Foxtrot

I like to feel that I have zombie clearing figured out by now.  I mostly play on insane pop and leave everything else alone.
 
So I started a standard survival game, got lucky and spawned at the construction site next to the Giga Mart.  Then while going through Twiggys I found a saw... and a sledge.  Cleaned out the are with a pistol and tried to reload after every shot to get my skills up, and also to try and find an ax on a zed.  Mission accomplished on both ends.  So early the next morning I loaded up a 10 boxes of shottie ammo, two bottles of water, couple bags of chips and headed out early to go find this mall. 
 
On my way I stayed the night at the race track, and helped myself to the fridge since the power was still on.  Ol Bilbo McBaginzes enjoyed the last fresh corndog in the world.  In the morning I made my way to the threater and poked around in the place, restocked my chips.  Found a hammer and a couple boxes of nails along which I took figuring I could use them to wall off portions of the mall if need be.
 
The next morning I cut my way across the parking lot which felt very familiar to playing on insane pop.  I mostly just herded and group blasted with the shottie, no big deal.
 
Once inside the mall I got into a room with some crates, stairs going up, and elevator and three rooms.  Lots of zed,  Called them outside and let the ax to my talking.  Got into the building feeling pretty good about myself.  So I headed upstairs... into the most dense hord I have ever seen outside of me herding.  Luckly I made it back down the stairs and put on my shottie.  I went near the corner to the ouside that I had cleared and blasted three shots.  Then my back door got flooded  O.o.  Where did those guys come from?  So I scrambled over to the other door to have it burst down and another huge hord streamed in from there...  Had 4 rounds left in the shottie... think I got 3 off before the dinner bell of doom rang out for sweet Bilbo.
 
O hell yeah, its on now.  This is gonna be super fun.  Just wish it was not so far out of the way.

I like to feel that I have zombie clearing figured out by now.  I mostly play on insane pop and leave everything else alone.
 
So I started a standard survival game, got lucky and spawned at the construction site next to the Giga Mart.  Then while going through Twiggys I found a saw... and a sledge.  Cleaned out the are with a pistol and tried to reload after every shot to get my skills up, and also to try and find an ax on a zed.  Mission accomplished on both ends.  So early the next morning I loaded up a 10 boxes of shottie ammo, two bottles of water, couple bags of chips and headed out early to go find this mall. 
 
On my way I stayed the night at the race track, and helped myself to the fridge since the power was still on.  Ol Bilbo McBaginzes enjoyed the last fresh corndog in the world.  In the morning I made my way to the threater and poked around in the place, restocked my chips.  Found a hammer and a couple boxes of nails along which I took figuring I could use them to wall off portions of the mall if need be.
 
The next morning I cut my way across the parking lot which felt very familiar to playing on insane pop.  I mostly just herded and group blasted with the shottie, no big deal.
 
Once inside the mall I got into a room with some crates, stairs going up, and elevator and three rooms.  Lots of zed,  Called them outside and let the ax to my talking.  Got into the building feeling pretty good about myself.  So I headed upstairs... into the most dense hord I have ever seen outside of me herding.  Luckly I made it back down the stairs and put on my shottie.  I went near the corner to the ouside that I had cleared and blasted three shots.  Then my back door got flooded  O.o.  Where did those guys come from?  So I scrambled over to the other door to have it burst down and another huge hord streamed in from there...  Had 4 rounds left in the shottie... think I got 3 off before the dinner bell of doom rang out for sweet Bilbo.
 
O hell yeah, its on now.  This is gonna be super fun.  Just wish it was not so far out of the way.

I like to feel that I have zombie clearing figured out by now.  I mostly play on insane pop and leave everything else alone.
 
So I started a standard survival game, got lucky and spawned at the construction site next to the Giga Mart.  Then while going through Twiggys I found a saw... and a sledge.  Cleaned out the are with a pistol and tried to reload after every shot to get my skills up, and also to try and find an ax on a zed.  Mission accomplished on both ends.  So early the next morning I loaded up a 10 boxes of shottie ammo, two bottles of water, couple bags of chips and headed out early to go find this mall. 
 
On my way I stayed the night at the race track, and helped myself to the fridge since the power was still on.  Ol Bilbo McBaginzes enjoyed the last fresh corndog in the world.  In the morning I made my way to the threater and poked around in the place, restocked my chips.  Found a hammer and a couple boxes of nails along which I took figuring I could use them to wall off portions of the mall if need be.
 
