Bottle of acid

[Demien]

Bottle of Acid can be looted from Sinks, Working Stiffs Crates, Working Stiff Tools Work Trucks, Cardboard Boxes, Trash Compactors, Green Drawers, Trash, Garage Storage, Tilt Trucks, Utility Carts, Janitor Cart, non-drivable vehicles, Wooden Desks, Iron Desks, Night Stands, Lockers, car wrecks, Chemistry Sets, and Construction Crates.

Yea, sure. I have been searching for 5 for 3 hours straight. Looted like 100 sinks plus all the other place where you usually find them. I got one. ONE. I have visited 3 different traders. They had none. NONE. How This game is so random I swear it get frustrating sometimes. There should be some sort of "help" with the randomness that help you find key items like crucible and this damn acid.

[teleamachus]

there are ways to make it work. i had the same issue when i wanted to start making vehicles but with determination i scavenged every cabinet and tool store i could find for a very insignificant amount of acid, maybe 3 in total over the course of 4 irl hours, but i got my vehicles

one thing that helped me was leveling the salvaging tools perk because its 2nd or 3rd level, or i may be confused and found it from a magazine, allowed me a very small chance to receive acid from cars i salvaged too. so when i went for a chemistry station i thought i would have 5 acid pulled together if i just nabbed a few cars, but pretty much a week after i unlocked that perk i still have pretty much 0 acid. to work around that i bought a chemistry station and all the acid i can find with traders. i unfortunately had to do the same thing for crucibles early on and buy them since i didn't have the perk for recipe or schematic looted, but now i can craft them, so in my mind that was just a progression factor, and this acid problem is kind of the same thing, albeit a bit more frustrating since it can be one of the things that stops you from getting your first vehicle

if u wanna talk about frustrating how about the fact that i spent my first week in a town unlocking t3 jobs at the trader only for her to send me 2km+ for every t3 job she had... so i relocated my rudimentary base with a motorcycle over the course of an hour 5km away to a location between two city traders within 1 km of each other and i'm spending a few days unlocking higher tier jobs from them now

from what i've read on this discussion forum so far it sounds like gameplay changes are coming in the next full release that would improve these aspects of the experience but for now it's easier to diversify your goals a bit so that you don't get stuck constantly chasing just one. while it would be nice to have a set source of these scarce resources, i personally prefer the unreliability of where to get what as it keeps your behavior varied and adaptive and encourages the player to explore more

as a final note i'd just like to throw in that in my ~1k hours i've had three saves where i found a mechanical tool on day 1 and significantly more chasing them for 50+ days - apply these numbers to basically any item in the game. some saves i've had stacks of acid before steel production and others not even a bicycle on my 5th horde night

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

Sadly, that's how RNG works... sometimes you get plenty, sometimes you get one.
My suggestion is to shut down the game when this happens and restart it.

This may reset the RNG "generator" with a new seed number maybe.

[teleamachus]

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

Sadly, that's how RNG works... sometimes you get plenty, sometimes you get one.
My suggestion is to shut down the game when this happens and restart it.

This may reset the RNG "generator" with a new seed number maybe.

generally speaking, receiving drops is a matter of time. "do X thing for Y output" and when RNG becomes a factor just multiply the likelihood of Y by an estimated droprate. so if acid is a 5% drop chance for cabinets, that means 1 in every 20 cabinets SHOULD have acid on average, but you can loot 60 cabinets and only get acid in the final 3 (or worse yet, one on the 59th and 2 on the 60th). the nature of RNG dictates an average rate of acquisition, not a set rate, so if something is 1 in 20 that doesn't mean in 20 you should expect a single drop, but from a larger sample size of like, 2000, you should see 100 acid total

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

Originally posted by Anal Cyst Analyst:

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

Sadly, that's how RNG works... sometimes you get plenty, sometimes you get one.
My suggestion is to shut down the game when this happens and restart it.

This may reset the RNG "generator" with a new seed number maybe.

generally speaking, receiving drops is a matter of time. "do X thing for Y output" and when RNG becomes a factor just multiply the likelihood of Y by an estimated droprate. so if acid is a 5% drop chance for cabinets, that means 1 in every 20 cabinets SHOULD have acid on average, but you can loot 60 cabinets and only get acid in the final 3 (or worse yet, one on the 59th and 2 on the 60th). the nature of RNG dictates an average rate of acquisition, not a set rate, so if something is 1 in 20 that doesn't mean in 20 you should expect a single drop, but from a larger sample size of like, 2000, you should see 100 acid total

I know how probability works, thanks. I was talking about something else.

