Tried it again, still unable to survive past the first few hours.
I'd enjoy this game if I was actually capable of surviving.
We'd really love to help you with whatever is getting you stuck. What's getting you killed? Zombies? Disease? Food/water?
Zombies. I try to get food, equipment and whatever, see a zombie, run, suddenly, zombies coming at me from EVERY FUKKEN DIRECTION!
Hmm, so the first thing to remember about zombies is that they're stupid. They prefer to walk in a direct line towards their destination, and if they run into something solid that can be smashed they'll stand there and smash it rather than walk around. This is extremely useful, since you can stand behind something that will slow them down, such as a bush, sapling, chair, or broken window, and and strike them repeatedly. For even better results, light the bush/sapling/chair on fire with your starting matches ('a'ctivate them). Just remember that fire will spread if there's something flammable in an adjacent square, so lighting a chair in a house on fire may not be the best plan.
The second thing to remember about zombies is that they aren't omniscient. They have a vision radius about half as far as yours, near as I can tell. They can also hear noises, which will cause them to come investigate the area, and can smell you. In both cases they're more or less guessing at where you're at - they hunt by sight, sound and smell just causes them to go check an area for prey. Smell is relatively short ranged, but lingers so a zombie who finds your scent path may start following you by smell. Sound is calculated on a turn by turn basis but is very long range. You generate about 6 sound just by walking (unless you have the Ninjitsu martial art iirc), which isn't much of a problem. Smashing a window or breaking down a door is very loud though, you can expect to at least have every zombie in the house become aware of your presence if you break in. Edit: this also goes back to zombies are stupid. Zombies make noise too - smashing things is just as loud if a zombie does it as it is if you smash them. You can even use this to set traps. For example, if you light a house on fire it will make a lot of noise as it burns and collapses which can lure nearby zombies to their death.
The third thing, and this may be a bit of a spoiler but whatever, is that zombies will eventually heal if you kill them. You can keep them from getting up by 's'mashing or 'B'utchering their corpses. It takes a while (a few hours at least) before they recover though, so don't panic. You can clear an area before needing to smash the zombies.
The most important thing to note about zombies is that there are different types. Normal zombies are pushovers, there are just a lot of them. Grabbers are a little tougher, but still not that tough. Brutes are dangerous and should be fought with caution - burn them with fire or lure them into terrain obstacles. Boomers spew bile which obscures your vision and explode loudly when you kill them. Shriekers scream. Zombie dogs and skeletons are fast. Spitters and Shockers can shoot acid and electricity respectively. Hulks... kill you. Try not to get stuck fighting them.
Author
Topic: Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - A roaming horde appears on the horizon! (Read 1894266 times)