Nearby Resources: 15,23 and 12,27 are police departments (guns, ammo, flak jackets) 16,23 and 12,22 are hospitals (first aid kits) 13,25 and 14,19 are Necrotech buildings (syringes) 16,24 and 12,21 are auto repair (toolkit, fuel) 15,20 is a factory (generator, fuel) 19,27 is a mall (everything, but fuel and syringes) 12,23 is our primary Revive Point
I used to play it quite a bit myself and was a founding member of M.E.R.C.Y. -- but I dropped it for the past couple of years and only just thought about it again randomly today.
I've been thinking about getting back into it. I always played a survivor but looking at the current state of Malton makes me want to join up with the RFF. Haven't been able to get in touch with them, however.
Oh! I played that! Though i gave up... Got really annoyed when i got turned into a zombie because i ran out of action points halfway home... EDIT: Just checked my character... Still dead... Okay gonna start playing again now. User name- Purplefood
After years of being a survivor, I just joined the infamous Ridleybank Resistance Front. Anyone who'd like to smash through 'cades and nom some bra!nz, please see here:
KingCracker wrote:I dont think Ive ever head of it TBH
It's a pretty simple browser game that's been around for ages now. Your character travels through the perilous world of a post-outbreak English city called Malton. As a survivor, you barricade safe houses, gather resources, and revive the dead. As a zombie, you ... well, you know. The survivors are currently dominating Malton so I've finally taken the plunge to switch allegiances -- forever. Once you buy the brain rot skill, you're very difficult to bring back to life.
They seem to be one of the few remaining active IRC-based hordes. Just got on their channel and chatted for a bit and seems a very friendly crowd. Hungry but also friendly.
Shearbank is only a minimum of 10 AP north of Ridleybank. Also, another liberating thing about zambah-hood: you don't have to waste all that AP going into buildings, you know, just to be "safe."
Purplefood, if you're interested in joining a survivor group, look for Sister Rita at Gelasius Hospital in Vinetown. I don't think M.E.R.C.Y. is very active anymore but they are a good group and Sister Rita can almost always be found somewhere between Vinetown and Crowbank.
If i get to be alive again i'll do that but for now i'm just gonna embrace eating brains...
Though hiding was more of a reflex action than anything else...
The great thing about M.E.R.C.Y. is they're tireless revivers. If you do head to Vinetown and want to breath again, stand on the Dinovan Monument and someone will get to you soon enough.
Just got revived...
Killed the zombie next to me, went away for a bit and someone revived me!
Now i need to figure out what to do and everything... again...
Well, I ran with the RFF tonight for the first time. Those guys are very well organized and more effective than any survivor group I ever saw. No wonder they've always been famous!
I made a Medic, Firefighter and Scout, all in different sections of Malton.
Is there any other way to gain XP other than killing zombies/players? My Scout has no reliable way of killing things, and I don't want to waste all of my Pistol ammo on my Medic considering the hit chance is so low.
Scroll down a bit and find the "Group Rankings" section. You'll see all groups with more than ten members arranged in descending order of most members. You can find out more about each group, usually including contact information, by click on their name and viewing their wiki page.
If you want to play as a zombie, the Ridleybank Resistence Front is probably the way to go. While The Dead seem to have the most members standing, their wiki page lists them as "historical" (i.e., defunct) and the newer group page ... seems to be a collection of silly images. Meanwhile, the RFF is one of the scariest groups out there in terms for survivors. I used to avoid Ridleybank and Barrville at all costs, never doing anything more than running full speed through thos ruined streets. So when I decided to shamble on a more permanent basis, they were my natural choice.
As for survivor groups, I don't know many of them. As a casual member of M.E.R.C.Y., all I cared about was them not PKing us or any other survivors holed up in Vinetown. The largest one on the list seems to be the Fortress but I don't know anything about them.
UD is not the most fun unless you seek out other folks. You should decide whether you want to play mostly as a survivor or a zombie and then get into contact with people accordingly.
Meantime, I can help answer any specific questions and am sure W_G can help you to. Feel free to ask here or PM.
Automatically Appended Next Post: @W_G: Come join the RFF and help defend the zambah homeland from the encroaching menace of harman imperialism.
When infected, there are only two actions to consider: (1) searching for/using first aid kits and (2) moving towards a non-ruined hospital/safehouse. 'Cading while infected is silly because you're actually doing the very thing you are trying to avoid: becoming a zombie.
You can only enter a building that has been caded to "very strongly barricaded" (VSB) or lower. Survivor groups often call for hospitals to be caded to VSB unless directly under siege so that the wounded can get in for help. But unaffiliated survivors (and the more subtle of death cultists) will invariably cade all the way to "extremely heavily barricaded" (EHB) making hospitals impossible to enter directly. Because survivors can move through the interiors of non-ruined buildings, regardless of barricade level, survivors in the area will often have a designated entry point. (This is almost always true of malls, for example.) Look for local grafitti pointing the way. Organized survivors are understandably circumspect about entry points but the unaffiliated (and again the death cultists!) have no such reservations.
Just remember: if you're going to fall down as a result of entering a building, don't even bother entering. Survivors almost always throw dead bodies out so you will have died to no avail, except making some stranger waste minuscule AP. (Sometimes, a dead body will be revived instead of thrown out but organized survivors often oppose random revives to cut down the effectiveness of PKers, among other things.) So what do you do if you're infected and there's no hospital nearby (using a map is key)? If you're already in an area with any amount of cading, stay put until you have more AP. Once you have AP, jet toward the nearest hospital or, if you still can't make it there without dying, the nearest planned revive point/cemetery.
Automatically Appended Next Post: BTW:
Adler Row, Male Way, and the Sartin Monument are all planned revive points in Shearbank. Male Way is right next to a NecroTech building and should be your best bet even if there are no organized survivor groups active in the neighborhood.
As you can see from the Shearbank Barricade Plan, hospitals are supposed to be kept at VSB. Shearbank is reporting as "safe" so there is no reason those hospitals should be buttoned up. This leads me to believe the survivors there are mostly disorganized or if there is a group, it's small or a bit lax. Dumb harmanz.
Anyway, if you want to make contact with any survivor group in the area, you should probably head to Stickling Mall after you get revived.
Tried it out. Made a soldier (Grakmar) and a zombie (Grakbie). My human ran around for a bit, found a book, and hid in a building with someone else. My zombie walked around, found someone and started biting him.
It seems somewhat interesting, but 50 AP runs out really quick when you don't have a plan.
For folks who are completely new, let me try to summarize it. The simplest way of looking at it is:
Imagine a box with impenetrable walls filled with little balls that are constantly in motion. Some balls are pink and some balls are green. When a green ball touches a pink ball, it turns green.
Now add in a level of complexity -- if a pink ball hits a green ball in a certain way, the green ball turns pink.
Now let's crank it all the way up: every ball is actually controlled by a human being and the ball is defined by a variety of possibilities based on how it has been controlled by the human. All of this human idiosyncrasy is expressed through the formation of ideologies and associations that produce behaviors.
What do I mean by ideologies? Well, the best example is "barhah." This concept stands for the ideal of "zombieness." Different groups (and individuals) have all sorts of ideas about what it really means to be a zombie but they all talk about it in terms of "barhah." Barhah thus becomes a focal point around which humans playing as zombies organize. What are the implications of barhah? Should zombies kill humans indiscriminately? Can zombies live in harmony with humans? Or would that be anti-barhah?
