The initial struggle to survive is always the best part. ;w;
Having realized I needed a hacksaw to cut new parts off of a back-up Humvee I found, I went a town over in search of one and happened upon a moose killing a shocker zombie. Eh, fine by me, I didn’t want to have to waste pistol ammunition on it then time hacking apart zeds coming through a nearby window. I just offed the moose with my wakizashi and went about my business looking for coffee, drugs of any stripe and a hacksaw. I butchered the unfortunate shocker on the way out and got a power storage CBM and an integrated toolset. I’d installed an Internal Furnace at some point, but had no use for it up 'til now as I had no power storage whatsoever. So now I’m working on my humvee, having to stop to eat two by fours once in awhile as I get the repairs done. Fortunately I deconstructed all the benches in my evac shelter/base so I have a ton of them.
Which really seems a bit odd if I picture it in detail.
I’d just like to say that 40 hours of hand-editing this single overworld map tile has reminded me of just how handy randomly generating your maps is instead 
On the plus side, it’s shaping up quite decently. I started with a map generated with no cities, removed every remaining surface building (Fema camps, labs, groves etc), remodelled the landscape somewhat by running a river through 1/3 of it and creating some hard-to-reach areas and am in the middle of the process of adding a big highway from top to bottom, forking off at times to towns, camps, labs etc. Things like FEMA camps, Labs, Mines etc have been made much larger, more dangerous but with some very nice rare loot. Expect military outposts 5x6 large with 20-30 turrets as an example 
It also has some light elements of progression in that certain areas are extremely hard to reach unless you have the tools/skills nescessary, or some creative thinking
I’d love to show a preview but alas, basically anything I show would ruin the surprise I should be ready to release it in a few days.
edit: There’ll be a biiiig “map finale” comprised of elements from many other areas all meshed together, with a perhaps-unfair amount of defenses and guardians, both living and dead. Also, fuuuuuuuuuuuck malls or the necropolis, they have like 400 million different unlabeled parts to try to fit together, it’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle blind with a single finger to work with.
Spring, day 32.
I made another night raid along the eastern perimeter of the town in the west. Killed my first Z necromancer, too. And another smoker, making me realize how much I need good mouth protection.
Turns out it’s much bigger than I thought. I spotted a few houses to the southwest of the office tower which I’d taken to be the southern end of the town. Some cars are still on, lighting up areas in the night, so I’ve taken to avoiding those spots. I managed to reach a boxing gym (got a book each on Krav Maga and pugilism) and a few houses even further south. I got moments of clear weather, so this + binocs means I have a fairly good idea of the city’s size (omg!), but the real southern end appears fairly safe (houses only, no shops).
Then went back to shelter to sleep. It’s the afternoon of the next day. Gonna read up on those martial arts and spetznaz.
Spring, day 34.
I spent the day reading books, then ventured to the teeny town to the east to get into the sewer (alas, it gave me ‘water’ and not ‘sewage’). I discovered the electric SUV next to the manhole is actually drivable, so drove it to my shelter. Slept the night, crafted some more the next day, went out to get sticks (for crossbow) and discovered a f*cking working APC 7 map tiles away from the shelter! I was always taking a shortcut when going west and I never noticed the APC in all the previous trips. Lol!
The APC is low on fuel, though, so I don’t know how I’d get it closer to the shelter. And I still don’t have a welder.
Turned a M2 Browning into a .50 caliber rifle. Can’t add a sniper mod to it, but it’s damage output kinda matches the FN FAL. With all the mods in though, the FAL is overall better due to a higher ammo capacity, and it’s damage matches the shots done by the .50 caliber… though that’s not taking into account the armor pierce. Plus the .308 ammo is a lot lighter than what the .50 caliber uses. A lot less recoil too.
I might use the .50 ammo more if I could ever find a Barrett. Either way, I might try out pistols more once winter hits, for variety.
Hm, the H&K G3 has a point more in damage than the FAL. Slightly more recoil, but at this level my survivor barely has any problem with it. So switching to that for the high damage rifle.
Don’t need the rail laser sight due to having the rifle scope as well, so it might be better to add a rail mounted crossbow.
I wanted to play against Romero-style zombies, so I chose classic zombies and enabled the mod that cuts their speed in half. I raised enemy spawn to 3.0 because I thought it would be too easy if I left it at the default. I started up the game and everything was going well until I got to the city. I knew there would be a lot of zombies but I really didn’t think there would be that many. I wasn’t able to loot any of the buildings without getting trapped. Realizing I had made a terrible mistake, I decided to head back to the shelter, the only problem being how deep I was into the city. Before getting into all this, I gave my partner orders not to attack unless his life depended on it so he stuck close behind. He had no problem catching up so it isn’t like I had to babysit him or anything. I tried to lose the horde through several different shops which managed to slow down a few but they were coming from all sides. It didn’t help too much. There were a lot of close calls but we both managed to fit through small gaps in the group before they closed in. I like to call them zombie hallways. Zombways. They’re just like regular hallways, only the walls want to eat you. I ran through a few houses searching for a lighter. I was planning on getting a bunch of zombies in one building and burning it down. Normally I’m swimming in a fiery lake of lighters but I didn’t find a single one this time. My partner and I were chased into another shop where I found a bullwhip. Once again, we somehow managed to get out. I wanted to keep searching houses for lighters.
