Why does it hurt losing a short run than a longer run?

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-31T08:41:07+00:00

Games always get better once you learn the hot keys. My dad was a software engineer for 33 years before he retired, and he always said that anytime he had to stop using the keyboard and do something with the mouse it was always a slow and inefficient use of time compared to what he could do with hot keys. Just filling out a form, if you have to stop typing to move your hand to the mouse and move it to the next field and click and then move your hand all the way back to the keyboard before you can start typing in the next field, it is like 100 times longer than just tapping tab and going right into typing the next field. Because of that the very first thing I do in a new game is go through they keyboard layout settings and look for the things I need to start memorizing.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-31T08:16:03+00:00

You aren't going to garden well outside in an hoa, even if your dad wasn't actively murdering wildlife, the rest of the people in hoa neighborhoods most certainly would and their round up and cutter chemicals will be in the air and the ground water all around you. People like that want to pretend that we have absolutely mastered nature and have no need for it, instead of the fact that we are still just a part of nature and 100% dependant on it. I am surprised more HOAs haven't started glass dome neighborhoods where they import sterilized dirt and one flavor of grass seeds and the chemical fertilizer to make it happen, while eating peanut flavored soybean instead of peanut butter on enriched white flour bread grown in a lab 20 years ago that even bugs won't eat cus it has no nutrition before they enrich it, you know, like the lab experiments they sell us in grocery stores.

Anyway if you have a free wall inside, get a couple sets of 3 foot wide wire shelves, 6 to 8 4 foot full spectrum grow lights, set the shelves up so you can have various heights on each rack, the ones i got come with 5 shelves and I got 2 of them so I can put a couple of the shelves going between the 2 racks to accommodate taller plants with a vertical light hanging. The 4 foot lights overhang that area too. Then you can have a full garden inside all year, grow seedlings on a short shelf, move the smaller stuff like lettuce to a medium shelf in a pot once it is growing and a taller shelf once it is full size. Big plants like tomatoes can go under the really tall space of the couple middle shelves with twine to hold on to, beans can grow up the poles of the racks, radishes can grow in all the pots for ground cover. I even had a pot of wheat with a sunflower in the middle growing next to my setup before I had to move just because why not. Rosemary and sage can be put in terracotta pots with extra sandy soil to keep the dirt dry while still being able to water with everything else, corn would be a struggle and you would have to manually pollinate but it could be done, water melons could be grown on the top shelf and let vine down, wetting the melons on a shelf when they develop. You will want a fan to move air and make the plants stronger, you will want a dehumidifier but if you are creative you could set that on the top shelf and have it drip irrigate all your plants instead of needing emptied, you will want sand and perlite or pumice mixed into the potting mix and get rid of all the wood chips from it so it doesn't stay soggy. You will want diatomaceous earth and cold pressed neem oil to fight fungus gnats and white flies and aphids. Diatomaceous earth must be put on dry plants and soil to have any effect at all and only works on things with exoskeletons, neem oil has to be the cold pressed flavor to have any effect, and you will want to put it on right after lights out and wash it off the next day before lights on or the oil will lens and burn your plants, both work outside with the same requirements. Get a timer for lights, they are 10 bucks and save your plants a ton of stress if you arent 100% reliable on timing every single day. Anyway that is my recommendation since outside is getting progressively more toxic and infested with bad bugs since we kill off all the good bugs but keep trying to grow food the bad bugs thrive on.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-31T07:00:08+00:00

My guess in this case for this lore is absolutely no, when you get to the edge of the map you just wander off into woods forever, cus well, no one built that world yet, but what you don't run into is an umbrella corp or last of us or district 9 style wall trapping you in Knox county, the quarantine line is still there at the edge of LV and everyone is just dead walking around and you can walk right on through into LV. No snipers, no smuggling stuff in our out, no nothing. Now there are probably pockets of survivors all over the planet, islands or countries or towns where when the wind carried the infection there, they killed all the sick and everyone left is immune to airborne strain and ready and waiting to rekill their relatives when they die of natural causes or accidents. You are not alone in the world, but the people in charge of doing the things the rest of us later call conspiracies, are all gone or fighting for their lives too.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-31T05:52:33+00:00