But that's the game taken to it's most conceptual level. More concretely, a night in the life of a member of the RRF consists in signing onto the RFF channel via IRC and finding out what the target is. You then proceed to the target and tear it apart, killing whoever is around. (The why's and how's of choosing targets are wrapped up in the concept of Barhah.) A day in the life of a survivor, at least one running with M.E.R.C.Y., consists in logging into a forum, seeing what other members of your group have been doing and what they've seen in other parts of the map, and acting accordingly by collecting and using supplies while maintaining safehouses. (The why's and how's of survivors' goals are just as convoluted and external to the game mechanics themselves as the concept of barhah.)
No matter who you are, you only have so many action points to spend each day. Survivors can move around scavenging, attacking zombies and one another with weapons, reviving zombies, and developing/shoring up infrastructure. Zombies can move around attacking/feeding off of survivors and tearing down infrastructure. But once your points are spent, you're "stuck" wherever you were until your points regenerate (at the rate of like one per half hour or so). For survivors, this means ending every day somewhere safe from zombies. Zombies also try to end their turns somewhere safe from survivors.
If you die as a survivor, the next time you "stand up" you will be a zombie. If you want to continue being a survivor, you need to find someone to revive you -- this usually means going to a revive point manned by survivors who do that sort of thing as part of their organization. If you die as a zombie, the next time you "stand up" you will still be a zombie.
You gain XP by successfully attacking humans or other zombies as zombie (although attacking other zombies earns reduced XP) or successfully attacking zombies or other survivors, healing other survivors, and successfully reviving zombies (among other things) as a survivor. Gaining XP allows you to level up, making your more effective at all of these things. If you want to see the complete skill tree, take a look at my profile:
The game itself has some interesting and sometimes quirky options. But the real fun is the organization and watching how things develop at the macro level. It's like watching the news when the news is about you and your friends. Another fun aspect is all the "spontaneous culture," (e.g., barhah) that developed in the game.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Grakmar wrote:It seems somewhat interesting, but 50 AP runs out really quick when you don't have a plan.
This is actually a good thing for all you folks who don't want to get sucked into a time waster. UD only lets you play for so long every day. You can't waste much more than 15 minutes playing this game unless you start running an organization.
I assume you mean the RRF-sponsored plan. I can assure you, it is currently in full effect and works great! Just ask the friendly neighborhood Contabulary:
My survivor, located in Gulsonside. I was in a nightclub right by the mall. But, I read the wiki and apparently I'm in prime zombie country. So, I ran into a church. I think I'll be spending the next few days running like crazy. http://www.urbandead.com/profile.cgi?id=2035264
@Grakmar: For your survivor, head NW to Vinetown and look for Sister Rita, Tom Shepperd or Mimi Plastique at Gelasius Hospital. Tell 'em Issachar Ward sent you.
@MR, Grakmar: I don't know a thing about Brookesville or Wykewood. If you want to get a taste of survivor life, head to any safe mall.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I also forgot to mention, when talking about goal and motivations external to the mechanics, that a fair number of people roleplay their characters.
Some people even create "survival journals" where they record their experiences "in-character" as they go. You can find a number of those posted here: http://www.graham-russell.co.uk/ud/latest.php
LOL, here are my journals from when I first started playing in 2007:
Last Saturday night, I scrambled up to Postlethwaite Crescent Fire Station and rummaged around long enough to dig up a radio receiver, some wire cutters, a flare gun, and--praise His Name forever!--a fire axe. Of course, I spent the last few days swinging this marvelous find at ambulatory corpses and have managed to get pretty good at smacking the hell out of them (or perhaps back into them?). Just this evening, for example, I stepped out of St. Izzy's for some fresh air only to find a zed loitering around. Not so many swings as I would have guessed later, this example of the living dead was back among the dead dead. Even so, the whole affair left me pretty winded and I'll need to rely on firearms if my long-term plan is going to have a ghost of a chance of a hope. I'll also need some like-minded friends . . .
Something over the radio caught my attention this evening: a report on St John's over in Vinetown on the southeast side of Malton. Apparently the place was torn apart, which is a terrible shame. This hell hole only has five really notable churches despite the terrific number of tiny ones like St. Izzy's. Most locals mistakenly call all of them cathedrals, but only two of them are technically cathedrals. Anyway, the big five are all beauties or at least used to be. I haven't laid eyes on a one of them since the outbreak. Something about them getting ransacked really gets to me, though. They ought to be havens amid this chaos.
It's got me thinking: there's no reason to stay anchored at St. Isadore's forever, especially in light of the rising numbers thanks to Caiger's fame. With every nine who've managed to hold onto sanity there's at least one full-fledged nut job in the pews. I only stayed long enough over at Postlethwaite to pick up the axe but they had a bunch of folks hanging around, too, and it felt even less homey than St. Izzy's. The accusations against Evanna shook me up pretty bad and now I can't look around without trying to size up the next troublemaker. This Caiger-minded crowd isn't helping.
Moving on to St. John's might be a good idea for a number of reasons: (1) it's not famous, (2) Houldenbank to the immediate east is overrun, (3) there's a mall two blocks down, (4) Vinetown needs to get mobile service running, and (5) defending a holy place on that scale is a pretty damn good cause in and of itself. It's a hell of a challenge and way over my head if I try to go it alone. But I might be able to get some veterans in on it. I've only been crawling around Malton for a month--far, far less than travelers like Evanna and ChaosFlare. They're bound to get hungry for something more meaningful than staying alive outside of Caiger. This could be an adventure . . . well, just getting there will be an adventure.
There's a lot to get done before moving, however, if I'm to hope for success at St. John's or anywhere less famously defensible than Caiger for that matter. I need to learn a bit more about how to operate in this world: how to move between buildings without crashing through the streets, how to put up and reinforce barricades, and how to handle my sidearm a bit better . . . maybe even move up to something with more stopping power. And that means shopping. By next week, I'll probably be among the looters at Caiger. My priorities are getting a phone, some first aid kits, and ammo.
With any luck, mid to late July will see me (and hopefully a few others) ready to move on to new and more fulfilling purposes. Til then, it's a matter of avoiding the creeps while guarding my peeps. Ya'll know who ya'll are.
I must have slept through the morning but it seems I didn't miss a thing. Jazz Jackson was still lecturing everyone about the inevitable siege of Caiger in a so-called "vengeance tour" while others huddled around the radio listening to frantic reports from Ackland Mall down in Havercroft. A fellow called Weequay (must be a Star Wars fan) hurried in with a breathless eye-witness confirmation of the siege and called for volunteers. He left, as far as I know, all by his lonesome. It seems that whatever is going on at Ackland has nothing to do with Jazz's rantings. According to him, the "vengeance tour" is currently busy way over in the far southeast side of Malton at Joachim Mall. Joachim straddles the Freybank and Penny Heights neighborhoods and is only a few miles southeast of Vinetown. News from that far away isn't reaching us here in Darvall, although it may be because all eyes are turning to Ackland.
The defenders there seem to be putting up a good fight and I'm sure it makes everyone in Caiger feel all the safer. But if push really came to shove again, as Jazz is suggesting, I wonder how well they'd really do? Caiger fell not too long ago, after all. What happens when survivors rest on their laurels? They end up dead or running away from whatever life and home they've built up over the last couple of months.
There is always the possibility that Jazz is a decoy. I just find it odd that not a drop of news about Joachim has reached us. It must be a pretty pathetic tour if it can't compete with the low-level emergency at Ackland. Then again, maybe Ackland is worse off than we think.
