Ok, a VERY brief glance at a couple newbie guides to 7dtd assures us that what we want to be building first is a sleeping bag, so we can respawn in one place. That seems like a great idea. Now, I just need a bunch of cotton. Good news is, you can just grab up cotton plants from where-ever they are growing - no harvesting or chopping or anything. Bad news, cotton is pretty scarce in some of the locations.
After finding enough cotton and slowly assembling cloth fragments and then sleeping bags (and then subsequently losing all that hard work by picking up the sleeping bag and dying with it in my inventory while trying to move it to a new location), the new challenge is building a real shelter. Because just crouching down at night and hoping to not attract the attention of running, glow-eyed zombies seems like a pretty bad apocalypse plan.
We finally figure out that the stone axes are sufficient for chopping down medium-sized trees to get those wood planks the game keeps hinting at, it just takes some significant chopping to get one down. I assembled a rudimentary... square of wood frames, but they're see-through, and zombies still rush at me at night, and several things become apparent: 1) there's no hiding from zombies? 2) wood frames are super breakable by zombies, and 3) when there's nothing supporting a wood frame, the whole lot of it falls and breaks apart! Sucks. Time to do some more reading up and maybe restart the server.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
7 Days to Die: Day 1
Day 1, as in, the first day that I played it. In-game, actually I think three days went by.
In the spirit of the game, neither Xian nor I read any walk throughs or guides. It's an apocalypse simulator, and let's hurl ourselves in there and just figure it out as the apocalypse intended.
So we're just mostly-naked husks wandering around ruins and wilderness. We have no idea where the other person is, and have to sit around experimenting with the controls just to figure out how to move around, crouch, etc. I loot everything that can be clicked on and find.... a bunch of junk, seemingly. Well, the thing I searched was labeled "smelly garbage" so, not like I had high expectations.
Zombies appear at the peripheries of my vision-limit, shambling around aimlessly. When I crouch, I can see that they apparently have no interest in me, currently. That changes quickly when I come across an empty building. I move from 'sensed' to 'hunted' and quickly abandon the building search plan to book it back to empty wilderness. A sign nearby proclaims it's a campground. What a great idea. Except it's overrun by zombie dogs. How awful, in retrospect.
Death respawns me randomly somewhere else on the map. It's snowing here, but I don't know if I take extra damage or what. I hike out of the snowy area to another area and immediately start taking phantom damage and die. Xian posits that I was standing in a poisonous swamp or something similar, but I had no warning or visual cues that it was.
All these deaths are reducing my maximum health? Not really understood just yet. We finally figure out that the green arrows on the compass are pointing at each other, and the blue backpacks are pointing at our corpse and dropped items, but respawning can happen in a vastly different area of the map, and it can take more than the cycle of the day to traverse the distance. At night, the zombies really want to get you, and can now run. There's no way to hide or survive. Xian has fashioned a crude stone axe from some rocks and plant fibers, but it may be time to look around for some preliminary information.
In the spirit of the game, neither Xian nor I read any walk throughs or guides. It's an apocalypse simulator, and let's hurl ourselves in there and just figure it out as the apocalypse intended.
So we're just mostly-naked husks wandering around ruins and wilderness. We have no idea where the other person is, and have to sit around experimenting with the controls just to figure out how to move around, crouch, etc. I loot everything that can be clicked on and find.... a bunch of junk, seemingly. Well, the thing I searched was labeled "smelly garbage" so, not like I had high expectations.
Zombies appear at the peripheries of my vision-limit, shambling around aimlessly. When I crouch, I can see that they apparently have no interest in me, currently. That changes quickly when I come across an empty building. I move from 'sensed' to 'hunted' and quickly abandon the building search plan to book it back to empty wilderness. A sign nearby proclaims it's a campground. What a great idea. Except it's overrun by zombie dogs. How awful, in retrospect.
Death respawns me randomly somewhere else on the map. It's snowing here, but I don't know if I take extra damage or what. I hike out of the snowy area to another area and immediately start taking phantom damage and die. Xian posits that I was standing in a poisonous swamp or something similar, but I had no warning or visual cues that it was.
