fanfiction Scorched Earth, Game Play with Desert Pete.

[rpicardi1]

Game play of Desert Pete on Scorched Earth. (Not to be confused with The Story of scorched Earth.)

 

In this session, all settings have been set to default with a selected few set to 1 or three. They are as followed;

1. Difficulty is defaulted to 0.2. That means that the max level for any creature will be at 40.

2. Gathering and Taming are set to 3. It just reduces the grind of getting resources and waiting for a creature to be tamed.

3. All nerfed health and melee damage settings for creatures are restored to 1.

 

The following mods have been added;

1. Krackin’s Better Dinos. It has a combo Workbench and Preserving Bin that doesn’t require a foundation for placement. Several unique items can be crafted to further improve a dino’s abilities. Several new resources are available from existing dinos as well as some new types of them.

2. Ultrastack. Makes gathering easier due to the stacking and weight reduction on heavy items.

3. Castle, Keeps, and Forts Remastered. I’m not likely to take advantage of this one early on given that one needs to use Adobe for protection from the Megaheat and wood is scarce in most areas on this map.

 

By default, Midlands 4 is used for spawning in to Scorched Earth. On the official map, it is either considered the Eastern Badlands, or the Southern East Low Desert depending on your spawn in point. While no place is easy to get started in, if one plays that location correctly, they can get to a place in the Southern East Canyon with a pond that is sheltered from the Megaheat and is free of the more dangerous creatures living in and around the canyon area. With XP gain fixed at 1, it’s going to take a while to get established with Desert Armor, Adobe structures, and Metal Tools.

 

Pete’s Adventure.

 

Spawning in at Midlands 4, I proceed to get my bearing of the main landmark in the area which is the Green Obelisk. I do not want to head there given that it is a haven for numerous dangerous creatures such as Terror Birds, Sabers, Raptors, Wolves, and Kapros. Given that it is already hot, I head West down a dry wash gathering resources on the way and keeping an eye out for predators.

Starting resources are rather abundant in the area such as stone, berries and fiber which I gather as I am heading downhill to my planned destination. I need to get to that pond in the Southern East canyon before it gets too hot to survive.

A pick is quickly crafted from a stone, thatch, and wood. There are few trees here, mostly cactus and brush. However, there are small pine trees that can be picked for wood and thatch thus saving one’s fist. A level up soon is reached in which the points are placed in either fortitude or weight. The hatchet and spear are unlocked and crafted as soon as possible.

Hitting a cactus with a pick will yield thatch and cactus sap. While the sap, along with the berries are mostly useless for hydration, the act of harvesting cactus plants will quickly restore your water. One can also use Jug Bugs and Water Seeps for a water source, but none are spotted along the downhill path to the Canyon area.

With the next level up, thatch clothes are unlocked and crafted. Between increasing fortitude and wearing thatch clothes, it makes resisting the heat a lot easier.

Another note on game play on this map is that one does not go running around. Doing so just uses up your water faster as well as it makes you overheat. Only run when you need to get away from something such as a raptor which are known to be in this area. Lead them to some unsuspecting herbivore and you will be safe.

As luck would have it, my character is able to make it to the canyon pond without overheating or running into raptors. That in itself is unusual given that the first time I played scorched Earth in 2016, I spawned into a pack of them twice. The third time the Morelys smashed them into a boulder allowing for some free hide. However, while there were herbivores about, there was nothing that could be easily killed with a spear for meat and hide.

Even through the early game, after reaching a sandstone shelf above the pond for building a Beach Bob box hut on, unlocking needed items turned out to be quite difficult for those first 20 levels. Therefore, the priority was to get basic weapons, clothes, then build a Beach Bob thatch hut. I didn’t bother with a slingshot, boomerang, or water skin. Learning those just waste Engram Points needed for more important items. Besides, those will soon show up in a drop. Water skins are just plain useless due to how fast that they leak. Getting a bola, bow, and arrows is most important to deal with any attacking raptors that show up.

By noon, I have reached the sandstone shelf and started constructing a 2x2x2 thatch box with a small storage box and campfire for when it gets cold at night.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in gathering materials to prepare to replace the 2x2 with adobe. 22 metal is mined from one of the metal boulders down below the shelf in preparation to melt down for the KBD workbench. Wood, thatch, sap, narcoberries, sand, and fiber is gathered for future construction. Clay is manufactured in the Mortise and Pestle to help in earning Engram Points. I am limited to the lower area for now as heading to higher ground exposes my character to the dangerous afternoon heat which drains one health. By evening, I have hide clothes, a forge, and the KBD workbench. With a metal pick, the three small metal rocks below are harvested and place in the forge.