In any case, I don't really plan sticking around long enough to find out. St. Isadores's felt like home for a few brief weeks but there is no lasting sense of community in a place like this. St Izzy's is like a bath tub: there's a steady build-up of scum. By next week or sooner, I hope to be moving out east and then maybe I can catch a glimpse of Jazz's "tour" with my own eyes. I've been drawing up some maps based on my own knowledge and conversations with others, updated here and there by radio reports, and I think I've charted a safe route to Vinetown. This plan should fit with the terrible things Evanna told me about inner-city Malton. We should get close enough to fly under the raider but stay far enough out to keep safe as long as we're moving.
We'll start by skirting across the south of Darvall Heights to Richmond Hills and then scramble over the top of Ketchelbank (keeping clear of Barrville to the south) to the northwesternmost tip of Roachtown. From there, we cut obliquely down through Roachtown, Pimbank, and Edgecombe til arriving in Vinetown. St. John's is in the upper center, a little to the west, of that neighborhood. Getting as far as the outskirts of Edgecombe will be an exhausting trip and we'll have to rest somewhere on the side of Pimbank farthest from Ridleybank to the west and Randallbank to the north or in the western side of Edgecombe. The best bet may be Tynte Mall on Pimbank's eastside, although I'm not sure about an entrance point. Alternatively, Edgecombe is known for tight barricading--I'd just hate to get there and not find a way into shelter. We might as well--
::entry breaks off::
There's a zombie in the church. I just came in from swinging at three outside and I don't think I have any more strength to do something about this one. Maybe it's Heidi again? Did I miss dumping a body? Anyway, it doesn't seem to be threatening anyone and the barricades are still up . . . puzzling. If it's still standing around in a few hours, I'll knock it over myself. In the meantime, I'll just have to rest with my eyes open.
I feel like I'm learning much more rapidly about how to survive in this place these days. I've gotten pretty good with this trusty old fire axe and as soon as I get some rest I'll be strong enough to hop between buildings rather than running through the streets all the time. I still have a lot to learn about effectively barricading buildings before I can leave the relative safety of good old St. Izzy's in Darvall. Plus I need to go on an extended shopping trip in Caiger while I'm still around--
::entry breaks off again::
Well, some labcoat called Zoras needled the zed. Evanna doesn't look happy. Wonder what's up?
We'll have to figure out a better way to communicate in the post-apocalypse.
::written in the margins::
remember to ask Evanna if she's heard from Alan or sent him a text lately
::in the main body::
I haven't been in a mall for ages. Caiger sure beats the PX back on base. And talk about crowded! If the zeds do come a knockin', they'll find plenty of folks fighting back--or at least I hope so. Many of them are just moving through like me and who knows how many more would flee? I sure hope it stands, though. It'd be nice to come back one day when the heat dies down on Evanna. And maybe a good siege will clear out the low-lifes.
Speaking of which: As if we needed it, another reason to leave St. Izzy's walked through the door yesterday. This creep strolled into the church and began to narrate all his actions (and the fictional actions of others) in the third person before proceeding to kick the generator in. As soon as the lights flickered off, you could hear the parishioners closing in on him. Evanna couldn't join in for obvious reason but warned him. Funny how people never listen to her right before they die. I didn't even bother looking into who the psycho was this time. If it's another case of multiple personality . . . well, let them deal with it. I've already moved on.
Back to my little shopping spree: Luckily enough, I got a phone straight away and also managed to pick up a pistol clip and a GPS unit. I'm not sure how useful the GPS unit will be, but I might as well carry it for a while. It's not too heavy and knowing exactly where I am might come in handy on our trip--or not; I have a pretty clear idea of where we're heading. Pity I didn't spot any first aid kits, though.
Sent a text to Evanna right off and found she had already left St. Izzy's and was staying in North. So that's where I'm sitting now, surrounded by books. By the looks of the shelves, folks are still very much into reading. I couldn't resist picking up a book and found an interesting hand-written manuscript--clearly not a text original to this library but something left by another survivor, maybe even the author. I didn't get through much of it but it seems to theorize that the source of the infection is a naturally occurring virus called Solanum.
This stands in stark contrast to the nonsensical rumors about MRSA. If you think about it, blaming this mess on disrespect for the dead and meteor showers is just as silly. Maybe whoever wrote this journal is right . . . but the information about Solanum here doesn't match up with what we see around us. I mean, revivification? How does that make any sense?
I'm too tired to think much right now. The last couple of fights I got into plus looting Caiger really tuckered me out. Even in a zombie-infested world, you gotta shop til you drop. I had hoped to study up on barricading before we left but I guess there will be plenty of action along the road. The main thing is to be in prime condition before moving out so that we can get as far as possible, barring taking a wrong turn or two along the way. I should be ready to leave by tomorrow afternoon or night. Leaving any sooner means we won't make it to Tynte in one day.
I tuned my radio into what might be the Vinetown local channel (there's some confusion about whether it's 26.17 or 26.18) but it's just static. I'll tune it to 26.18 if I don't hear anything soon. I keep thinking about what we'll find over there up against Houldenbank. Will we be able to make St. John's into a better home than St. Isadore's? I hope so. It's worth a try no matter what.
Made it through the most dangerous part of the trip. Currently resting in Tynte, managed to find radio transmitter. May be handy later. Will move on to St. J's next morning or afternoon. Remember to tell Evanna not to stop in St. J's--we should proceed to Mitchem and ask some questions, shop, get the vibe of Vinetown.
Poor Ackland. Should be lesson to all--there is no where to run. More later.
The cades are coming down all over the cathedral. There are ten zeds shambling around. What can be done?
The wiki has a list of zones and all of the buildings in each zone, along with a legend which shows what buildings have been barricaded and to what extent. Obviously because people are actively barricading and destroying barricades it will not be 100% accurate, but the zones where groups camp will have to have buildings that you can access so they can meet in safety.
That's very true. People expect to start a game and get to play it until they are bored. In this game, you get about twenty minutes, maybe less, to be confused an ineffective. If you can tough that out for a few days, you'll be okay except you need a goal besides leveling up.
In fact, the best way to start Urban Dead is with a goal and a plan to achieve it.
What do you want to do first?
Join a zombie group? Wanna be a death cultist?
Join a survivor group? If so, what kind?
- one that digs in at and protects a certain neighborhood/building?
- one dedicated to putting down PKers and death cultists?
- one providing revives to zombified survivors (or even, most dangerously, rotters)?
Do you want to see how long you can make it on your own?
Do you want to RP and keep a journal?
Take a spin around the wiki and see what other goals you can make for yourself.
Don't feel bad, M. I just went on a run with the RRF and swung at one level 1 survivor 30 times and only hit once. And I'm level 45. Luck is a big factor in this game -- or, I guess it is for people who have luck!
I tried this game a few years ago, with one human and one zombie character. The human got murdered by a PKer and the zombie got murdered by another zombie. It's at that point that I stopped playing. PvP and real time, always vulnerable players just don't mix well, IMO.
I also remember disliking that you had to spend AP points if you wanted to talk to someone. Rather cuts down on the opportunity to get to know your fellow players when you're forced to choose between doing that and actually playing the game.
DA's Forever wrote:Very much so, I cant seem to find any buildings i can actually get into
Look for a police station, firehouse, or hospital. There's also a map you can find of each area that shows you where all the buildings are. The universal barricade plan calls for these buildings to be at VSB+3, maximum protection but you can still enter from the street.
I played for a while, got three characters maxed out and had a hundred or so xp to spare. It was fun playing as a human when I was alive and playing as a zombie when dead. Never really got involved with any groups, but I would sometimes trail along with a horde if it caught me or help out some civilian group (until they inevitably got in the path of one of the hordes).
Also participated in some of the mall sieges at Calgar and elsewhere, sometimes from both sides (if there was an incursion and I got caught).
Yeah, no matter how you die, you can only stand back up as a zombie. If you want to be alive again, use the wiki to look for a nearby revive point and then wait it out.
