Tips, Tricks, and Newb Questions!

[deoxy]

[quote=“BeerBeer, post:15006, topic:42”][quote=“SpadeDraco, post:15004, topic:42”]What early game habits do I need to break to play a Broken Cyborg?

…

Broken Cyborg is far worse than Really Bad Day. RBD is hard for the first day, but Broken Cyborgs endure misery and adversity day after day for quite a long time. So, congratulations on your choice of trying out Broken Cyborg, I guess.[/quote]

What a great and helpful answer, thanks BeerBeer.
Broken Cybog is far more difficult than RBD. I played a lot of Cybogs which starts in a hospital (numbered #001 - #127). Some only stayed alive for two rooms. Most of them died after their boots where gone to the acid from zombies. It is hard, but you are surrounded with healing materials.[/quote]

Oh, can broken cyborgs start in hospitals now? Interesting - they were lab only last time I updated (been a couple of months).

And, at least with 5x spawn, RBD is WAY WAY harder than broken cyborg. I quit playing broken cyborg because it was too easy.

[X-PLODE]

Abandoned in hospital scenario let’s you pick Broken Cyborg, you start in a hospital surrounded by spitter zombies.

Most of the time i played that scenario i had no legs but perfect health in the rest of my body parts.

[deoxy]

[quote=“X-PLODE, post:15102, topic:42”]Abandoned in hospital scenario let’s you pick Broken Cyborg, you start in a hospital surrounded by spitter zombies.

Most of the time i played that scenario i had no legs but perfect health in the rest of my body parts.[/quote]

The worst part of broken cyborg is healing broken limbs - the most common time for limbs to start mending is while you’re asleep, and the most common way for a broken cyborg to wake up is to be woken up by pain or acidic discharge… the latter of which would rebreak the limb if it only has the one HP still, which, with the low health you end up with, it likely will.

SO SO SO annoying, the worst part of that start… so yeah, I don’t see myself doing a hospital/broken cyborg start.

[MarkJerue]

I’m a noob, so holler at me if this is wrong.

Two oddly-effective base choices for early to midgame:

1. A Fire Station.

   Fire Stations start out completely-reinforced. There’s a very small lobby which has two windows. Then beyond the lobby is a meeting area, a sleeping room, and parking for two fire engines. The whole building is made of brick, so it’s not prone to fires. It has no windows beyond the lobby. The lobby is separated from the rest of the building by a closed metal door that can only be opened by a winch (which is next to the door), so the door’s basically zombie-proof. The garage doors are also winch-operated. This leaves you with plenty of space to work, store loot, and a way to get light access without going outside. The fire engines will usually spawn with hundreds of gallons of (unclean) water as well.

2. The Hotel Basement.

   Hotel basements have access via two stairwells. They’re three tiles in length, so spacious. Each basement has a fitness center (can deconstruct for metal), a pool (for endless water), and a laundry room / maintenance area. You’ll need to supply your own light and your own sleeping space unless you use the hotel rooms upstairs. However, the basement itself is almost like a Last Man On Earth (LMOE) station, except bigger, with less loot, and featuring nearby towns to loot.

[Findulidas]

[quote=“Findulidas, post:15099, topic:42”]So Ive found a whole mall filled with goodies and as far as I can tell no zombies. Took a stroll around the shops and it seems there is little to no food. Loads of books and clothes. I must admit Im a little lost what to do next. Any decent weapons or armor I could start out with crafting? Only decent weapon Ive found was a combat knife. Any good suggestions on what to craft/learn more?

easily accesible
quater staff if you did some bahing-neeeds fabricvation 2 and bashing 2
makeshift macauitl-need only superglue and some rocks-decent slicing and not conductive so you can take on shockers.suprrglue if not found can be made with cooking 2 i think and dandelions ,bleach or bones…

armor
needs some gathered leather rags and other materials but you can grind it failry easily-lvl 1 to 2 craft light gloves, lvl 2 to 3 balalaclavas/pantes,cargo shorts lvl 3 to 4 boonie hat, lvl 4 top 5 leather chaps which you will cut when made or sleeping bag

balaclavas are avaible on lv 2 tailor /1 survival gave 100 % coverage, stuff head also with any hats avaible and turban as head encumbrance is not important
hoodie is avaible on lv3 taillor combined it with 2 tshirts/2 tank tops and you will be decently protected, trenchcoat is also not bad chosice for ti have higher storage but less protectton
lv 4 tailor give you leather helmet and most importantly leather vest which have excelenmt protection for little encumbrance-you can also make it from leather jacket without skill
lvl 5 gives you acces to leather armor which is decent and nomad gear which have strong protection and insane storage and is waterproof[/quote]

Thanks.