The next morning I cut my way across the parking lot which felt very familiar to playing on insane pop.  I mostly just herded and group blasted with the shottie, no big deal.
 
Once inside the mall I got into a room with some crates, stairs going up, and elevator and three rooms.  Lots of zed,  Called them outside and let the ax to my talking.  Got into the building feeling pretty good about myself.  So I headed upstairs... into the most dense hord I have ever seen outside of me herding.  Luckly I made it back down the stairs and put on my shottie.  I went near the corner to the ouside that I had cleared and blasted three shots.  Then my back door got flooded  O.o.  Where did those guys come from?  So I scrambled over to the other door to have it burst down and another huge hord streamed in from there...  Had 4 rounds left in the shottie... think I got 3 off before the dinner bell of doom rang out for sweet Bilbo.
 
O hell yeah, its on now.  This is gonna be super fun.  Just wish it was not so far out of the way.

Stepped on a roof to my safe house (West Point, next to the church with the two west facing gardens), fell through said roof into the middle of the bed.  I was stuck in said bed.  Lucky, I had a bottle of whisky so I drank that bad boy up, and took the eternal sleep.  (sped up time until he died of starvation)
 
9 month with a couple of days survived.
 
I like to think my character just kinda gave up at that point.

Stepped on a roof to my safe house (West Point, next to the church with the two west facing gardens), fell through said roof into the middle of the bed.  I was stuck in said bed.  Lucky, I had a bottle of whisky so I drank that bad boy up, and took the eternal sleep.  (sped up time until he died of starvation)
 
9 month with a couple of days survived.
 
I like to think my character just kinda gave up at that point.

I think it should give +10 extra happiness from ramen and soda.

We practiced this stuff all the time in the infantry.  Try clearing a challenge tower with those who work as a team vs those who do not, and it will baffle your mind.

Not true at all.  a "true" katana was made from some of the worst metal if its an ancient japaneese sword.  The level of carbon was very low and added in and tried to spread evenly with folding the steel.  Which btw, was a Celt technique.  They do not fair well for age, and the weak spots are unpredictable at best.  
 
They were built with a full tang and taper though.  Replica swords for the most part have better steel, but they are constructed with a welded 'rat tail' tang in the handle.  Very small pins keep the handle (tsuba on down) which means any real impact on the weapon will give you a STRONG chance of of turning your sword into what sword people call the 'idiot copter' (i.e. spinning out of control blade as it breaks away from the handle/hilt w/e.)
 
Modern swords with modern super steels (3V, S30V, Elmax, CTS-XHP) with the carbon evenly spread through the metal are MUCH MUCH MUCH stronger, sharper, wear resistant, and flexible than any old jap sword.  Modern high end swords will still chip/crack/ and shatter if used on the human skull or any thick bone structure.  3V would probably be the only steel that might work with such a narrow slicing blade and not go bad in the first couple of skulls to go through... but the sword would have to be a little dull to avoid edge folding.  But as 3V is not stainless, lots of upkeep would be needed to keep corrosion at bay.
 
For my money give me a modern made Da Dao or Oakeshott X or XIV, and you would have yourself a good zombie slayer if you need a sword.
 
Weapons you would want for zombies would be a axe with a thorn, mace, flail or tomahawk with a thorn.

I want  THIS:

27.  I never pass up on acquiring a garbage bag.

I call them personal mobile hug dispensers.

I call them personal mobile hug dispensers.

I could see a short term effect of hard of hearing to take effect for a minute or two after the shot to remove the ringing of a shotgun.  Rifles and shotguns only.  Pistols not so much.  Would help with that zombie sneaking up behind you suspense while clearing an area.

Posted in the other one.  But, howdy.

Ok, I could not let it die.  Thought the game is corrupted, I started back up and saved my game as I went... but I never closed the game.  I have left my PC for the last few days and left the game running (or pause), praying the game did not crash.  I have some success to report.  The Rail Yard have been sealed off and my base of operation is defensible.  I have cleared out every Zed in the Yard.  In a 24 hour period, I see maybe 6 Zed spawn inside the walls for the entire Rail Yard.  The seem to spawn in the same general locations too.
 
Northern Entrance
 
Eastern Entrance
 
SE Entrance
 
SW Entrance
 
Western Entrance
 
Fort
 
Eastern Bailey
 
Norther Bailey
 
Southern Postern Gate - Sheet rope is bugged for player made windows again.  However, you get the idea.
 
Western Postern Gate - Not built, but would probably be between the two western windows, just add a door on the ground and drop a sheet rope from the roof.
 
The lower level cannot be sealed, as the sheet rope bug exists again.  Also, you cannot drop a sheet rope from a full glass window (the ones you cant open).  All windows are barricaded on the ground floor.  The Western room is sealed with a reinforced wall and the door has been barricaded.  The outer window reinforcements are evident in the pics.  The Eastern room series has all the doors barricaded and another reinforced wall placed sealing foyer between the double doors on the southern side and that single door.  When the sheet rope bug if fixed, I will seal the doors and drop another reinforced wall.  As soon as the power fails I will drop in another reinforced wall and the barricade the door.
 
As you can see, I have not pierced the fence to allow access to lumber.  I have been footing it, 6 logs at a time, to the fort from the western entrance.  As soon as the 2nd story bug is fixed, I will finished the platform near the Northern Bailey and put some method to get up and down (hope a sheet rope).  If the sheet rope bug is not fixed, I will put a set of stairs in the NE section of the parking lot with a matching stair on the other side.  No way am I going to get Zed and one way shot straight into my base.
 
Oh, you can probably see I put some "L" shaped walls on the outside of my fences that I plan to exit out of.  I call these spurs.  I am quite fond of using them on walls.  They tend to catch Zeds, who then batter on a useless wall instead of chewing on the fortifications that matter.  I also build some of these near my travel paths just out in the open.  Wander Zeds pound on these or get delayed on these, so I can clean them up.  If a fortified spur "+" out in the open in gone, then either I have not been there in some time OR there is a big force on the move.  Sort of a Zed Barometer.
 
All this took me 1.5 days of time at 12 hours = 1 day in Sandbox.  There is NO WAY Redd could fell the trees necessary and erect all of the these walls in a month, let alone two days.  I will make a series of journal entries later and summarize the construction.  I imagine it would take a single, driven man three or four days to fell the trees, plank the wood and erect a fence over an entrance.  Maybe an additional day or two to barricade.  I image the long SE Fence would take three weeks or so.  I reckon it would take Redd two or three months to get the Rail Yard like he has it now.  Here I am at Day 6 (+21 hours), 976 Zeds Killed and my fav weapon is a hammer.
 
My next step would to be head back out into the world and secure more nails (I am down to 4.5 boxes), stuff to hold water and food (non perishable taking priority).  Considering the game is "probably" not going to load correctly as soon as this game is shut down, it is probably a moot point.  I pray some planes fly overhead and get the Zeds a moving.  I would like to see what a mass of them would do.   I am guessing, not much.  By the run foot of it, I think my walls take up maybe 5% of the outside wall around the Rail Yard.  So not only do they have to make it out here BUT they have to stumble across one of my fences, en mass.
 
I think the original intent of me heading to the Rail Yard was to see if it could be secured.  I am satisfied it can.  I will keep posting Diary entries until the game crashes.  However, I am going to extend the fiction of the time.  I am going to add ONE YEAR to my diary.  I will post something about him forgetting about it in the rush to fortify and secure the Rail Yard.  I can say he stumbled across a passel of food and has been recovering from a bout of something serious over the late winter, early spring: sickness or a serious injury (say a broken arm or leg during construction).

As Rathlord said, we are talking about ammo not firearms.  But I will play your game.  If you want to make a zip gun using a few pipes and a nail for a firing pin, it is doable.  They also fail.  Sometimes tragically.  They also have ranges shorter than the take an arrow to the knee jokes.  Some guy out on the street with zero experience and zero contacts, never did say, "I think I will make a zip gun tomorrow?"  Someone taught the criminals how to make it. We don't have the criminal undercurrent still running around in Kentucky... because they are all zombies when by the time the Z Day hits.  Also, I am not buying a mechanic can make a good quality gun.  If it was that easy, mechanics would be gun smiths... which they are not.  Gunsmithing is an exact science, not pulling spark plugs or changing an oil filter (which I can do, lol).  While they may share some of the same tools they don't share them all.  Hell, I have a wrench and a pair of plyers at my house.  So that means I can make a good quality gun?  I have some of the tools and I have rebuilt a hummer engine in Bosania.... sign me up as a Gunsmith.  Next thing you will tell me is because I have put gutters on my house I am a skilled metal worker!?!?!
 
