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[Arcvasti]

PTW

[Culise]

...Hm. Could've sworn you needed antibiotics if it got infected. o_o

Also that was a screwup on my part in which I accidentally skipped over a sentence or so of text. Whoops. :v

Indeed.  I never knew first aid kits cured infection as well.  Lessons learned, and to be usefully applied in future games as well. ^_^

Though, I did learn at some point that a slight chance of naturally fighting off infection, without medication, was introduced in one of the more recent versions.  I mostly learned that because while gearing up for a suicide run to get antibiotics on my final day, I suddenly got a mention in the log that I just recovered from an infection by dumb luck.  I don't think rolling dice until either you get lotto or three days pass is a viable survival strategy, though.

[Iituem]

Spoiler: Arts & Crafts (click to show/hide)

Day 3, Logandale Woods

Wake up a little after 5am, still tired but hungry and thirsty.  Found some more eggs, had to return to that house to get water.  Need a more stable water source in future.  I shall take a short nap here.

9am, and my alarm clock is proving its worth!  Minor zombie problem nearby.  Just as I prepare to leave - BOOM!  Another of those bloated zombies explodes and I get a mouth full of noxious gas.  I backpedal, choking, but a screamer is clambering through the window now.  She screams, and knowing a horde is not far behind I break out through a window and peg it back into the woods, a gaggle of the undead at my heels.  I make it back to the trench around my shelter, zeds in pursuit.



Another bloater is coming for me, and this time I don't want to deal with him up close.  I have some time as he shambles towards me, so I quickly cut an impromptu javelin from a stick and hurl it at him.  It connects, but it isn't enough.  I play kite with him for several minutes with my javelins (really just pointed sticks) until I mis-step and he explodes in my face.  Ugh.



After all of this, I finally manage to have breakfast by 10:35am, and I was so hungry I ate eight(!) portions of scrambled eggs before I was full.  This whole escapade has highlighted some needs for me.  I need a ranged weapon, for foes like the bloated ones, and for hunting.  Food is a problem.  Eventually I need to find a long term source of water, and more immediately a fireplace to keep my fires from being extinguished by the rain.  To start with, I unwind some of my string for thread and set about cutting my very first bow from local timber and stringing it.  It is a... roughshod thing, but it can maybe fire arrows.  For more practice with hand-eye co-ordination, I have also constructed a rudimentary slingshot.  Have already brought down and roasted a bat with it, good eating.

It rains all the time here, and I would be a fool not to make use of that.  With this in mind, I have been brushing up on my sewing techniques with some arm and leg warmers to go underneath my clothes (it helps against the chill), and I have carefully stitched together a leather funnel from the shoes of slain zombies.  I have set it up outside my campsite, and with luck it should funnel rainwater into a jar I have left open there.  Of course now the storm chooses to let up.



I continue my crafting session, adding a small leather waterskin to my ensemble, which neatly straps to my waist.  A flat-bladed stone on a stick serves as a rudimentary shovel (which I will need to dig out the fireplace basin) and a simple flint axe (for cutting timber and supports).  By the time I am done, it is dark, so I shall tuck into bed (well, blanket on pine-bough covered earth) and get some shut-eye.


Morning

6:30am start, on the dot!  Turns out years of early-morning meetings set my body clock after all.  Even better, it rained during the night, so my glass jar is half-full of water now.  I teem it out into the pot and make myself a hearty mess of scrambled eggs to set me through the day.  A light to heavy rain grows over the next hour, and I get the most wonderful drumming of rain as I set out to my task.  I need supports to hold the stones in place as I build the fireplace, so this morning is all about chopping wood.

[You need construction skill 2 to build fireplaces, but you can't get there by only doing level 0 jobs (e.g. digging pits).  The only level 1 job I can manage is cutting tree trunks into logs, so it's time to grind a little.  Also, Optimist and Outdoorsman.  Does nothing get this woman down?]



I run into a little trouble with a fireman zombie again, so I take a bit of time to plane some wood into a nice, straight shaft and put a leather grip on it - quarterstaff!  Not as precise as the cudgel, and a different style of attack, but still fast and a heavy hitter nonetheless.

AARGH!



Halfway through chopping wood, some sort of pale blue lightning zombie electrocutes me with a flickering cloud!  The quarterstaff serves to smack it dead, but the experience is a little, heh, shocking.  I was curous about this, as I noticed something sticking out of the body, so I cut it open to discover what looked like bionic enhancements, all fused together and malfunctioning.  I've heard about bionics before, usually in celebrity magazines.  I suppose this person was rich before they died.

Finished woodcutting come mid-afternoon, now I'm searching for stone.  As I do so, I encounter a hungry cougar who leaps towards me, intending to make me her meal.  I harvested several meals' worth of meat and fat from her, along with some sinew, bones and hide.

