Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Assassin,
Bear in mind that using “Google translate” is not the same as speaking a given language. As far as I am aware, accurate and reliable linguistic translation technology still only exists in science fiction, and with current AI levels, you’re more likely to get a dubious approximation of what you’re trying to say (most often a series of literally translated words) than a phrase with the same precise, intended meaning, especially with a language as grammatically complex as Latin. For example, if you use an AI to translate the phrase, “I can speak perfect Latin thanks to Google”, what comes out on the other end might be something closer to “I am authorized for discussion with Latins who are perfect Google may give praise”, or the imperative “Romans, go home!” might be reiterated as “Persons called Romani, they go into their houses!” ;)
Having said that, I would loosely translate what you said to "My weapons are out (or “ready”), fellow zombie (pandemic) veterans". Am I close in guessing your intended meaning?
As for weapons, I recommend you make your ranged weapon of choice your primary weapon and keep a melee weapon as a side arm, or vice-versa. I’ve made my specific recommendations and listed my personal weapons preferences on previous pages (i.e., pages 2 and 3), so refer back to that for more.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Whoever it is that you have in mind when you say that, I wouldn’t concern yourself with them. If you have the resources, the ability, and the patience to craft better armor, then there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from doing so, in which case, there’s really nothing more to discuss.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
A4N,
Well, yes, it’s an opinion thing, and more to the point, it’s a question of personal values and needs. Do you want armor to raise your close combat, carrying capacity, agility, and/or marksmanship, or armor that just provides the most protection (even at the expense of one or more of those skills)? I have to confess that for me, there’s another less practical consideration: vanity. I’m not in love with the stats on my pants (armored enforcer tassets), for example, but they match my outfit and complete my “look”. However, because the pants are shorter than most, I had to equip some good high-boots or my ankles are exposed and I look goofy. While these may seem like frivolous criteria for armor selection, the end result is that I’m happy with the way I look and I’m not irritated by my own avatar.
So, with dual consideration for both form and function, I’ve assembled an ensemble that provides good stats and bonuses for my style of game-play while maintaining an image that’s representative of my aesthetic values. As a result, I’m happy, and isn’t that all you could really want from a game?
Originally posted by Assassin4nolan:
-Vladeus, most top players have basic armor
What do you mean by “top players”? Top 10 ranking? Top 100 ranking? Most kills? Highest levels? Most active?
What do you mean by “basic armor”? Non-crafted? Non-premium? Low protection rating?
Most if not all of the people I would consider top players have at least one crafted piece of armor.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Originally posted by thecloester:
Out of curiosity Vladeus, what weapons do you use? I’m sort of in awe of your status on the survivor rankings and wondered if there’s anything you could recommend.
Certainly!
My two weapons of choice are as follows:
- SCAR Assault Rifle: See my post on page 2 for a detailed explanation of why I recommend this one and why it has been my constant companion these many levels
- Ripper: I had the good fortune of crafting this one before tech requirements were implemented. With 11-14 base damage, it’s unrivaled by any non-premium melee weapon but the Reaper, which does 8-15 damage. However, in my opinion, the Ripper’s narrower spread makes it the more reliable choice, and its extremely high critical rate (my average* attack damage is probably 70 or so) means that, much more often than not, it kills what it hits. Unfortunately, as you will recall from our recent discussion on this board, our observations suggest that once in a long while, a crafted bladed weapon will backfire and hit its user, but with the proper precautions, it’s still well worth the risk.
I also keep some other weapons around (e.g., a Bison SMG and FB Police Shotgun, both from mission rewards) which I use only when I find ammo for them in order to gradually work toward earning their mastery badges, but won’t use or keep around otherwise.
Hope that helps!
*Upon revision, it’s probably more accurate to say that my modal damage with this is about 70 and my average is about 60. In any case, it gets the job done.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Well said Doc, and your tactful restraint is admirable.
I’ll just add this: the farther North you go, the tougher it gets, with enemy hordes generally increasing in size and strength. The tougher it gets, the faster the xp rolls in. “Molti Nemici – Molto Onore”*
*"many enemies – much honor"
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Originally posted by thecloester:
Have you considered checking the Zombie Pandemic wiki?