Monster Rain wrote:So if I keep searching the police station I'll eventually find some bullets?
Yeah, I'm hiding in a Police Station right now. Been looking around for a while and came up with 2 clips and another pistol. I'm about ready to go hunt some Zombies!
Meanwhile, my Zombie helped a group kill a guy, then attacked a Police Station. Someone jabbed me in the neck and I was suddenly alive again. Then, I slept outside and got killed. Now I'm a Zombie again and trying to gnaw on some poor guy's head. Another Zombie just showed up, so hopefully we can finish him off.
Meanwhile, sometime this morning I was shot in the head by a Zombie Hunter. This means that I will have to pay an extra 5 AP to stand up. If I didn't have the amusingly named skill Angle Grab, getting killed by a Zombie Hunter would cost me 15 AP.
I've woken up my old alt Dr Bigbones (a survivor) down in the south west (Foulkes Village). The rest of my group, the Legion of the Octopope, are inactive, but I've decided I'm going to reclaim our old headquarters, the Henley NT, come hook or come crook.
It's currently ruined and there are zeds in the streets around it, so I'm holed up in a school waiting for enough AP to be able to make a difference.
My new Zombie is roaming around Lukinswood munching on survivors. Won't be much else I can do til I get some zombah skillz.
Are we going to make a Dakka group? Urban Dead is way more fun if you have a group going. (And I don't want to have to check any other fora for organisation )
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh and some advice for newbies:
The two best starting classes are Firefighter and Scout, if you want to play survivor.
Firefighters get the best melee weapon in skills in the game early on. Fire axes are what I use all the time as a survivor. Decent hit chance, decent damage, and never runs out of ammo. This helps you gain XP.
Scouts get Free Running early. This means you can get in through a lightly barricaded or lower building and free run from one to another in safety. This allows you to explore the area without risk, searching, linking with other survivors and so on. This is slower in terms of leveling, but allows you to do so in safety.
The other thing to remember as a survivor is that in general, killing zombies is not what the game is about. It's about surviving! You hide in buildings, scrounge for supplies and only fight if the zombies attack something important (like a necrotech or a mall, or hospital). Apart from that, just barricade, search and try to avoid attracting a horde. If you are part of a group, they will often have objectives that make it more interesting.
In general, you have to put in a few days and a little background reading to get the most out of it. And perhaps you have to have a particular mindset, too. I really enjoyed it though, once I got to be able to do stuff (so about 3 skill increases in).
If you guys are thinking of starting a group (a good idea), I'd really recommend thinking about the goal of the group. Do you want to defend a certain building or neighborhood, or revive victims of the living dead, or maybe go on the offense against horde lands?
This is one of the cooler ideas I think I've seen, although it is given to somewhat static (and very dangerous) gameplay:
Wow, I came back to my old group's (The Legion of the Octopope) headquarters. As far as I was aware, the group went inactive in late 2008 early 2009. So I was expecting the Henley NT to be completely ransacked, or protected by another group.
I made it over there and scrawled on the wall was "Welcome to the last Octotemple- please keep at EHB"
I was dumbfounded. Had some others taken over the group after me and my university friends had left?
I logged off, and when I logged back on, Smithwicks, a friend of mine from Uni staggered in, bleeding and infected. I healed him up. He's been holding the first and last Octotemple, alone and unsung, for nearly 4 years! That is totally epic, and sums up why I love Urban Dead as an idea.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and on Groups, if we're going to do one, I suggest running a necrotech properly. It's really challenging, and very worthwhile to the survivor cause.
Zombie groups tend to be less satisfying unless we can hit that critical mass of 50 or so very organised players who can cripple a defence and attract a tail of feral undead in our wake to beef up our numbers.
I'll second Da Boss's appraisal of zombie groups. If you want to play a zombie, it's best to join a group that's already munching strong. I took to the RFF in that light and have been having a blast. Ten minutes every night and it's been a very effective and fulfilling play style. Last night alone, our team ruined two buildings and killed six survivors. I can claim two of those kills personally. It's a lark.
As to a Dakka group, I'm also of the mind that running a NT building would be the best bet. Much as I hate to say it, Henley is a bad choice. Foulkes is a border burb and for that reason marginal anyhow. There's also no mall there or throughout the greater region. The closest is Tompson in Lockettside. Keep in mind that unless you're running a Rotter's Relief type of operation, the point is not really to defend the NT building (in which case, you aren't defending anything per se and will have as much trouble with other survivors as zeds). Rather, you're running a revive point or system of revive points. As such, your best bet is to operate in a NT-rich burb.
The next best spot on that side of the map for NTs is Nixbank, which suffers from a lack of mall access even worse than Foulkes. (Obviously, New Arkham is right out thanks to The Dead.) Working out of Vinetown for years, I can tell you that Crowbank is nearly ideal for this kind of mission. Its four NT buildings are supported in-burb by four auto repair shops, three police stations, and two hospitals. To the extent that a mall is ncessary, Mitchem is right next door in Vinetown. The icing on the cake is the presence of two semi-active hardcore survivor groups nearby, M.E.R.C.Y. and MDK. Although it's "easier" to start a survivor group from the ground up with small numbers, survivors also benefit from working in concert.
Another fun idea is to claim one of Malton's five mansions and run it as a kind of fortress. A good choice is Pitman Mansion in Qaurelsbank. It's relatively out of the way (another border burb) supported in-burb by four NT buildings, two police stations, a whopping seven auto repair shops, and Calvert Mall. On the downside, there is only one hospital in Quarlesbank and ... Pitman Mansion is somewhat notorious, historically. Trying to man one of the real forts would be a much harder task with a small group.
Well, we set up in Henley years ago, so there we shall stay. But I agree, it is an out of the way suburb without too much going on most of the time.
However, I just found out that Nuabreed, the leader of the old Octolegion, has gone Zombie. And he took the rest of the legion with him. He wants me to join them in undeath, but I am not willing to leave Smithwicks to defend the Henley alone. I told him if he can kill me, I'll join them, so now I've got a mini-horde chasing me.
We'll see how long I last- I've agreed (as a gentleman) not to leave Foulkes village.
If Dakka starts a group, I'll probably start a new survivor alt so we can all be on relative parity, level wise.
So how about starting a group of Dakka-specific characters and heading up to Pitman?
Automatically Appended Next Post: Let me clarify my idea a bit:
Long years ago, there arose a player-generated myth about Pitman Mansion. Having dissipated his formative years on dandyism, young Pitman took up the curatorship of the Coymer Museum near his family seat in Quarlesbank. Availing himself of the museum's African art collection, Pitman developed an interest in primitive occultism. Before the outbreak, Pitman also acquired his forbears title and property, supposedly as sole heir to the line. It's been whispered about Malton that "patient zero" emerged from the crypts of the mansion and that a somewhat deranged Pitman managed to control the initial horde with voodoo rituals. As for Lord Pitman himself, the rumor is he eventually succumbed to infection -- whether biological or spiritual is of course unknown.
The story of Pitman expresses the mystery of the Malton Incident. What caused the outbreak? All that is known for sure is that the NecroTech Corporation invested heavily in Malton, as witnessed by the proliferation of NT infrastructure throughout almost every neighborhood. It is thought that NT was able to so thoroughly infiltrate the city by manipulating various Maltonian luminaries. Bribery seems an obvious tool against the bourgeoisie but would have meant little to a young lord newly come into his substantial inheritance. If Pitman did cooperate with NT -- and please witness that there are no less than four NT facilities in Quarlesbank -- what did they offer him? Or perhaps the question should be phrased as, what did he offer them?
