Notes on weapons

[Lord Dickinson McCheddar]

These are just some notes and thoughts on weapons after playing the game a bit in normal...

You can use a stick, skull, rock, bone and turtle shell as weapons but there are not stats. I have no idea how well they work. The skull can't block. I am surprised that you can't throw rocks. I don't think you can use your fists for fighting at all. If you equip a lump of meat or a fish you can punch with it.

I don't use the slingshot much as I got the bow earlier but it appears very good at tasting out small animals like rabbits and lizards. It's a bit weird because it shoots high but still kills them.

I used the crafted bow a lot. It works very well with head shots though I think there is some kind of auto aim mechanism so you don't have to get it exact. I use the modern bow now which is a bit more difficult to aim initially. I've attached a torch to it which is a bit of a problem sometimes as in day light it runs down the battery. These run down quite fast for the torch and it's hard to find batteries often.

As a ranged weapon I don't think spears are particularly good. They're not accurate enough to get head shots so end up being far less deadly than arrows. Their best use appears to be as a ranged weapon you can use early on for hunting small things as they only take two sticks to make. They can make a reasonable melee weapon for running around enemies and poking them early on though aren't super effective.

The plane axe can be used similarly in melee as the main starting weapon with fair speed if you use the dodge and hit fighting style but is a hazard if you snag on something or walk back into something and get stuck.

The club and the rusty axe seem to be the only things that can block all damage. The stats give the impression that the rusty axe is faster with a little less damage but I could swear when trying each out that the club seems faster and so I stick to that. I have my suspicions when it comes to the stats and what they might actually apply to. At least one weapon with full block is an essential. I tend to consider the club easier to get as you don't need to know where it is, if you take out the right mutant they'll drop it and they don't seem that uncommon.

I haven't tried the hairspray and lighter. I tend to not bother to use things that aren't easily replaceable unless there is an obvious situation that warrants it. It looks potentially devastating against large crowds or useful for setting off firetraps particularly if you built an actual firewall for defence. It really doesn't last long though.

I haven't used it much but the chainsaw seems to be a disappointment. I'm not sure exactly how the block mode works. I think it is misleading as it gives the impression of being an active defence but isn't. The attack mode doesn't do much damage. If you get a normal mutant alone with it it can constantly interrupt them until they die but that's about it. The fuel seems to last a while so at least there's that.

While fast I don't see the katana and machete as useful for much other than clearing foliage for sticks or to see. I'm not sure which is best. The karana appears to have the reach advantage if you want to clear a lot bunched up quickly. When I block with the katana the damage seems to bypass armour.

The upgraded stick and tennis racket don't seem that useful. The stick seems a lot better on many fronts. This includes being able to set it on fire for a while with cloth though this only lasts so long.

I don't see much point in the modern axe, crafted club, climbing pick and crafted axe don't seem particularly useful as weapons. They do offer some variation if someone has a particular style and preference for a certain balance of speed, block, reach and damage. I think that the crafted ones are completely superseded by other weapons.

Dynamite is a bit of a speciality weapon. In some caves it's plentiful so might as well be used to clear out most things. Outside of that it's of limited use except for special occasions as it is hard to replace and it's not possible to carry very many even with the dynamite belt.

I am not really surer what to make of the weapon upgrade system. It's not entirely intuitive, doesn't give much information and doesn't make enough of a difference to be obvious or easy to test.

The suit based weapons would be the best if it weren't for a combination of factors. The suits and weapons are both incredibly hard to get and they only work in certain scenarios. It's also a hassle to have to swap both the suits and weapon as needed. It is a little easier with the sledgehammer which can work well without the suit.

For the bearsuit it is nearly impossible to find the crap. It only spawns in one location and is really hard to see on the floor. I got lucky as it happened to be under a tree near by base that I chopped down. It was impossible to miss the huge dump after clearing the stump crouched down. It can sometimes spawn under something when it's not supposed to. If it spawned under a big rock or something your game session is ruined and you probably just have to start again from scratch. Even if it spawns properly without the right graphics settings it may be impossible to see.

