Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead

[MAAAD]

8 days into the apocalypse:

>new friend - a military deserter that aggressively busted into the shelter in my sleep (I managed to calm him down) and brought a whole group of Zs on his tail
>crafting place w/ all items sorted out via zone manager and the help of the NPC
>makeshift bed for the two of us
>a dedicated brazier and some kitchen utensils for cooking
Not pictured:
>4 trash bins collecting rain water on the roof
>a working battery charger downstairs
Now all that's left short-term-wise is to disassemble the remaining furniture, reinforce/board up the remaining windows and install some lamps so I could finally get some proper lighting at nights. It's beginning to look pretty cosy...

 

[Jose Beaner Luna]

8 days into the apocalypse:
View attachment 7569549
>new friend - a military deserter that aggressively busted into the shelter in my sleep (I managed to calm him down) and brought a whole group of Zs on his tail
>crafting place w/ all items sorted out via zone manager and the help of the NPC
>makeshift bed for the two of us
>a dedicated brazier and some kitchen utensils for cooking
Not pictured:
>4 trash bins collecting rain water on the roof
>a working battery charger downstairs
Now all that's left short-term-wise is to disassemble the remaining furniture, reinforce/board up the remaining windows and install some lamps so I could finally get some proper lighting at nights. It's beginning to look pretty cosy...

if you want to increase the defensive capabilities of your base, make some pits near the window, first make a shallow pit then dig again to make it deep (you need something that can dig), that way zombies that try to make its way trough the reinforced window will fall and recieve a lot of damage while trying to break it, you can add some broken glass or wooden spikes to spice it up, in the part facing the concrete put some nailtraps instead.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

Artifacts are vanilla

I know but let me rephrase since I worded it weirdly. I meant that Magiclysm might add new/alter old effects to make artifacts more "magical" and useful rather than anomalous double edged swords, with one end being a dagger's length while the other a claymore's.

 

[Imam Shamil]

Oh cool. Didn't know this thread existed. Might start a game with the No_Hope mod. Found that the mod balances the game toward my masochistic streak. I live for hard games and inevitably get way too frustrated then give up halfway. But maybe this time I'll make it to the end.

 

[Jose Beaner Luna]

Oh cool. Didn't know this thread existed. Might start a game with the No_Hope mod. Found that the mod balances the game toward my masochistic streak. I live for hard games and inevitably get way too frustrated then give up halfway. But maybe this time I'll make it to the end.

Im using no hope in my current playthrough and is been really fun, it actually feels like an apocalipse, my recomendation is to get some nice armor coverage/get tailoring up because even normal zeds will destroy you, start foraging for food and dehydrate it, i will only recommend figthing zeds is if you have a slingshot to back you up and decent coverage like a duster or trenchcoat.

Pic of my no hope clumsy hobo pummeling a bone juggernaut to death, survivor gear is no joke.

 

[Imam Shamil]

Im using no hope in my current playthrough and is been really fun, it actually feels like an apocalipse

Love the aesthetics of the mod. Fucking everything is broken down and already scavenged (if you play on the hardest difficulty for No Hope). Actually feels rewarding when you repair a car, and the mod removes some cheese like getting a million bullets from turrets.

i will only recommend figthing zeds is if you have a slingshot to back you up and decent coverage like a duster or trenchcoat

This is good advice which I always had in the back of my mind. But I'm such a fucking sperg and think "yah, I can handle those 3 zombies", and it never goes well for me

start foraging for food and dehydrate it

Huh. For some reason I've never considered doing this. I'll dry my food from now on.

 

[Jose Beaner Luna]

This is good advice which I always had in the back of my mind. But I'm such a fucking sperg and think "yah, I can handle those 3 zombies", and it never goes well for me

Coverage is very important in this game and one of the keys to last a very long time, i'd say is even more important than food at the start for me, even cotton stuff will take you a long way if it covers a lot of your body and overlaps it with other pieces that also doesnt encumber/warm you too much, my favourite starting gear that i always make is: rioter mask, duster/trenchcoat, snow goggles, t-shirt and undershirt, this gear is really good for facing your first zeds without ending in the brink of death every time you do, then you can either replace it with leather or scout for motorcycle gear wich normal zombies (specially fat ones) tend to spawn a lot with, motorcycle helmet is my favourite helmet before i go full survivor shit, you can also aim for police/riot stuff if you manage find them.

