# 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:** 187

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**Author:** ![Vicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/838e76/32.png) [@Vicks](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Vicks)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3721 "2014-06-30T14:47:56Z")

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> [@Datanazush](#):
>
> You may have a parasite of some kind? I haven’t seen any yet, but I’d advise trying an Antiparasitic Drug.

![](http://s30.postimg.org/vy5w7t075/parasitolololololo.png)

Thanks man! I forgot to tell that i was using experimental version 1697. ;ç)

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**Author:** ![jimboblordofeskimos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/jimboblordofeskimos/32/2_2.png) [@jimboblordofeskimos](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jimboblordofeskimos)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3722 "2014-06-30T17:40:24Z")

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You generally get them from eating raw meat/other uncooked food if that helps.

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**Author:** ![Bonevomit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bonevomit](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Bonevomit)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3723 "2014-06-30T20:56:47Z")

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Does anyone know a good way to light up a basement or something like that?

I thought about making a car on the surface to solar charge a battery and moving it back and forth to power a flood light underground, but I don’t know if the game would allow that.

Or is there a better way?

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**Author:** ![IcedPee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/icedpee/32/259_2.png) [@IcedPee](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/IcedPee)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3724 "2014-06-30T21:07:45Z")

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[quote=“Bonevomit, post:3723, topic:42”]Does anyone know a good way to light up a basement or something like that?

I thought about making a car on the surface to solar charge a battery and moving it back and forth to power a flood light underground, but I don’t know if the game would allow that.

Or is there a better way?[/quote]

Make a generator with an engine, alternator, gas tank, storage battery, controls, seat, and floodlight (along with enough frames for all this) inside the basement, then feed the gasoline while keeping it powered on for electricity.

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**Author:** ![AseaHeru](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/aseaheru/32/8_2.png) [@AseaHeru](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AseaHeru)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3725 "2014-06-30T21:17:39Z")

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Does not need a seat unless you wish to drive 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:** [June 30, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3726 "2014-06-30T21:25:25Z")

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[quote=“Bonevomit, post:3723, topic:42”]Does anyone know a good way to light up a basement or something like that?

I thought about making a car on the surface to solar charge a battery and moving it back and forth to power a flood light underground, but I don’t know if the game would allow that.

Or is there a better way?[/quote]

KA101 realizes his creation is Exploitable. :-/

…Find or make a milspec turret. They throw light out to range 7 or so. (No need to load the thing!)

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**Author:** ![kilozombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@kilozombie](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kilozombie)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3727 "2014-06-30T21:28:39Z")

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[quote=“KA101, post:3726, topic:42”][quote=“Bonevomit, post:3723, topic:42”]Does anyone know a good way to light up a basement or something like that?

I thought about making a car on the surface to solar charge a battery and moving it back and forth to power a flood light underground, but I don’t know if the game would allow that.

Or is there a better way?[/quote]

KA101 realizes his creation is Exploitable. :-/

…Find or make a milspec turret. They throw light out to range 7 or so. (No need to load the thing!)[/quote]

Chalk it up to a relatively high-tech nuclear battery. Alternatively, have it take normal batteries (and still light up well) but at a very slow time, some time kind of like the pre-nerf light strip.

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**Author:** ![Bonevomit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bonevomit](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Bonevomit)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3728 "2014-06-30T22:27:33Z")

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[quote=“IcedPee, post:3724, topic:42”][quote=“Bonevomit, post:3723, topic:42”]Does anyone know a good way to light up a basement or something like that?

I thought about making a car on the surface to solar charge a battery and moving it back and forth to power a flood light underground, but I don’t know if the game would allow that.

Or is there a better way?[/quote]

Make a generator with an engine, alternator, gas tank, storage battery, controls, seat, and floodlight (along with enough frames for all this) inside the basement, then feed the gasoline while keeping it powered on for electricity.[/quote]  
I won’t be getting into a gas station for a while, so I need solar power or something similar.

> ...Find or make a milspec turret. They throw light out to range 7 or so. (No need to load the thing!)

I guess that works, but I first need to find the book and get the skills, and books are kind of a rarity for me.

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**Author:** ![John\_Candlebury](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/john_candlebury/32/6437_2.png) [@John\_Candlebury](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/John_Candlebury)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3729 "2014-06-30T22:29:43Z")

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Actually make sure to NOT load it unless you have 5+ on computers at the least.

(admittedly I don’t know whats a good skill number for deploying bots).

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**Author:** ![Giga\_Retro\_Kumquat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/giga_retro_kumquat/32/325_2.png) [@Giga\_Retro\_Kumquat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Giga_Retro_Kumquat)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3730 "2014-07-01T00:02:32Z")

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HELP stats are extremely vague and wiki is no help either

On the wiki it says throwing gains benefits from strength, How much? there is no where to find this.

Perception says it affects ranged penalty but does not state whether it affects throwing

Where as dexterity has both throwing bonus and ranged penalty

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**Author:** ![123456789](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/bcef8e/32.png) [@123456789](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/123456789)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3731 "2014-07-01T01:18:01Z")

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Yeah it’s hard for the wiki to keep up with all the updates and the help menu isn’t too in depth. Thats actually part of why I like cataclysm so much. It’s like the old days where you couldn’t just look everything up. I mean sure you could just look at the code, but i’m not going to. Keeps things mysterious, if I want to find some things out I just have to experiment with them or ask someone else.