All these deaths are reducing my maximum health? Not really understood just yet. We finally figure out that the green arrows on the compass are pointing at each other, and the blue backpacks are pointing at our corpse and dropped items, but respawning can happen in a vastly different area of the map, and it can take more than the cycle of the day to traverse the distance. At night, the zombies really want to get you, and can now run. There's no way to hide or survive. Xian has fashioned a crude stone axe from some rocks and plant fibers, but it may be time to look around for some preliminary information.
Friday, August 14, 2015
Escape Rooms: General Advice
Advice for when you find yourself with nothing to do
Advice for solving puzzles
- Go through the entire room and open/overturn everything (even if someone's already done it!)
- Big furniture? Go ahead. If they didn't want you to move it, they would have nailed it down
- Books: flip through every one - are there markings, notations, hidden slips of paper in the jackets, dog ears? Is it a reference book that matches up to a code?
- Paintings: Look behind, look inside (if nobody stops you), look at what's depicted on the painting
- Tables: Look in, on, under. Open the drawers and then look on the underside of those drawers. Which drawers cannot be opened? What do they need in order to be opened?
- Cupboards: Check in, check each shelf, check UNDER each shelf, check the very top if you can reach
- Carpets: Floor is fair game! Peel it back where you can, look under
- Walls: look for writing, look behind objects, look low and high
- Ceilings: look up! Check the lighting, check for writing
- When doing any of the above, what am I looking for?
- Anything that's out of place, has a handwritten clue on it, a code to decipher, anything. If it can be picked up, take it to a place where you can consolidate all the clues
Advice for solving puzzles
- Some puzzles can be solved as they are, but a lot of them will need extra clues, and it's up to you to match the clues together, even if they're all over the room. That's when consolidation and note taking will help.
- For example: one clue will read: "yellow house + white horse = ____". That's not solvable as it is. But somewhere else in the room, you can bet there's a yellow house with maybe a number written on it, you see where I'm going with this? If a clue doesn't look solvable with the information you have at hand, you need to go out and get more.
- Ok, I have a ton of puzzles and a ton of "keys" that should go with puzzles. How do I match them up?
- There should be a clue in the flavor text - or at least some indicator somewhere! Let's say you have a locked chest. Is there anything written on the chest? Is anything in that text emphasized, different colored, capitalized? Maybe it's trying to give you a hint. No words? Maybe there's a lock that can only be unlocked with letters, or shapes, or directions. Example: it's a directional lock, now you know what you're looking for. A series of directional inputs. Look through your "keys" (a pile of clues that aren't puzzles themselves). Do any of them say something like "NEWS"? That's a series of directional inputs! Try it!
- Most clues and puzzles won't be used twice. That's not a guarantee! But it's likely that you can set aside both the puzzles and the clues you've already used in a separate area from the ones that have yet to be used.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Escape Rooms: Rule #2
Rule 2 is going to sound a lot like Rule 1, and that's fine - Rule 1 is super super important.
Escape rooms can get a little hectic, I should warn you if you've never been in one. Creating a single room with enough puzzles to involve 12 people at once is going to involve several different things going on at once. Add in counting down clocks and any other environment distractions (see: roaming zombie from last post) and you have a recipe for post-apocalyptic chaos. So here's something you may forget in the babble of 12 voices all yelling questions and answers at each other at once:
RULE #2: COMMUNICATE EVERYTHING
It seems obvious in hindsight, and when you're looking forward to participating, you don't think to yourself, "I'm going to find the answers and then just keep my mouth shut." But when many people are all talking urgently to one another, you might find yourself forgetting to contribute what you know, or not knowing who to communicate it to. Here are several ideas to make sure all info is spread to all parties.
General Tip: Just Keep Talking
If your mouth isn't flapping, I'm going to go ahead and say you're probably playing this game wrong. Sorry to all those strong-and-silent types, but silence isn't going to get anyone out of a locked room with 11 other people. Don't got anything to say about the puzzle at hand? Feel free to make commentary about the room at large, or ask if anyone's solved this bit or that bit, or announce you're going to search something else again. Silence is tantamount to sabotage in a situation like this.
Example: My friends and I are running around the room grabbing items, opening drawers, solving puzzles, and whatnot. We were solving a room where the majority of people were in my group, and one small group of strangers got stuck with us. Most of those strangers didn't want to step outside their comfort zone and interrupt a group that chattering among themselves, but thank goodness one of them did. She tapped me on the shoulder and said, "did you notice that the sign over there has some stuff on the back?" And that was exactly what I needed.
Specific Tip: The Secretary
At least one person must be the focus of all this information - that's just the most efficient way to play it. Two is fine. If you really want, tell your information to every single person in the room one at a time, but it doesn't seem like the most efficient way. In all of the escape room's I've played, they provide a clipboard and a scratch piece of paper, as well as a few pens. Whoever has a clipboard has nominated themselves as the repository for all the information in the room. If no one has picked up that clipboard, go ahead and nominate yourself (as long as your handwriting is legible to at least you). Note down everything you see or hear as neatly as possible, especially codes. Long hints don't need to be written down verbatim, but it might be helpful to note down where they are, so you don't forget to look at them again.
Escape rooms can get a little hectic, I should warn you if you've never been in one. Creating a single room with enough puzzles to involve 12 people at once is going to involve several different things going on at once. Add in counting down clocks and any other environment distractions (see: roaming zombie from last post) and you have a recipe for post-apocalyptic chaos. So here's something you may forget in the babble of 12 voices all yelling questions and answers at each other at once:
RULE #2: COMMUNICATE EVERYTHING
It seems obvious in hindsight, and when you're looking forward to participating, you don't think to yourself, "I'm going to find the answers and then just keep my mouth shut." But when many people are all talking urgently to one another, you might find yourself forgetting to contribute what you know, or not knowing who to communicate it to. Here are several ideas to make sure all info is spread to all parties.
General Tip: Just Keep Talking
If your mouth isn't flapping, I'm going to go ahead and say you're probably playing this game wrong. Sorry to all those strong-and-silent types, but silence isn't going to get anyone out of a locked room with 11 other people. Don't got anything to say about the puzzle at hand? Feel free to make commentary about the room at large, or ask if anyone's solved this bit or that bit, or announce you're going to search something else again. Silence is tantamount to sabotage in a situation like this.
Example: My friends and I are running around the room grabbing items, opening drawers, solving puzzles, and whatnot. We were solving a room where the majority of people were in my group, and one small group of strangers got stuck with us. Most of those strangers didn't want to step outside their comfort zone and interrupt a group that chattering among themselves, but thank goodness one of them did. She tapped me on the shoulder and said, "did you notice that the sign over there has some stuff on the back?" And that was exactly what I needed.
Specific Tip: The Secretary
At least one person must be the focus of all this information - that's just the most efficient way to play it. Two is fine. If you really want, tell your information to every single person in the room one at a time, but it doesn't seem like the most efficient way. In all of the escape room's I've played, they provide a clipboard and a scratch piece of paper, as well as a few pens. Whoever has a clipboard has nominated themselves as the repository for all the information in the room. If no one has picked up that clipboard, go ahead and nominate yourself (as long as your handwriting is legible to at least you). Note down everything you see or hear as neatly as possible, especially codes. Long hints don't need to be written down verbatim, but it might be helpful to note down where they are, so you don't forget to look at them again.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Escape Rooms: Rule #1
So you've gotten yourself signed up for a In-Real-Life Room Escape game, eh? Don't panic. I'll tell you exactly what to do if you want to be helpful and escape. If... you somehow don't want to be helpful in escaping a room, maybe you should reconsider paying money to be locked in a room?
