How far have you gone this playthrough?

I've been mostly eating salads everyday since the amputation, no rice, no breads, no cereal, and most assuredly, no Pop. I drink cinnamon bark tea in the mornings, and protein shakes at lunch & maybe dinner.

I'm doing my best to get myself free of sugars, carbs, and starches.
That, that sounds excellent; bloody good job! :) Sounds like you should heal fine, then.

I smoke, and I eat crap; I've quit both for decently long times. Staying away from smoking after the first week or two is trivial; staying away from sugar is ... way more annoying. It's everywhere, and people look at you funny if you don't eat all of the cakes, every time someone somewhere has a birthday. I'd be perfectly fine without by myself, but when I eat some cake, I'll eat a lot more garbage for the next few days "since I already effed up".... it's ridiculous, but it's real :P Attended a bday last weekend, ate a blade of choc today ... just gotta get back on track. Again!
 
Was this also caused by diabetes/blood sugar levels?
Yeah, my A1C was 12.4. I'm much better now, my average blood sugar levels are down to 87. Haven't had an A1C in a couple months, but it was down to 5.7 last it was checked.

My surgeon told me after the operation, that most folks would have the vacuum pump for 2-3 months, but that, at the rate my foot was healing, I wouldn't need it that long.

I'm hoping that I can walk again soon after the skin graft.
I didn't have to have a skin graft (just a flap turned over, apparently) and never had a vacuum pump (though I did have a drain installed after they took my remaining 4 toes on my left foot) but my doctor was very cautious, because of the fear of the wound reopening, and possibly getting infection into my foot again.
 
Quick question, after an amputation of a couple of the outer toes & a skin graft over the wound, how long for a foot wound to heal, so the person can get back up and around?
When I got my foot chopped off I had a cast over the stump and they attached a fake foot to the cast and I could not put all my weight on it. I was told to just walk with a walker up and down the halls a couple of times a day, but not to put a lot wight on the attached foot. When I got my prosthesis I was walking all over, but I would get sores on my stump all the time and was stuck in a wheelchair quite often.

Some guy I knew wanted to see the amputation so I took off the stump shrinker and showed him. When the cast was removed, you could see staples on the flap they used to wrap around the bone and the stump itself was almost square at the end so it looked like something Dr. Frankenstein performed.

I know its not the same but you will get used to whatever limitation you may have. Just try to keep your spirits up and do what they tell you to do.

Somehow my blood sugar was never a problem. I drink 16oz Monster energy drinks all day and my last A1C (a few weeks ago) was 5.5 for some reason. Trust me though I have more than my share of other problems.

If only I would have taken my advice and "Just try to keep your spirits up and do what they tell you to do." I would be a lot better off too. Funy how easy it is to give other advice and be a complete jack*** most of the time yourself.
 
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Anyone know an organization that helps veterans get a higher disability rating for free?
I currently have info for one, but they charge a flat $1,250 fee, but no guarantee that you get a big increase. For instance, if they got me a bump from my current rating to the next higher one, that would only be about $170/month, and if I had to pay that $1,250 off in 12 months, I would see an actual increase of about $60/month for the first year.

The problem for me is, that even though I started drawing my Social Security retirement checks in Jan of this year, I get such a low amount that I still get SSI each month, meaning that, although I now get a retirement check, my total income didn't go up at all, just the source changed a bit.

My housing situation had me paying just $90/month, plus electric & other utilities, for my 1 bedroom apartment, but now, my portion goes up to $120/month (a 33% increase), despite no actual increase in income, lol.

My fear is that, if I did get an increase in my service connected disability rate, I could actually lose more than I gain in the short term, which I cannot really afford.

OTOH, if I got the maximum increase, instead of a small increase, I would stand to gain more than all the other public assistance $$$ I currently receive, and then some.

Worried about bills in the near term, and long term, and what happens if I need hospitalization for more than the 2 weeks the surgeon told me about? Do I lose my housing assistance, would I get out of the hospital in 4 months or so, just to find myself homeless?

Not much fun to think about, let me tell ya, lol.
 
Anyone know an organization that helps veterans get a higher disability rating for free?
I currently have info for one, but they charge a flat $1,250 fee, but no guarantee that you get a big increase. For instance, if they got me a bump from my current rating to the next higher one, that would only be about $170/month, and if I had to pay that $1,250 off in 12 months, I would see an actual increase of about $60/month for the first year.

The problem for me is, that even though I started drawing my Social Security retirement checks in Jan of this year, I get such a low amount that I still get SSI each month, meaning that, although I now get a retirement check, my total income didn't go up at all, just the source changed a bit.