It takes me the rest of the day to gather enough materials and construct the fireplace, but when I do I am more than satisfied with it.  A simple stone firepit beneath, but above a little roof like a baker's oven from cut stone blocks to keep the rain out.  I inaugurate it by cooking myself dinner.  In such a good mood I decide to try out the little motorised device I found in that house and... well, that's none of your business, save to say I sleep rather well tonight.



Really.  Good.  Day.

[Iituem]

Spoiler: Scavenging (click to show/hide)

Logandale Woods

Early start, seven a.m. this morning.  Have some water, boiled meat for breakfast (bleh, but the eggs were giving me trouble anyway), do a little scavenging of boot leather from zombies.  By 9:23, I sew together the scraps into a large, functional duffel bag.  Almost as unwieldy as the sling, but much more volume.

I feel ready to do a little scouting through town.  I have my quarterstaff, and I take the opportunity to practice shooting bats with my slingshot on the way.



A decidedly ominous cloud of billowing black smoke advances towards me whilst I am out scavenging, flanked by zombies.  I have a bad feeling about this, but wrap my scarf around my mouth and nose and approach it head on.  The smoke is still bad through the scarf, and worse is the fat sod trying to claw me to death at the same time.  Several difficult-placed blows and some fast footwork later, I crack open its chest and the whole thing explodes, much like those noxious fellows and the fellow full of pink goop.



Not long after this, still coughing, I am beset by more undead infants (I can barely stand the looks in their eyes as I dispatch them), and a zombie not merely athletic as those before, but huge, as if some sort of twisted mockery of a bodybuilder.  Once again the sheer speed of the quarterstaff earns its worth.  I survive not so much by being able to take blows as by being able to forestall each of his blows with a strike.  I take a simple leather backpack from him, which serves as a much more compact solution to my carriage problem.  In a nearby basement I find a wealth of electronic equipment, including a soldering iron, hotplate, an SD card and a cellphone (useless now, but good for the parts).

I am spoilt for choice on baggage - another zombie yielded up a military style rucksack, a sort of half-way point between the backpack and the duffel bag.  Investigating another house I discover a basement containing what appears to be a small library and a pair of angry, undead occupants.



Barely any salt worth mentioning during my trip, but I did recover several useful items.  I return to camp, unburden myself and make use of one bottle of saline solution to cure the cougar pelt I acquired.  For the remainder of the day I work on my slingshot practice, taking down bats.  When evening comes, I apply myself deepening the ditch around the campsite.

I am getting quite established here, but this site is not ultimately in the best of locations.  I think in the coming season I may have to explore, look about for a source of fresh water or even salt water for tanning.  When I find somewhere appropriate, I might try my hand at building a cabin.

I read into the evening, and sleep well.

[Iituem]

Spoiler: Exploration (click to show/hide)

Logandale Woods

I really want something other than scrambled eggs with strips of cooked bat meat in them.  I mean, I do like scrambled eggs, but a little variety would be nice.

I head out to get some books, trio of zombies come for me.  Good news is, I get to test the deeper ditch out - very effective.  I also pick up a few extra books from the bodies, and I have quite the little library now.  I have Cooking on a Budget, Trap and Field, Computer Science 101 (although the pages are a bit damaged in places from where I rescued it off the acid spitter's collapsing body), Jane's Mortars and Rocket Launchers, Under the Hood, The Complete Guide to Pitching and a fun trio of a pair of novels and a book of fairy tales.  I definitely need to set more time aside for reading.



It gets too dark to read during thunderstorms, so I construct a simple oil lamp from some scrap metal, a drinks can and a rag (for a wick).  It is a properly old-style lamp, but it works.  I also managed to put together some arrows, using old plastic bag shreds for fletching and some scrap metal hammered into arrowheads.

Whilst exploring the woods, practising with my slingshot, I encounter the strangest sight - a grove of trees twisted into great fungal blooms, fifteen-foot high glowing blue mushrooms constantly putting out a haze of blue-grey spores.  As I watch, a nearby sapling seems to split, fungal tendrils emerging from it, until it too is converted into one of these blossoms.  As I watch, an unfortunate squirrel caught in the haze also explodes into a mat of fungus.



I leave well enough alone.  These things look un-natural, but it seems the only safe way to destroy them would be with fire, and I don't care to burn the rest of the forest down.  I spend the rest of the day practising my shooting and reading books.


Morning, Logandale Woods

I cut myself a new bow today, more like a classic longbow than the thing I had before, as I am able to find a good bit of hardwood to work with.  Time to go scavenging again.  I collect several books and a food dehydrator, and with my new longbow I am finally able to achieve my first victory against the bloaters!  Further investigation uncovers a fully-stocked tailor's kit, which replaces my old wooden needle, a hacksaw and a fully-stocked junior chemistry set.