I've taken a certain affinity to this Lovecraftian yarn and wouldn't mind setting up a survivor group around it. There are no doubt a few other Pitmans out there, eager I'm sure to claim some stake in the ancestral home. One could guess that scientists and occultists, normally at cross purposes (of course, the dead normally stay dead, too), might ally to set up an expeditionary force intent on studying the mansions libraries and, if the gossip prove true, its bizarre underground laboratories. One would of course need to secure and defend the structure in order to effectively study it. And then there are the crazies. With such a notorious history, Pitman Mansion is sure to attract tourists of greater or lesser sanity -- including, one feels certain, more than its fair share of death cultists.
@JohnnoM: I have no idea what state the mansion is in currently. Best to scout around. Your free running skill will help if the mansion is fortified. Be careful. Quarlesbank is currently rated as unsafe (but not dangerous).
@MDS: You can enter buildings that are very strongly barricaded or lower. Find your location on the wiki. Check for updates and barricade plans in your area. If you wake up dead, shuffle to the nearest revive point -- assuming you don't want to join the horde.
biccat wrote:If you've got Free Running (best skill to have), this means you can get into one of the Extremely Heavily barricaded buildings.
This bears explanation: you can only directly enter buildings very strongly barricaded (VSB) or lower. You can access more heavily barricaded buildings via adjacent VSB buildings internally if you have the skill called Free Running (which is indeed the best skill). So, for example, the mall you want to enter is extremely heavily barricaded (EHB) so you can't get in from outside. There is a warehouse at VSB adjacent to it. You can enter that warehouse and then you can enter the EHB mall from inside of the warehouse.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
JohnnoM wrote:k, are you gonna join us in the mansion?
I will create an alt and meet you there. I will probably not be able to get into the mansion, however, if it is barricaded until I level up (see above).
Automatically Appended Next Post:
biccat wrote:For zombies: if you want to get revived, hang out in a graveyard or near a church.
Regarding the cemetery, biccat is referring to Sacred Ground Policy. Some survivor groups hold that all cemeteries should be regarded as revive points. This does not mean, however, that cemeteries are preferred or active revive points. If you want to be revived quickly, consult the wiki to look for active, priority revive points. As to hanging around outside of a church -- this is a bad idea. Sacred Ground Policy does not implicate churches as revive points and survivors will likely mistake you for an attacker.
I'll start working my way towards the mansion. But, I'm currently on the other side of the city, and Ridleybank is right in my way... So, I'll get there eventually, but I'll have to go the long way around.
I awoke on a cold steel gurney under fluorescent lights. For a moment, I thought I might have become one of the creatures. One of the zombies. It is hard for a man of science to use that term but a man of science must face the facts. And in the quarantined city of Malton, reanimation of the dead is an apparent fact.
I do not know how they smuggled me into the city although I would guess they have some influence with the military. Of course, the city's guardians in this case are less interested in keeping outsiders out than insiders in. What's one more death among the roll of millions? I doubt any substantial amount was spent on the necessary bribes.
In any event, I proceeded immediately to the primary target. My jaunt across half of Malton was both disappointingly and blessedly quiet. The streets were empty of life, though unlife stirred here and there. The ones I saw simply swayed back and forth, allowing me no significant observation to test my hypotheses. Yet I daresay I will encounter more than enough data before my tasks in this city are complete.
The target was not difficult for me to locate although I had been there only infrequently as a boy. How familiar was the piled block of that looming manor, the idiot vigilance of its cast iron gates and the dreary, blighted grounds beyond. Yes, it is ostensibly a ruin after weathering these long years of quarantine but I have no memory of it otherwise. To my child's eye, I suppose, the place had always been ghastly.
I thrilled to see rays, seemingly of electric light, stealing through what few crannies the occupants had left in their skillful barricades. For an instant, I envisioned the lord of the house, my uncle, peering out at me and it seemed that my mission would soon be accomplished. Foolishness. For one thing, anyone could presently be squatting in my family's estate. (I must train my mind not to assume the social niceties taken for granted outside of Malton.) For another, I realized that I had no means of entrance regarding these obviously thorough fortifications.
I appreciated of a sudden that my anxious constitutional down those awful boulevards had been terribly enervating and so employed what little vigor remained in finding relatively secure shelter in a warehouse adjoining the manor grounds. Surprisingly, sleep came quickly and I awoke refreshed at dawn. A little morning light did not assist the discovery of any useful implements or rather any that I would deign to wield. I cannot imagine swinging any length of pipe effectively, whether my fortunate victim be quick or dead. No, weapons of any kind will not aid my quest and might only serve to distract me.
I hurried from my erstwhile sanctuary and happened across another of them, also swaying and apparently oblivious. (Have they also need of rest?) I approached cautiously, circling behind the thing in case it bestirred itself, to within arm's reach. The smell was quite horrific, which struck me as odd given that decomposition seemed far from advanced. Indeed, the corpse displayed but a few obvious (yet superficial) wounds. Cause of death therefore must have been infection. Plucking up my meager courage, I extracted a sample from the grey-green, noisesome flesh and absconded.
Barred from entry to the primary target, I approached the secondary one. The bulk of my uncle's research will no doubt be hidden in the manor if it still exists at all but it stands to reason that he might have kept (or presently keeps; I must remind myself that I do not actually know his fate) some fragmentary notes in his offices at Coymer. Frustratingly, the museum is similarly barricaded although I perceived no other sign of occupancy.
I contented myself therefore with investigating the Cator Museum nearby. Perhaps uncle had shared some gleaning of his work with colleagues? If so, there is no trace to be found at Cator. I have discovered only mouldering tapestries here although there is enough light left in the day to pen these lines and puzzle over the DNA sample I obtained from the zombie. Strange how I still hesitate to put that word into writing, even having seen the things with my own eyes, even staring at the sample analysis.
But I am determined to face all of the facts. Indeed, as I am sure I will often have cause to remember, I myself chose this path.
There are 3 survivors groups totaling maybe a maximum of 50 survivors and a minimum of 30...
There is a zombie group but i can't find any info on its numbers...
There's another group and i'm not sure whether it exists or not still...
The EMBC with an estimated 14 survivors...
Survivor groups:
KSK-Revival group, apparently operate the local NT's
Pitman Pitbulls-Zombie clearance group, operate outof the mansion.
Northwest News corporation-Operate out of the Buckrell building, report on local movements(radio freq 27.01)
EMBC- Similar to NWC but seems inactive
Zombie groups:
TheDead 2.0-Seems inactive
Got most of the info from my little brother (we used to play and he was around the area a lot.
I checked the information on the wiki and the local groups seem either very small or fairly inactive...
That said some of their pages may just not have been updated in a while...
When i get there i'll be able to check more thoroughly.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Platuan4th wrote:Started a Necrotech named William Briar. Currently in Quarlesbank.
I'll head to Pitman to join up with the rest of the Dakkites heading there.
Manchu wrote:The unfortunately named Balchin Building was barricaded (not sure by how much) and powered as of about three hours ago.
Yeah, it's actually where I started, so I was closer than I thought. When I left it was EHB. There's a number of survivors in there.
I'm currently hiding in Duggan Auto(closest barricaded building I could get into when I started running out of AP). Found a Fireaxe, though. Not sure I'm ever going to get into Pitman at this rate!
There are some amusing ones: Chitty Cinema, the Chubb Monument, the Buckoke Building, the Backholer Museum, Fluck Library, Tutcher Place, the Douch Arms, Twitt Plaza, to name a very few. There's even a street in Roftwood called "Cake Walk."
In Eat Boundwood now.
Not encountering very many of either survivors or Zombies...