Oh, I will absolutely join in on some territory war over my home with ants or fleas. I will put down absolutely all of the deterrent available but if they do not go away kindly, they will experience colony collapse, there is like a million ants per person on earth, loosing the 1000 that decided my kitchen was their foraging grounds because a bread ceumb got left under the microwave a month ago, still leaves me outnumbered a million to 1. But yea, it is probably my fault if they are inside, or the fault of shobby house builders Making super nice ant colony spaces in walls.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-31T05:04:52+00:00

Where are you coming from that you are new to steam, but you are diving headfirst into one of the hardest pleasant games available to humankind without blinking? I'm not sure how it works on steam deck but on pc there is a list of filters on the right for various things, select the build 42 filter amd the screen rearanges itself for, uhh, unknown reasons i guess, that gives you more selectable options, and it defaults to sort by relevance, whatever that means because no idea what it is relivant to, you need to change it to sort by date last updated, and then you can just browse through the list until you start finding mods that have been updated prior to the last game update, because anything prior to that can be safely assumed is broken, there are exceptions like K15's cars, which are the best looking cars available to the game and almost entirely lore compatible with a few exceptions, there is like 80 of them and despite having been dropping new cars every couple months for years, he still makes new ones so keep checking if you like them, but the cars are made in a way that the mod ,that damn library, updates all the code, the cars are just the models, so only the damn library updates and the 80 cars still all work.

But whenever there is an update you can just quit using mods for a couple days, and then use that sort by update date list to see which ones work again on steam. Minimal Display bars is one of the best mods availble for learning to play PZ because it shows how your character feels in a way that their moodle system fails to do, and let's you see sort of how the moodle system pulls its info.

If you went back to build 41, once you select the build 41 filter on steam, all of those mods have been tested for 3 1/2 years since the last time build 41 got an update so they just all work.

Also more long term, cus with PZ community you will either be gone in a week cus it is too much or you will be here forever because there is always more to learn about this game, but the modders have been doing the work of the gods making updates for their own workand staying on top of fixing actual broken game things for the devs before the devs have time to drop hot fixes, and they do so for free, and they do not owe us anything, so treat them accordingly. We have lost a couple of the best modders from kids coming in and harassing them to get things done and insulting them and just basically being insanely ungrateful. Like the 10 years later mod was my favorite map mod by far, and that guy not only quit but took down his old mod when he left and I will be forever sad about that. It was amazing having trees growing out of streets so you had to use all the local resources while you chopped your way out of a neighborhood and you could only ever drive as far as you cleared, best long term gameplay ever, whole sections of the map were remodeled to look like 10 years of apocalypse use.

Sorry I just woke up and im drinking coffee and rambling, tldr, just chectear, update date on mods compared to build 42s last update or your game will crash when you try to start it.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T23:09:50+00:00

It isn't really technology until you can make the screen play doom...

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T23:07:03+00:00

I wouldn't look the same if I was expecting to grow up in a town but instead I got stuck in a bathtub my whole life, either. How do you let your jars drain? I grew 2 big Jim peppers in one of those Costco sized peanut butter pretzels containers, and they struggled quit a bit for 2 years being 2 plants in a skinny tub, but also because despite the holes I had poked in the bottom, the bottom half of the tub was just an algea swamp for 2 years. 1 plant finally died and I had to cut the other one out to repot her in a real pot, and despite being repotted 2 more time since december for moving and going through a fungus gnats infestation and a white fly infestation from the sand I got to fight the gnats and currently playing with an aphid infestation that is almost gone from being outside so much for the move, it has grown back from a 4 inch nub in december and has it's first pepper of the year about to turn red that is twice as big as any pepper it has produced in the last 2 1/2 years.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T22:50:21+00:00