The armor crafting will help out, but I later found an arming sword and a buckler which seems superior to anything I can easily craft. The sword does 14 bash and 31 cut damage, although only has 1+ to hit. Its also quite quick.

[deoxy]

[quote=“MarkJerue, post:15104, topic:42”]I’m a noob, so holler at me if this is wrong.

Two oddly-effective base choices for early to midgame:

1. A Fire Station.

   Fire Stations start out completely-reinforced. There’s a very small lobby which has two windows. Then beyond the lobby is a meeting area, a sleeping room, and parking for two fire engines. The whole building is made of brick, so it’s not prone to fires. It has no windows beyond the lobby. The lobby is separated from the rest of the building by a closed metal door that can only be opened by a winch (which is next to the door), so the door’s basically zombie-proof. The garage doors are also winch-operated. This leaves you with plenty of space to work, store loot, and a way to get light access without going outside. The fire engines will usually spawn with hundreds of gallons of (unclean) water as well.

2. The Hotel Basement.

   Hotel basements have access via two stairwells. They’re three tiles in length, so spacious. Each basement has a fitness center (can deconstruct for metal), a pool (for endless water), and a laundry room / maintenance area. You’ll need to supply your own light and your own sleeping space unless you use the hotel rooms upstairs. However, the basement itself is almost like a Last Man On Earth (LMOE) station, except bigger, with less loot, and featuring nearby towns to loot.[/quote]

For 1, yeah, those are all GREAT… but they’re usually so surrounded that you can get stuck in them, especially if any group sees you and starts beating on the door… which brings a horde. Sure, they may not be able to get in, but you can’t get OUT, either. (Also, you need to clear them fairly quickly, or the zombies inside will destroy the precious winches.) Otherwise, yeah, they’re awesome.

For 2, yeah, hotels are usually fairly easy to clear, and the dual exits is REALLY good.

I play on 5x spawn, so clearing anything at the beginning is usually a no-go, but if you’ve cleared a hotel, they’re pretty good. I actually prefer the Motel, as you can use the upstairs area just about as nicely as a basement, but it’s got natural light. The water is outside, which can be mildly dangerous, but if you manage to clear a room with the windows intact, you’ve got a nice place to sleep with LOTS of emergency exits.

[Haerdalas]

So, its been a while since I played Cataclysm (about 4 months or so?) and I was wondering about the following:

Basically, what is the current status of Hordes? Is it still as near-unplayable as it was a while back, where the hordes WOULD find you no matter what and then never go away, or have they sorted that and done stuff like make the hordes despawn if you go far enough away? I really like the concept of hordes, but from what I recall it just made it a nightmare to actually do… ANYTHING.

[BeerBeer]

[quote=“BeerBeer, post:15071, topic:42”]What if they’re attracted to vehicle controls? Maybe one should just try installing extra controls on all seats? Or maybe they like the seat that was installed last?

The seat taking code is pretty crude. It works by going through all parts in order they were installed in. Then they prioritize seatbelts.
If you want NPCs to take other seats, uninstall your main seat and reinstall it, then install seatbelts on all NPC seats. Or just remove seatbelt from your main seat, though this can be risky.[/quote]
Thanks. I had actually forgotten about the damn seatbelt entirely. My NPC seat didn’t have any… Goddamnit. Works like a charm now.

Pretty weird that there’s code for all that prioritization, instead of NPCs taking a random seat + the player having the ability to assign a seat. One would’ve thunk that the latter is easier to code. Gotta appreciate the coding effort though.

[Tawarochir]

[quote=“Haerdalas, post:15107, topic:42”]So, its been a while since I played Cataclysm (about 4 months or so?) and I was wondering about the following:

Basically, what is the current status of Hordes? Is it still as near-unplayable as it was a while back, where the hordes WOULD find you no matter what and then never go away, or have they sorted that and done stuff like make the hordes despawn if you go far enough away? I really like the concept of hordes, but from what I recall it just made it a nightmare to actually do… ANYTHING.[/quote]
Hordes are excellent nowadays. They have a reasonable amount of zombies in them now, which is probably the biggest plus. If you off all the zombies in a horde, that completely wipes that horde off the map. They also don’t appear to track you psychically like they did before, nor does lightly tapping a wall with a piece of paper summon feral predators and zombie masters.

