# 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:** 621

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**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12402 "2015-12-19T21:27:24Z")

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Funnel only fills the biggest container in the tile.  
Unless you mean vehicle funnel - this one fills them in order in which they were installed.

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**Author:** ![Flare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@Flare](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Flare)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12403 "2015-12-20T03:38:59Z")

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How is damage to vehicles calculated? I drove my semi-completed RV around across a field and had to spend the night doing repairs at the destination despite only hitting shrubs. I noticed even a roof that was in the middle of the vehicle was damaged for some reason.

Would putting some sort of ram up front work? Would putting this ram connected by only a stilt to the main body help alleviate damage? Would just putting some disposable wheels up front work to absorb damage away from vital or hard to replace internals?

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**Author:** ![BeerBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@BeerBeer](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/BeerBeer)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 5:55am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12404 "2015-12-20T05:55:18Z")

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I suspect that roof tile was hit by something other than shrub. Shrubs only hit frames and armor, I think. How fast were you driving? I think the car takes more shrub damage the faster you drive… Also try to drive straight and not in an angle. Angled driving can expose the sides and inner tiles to collisions.

My vehicle has 5 shredders in the front. Behind them is just heavy frame bumper, armored. The shredders don’t take shrub damage but the bumper and the armor do.

I’ve found it wisest to just drive under 90km/h (off-road) and check the vehicle after every trip.

You could also install roller drums to the front, which I believe are beasts and they hit and crush everything, although being heavy and bit rare to find.

Do install armor, too. You should be able to install armor on any vehicle tile. Steel plating, military composite armor, etc. If you have tanks enabled, they provide virtually endless amounts of military composite. Security vans in turn have steel plating all over them. You can also craft steel plating. Protect the precious tiles first.

I don’t know exactly how the damage is applied but without a doubt the armor absorbs the most hits. If no armor, then it’s a crapshoot. Shrub hits are probably shared between frame and armor. And here is the lump of salt you should take all this information with: \*

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**Author:** ![Azrad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Azrad](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Azrad)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:03am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12405 "2015-12-20T06:03:03Z")

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Roller drums seem to have a slight problem. Sure, they’re real durable, but the same can’t be said of the heavy duty frames that hold them. 'course, I put mine through a lot of abuse; plowing through forests and all that. If I’m not careful, the heavy duty frames will break long before the roller drum does, and if that happens the drum gets detached without a frame to hold it - even when I beef the thing up with military composite plating.

If you do have military composite plating, you can put them in front with no frames as rams. They’ll absorb most of the damage, but other car parts may still be vulnerable. What I do is have military composite rams up front, and roller drums on the row behind them. They soak up most of the damage when I go through forests, keeping a slow but steady speed of 19mph. Skids happen rarely so most of the damage is on the rams and the roller drum section, and every 5 map tiles worth I stop for repairs.

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**Author:** ![KliPeH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/klipeh/32/11298_2.png) [@KliPeH](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KliPeH)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:24am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12406 "2015-12-20T06:24:58Z")

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Does wildlife respawn outside of the reality bubble, or are the spawns one-time-only and eventually every animal in my area will be killed forcing me to travel farther to get meat/fat?

I don’t play with Wandering Spawns so more zombies don’t spawn to replace the ones that were already eliminated, but I was wondering what happens to natural wildlife.

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**Author:** ![Flare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@Flare](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Flare)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 9:24am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12407 "2015-12-20T09:24:10Z")

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I think they spawn in continuously out of sight. Had some wildlife appear in the middle of a city that had a small forest tile on it, despite the fact that I’ve went through it many times killing everything for food, and this isn’t even considering the zombies helping me do it.

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**Author:** ![multimark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@multimark](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/multimark)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12408 "2015-12-20T10:41:04Z")

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How can i get a more lasting fire going? I keep burning logs in my stone fireplace but they don’t seems to stay lighted for long, which don’t allow me to craft much ☹

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**Author:** ![KliPeH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/klipeh/32/11298_2.png) [@KliPeH](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KliPeH)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 11:11am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12409 "2015-12-20T11:11:27Z")

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> [@multimark](#):
>
> How can i get a more lasting fire going? I keep burning logs in my stone fireplace but they don’t seems to stay lighted for long, which don’t allow me to craft much ☹

There’s a certain order of items from the one that is most easily flammable to items that don’t burn at all. Should be something like paper, wood, plants and food and lastly metal which doesn’t burn. Burning logs is a huge waste; you can easily get 30-50 two by fours out of logs with each one burning for 2-3 in-game hours. Burn them one by one, that’s the most efficient way.