RULE #1: DO SOMETHING, GODDAMMIT
This is the ultimate rule of room escape in a collaborative environment. Please, please, please. Do not think to yourself "well I'm not very smart I'll just sit here in the corner and hope we escape." No. For the love of all that is holy, NO. The people who make these puzzle rooms literally do so to entertain a certain number of people, and usually make it challenging enough for that number. If they let in 12 people at once, you can be sure they expect all 12 people to be doing something at all times, and if they are not, you cannot win. Trust me, a handful of people utterly cannot win these events alone - there's simply too much to do in too little time for that to be possible. Look, you don't even need to solve anything, just don't stand there helpless-like. Look around, turn things over, open drawers, read signs, take down paintings, look behind dressers, try to lift things, flip through books, talk out loud about clues. (I will accept inane side commentary like: "I wonder what this clock is for.") Absolutely anything is better than a carbonite version of you, taking up the space of a person who could have been helping instead.
Bad example: We played a game recently where we had to escape a room, but the the twist was: there was also a zombie in the room, trying to eat us. The zombie had a limited range (dictated by some shackles) but there were plenty of clues and puzzles within its reach. We had to jury-rig this or that, or fish something out of a cage, and had no other option but to drop the rod and run away when the zombie started to come our direction (you can't fight the zombie, and any touch is game over). I asked the people on the other side of the room to distract the zombie, but they chose instead to cower in a corner out of its reach, not doing (or solving) anything at all, so it was forced to keep coming for us. Distracting the zombie didn't take any special skills or smarts or athletic prowess. Just a will to help out. Don't be these people. They could have literally been eaten by the zombie and been more helpful. At least it would have been kept busy for a few seconds. As it was, we had to sacrifice one of our own friends, an actively helping person, to stop puzzling and take the responsibility of distracting the zombie. Out of the recommended 12 people, there were 3 useless statues, 1-2 people for zombie distracting, and only 4-5 people at any time actually solving puzzles. It made it needlessly difficult.
Good example: Friend #1 had solved a piece of paper which referenced, let's say in this case (to avoid spoilers) a yellow house. I had no idea what yellow house was supposed to mean. No one we showed the paper to had any idea. But we kept showing the paper to every single person in the room while they were running around, and eventually, Friend #2 knew what we were talking about. Because while we had been heads down over the paper, Friend #2 wasn't idle. He was surveying all the photos and newspaper clippings and books. He remembered that there was a yellow house pictured in one of the photo frames, and that was the key to unlocking the puzzle. None of us would have caught that if he hadn't been active and kept his eyes and ears open.
TO REITERATE: Do not stand by and think you're useless. You are only useless if you're standing by. It's better to ask a total stranger: "did you see the numbers written here?" or "did you already solve this puzzle?" or "did you already use this clue?" than to sit on that information, thinking the other people in the room already know about it. Your fellow escapers won't be offended if you bring them repeat information, and it doesn't take them almost any time to answer these kinds of questions. They won't be offended if you poke your head in on them looking at a puzzle, and they won't be offended if you re-search a drawer or cabinet again. People miss things, the atmosphere can be a little hectic, don't be afraid to participate in any way you can. Trust me, it's MUCH more offensive to sit around and waste a space inside the room.
RULE #1: DO SOMETHING, GODDAMMIT
This is the ultimate rule of room escape in a collaborative environment. Please, please, please. Do not think to yourself "well I'm not very smart I'll just sit here in the corner and hope we escape." No. For the love of all that is holy, NO. The people who make these puzzle rooms literally do so to entertain a certain number of people, and usually make it challenging enough for that number. If they let in 12 people at once, you can be sure they expect all 12 people to be doing something at all times, and if they are not, you cannot win. Trust me, a handful of people utterly cannot win these events alone - there's simply too much to do in too little time for that to be possible. Look, you don't even need to solve anything, just don't stand there helpless-like. Look around, turn things over, open drawers, read signs, take down paintings, look behind dressers, try to lift things, flip through books, talk out loud about clues. (I will accept inane side commentary like: "I wonder what this clock is for.") Absolutely anything is better than a carbonite version of you, taking up the space of a person who could have been helping instead.