I had the same problem for the Yeti tracks in the snow. With most graphics settings they doesn't show at all. It's impossible to track the Yeti into its cave without it. Once you're able to see the signs and track them it's not intuitive how to proceed. To blast all the way through the turnoff in the Yeti cave to get the solar suit you need twenty sticks of dynamite. It's just a straight tunnel but with blockage after blockage. You need to knock the Yeti unconscious with the sledgehammer so it take longer for it to seal its den. You oddly have to get the night combo before you can get the day combo.

I had to try over a dozen times for the sledgehammer. It's just at the limit of the rebreather off the map in the ocean with little to nothing you can do other than to try to dodge them when it comes to the sharks. To my knowledge there's no way to change oxygen tanks underwater or shove one down shark's throat.

The Tesla glove is carried by a bird that flies above and never lands. This is also something that is messed up without the right graphics settings. The vulture is right at the limit of the draw distance. You have to stare up at the sky for ages. The good thing is that you don't have to hit it directly. Just shooting the arrow close enough to it will cause it to freak out and drop the arm its carrying so you can take of the glove. Unlike the sledgehammer it's completely useless without the solarsuit.

Once you have these the sledgehammer is overpowered at night or in caves. You can sneak up on just about anything with the bearsuit. The sledgehammer's power attack is slow but one shots everything in the dark. Without the bearsuit it's too slow to be all that useful in general other than perhaps an opening attack. The stealth is only particularly effective at night. In the day it appears to have to opposite effect.

The solarsuit and Tesla glove only works in the daylight but will mow down just about anything that gets close enough. It's a crowd control weapon. Point it at anything within a few meters and it will blast it, usually killing it and will chain to everything within the same range. If it doesn't kill it'll stun and will be charged up again either before they recover or too shortly after for them to do anything. The solarsuit also offers the benefit of recharging your torch during the day.

For stealth there is also the sootsuit which you can apparently use without having to quickly jump back into the shadows after a sledgehammer kill but I can't find it. It's supposed to spawn somewhere randomly on the roof of a cave. I checked every possible source of flame in the caves hoping it would spawn about that but to no avail. I've heard rumours it might have been taken out for political reasons. I also can't find the mirror suit which is supposed to give the best daytime stealth. The problem with these suits is that they're invisible. I don't know if there is a trick to make them visible otherwise you have to search for them. I heard for the mirrorsuit you have to go along checking all of the ground touching grass to feel for it. For using the tesla glove in the dark there's meant to be an electric eel you can wield with the other hand. While I can lure it with the right bait like the bear I can't work out how to get it out of the pond without getting electricuted.

I haven't gotten the crossbow or pistol. It hasn't been pressing as the bow and club cover nearly all bases. I can scavenge and construct arrows quite easily. With the quiver and ability to pick them up they last for ages. I don't even bother with any of the special arrow types. I also haven't tried the motolov cocktail as it just seems like a liability and is hard to replace. I'm not sure if you can use explosives as a direct weapon.

[w-I-z-DO-m]

lmao, bearsuit??? sledehammer ??? solarsuit??? tesla glove carried by a bird that never land????? sootsuit??? mirror suit??? yeti tracks??? at first i thought you were speaking about the forest but clearly, this is 2 diff games, lmao are you ok, this made me laugh tho.

[Lord Dickinson McCheddar]

Originally posted by w-I-z-DO-m:

lmao, bearsuit??? sledehammer ??? solarsuit??? tesla glove carried by a bird that never land????? sootsuit??? mirror suit??? yeti tracks??? at first i thought you were speaking about the forest but clearly, this is 2 diff games, lmao are you ok, this made me laugh tho.

You're right sorry. I posted in the wrong forum. I completed The Forest years ago. I meant to post this in The Forest 2 forum. It's easy to get them mixed up.