March Digest #1

World of Warships

Thursday means the next Nian Paradox weekly mission (#3) is now active. 

Highlight however was the release of the Finest Hour collection crates. Which means I can finally complete the collection and obtain Conrad Helfich, the Dutch Unique commander. That just leaves the Commonwealth Unique commander left to go. 

Also begun today was the Battle of Java Sea event. The prizes are four historical warships that took part in the engagement - Minegumo, Yudachi, Jupiter '42, Perth. Obtaining these ships relies upon having large quantities of special tokens especially for this event. Fortunately for me I already have all the ships -  so I can relax and concentrate instead on the Nian Paradox event.

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Becoming dyslexic but more a case of laziness again. Swapping numbers around seems common for that allowing a known condition getting the blame for something it's not responsible.

Finished the last mission task in the third mission set for the Nian Paradox mission event. Still playing the three recent fleet additions - Eastern Dragon, Nian, and M. Colonna. Gets tedious at times. Playing with a few live players but most are BOT players. When they are live players, I try to support them where possible, otherwise, I just do "my own thing."

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Got Conrad Helfrich today. Resisted the temptation to exchange steel for coal (why would I when steel is very hard to come by ordinarily plus I can earn the coal through the daily crates). Yet to decide upon which ship will receive him as captain.

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New PC Game - Surroundead

Saw a new Jingles playthrough vidz today. New zombie survival game - SurrounDead. Was hooked within the first minute and immediately bought it on Steam. Kind of reminds me of the Stardew Valley in that it's the work of one developer. Been around in Early Access since 2022. Constant updates. And fairly popular with many - a blockier graphical version of Day Z.

You start alone, without any clues, and just with a knife. Everything has to be scavenged. And don't take on the zombies unless you have a more potent weapon than a knife. Backpack helps. So does GPS to help with position location and navigation. Semi auto weapon much better than a knife.

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Frustrating part about this new game is that you're presented with several options from time to time early on but for some reason (not skilled up enough) you cannot access them due to malfunctioning mouse (middle mouse inoperative).  For example, recently happened upon a working golf cart on the second day with one of my characters. Aside from its excellent use as a mower-down-of-zombies-at-speed, I cannot access the other options other than (1) jump on. The others - (2) access storage, or (3) push require a functioning middle mouse. 

One of my earlier characters struck paydirt by basing close to multiple military drops. Food supplies, medical, equipment and weaponry - all kept showing up on my GPS map locator. Accumulated so much that I didn't know what to do with them. At peak, I had two fully packed day bags (supplies and food), two standard Coyote backpacks full of equipment, weapons, amoo, three large Coyote backpacks (much the same), an Alice pack (same as the Coyote bakcpacks, two military chests with assortments of long calibre weapons, a large quantity of jerry cans of fuel in my hidey spot. But upon return one day, all the backpacks and fuel were gone. Learned my lesson: store them away. Don't leave them lying about unsecured as they will eventually disappear.

I thought bandits had raided my base but that's not so. The military chests with weapons were still there as were the other immovable objects (small and industrial generators plus crafting bench). But anything else not nailed down and could be picked up that was of value was gone. At least they left me the camp lantern and sleeping bag or are they just part of the furniture landscape? Dunno.

Managed to kill off the lunk of a Zombie boss at Whitewood. Massive monstrosity that made me take him out safely from long range. Why get too close when good old 7.62 fired repeatedly will do the job for you. 

The cop car on the bridge will respawn new loot every day. So, if you camp on the bridge, you never short of ammo or medical supplies although what spawns daily is randomly determined. 

It's the same whenever you stay in one location for too long: while crates will spawn new items daily unless you have the appropriate storage crates, you will lose those items. Found that out (again) when basing myself in an abandoned building.

When you run out of food or water, your health seriously declines to the extent that if you don't feed or water yourself, you die. 

Melee combat can be hit-or-miss depending on the weaponry. Not quite mastered the mechanic which seems lacking to me. Oh, and don't linger around a dead zombie too long after downing them. Some have a habit of exploding like the acidic ones which can add more damage to your already depleting health. 

If the zombies and bandits is not enough, then the local wildlife - wolves and bears - will pop up at unexpected moments to keep you on your toes. Spotting them before they attack you is the fun part. Have not run into poisonous snakes...yet!

Will give the game another week to master. Can'd do much until I replace my mouse.

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Kind of getting the hang of this game. When you die though, unless you set it up, you lose the settings of the last save as in what was prevalent at the time of your death. So that when you reload the last save, you lose the conditions prior to your death. Which means, for example, if you've stumbled on several military drops and for some reason you end up dying, those military drops will have disappeared when respawning.

