PC Iron Man Challenge Run - 28 Days to Die

[senjik]

I've come up with a challenge run for 7DTD that I'm planning to try and thought I'd share my idea.

The idea is that the game starts out very easy, but progressively gets harder until it reaches extreme difficulty on Day 28 - when you face a truly terrifying horde.

Even making it that far will be a daunting task - because this is also an Iron Man run which means once you die, it's game over.

I've intended this challenge run for the standard horde every 7 days, XP at 100%, player block damage at 100%, loot abundance at 100% and all zombie block damage at 100%.

I'm using Darkness Falls for my challenge run simply because it's my favorite version of the game, but it should would work just fine with Vanilla or your favorite overhaul mod. I'm also not using any modlets that make the game easier (kinda defeats the purpose), but I have installed guppycur's bloodmoon trickle modlet. We'll see if that was a wise choice.

I put together a spreadsheet for the progressive difficulty. The idea is that you'll logout in the morning once day breaks (no later than 6am), check the spreadsheet for that day's settings, then change the appropriate sliders and reenter the game. Settings don't change every single day, and you can quickly see at a glance if the current day's settings need to be changed as I've bolded the changes for each row/day.

While veterans may find Day 1 through 10 or so a tad on the easy side, the difficulty starts ramping up quickly from there - ferals start sprinting on Day 11, for example. The idea is that you'll need that relatively breezy time period to build up your resources and equipment so you can survive to prepare the nastiest, most powerful base you can conceive of so that you don't get ripped to shreds by the Day 21 horde. Survive that night, and you'll face a truly daunting challenge even just making it to Day 28, as all zombies minimally sprint from the morning of Day 22 and on!

I'm personally also going to avoid certain mechanics that make the hordes dramatically easier (such as JaWoodle's killing corridor).

If it seems too easy for you, you can either reduce the 24 hour cycle or stage it down over the 28 days much like I've done with some of the other sliders, which will have the effect of giving you less time to prepare for the increases in difficulty. Or if you are feeling plucky, an easy way to make it much harder is to add a column that gradually increases the blood moon frequency.

Spreadsheet for challenge run:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BnhF5B3PhrUawZm7to2fGnIjjw4vGJuJw_NXE_uwVbo/edit?usp=sharing

If you decide to try it out, let me know how it goes. I'll update this post once I'm finished with my run.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

Spreadsheet is about melee weapons? Title is right tough.

 

[senjik]

Derp, you are right - fixed.

 

[senjik]

Day 14 Horde

Day 14 horde night update. And what a wild night it was!

As I suspected, the first 9 days or so were pretty sleepy. I might bump the difficulty up at least one level next time because Scavenger is stupid easy when you are used to modded Survivalist. On the other hand, I absolutely did need all that time to build myself up.

The latest iteration of Darkness Falls is distinct from vanilla in some pretty significant ways. I won't go into too much detail on that mod except to say - well, it's awesome and has extended the replay ability of the game for me by such a huge enough amount that I became a patron.

But I'm here to tell you the story of my day 14 horde experience, which should give you some insight into that mod if you don't feel like looking it up.

Anyway, I decided to make a large square fort (24x24) that was four blocks high from the ground. The bottom two rows at the edges had spikes, while there were blade traps in a ring all the way around my fort at the three and four block height. Which, when turned on, reminded me of final fantasy...it was actually quite cool, as the blades jutted above into the air and made a pleasing whirring sound all around me (though I never did quite make it airborne).

I have fairly decent weapons and full iron armor, and plenty of healing items. I was feeling confident that I could take down this horde, even considering that - per the challenge - I was on Warrior difficulty with Ferals sprinting and the rest running and BM horde count set to 24.

So the horde night begins, and I watch with disdain as the first wave charges in. Just as quickly as they approached, they are simultaneously burned by Molotovs and cut to ribbons by my blade traps. Before I knew it, the first wave was over but damn was it satisfying.

But then my elation turned into...something else. In the distance, I can see what appear to be red plumes of smoke similar to smoke grenades. WTF?

One by one at first, then in increasingly larger groups, I see a kind of zombie I've never seen before charging at my walls: Bombers.

What are bombers? I don't really know, I couldn't see a darn thing with all the red smoke everywhere so I was just lobbing Molotovs and dodging vultures and trying not to freak out. All I know is within 3-5 minutes, my blade traps in the bomber zone were almost all destroyed on that side of the fort, which I knew meant big trouble.

Eventually, the red mist dissipated and I could see what appeared to be about 4-5 feral cops and at least a dozen or more blue and red glowing zombies tearing my base to shreds. I proceeded to kill several waves, primarily with Molotovs and sniping with my scoped pistol. Not more than a few minutes later, I had my first breach. My blood was up, so I handled it fine and moved to a choke point and slaughtered zombies like mad with my trusty shotgun and sledge. But I knew at that point it was only a matter of time.

Sometimes I hate being right. It wasn't long before I see rotting bears and glowing cops and all manner of evil within the confines of my fort, so I hoped off the roof to land on the hay bales below, ran across a one-way bridge, jumped to my bicycle and rode like mad with a huge horde of zombies right behind me.

*So er, yeah. I only had time to make a bicycle. It was a calculation I made early on, choosing to emphasize base building, scavenging and constructing a small farm (which can be very worthwhile in DF). You can't make wheels unless you are a specific class in this mod, and it took me forever to find a second one. Yeah, noob mistake making the bike and not waiting to make at least a minibike instead...but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.*

So I ride like the wind on my trusty bike, finally taking a moment to breathe and hopping off the bike just long enough to apply bandages and antibiotics.

Next thing I know, I'm on a tour in a land of nightmares, where evil creatures reach for me from what feels like every direction. It's utterly insane, but I have no choice but to ride on.

All of a sudden....BAM. Right into a sinkhole. In my defense, I could see only a few feet in front of me even with my helmet light. I jump off the bike, which is now is making that tuntuntun noise as if it's having it's way with the asphalt.

I know I have maybe...1, 2 seconds before the horde is on me. I select the 'take' option on the bike and immediately turn and jump out of the sinkhole, then run like mad as right on my tail are what I calculate must be all the devils from hell. I spend some interminable amount of time running away, occasionally turning around to lob a Molotov or get a few blasts in with my shotgun, then running away and healing. It was way more dramatic than that, but you get the gist.

The horde never lightened up. So after some juke moves around a barn, I quickly checked my inventory. No bike. At this point, I dimly recalled that 'some idiot' left a single item on the bike because he had no more room the last time he unloaded and simply forgot to get that last thing out.

Nothing for it. I fought my way back to the bike slowly and carefully, eating first aid bandages like breath mints. My first pass, I was able to open the storage and remove the last item, then run away before the horde devoured me.

One more circuit, and I finally was able to 'take' the bike. I jump out of the sinkhole, open my inventory, make a spot on my hot bar, put the bike onto it, exit my inventory, turn to the road...and just as I place the bike on the ground and jump on, I hear the chimes of day break. Swear to god.

So yeah, it was pretty exciting to say the least. And I live to fight another day!

But it was probably among the most insane (and fun!) horde I've faced in my 2k+ hours playing. And I'm only HALFWAY through this challenge.

Some screenshots of the fort and aftermath: