blade augs, or with no melee training.)

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**Author:** ![Caconym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aca169/32.png) [@Caconym](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Caconym)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2682 "2014-03-21T15:34:06Z")

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> [@KA101](#):
>
> [quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:2680, topic:42”][quote=“Caconym, post:2679, topic:42”]Is the CQB bionic worth installing on a char already highly skilled in melee and unarmed, and knows judo and karate?

It’ll give you a bigger edge.[/quote]

If by “highly skilled” you mean less than 5 points in either, yeah. It pegs your skill to 5 and gives you access to Judo, karate, Muay Thai, and the Bionic Combative styles whilst active. Use it a LOT and you may learn a style for use when it isn’t active.

(So it’s generally most useful for folks with the claw/blade augs, or with no melee training.)[/quote]  
By highly skilled I mean 14 melee and 13 unarmed with nearly every bionic installed still of any use to me?.  
Wow does it really go and cap all my melee skills at 5 while active? Can I at least learn the ‘biojutsu’ from it?

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**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2683 "2014-03-21T23:29:51Z")

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> [@Caconym](#):
>
> [quote=“KA101, post:2681, topic:42”][quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:2680, topic:42”][quote=“Caconym, post:2679, topic:42”]Is the CQB bionic worth installing on a char already highly skilled in melee and unarmed, and knows judo and karate?

It’ll give you a bigger edge.[/quote]

If by “highly skilled” you mean less than 5 points in either, yeah. It pegs your skill to 5 and gives you access to Judo, karate, Muay Thai, and the Bionic Combative styles whilst active. Use it a LOT and you may learn a style for use when it isn’t active.

(So it’s generally most useful for folks with the claw/blade augs, or with no melee training.)[/quote]  
By highly skilled I mean 14 melee and 13 unarmed with nearly every bionic installed still of any use to me?.  
Wow does it really go and cap all my melee skills at 5 while active? Can I at least learn the ‘biojutsu’ from it?[/quote]

In that case, you’re better off without it.

1. We balance skills based on 10 being top-of-the-line. You’re better than the best already. Hit up dojos and gyms, if you haven’t. 😉

2. The bionic basically takes over your motor-processing: rather than just enable you to access the knowledge, you aim and think at it and it puts you through the attack. Hence, you fight at its skill: 5.

3. Yeah, but since the aug doesn’t download its data into you\*, you need to have it active in order to learn. Currently I think it’s a 1 in 8K chance per attack that you learn the style w/o having the aug on.  
It’s quite possible we’ll dial that back if people seriously use it (so we get some data on how often it gets used). I’d guess a solid season’s worth of use (get in a significant fight every day for 14 days) ought to give it to you by the end of that, if you want a ballpark for one dev’s opinion on how it ought to be balanced.

\*Lore: writing in a fixed block of data–here, HOWTO Martial Arts–isn’t effective in the DDA-verse as different folks encode the knowledge differently. The Memory Banks don’t encounter this problem because they come “blank”, read from your brain, and just copy back in as needed; not quite a self-formatting system but close.

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**Author:** ![Caconym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aca169/32.png) [@Caconym](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Caconym)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2684 "2014-03-22T00:11:26Z")

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[quote=“KA101, post:2683, topic:42”]3) Yeah, but since the aug doesn’t download its data into you\*, you need to have it active in order to learn. Currently I think it’s a 1 in 8K chance per attack that you learn the style w/o having the aug on.  
It’s quite possible we’ll dial that back if people seriously use it (so we get some data on how often it gets used). I’d guess a solid season’s worth of use (get in a significant fight every day for 14 days) ought to give it to you by the end of that, if you want a ballpark for one dev’s opinion on how it ought to be balanced.[/quote]  
So slaughtering entire towns daily for 3 months is the key to becoming a grand master at bionic marshal arts? Doesn’t seem to unreasonable at all.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/1X/21b5d044e8473b25d0bf905d60477e25f6fbe0cf.png) [@system](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2685 "2014-03-22T00:44:21Z")

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Considering the dies have little variation in tactics, it seems reasonable.

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**Author:** ![ResFu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/resfu/32/11710_2.png) [@ResFu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ResFu)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2686 "2014-03-22T18:35:50Z")

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I spawned in a evac shelter outside of some sorts of settlement (two houses, grocery store and an Office building, cities size 3). I found near the two houses and grocery store about five/six zombies which i managed to kill.

My question is - the settlement and evac shelter are near swamp - if i fortify one of houses (in meaning board up windows, dig some spiky holes (outside ofcourse) - will i still get a weird spawns inside that building?  
The same with office tower. I want to clear it out and make it my main base (stuff from nearby military crashes/drug dealer bodies will be handy in clearing the office - pistol and a silencer plus handful of ammo).

I\m asking because I have some misfortune with spawning of triffids and other monsters inside my “fortified” buildings before (meaning in earlier versions) so i want to be sure that settlement will be some sort of asylum (world is on classic zombies, static spawn, no npc spawn, current stable build)

Other question - how to revert to english?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fish](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/fish/32/249_2.png) [@Fish](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Fish)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2687 "2014-03-23T00:44:44Z")

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Unfortunatly, it is very probable.

Dunno about the language? Dont you have to download the english version or somesuch?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![i2amroy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/i2amroy/32/909_2.png) [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2688 "2014-03-23T00:52:01Z")

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[quote=“ResFu, post:2686, topic:42”]I spawned in a evac shelter outside of some sorts of settlement (two houses, grocery store and an Office building, cities size 3). I found near the two houses and grocery store about five/six zombies which i managed to kill.