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**Author:** ![HunterAlpha1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@HunterAlpha1](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/HunterAlpha1)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3732 "2014-07-01T01:57:19Z")

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[quote=“Giga Retro Kumquat, post:3730, topic:42”]HELP stats are extremely vague and wiki is no help either

On the wiki it says throwing gains benefits from strength, How much? there is no where to find this.

Perception says it affects ranged penalty but does not state whether it affects throwing

Where as dexterity has both throwing bonus and ranged penalty[/quote]Well to put it simply, high stats = good, low stats = bad.

But to answer your question, I have no fucking clue.

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**Author:** ![Weyrling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7bcc69/32.png) [@Weyrling](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Weyrling)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3733 "2014-07-01T02:48:23Z")

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Higher strength lets you throw things further, but has no effect on damage (or accuracy).

Perception gives penalties to ranged combat if it’s too low, higher than 12 perception is useful if you plan to always wear a gas mask while wandering through mine fields.  
Eye encumbrance gives a minus half to throwing though, so it may be less important than dexterity.  
For example, if you put on two gas masks, you have (effectively) -7 perception, giving -7 to checking traps and ranged attacks, but only -3.5 to throwing.

Edit: Italics

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**Author:** ![Giga\_Retro\_Kumquat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/giga_retro_kumquat/32/325_2.png) [@Giga\_Retro\_Kumquat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Giga_Retro_Kumquat)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3734 "2014-07-01T04:45:29Z")

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[quote=“Weyrling, post:3733, topic:42”]Higher strength lets you throw things further, but has no effect on damage (or accuracy).

For example, if you put on two gas masks, you have (effectively) -7 perception, giving -7 to checking traps and ranged attacks, but only -3.5 to throwing.

Edit: Italics[/quote]

Thanks for the answer on strength, so what your saying is every point of perception = 0.5 throwing, or is it only affected through encumbrance? or do you not know if perception directly affects throwing

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**Author:** ![userpay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/userpay/32/1128_2.png) [@userpay](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/userpay)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3735 "2014-07-01T05:53:56Z")

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Hmmm… Coulda sworn I saw somewhere that you can use recipes straight out of books rather than have to learn them but can’t figure that out.

Alternatively what is the best way for boosting chances to learn recipes because I’m starting to get annoyed by having to spam the key presses because it won’t make multiple tries for learning something.

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**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3736 "2014-07-01T06:34:15Z")

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[quote=“userpay, post:3735, topic:42”]Hmmm… Coulda sworn I saw somewhere that you can use recipes straight out of books rather than have to learn them but can’t figure that out.

Alternatively what is the best way for boosting chances to learn recipes because I’m starting to get annoyed by having to spam the key presses because it won’t make multiple tries for learning something.[/quote]

Well, you need to read the book, have skill level equal to the item you’re trying to craft, and have the book in your inventory for it to be able to be crafted without memorization.

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**Author:** ![userpay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/userpay/32/1128_2.png) [@userpay](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/userpay)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:46am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3737 "2014-07-01T06:46:21Z")

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[quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:3736, topic:42”][quote=“userpay, post:3735, topic:42”]Hmmm… Coulda sworn I saw somewhere that you can use recipes straight out of books rather than have to learn them but can’t figure that out.

Alternatively what is the best way for boosting chances to learn recipes because I’m starting to get annoyed by having to spam the key presses because it won’t make multiple tries for learning something.[/quote]

Well, you need to read the book, have skill level equal to the item you’re trying to craft, and have the book in your inventory for it to be able to be crafted without memorization.[/quote]

Odd. Have had books in inventory, looked at crafting screen, and not seen the extra recipes in there. Also does it tell you if you don’t have enough skill to learn the recipes in the book?

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**Author:** ![blazing\_glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@blazing\_glory](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/blazing_glory)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 9:10am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3738 "2014-07-01T09:10:34Z")

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[quote=“userpay, post:3737, topic:42”][quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:3736, topic:42”][quote=“userpay, post:3735, topic:42”]Hmmm… Coulda sworn I saw somewhere that you can use recipes straight out of books rather than have to learn them but can’t figure that out.

Alternatively what is the best way for boosting chances to learn recipes because I’m starting to get annoyed by having to spam the key presses because it won’t make multiple tries for learning something.[/quote]

Well, you need to read the book, have skill level equal to the item you’re trying to craft, and have the book in your inventory for it to be able to be crafted without memorization.[/quote]

Also does it tell you if you don’t have enough skill to learn the recipes in the book?[/quote]

Yes,it says “there are more recipes but it’s too complicated to understand” or something like that.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Weyrling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7bcc69/32.png) [@Weyrling](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Weyrling)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3739 "2014-07-01T18:21:14Z")

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> [@Giga Retro Kumquat](#):
>
> Thanks for the answer on strength, so what your saying is every point of perception = 0.5 throwing, or is it only affected through encumbrance? or do you not know if perception directly affects throwing

The encumbrance tips heavily imply that perception = 0.5 throwing, but I haven’t actually looked at the code, experience tells me that perception definitely does something to throwing, so thats my best bet.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AseaHeru](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/aseaheru/32/8_2.png) [@AseaHeru](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AseaHeru)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/3740 "2014-07-01T20:59:51Z")

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Dont use UPS conversions, they break things (or atleast MP3 players)

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