A certain proverb about leading a horse to water comes to mind…
On a different note, I’d like to share a personal success story (or in other words, “brag”)… A few days ago, killing a group of raiders earned me a heck of a drop: an MPKL Sub-machine gun (with a resale value of $4,125!), and then yesterday, another gang or raiders dropped a Single Action Army handgun! Not too shabby, eh? Well, today, a zombie dropped an FB Police Shotgun! Ka-ching!!!
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
A4N,
The only way to quickly boost your technical skill is to equip an item with a tech bonus (such as a hammer, wrench, or arc welder, to name a few). Equipping two nail guns, for example, will give you a cumulative bonus of +24 tech points for as long as you have them equipped, which is what I do whenever I’m working on a safe house. However, the bonus only lasts as long as you keep the items equipped. I don’t know what happens if you equip an item to meet a tech point quota for crafting something and then un-equip the item while crafting. Maybe you keep crafting or maybe its aborted; I never tried. If you want to observe and report, that’d be good info to have.
Otherwise, tech points are like any other stat points, and there’s no quick way to raise them permanently other than training and investing level-up points.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Assassin,
Let’s be clear; what is the northernmost parallel to which you’re currently able to travel?
Regarding ranged weapons, what’s “best” varies depending on situation and how you approach it.
My SCAR assault rifle, for example, does 10-16 base damage with 25-40 critical damage per round, and with a 3-round burst-fire option, it can therefore do up to 120 damage per turn. Compared to the standard 10-15 base damage of the M-16 and others of its class, it’s the most powerful non-premium assault rifle to use 5.56 ammo. On the other hand, the M-16 has a 120 ft. range versus my SCAR’s 110 ft. range, but I consider the extra power worth the 10-ft trade-off.
Now, there are more powerful assault rifles that use 7.76 mm ammo, but the greater cost and more limited availability of 7.76 ammo affect their practicality and are a sufficient deterrent for many, making 5.56 mm weapons the more popular choice.
Sniper rifles like your PSN increase in accuracy and damage with distance, and are ideal for taking out 1 target at 100 ft. However, with their limited ammo capacity (I believe it’s 5 for the PSN?) and decreased effectiveness at closer range, they’re virtually useless against a large group of, say, 20-90 targets at 10-20 ft. By comparison, the SCAR and M-16 have a 30-round magazine, so there’s less crucial time wasted reloading during battle.
Furthermore, given the cost of ammo (especially the higher-caliber 7.76 ammo, is it really worth it to fire on a few enemies at a great distance? Well, maybe if it’s psychos & raiders or if it’s a lesser target and you’d rather spend money than the SP to walk up and clobber them with a good melee weapon. Otherwise, in my experience, you won’t encounter many LARGE groups of targets at a long enough distance from you to make a sniper rifle a viable option, and the hordes will more often tend to come at you from a medium to close range.
All things considered, assault rifles (with their combination of good range, large magazine capacity, good damage, and single fire or 3-round burst options) make them the most versatile weapon class and suitable for almost any situation.
Sure, there are other classes of weapons. LMGs have burst fire capacity, but they tend to be shorter range and their 4-0r-5 round burst options of high-caliber ammo can be rather excessive, potentially rendering them excessively expensive weapons to own and maintain. SMGs generally use cheaper 9 mm ammo and many have large magazines (especially the Bison) but their short range and low damage significantly decrease their usefulness. Sure, you can fire them in close combat (unlike many ranged weapons except for handguns and shotguns) but with their close-combat accuracy penalty, you’d be better off using a good melee weapon instead.
I hope this helps, and if anybody would like to add to this or contest any of these statements, please do! I know I’d love to hear your points of view….
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Originally posted by thecloester:
Equip a weapon with long range. Attack from far away/back away until you can hit them but they can’t hit you. If they get too close, run and repeat.
Or just use an explosive.
Did they finally institute splash damage for explosives? When did that happen?
