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[Fniff]

Characters in Cataclysm are ditzy geniuses who believe everything in 1950s monster and zombie movies.

Which, in the context of the Cataclysm world, is absolutely the right films to base your survival strategy off.

[Girlinhat]

Bionics? OK, probably pretty complicated, but you can install fifty gajillion of them.

But only in batches of 8 at a time.  Because that's how many hits are in a bag of cocaine, and you can't install brain implants without a little blow.

[Grendus]

Is there a canonical reason why most cars are missing either wheels or an engine? It makes sense that most people who had working cars would try to drive away from the cataclysm, but there are a lot of cars with just the engine/wheels broken and everything else in good shape. Seems strange, like the zombies/netherium specifically went out of its way to break just the wheels/engine.

[Darkmere]

Is there a canonical reason why most cars are missing either wheels or an engine? It makes sense that most people who had working cars would try to drive away from the cataclysm, but there are a lot of cars with just the engine/wheels broken and everything else in good shape. Seems strange, like the zombies/netherium specifically went out of its way to break just the wheels/engine.

Riots, I guess? Would explain why cars in the cities are busted up, and the ones outside town (the people who left) are out of gas but intact. Hadn't thought of it before but it makes sense.

[beorn080]

Is there a canonical reason why most cars are missing either wheels or an engine? It makes sense that most people who had working cars would try to drive away from the cataclysm, but there are a lot of cars with just the engine/wheels broken and everything else in good shape. Seems strange, like the zombies/netherium specifically went out of its way to break just the wheels/engine.

Riots, I guess? Would explain why cars in the cities are busted up, and the ones outside town (the people who left) are out of gas but intact. Hadn't thought of it before but it makes sense.

Spitters for the wheels. For engines, grabboids or other heat seeking foes.

[Girlinhat]

I figure that's just why they're left laying around, because they're undrivable, therefore no one is attempting to drive them away...  The reasons for them to be disabled are infinite, but most importantly is that tires are really fragile - it only takes ONE nail - and engines are complicated.  An 'engine' in Cataclysm represents the engine block, carburetor, fan, oil, everything.  So a 'dead engine' could be as simple as a coolant leak that makes the car unable to drive, or a busted radiator.

[Tiruin]

So a 'dead engine' could be as simple as a coolant leak that makes the car unable to drive, or a busted radiator.

Which is strangely fixed by a welder + wrench. In all cases, unless the whole thing is totally broken.

[Girlinhat]

So a 'dead engine' could be as simple as a coolant leak that makes the car unable to drive, or a busted radiator.

Which is strangely fixed by a welder + wrench. In all cases, unless the whole thing is totally broken.

I presume that when the radiator went, the original owner was too busy trying to escape the eldritch horrors which crept upon his very soul, that he drove the engine to overheating and it was then ruined.

[Rivet-the-Zombie]

Suggested new item: Radium Lantern.

We've already got one.

[Girlinhat]

Suggested new item: Radium Lantern.

We've already got one.

It makes me feel warm inside that this already exists.
And warm outside...
Should I see a doctor?

[Aseaheru]

Nah. It dosent provide enough light for him to see.

[Grendus]

I figure that's just why they're left laying around, because they're undrivable, therefore no one is attempting to drive them away...  The reasons for them to be disabled are infinite, but most importantly is that tires are really fragile - it only takes ONE nail - and engines are complicated.  An 'engine' in Cataclysm represents the engine block, carburetor, fan, oil, everything.  So a 'dead engine' could be as simple as a coolant leak that makes the car unable to drive, or a busted radiator.

Yea, it makes sense that the broken ones would be left behind, and that most of the ones in the city would have been broken during the riot/panic/invasion/zombie occupation. Just seems weird that the engine/tires were the only parts damaged. The security bots are the most likely culprits, taking out the tires or engine is the fastest way to stop a car if you have a big enough gun and are accurate enough. AI controlled machine guns fit the bill.

I had a weird world spawn with an extremely tiny city (an apartment complex, gas station, liquor store, two houses, and two clothing stores) and nothing else nearby. I've completely explored the road to the north, found a couple of FEMA camps, bunkers, labs, and ant nests but no city. It's like surviving the apocalypse in rural Arkansas - the zombies are the only exciting thing to happen to the town in... ever.

[Girlinhat]

Also, vehicles are wrecked because it IS a game, and that's the two ways the game mechanics shut down a car.  So... just roll with it~

As for the tiny city... You could debug in a motorcycle I guess, since there's already a gas station.  Just take a ride to another city and ditch it.  Or just debug map move to the edge of your vision, let it update the map, and then see if you find a town.  OR debug in a 'road map' and read it.  You can usually tell nearby cities easily from it.

That or just start running down the road.  Statistically speaking, they must eventually hit something, either a mine or sewage plant to dead end, or another city.  If you see a gas station on the open road, it means you're about halfway to the next city!

[Grendus]

It's actually been really fun. I took a plastic bottle of gasoline and a shopping cart filled with stuff, ran down the road a bit and found a car. Loaded up the car with my stuff, drove off, and ran out of gas even further down the road, now without a nice human-powered cart to carry it. Ran down a different road, found a truck with enough gas to get me to a station, went back for my stuff, and finished exploring the northern section (btw, a gas station doesn't mean a town nearby, just the midpoint to a point of interest which could be a lab, bunker, mine, etc). It put the survival back into the game, as I struggle to balance my needs for food, morale, water, and fuel. Aside from the zombie hulk in the tiny town (which I had to 'wish' a few landmines under, since at the time it was way beyond what I could kill) it's been a very fun game.

My main problem at the moment is that the truck's alternator is broken and the battery is almost dead. I only have a mechanics skill of 3 (which rules out a solar panel), so I'll have to see if I can fix the alternator for now until I can find enough books. Every time I get ahead on one resource, another one comes up short. I may have to start setting towns to be small by default. It's a very different game.

[Darkmere]

I had one map with three of those little hamlets in a row. I set up in the first one and started a farm while raiding the single grocery store  and the other houses for crafting supplies. It was pretty fun roughing it, except that was the first version I played with borked wild animal spawns, so every time I walked outside it looked like one of those Disney musical numbers, except with wolves zombears and moosen. PLENTY of bones to feed the charcoal kiln, though.