This is where I messed up. The house I’m in is completely surrounded. My companion and I are trapped in different rooms. He was in the living room, I’m in the kitchen. I don’t think there’s a single window or door that doesn’t have a zombie in it. I accepted my fate some time ago. I ran into a closet (bathroom?) and I’m currently fighting off the seemingly endless ranks of the undead without any assistance. My partner died in the other room a little while ago.
There’s only one way in so I’ve been hitting the zombie closest to me and stunning it. I could probably take advantage of that and whack them with the crowbar or something. If I keep this up, nothing will be able to get through. I might be able to thin them out some but I’ll eventually run out of food and water. I guess it depends on how quickly I can kill them all.
This isn’t even about the zombies anymore. If I get out alive, I’m burning something down.
Finally decided to clear out the items in the ice lab base. Two basement levels only, though the lab is fairly big.
First floor done, about 7.5k volume of items, 2.5k I’m keeping. The other items are not needed, and since there’s no fast way to dispose of some of the items, I used debug to spawn a shoggoth then kill it after it absorbs the useless junk. Kinda wish I kept one of the shoggoths that was locked up alive, but they’re so noisy my survivor won’t be able to sleep.
Before that, found three plows in two gardening stores. This should make farming a whole lot easier when the spring arrives.
I’ve set up a tent on a small island in the middle of a river near the school I spawned at.
I also found an atomic coffeemaker in town, which means that I now have an unlimited supply of clean water, and no immediate threat from the undead.
Got around 500 dandelions after nonstop gathering for a day. I’ll need about 72 seeds in total, since there’s a 3x24 farm plot waiting for spring to arrive. The remaining dandelions will be made into wine must to get the keg of dandelion wine started.
Azrad, how long are your seasons?
How long did it take you to clear out and make a base in the lab?
What are you, some kinda elf?
Elves go quite well with a glass of dandelion wine, actually.
[quote=“Rot, post:9711, topic:47”]Azrad, how long are your seasons?
How long did it take you to clear out and make a base in the lab?[/quote]
45 day seasons. Lab took less than a day to kill out every creature inside. Jackhammering the walls took about an hour or so. Roofing up the base, adding the furniture (except for the desks which I used debug for) took around 3-4 weeks. Getting all the items from the lab took around two days; easy enough as I crafted cargo carrier wheelbarrows on each floor - lab only has two basements.
I’m not exactly sure on the time. It took roughly a season’s length to set everything up.
6 days in and my search for a lighter continues.
First harvest is starting to come in. Oats and onions and carrots. I now have over 600 oatmeal.
I’m fighting my way toward a bank, where I hope an ATM will survive the fighting. So I can use it to combine my many cash cards into a supercars that can buy anything.
Got to construction 6 recently by just building and destroying several rock forges. Now I can make a proper stone wall around the entrance to the subway station I’ve set up my secondary outpost in. Soon I will make my way north, once the first harvest finishes coming in.
Stocking up on a ton of liquid fertilizer as I wait for winter. When spring comes, my survivor will farm a ton of crops, especially strawberries and dandelions for booze, and sugar beets for sugar. Charcoal for lye powder is easy enough to craft. After I get a keg full of strawberry surprise and dandelion wine, I’ll look into making other types of booze.
Winter will be half exploring uncharted areas on the map and half crafting meat and other decaying products. Maybe I’ll set crafting time during spring as I can just make a draggable crafting rig on the ice lab area, powered by a minireactor.
Day 36, spring.
Road south of the city has mines - I barely avoided them as I retreated. Discovered that most of the eastern side of the town is safe even during the dawn. Spent the day crafting crossbows and sleeping. Went out the next night (night of day 35/36) and prioritized the houses in the southern portion (which is indeed fairly safe). Ran into a soldier Z, who dropped a fingerpick CBM, and the house had an atomic nightlight.
Still don’t have a welder even though I found one more house with garage 
[quote=“Zireael, post:9717, topic:47”]Day 36, spring.
Road south of the city has mines - I barely avoided them as I retreated. Discovered that most of the eastern side of the town is safe even during the dawn. Spent the day crafting crossbows and sleeping. Went out the next night (night of day 35/36) and prioritized the houses in the southern portion (which is indeed fairly safe). Ran into a soldier Z, who dropped a fingerpick CBM, and the house had an atomic nightlight.
Still don’t have a welder even though I found one more house with garage :([/quote]
If you’ve got Under the Hood, you could try making a makeshift welder instead. Ovens should have the parts you need to craft it.
I finally found a character that i could stick with. Monique Jones, sassy black woman and former bionic military sniper. Fortified a public works, got a bunch of survivor pals and just raided a lab for a pile of new bionics. Lab finale was shit though, just a 3x3 square of rooms with chemistry stuff and no enemies. Oh well. Ambient lab sounds were spooky and awesome.
NPC’s needing to sleep is awful and makes them even more useless than they were before. They always without fail stay awake until right before i wake up in the morning, and then are sleepy and tired all friggin day if i want them to do anything with me. I think maybe it should be togglable, i would seriously rather have to feed them than deal with this.
Also new experimental stuff looks fun, can i update without borking my file?
Final few days of autumn. Going on a gathering spree, searching for apple and pear trees. Foraging in bushes and other trees as well. Need a ton of pine boughs to make pine wine, and it’ll probably be harder than dandelion wine since I can’t grow them.