This time round however I got quite lucky with a new character and spawned far to the east of the sanctuary - where the friendlies meet and trade - in a small deadend street neighbourhood called Pine Road. 

Previously, I've nearly always started the game either to the west or southwest of the main sanctuary (shield symbol on the map above) where its friendlies and traders. 

What was really fortunate though (godsend actually) was stumbling upon the construction site at the end of the street where they'd boarded up the stairs so you can safely hide from the zombies by climbing over the barrier (they can't). Vacant first floor meant I could plant as many tents and thus store my loot safely (see photo below). To ease the worry, I placed a sleeping bag and got some shuteye rather than wait the night out which is both slow and stressful.

Pine Road is just a cluster of three residences and the construction site. Two of the residences can be accessed with daily random loot spawning.  There is also a military grade lockup for which you need bolt cutters. Meanwhile the third house is totally boarded up and inaccessible...for now. 

Managing this time round to remember to dump all the unnecessary stuff at the traders. Made easier by finding and fixing up a car (my first car) so I am more mobile this time round. Fixed it up completely and fuelled up at the POL just outside my door. 

However, the frequency of running into more and more bandits is increasing daily, especially along the sealed roads. So far, I've eluded them while managing to knock off a couple for having the audacity to run my car down. Got myself an AK for that. Old skool shooter that I am, nothing like the hitting power of a 7.62 round. Easily penetrates a lead plate at 200m in real life. Imagine what it does to a human head at 50m?!

For the zombies I have an AR-15 and a shotgun. So far I am preferring the shottie because it's a guaranteed killer being an area weapon.

The amount of loot accumulates fairly quickly. What with scavenging and military drops, it all adds up pretty quickly. And the variety is quite staggering from industrial generators to chainwire fencing blocks.

Not so fortunate this time round with coyote backpacks. Coping well enough with just a couple of duffle bags however. Unfortunately haven't yet figured out how to drink the liquor yet. It won't go into my medical bag but is sold by the medical trader. 

Certain items are useful for storage such as security containers, tool chests, and so on. Which saves on save. Even the good old leather wallet has its uses. Cash is still the main form of barter. Thankfully smart phones are considered junk. 

Sleeping bags are useful for allowing your character to skip the night fandango. If no sleeping bag however unless you can find a sleep posey, you're stuck being awake all night. But in summer it can stay semi light for a while. Only gets really dark at certain times. 

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Upgraded my little yellow putt putt vehicle for one of those grunty 4WD utility trucks (blue and white) after I drove at night with lights off and ran over a trash pile and got stuck. Found the new vehicle at the crossroads not far from where I was stranded. Popped into Mike the auto trader for fuel and repair kits.

Boss Zombies yield a trove of military weapons and better quality equipment. It would be a fool to tackle one in a melee however; quickly learned early on to stay at distance and use high-powered rifles to chip away at their high health pool cost. 

Combined with knocking off Boss Zombie is clearing an area of Infestation. Have to take out the numerous infected zombies before tackling the main Primary Infestation area. And then the inevitable attendant Boss Zombie. 

There was one at the Lonely Farm not far from my Base - a bullet round away in fact. Did not know it was there until I went exploring one day. 

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Scored a second truck tonight when I was scouting up north (beyond the radiated zones). Had to hump it on foot though after first dropping off my blue truck back at base and then backtracking to the location of the second vehicle. Went the direct route while skirting a couple of no-go areas (contaminated checkpoints and the unexploded nuke) along the way. Got there without too much trouble, and relieved to find the truck still there. 

Homebase is slowly getting crowded. Using tents to store all the loot gathered. Lots of crafting needs happening to have a secure base though - doors, walls, etc. 

Just crafted a construction bench (on the left) eventually after being sidetracked by all the loot collected. Just need to add the deconstructing workbench so I can obtain more raw materials. 

Realising that the longer you leave it, the more numerous the hostile bandits will spawn and thus make your continued existence a misery. So it pays to take them out whenever you encounter them. Just the other night, on the bridge south of Whitewood, I scouted out around ten of them just milling about close towards the police station. Took out several before getting wasted myself. You could tell they were hostile because whenever there is a newly placed burnt out vehicle within their circle you know they're in the area.

Taking out the primary infection is only possible once you've eliminated ALL the secondary infection locations. Just follow the tendrils spreading from the main infection zone. Of course, you also got the zombie hordes that spring up out of the ground to contend with. And then there's the fearsome lunky Zombie Boss itself. Relentless bastard.

Positively ID other humans before opening up at range. Simple mouse cursor hovering will inform you if they're friendly or hostile. They pop up from time to time.

Now that I'm more mobile, I've been doing the tiki tours around the map and identifying the various locations. Along the way I ran into the military trader who is always mobile in a well armoured and protected vehicle. 

