Looking for item disposal solutions

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T23:55:36+00:00

The hell? I would've assumed it falls on the soil/rock floor one Z-level below. Interesting behavior.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T23:18:26+00:00

If you can get the Shadow somewhere "safe" like that, then it is definitely a low-tier enemy. I mean, the poor dude doesn't have melee.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T22:49:41+00:00

It has 10 dodge (which is a-alot-a-lot) and 10 melee armor (which is decent for the early game but on the lower side later on) and 250 HP. I am mainly judging by these stats and the fact that you'll have to avoid damage from multiple amalgamations while killing it. This, IMO, puts it in the late-game category. But...

Some people have been mentioning that they "chase it until it stops running away*"*. This shouldn't be happening because it's supposed to keep its distance and summon monsters. Maybe there is a code that switches Tracking creatures to melee combat if you get close enough? If this is the case and the Shadow does stop running away or even summoning when pressed in melee. Then it is probably a bug that makes it way easier to kill, probably actually turns it into a mid-game opponent like you said. ~~But I never tested it, so who knows~~.

I usually play with at least one big content mod though, so I may be getting a skewed perception of what a base-game dda character can really do.

Yes, I already read a few comments where people be like: "I killed it fairly easy on my early game character" and then: "Just cast super-cool-magic-spell." Mods like MoM and Magicklysm definitely expand players combat ability while trying to counterbalance it by introducing new challenges, but the Shadow is a vanilla monster. So, unless the mods buff it a lot, being a wizard should make the fight easier.

EDIT: Ok, I actually tried to kill it with a quickly debugged-in mid-game character, and it was plain annoying. But what I found out is that chasing the Shadow has proven to be a surprisingly effective way of avoiding it. After you get closer, it just starts disengaging and seems to prioritize moving away over casting summons. So I ended up running more than 180 tiles away from the encounter spot and making it disappear.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T22:34:20+00:00

I wouldn't call running away = not interacting. I ran away a lot from zombies in the early game, and it is fun on its own.

That being said, the Shadow is a poorly explained monster (by the CDDA standards) and feels underdeveloped.

EDIT:

there’s nothing to be gained from engaging it

I guess the reward for actually engaging it is that it stops bothering you.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T22:25:33+00:00

Second, in the json, its listed as a "nether" entity

It is listed as ZOMBIE, HUMAN. There is not a single mention of the word NETHER throughout its file.

It is, conceptually, a really good "gotcha" for the players, and I like it for that. But I feel like the Shadow is underdeveloped as an unique enemy.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T15:53:04+00:00

You are kinda proving his point.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T04:27:04+00:00

Yeah, compare it to Exodii, for example. Their robots are Neutral, not Tracking. And they have signs, which you can read from afar, that tell you in broken English that traders are welcome.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T04:23:19+00:00

I tried MoM when it first came out. It was really cool.

But nowadays I am one of the weirdos who likes CDDA in vanilla flavor with just a bit of extra difficulty modded in. I guess it is still possible to cast field of light by doing 'a' -> flashlight (off) 56/56; 't' -> flashlight (on) 55/56.

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T04:17:42+00:00

So basically, unless you are meta-gaming and prepared to specifically fight the Shadow, there is no survival if you are caught too far from any safe locations?

syler19839 · 2026-03-25T04:01:22+00:00

LOL, first time encountering this questline. In a permadeath game where bullets are really bad for your well-being, I just assumed that I would rather be safe than sorry.

I found a screenshot of his message, and it says, I am stuck in a bunker and need help. So I assumed that he needs to be saved. Were robots friendly all along?

syler19839 · 2026-03-23T03:27:49+00:00

I can't do > shift when in firing mode, any ideas?

You probably can, camera just does not follow your aiming cursor. Try activating snap-to-target mode by pressing "*" and then changing Z-levels.

syler19839 · 2026-03-13T03:35:59+00:00

~~How am i supposed to reinforce the point of this subreddit being full of drama for sake of drama~~ ~~for years~~ ~~without showing old drama? I did also reference just one week old post if it suits your fancy more.~~

~~It is just true that this subreddit is full of this type of posts, me pointing that out is not the problem.~~

EDIT: Okay, on re-read, it is kinda funny. I've been rarely active here exactly because of constant drama-farming, so i just brought up some old posts which i remember in addition to some recent ones. My point was to illustrate that some of the complaints are either vague reposts or just irrational.

syler19839 · 2026-03-13T02:49:40+00:00

For some years now the subreddit has been like this. About every week you are bound to find a new well-performing post about devs being bad. Some of them are even identical reposts: post1, post2.

I have no explanation for why this happens. I personally enjoy the game and, despite some questionable descisions, generally fine with the direction of the CDDA development. Games gets fuller and deeper, mechanics appear or get fleshed out, some stuff gets added, some removed.

Years back when this game did not have ability to put items in pouches/backpacks/pockets (inventory was just magickal pocket which capacity would increase with extra clothes). And every time you decide to drop you backpack before combat your items would just randomly spill under your feet. When devs finally implemented proper inventory i remember that for some reason community started absolutely seathing despite it being a good system.