[Coolthulhu]

Pretty weird that there’s code for all that prioritization, instead of NPCs taking a random seat + the player having the ability to assign a seat.

UI for this kind of stuff isn’t easy.
It would be easier to mark all NPC seats with a fake part describing who sits there (“Edd’s seat”) than to allow player to order the NPCs to get into particular seats.
NPC code is very “temporary”. They’re recalculating their decisions pretty much every turn. This is one of the reasons why there are no ways to tell them to “go to point” or “kill this zombie” yet.

[system]

Does fuel usage influence battery recharge rate when a generator/alternator is applied?

If I attach an engine with a fuel usage of 1 to a 7.5kw generator, will a storage battery charge at the same rate as an engine with a fuel usage of 4?

[Coolthulhu]

If I attach an engine with a fuel usage of 1 to a 7.5kw generator, will a storage battery charge at the same rate as an engine with a fuel usage of 4?

Yes.
Fuel will also be used at the same rate, unless the engine is too weak for the generator, in which case it will use more.

[Haerdalas]

[quote=“Tawarochir, post:15109, topic:42”][quote=“Haerdalas, post:15107, topic:42”]So, its been a while since I played Cataclysm (about 4 months or so?) and I was wondering about the following:

Basically, what is the current status of Hordes? Is it still as near-unplayable as it was a while back, where the hordes WOULD find you no matter what and then never go away, or have they sorted that and done stuff like make the hordes despawn if you go far enough away? I really like the concept of hordes, but from what I recall it just made it a nightmare to actually do… ANYTHING.[/quote]
Hordes are excellent nowadays. They have a reasonable amount of zombies in them now, which is probably the biggest plus. If you off all the zombies in a horde, that completely wipes that horde off the map. They also don’t appear to track you psychically like they did before, nor does lightly tapping a wall with a piece of paper summon feral predators and zombie masters.[/quote]

That is excellent news. Would you recommend playing with just Wander Spawns on, or Static and Wander spawns for extra challenge?

[SpadeDraco]

That is excellent news. Would you recommend playing with just Wander Spawns on, or Static and Wander spawns for extra challenge?

Keep Static spawns on at all times. Dynamic spawn mode hasn’t been supported for ages and is really screwy right now. As for Wander spawns, they do make the game more challenging (and fun for the most part IMO). However they also have a few problems that you should know about. The way evolution interacts with them is a bit strange, you can get hordes that consist entirely of ZMs, Hulks, Shocker Brutes etc. which can be an absolute nightmare. Also the Horde doesn’t actually spawn into the game until it enters your (max) field of vision, meaning that they’ll totally phase straight through the walls of larger stationary bases. This can be a bit off-putting if you just got done digging a giant moat of spike traps around your base only to return from a raid and find it full to the brim with zombies.

[Tawarochir]

Has there been any profession rebalancing in the past two weeks or so? Looking through the list of professions, I can see a lot of power disparity among the weaker ones (particularly the one-point professions.) There’s no reason to take Student over A/V or Science Club Member; the Pizza Delivery Person comes with free drugs, torso-based storage, like a week of food, and 6 total skill levels; the Farmer comes with a multitool, hoe, and enough seeds to personally kickstart a farming operation. Then on the same level, you have things like the Otaku, whose claim to fame is a cheeseburger and a sewing kit, and the Lawyer, who has a briefcase and marginally better people skills than the PDP.

[DoReVo]

Noticed that in the latest experimental the rechargeable battery mod is gone and so is the recharging station. How do we make rechargeable tools again ? Also you can no longer craft small storage battery ?

[sagethor]

Noticed that in the latest experimental the rechargeable battery mod is gone and so is the recharging station. How do we make rechargeable tools again ?

Change is documented here:

Storage cells and car recharger changes

[DoReVo]

Is the cordless drill has no use yet ?

[Xfin]

[quote=“DoReVo, post:15116, topic:42”]Noticed that in the latest experimental the rechargeable battery mod is gone and so is the recharging station. How do we make rechargeable tools again ?

Change is documented here:
https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/14559[/quote]

fusing the two old system eh…though it didn’t carry over the fact the old rechargeable battery mod used to keep it charge value when you removed it…

I Wonder how close the battery revamp-update is to finished… (although the system the acetylene torch using now would work kinda nicely to replace battery tools.

[Rot]

It’s pretty late, and I have my computer turned off, but is it possible to fireproof clothing? I want to fireproof my cloak, as accidents regarding fire will probably be inevitable since I’m planning to burn down a fungal spire and triffid grove when I get on later.