Overview
An ‘in character’ guide for new co-op players, covering an aggressive approach to completing the game while getting a good long play through. Minor spoilers regarding threat types and responses, no specifics on locations or timings.Some adult (violent) concepts discussed, at about the level of the game itself.
Introduction and scope
Glad to see some other survivors made it. Welcome to the war.
There are three things you need to have if we are going to get through this:
- The right attitude
- The right kit
- The right thinking to make yourself a plan
Get those correct, and you will have complete freedom to explore, discover, enjoy the sights, and we will save your kid Timmy.
Attitude
This is a war.
And I don’t want to hear any half-hearted bleating about Haddy* being primitive but entitled to defend themselves. We had an accident landing here. They came, tortured us, and ate us. They’ll kill each and every one of you and wear your intestines as a Dr Who scarf.
This is a war. It’s a war they started, and it’s a war we are going to win.
We are going to win because every time you see Haddy you are going to kill Haddy. Every time. You will kill because you want to. You will kill because a day without killing Haddy will feel wrong. You will kill instantly, without warning, and without any holds barred, or quarter asked.
I will teach you the kit to use, and how to use it. But we won’t win until they are as scared of us as you were when we first arrived. When the morning sun hurts them because we can see them, and the dark night scares them because they cannot see us.
* Haddy – ♥♥♥♥ Hadalis – Men of hades [from Jeff Long’s The Descent – [link]]
Kit
When it comes to killing machines, the Zulus had it down to a fine art over three hundred years ago. And before anyone makes themselves look stupid the Zulus are nothing like the Haddy. Anyone who disagrees can come to me after this and be bored on the 2 a.m. watch as I explain.
The Zulus teach us that the fundamentals of fighting Haddy are to use these simple tools to …attack as soon as you see Haddy. This means at range, and to quickly go to close-in fighting while he is on the back foot, and before any more Haddy turn up.
To do this in the most basic way you need to make [and hotkey]:
– A throwing spear
– A stabbing spear
– Thrown molotovs
The more of these you can get the better, which does mean you should aim to make a spear bag. But it’s not essential.
Again, start the fight at range. If it’s human sized, hit it with a wood spear. If you have more spears throw some more spears. If it’s bigger than human then hit it with a molotov. Before you use all your thrown things up, get in with the stabbing spear, hit, and keep hitting. Do not give them a chance to recover, but do keep on your toes. Haddy’s not a tree, and he often brings a bunch of his disgusting mates.
Any other weapons are just alternatives to the three weapons above. Bows replace throwing spears, axes replace stabbing spears. So on.
When you fight, keep moving. Haddy likes to run and jump and nip at your heels like a jackal, so don’t stay still. If you find you are running out of puff, make sure you have a soda to hand [hotkey]. If you run out of sodas, try combining plants at random to give you a boost [no spoilers], like some sort of murderous vegan gazelle.
If Haddy does get a hit or two in on you, the simplest thing to do is to be wearing armour. You can slap lizard skin on yourself like paper mache on a balloon. But you’ll get better mileage if you combine lizard skin with leaves, or make bone armour with cloth, or tear the skin off a biggun like it’s a dead lizard.
It is always better to use armour and lose it, than keep it for a rainy day.
If you’re having a bad day, and you keep getting hit, run. There are no prizes for you dying. We want Haddy to die. Just make sure you all run at once. The people hurt worst run first, the rest of you heroes cover them. But still run. And stay together. It’s better to run together to a stupid place than split up and some of you feel smug while the rest die alone.
This all sounds very fair and manly, which – if you were paying attention earlier – is the wrong way to fight. Traps are and field fortifications are key. So in the next section we’re going to talk tactics.
Making a plan
I’m not here to tell you exactly what that plan should be or what to do any given day. Where to go or how to get there. But I am going to tell you how to think about where to go and how to get there.
First, decide in advance where you’re going and what you are going to do when you get there. Also decide what you do if you don’t like it – perhaps you don’t find enough Haddy to kill or the perfect wildflowers for your scrapbook – and where you go back to.
What I recommend is that when you decide you want to go check out a new location, don’t go in and tickle it like a homeless pervert. Get in and own it, like a rich pervert. Be smart. Don’t pick somewhere worthless to fix on. Pick somewhere with trees, water, and food. Pick somewhere raised up, with a good view, which Haddy won’t enjoy attacking.
Next I’d like to sort out confusion over fortifications. Log fortifications are tough as nails. We crashed a plane into those trees earlier, weighing many tonnes, and at several hundred miles an hour. The plane broke. Not the trees. In the early American wars the forts were made out of logs and they had to bring in big cannons to blow them up. Haddy isn’t going to punch his way in. Build.
[Go to options in game and turn off building destruction; it’s utterly stupid and also boring and frustrating. You should also turn off tree regrowth because that’s also stupid]
This means when you arrive at your destination – just after first light – immediately CHOP DOWN EVERY TREE YOU SEE. Turn those trees into a little stockade with a hut in the middle. At the same time KILL EVERY HADDY YOU SEE. Stop him reporting back where you are.
On day two, if you still feel inclined, improve your position. Whack in a tall tower [platform with climbing rope] so you can keep a lookout. Use more logs or stones to add a second bigger line of defences. When you do, enclose a water source, and make sure there are at least two exits. Put in drying racks and turtle water collectors.
When Haddy sniffs around KILL EVERY HADDY YOU SEE. Start burning the bodies and collecting the bits. You are going to want these to make armour and lights. Make armour. Put up lights all over the place so if Haddy turns up at night you can kill Haddy. Bone and skull chandeliers are the best lights. If you can’t build lights, set up firepits you can ignite.
This is a bit gruesome but Haddy started this war, we’re just going to end it by shooting him in the face with his own femur by the light of a lamp made from his mum’s skull. On the same subject I do not want to see anyone faffing about making effigies. Effigies scare Haddy. I don’t want effigies scaring Haddy. I want YOU to scare Haddy. Then kill him.
You will notice as you do this that the countryside near your position becomes increasingly treeless, easier to survey, and easier to explore. Haddy can’t creep up on you. You can shoot Haddy from further away. So cut down more trees. Turn these trees into traps near your base. Deadfall traps are excellent. Happy birthday traps need some practice to get right, but they are also great.
Pretty soon you will find you have a position with supplies, beds, and a defendable perimeter. never stop making it better, every time you come in. Make the inner walls higher. Add a garden, plant seeds. Then you can pick another location to own and explore. You’ll have probably seen holes in the ground, which now you can explore at your leisure, fully rested, armed and ready for action.
Consider linking your various positions up either by raised walkways or by boats.
Lastly, you’re working as a team. That’s means working together but also means letting other people do what they want to do. Don’t stick to this advice like a rulebook. It’s more what you might call guidelines. If someone wants to gambol through the forest like a happy pig, instead of building a wall, let them. You gambol with them 100% because you don’t leave your mates alone. But when Haddy sneaks up on you and it turns into a mess, calmly and confidently go back to this advice: fall back to your nice safe position – killing all the Haddies – and rest up, regroup, cut down a few more trees and put in a few more traps before trying the next weird thing.
Summary
Remember, this is not a survival situation. You are going to kill every Haddy you see, and have the freedom to find your kid, and enjoy the scenery. You’re going to do that by fighting effectively with basic weapons, and following your own plans which are decisive, clear, and put Haddy always on the back foot while you always have safe fortified places to move from.
And be free, be weird, but always work together and fight hard.
Now, as I was saying about those Zulus…