[teleamachus]

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

I know how probability works, thanks. I was talking about something else.

im sorry but if you think there are "RNG generators" you don't know how probability works regarding this specific game mechanic

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

Originally posted by Anal Cyst Analyst:

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

I know how probability works, thanks. I was talking about something else.

im sorry but if you think there are "RNG generators" you don't know how probability works regarding this specific game mechanic

Since you insist... I was talking about this concept[levelup.gitconnected.com].
I remember I studied this many years ago at the university, alongside other computer stuff.

[jamesglen7]

Higashi Pharmaceuticals in the wasteland has your goods if you want to pack a lunch and make a day of it. The Higashi Penthouse just happens to be one of my elite bases with the Water Works complex just across the street. Acid also ls available from some traders.

[jamesglen7]

I've never salvaged a battery but would expect it to yield acid, lead, and plastic and worth salvaging to find out.

[thestile]

Sometimes the traders have some also.
That does suck though, being stuck waiting for some random luck. Been there plenty of times.

[𝔇ave]

Originally posted by jamesglen7:

I've never salvaged a battery but would expect it to yield acid, lead, and plastic and worth salvaging to find out.

unfortunately.. scrapping an item only yields one resource.. currently scrapping a battery gives lead however it is very easy to change that to acid

[Jonnson]

I wouldnt get stuck on one thing. If you cant find acid, dont look for it, move on to the next thing in your agenda. The key to this game is to know what your agenda should be and that is to basically unlock or open up access to everything.

For example;

I know that I want/need a cooking pot, or a forge to make one, for food. So, I'm looking for a cooking pot, glue, duct tape, bones, murky water, leather, short iron pipes, iron, wood and clay.

I know that I will want alot of glass jars to make drinks with, as I need hydration as well, and I know that i can make them in a forge if I have sand, so I'm also looking for sand. That being said, I'm also looking for glass jars, and chrysanthemum for red tea. I will keep coffee grounds, or coffee for later, and that is analogous with growing coffee which means im also looking to make a farm.

Now, the farm ties into food and medicine as well, so I'm also looking for rotting meat, and nitrate and have a greater need for clay and wood now. As well as potatoes, mushrooms, blueberries, yucca, coffee grounds, hops, and aloe seeds.

A farm is pretty much something I'll want at my house, and I know that I need a base to fight the horde with, early on, as well as to house my crafting stations or park my car.

This means I need a home/base and that means I need wood, clay, and stone. To speed harvesting along I want an auger and a chainsaw, and that along with other things I need means I need a workbench, cement mixer, and forges. This means I need a hammer and a wrench. and that means I need forged steel, mechanical parts, electrical parts, and so on.

I'll need a beaker, and some acid to make a chemistry station, and I'll need tires, headlights, and other parts to make my truck.

I want some molotovs for area effect, and that means oil and gas, and cloth, and more jars. I want some bullets and that means, brass, lead and gunpowder which means nitrate and coal.

So, dont get stuck on acid, work on the entire list, and you will find the acid along the way. After 2000 hrs of play, and hundreds of games, I ALWAYS have the entire list done by the first horde night. Base, farm, truck, food, water, medicine, auger, chainsaw, armor, weapons, aoe, and ammo. Because I'm looking for all of it, not a piece of it, and I'm generally level 30-40 as well.

Here is a tip (in this order);

miner69er: 3
(base-clay/stone/wood-make a hammer)
Advanced engineering: 1
(forge-duct tape/leather/short iron pipes/iron/sand/clay/wood) cooking pot
Master chef: 1
(bacon and eggs/red tea-chrysanthemum-chickens/boars/eggs)
Better Barter: 3
(look for auger/chainsaw/truck chasis)
Living off the land: 2
(farm/mushrooms-potatoes) need 200 rotted flesh-roadkill for 40 plots, 20 for potato, 20 for aloe)
Salvage operations: 1
(make a wrench- break alot of cars)
Advanced engineering: 2
(workbench/cement mixer)
physician: 1
(first aid bandages/aloe seed-farm) (go find the desert to get aloe, find the snow as well and grab 1000 snowballs to serve as a well at home)
lockpicking: 1
(lockpicks, 200-300, and at this time also make 200-300 repair kits)
Grease monkey: 4
(4x4 truck)

Drink a forgetting elixir. max out sex tyran, and cardio. Grab parkour:4, and max out pain tolerance, max out heavy armor, then choose whatever weapon skill is your play style. Start your tier 5 missions. Game over, Day 10 =) Level 50ish.