My question is - the settlement and evac shelter are near swamp - if i fortify one of houses (in meaning board up windows, dig some spiky holes (outside ofcourse) - will i still get a weird spawns inside that building?  
The same with office tower. I want to clear it out and make it my main base (stuff from nearby military crashes/drug dealer bodies will be handy in clearing the office - pistol and a silencer plus handful of ammo).

I\m asking because I have some misfortune with spawning of triffids and other monsters inside my “fortified” buildings before (meaning in earlier versions) so i want to be sure that settlement will be some sort of asylum (world is on classic zombies, static spawn, no npc spawn, current stable build)

Other question - how to revert to english?[/quote]  
Delete the “lang” folder and it should revert to english. Also anything that spawns dynamically (wildlife, triffids, zombies if you are using dynamic spawn) should never spawn inside of a closed building (though it could spawn just outside and smash/walk in).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fish](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/fish/32/249_2.png) [@Fish](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Fish)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2689 "2014-03-23T01:16:26Z")

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Ah, im still playing 0.9.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stelknecht](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/stelknecht/32/1359_2.png) [@Stelknecht](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Stelknecht)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2690 "2014-03-23T10:35:12Z")

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Aaaagh aaaaauuugh! aaauuugghhh!  
They added Zombie Mooses. Zooses.  
AAAAAGH!  
Nice monster very annoying, lovely work. 🙂

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**Author:** ![hexatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@hexatic](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/hexatic)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:41pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2691 "2014-03-23T12:41:44Z")

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Quick newb question: I have an oil lamp, and some lamp oil I made inside a plastic bottle. I cannot seem to load the lamp. Please guide me.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Caconym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aca169/32.png) [@Caconym](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Caconym)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2692 "2014-03-23T12:44:27Z")

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> [@hexatic](#):
>
> Quick newb question: I have an oil lamp, and some lamp oil I made inside a plastic bottle. I cannot seem to load the lamp. Please guide me.

Have you tried going to your inventory pressing the letter assigned to the lamp(or wield it) and then using r to reload it?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hexatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@hexatic](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/hexatic)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2693 "2014-03-23T12:49:48Z")

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Have you tried going to your inventory pressing the letter assigned to the lamp(or wield it) and then using r to reload it?  
[/quote]

Yes, it simply informs me I have no lamp oil. The only thing I can think of is that the bottle holds 400ml of oil and the lamp holds 800ml, and the game needs the full value to reload. Other than that I’m clueless.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Caphoras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Caphoras](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Caphoras)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2694 "2014-03-23T12:54:49Z")

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> [@hexatic](#):
>
> Have you tried going to your inventory pressing the letter assigned to the lamp(or wield it) and then using r to reload it?

Yes, it simply informs me I have no lamp oil. The only thing I can think of is that the bottle holds 400ml of oil and the lamp holds 800ml, and the game needs the full value to reload. Other than that I’m clueless.  
[/quote]

You need to [U]nload the bottle with lamp oil in order to refill the lamp.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hexatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@hexatic](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/hexatic)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2695 "2014-03-23T12:59:44Z")

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Ah, got it. Thank you very much.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![i2amroy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/i2amroy/32/909_2.png) [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2696 "2014-03-23T18:51:40Z")

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I seem to remember hearing about that bug earlier, I don’t know if it’s been fixed yet in the experimental version or not but it might be worth a look if you haven’t already.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tawarochir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Tawarochir](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tawarochir)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2697 "2014-03-23T19:18:34Z")

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Anyone know a good way to safely enter a city? I’ve been living in my own filth inside a sewage plant, with a nearby lake and driving around in a shopping cart with bike pedals, but I want to start clearing out a city, so I want to start with a place to the southwest. I have a mansion cleared out with some food supplies, and a big pile of soda in a corner of the plant, but I’ll run out of chips and burritos if I don’t raid the nearby towns.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![i2amroy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/i2amroy/32/909_2.png) [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2698 "2014-03-23T19:34:29Z")

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> [@Tawarochir](#):
>
> Anyone know a good way to safely enter a city? I’ve been living in my own filth inside a sewage plant, with a nearby lake and driving around in a shopping cart with bike pedals, but I want to start clearing out a city, so I want to start with a place to the southwest. I have a mansion cleared out with some food supplies, and a big pile of soda in a corner of the plant, but I’ll run out of chips and burritos if I don’t raid the nearby towns.

Circle the town until you find a place far away from any sort of stores. The best location would be a small group of houses that sticks out of the rest of the city. Then slowly approach the houses, luring off zombies 1-2 at a time and killing them (by hitting and backing away without letting them touch you of course, excepting dogs, which are fast enough that you just have to man-fight them). Once you have lured away the zombies in an area you should be able to then advance and start raiding the houses, luring off more zombies to kill as you work your way in. It’s a fairly slow process, and the key it not to rush too much and get swamped by more zombies than you can deal with.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tawarochir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Tawarochir](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tawarochir)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2699 "2014-03-23T19:57:50Z")

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Why away from stores?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![i2amroy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/i2amroy/32/909_2.png) [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/2700 "2014-03-23T20:10:25Z")

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Zombies spawn more densely the closer you get to the town “center”, which is tied to the exact same thing that determines where stores spawn. You can go for the stores if you want, but that’s going to be the same location where you start finding hulks and brutes in the city.

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