My housing situation had me paying just $90/month, plus electric & other utilities, for my 1 bedroom apartment, but now, my portion goes up to $120/month (a 33% increase), despite no actual increase in income, lol.

My fear is that, if I did get an increase in my service connected disability rate, I could actually lose more than I gain in the short term, which I cannot really afford.

OTOH, if I got the maximum increase, instead of a small increase, I would stand to gain more than all the other public assistance $$$ I currently receive, and then some.

Worried about bills in the near term, and long term, and what happens if I need hospitalization for more than the 2 weeks the surgeon told me about? Do I lose my housing assistance, would I get out of the hospital in 4 months or so, just to find myself homeless?

Not much fun to think about, let me tell ya, lol.

Wrong forum, but for "free" you need to contact your local VA for a list of acredited representatives:


NONE will gurantee anything, even the ones you pay. Most will stay with you until there are no more options to submit.

Nothing will happen short term.

Anything related for VA disability benefits will be in terms of "years".
 
If I told you what I get each month from my Social Security Survivors , you may not talk to me again. I got mine in 1998 when I had my foot chopped off in a state hospital. I get Medicare as well too.

In my younger years I also got SSI and I had a heck of a time finding a room for rent I could afford. Its strange, but every time I got something from Social Security, I never personally applied. Someone got it for me when I turned 18, then again in 1998. When I got Social Security Survivors in 1998 I only started receiving it in 2012, so I got a back payment. Again, I never applied for it. I must have a friend looking out for me somewhere.

There has to be some sort of benefit you should get as a veteran, unless of course you were dishonorably discharged. I think they should help you with your housing at the very least. Then again I am not sure the current president is going to be up for it, if you know what I mean.

Maybe someone could allow you to make payments for their services. Over a period of time payments may be the best bet. Or even a small loan that you can pay over time for like 24 months or something. When my water heater started to leak the plumbers suggested I get a payment plan, because there was no way I could pay over $3,000 up front. I did not get the payment plan because my income was so low. So I just got one put in but was unable to get the water heater installation up to CA code. I may be fined for it if my park makes a big deal out of it, but I took one cold shower and that was enough cold showers for me.
 
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There has to be some sort of benefit you should get as a veteran, unless of course you were dishonorably discharged. I think they should help you with your housing at the very least. Then again I am not sure the current president is going to be up for it, if you know what I mean.
Oh, there is, I'm just getting 10%. I was not a DD, but honorable. Problem is, if you tick off enough folks, or if they have something to hide, then you get 8-balled.

I wish I knew then, what I know now. All three of my chain of command, back in berlin, would have been court-marshaled had i died that day, instead, I lived and didn't even got to the hospital, so there was never medical documentation of what happened, at least not in service.

Years later, I met with a social worker, and he had heard all the BS and slandering, and thought I was full of it when I described what had happened. He still had me go through the motions, and get my service medical records, but he clearly thought it was a waste of time.

Then he actually started reading them.

Once he got done reading what was in my medical records, he told me the medical term for what happened, and then told me I needed to get a new Dr at the VA (because of the lies that my current one had told me), and said that I needed a DR of Internal Medicine (Whatever the heck that is). When I left that meeting, I went straight to the patient advocate, and asked for a new Dr.

They fired/transferred the social worker away, and I never saw him again. They didn't like him learning the truth, and bucking the system, by telling me.

Turns out, if you remember all the symptoms, and correctly enter them into a modern AI, you can get the right answer, but you have to have all the facts in your question before the AI gets it right.

Turns out, I had, according to the then current chart, a level 4 heat stroke, with the only difference between level 4 and level 5 being, that level 5 was = death. All the lifelong sweating to dehydration whenever I was hot, working out, or both at the same time were signs of the permanent damage such can do to a body. The memory loss, both the initial, temporary kind that I had that morning, when I came to in the battalion aid station and had no idea of where I was, or how I had gotten there, until much later, when the brain finally was able to store the memories, and the 'blank spot' that never returned (I can only remember, to this day, running to where we went the wrong way, instead of going back to the front of our compound, we went around the long way, to the back, because our battalion commander was a cross-country runner, and wanted to show off).

In my memories, we went from that moment, straight to me waking up in the aid station, with an IV in each arm, as they tried to put enough fluids back into my veins so they could get my heart to slow down enough to get an accurate pulse count. When they first carried me in, the medics were not able to obtain my BP or pulse, as my heart was beating to fast, because I was so badly dehydrated from my body using even the water in my veins to sweat heat out, that my blood stream couldn't carry enough oxygen to the body (hence the brain not being able to make memories).