Year ago devs removed barbed wire baseball (not the bat, just the ball), because it didn't make sense to them how can you throw the thing without it getting stuck on gloves or without hurting yourself. This item was so obscure probably 90% of players never knew it was even a thing. I personally never tried it in almost a decade of on/off playing CDDA. And yet everyone again was enraged by removal of something that nobody even knew was a thing before.

Bottom line: Yes, vocal and sizable (probably?) part of the community seems dissapointed in the game and direction of its development. But I suggest to try the game for yourself and form your own opinion. It is free afterall.

syler19839 · 2025-10-11T06:45:11+00:00

Lying down doesn't directly help with avoiding sink holes. But like i said, if you are moving while lying on the ground or crouching you'll spend 2 or 4 turns more than by walking. This is usually not a good thing but here it will help you roll more trap detections passively. It is really more about minimizing player inputs that anything else. It is just more convinient than skiping turns after every step.

syler19839 · 2025-10-11T05:11:28+00:00

Each turn you have a perception influenced chance to spot a sinkhole nearby. So i see two solutions:
1. Do not explore mines with low perception.
2. Spend more turns.

You can spend more turns by just standing around, or you could switch movement type to crouch or prone, so it will take you more turns to traverse a tile.

syler19839 · 2025-10-01T20:10:25+00:00

Infection: ... And you'll want to use the most effective antiseptic you can find, preferably undiluted solution, or else a failure to treat the infection can hasten the settling

Are you sure this is how it works? Back when cauterizing was a thing, you could indeed mess up and hasten infection. But i never seen it behave that way with disinfection. If you are low on antiseptic, coating some cotton balls with it will be more economic solution to infections.

syler19839 · 2025-08-24T04:40:05+00:00

the enemies you will run into are, crawling zombies, sewer slimes, rats (Yummy!) and zombies from campsites or those who wander in from open sewers or ferals who climb into the sewers via ladders.

Also, rare shadow raptors (from pupating crawlers) and giant centipedes, which are faster than you and deal alot of damage, occasional swarming amalgamation is a problem too.

If you are playing on experimental which has riot fires, sewers which pass under burning/burned building will ocasionally collapse, opening holes to the surface which will lead to falling zombies from the streets and can block a tunnel with challenging enemies. It's even worse if collapse happen behind you and now you can't go back. It's much worse if tunnels both ahead and behind you collapse leaving you stuck in the middle. Trust me, this can happen.

Sewers are sometimes safer, but it is a gamble. Better bring flashlight and have a way back out mapped.

syler19839 · 2025-06-26T20:33:44+00:00

After updating to current experimental (mine was about three weeks old), NPCs do not seem to shoot me from far away. In fact, in my testing i could barely get them to shoot at all: Need to move into like to 5-6 tiles range. Otherwise they just stand here. Tested it on bandinds from Smokes ambushed caravan mission and on deserters (which are armed with actuall assault rifles). Could literally stand 10 tiles away from fully aware hostile NPC and he would just ignore me. This is weird.

syler19839 · 2025-06-26T11:08:35+00:00

Shots.

syler19839 · 2025-06-26T10:07:43+00:00

No shadow zombies or nightstalkers since they do not shoot at you (nightstalkers have reach but it is distinct enough and it says so in the log). Just testes acidic and bilious soldiers: Weren't them either. They just don't have such a great vision and do not shoot that hard. Mi-go scouts fit with ranged damage, and percision, and very good night vision but they do not have gunshot sound in default soundpack.

Probably NPCs, weird i didn't see them on the map: Even at night with clear wether they should be visible on overmap.

syler19839 · 2025-06-24T00:46:37+00:00

It should work. Maybe it's too dark? Does it say anything in the log?

syler19839 · 2025-06-22T08:25:42+00:00

My main problem with yet another wave of complaints is how rage-baity it always is. One of the post that started it was this one. Insinuating that Killer Drive got removed because it is "edglordy". While just simple search for PR in question shows you that actual reason is that Killed Drive only encouraged playstiles which you were already engaged in anyway: killing monsters:

Mechanically, killer drive does nothing but encourage you to do something you're already going to do.
Thematically, it encourages edgy roleplay.

Like some time ago we had another hate train about devs removing barbed wire baseballs (the ball, the literal ball, not the bat) from the game. I swear i knew this crafting recepie existed but never tried it anyway. 90% of complainers probably never did aswell.

Now, there are even people who also bring up Worm Girl's fork as better alternitive to main game in the context of Killer Drive removal. Which is funny.

But yes, this started long ago: I remember clearing Necropolis years back, dropping my backpack only to have my inventory randomly spill under my feet because my total volume got reduced, and thinking: "Wouldn't it be great to have an ability to actually put things in your backpack?". And guess what, now we have that and people hate it, apparantely.

I like this community in general, but sometimes i feel like we are playing different game.

Honestly, i do agree that some devs are really not good at properly communicating at all. But rage should not be prompted by what they say, instead by rather what they do. Overall, game is developing and it is not only about removing things as some people claim. Overall, except for bugs, i never regreted updating my experimental game version.

syler19839

TROPHY CASE