Trying 0.8 after some month of not playing Cataclysm and wow, this game is hard??
Why can't I go anywhere near a town without beign rushed by 1000 zombies? 
I mean, how do you even survive a little bit? Where do you find your stuff 'the safe way'?
You can switch back to dynamic respawn in the menu.
Generally, I find that static spawn isn't too hard, but I started with static so I expect progress to be slow. If you're used to being able to race in, dodge zombies, and grab interesting loot without systematically clearing the town section by section it's a little different. Mostly because... you can't do that, you'll run into a brute, hulk, spitter, or bathroom moose very quickly. You have to be patient and procedural. Start by crafting a crude weapon from the shelter - a nail board or a knife spear are both excellent, though a garden variety pipe has the largest +hit of the beginner weapons - then find a remote section of suburb to start clearing. Throw things at the zombies, then kite them into bushes and saplings to slow them down while you batter them to pieces. Once you get your melee, piercing/bashing, thrown/firearms, and pistols/rifles/archery skills up you can clear the city with impunity - I routinely engage groups of a dozen or more zombies all at once, smashing windows out of buildings to get their attention and slaughter them en mass.
Other topics:
Plastic arrows v heavy wood v metal:
Weight .2v1.6v9.7
Dam 8v12v14
Pen 1v5v7
Range 12v8v10
Dispersion/accuracy (higher is worse) 15v4v4
Biggest advantages to plastic are how light they are, range & ease of making them. However, aside from stats, (dam,pen,acc), I maintain the retrieval rate of heavy arrows is phenomenal. Check them out some time & see for yourself. A stack of 20 lasts for a long time, weigh little, and damage/penetration/accuracy are top-tier.
Oh hey, and 8 range isn't something to sneeze at- wood arrows clock in at 7.
I've used all three. You're right, the are good. I just prefer to have the best for when things go bad, because let's be honest - when things go bad, they go very bad. Metal arrows also have a phenomenal retrieval rate, a set of 10 will last you for a very long time and can be easily replaced. Nothing wrong with heavy wooden arrows, I just prefer the added security of knowing that if I really need something dead, I have the best tools available at my disposal. When things don't go bad, plastic arrows are good enough that they're a decent compromise between power and weight. It's a playstyle choice.
Human Nature: Making the apocalypse more horrifying than Eldritch horrors since 10,000 B.C.!
YYyyyyyyeah. Remember that 'awful thing' I mentioned anticipating? Turns out I was right, and it was four fucking rabid NPCs. I actually fled by setting the forest behind me on fire, but a spider topped it off. Although I save-scummed back to an earlier save. Oh yeah, and I was killed because I had to make a raid to obtain a GODDAMN LIGHTER/MATCHBOOK. There needs to be a way to make flint and steel or something.
Incidentally, I discovered that your starting matchbook is absurdly powerful if you know how to use it. And I mean ABSURDLY. Kite an enemy on a small tree and use three matches/lighter three times on the tree to turn the tile into a blazing fire. It is enough to kill most enemies. Ordinary zombies, no problemo. Moose? Yup, dead in a single turn. Bear survived the first turn because he was smart enough to escape the flames.
I think you can make a friction fire starter at higher survival levels. Not really beginner gear though, that's why they give you matches.
Personally, I don't mind zombies being mindless and walking right into flames, they're a mob predator. Moose and bears should be actively avoiding bushes and trees. Spiders will naturally navigate diagonally around bushes, they're basically unkiteable. I don't think the fire is overpowered, I think the moose and bear AI needs to be slightly upgraded to avoid the more dangerous scenario.
Author
Topic: Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - A roaming horde appears on the horizon! (Read 1777530 times)