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[Slayerhero90]

Seeing as I'm surrounded by zombies in a police station, Is it a good idea to overdose on marijauna and cocaine?

[Lectorog]

On topic, what are some good character builds and tactics for the average newb? I'm slowly working things out myself, but I don't want to take two years to teach myself the basics (I'm looking at you, Dwarf Fortress!). If it'll help any, so far my playstyle has been "Loot Stores, Run Into Forests, Set Up Camp", but I rarely get past step 1.

Put some points into skills (dodge, melee). Up your strength and dexterity a couple points each. Dropping intelligence a little is okay for now. Take negative traits that don't seem too bad. This build will allow yourself to survive zombie attacks for a while, letting you familiarize yourself with the game world. After more playing, you'll find a build that better suits your playstyle. Also, stay away from guns. Don't even pick them up. I recommend against backpacks and messenger bags, but a trench coat is okay. Cargo/Army pants are good, just remember to take off your jeans.

Like greatorder said, dodge is very useful. I almost always put one point into dodge at the beginning; more, and you'll have a better chance at surviving. Just know that leg encumbrance lowers your dodging ability.

[Girlinhat]

Noobs?  Invest in a point of dodge, a point of melee, some good strength, and for traits go for something like quick, nearsighted, light eater, fast learner, and debatably parkour.  I never found much use for it, but windows will save your ass if you hide behind one and fight.  Being able to climb through a window quicker means being able to fight faster.

Although really, your best survival bits are what you do AFTER creation.  Get yourself to sporting goods store, an electronics store, a military surplus, library, and a gas station.  You'll want a backpack, hammer/hatchet/machete/combat knife, MP3 player, batteries, MREs, books, and somewhere to read them.  Backpack to carry shit, weapon to kill shit, MP3 for easy morale, batteries to refill your MP3, MREs to eat while you read, books to actually read, and a gas station because it has a 1-wide bathroom with no windows and infinite toilet water.  Listen to MP3 while you read, eat MREs as needed, drink toilet water (food poisoning goes away after a few minutes), and when it gets too dark to read then you venture out and go scavenging.  Night Vision trait helps here.  Scavenging at night is MUCH easier, as things are less likely to see you.  When you're feeling confident, start killing shit.  Those MP3 players will provide morale, which directly translates into skill gain.

[jester]

Forting up some locations (dig pits, set traps) and marking them on the map helps too (hell mark everything on the map, traps, water, drug dumps, spare cars, etc etc).  Id disagree with the 'no guns' thing, I always carry at least a high powered handgun for use on hulks and I found a ranged build easier for learning the game, get yourself a .22 and a decent pile of ammo and you can happily wade through most Zs while still wearing backpacks and carrying piles of stuff.  Melee is easier once you know what you are doing but hey its a rougelike, expect to die 273 times before you get the thing worked out in your head.

[Man of Paper]

Just went through character creation so I could give specifics on my general build. I set my stats at 10, thanks to my (not very) old DnD days. I take Glass Jaw (I figure if I'm getting beat up badly enough for it to matter, I'm pretty much dead anyways), Lightweight, Addictive Personality, and Weak Stomach (Don't plan on using drugs and booze too often, other than painkillers), and HP Ignorant ( I, personally, haven't found numbers more useful than colored asterisks). That gives me 10 points to use (two of which I put into my stats). Only positive perk I frequently give myself is Robust Genetics, and the rest get thrown into skills depending on how I feel like playing. One of my best survivors had four points dedicated to archery, one to survival, and one to traps. The one I posted about earlier, with the mass of car kills, had four put into mechanics, one to driving, and I can't for the life of me remember the last one.

[Slayerhero90]

>Drive out of town
>Start digging holes
>Get murdered to death in the middle of the night by fungaloids that suddenly appear as I finnish digging.

[GoombaGeek]

Hi, this looks neat.

I was just here because someone said "he was being pretty abrasive in the cataclysm thread" somewhere else and I was worried because I thought it was me who was being discussed even though I had never posted here D: Luckily it's not the case!

Sorry for the interruption, I might play here sometime once I go read all the rules

[alway]

For a new player I highly recommend the perks that increase your run speed. They can't kill you if they can't catch you. And they can't catch you if you're on fire you can run with 115% speed w/o stimulants. I always take Quick for that reason (along with 10% faster combat from it, which is also nice). Early on, you really don't want to be fighting zeds, you want to be getting stuff and getting out before the noise of zeds climbing through windows attracts a horde.

[Scelly9]

Is rope useful at all?

[alway]

Is rope useful at all?

Yes; it can be used when staircases are partially broken (as is the case in several places like labs occasionally) for seatbelts on vehicles (to keep your head from going through the building before your car does), and I think a crafting recipe or two.

[Girlinhat]

Rope is mainly used in labs.  At certain labs, the "stairs end halfway down" - you can go down but there's no way back up.  If you have rope, you'll deploy it and it'll make a staircase for you.  These labs are usually fatal, if one staircase ends halfway down, all others on that level will also.  There's no way back up that way, though you may be able to tunnel to a nearby sewer or something.

[alway]

Rope is mainly used in labs.  At certain labs, the "stairs end halfway down" - you can go down but there's no way back up.  If you have rope, you'll deploy it and it'll make a staircase for you.  These labs are usually fatal, if one staircase ends halfway down, all others on that level will also.  There's no way back up that way, though you may be able to tunnel to a nearby sewer or something.

At which point sewer rats will probably be happy to oblige you in ending your pitiful existence. Damn sewer rats. End boss of the mines, no problem, barely a scratch... sewer rats... 3 turns until game over.

[Scelly9]

Hmmm, will zombies fall into pits?

[Girlinhat]

Zombies are naturally attracted to pits and will head towards them, often ignoring the player in their desire to seek the low, dark, cool ground of a freshly dug pit.

[Greiger]

Yea the spike traps add a little damage, but they have what? 1in 3 1 in 4 chance of breaking?  All my pits are currently spiked, but I'm really consitering letting them all break, its just one more thing to maintain.

I wonder, can you make spike pits out of steel spears?  And if so, do they have the same break rate?