After some time, like about 30 minutes, the IV's had been able to get my blood stream to be able to carry enough oxygen to my organs/brain, and my heart could get a rest, and my first accurate pulse count they could get, was 33 beats per 6 seconds. The AI at first was telling me that it couldn't have been 33 beats in 6 seconds, and must in fact have been 33 beats in 10 seconds.

33 beats in 10 seconds comes out to be a pulse of 198 beats per minute, you see.
However, when I related that my initial pulse and BP were entered as "unobtainable", when I was first carried in, and it was only after the IV's had had a chance to slow my heart down, that the AI changed it's tune.

33 beats in 6 seconds comes out to a pulse of 330 beats per minute, well above the ~240 beats per minute for a heart attack thresearchold. When I told it about the memory loss, that synched it. Of course, I didn't know any of this until many years after I got out of the Army.

Had I gone to the hospital that day, and taken my medical records with me, they would have done a proper examination, and found all this out back then, in July of 1987, and combined with the medics testimony and the bloodstains on the outsides on my shoe (from when they told me to go out on blistered feet and do this run in the first place, and then, during the run ordered me to "Run till you drop"), let's say the 3 folks in my chain of command would have been found criminally negligent, and I probably would have gotten a medical discharge at that point, rather than an honorable discharge when my enlistment term was up.

That wouldn't have been good for me, in the sense of pride, but would have sealed the deal for disability compensation later on in life. It's no wonder they didn't want to push me to go to the hospital, as they knew what would come out, and their careers would end.

As it was, I didn't know any of this at the time, and just kept on with my duties, and only later wondered why I was always sweating so bad, that I several times had to stop exerting myself in high temps, else I would pass out from heat exhaustion, again. Once your body has that level of trauma, you are messed up for life.

Anyway,

Day 68, 2234 hrs.
Level 142, 9274 Kills.
QP 63/100.

I turned off Horde Night Every Night, as I wanted to do some farming, construction, and crafting, rather than all the zombie killing, but I do have to say, if you are playing with no XP bonuses on, then the use of the Nerd helm + Treasure finder mod + the learning elixir is a godsend. I have been getting 3-4 levels each night for awhile now. Once I get to 150-160, I'll have the points/skills to take on harder Biomes.

That means that I'll have to build bases in the other Biomes first, and then try my hand at the expected more difficult HNEN.

What levels should I try each Biome at?

Burnt Biome = try at level what?
Desert Biome try at level what?
Snow Biome try at level what?
Wasteland Biome try at level what?

I finally at level 142 currently, and still lack some points in things I want, and am playing dead = restart, so...

What are the thoughts of others for when to move out of the pine Forest?
 
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That means that I'll have to build bases in the other Biomes first, and then try my hand at the expected more difficult HNEN.

What levels should I try each Biome at?

Burnt Biome = try at level what?
Desert Biome try at level what?
Snow Biome try at level what?
Wasteland Biome try at level what?
I would not know, I am playing V 1.4 so there is no biome progression, which is kind of nice seeing how differently it works.

I had a strange year in 1987 too. It may sound strange but since 1987 I have been in a 24/7 psychosis. When I tell a doctor about it, they usually say I am psychotic. Weird story that I cannot say here for good reason.

Too bad your COs did not have any honor and tried to cover this situation up. Sometimes its hard for people to understand what goes on in the military. Most people would say they were wrong, but do not really know how the military really works I guess.
 
Well I achieved level 300 a couple of days ago and have all skills and almost all books (not all melee). I think this playthrough is about over. My base is super easy to defend myself and the base can also defend it own self with all of the traps. Funny thing was when I was fighting in bloodmoon and all of a sudden "you are now level 300" popped up. I have not cared about level for a long time once all perks were purchased.

Thing is I, love to make massive bases and the improve them with each playthrough. Well this last base cannot be improved, so I may not play a new game for a long time. I need to come up in my head a new idea for base and that's not going to be easy.

Must have gotten about 200 hours in on this playthrough, so I cannot complain. Building the base was super addicting and its was a super long project. Still had patience to put the time in though.

Longest life 138 hours
Current Life 138 hours
3 Deaths

Hope all is well with you.
 
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I was just going to abandon my current game, and start playing my next game, but woke up from my nap and decided to finish this one as quickly as I can, and then move on to the next game with a different format/thread.
 
I was just going to abandon my current game, and start playing my next game, but woke up from my nap and decided to finish this one as quickly as I can, and then move on to the next game with a different format/thread.
Good to hear from you. If you start a new game you could make a log about what you are building for your new base in a new thread. Just give a link in here and I will follow it.
 
