[Question] Long-term survival

[Strider]

So I'm a returning player. Really pleased to see how difficult the game has become.

 

I've started a new save/s and plan on playing a long-term game with survival in the wilderness being key due to the Z populace set to insane. I've played a few saves and even though I've retreated to the outskirts [1] I've still been killed. I'm learning to fear the dark, I've died 2-3 times whilst it was dark and I'm starting to appreciate how difficult it can be if the moon becomes obscured by clouds.

 

[1] http://imgur.com/giZovOB

 

I've added the following mods to make the save more viable long-term.

 

* Wooden dowels

* Foraged Saw

* Hydrocraft

* Craft Helper

 

Here is my question to those who have been playing during my absence. Please, tell me if you've tried the setup I'm using.

 

Do you think it's possible to survive this way?

 

Water is the biggest problem. I find a can forage for food well enough but sooner or later the water will go off. I need to forage to make an axe and cut down some trees. I plan to use log walls to improve carpentry to 4 and then make some rain barrels. I've not managed it yet.

 

I hope I can do this at some point as I'm interested to see how long it takes for Z's to migrate from the urban centre or whether Z's spawning in will be the problem.

 

Notes:

My plan is to loot the house quickly and head north. There are so many Z's I can't even make it into any of the other houses. I have Z's on my tail almost the entire time. I only shake them when I head north of the large warehouse so I don't have the opportunity to pick up other things.
It's limiting but it's also 'realistic' as with that amount of Z's (were it real) you'd not hang about.

 

 

[BayCon]

I've never survived on Foraging. Ever. Not because it didn't work; I've never tried (guess I should have just said that...). I certainly think it's possible to survive out in the woods, but yeah, those rain barrels are going to be a pain to make. When I play with the zombies on Insane, my goal is to gather up every zombie in a 3 block radius and move them around at least 5 - 10 blocks away, zig-zagging instead of going into a straight line. This way one meta-game event likely won't draw them back at once. On the way back to your former location, I lose them by going around (or through, if the buildings have open/broken doors or windows) multiple buildings. This way I have some of them getting caught in small houses, others being attracted into those buildings and around them, and you have distracted the majority of them with other stimuli than yourself. You then return to your original location and if you didn't take too long, no new zombies have spawned so you have some time to loot.

 

This doesn't always work though. If you find yourself rounding up plenty of hordes and you have them all following you and you run through an alleyway or tight space only to find that it's clogged ahead, you will probably end up dying. If your character runs out of breath from running (should you choose to run), you will struggle to stay ahead of the zombies and, you guessed it, end up dying. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with that plan, but sometimes it works. 

[valhalla_bound]

Start in west point or new denver and use the standing water sources and boil them. After you get a base set of loot you should be set up to survive on forageing. Espically with hydrocraft. You will need to get books though to use hydrocraft to its maximum

[Batsphinx]

Welcome back Strider!

[Hydromancerx]

* Wooden dowels

* Foraged Saw

* Hydrocraft

* Craft Helper

Hydrocraft allows for the crafting of saws so Forged Saws is a bit redundant. As for Wooden Dowels, those are a must! However one could just craft nails with Hydrocraft. But its a lot harder than the dowels method. But yeah the dowels mod is great for builder players and Hydrocraft is great for late game. Since the mod really opens up if you can survive that far.

[Strider]

I've never survived on Foraging. Ever. Not because it didn't work; I've never tried (guess I should have just said that...).

 

 

Yeah. Foraging is something I want to use to enable farming. I won't be able to loot with this many Z's around. I could lure them away but I see that as a more risky strategy than crafting myself which (you would think) would be the choice option.

 

Start in west point or new denver and use the standing water sources and boil them. After you get a base set of loot you should be set up to survive on forageing. Espically with hydrocraft. You will need to get books though to use hydrocraft to its maximum

 

Yeah. I did that with Bedford Falls. I could do that but I've done it before. Mind, I've not done this on this difficult build. I'll keep it in mind, thanks

 

Welcome back Strider!