On my third trip out, I head to the radio station on the edge of town.  The doors are locked, and after several tries I pry one open with a crowbar, but it sounds a rather conspicuous alarm.  Not only does it attract a number of zeds, several spherical robots emerged from the building.  I hide before they notice me, but the 'bots distract some of the zombies and I make my escape.  I duck into a hardware shop, which might as well be a cave of wonders.



I collect a trolley and load it up with anything that looks interesting - a brick kiln, a metal polisher, an electric welder, trowel, smoother, multi-tool, charcoal smoker and a floodlight.  Once again, I am nearing the point where it will make sense for me to head out and look for a more permanent site, especially if I want to do something with all of this.

Go hunting.  Definitely need to hunt with the slingshot rather than the longbow when I'm after small game.  Hit a crow with enough force that it actually explodes.  Do retrieve some feathers.


Logandale Woods

I woke up this morning and cried.  Feeling better now.  Hit me that everybody's dead, or worse.  Jesus Christ, I haven't met a living human being for days, and there's no sign I ever will.  I'm sure I'm not the last human alive, but I'm certainly the last one in Logandale.  Maybe the last in the state.

Well, can't let that get me down.  The upside to this is that I realise I am no longer as burdened by time as I was.  I have been rushing to and fro up until now, but now that I have the basics of survival down, I can actually take my time.  If I want, I can spend a whole day reading books, and that will be fine.

In fact, I spend an hour smashing apart a junked up old car for its fender.  I turn that into about forty arrowheads and make myself some more arrows for the longbow.  I also change out my quiver for a larger one I can wear on my back - according to my handy Bowyer's Buddy (part of my book collection), these used to be worn on horseback by Mongols.  I'll gladly take one on foot for the extra capacity.

Sat in the shelter and read up on cookery and mechanics for most of the day, learnt how to dry-render lard.  Perhaps not the most exciting discovery, but I got cracklings out of it as well, so it was welcome.


Logandale Woods

A very quiet day.  I cut wood, collected rocks for a project, read.


Logandale Woods

I spend the morning constructing a portable shelter to travel with in search of water.  Can't remember where the nearest river is, I commuted everywhere.  The shelter is quite nice, just some leather flaps and a groundmat attached to poles, but it should do for my extended trip.



Whilst trekking through the woods, I am assaulted by (fortunately slow-moving) perambulatory trees with stingers!  What the hell happened to New England?  Not only are there zombies, there are weird all-conuming fungus things and bloody triffids!



What the?  Well, this is officially out of my pay grade.  See ya!



AAAGH!

I spend about half an hour running from literal hordes of triffids and other types of violent plantlife.  Then I am repeatedly attacked by giant wasps.  Fantastic.  I am severely injured, poisoned and pissed off.  I head north from the triffid patch, trying to steer clear of the zombie hordes where possible, and nearly run into range of some automatic turrets guarding a military installation.  Ironically, they register their own zombified soldiers as enemies, and I watch them gun two down before pegging it for safety.

Get attacked by wolves, zombie wolves, giant evil bees.  Pass what I vaguely remember as being a farm before it was bombed to hell.  Just craters now.




I finally reach camp at the end of the day, stung to near death and having spent the whole day being chased by unpleasant things.  Spend four hours trying to sleep, no luck.  Eventually just pack up tent and march through the night.



Which is how I end up at the mansion.  By sheer blind luck walking west, I end up bumping into the wall of a manor, and alerting the former occupants in the process.  I struggle with shooting them in the dark, laden as I am with things, but once I clamber into the dining room through the window I drop my excess baggage and take up my staff instead.  I end up killing about twenty of the bastards, usually coming at me five at a time.  I can only assume that the staff faced the same face as the master.



There are a stupid number of dining rooms in this place, and I can only assume that they loved to have parties.  There's a swimming pool as well, and a couple of kitchens, but not much else.  Still, it's a fantastic structure.  If I wanted, I could take up residence.  Either way, I am exhausted.  Time for a nap in the big four poster.

[Fniff]

Nice, we've got a mansion. Better clear it out for tomorrow then try stripping it for supplies. What are we in need of that neither we nor the mansion have?

[EuchreJack]

What skills to you need to cure hides?

Been playing this game due to this LP.  Although I cheap out with Static Spawns, which basically means a train of characters empty out the towns for the few survivors to conquer.

[Iituem]

Nice, we've got a mansion. Better clear it out for tomorrow then try stripping it for supplies. What are we in need of that neither we nor the mansion have?

