1307 Whipping.

Man, I have got nothing interesting to say tonight. It’s just been art and catching up on The Walking Dead up in this. With a little bit of State Of Decay: Breakdown and some Smash Brothers.

I’m up to level 4 in Breakdown and the increased difficulty is beginning to get noticeable. Of course I found a bunch of large backpacks, rescued several powerhouse survivors, and have a ton of items in storage, so that undercuts things somewhat. I pretty much cleared the entire third map of resources before moving on, but I’m still finding new locations in level 4. Places that I just never wandered across before. I’ve been to most of the edge areas, now it’s random places in the vast middle section I keep running across. I have so much back stock now that I can’t store anything new without removing something old. I’ve been taking loads of weaker items and distributing them to unrecruited enclaves. I don’t know if the actually return them to you when you bring them in or if you get a few general items instead. I know they never appear to make use of anything you give them though. The practical advantage of doing this, compared to destroying the items, is that you get back the fame bonus for each thing you distribute. Fame is your action currency, so you need it. Just throwing it away seems wasteful. I spawned just outside of Marshal in level 4, just north of Snyder trucking. For those of you who don’t play, that’s generally considered the best base in the game. It’s kind of a toss up between there and the fairgrounds, but I like Snyder’s because the area is more dense. You don’t have to go as far to get a foothold there. The fairgrounds actually has better places for outposts, but the downside is you have to drive much farther to collect resources. Also, the back of the fairgrounds is less secure. Zombies wander in much more frequently, including special infected. I’ve come back several times to find screamers milling around the back door.
Anyway, there’s a case to be made for both areas. Snyders comes with a machine shop, some storage, and a small sleeping area. I like to add a tower, a garden, a dojo, a medical tent, a library, and a bunkhouse. Sometimes I whittle the residents down to about 10 people and switch the bunkhouse for extra storage, or a munitions shop. With a tower and a dojo you can gain ammo from training outsiders. Since it seems to be the hardest resource to find I like having that perk. The greenhouse, fully upgraded, can take care of a lot of your food needs if you keep your population under control. You can also make fuel if you have one. Which makes finding it less important. That leaves construction material your only real problem. Once you have your upgrades sorted out that’s not as much of a concern though. Of course getting to that point gets more difficult the higher you go.
Another problem I’m having is getting the wrong guns and ammo. I have piles of guns that I have no bullets for. I’ve been giving them away, since pretty much everyone has the best gun I’m ever going to find for them. I don’t keep anything that can’t fit a silencer. Especially now the more noise you make the lower your chances of survival are. Revolvers and shotguns are like dinner bells to zombies. One shot without a silencer and you suddenly see a circle of monsters advancing toward your position. I need to kill 50 zed with a revolver though to unlock a hero. That’s probably a late game mission for this level, since whoever gets sent to do it will be in real danger of not coming back. There’s also the matter of actually having 50 bullets to use. Guns really are the worst choice in this version of the game. Unless you need to take out a bloater there are better ways to dispatch a zombie that don’t call in all their friends. That said, a really good gun with a silencer and a scope is quite useful, but equally rare. So far the scoped guns I’ve found have been very weak, which undercuts their menace significantly. I have 2 really good rifles that can attach silencers though. My favorite characters have them even though their specializations are heavy weapons.
Finding top level heavy weapons has also been a problem. I have 5 powerhouses and have barely found that many sturdy heavy weapons. I’ve also lost a couple from getting trapped in situations I’ve had to fight my way out of. Being miles from home, with no weapon and no vehicle, is a scary situation indeed. I risked searching a new location without my melee weapon hoping to find anything to replace it, after accidentally setting my truck on fire. Then I had to fight my way to an abandoned car with a table leg and a cane. Still, I came back alive, so not a total loss that time. It just left me scrounging for a decent replacement. A microphone stand is just not an ideal weapon for long missions. I can see lack of suitable weapons becoming an issue in later levels.
You might be saying “why not just use something else?” Well, you see, heavy weapons allow you to learn a multi kill attack. It’s saved me more times than I can count. The recovery time is offset by the powerhouse trait, which makes them the best types of player characters, in my opinion. Of course a nimble character can learn comparable skills, but you end up having to run away more often. Powerhouses can also learn the best defensive skill; pro wrestling. It allows you to flip a zombie over your back, which takes time for it to recover from. In a bad situation you can do this over and over until a whole stampede is on their backs. Alternately, if you have nimble fingers, you can end the move by slamming them back onto the ground after you pick them up. This is a finishing move. It’s possible for a powerhouse to take on at least 2 hordes at a time, and walk away at half damage, using one snack item. I know this because I wanted to see what would happen… XD
Anyway, my fictional adventures are much more interesting than my actual ones. X3

Between Failures presents: Teen Corner.

hey people the teen is back! I enjoyed writing Jackie’s blog last time so he has granted me power of the keyboard once again for all the grammar Nazis out there ill make sure to leave plenty of mistakes for you to complain about. recently I watched a documentary called paradise lost,maybe some of you are familiar with it. my brother recommended I watch it so I sat down and watched all 3 parts on Sunday. I found it very irritating yet very interesting,three teenage boys who were considered out cast for listening to heavy metal and wearing black were in my opinion wrongly convicted of the murder of three little boys, because of their music interests and the fact that they wore black they were found to be Satanists which in my opinion is ridiculous. they wasted over ten years of their lives in prison for something they had nothing to do with. in the end they were set free but still had to plea guilty after this the case was closed so the real killer was never found which is mind blowing to me. if you haven’t seen it you should look into it its pretty good. anyways lately I have been practicing for my school play which is in 15 days,im incredibly nervous and I’ve been drawing a lot. lately I’ve been obsessed with day of the dead sugar skulls, I’m also working on a charcoal drawing for my art class and in my opinion charcoal is the worst! other than that its been school, sleeping and more school. today was long and tiring, there has been a bit of teen drama sadly. a girl who use to be my friend is running her mouth off about me and cant seem to stop but I am attempting to be the bigger person and ignore her. im currently crushing on a green eyed cutie, im hoping maybe ive found a prince. I haven’t currently added to my short story “the ruiner” yet but im hoping to get more written soon so I can let you guys read and criticize it. I haven’t bugged Jackie much lately either, mainly because he’s no fun or im to tired lol. hmmmm what else to talk about…teen life is pretty boring lately. im excited for Halloween though, im having a horror movie marathon with some friends. any suggestions on what to watch? im looking for super scary or good classics. I don’t think there’s much more to say except have a great night! sincerely the teen