As far as some relative making a high quality gun?  Sell that bridge to someone else because I am not buying it.  This tells me you are living in your parents house.  You see adults stand up for what they can do, not give excuses for their own failings and try to prop themselves up by saying somebody ELSE can do it. You see this little bit...
 
a mechanic can make a good quality gun... my uncle has almost all the tools you need to make a high quality gun.. and those tools are used to fix some spare parts of cars... so having access to equipment to craft a gun is not that hard
 
You uncle is a mechanic, because he uses those tools to fix spare parts on cars and a mechanic can make a good quality gun.  So, you uncle could make a high quality gun.  Right?!  You can blow smoke about skills and never have to own up to any of it.  It is like a comfortable fiction, that only you will happily swallow.  However, if your auto mechanic uncle also runs a back street chop shop for High Quality firearms, I would be interested.  I think a Sig Sauer P226 remake out of a BMW i8 would have a certain, je ne sais quoi.  Maybe an old Mustang into a Glock 20, you get the big bloc power for the 10mm and but the Glock handling.  Lets not transfer any fastback lines into the Glock, it would just throw the whole balance off.  Ask him if I can get the classic red and white leather interior in a pistol rig on that Mustang, because my old one has seen better days.  PM me.

That link is a great primer to reloading.
 
See what I did there?  

1. Bought it week ago and I have 50 hours played according to steam!
2. My work is suffering.
3. I am willfully ignoring opposite sex and refusing to socialize. 
4. I bought caned beans in the store yesterday by default (which I usually don't).
5. Every time I hear a car alarm on the street I freak and check my surroundings. 
 
But, all that said, thank you devs, thank you so very much for this incredible game. Keep up the good work.
 
 
 

I know how to "press" shells for shotguns.  My father taught me when I was a lad.  I have seen cartridge ammo pressed, but I have never done it.  So I guess I fit in the "I know how to" crowd.  However, I don't have ANY of the materials on hand to make that happen right now.  If Z Day rolled around, I would be looking for finished ammo not the dozen raw materials and a bench to make that happen.  Also, while it may be "doable" it also has consequence for failure.  Pressing out rounds on a bench is a delicate and precise operation.  Making black powder projectiles for modern firearms is not...
 

 
If you want to see how technical it is to reload your own ammo here is a good link.
http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/how-to-get-started-reloading-ammunition/

And you also need the right dies for the gun yer usin'.  I would assume that if the zombie invasion happens, unless you have it set up already, your not gonna be makin yer own bullets.

I do reload.  I have an 1897 Argentine Mauser that uses 8.75 Argentine.  My love for the rifle as my shooter and my hunting rifle forced me into reloading.  A few misconceptions going on here.
 
Dies - You have to have specific dies for each type of round you want to make.  This is not something you can make.
 
Powder - Very specific in which powder is needed.
 
Reloading book-log ect.  I know how to load "MY" gun with "MY" setup - as I went from a 160g to a 180g round.  But I do not remember how to even load up the 160g to be safe, much less a 9mm.  I would need to know the specs in order to reload something else.
 
Bench - Easy, peasey to find those.  But its worthless without the dies.
 
Copper Coil - You need good copper, and not something you can just melt down and roll some up.  If you have voids in the copper (cracks, weak areas, parts that are not heated correctly and get brittle or remain to soft) you are gonna have a fun time pulling gun parts outa yer face.  Also when the power goes out, I am pretty sure that all the noise from the forge as well as the metal pounding would pull the Z world ontop of you.
 
Primer caps - Yeah, its magical, and I wouldn't even know where to begin' making it.
 
Casing - Spent casing is easy if you have the dies, you can just re-neck it.  If you are making yer own from scratch, not happening.
 
To sum it all up, as said in another post.  When the world crashes down, if you do not have the stuff already and know what you are doing before, you will only have the ammo that you find.  
 
Also, bullets are a bit OP and highly "universal" in the game.  I think this more than compensates for not being able to craft ammo.

And you also need the right dies for the gun yer usin'.  I would assume that if the zombie invasion happens, unless you have it set up already, your not gonna be makin yer own bullets.

I call them personal mobile hug dispensers.