Good to hear from you. If you start a new game you could make a log about what you are building for your new base in a new thread. Just give a link in here and I will follow it.
Will do. Once I get another 50+ level in this current game. Next game, I'll have a bit more of a plan, and try to make weekly updates.
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Day 70, 1927 hrs.
Level 144, 9274 Kills.
QP 63/100.

See if my new idea pans out. I expect to get 6-8 levels by the end of this Horde Night, so we will see.
 
Make sure you design your next base on paper or at least in your head. Nothing worse than just building something and finding out it does not work and waste all the resources you put into it.

You can use graph paper to make sure it all fits together. I also use builder blocks to measure where I want to to put whatever to make to sure they fit with everything else. Like when I build the area for the blade traps, I lay 3x3 building blocks in a jagged line so I do not have an empty space here or there. But then again I have OCD so that is part of it too. Also If your could, try and add some electrical traps on your final build. You seen my video with all the traps and it makes horde night much easier.
 
Will do. Once I get another 50+ level in this current game. Next game, I'll have a bit more of a plan, and try to make weekly updates.


Day 70, 1927 hrs.

Level 144, 9274 Kills.
QP 63/100.

See if my new idea pans out. I expect to get 6-8 levels by the end of this Horde Night, so we will see.
A little correction needed here, it was supposed to be 150+ levels, not 50+. and the time was 1127 hrs game time last night. I fell asleep at 0244, and made it to 2100+ hrs game time last night. Got my reading in, have to fit my walk in around my schedule and mother nature, to cold right now, and medicines have to wait till I am done walking, as I don't need to have to make a sudden trip to the bathroom in the middle of my walk, lol.

Yesterday, I got 3 laps in, but had to hit a BRB, and then got a 4th lap in afterwards, same thing happened the day before, but it was 2 + 2 with the BRB between them. Before the amputation, I was walking 4 laps non-stop all the time, and that was without trying to push myself, and 4 laps used to take 1 hour.

Right now, my record is three laps, and each is taking me about 30 minutes. I hope to get 4 laps in non-stop this morning, and do it within 2 hours, 9am to 11am, then come back in and take my meds, and my home helper will be here at 12pm. So Horde Night is going to happen, just not right now, lol.

The reason I don't just start it now, and play it out and then go for a walk is, I set the nights to 12 hours, and that would take me 72 minutes to do, and that would mean not getting my laps in.
 
Before I start my first 12 Horde Night, some notes on my real life stuff that unfortunately impacts when and for how long I can play.

I have to take medicines at intervals, and some are supposed to be 8 hours apart (sleeping if at all possible). Basically, I need to take a daily injection, and then, 8 hours later, take my BP and BS readings. I had been just taking my daytime meds right then, as well, just to establish a routine and get them all taken care of for the day.

The Docs say to take the injection at 10pm, but that hasn't really been working out for me, as I usually fall asleep before then, wake up, usually hours late, and take my injection then, which has been throwing off my whole routine. Today, I deliberately withheld my oral medicines until after my walk, so I could try and see if my legs were recovered enough to go for my usual (pre-amputation) 4 lap walk. Yesterday and the day before, I had to take BRB in the middle of these laps. By withholding the meds until after the walk, I finally got 4 non-stop laps in this morning.

Here is where I live, and you can see the very small distances involved.
My place.jpg
The door I use is in the upper right, and has a covered door place with a tiny little roof, supported by a pair of round pillars. When I start my walks, I grab the pillar to the left, and take a photo of the tree nearby.
My place.jpg
And this is what that looks like from the ground...
IMG_202663_1172.jpg
I take such a pic at the start and end of every workout. I then start making a counter clockwise lap of the round about. When I get one full lap in, I stop and take a picture aiming north along the main drive, like this:
IMG_202663_85924.jpg
and this is where I stand to take that imahe:
My place main drive.jpg
Once I finish a second full lap, I head around to this vantage point:
My place overlook view.jpg
Which looks like this:
IMG_202663_9357.jpg
and while still on the third lap, I take this pic of the back road.
IMG_202663_9452.jpg
Which is taken from this spot:
My place back road.jpg
And this is where the broken asphalt is a problem for me. After that point, I just start my 4th (and final) lap of the Round About, before starting the much bigger "Mailbox laps."
Jumping off photo, and where it is taken from.
My place starting place.jpg
and the ground eye view...IMG_202663_9634.jpg
That covers the warm up laps, and I'd guess that that total distance around the RB is =< about 100 yards, so enough to get the blood pumping, but not build up my strength/endurance. Doing 4 of these helps get my legs ready for the 'real' workout.
 
