I won't lie, I've been invested in this thread and your journey. I actually just made my account specifically to reply to this- quick question though: what settings do you play on?
I used to be very strict on no mods, but with my eyesight issues, I found it necessary to go into the code and remove all ranged attacks, by any of the zombies, so my fun isn't messed up by all sorts of un-zombie like spitting and such. No Plague spitters bug swarm, no yeti rock throwing, no ranged attack of any kind, just good old zombie like melee attacks.
My current runthrough is an attempt to do 1-300th level with no deaths, and is set on 'Scavenger' difficulty, with max zombies set to 12. I tried 18, but then I would have to spend more time running, less time killing, so set the max to 12 and enjoy how thing go. Yes, sometimes I manage to kill all the zombies near me, and have a brief wait till more arrive. For two years, I was playing with the 200% loot bonus and the 300% xp bonuses on, but now I am playing without any of that, and I have to say, I like the journey more than the fast track.
Because of the needless reduction in the font size used to display stamina/life, I can no longer read stamina numbers, and since I play dead = restart, the hour or so I actually had v2.5 installed, I died (and restarted) three times, due to running up to a zombie on day 1, and running out of stamina, and ended up giving them a free meal. Then I dove deep into the game controls looking for a way to increase the text size back to that used in v2.4. since there was no way for the user to adjust this, I just reverted back to v2.4, and, what with all the 'empty bottle' garbage now entering the game, I'm not inclined to swap out v2.4 with a more modern versions, even if they fix the font size.
Some game settings I use, zombie block damage is set to 25%. I don't like hours of base repairs, so I prefer not to have the undead needlessly beating up my blocks, but rather coming for my little digital dude. It isn't exciting/rewarding (to me at least) to have the zombies attacking random blocks, rather than my guy. My Horde Night base grants easy access for all the two-legged zombies to path through to my, so some damage occurs, and the dogs and dire wolves do some as well.
And also, I hope your health improves. It sounds like you've been through a lot, but I hope you can power through and play more soon!
I used to be 'the man', but that was back 40 some odd years ago.
I remember, of the three times I have had pneumonia in my life, the second time gives me a laugh these days.
There I was, running in PT formation (Physical Training for the civvies out there) at good old Fort Dix, New Jersey. The year would have been 1980 and 4. We were running in the snow (it was February), and I just took one step to the left and stopped running. Keep in mind that the Drill Sergeant runs along the formation of recruits. Just a bit to the left...
So, My thinking was that I was just going to stop long enough to catch my breath, and then run and catch back up to the formation. What really happened though, was that my Drill Sergeant had to himself take a step to the left to avoid running me over, so it wasn't enough that I had just broken ranks (which is a big no-no), but that I had made him go around me.
He stopped the entire formation, and began the screaming/shewing out. I was a bit distracted, and missed most of what he was saying. I kept up holding up a hand, in a "wait a minute, and I'll be with you soon" kind of way. Now he is getting more angry, more volume, the tone is growing worse...
Then, in mid cussing-me-out, he suddenly stops, and asks, in a normal, conversation tone of voice and volume, "Are you alright?" Up until then, my immediate future was going to be to get 'dogged out' in front of everybody, and suffer many, many more than normal push up than regular PT required.
You see, I couldn't answer any of his questions other than by gesture, as I was too busy choking and coughing. Choking to the point my face turned red, then to deep red, the to blue, and finally to purple. At that point, he realized he had a man in distress, not being lazy or goofing around.
He stopped yelling, and waited for me to finally be able to suck in more air than I was violently expelling as the phloem/mucus would break loose in my windpipe, and enter my lungs, and once I started getting more air into my lungs than I was coughing out, I regained the ability to breath without choking. Had a big old patch of snow that had melted at my feet by the time I was done.
Once my breathing was under control, I tried to rejoin the back of the formation, but he wasn't having any of that, and made me return to my spot near the front of the formation, and off we went, and completed our run.
On this fine day, a sunday, we finally had some free time, for part of the afternoon, and I got to go on sick call (Many attempts prior had been denied), and the docs looked me over, and gave me meds, and told me what to do. Now, normally, you cannot take food out of the chow hall, but the docs told me, not to worry about that, and to take a napkin and fill it with salt, and when we were done for the day, go into the laterene, and fill my canteen cup with water that was as hot as I could get, and then put the salt into the hot water and let it disolve.
Then, I was supposed to start gargling this hot, salty water. The docs had not told me what to expect, so it came as a complete surprise. Now, as luck would have it, that same Drill Sergeant for the run that morning, had the CQ (Charge of Quarters) duty that night, and was taking a dump in one of the stalls right behind me.
So there I was, standing at one of the sinks, and with my platoon mate to either side of me, at their own sinks, and I made a single, good faith effort to gargle that hot, salty water. I still feel, to this day, that the docs could have warned me...
No sooner than that hot, salty water reached into my windpipe, than the pain hit. It was bad. My body immediately, and with a quickness, forcibly expelled that hot, salty water. Only it wasn't just the hot, heavily salted water that came out, but bright red blood. I painted the sink, the mirror above it, and the wall to either side. The guy to my left said, far to loudly to my thinking, "Man, you're coughing up blood!!!"
Now, to be perfectly fair, that really wasn't a secret, but I didn't want any un-needed attention drawn to the fact that I had just made a mess, and that I might b sick enough to get sent to the hospital (in which case, I would miss critical training, and end up having to do Basic Training all over again), a fate that, really wouldn't be worse than death, it just felt like it would be.
So, still not being able to talk above a hoarse whisper, I told the guy "Shhhh", and frantically began cleaning up the mess that I had made. The latrine emptied out right quick, and soon i was alone, and when I got every last drop cleaned up, and relaxed and straightened up and glance in the mirror...
It turned out, I wasn't alone after all, and my Drill Sergeant was standing right behind me, and saw everything. All he said was, "Get your ■■■■", and I knew I was going to end up having to be recycled and do it all, all over again. This was the worst possible news a recruit can hear.
I went back to my 8 man room, got dressed, and went back to the aid station. When I told the docs what happened, and what my DS said, they told me that for what I had wrong with me, this was normal, and didn't require a visit to hospital. Turns out, it wasn't just the Pneumonia, but also a ruptured larynx, and a strep throat infection on top of that.
You can imagine my relief, being told that I could return to duty, didn't need to go to hospital, and wouldn't need to get recycled. I get back to the barracks, and just as I'm going through the stairway door, the same DS is at the CQ desk, and calls me out. Even when I showed him the paperwork the docs gave me, he didn't believe me, or them, that I didn't need a hospital visit.
They explained what was wrong with me, what I needed to do, and finally, not without some grumbling, I was allowed to return to duty that night. I didn't get recycled, and graduation finally came around, and Basic training was just a bad memory.
My profile pic is from right around that time period.
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