Day two, Pete has leveled up enough to upgrade the 2x2 hut to adobe. Metal tools and a crossbow soon replaces the stone ones. Three dozen tranc arrows are also crafted. A Green Drop appears which yields a bunch of crafted materials including a spyglass. Desert Gear is finally obtained and crafted. The low growing flowers yield some silk when they are harvested. While Pearls are plentiful in the canyon near the water, the nearest crystal is a long distance away on top of a dangerous mountain. The Desert Helmet will have to wait.

Later that morning, the two Titansaurs that showed up early in the game are becoming an issue. They had spawned in close to the pond and are now threatening the campsite. Normally, they could be killed with a leveled up lightning wyvern, but I am a long ways off from obtaining one of those. So, to get rid of the threat, I end up doing a wild dino wipe.

Interesting, after the wipe, some raptors are now showing up in the canyon so I get prepared to tame a pair. Too late, they get killed by the Ankylos that have also spawned in the canyon. Oh well, they were just low level. They are easy meat and hide.

Later that afternoon, I am able to obtain two female raptors of which one is a Level 31. By the evening of that second day, an additional male raptor is added to the pack along with a good level parasaur for berry harvesting and a Jarboa for weather forecasting. I make it back from taming the male raptor just in time to avoid being baked by the afternoon Megaheat.

With having obtained some tames, it is now time to expand the construction to include a large pen and barn for their protection. This is going to require a lot of adobe and stone structures. The Adobe I already have learned. The stone I will use from the Castle, Keeps, and Forts mod. Both are going to require vast amounts of wood, thatch, stone and sand. I need to get a Doed and Morley to help in gathering those materials.

The Morley is easily obtained early that morning. They can now hold 1,000 units of water. I take it into the pond so that it can drink it’s fill. It is super efficient in gathering wood from the small pines and thatch and cactus sap from the tall cactus plants. However, I am restricted to mining rocks with the metal pick until I can level up enough to learn the Doed Saddle. Adobe Foundations are made to expand the floor on the sandstone shelf. I have to use the stone foundations from the mod in one area given that Adobe Foundations do not stack. It isn’t until the morning of Day Three that I am able to obtain a Doed Saddle and tame the one that has been hanging around my campsite.

Between the Doed and Morley, the mining of the needed materials has gathered enough for me to construct an 8x12 foundation which includes an overhang corner to the edge of the pond below. I do face some delay in that work thanks to a sandstorm that blows up. A water tap is going to be needed given that working outside in one also drains water with one’s stamina. Thanks to all of that crafting, I reach Level 44 by the morning of Day 4.

On Day 4, Pete is able to complete the construction of the enlarged pen. Adobe is used at the pond section which also encloses the 2x2 hut, while the Villager Workbench is used to construct the lattice walls, then the ceiling. Thanks to the Does and Morley, the required materials are quickly gathered in the quantities needed. Those hand harvestable pines not only yield lots of wood when harvested by a Morley, they regenerate quickly.

Mixing the two types of construction can be tricky. It takes four walls of adobe to equal three walls in the castle mod. Even then there is still an uneven match where the two meet. Still, both construction methods are needed as Adobe gives the higher heat insulation while the castle mod works without tying down your character with crafting with the weight of the materials needed. It also saves on engram points as all parts are unlocked. A Morley will fit through the castle gate where an Adobe Behemoth one is needed otherwise. Still, I needed to make a porch in the back to provide a level platform so that the Morley doesn’t get stuck in the door in the gate. It helps with the raptor pack getting inside smoothly. They have been set up in groups of 2 to follow close and at medium distance. The setup with whistle commands has allowed me to have them automatically follow my alpha leader but not me. With that setup, I don’t have to worry about my other tames getting involved when I have to quickly take them out to deal with any threats that show up such as other low level raptors, wolves, and Hell Pigs. They will automatically follow the pack leader and not me.

An additional higher level raptor has shown up in the lower canyon. He is taken down with a bola and added to the pack. A male Parasaur is also added to have a mated pair for berry harvesting and alert detection.

On Day 6, Pete has finally reached Level 60. It has been long hours of crafting and gathering to reach that objective. The Doed and Morley have made gathering of stone, sand, wood, and sap so much faster and easier.

That morning, I find a Tek Ankylo. (It’s a KBD exclusive.) Even though it is low level, it will do for efficiently gathering metal ore and flint. Stone plumbing is added to the house from the pond below. The nearby supply drops have supplied the needed items for the project.