 

[WrenchWring]

The most important parts of fighting early are a good weapon with Parry, armor with good coverage even if has low damage reduction, and using terrain - primarily vehicles - to limit the number of zombies you fight at once and the amount of actions they get. Parry reduces incoming damage by a fairly high percentage every time you block, but you have a limited number of blocks per turn so ideally you only fight one zombie at once. Damage that goes through parry is low enough that even 2 or 3 bashing reduction will massively cut the amount of actual HP you lose, but that armor does nothing if the attack hits somewhere it doesn't cover so you want high coverage even if it means lower damage reduction numbers.

The quarterstaff is the best early weapon because it deals 20 bashing damage, has +3 to hit, and has Parry; in BN it's craftable with the resources in and around the evac shelter if you know what you're doing, and in DDA it should still be possible as soon as you find anything made out of leather to cut into patches. You slap whatever clothing you can find onto yourself, climb into a wrecked car, and whack zombies while they try to crawl through the door to get to you. Take the clothing, salvage it for materials to recraft into better armor, loot the nearby houses, and repeat the next day until you have a full suit of leather and enough salvaged food to think about the long term.

 

[MAAAD]

Holy shit fellas, surely one artifact can't be THIS good?
I used it to make the zombies on my tail enter the fire, but instead they began... fighting each other?! I inspected the runner and he actually became (temporarily) FRIENDLY towards me. Hoooooly fucking shit, I can probably wipe out entire hordes of undead with this thing...

By the way: is there a way to somehow refill fire extinguishers? I now have to carry a small one with me along w/ the artifact because the artifact can create the fire on the tile you stand as well and/or spawn fires in a way that makes you surrounded by them. I found a few more but they're all going to go empty sooner or later.
One more question: are there fire stations to be found? I really need to find some fire-resistant gear to properly abuse my Cube of Otherworldy Mechanism.

 

[Peasant]

Holy shit fellas, surely one artifact can't be THIS good?
I used it to make the zombies on my tail enter the fire, but instead they began... fighting each other?! I inspected the runner and he actually became (temporarily) FRIENDLY towards me. Hoooooly fucking shit, I can probably wipe out entire hordes of undead with this thing...

By the way: is there a way to somehow refill fire extinguishers? I now have to carry a small one with me along w/ the artifact because the artifact can create the fire on the tile you stand as well and/or spawn fires in a way that makes you surrounded by them. I found a few more but they're all going to go empty sooner or later.
One more question: are there fire stations to be found? I really need to find some fire-resistant gear to properly abuse my Cube of Otherworldy Mechanism.

Yeah, it can be a bit of a gacha hunting for artifacts, but they can have some really handy effects, like letting you see through walls and darkness or giving you +100 morale. Unless you get super lucky and find one with negligible downsides, I usually just keep them in my pack and whip 'em out whenever the situation calls for it.

Not sure about refilling fire extinguishers. I'm tempted to say no, but there are air compressor tools, so maybe there's a recipe somewhere. For fireman gear, I think your best bet is to search streets for a firetruck. They usually contain a lot of goodies which can also be salvaged for nomex to make fire-resistant survivor armor if you have the skill.

 

[Consoooomer]

Oh cool. Didn't know this thread existed. Might start a game with the No_Hope mod. Found that the mod balances the game toward my masochistic streak. I live for hard games and inevitably get way too frustrated then give up halfway. But maybe this time I'll make it to the end.

I love nohope and usually run it because I love how rare loot is and having so many NPCs running around. Looting feels like a chore on the regular setting but I'm a little bit retarded and can't stop myself from looting every house I come across even though I've got a base with so much loot I could essentially live there for a year. But on no hope you're always running low on supplies or at least you never have a really generous stockpile, makes looting houses so much more enjoyable. Also something people rarely talk about is managing pain when fighting, anything about minor pain will really lower your combat effectiveness in the early game. If you get to distracting pain while fighting I would make your escape as quickly as possible and wait around until it's back down again.