Bad example: We played a game recently where we had to escape a room, but the the twist was: there was also a zombie in the room, trying to eat us. The zombie had a limited range (dictated by some shackles) but there were plenty of clues and puzzles within its reach. We had to jury-rig this or that, or fish something out of a cage, and had no other option but to drop the rod and run away when the zombie started to come our direction (you can't fight the zombie, and any touch is game over). I asked the people on the other side of the room to distract the zombie, but they chose instead to cower in a corner out of its reach, not doing (or solving) anything at all, so it was forced to keep coming for us. Distracting the zombie didn't take any special skills or smarts or athletic prowess. Just a will to help out. Don't be these people. They could have literally been eaten by the zombie and been more helpful. At least it would have been kept busy for a few seconds. As it was, we had to sacrifice one of our own friends, an actively helping person, to stop puzzling and take the responsibility of distracting the zombie. Out of the recommended 12 people, there were 3 useless statues, 1-2 people for zombie distracting, and only 4-5 people at any time actually solving puzzles. It made it needlessly difficult.
Good example: Friend #1 had solved a piece of paper which referenced, let's say in this case (to avoid spoilers) a yellow house. I had no idea what yellow house was supposed to mean. No one we showed the paper to had any idea. But we kept showing the paper to every single person in the room while they were running around, and eventually, Friend #2 knew what we were talking about. Because while we had been heads down over the paper, Friend #2 wasn't idle. He was surveying all the photos and newspaper clippings and books. He remembered that there was a yellow house pictured in one of the photo frames, and that was the key to unlocking the puzzle. None of us would have caught that if he hadn't been active and kept his eyes and ears open.
TO REITERATE: Do not stand by and think you're useless. You are only useless if you're standing by. It's better to ask a total stranger: "did you see the numbers written here?" or "did you already solve this puzzle?" or "did you already use this clue?" than to sit on that information, thinking the other people in the room already know about it. Your fellow escapers won't be offended if you bring them repeat information, and it doesn't take them almost any time to answer these kinds of questions. They won't be offended if you poke your head in on them looking at a puzzle, and they won't be offended if you re-search a drawer or cabinet again. People miss things, the atmosphere can be a little hectic, don't be afraid to participate in any way you can. Trust me, it's MUCH more offensive to sit around and waste a space inside the room.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
NA LCS Playoff: CRS vs CLS Quarterfinals
--- Game 1 ---
Crs Bans: Vayne, Zed, Kha'Zix
CLG Bans: Tristana, Alistar, Corki
Crs: Nidalee, Nocturne, Syndra, Lucian, Zilean
CLG: Lulu, Nunu, Kog'Maw, Twitch, Thresh
Unusual team comps from both sides? You think that it's something that CLG brought back from Korea, but then they let the Nidalee get away from them.
--- Game 2 ---
Crs Bans: Vyne, Twitch, Alistar
CLG Bans: Tristana, Corki, Kog'Maw
Crs: Nidalee, Nunu, Syndra, Jinx, Braum
CLG: Maokai, Kha'Zix, Ryze, Lucian, Zilean
CLG lets Crs have the Nidalee again, but lane-swaps to try and keep Quas down, but no.
--- Game 3 ---
Crs Bans: Vayne, Twitch, Alistar
CLG Bans: Tristana, Syndra, Nidalee
Crs: MaoKai, Nunu, Yasuo, Corki, Zilean
CLG: Lulu, Evelyn, Ryze, Kog'Maw, Nami
Okay, now CLG has banned Nidalee, but their comp is still unusual.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
NA LCS Playoffs: DIG v TSM Quarterfinals
Reminder - they have a Roku channel now for VODs, so get yourself some snacks and settle in for eons of watching LCS if you've got one.
EU playoffs was pretty dull, what I caught of it, so I'll quickly sum up NA playoffs and then get to the rest of the vods. It'll be brief, but you'll know what to watch.
