My first a19exp game. Quick(ish) journal.

[FileMachete]

--damn. I can't be succint even when I try. This turned into a novela, read at your own risk

 

First game in b173 was on pregen01. Did normal start quests, gather some cotton, get some wood, stone, the usual. But walked to the Trader to save on food/water. Got to Trader (Jens, but didn't go inside to meet her), went up to the roof of the central building to see if anything had change, on my way back down the stairs, game crashed to white screen.

 

Revalidated files (all ok. and I'd done a full delete, including all saves, prior to install of b173. And had validated after install completed. Game names I use are "a19b173_PG01" so no chance of using an old name. Also needed to create an avatar. Previous one was gone as expected.) & reloaded, was a bit above where it crashed. started down again, crash. 3rd load paid attention, when pov swung near North, game crashed again. On 4th load I barely moved and, crash. Appeared to be video related? Decided to try a different map, just in case there's a vid/texture/something bug with pregen01. Started a new game in pregen02. Working so far (all vanilla, Adventurer & 90 minute days. not planning on doing any questing early on, curious how food will go without questing);

 

Day 1) Spawn, do starter quests, gather a couple hundred wood, ~60 stone. Start walking towards Trader ~600m away. Gather Cotton for bandages, check all trash & nests along the way. Get there mid day, say hello, compliment him on his tree house, sell the random bits I'd found, buy a can of Chicken from vending machine, head out to find & clear a place for the night.

 

While there are two houses across the street from trader, they're wood framed so I explore the area a bit looking for something sturdier. Unfortunately the Snow biome starts just a block away, so almost all of the city/town is in the snow. See a group of Snowberries, punch them. Heading back to the forest I find a rustic Lathams Hardware a couple hundred meters from the trader. Nothing else around and at least it's ground floor is Flagstone, so decide that'll do.

 

Clear it out without to much trouble, though fat momma chased me for a bit. Has a working Workstation, yay. Trader only has a mixer. Tap on a couple walls just in case they're just painted wood. Nope. Concrete! nice..

Getting late, haven't eaten anything but Snowberries all day, but thanks to walking & no digging, still not 'hungry', and still have the can of Chili and the Chicken. Thankfully also still have the original jar of clean water, because I get 'thristy', so drink it and mull over how to spend the 4 points. Decide to try the animal tracker perk, along with master chef. Hopefully I can find a Cooking Pot tomorrow, and something to cook up in it.

 

Day2) Wake up hungry. Eat the can of chicken. Head out back towards the houses near traders, looking for small game along the way. New senses spot a chicken, head after it, lucky me the poor thing head butts a tree, I finish it off, get 10 meat, so at least a couple Bacon & Eggs if I can loot a pot (I'd found 5 eggs yesterday). Head to first house, clear it, get a lvl2 stone axe & shovel, some brass, and yes! a cooking pot. Also 1 jar of clean water.

 

Head to second house, have a dicey moment with Edgar, lvl1 wood club durability hits zero quick, but not too bad, stuck a bone in his eye to end it. Loot a can of Miso and a can of Stock, so able to stave off thirst/hunger a bit longer.

Head across the street and sell the random bits to trader, buy 700 Cobblestone. Buy the vending machines other can of chicken and a can of Salmon.

Head off hunting small game. Get another chicken and managed to get a rabbit because it paused in the middle of the road so I have 30 meat now. Getting late, heading home, luck into another 2 eggs. Punch some red flowers for tea.

 

Cook everything up at home, now have 3 B&E, 12 Red Tea. Figure out how the buffs work (maybe?) so eat a B&E and start chopping out the stairs & random bits while the stamina buff is active. Zed comes to the back door to beg for scraps, he must not have gotten the memo about LBD as he gets very 'familar' with the wood spike in front of the door.. 0_o  I take that as a sign and knock out the door and put in doubled cobb poles instead. It's after 10pm so head to the roof and take out the cieling above the bedroom that accesses the back 2nd story porch, put in some wood bars. Call it a night.