Even the hospitals (Though well barricaded) are practically empty...
On a side note, if you read a book and it doesn't teach you anything, is it dump and run, or is it worth reading multiple times?
Also, looking at the map thanks to the Wiki, I started about four AP short of the section the Mansion is in. Went south the two times I've played since starting. Do'h.
You have a 10% chance of gaining 1XP (or 2XP if you are a scientist) every time you read a book. Every time you read it, however, there is a small chance that it will be automatically discarded.
In the Pitman Mansion as Bromsie - SE, NE, NW are EHB, SW is heavily. Couple other survivors here. Warning of LimoSho as a Pker. Started in West Boundwood - hows that for a slice of fried gold?
I just started, 2 or 3 ago, all I know is I've been wandering arond close to my "safe house" ( which is a police station), I'm out of bullets and I haven't even killed a sigle zombie...bashed one up with a crowbar though.
Grakmar's hideout was ambushed last night, and his brain is apparently rather tasty. When I stumbled out onto the street, there's zombies absolutely everywhere. It appears I wasn't able to avoid the horde.
So, I'm still on my way, but it may be a while as I have to shuffle along now. (And, it doesn't help that people seem to want to combat rez me, when just results in me being chewed on again. I'm really starting to hate combat rezzers.)
Right, two days of hell over with, I've made a new Survivor Character
Rulf Roofwalker. Scout. I've made it as far as the Mall in Gatcombeton, sleeping there right now. Might stock up on a few first aid kits before I make a run for the mansion.
@FITZZ: Don't despair! Converge with the other Dakkanauts for more effective play.
@Grakmar: Combat rezzing is a sore temptation for all survivors and low-level survivors tend to think of it as paying 10AP for 100% kill chance. It's interesting to think about why this doesn't have the same social disapprobation as PKing.
@Da Boss: Best bet is to move onto a powered hospital if you want FAKs.
Eh .. I'd rather not make it about Dakka. Whatever the group is called should related to what the group does in UD. So that's the real question: what do we want to do?
Have been trying to make contact with other Dakkanauts in the game utilizing radio/transmitor....so far...zip.
I don't have any idea where others from Dakka are at...nor much of an idea as to where I am ...sad huh?
But...I will continue in my search...oh BTW my character name is Trisha Creed....just in case any of you fellows see that name wandering about.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh...and my sugestion for "Team Dakka" name.....Johnny Crosshair and the Headshots.
You only use a radio when you aren't talking to anyone in particular. If you want to hook up with other Dakkanauts, read this thread in the context of the wiki. Folks have been posting their movements pretty well here.
And here's an interactive map for you, which should give you your bearings pretty quickly:
Dakkanauts have been moving towards Quarlesbank in the NW. The eventual target is to meet up and work together in that neighborhood, especially in and around Pitman Mansion. some Dakkanauts have already made it inside. Those without "Free Running" will have to level up before getting inside (i.e., earning 150XP by tagging, killing, healing, etc) to buy that skill -- OR wait until, for whatever reason, the barricades start to come down.
@Everyone:
Question is still up for discussion here: what will Dakkanauts do in UD?
I think we should base ourselves around keeping the suburb entirely intact to preserve records of pre-infection events, so that we can "investigate" the source of the infection. I mean, in actuality, we're just another "hold ground" survivor group. But I guess, we could dedicate ourselves to knowledge in general, holding NTs, Libraries and Schools.
Or whatever. I'm down with any goal, but survivordom is generally about holding a position.
And cheers for the reminder, I forgot about the search percentages.
Allright, back in the Mansion, it looks like it's full EHB, ran out of moves before I could check NW. I see biccat in here. Got a bunch of shotguns, but no pistol and not a lot of ammo. Gonna head back to the PD to scrounge some more - my foray outside to wail on zombies with my axe did not meet with much success.
I'm up around North Blythville. Nicks the same as here. Working my way up to the mansion, and trying to get XP on the way (I killed a zed on the way up).
I'll be upfront with you -- that would mean reading fanfiction.
I can do that...
I expect it to be rubbish anyway so if it's good then i'm happy
Well you have your first example from me last page. So you can judge from there.
I liked that actually...
Just reached the Mansion, anyone who can't get in should go into Duggan auto repair next toit if they're running low on AP and need to hide for a bit...
Bromsie - went and picked up 7 or 8 FAKs from the hospital - also, I don't know how strongly they enforce it these days, but you might not want to have yer two dudes together.
I'd recommend patrolling Shuttlebank and West Boundwood if you want to earn some XP that way.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Scratch that -- They actually look pretty safe today. Boorman Way PD in Gatecombeton has a few rotters on the stoop, however.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Central Shuttlebank looks like it just got hit, a lot of ferals.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Got stranded outside just now in the northern edge of Shuttlebank. Expect to be food soon.
So to get there from Wykewood I'd have to journey for a few days. How important is it to finish up inside of your safehouse? And does setting your safehouse in a new location give you the same benefit as your original one?
So, Aparently I'm in Dartside hold up in the Shapr Blvd Police station, I suppose I'll start making my way out in hopes of linking up with other Dakknauts...anyone even close to where I'm located?
Currently holed up with Ephraim Pitman (Manchu) in West Boundwood. It's been an epic journey filled with PKer, Gkers, and random zombie break ins. It's slow leveling as a scout.
I've made it to the mansion. If anyone's injured, I can heal you- just let me know. I could use the XP to get diagnosis, and then I wouldn't need to be told
FITZZ wrote: So, Aparently I'm in Dartside hold up in the Shapr Blvd Police station, I suppose I'll start making my way out in hopes of linking up with other Dakknauts...anyone even close to where I'm located?
I'm at the police station in Wykewood. Make your way over this way, buddy!
But, that means that new players will actually have to scrounge for those important items you only ever need 1 of (Knife, Fireaxe, Crowbar, Flak Jacket, etc), rather than just being given one by an older player.
Yeah, but once you stock up on pistol ammo, you can unleash some hell - my private that I started the day after my other guy is at like 55, it just took a while to find a pd that I could get into.
I've been beefing up my firearms skills and my safehouse is a police station so I have been putting hot lead onto zombies like it's nobody's business. I love my shotguns. I've got something like 4 of them.
Question:
Is it bad to end up in a place that isn't your safehouse? I fell asleep in a church in a green neighborhood, thinking that I'd most likely be okay.
Your safehouse gives you a 10% chance of an action not costing any AP. This effectively gives you +5 AP if all of your actions are in the safehouse. Otherwise, there's no benefit (or detriment) to having a safehouse.
Also, firearms are great. They're essentially AP banks. On a per-AP basis, fireaxe is the best weapon to use. However, if there aren't a lot of zombies around, you can search for firearms and ammo, effectively storing up AP for when you do find zombies.
Doctadeth wrote:at the beginning of UD, they only had police/consumer (civilian) and fireman. Everyone went police.
Actually, most people went fireman. The Fireaxe is an amazing weapon.
@biccat: "Scout Safehouse" let's you get extra AP in a safehouse but anyone can set a safehouse. I am betting that MR has simply set a safehouse and doesn't have the "Scout Safehouse" skill yet.
@MR: Without "Scout Safehouse," setting a building as your safehouse basically only does one thing: gives you directions to your safe house from where you are currently located.
Very Strongly Barricaded is the best you can get and still be able to enter from the street.
If you have free-running you can enter from an adjacent building no matter its status.
Doctadeth wrote:Obrek IMO, free running is better. The fire axe is better than the H2H.
The Hand to Hand skill gives a 15% hit bonus on ALL melee weapons. This means I now have a 40% hit chance with my fire axe, and since my objective is to kill zambies and not hide like a little girl, this is the better skill.