It takes 7 missions to finish an arc and unlock the location of the next trader/town, you can only do a maximum of 6 per day (5 from the list, and 1 that you got yesterday and didnt do yet) The trader will not unlock the next tier of missions until the morning of the next day (when you've completed an arc) So, do 1 mission on day 1, grab a second one, then gather wood/stone and clay the rest of the day, build most of your base on night 1. finish the arc on day 2 and grab the bicycle as reward. Each day thereafter do 3 missions, youll have tier 5 unlocked by day 9. More traders equals a greater chance of the auger/chainsaw and truck chasis being sold. Keep your money for those things. A chemistry station will also be sold, so if you cant find acid, buy the station. I will have 2-4 by day 7, depending on how many beakers I found. I'll have a dozen or more extra acid after making them, and other than searching the sinks of the houses the traitor sends me to on missions I never look for them.

Buy a robot, and the medical upgrade, or make one if you find the schematic, load it with first aid bandages, you have plenty at your farm. I put like 100 in his storage.

Hint2: missions increase loot stage, acid drops more often at higher loot stages. (missions) also, look to buy them whenever for sale. (better barter)

day 1, (1 mission) mine stone and clay, chop down trees. I get like 450 frames made, 30 spike traps, and 5000 wood, then 2500 clay and 2500 stone. I get eggs and chickens while in forest, and loot trash I see for the stuff to make the forge. I build base foundation that night, and surround it with a wall, then upgrade the base foundation to cobblestone, I'm level 11 by morning of day 2. Make bacon and eggs, and make red tea, Make cloth armor, and pipe machine gun. make 60-70 iron arrows. make 100 or so jars, fill them with murkey water from whatever ditch you spotted in the morning, stick in chest, go grab 100 chrysanthemum, that night make 100 red tea.

day 2, right at 4 am, do that mission you grabbed yesterday, after you finished 1. Then do all 5 on the traitors list. Get the bicycle. Dont do the trade route yet. Get more wood, stone and clay, you dont have much time left... at night work on the base. Should be level 18ish now. That morning ....

day 3,
....go around the entire town and harvest potatoes and mushrooms (yellow pointy house is mushrooms, theres always 2 in a farm town) If not a farm town, do the trader route, it will be, if not, then today is find the desert/snow day. if you dont find a farm town by the time you find the desert/snow...I um...um...thats baffling. Restart. you are bugged. Otherwise, get more wood/stone and clay, then do as many tier 2 missions as you can. work on base that night, should be done. Make farm.

day 4:
break down a lot of cars, as in get 400 mechanical parts. get wood, make 120+ spike traps (my wall is 30x30), lace your wall that night, build workbench, cement mixer, and whatever else you can, armor, mods, pockets, etc. harvest farm, make steak and potatoes, replant, 20 each..mushroom, potato, aloe. Make lockpicks, and repair kits, finish t2 missions

Day 5:
do t3 missions
Mine nitrate, coal, lead, make bullets

Day 6:
do teir 3 missions
Make or buy chem station
Mine nitrate, coal, lead, make bullets

Day 7:
do t4 missions, build truck
bloodmoon
repair base

Day 8:
do t4 missions
Mine nitrate, coal, lead, make bullets

Day 9:
Drink elixir, begin t5 missions.
Mine nitrate, coal, lead, make bullets

perpetuate.

[Jonnson]

Also, I assume, you know to harvest the farm everyday, and replant. This will stock up on steak and potatoes, as well as first aid bandages. As you go along, stock up on rotting flesh, and build a 20 plot farm for each; yucca/blueberries for the yuccas smoothies, hops for beer, and coffee grounds for coffee. Have this done before you drink the elixir. I tend to have 30 or so stacks of steak and potatoes by day 9. That plus what I loot in the game, means I never need food again. Same with the red tea (actually, right around the time I run out of my red tea stock, I am beginning to use coffee, and then I move on to smoothies--by this time I am putting points back into master chef and farming). I will also have the 20 plot farms for the other stuff planted and waiting for my return to farming. After I drink the elixir and max my combat skills, I will start putting my points back into farming, to harvest the the beer and coffee for late game.

The lockpicks serve to open chests for the rest of the game. There are alot of chests to open everywhere and beating on them is tiresome. You will have made enough repair kits to last the rest of the game as well. I play to game stage 1000, and so when I say the rest of the game, I mean, a long ass time.