 

Day3) 4am decide to shovel up some clay by an iron node that's just across the gravel road from home. Get a couple hundred Clay & Iron. Then head off to the School/Academy just down the road from traders to look for some decent clothes. Why is every steel door locked here? Hmm.. guess they were trying to lock in the zombies. Half way through the first floor I'm getting encumbered so head to street to drop a box to hold stuff. Back inside I'm working on one door while a nice Nurse is working on her door too. Start hearing xombie sounds from where I'd already been, but those doors are gone, so why does it sound like a steel door being broken? I'm about to shake hands with a skater dude, and the nurse is trying hard, bless her heart. I decide to leave the last 50hp or so for skater boy and go see where/whos breaking a door. Wuat-wo. Door from the playground gives in and there's a horde outside late for class.

 

Start meeting out punishment for being late, recall that skater, start backing up to the front door with 6 delinquents headed by an Edgar and a big momma who have no respect for hall monitors. Eventually kite and convince (club) them into behaving.

Finish off the school, now sporting a BDU shirt, shorts, cowboy boots, loot goggles, int geeks glasses, 4 pairs of shades, 4 football helmets and other random colthes to sell. Also scored 11 office chairs ~100 polymer, a couple lvl1 wrenches and 3-4 books. Sort thru stuff, taking sellables planning to come back for the keepers after traders (thankfully didn't decide to encumber myself).

 

Get jumped by a wolf on the way. He came out of nowhere, from one of those horrid pinetrees whose branches come all the way down to the ground. Jees I hate those things (and I normally clear them as I go along, but can't afford the stamina in a19). His first bites bleed, infect and abrase. Then the -bleep-er- runs off all happy with himself... grr. so after a bandage & a pain pill, I get after him, waste some arrows trying to hit him, pointless, eventually he comes back for another snack. I get a couple hits in, he manages to sprain my leg. Runs off again. I limp after, he finally comes back in, I finally teach him to "play dead".

 

Limp to the trader, sell off the load I had, start wandering the woods looking for tree stump honey. Manage to find two, but neither had honey. Almost dark so head home. Spend a point for a forge, cook in some clay & iron while spending most of the night chopping off the back porch, and the other bits on the two sides and put in wooden bars.

Look into how to spend perk points. Decide that a Bike would be a good idea to cover more ground looking for stumps or a pharmacy for some antibiotics. Can also afford a point into the Knife perk, so do that and forge enough iron for a knife and the bike. Only need the mechanical parts from the office chairs I looted at the school and a bit of coal for the wheels.

 

Day 4) 4am, infection is at ~15%, sprained leg has healed. Head to the school for the chairs. Know where a Coal node is, hit it for the 20 or 40 I need, then back to base to make the bike. With bike made I head out looking for honey, it's still mid-morning. Get lucky finally on the third I find. I know one jar won't be enough, but I hope it helps, so I guzzle it down & keep on keeping on. I hear something.. hey, I forgot, it's mana from heaven day, hopefully there'll be an antibiotic in the airdrop! It's ~650m away, so head that way, thankfully it wasn't dropped behind my line of travel, so covering new ground. Find another jar of honey on the way, hold off in case the ad has meds. Get to the crate, cross my fingers, and.. nope. No meds. Glug the honey.

 

Bit of good news, there appears to be a town to the south, so head that way. Cruise the streets looking for a strip mall or pharmacy. No luck with those either. Time to start heading back to base as it's 2+km away now. Half way back I see a building ahead, wow. it's a Clinic! But dang it, it's now 21:00. Decide to see what I can find in that hour, so head in. Clear the first floor and loot a few exam rooms, but no meds. The music plays and it's 22:00, time to get. Thankfully no dire wolves or bears jump me on the way back. Get up to the roof, drop of stuffs, then contemplate tomorrows plan. I haven't lucked into the book that increases honey drops, and even finding stumps (I think my very low vid settings mean they only show up when very, very close, and I may be past them before they come in), turned out to be really difficult. I spent most of a full day out looking and only found six stumps & two jars. So plan A will be clearing the Clinic. If that doesn't yield an antibiotic, well... should I just go out on my own terms? or play russian roulette with stumps and refuse to give up?

 

I don't know what I'll do. Wish me luck.

 

[Mday]

Same here, same map, same inflection from direwolf. I spent a full day looking for honey, always a little too late. After using 3 honey I looted the T5 food factory for my cure.

[Reckis]

@FileMachete Thanks for the great read! So much for the boring early game i have been hearing so much about!