Oh and for an extra challenge try starting during winter, have fun trying to keep your thirst down when every water source is frozen LOL.

 

[MAAAD]

And THAT's how you clear out entire crowds of zombies (30+ Zs) w/o actually engaging them in combat. Only had to use the artifact twice and spent 2 pocket extinguisher charges.

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

I started playing this game again after watching Pr1vateLime's videos. I wish he made more of them.

 

[Imam Shamil]

I started playing this game again after watching Pr1vateLime's videos. I wish he made more of them.

I recommend using "Catapult Launcher" for CDDA and BN. It's a good installer and automatic updater for the game. You can also manage mods and certain in-game settings.

 

[Rendang]

i will only recommend figthing zeds is if you have a slingshot to back you up and decent coverage like a duster or trenchcoat.

For early game combat, I remove my storage pack and lure in a few (2-4) zombies to an open field. Then, I kite zombies with a wooden spear (Reach allows you to hit 2 tiles away with "F") and running stance. Zombies can only really grab you, so I get off scot-free most engagements.

This carries me until I get leather/chitin armor, where I switch to bashing (ironshod quarterstaff/baseball bat) or slashing (short-sword) damage.

 

[Blue Skiddoo]

Exodii issue:
Part of dialing back the sci-fi elements meant bionics, which do not really exist in our world in anything like Cataclysm form, need to come from somewhere. Enter the Exodii, a group of human(ish) interdimensional travelers from worlds parallel (and largely similar) to ours. They show up on worlds being ravaged by the Blob (the source of the zombie infection) and loot everything they can before fleeing. This is not, in and of itself, a terrible idea. The problems were that the Exodii, being not from our Earth but one sort of like it, speak a sort-of English that can be a bit of a pain in the ass to interpret, because the creator is not nearly as clever a writer as he thinks he is. They also became effectively the sole gatekeeper for all bionics: no more looting underground labs or dissecting zombies or breaking into bank vaults or whatever. The biggest problem, however, is they got added but only partially developed - their stuff was largely incomplete for something like 2 years. Meanwhile, since the dev is butt buddies with Kevin, no one was allowed to touch or modify this unfinished faction. Irritating, to say the least.

My issue with the Exodii was the clear imbalance in trading. The tier of bionics they provide goes up with time and you can trade tampons, empty inhalers, and aluminum welding wire for strong shit without engaging with any actual challenging enemies or locations. The character of the lower levels also sells good bronze weapons and armor for basically nothing on day 1, you can also get strong high caliber guns and launchers from him by trading, and I repeat myself, tampons and empty inhalers.

 

[Verdun_Salient]

Is The Last Generation good? BN seems too easy and DDA is well, DDA so I am considering trying out TLG

 

[ifxztykgdnfvmsdjhfbSD]

I've been trying to figure out a way to stand on top of a car so that I can get into the upper floors of a laboratory tower but I somehow managed to use a grappling hook to teleport myself underground into solid rock instead. Anyone know a better way to get in? I think this might be a dead end.

 

[moocow]

Wow they really do put the pride crap everywhere in these new releases lol. First enemy I kill, a prisoner, wearing 'pansexual pride stockings'.
View attachment 7568276

Also thats some emerging storytelling right there, tranny gets arrested for being a sexpest and after the apocalipse happened is still a menace to society, arguably more so than the zombies and demonic floating eyes.

And it even says "(poor fit)" ... holy fucking shit even when you try to pander to these faggots you can't help but be honest.

 

[Orphaned Punk]

I had a 35-hour character with ~14 survivors having been gruelling recruited and cared for on Wurm-Gurl's "The Last Generation," it's slim on new features, so I take it as a nicer vanilla.
I had a 3-hour character die on the same world, and it broke all of the followers for the 35-hour character I was enjoying for 2 months.
If I ever play CDDA again, I'll take care to copy my saves; I hope you do too.