Also, when you drink the elixir put points into miner 69er (3) as well, you wanna keep that skill because bashing down doors, and other things is annoying. Those points plus the mods (woodcutter, etc) will make bashing through doors easy. Bashing through things also makes horde nights easier, and easier means more fun, go check out my videos to see what I mean. The ones where Im outside, not the ones where I am fighting at base like an idiot with a rifle. I was newb back then.

And I typoed on parkour, its parkour 2 (4 points to get it) this means you can jump up on walls. With this ability all you really need for horde night is a 2 block high wall to jump around on, like a gummie bear. And it really helps to escape things in town, like dog packs.

Also, on the day that you make the farm, put a point into master chef 2 (i forgot to list it), so you can make steak and potatoes, understand that steak/potato plus red tea is your staple dinner for quite some time, the buffs they provide are key. Youll stock up on higher end meals as you go along, these are staple and then serve as support for rainy days. Yucca smoothies are for when you go into the snow for meat hunting, missions, general exploration, etc. I recommend wearing clothes that are heat resistant and using the smoothie for cold. This way you dont have to change clothes or waste points on weather skills. Yes, running low on food during horde night outside in the desert heat or arctic cold does have an impact as you need to stop and eat. You dont want 64 zeds on you while you head to taco bell. If you dont keep your food and water up, your stamina will freeze and you die. Yes, buffs from drinks stack. So, in the snow, on horde night for instance, coffee+smoothie is the bomb diggity. + red tea is just ridiculous. Especially with iron gut. and THAT being said, at late game you do want mutant genes, because mutant genes plus steel knuckles is like being wolverine. With steel armor, it really is like wolverine (andantamite skeleton=)

That being said, use the college jacket and the super shoes for increased movement, as well as the agility mods, and then the foot bracing mod in conjunction with parkour for dropping, jumping, and falling about. I literally jump from skyscraper to skyscraper during t5 missions sometimes, or fight the horde outside like an insane gummie bear. And ofc, coffee. Farm coffee, late game, for speed.

This means you have less clothes, so use the heat resistant clothes, and it also means a little less armor, which is why we go heavy. Youll find the book to negate armor penalty when fighting. Insane level, Nightmare speed hordes cannot run me down, and with heavy armor plus pain tolerance, they cant hurt me. They can, but yaknow, I dont let em.

Stock up on health bars, this is the sole item that allows you to fight hand to hand insane nightmare hordes. The bleed effect is what stops you, and health bars stop it.

I recommend the bone knife until you drink the elixir, then advance to the steel knuckles. Back yourself up with an ak-47 and an m60. Maxing out machine guns (synergy with steel knuckles) will allow you to switch to the m60 and max your stamina bar out, instantly, should you actually run out of stamina during huge fights...it does happen, if i'm fighting in town during horde night, on occasion, in the wasteland, due to all the jumping around, on and through buildings.

The bone knife is ruxor at lowbie level because it uses very little stamina. If you notice I dont spec a single point into stamina until I am starting t5's, around level 50. This is due to the bone knife. You literally regenerate stamina when using its normal attack, i can take on 3-4 zeds using power attacks alone before im out of stamina, ofc I do have the steak/potato+red tea buffs. The key to fighting hand to hand with the knife is head shots...it makes them recoil back in pain, which is basically a stun, on every hit. So, get some aim by practicing.

Also, for later game, the beer will make your steel knuckles...absurd.

Yes, I'm bored, so you got a diatribe, hehe. Hope it helps.

[DerFinneAT]

Originally posted by Anal Cyst Analyst:

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

I know how probability works, thanks. I was talking about something else.

im sorry but if you think there are "RNG generators" you don't know how probability works regarding this specific game mechanic

Ever wondered what the "G" in RNG might stand for?

Ever wondered how an strict deterministic system like a von Neumann manages to get the RN of RNG in it's system?

Nah - seriously: Where exactly you see the discrepancy in the quoted post?

Your answers just looks tangential to what Jost wrote.

I agree that hoping for a seed change to have an positive effect on the outcome is a bit wonky and part voodoo - but could end up valid like the goat-paradoxon.

At least this bought gives me something to do this evening.

[mr.devolver]

Bottles of acid is a classic. While ago I made a mod that increases chances significantly, but yeah sadly that is definitely not an ideal solution for those who would prefer pure vanilla to be balanced out of the box. Hopefully, in A21 things will get better. We will see how much difference the whole perk system rework really makes, how much impact it will have on the whole game. I'm curious what will be the effects of investing XP points into perks to boost chances for individual categories of RNG, because that's essentially what the new system should do.

[Urban Blackbear]

Can't you still wrench the green barrels for acid?