There is another scavenger friendly zone north of the main sanctuary. It doesn't have traders and looks more permanent with concrete barrier surrounding a firewatch tower. It does have a turret auto gun at the entrance which is something. Hoping to find others in my travels west toward the port cities. 

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Glitch with the Humvee, getting in. So I left it where I parked it. Long walk back to base. I still can access the yellow truck I switched with. 

Started building perimeter around home base after watching a YT vid on base building and suitable location. Where I am is outside the coverage done by the YT vid so I'm pleased I have free rein. No clear design regarding perimeter, just winging it at the moment. Can modify later on. 

Crafting a deconstructing workbench is a godsend as far as I'm concerned. Helps to clear the clutter as well as provide much needed raw materials.

Needing new mouse as current one has broken middle mouse. Which prevents me from scrolling through options and refining placement of items. No rush though as priority is saving up for my dart board.

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Retrieved the Humvee. Glitch temporary. Operating fine. Picked up an ambulance as well. Base attracting other friendly scavengers. Wonder when the bandits will show up. 

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Every town seems to have an underground train station. Once you descend the stairs, ensure you have a torch or night vision goggles for exploring. 

Picked up a third vehicle, an ambulance vehicle. Stocking up each vehicle with equipment and supplies in case I get stranded. On the hunt for a tank now. Know a truck was available but I got sidetracked and then killed. When I respawned, the option was gone. 

Towing a vehicle. Haven't had to do so yet. Got stuck a few times. Discovered it's easy to just keep pushing the vehicle as many times as needed to dislodge it and thus reclaim it. 

Slowly checking out the eastern side of the map (below shows the mid eastern section). The sanctuary is more or less central in the map. 

Periodic supply drops are coloured coded with smoke: green for military weaponry and equipment, blue for food, red for medical. Places of interest are denoted mustard yellow. They range from former survivor camps to helicopters downed. Up to you whether you investigate or not. They change from time to time. 

Those places marked in white are permanent once discovered and investigated. 

Infested areas (zombies) are marked in red nuclear symbols. They too change from time to time. Guaranteed to find a zombie boss (and attendant hordes) as well as special loot boxes in these locations. Primary and secondary infection areas yield loot that's worth the effort. Zombie bosses definitely yield useful weapons and equipment, also worth examining. Unique loot boxes are as their name implies though what exactly is part of the discovery fun. 

Nuclear-contaminated areas are marked in green and tend to be avoided when traversing on foot. Better to drive through if possible. 

There is also the icecream van guy (got a goofy looking clown mask). He is a special trader with some really good stuff (unique weapons and so on) that appeared out of nowhere one day. Like both of the military and wandering traders he roams all over the map never staying in one spot for too long. The funny thing is the front of the van has been modified with a couple of menacing ram prows. The sight of it playing Greensleeves coming at you is both frightening and funny.

Oh, one other thing. Accidentally ran over the wandering trader one day outside the sanctuary. Wondering if he respawns or is permanently killed off.

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Ran into Coyote soldiers today. Two groups. Managed to kill the first group but was unaware of the second group not far away. Happened while I was trying to wipe out the primary infestation at the shipping port not far from Gladevale Military Base.  

Had run-ins with the Coyote para-military before. But every time I try to question others about them, I get no help at all. 

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Cannot stop collecting things. In this game, it's vehicles...lol. Picked up a yellow Charger with black racing stripes (opposite my character shown below) while cruising past Chester Lake, north of my main base. Picked it up because it's the same model as Mike the Auto trader. Still on the lookout for a tank.

Was at the port for most of today's session struggling to knock off the primary infestation. Got the Zombie Boss, Captain Phillips. But then another Undead Big Boss spawned later while I was about dithering killing both secondary infestations and the primary one. Swarms of zombies kept appearing from everywhere.

Figured out that if you get stuck with your vehicle, as you do from time to time (as shown below), the best way to extricate yourself, apart from pushing it (which is slow and laborious and not guaranteed it will work anyway) is to just exit the game and reload the last save. Of course if you get yourself into such strife as below and then the game auto saves, then you're up the poverbial creek without a paddle...sort of. If in Settings, you chose to autosave the same file, then, yes, you're buggered. But if if you checked to autosave a new save every time, then you're okay.

Knocking over zombies causes wear and tear on your vehicle. It's definitely fun and saves on bullets but eventually you're going to have to repair the damage done.

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Other PC Games - Wanderburg

Seen this fun-looking game thanks to Flambass. Downloaded the DEMO version for now. Yet to play. Fun is main word to describe what I've seen so far. As games should be.

I play PC games for fun so why bother looking for them when I have my favourite YT streamers do the job for me. Thank you sirs.

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