For someone trying to survive, I am sure Free Running is better, but it's important that you know that Hand to Hand doesn't just increase punch hit chance.
Well, the mansion looks pretty safe. I think we need a plan other than "Sit in the mansion" but it can probably wait a few days, til everyone gets here.
Melissa: Three main jobs, really:
-Barricading. This is something everyone can do, building barricades so that zombies don't get in and eat our brains. However it is only really needed in siege situations, and the current zombie pop of Quarlesbank is low.
-Reviving. For this you need some Scientist Skills, but it allows you to turn zombies back into survivors for 10AP using a necrotech syringe.Needs a big investment of XP to get started and AP expensive and not too great for XP, but vital.
-Healing. Pick up Diagnosis and you can see who needs healing. Scrounge for first aid kids and you can gain a fair bit of XP by helping the wounded. The problem is gaining enough XP to get to diagnosis, and the need to hang around near dangerous locations to find wounded people.
I'm not including the fourth job most survivors do (killing zombies). It's a good way to gain XP if you have the skills, but it's a bit of a waste outside of an actual building breach situation. Killing a zombie usually just means he bounces back to his feet for 1 or 10AP, full health, and keeps on trucking. You need to be able to kill them in a seige, if you want to hold ground, but you can always leg it, and then come back after the horde has passed and rebuild. For that reason I don't particularly focus on firearm or hth skills too much. It is an okay way for starting players to level into the more useful skills, however, as killing zombies is the most efficient way to earn XP.
Man, killing new players is really bad form. We'll have to see about stopping her getting revives in the locality, but there's a lot of ways around that.
Da Boss wrote:Man, killing new players is really bad form. We'll have to see about stopping her getting revives in the locality, but there's a lot of ways around that.
Da Boss wrote:Man, killing new players is really bad form. We'll have to see about stopping her getting revives in the locality, but there's a lot of ways around that.
Killing new players is how new zombies gain xp.
It's part of the game.
She's a human, and shot me with her pistol over and over again.
I don't understand the stigma towards PKing. Urban Dead was supposed to be a Zombie Apocalypse game and almost all Zombie films have humans fighting each other for safehouses and resources or just over petty insults and disputes. Look at Dawn of the Dead (original, not remake); it wasn't the zombies that brought the mall down, but the Biker gang.
And I also dislike Mrh Cows. When I'm a zombie, I act as a zombie would. And when I'm a survivor, I act as a survivor would. Selfish and cruel. The game doesn't work if everyone just waits at revive points.
So, I'm in quarellsbank now, and I've been having a hell of a time finding a gun (or a fireaxe). I've been searching PDs and Fire Stations on my entire trip from Santlerville. I have 4-5 FAKs, probably 7 pistol clips and several shotgun shells as well as flare guns, binos, and tons of other stuff. So that's frustrating.
Having a hard time getting XP. As a scout, I suck at killing zeds, but I don't have the XP to purchase Diagnosis. Is everyone gathering in the mansion? If so, maybe we could have people speak up here if they need healing.
LoneLictor wrote:I don't understand the stigma towards PKing. Urban Dead was supposed to be a Zombie Apocalypse game and almost all Zombie films have humans fighting each other for safehouses and resources or just over petty insults and disputes.
Think about the role of the humans in those movies, the ones who selfishly attack each other during hard times rather than cooperating, and you may get a better understanding of why PKing is douchey.
When I'm a zombie, I act as a zombie would. And when I'm a survivor, I act as a survivor would. Selfish and cruel.
That's called Dual Nature and if that's fine for you, great, but that is not how everyone wants to play.
Monster Rain wrote:Hey Fitzz, you wouldn't happen to be able to revive me when you get to Wykewood, would you? Zack got into my safehouse. :(
Also, can someone nudge me in the direction of something that I can read that will tell me what the different Zombie words mean, if anything?
Sorry Monster, I don't have any means of revivng you ( at least that I know of)...I suppose I could try to find some sort of med kit or something ( maybe a bowl of Gumbo and a six pack?)...let me see what I can find/ figure out.
Monster Rain wrote:Hey Fitzz, you wouldn't happen to be able to revive me when you get to Wykewood, would you? Zack got into my safehouse. :(
Also, can someone nudge me in the direction of something that I can read that will tell me what the different Zombie words mean, if anything?
Sorry Monster, I don't have any means of revivng you ( at least that I know of)...I suppose I could try to find some sort of med kit or something ( maybe a bowl of Gumbo and a six pack?)...let me see what I can find/ figure out.
The "Po' Boy Procedure" followed by an Etoufee treatment might do the the job.
went for a little explore, got a fire axe from the FD, and ended up in the same PD as Grakmar, found a flak jacket, shotgun, pistol and 2 extra shotgun rounds.
on a side note I am 48% encumbered, does this start to effect me at some point, or is it just a tally to 100%
Ah, there's nothing quite like a horde raid where you smash, kill, and eat your way through not one, not two, but three targets. Running with the RRF -- that's the unlife for me.
Okay, so I have... a pistol, a shotgun, a radio receiver, a knife, a mobile phone, two first aid kids, a fire axe, no ammo, and I'm stuck in Roachtown outside of a PD hoping I don't get eaten. Yay.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I'm in a very strongly barricaded library and I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to sit here and read books until I get free run...
Melissia wrote:I'm in a very strongly barricaded library and I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to sit here and read books until I get free run...
Is that a good idea, or should I continue making my way to the dakkanaut area?
Melissia wrote:I'm in a very strongly barricaded library and I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to sit here and read books until I get free run...
Is that a good idea, or should I continue making my way to the dakkanaut area?
Reading doesn't appear to be all that useful. I've found the best way to get XP is to go zombie hunting.
Reading books: 1AP = 10% chance to gain 1XP/small chance to automatically discard book. It's not terribly likely that you'll gain even 5XP for every 25 hours' worth of AP (in the very best case, it would take you over fifteen days to get free running this way) so I don't think it's a great way to earn XP. Go swing that axe, chica.
Da Boss wrote:I've come back to the mansion and knifed LimoSho a few times, if anyone else would like to help out by putting some rounds in her, that'd be great.
I'll pop on tonight and make my way back to the mansion, I have a fire axe I can introduce her to.
Manchu wrote:Reading books: 1AP = 10% chance to gain 1XP/small chance to automatically discard book. It's not terribly likely that you'll gain even 5XP for every 25 hours' worth of AP (in the very best case, it would take you over fifteen days to get free running this way) so I don't think it's a great way to earn XP. Go swing that axe, chica.
Also only a ten percent chance to hit with this axe :/ I'm a cop, not a firewoman..
Think about it, Melissia: You have a 10% chance to hit with the fireaxe and get as much XP as damage dealt, which is 3 with the axe. You also have no chance to drop your fire axe in combat, whereas you have a chance to automatically drop the book. You do have to spend AP finding zombies -- which contrasts poorly with finding books (basically 100% chance in libraries). But, as a cop, you really ought to be focused on banking clips/shells as biccat suggested. A pistol hit delivers 5XP/hit and a shotgun delivers 10XP/hit. As a cop, starting with basic firearm training, you should have a 30% chance to hit with either. You ought to find a police station in a relatively dangerous neighborhood (because the cades are more likely to be at VSB and there are more likely to be a lot of targets around) and spend a couple of days stocking up. Just think of hitting a zombie once with a shotgun: it's the equivalent of spending two days in a library reading. Plus, it's a lot more fun than sitting around.