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**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12410 "2015-12-20T17:56:28Z")

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> [@multimark](#):
>
> How can i get a more lasting fire going? I keep burning logs in my stone fireplace but they don’t seems to stay lighted for long, which don’t allow me to craft much ☹

It’s also overall better to just drop a bit of tinder, thread, or whatever to do one batch of crafting, then repeat afterward. It craft attempt doesn’t care if you lose sufficient lighting while crafting, only so long as you have enough light when initiating crafting.

Unless they recently fixed that exploit, in which case I’ll be saddragon,. ;w;

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**Author:** ![pisskop](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/pisskop/32/1327_2.png) [@pisskop](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/pisskop)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12411 "2015-12-20T18:01:52Z")

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Nope. Just cooked 2 meat in a lightning storm :}

My Character’s is so manly he cooks his meat in an electrical storm with sticks, even after the fire goes out. 😑

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**Author:** ![Valpo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/valpo/32/341_2.png) [@Valpo](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Valpo)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12412 "2015-12-20T18:05:34Z")

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Can t wait till this has been fixed.

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**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12413 "2015-12-20T18:09:38Z")

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> [@Valpo](#):
>
> Can t wait till this has been fixed.

Nyet, bad fox. ;A;

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**Author:** ![Litppunk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/litppunk/32/409_2.png) [@Litppunk](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Litppunk)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12414 "2015-12-20T18:46:57Z")

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Good. No one wants sad dragon.  
 ![](https://rpgcharacters.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/saddragon.jpg)  
from sadness comes anger. From anger comes hatred. Anger + hatred equals no more small hamlets it 500 mile radius. If lucky.

 ![](http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/lotr/images/f/f9/TBOT5A_08.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150307220031)  
No fox. No. No creating angry dragon.

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**Author:** ![Kurt\_Wulfgang](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kurt_wulfgang/32/5136_2.png) [@Kurt\_Wulfgang](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Kurt_Wulfgang)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12415 "2015-12-20T20:27:04Z")

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Is 's’mashing a dead zombie enough to keep it down forever, or do i have to 'B’utcher it ?

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**Author:** ![pisskop](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/pisskop/32/1327_2.png) [@pisskop](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/pisskop)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12416 "2015-12-20T20:31:55Z")

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Both prevent rezzing.

Butchering it take longer and you can recover stamina while doing so. It also slightly trains survival.  
Smashing is faster, although it still takes longer to do based on size, and drains stamina.

Some zoms have ‘extra’ parts if your survival is high enough.

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**Author:** ![Kurt\_Wulfgang](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kurt_wulfgang/32/5136_2.png) [@Kurt\_Wulfgang](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Kurt_Wulfgang)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12417 "2015-12-20T20:34:40Z")

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Can anyone explain what “z-level” is ?

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**Author:** ![Rezalex](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/rezalex/32/6427_2.png) [@Rezalex](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rezalex)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12418 "2015-12-20T20:40:34Z")

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> [@Kurt\_Wulfgang](#):
>
> Can anyone explain what “z-level” is ?

A z-level is… think floors on a building. You go up a floor or down a floor. It is the third component to coordinates: X (left and right), Y (forward and backward), and Z (up and down). Or something like that anyways.

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**Author:** ![pisskop](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/pisskop/32/1327_2.png) [@pisskop](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/pisskop)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12419 "2015-12-20T20:42:12Z")

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Math. Graphing sheets

X is the horizontal plane  
Y is the vertical plane.

Z is the plane that jumps off the paper and into you face/desk.

![](https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRZcNLE_r5uyJ5CV5uxzKss3lfY_mSFBz4RX7sq7jz9lYO0fl8n8Q)

And in the context of games, it is the ‘up’ and ‘down’ levels, whereas x and y determine where you are like regularlly thought of gps; z is your elevation.

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**Author:** ![KliPeH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/klipeh/32/11298_2.png) [@KliPeH](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KliPeH)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12420 "2015-12-20T20:45:41Z")

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> [@Rezalex](#):
>
> [quote=“Kurt\_Wulfgang, post:12417, topic:42”]Can anyone explain what “z-level” is ?

A z-level is… think floors on a building. You go up a floor or down a floor.[/quote]  
The game also calculates what’s happening on your level, the one below you and the one above you if z-levels are enabled. If they’re not, you can light a fire on one level, go down/upstairs and have an eternal fire there, one that will never go out until you come back to that level and disable the “time freeze” on it.

Basically, the reality bubble is only limited to one level without z-levels, and calculates “real time” everywhere if they are.

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**Author:** ![Rezalex](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/rezalex/32/6427_2.png) [@Rezalex](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rezalex)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions/42/12421 "2015-12-20T23:57:21Z")

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Has anyone else had a weird lag in the crafting menu in the experimentals? More specifically, when I press the up/down arrows to move the selected item it does so realllly slowly. Everything else, like the construction menu, is working as it usually does. Just kind of obnoxious really.

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