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
What weapon were you using, Doc? For me, it happened with the Ripper (crafted blade- type weapon).
I’d be interested to know weather all melee weapons carry a risk of self-inflicting damage or weather it’s just certain ones/types.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
STUPID BUT TRUE: It turns out you can actually hit yourself with your own melee weapon!
From my combat log:
2013-4-5, 7:14
Vladeus swings wildly at Gas Attendant Zombie and hits himself for 27 Critical damage
So, I now understand that time I was suddenly taken down (as mentioned in SF’s earlier post), it was because I killed myself…
So dumb.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Originally posted by Assassin4nolan:
challenge, whoever gets the most severed heads by the 10th wins
got 2 so far
A4N,
Cool idea, and I’m tempted to take up the gauntlet you’ve thrown down! …. but on the other hand, even if I win, I end up with 10 more heads clogging up my inventory, so I’m feeling a little unmotivated, here….
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Originally posted by AnimatedWolf:
Alraight! sweet Im going to join but could you invite me because I dont want to join the wrong group so yeah plz invite me and I shall join! yay im so excited!
I can only send invitations to people not currently in a clan, so you’d have to leave first.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Wolf,
There’s no need to struggle alone and toil over a single safehouse. We have all the facilities and hospitality you could ever want at every area of the maps, and when you’re ready, we’ll be happy to have you with us and to place them at your disposal!
Thanks for posting!
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
CLANMATES:
If you’re planning on bringing lumber to The Clubhouse (and I REALLY hope you are), please use it one the Armory or Storage first, as building without these facilities on site makes construction a real pain.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
THE CLUB HOUSE: SHOPPING LIST
(Items and quantities needed)
Done
WATER PURIFIER
GENERATOR
STORAGE
ARMORY
FOOD STORAGE
LIVING QUARTERS
Need help finding an item? Look here:
http://blog.zombiepandemic.com/Wiki.aspx
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
VORON’S NEST: SHOPPING LIST
(Items and quantities needed)
DONE
VEGETABLE GARDEN
SICKBAY
FOOD STORAGE
ARMORY
STORAGE
LIVING QUARTERS
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Oh, Scotty, Scotty, Scotty…
You really should have just left me there…
But, just to show what a nice guy I am, I’ll return the favor and revive you once I’m done with you.
Now hold still…
(And they weren’t level 1, dang it!!!)
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Actually, this raises a valid question for discussion. If any members (or even non-members, for that matter) have insight on successful money-making in the current ZP economy, you’re welcome to post your tips here. In my experience, what may seem obvious to some may not be obvious to others. So, if something is working for you, then by all means, share your wisdom!
For starters, I’ll offer this…
$ – Indoor areas now tend to offer a greater density of looting options than you’ll find on the street, but the catch is that you’ll have to clear each room of hostiles before you can do any looting. So, once you do, invest a little more SP to board the place up adequately. This will keep hostiles from reclaiming the space, and you’ll be able to come back and loot it again every few days without wasting SP, HP, and ammo (and thus, money) on clearing it again. Do this with a cluster of buildings and you’ve got a loot farm!
$ – While ranged weapons are a necessity, ammo can easily be the biggest drain on your income. So, conserve ammo by making sure you have a good melee weapon for a sidearm as well as the stats to support it. Crafting a Ripper or a Driller could be a good option, and even if you make marksmanship your primary focus, be sure to also invest some points in strength and close combat regularly. If you have more down time and empty ammo casings than money, you may also consider buying some potassium from Autumn Leaves for $160, which can be used in crafting ammo. It can be a cheaper alternative to buying ammo, at least to supplement your munitions stash.
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Vladeus
148 posts
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Topic: Zombie Pandemic /
Merchants of Fate (DHARMA) welcomes you!
Assassin,
We have a number of safehouses that offer free food and/or water, so just get it from one of those. Otherwise, help build those facilities at a safehouse that doesn’t already offer them.
Building a new safehouse wouldn’t mean that any food and water produced there would be your personal property. Rather, it would be available to any clan member who wants them, like at all safehouses.
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