Mansion seriously lacks a library, which I really like in mansions.  No shortage of dining rooms, though.  Only one bedroom.  If we decide to settle in, Lorelle is also going to have a field day (several, likely) digging defensive trenches around all of the windows to stop zombies coming in.  Solid log walls would also work, but I quite like having a view from my windows.

What we really need is a source of running water.  I can use funnels, of course, but that will screw us over come winter when it's all just snow, or during summer if there's a dry spell.  If we can find one within a map chunk, we'll be set in this mansion.

A swamp wouldn't be bad either.  Swamps can be a source of salty water, which means a source of salt, essential for some cooking recipes and for...

What skills to you need to cure hides?

Been playing this game due to this LP.  Although I cheap out with Static Spawns, which basically means a train of characters empty out the towns for the few survivors to conquer.

Curing hides requires a raw hide or raw pelt (which you can get from large animals and some monsters), salt (or salty water or saline) and a knife or other cutting tool.  This stage is literally just scraping the pelt of dead flesh and salting it to prevent decay.  This gets you cured hides (or pelts), which aren't quite usable yet.  You can convert cured pelts into hides at no cost (there's a recipe which suggests you just cut the fur off).

Tanning the hide requires said cured hide; tanbark (from blackjack oaks) or acorns (from said oaks) or hops (if you have a farm) or pine boughs (if you have nothing else); salt, saline or salty water; tallow, tainted tallow or lard (from cooking fat); fire, a knife and a pot.

This gets you the 'tanning leather hide' item, which you can leave on the ground for three days (or however long) until it is finished tanning.  You then activate it and bam, you have a piece of leather hide.  A piece of hide is worth several scraps of leather from zombie boots, so if you have the infrastructure set up it's a worthwhile industry.

There is another way to tan hides, but you still need salt to cure them and that recipe is in a recipe book.

I too use Static Spawn, but that's because I like having the challenge of Brutes and Smokers from day one.  Never really thought of Dynamic as being easier, especially as with the roving hordes I still get Zeds of all shapes and sizes on my doorstep (and zombears).

[Arcvasti]

What we really need is a source of running water.  I can use funnels, of course, but that will screw us over come winter when it's all just snow, or during summer if there's a dry spell.  If we can find one within a map chunk, we'll be set in this mansion.

The mansion's got a swimming pool though. All the water you could ever need and then some.

[EuchreJack]

I heard roving hordes was broken.  If not, maybe I'll gen a world with some.

More specifically on the hides, what do I do mechanically to cure the hide?  Is it a formula that will appear at certain skill levels?  What are those skill levels?

[Tawa]

Man, the game's come a long way since 0.A. I should upgrade my machine at some point so it can handle 0.C. Roving hordes, in particular, sound like they'd really spice up the later game; in the stone-age version I'm stuck with, if you clear out most of the zombies in a 10-tile radius and aren't within loading distance of a fungal spire you're set for life.

[Iituem]

What we really need is a source of running water.  I can use funnels, of course, but that will screw us over come winter when it's all just snow, or during summer if there's a dry spell.  If we can find one within a map chunk, we'll be set in this mansion.

The mansion's got a swimming pool though. All the water you could ever need and then some.

Holy crap, you're right!  Swimming pool it is!

I heard roving hordes was broken.  If not, maybe I'll gen a world with some.

More specifically on the hides, what do I do mechanically to cure the hide?  Is it a formula that will appear at certain skill levels?  What are those skill levels?

Definitely not broken, or at least broken in such a way as to appear and give me hell, which seems to be the intended use.

Curing hides pops up once you have enough survival (about 3?) which you can grind by butchering corpses and foraging ('e') undergrowth in the woods.  It's in the 'Other' section of the crafting menu, under 'Materials'.  You might need a level or two of cooking as well, can't remember.

Man, the game's come a long way since 0.A. I should upgrade my machine at some point so it can handle 0.C. Roving hordes, in particular, sound like they'd really spice up the later game; in the stone-age version I'm stuck with, if you clear out most of the zombies in a 10-tile radius and aren't within loading distance of a fungal spire you're set for life.

The big thing to find out is whether the queen blob ever made it in. - spoilers!*  I guess we'll find that out.

*But not if you're running the darkling theme, I guess.

[SeriousConcentrate]

*But not if you're running the darkling theme, I guess.

You can use

Code: [Select]

[color=transparent][/color]
and then it doesn't matter what theme you're using.

Edit: Edited out the spoiler. Probably should have done that in the first place. >.>

Hey, something I can contribute, even if not directly to the thread! \o/

[Iituem]

Ooh, thanks.

[SeriousConcentrate]

You're welcome. ^^^ Least I can do in exchange for something entertaining to read.