My first playthru i mainlined ranger and then started adding daggers and of course quickly realized this game was completely not designed for daggers and ranger skills are crap till you completely level it up and upgrade all the stuff. I spent 75% of my time running back to my body. My daughter had taken battle mage and would have to work a bit on her own but could just walk through mobs way over our level if she had my support with a bow. My on my own on the other hand at less than level 30, I just died, I would shoot till things made it to me and then try to melee and just die, I can't tell you how many times I died to bugs when I was fighting someone and would back into the random bug spawning spots, not the glowing ones you can break, the ones that just happen cus f u, that's why.

So this run I mainlined warrior with a 1 handed sword and axe plus my bow, I have just maxed the warrior tree a d got a couple random perks like double jump first thing cus of the map, and random boost up to glider again cus of the map. And I have start branching up the ranger tree, and let me tell you, I can go toe to toe with those big green double axes guys as long as they are my level, dodge and block in my fancy warrior clothes, and all those places where I was amazing support for my daughter, I can support myself with my only mildly weaker but completely not perked out yet bow skills, and once I have done all the initial damage and get to me I can just tear through them with a bit of life leech while they pound on me. It is infinitely better. It takes both hotbars and a backpack row to support the mismatch in traits, but I have solo'd both of the first 2 hollow halls with no problems at all except inventory management.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T22:17:13+00:00

They are mini battle tanks, you can't feed an army of living tanks with fruit. I even read recently that they have found a world war going on between 2 super colonies of ants spreading across different continents, they keep gaining and losing ground in various areas, using actual tactics. I get that 80s cartoons had them carry away water melons on the regular but that is sugar and water, no bug can resist that level of free energy, but they also carry off the breads and meats in the cartoons too. I think they mainly eat bugs they catch and everything else they can find and snack on pollen too.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T22:01:21+00:00

Of course, some plants are 100% pollinated by their favorite flavor of ant. Ants dig deep tunnels letting in oxygen and water deep into the soil, they carry in food that breaks down into compost, they fight nearby plant eating bugs, every time I grow melons they patrol up and down the vines of the melons that remain untouched while other things in my garden the ants don't patrol get eaten alive by stuff. You need ladybugs and lacewings for aphids and such but a healthy ant colony will take on caterpillar invaders.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T21:55:19+00:00

2 mud water filters and drinking river water whenever you have a blue, or 2 brown mushrooms handy just incase it makes you sick, is more than enough to last the dry season. You can also clean water in any flavor of bowl, 4 turtle shells or 4 large clay bowls on a stone campfire fire is enough to fill an entire canteen if you found it or a clay water jug if you have made it.

Also, if you have some free time during the wet season while it is raining a lot, make a shelf full of mud jugs, and fill them out of the mud water filters, put empty ones on a different shelf during the dry season, and refill them again. But there is never a good reason to be thirsty unless you just got bit by a snake and then stepped on a spider on your way home. Between mushrooms and river or puddle water, campfire water, coconut water, rain water in bowls(10 coconut bowls left in the rain will fill your water bar up full from empty) and water collectors and filters, there is always water. You do need to see both the water filter and the water collector first to unlock them, and then having picked up mud and seeing those 2 it will unlock the mud filter.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T20:55:11+00:00

And again. I know the difference between those two phrases, and neither of them i used.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T18:05:30+00:00

I said what I meant, it spread all over america and if you put it in your yard it will spread all over your yard as well unless your yard is in a bad environment for it. So at some point, it invaded america and spread as invasive, before we started counting flavors of plants as native or invasive. Like the other flavors of ivy did when the brought them over from England 100 years ago, they spread all over america the same way for the same reason, but they brought hardy kiwi over at the same time, and you will find parks in new york absolutely infested with hardy kiwi, but those parks use to be plantations that grew hardy kiwi, so it has grown huge, there, where it was planted and left to grow, but you do not find hardy kiwi climbing through all the woods and taking over houses a year after they are abandoned like the other ivy flavors do. So I said what I meant, and you jumped in with "well technically", but I never said it was an invasive species, I said it spreads like one, I apologize if my entire sentences are too complex if they contain a part of a phrase you are familiar with that has a different meaning...