 

Thank you, kind sir.

 

 

* Wooden dowels

* Foraged Saw

* Hydrocraft

* Craft Helper

Hydrocraft allows for the crafting of saws so Forged Saws is a bit redundant. As for Wooden Dowels, those are a must! However one could just craft nails with Hydrocraft. But its a lot harder than the dowels method. But yeah the dowels mod is great for builder players and Hydrocraft is great for late game. Since the mod really opens up if you can survive that far.

 

 

Foraging also provides the materials. Through foraging and Hydrocraft I can make a saw?

 

As I say, I want to try and avoid looting in this game. Not only is it safer it feels more 'realistic'

[valhalla_bound]

Last time I played bedford falls they didn't have foraging. Not sure if that is still the case.

[Hydromancerx]

Foraging also provides the materials. Through foraging and Hydrocraft I can make a saw?

 

As I say, I want to try and avoid looting in this game. Not only is it safer it feels more 'realistic'

 

Not completely. You will still need to find work gloves and tongs. Work gloves can be found on zombies, and tongs are common. However I may in the future allow for a path that doesn't need you to find them. Such as making your own work gloves from leather. And maybe some makeshift tongs to make your own.

[Global_Meltdown]

The one thing I remember from my last attempt to stay alive foraging was that it was time consuming with little reward. 

 

Not only that but very tiring to my character. The amount of energy it took my character to live in the woods and build a base/survive off foraging was not enough.

 

If you have advanced foraging skills that might be different but for my character it was hard considering how much bark,stones and bugs I got.(Using HydroCraft)

[Strider]

The one thing I remember from my last attempt to stay alive foraging was that it was time consuming with little reward. 

 

Not only that but very tiring to my character. The amount of energy it took my character to live in the woods and build a base/survive off foraging was not enough.

 

If you have advanced foraging skills that might be different but for my character it was hard considering how much bark,stones and bugs I got.(Using HydroCraft)

 

Interesting.

 

My experience was that I appeared to be able to survive on foraging alone. It took me some time but with the well nearby I had most of what I need. I was fortunate because I managed to grab a trowel and some seeds before I bugged out of the city centre and so I could supplement my characters diet with a little more variance in diet.

 

I managed to power foraging to 3 or 4 (I can't remember) with little difficulty but I did that by foraging all day and using the accelerated time to minimize the boredom of it.

 

It's a shame you still need cooking materials in order to cook food. It'd be nice to see some options to see food cooked on a basic spit. Otherwise my character was eating raw vegetables and that's just not required.

 

There is no sensible reason a person would do this if they can make a fire. They would find a way to cook it even if they just had a knife, fork, or something else.

 

These might already be in the game but if they are they're not obvious.

[Global_Meltdown]

I'm glad your experience was better than mine. I'm sure if I would have picked a better occupation perhaps It might of made a huge difference.

 

Foraging alone is fine if your just spending a night or two. After that if your skill is too low I would highly suggest starting a garden or making some runs. Unless you enjoy the taste of tree bark :0 

 

Good topic though, thanks for bringing it up. I was wondering what other people's experiences with foraging was like.

[Strider]

I'm glad your experience was better than mine. I'm sure if I would have picked a better occupation perhaps It might of made a huge difference.

 

Yes, I probably should have mentioned that I likely picked perks to give myself an XP bonus to foraging. Or at least, I think I did.

 

Foraging alone is fine if your just spending a night or two. After that if your skill is too low I would highly suggest starting a garden or making some runs. Unless you enjoy the taste of tree bark :0

 

Yeah, I did do some gardening but I did specifically want to stay out of the city. I mean sure, I'd have liked to have had a more exciting game but I try to play PZ as I would if that were me. I try to play PZ as how I feel the devs want the game to be played. They made it a roguelike for a reason.

 

Good topic though, thanks for bringing it up. I was wondering what other people's experiences with foraging was like.

 

Thanks for the positive comments. It's been nice talking to you.