Manchu wrote:Aren't you supposed to be a scientist IRL? lol
I am, but when creating my character I didn't want to die instantly to being eaten by a zombie so I tried to pick something that would leave me to defend myself.
I might just make a new character and leave this one out to die, seeing as firearms have proven me pretty useless. Maybe I'll luck out and spawn closer to the dakkanauts.
I'm thinking I'd go with necrotech employee, but diagnose is supposed to be a good way of getting xp...
Manchu wrote:Aren't you supposed to be a scientist IRL? lol
I am, but when creating my character I didn't want to die instantly to being eaten by a zombie so I tried to pick something that would leave me to defend myself.
I might just make a new character and leave this one out to die, seeing as firearms have proven me pretty useless. Maybe I'll luck out and spawn closer to the dakkanauts.
I'm thinking I'd go with necrotech employee, but diagnose is supposed to be a good way of getting xp...
I started with a Private, which is basically identical to Cop. And, I had the same problem as you did, chewed through my ammo with little success.
But, I went and hung out in a Police Department and gathered guns and ammo for 2 days or so. Then I went out and gained a level pretty efficiently.
Also, Flare Guns are really great weapons (but only 1 shot) if all you've got is basic firearms training.
Melissia wrote:I'm thinking I'd go with necrotech employee, but diagnose is supposed to be a good way of getting xp...
Only if you're in an area with a lot of zombies. But areas with lots of zombies tend to result in you being eaten.
Firefighter or Scout is the best class to start with. Firefighters can get XP pretty fast while scouts can move around easily.
Pistols and shotguns, however, remain the best because you can dish out a lot of damage really fast while "reloading" (searching) in safety. If you've got an inventory full of clips (and ample targets) you can drop 2-3 zombies a day.
Well at any rate, I started a new char as a necrotech lab assistant. I'll be bringing them both to the dakka area eventually (they're both a few suburbs away).
I already have ten xp from tagging zombies along the way heh.
Agree w/Grakmar and biccat -- there's nothing wrong with starting as a cop and once you have Free Running and can spend XP on firearms skills, there's a good pay off.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Holed up in Foy Towers in Quarlesbank with not much to do since I'm infected. Can someone swing by with a medkit?
LimoSho murderfied me, and before she did she said something about protecting "her property". I guess we're going to have a long and frustrating turf war with this lady.
You may want to avoid attacking a PKer unless you have enough AP to be reasonably certain of finishing the job. You should also obtain screencaps of being PKed and of returning the favor. As I mentioned, consider assigning her a bounty. Please post her profile here as well.
About engaging PKers: do not engage unless you have the requisite AP to effectively kill a PKer and dump their body outside.
With Basic Firearms Training, this requires almost all of your AP if you are using a shotgun assuming you have all the ammo you'll need. (I am assuming the PKer in question has 60 HP and a flak jacket.) If you don't have Pistol Training/Advanced Pistol Training, don't bother going after them with a pistol -- unless two or more of you can cooperate in real time. You may have a chance with a flare gun but it is going to be a rare thing to have sufficient ammo for that.
I hope I am communicating clearly that the key to dealing with a PKer is team work. Save your ammo and AP for a situation when you can team up with a fellow Dakkanaut in real time to start and finish the job.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
purplefood wrote:So others can't find us and read our plans i guess...
Correct. If I was being attacked systematically in-game, I would start by googling my UD user name. My next move would be too google my attacker's usernames so you guys may want to edit your posts on that score as well. Eventually, this won't matter.
I like that location, once I get free running I can get directly from there to the neighboring necrotech building.
I also deactivated the following items on my game preferences:
baseball bat, cricket bat, crucifix, fencing foil, golf club, hockey stick, length of pipe, newspaper, poetry book, pool cue, ski pole, tennis racket.
Hopefully this will save me time discarding items that Id on't want.. I don't think any of these are actually useful compared to the remaining melee items (knife, fire axe, crowbar), and some are just useless period (newspaper, poetry)...
Melissia wrote:I like that location, once I get free running I can get directly from there to the neighboring necrotech building.
I also deactivated the following items on my game preferences:
baseball bat, cricket bat, crucifix, fencing foil, golf club, hockey stick, length of pipe, newspaper, poetry book, pool cue, ski pole, tennis racket.
Hopefully this will save me time discarding items that Id on't want.. I don't think any of these are actually useful compared to the remaining melee items (knife, fire axe, crowbar), and some are just useless period (newspaper, poetry)...
Dropping items doesn't require AP, so you aren't actually hurt by getting any of those things.
And, a "length of pipe" is pretty useful. It's not a great weapon, but you can use it to construct a quick barricade even without the construction skill. But, yeah, the rest of that list is rather pointless.
Grakmar wrote:And, a "length of pipe" is pretty useful. It's not a great weapon, but you can use it to construct a quick barricade even without the construction skill. But, yeah, the rest of that list is rather pointless.
Okay, adding length of pipe then, maybe it'll let me delay getting construction a bit.
At the moment I'm thinking of getting, in order:
Lab Experience
Free Running
Tagging
Diagnosis
Construction
Firearms Training
Hand to Hand Combat
I have 12 xp now, found a lot of zombies in molebank and tagged twelve of them heh. Then I hid inside of a fire station. Gonna wait until tomorrow to make a move, hopefuly getting out of this zombie infested stinkhole.
Melissia wrote:Okay. Switching those two around then.
I have 12 xp now, found a lot of zombies in molebank and tagged twelve of them heh. Then I hid inside of a fire station. Gonna wait until tomorrow to make a move, hopefuly getting out of this zombie infested stinkhole.
My zombie character is in Molebank right now. It's quite the feeding frenzy. I'm already level 3.
Yeah it is. I saw at least two places that had sixteen zombies each, and then other zombies scattered about. I just hope that they don't break down this very strong barricade before tomorrow. The place is lit up, so it's kind of a beacon :/
Man, I forgot how hard it is playing a newbie survivor! I used to be the guy manning the revive point, and I could go months without getting killed sometimes.
It'll be a while before I can get that far, actually. I'll just mrh here for a little while. If anyone feels like some easy XP they can always come out and whale on me
There's a couple of zombies outside the mansion too, but on the whole this 'burb is really quiet!
LoneLictor wrote:I don't understand the stigma towards PKing. Urban Dead was supposed to be a Zombie Apocalypse game and almost all Zombie films have humans fighting each other for safehouses and resources or just over petty insults and disputes.
Think about the role of the humans in those movies, the ones who selfishly attack each other during hard times rather than cooperating, and you may get a better understanding of why PKing is douchey.
When I'm a zombie, I act as a zombie would. And when I'm a survivor, I act as a survivor would. Selfish and cruel.
That's called Dual Nature and if that's fine for you, great, but that is not how everyone wants to play.
It's also douchey of zombies to attack humans and humans to attack zombies. But if everyone decided to cooperate, videogames wouldn't work. Would Battlefield 3 be worth playing if all you did was sit around in a campfire and sing songs?
Secondly, I believe the lack of dual nature is why Urban Dead is dying. It ties into what I said earlier. The game is ending up as just a bunch of survivors reviving as many people as they can. If there were big zombie sieges and competing raiders, people might still be playing. But "playing a zombie isn't fun" and "pking is douchey" (yes, I know only one of those quotes is from you) so instead we get what we have now; a dead game.
LoneLictor: You'll note I said "PKing new players". I'm not against PKing in general, but I think that a fair thing to do would be to let the newbs level up a bit before targetting them. The first 2 levels are the hardest for new players, and if they get too frustrated with them they will quit the game.
If you want to revive the game, join a horde. Dual nature is certainly not the lifeblood of UD. Also, PKing is makes no sense as a way to encourage more people to participate.
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