Day 71, 1244 hrs.
Level 152, Kills 10294.
QP 63/100.

Ok, so I am so happy with the 7 levels/HN. Horde Night Every Night, and 12 hour nights is the way to go. My last play session, I fell asleep right at 2100 hrs in game (thank god I paused it), and then life happened, lol. Today, I got my 7dtd fix in, at last, and went from level 145 to level 152.

Just checking back, it looks like even I can rack up 1,020 kills in a single Horde Night. Very happy with that number. I didn't see a single bird all night, but did get many little self delivering farm plots in the form of the dogs. None of the Demo's dropped me a red loot bag, but at least none of them blew chunks out of the road, either.

I started the first video at 0735 June 4th, 3036, and didn't manage to get all the loot and points spent till 0901 this morning, and it was already after the daily paradrop came in.

Some Loot:
Some Loot..jpg
Try as I might, I cannot seem to kill all the zombies under the lights, and so cannot get a nice single pic of the Loot bags all in the same place. As you can see, I did get a pair of RED LOOT bags...
DW1.jpg
This fine fellow got to eat a spear thrust, before I realized There was a whole Horde Night base for me to make use of, and not let him take a bite out of me.
DW1 Dies.jpg
Why fight a Dire Wolf with melee, when you can just run to the ladder, climb up, and then pick him off from above?

Arrrgh!!!

Got the nurse knocking at my door, back later...
 
Ok, so I am so happy with the 7 levels/HN. Horde Night Every Night, and 12 hour nights is the way to go. My last play session, I fell asleep right at 2100 hrs in game (thank god I paused it), and then life happened, lol. Today, I got my 7dtd fix in, at last, and went from level 145 to level 152.
This happened to me too. I was in bloodmoon and my meds put me under in a few seconds, so I did not have time to pause. When felt someone wake me up (who that was I do not know) I woke up on my couch (how I got to the couch I do not know either), my character was dead. I do not know how it happened, I was just like, I lost bloodmoon "F that"! So I kind of cheated and loaded a save I backed up and did it over.

I think I have ghosts in my house. No, I know I have ghosts in my house.
Why fight a Dire Wolf with melee, when you can just run to the ladder, climb up, and then pick him off from above?
You should always attack from above if you can. I have never had a base that was not at least 3-4 blocks high with rails around so I do not fall. You can also make a square 5x5 or so steel walled box with 3 open areas on all 4 sides over the 1 or 2 bottom walls to use your spear without being attacked at all. Then have an escape route up from inside that you can retreat to if (when) the steel walls fail. This is always my first temp base design for HN after a could of days starting the game.


From above you can also throw grenades at them. I know you don't like ranged weapons but a molotov cocktail or grenade is simple to throw. I always keep 10 waters on my tool-belt when I use molotov's because I tend to light myself on fire occasionally and the water puts it out.
 
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I'm a bit different from most players. I'm a modder, so usually what I do is download the latest update, and play through it enough so that I know what I need to work on.

After that I play the game many many times, but usually for modding purposes.

But I just loaded my last save for 2.6, which I started over from 2.5. I was at day 48. So that should give you an idea of how long I last for a game, per minor update.
 
I do not have the technical knowledge of any kind in scripting, so modding is just a dream to me, because I think I would like to try it. When I was doing level creation in an engine like the Half Life 2 Source Engine or the Unreal Engine 2.5, I had to ask for help with scripting all the time. Anything like Lua or Python scripting was too difficult for me to work with. So this would slow my level design time down.
 
I do not have the technical knowledge of any kind in scripting, so modding is just a dream to me, because I think I would like to try it. When I was doing level creation in an engine like the Half Life 2 Source Engine or the Unreal Engine 2.5, I had to ask for help with scripting all the time. Anything like Lua or Python scripting was too difficult for me to work with. So this would slow my level design time down.

I used to mod Half-Life 2, to create new levels. (Planet Phillip FTW!)

Modding 7D2D is a lot easier. If you learn XPath (which is not really "scripting") then you have a lot of power over what the game does.

Yes, mods that fundamentally alter the game play will probably require C# and/or Unity changes, but you won't have to learn that until you want to do something that is not possible with XML/XPath. You will be surprised how far you go until you reach that point.

My point: Modding is not a dream. Try it. You don't need to know scripting for most things. If you run into that point then ask, here or on Guppy's Discord (link is in the modding section of this forum). It will be better for you, and it will be better for the other modders. Just do it.
 
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