DIGNITAS VS TSM, QUARTERFINAL
--- GAME 1 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Lulu, Ryze
DIG bans: Zed, Nunu, Alistar
TSM: Maokai, Lee Sin, Syndra, Kog'Maw
DIG: Nasus, Kha'Zix, Zigs, Corki, Thresh
This one is quite interesting, especially at the very end. It's another great showcase for ZionSpartan; he's had a few of those.
--- GAME 2 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Ryze, Lulu
DIG bans: Zed, Lee Sin, Alistar
TSM: Maokai, Elise, Syndra, Lucian Nami
DIG: Dr. Mundo, Nunu, Zigs, Kog'Maw, Thresh
This one was quite long, due to DIG getting behind early and then ever-so-slowly digging their way out of a gold deficit. DIG gets it all the way back to even, then there was another wacky base race at the end very similar to game 1... Crazy times.
--- GAME 3 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Zigs, Ryze
DIG bans: Zed, Lee Sin, Alistar
TSM: Lulu, Nunu, Orianna, Tristana, Nami
DIG: Maokai, Kha'Zix, Ahri, Lucian, Braum
TSM gets rid of the Zigs long-range tower defense and then plays Protect the Tristana. Wildturtle gets god-like damage by the end and there's no stopping him.
--- GAME 4 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Zigs, Ryze
DIG bans: Zed, Lee Sin, Alistar
TSM: Lulu, Nunu, Syndra, Lucian, Nami
DIG: Olaf, Kha'Zix, Xerath, Corki, Thresh
In all of these games, there's been a 'cheese' - well I wouldn't go so far as to call it a cheese, but there's been a 'gimmick' at the very least, and I'm pretty surprised that the bans in the next game never reflected that. Maybe I'm really falling out of touch with the science behind bans. But, despite not banning Nasus in game 2, DIG never played it again, and have instead opted for a new gimmick: Olaf / Xerath. Nasus was successful and TSM never came up with an answer, why not give him another go?
EU playoffs was pretty dull, what I caught of it, so I'll quickly sum up NA playoffs and then get to the rest of the vods. It'll be brief, but you'll know what to watch.
DIGNITAS VS TSM, QUARTERFINAL
--- GAME 1 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Lulu, Ryze
DIG bans: Zed, Nunu, Alistar
TSM: Maokai, Lee Sin, Syndra, Kog'Maw
DIG: Nasus, Kha'Zix, Zigs, Corki, Thresh
This one is quite interesting, especially at the very end. It's another great showcase for ZionSpartan; he's had a few of those.
--- GAME 2 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Ryze, Lulu
DIG bans: Zed, Lee Sin, Alistar
TSM: Maokai, Elise, Syndra, Lucian Nami
DIG: Dr. Mundo, Nunu, Zigs, Kog'Maw, Thresh
This one was quite long, due to DIG getting behind early and then ever-so-slowly digging their way out of a gold deficit. DIG gets it all the way back to even, then there was another wacky base race at the end very similar to game 1... Crazy times.
--- GAME 3 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Zigs, Ryze
DIG bans: Zed, Lee Sin, Alistar
TSM: Lulu, Nunu, Orianna, Tristana, Nami
DIG: Maokai, Kha'Zix, Ahri, Lucian, Braum
TSM gets rid of the Zigs long-range tower defense and then plays Protect the Tristana. Wildturtle gets god-like damage by the end and there's no stopping him.
--- GAME 4 ---
TSM bans: Nidalee, Zigs, Ryze
DIG bans: Zed, Lee Sin, Alistar
TSM: Lulu, Nunu, Syndra, Lucian, Nami
DIG: Olaf, Kha'Zix, Xerath, Corki, Thresh
In all of these games, there's been a 'cheese' - well I wouldn't go so far as to call it a cheese, but there's been a 'gimmick' at the very least, and I'm pretty surprised that the bans in the next game never reflected that. Maybe I'm really falling out of touch with the science behind bans. But, despite not banning Nasus in game 2, DIG never played it again, and have instead opted for a new gimmick: Olaf / Xerath. Nasus was successful and TSM never came up with an answer, why not give him another go?
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