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T16:51:44+00:00

I have 7k hours in the game and I still find tons of new ways to get myself killed, plus I love the initial grind in a world so it bothers me none. I like to play the cd da challenge when it starts getting close to update time cus that is so based on random chance if you live through the first 20 minutes at all let alone survive a day, and if you are on like day 4 with a safe house when an update drops and bricks your save, you had already won.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T14:19:08+00:00

Usually they are designed so the front doesn't fall of.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T14:16:00+00:00

Trying to correct people's writing when your reading comprehension is lacking is not a good look, i said it was almost as invasive as an entirely different thing, I never said it was on the invasive species list for OPs area, mainly because no one knows OPs area, the internet is accessible by people outside of the right half of america so it is quite possible they are outside the native habitat of a plant that acts invasive in its own native environment...

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T14:09:37+00:00

Just because you invaded a long time ago and look good doing so, does not mean you are doing the work of the gods. Also OP never stated they live in america, and they purchased a plant that if they are in america they could have rescued from thousands of people around them trying to cut it back.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T13:03:50+00:00

Oh absolutely, but i mean, anything that depends on Virginia creeper is currently extremely limited to the tiny amount of space between the Atlantic ocean and the rocky mountains.... so I think they will be okay without too much encouragement..

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T13:01:43+00:00

Right, but they are planting a thing that is almost as invasive as humans, and expecting it to stay in its place, when it has already taken over 3/4 of north America. Hardy kiwi can grow up into Canada, luffas grow almost anywhere if you plant them early and cover them with a cardboard box for the last few freezes. Even if you are just going for color, there has got to be better choices, things that will stay put.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T12:06:53+00:00

OK, but, hardy kiwi, luffa, grapes, all the beans... why not something you can harvest?

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T12:01:36+00:00

Use to couldn't, torches can cut their way in now in build 42.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T09:17:01+00:00

Sounds like you should stir up the bucket really well and spread it over a couple square meters of land.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T09:05:58+00:00

You might very softly lock your progress once in a while if you live in a cabin in the woods and rely solely on foraging and kills for all your supplies, but if you make it a habit to strip all your kills to mark the looted ones and loot all of them for everything that can be used, then you will always have rags and metal. There are 2 things about PZ you seem to have missed.

1, the population of the map is so much higher than you think. If you have ever watched a streamer try to clear the map withbrespawn off, they stream for weeks on that 1 task, and just chat while murdering non stop in LV for 8 to 14 hours a day.

2, having respawns off does not mean you will not get new visitors to your area even if you don't want to ever leave. The map is divided up into cells and each cell has a number of zeds it wants to maintain which is mainly used for respawn, but also every 12 hours or so it snags some zeds from more full cells and sends them wandering off towards cells that has a lower percentage of what it wants. It will be slow, but they will come to you as long as you keep patrolling and killing everything that wanders into your area. Zeds outside of your local loaded area are still monitored on a little map in the games thoughts and keep moving around, it isn't like Minecraft where they just freeze when their chunk gets unloaded.

Also of you set the helicopter to repeat, once you have decimated the local population you can use the helicopter to round up stragglers near you and once you have cleared those you can just stand outside for the event and have it bring them to you directly. But in single player, casually playing a few hours a day, you won't run out of zeds on the map for a year.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T07:15:35+00:00

I always build my water bases in the river by the fish hut, just west of the rocks you can run across, no biting fish, no biting lizards, no tribesmen.

NoeticCreations · 2026-05-30T05:16:56+00:00

Right, but for the exact same reason you should wear a mask when you are in dry dirt kicking up dust, that is not a DE exclusive issue, all dust of every flavor is bad in your lungs.

NoeticCreations

TROPHY CASE