One of the blue drops has given me an Oil Pump. I place it on one of the raptors, then take the pack up to the hill by the Green Obelisk that has a table rock on it. I know that it is a safer spot then the plateau to the Southeast where Thilos, Terror Birds, Hell Pigs, and Thornys hang out. The raptors prove useful for clearing out a nest of microraptors before I am able to place the oil pump on the nearby oil seep.

As I finally have the pelt and Rare Mushrooms, I go look for one of the giant roos. I find a decent level one stuck in the rocks and knock it out.

Wow! Can these thing jump a long distance or up high cliffs when you charge up their jump meter. I have never notice that before when they first came out years ago. With that ability, good carry weight, excellent harvesting of sap and thatch, and the ability to kick away a predator to a long distance, this Joey is proving to be a worthwhile tame. It’s just too bad that you have to kill three of them to get enough pelt for a saddle.

End of Day 7 Pete reaches Level 75 thanks to using Tammy to collect several Explorer Notes. That event takes place when I spot a Level 37 Fire Wyvern in the area and decide to trap her. Now, one can tame the wild Wyverns if they are using the Immersive Taming mod. Since I am not using it, I just use the DoTame cheat which works just fine on them.

By using her to collect several Explorer Notes in the area, the both of us are quickly able to get leveled up. She is also a big help in collecting drops of which some are loaded with useful items and other contain just garbage blueprints for common construction items. By using her to kill and harvest some mantas and ankylos, I am able to obtain the needed hard to get items to craft the Valerian Reins for her. Those will allow a flyer to have increased speed, maneuverability and endurance.

By that evening, a Level 36 female raptor gets added to the hunting pack. It only takes two tranc arrows on a crossbow to the head to knock out. Need to be careful using them for taming low level creatures. I may wait until I have crafted a Longneck Rifle and tranc darts before going after an Argy.

[rpicardi1]

Pete’s returns to Scorched Earth. From the posted story of Scorched Earth.

 

Spawning in at a place, known as Midlands 4, Desert Pete proceed to get his bearing of the main landmark in the area which is the Green Obelisk. He has no idea how he ended up back in that nightmare world of his last unplanned visit to this harsh prehistoric desert land. Pete learned during his last visit that he doesn’t want to head to the Green Obelisk given that it is a haven for numerous dangerous creatures such as Terror Birds, Sabers, Raptors, Wolves, and Kapros. He is not ready to defend himself against those predators. Given that it is already getting hot, Pete head West down a dry wash gathering resources on the way and keeping an eye out for predators.

Pete finds that starting resources are still rather abundant in the area such as stone, berries and fiber which he gather as he is heading downhill to his planned destination. He knows that he need to get to a pond in the Southern East canyon before it gets too hot to survive. From his last visit, his group of survivors had built a camp with an adobe shelter.

A pick is quickly crafted from a stone, thatch, and wood. There are few trees here, mostly cactus and brush. However, there are small pine trees that can be picked for wood and thatch thus saving one’s fist. A level up soon is reached in which the points are placed in either fortitude or weight. The hatchet and spear are unlocked and crafted as soon as possible.

From his last unplanned visit, Pete learned that hitting a cactus with a pick will yield thatch and cactus sap. While the sap, along with the berries are mostly useless for hydration, the act of harvesting cactus plants can quickly quench his thirst. Such is how strange, things work in this strange world known as Scorched Earth. Pete can also use Jug Bugs and Water Seeps for a water source, but he doesn’t see any along the downhill path to the Canyon.

As Pete heads down the dry wash to the pond that is located in the canyon, he gathers the materials needed to craft up what is called Thatch Clothes. They help to shelter him from the blazing sun in this desert land.

Pete also knows that if he goes running around, he will just get hotter and quickly get dehydrated. He keeps looking around for any nearby predators and will only run to lead them to an unsuspecting herbivore if he has to make a quick getaway from them.

As luck would have it, Desert Pete is able to make it to the canyon pond without overheating or running into raptors. That in itself is unusual given that the first time his nephew ended up on Scorched Earth, he spawned into a pack of them twice. The third time the huge camel like turtle head creatures smashed them into a boulder. The dead raptors were butchered for some free hide. However, while there were herbivores about, there was nothing small that could be easily killed with a spear for much needed meat and hide.

It is around noon when Pete reaches the pond where he and his friends had built their survival camp. However, the area looks exactly like it did before anything was built there. So, Pete has to start gathering the materials to build a thatch hut up on the sandstone cliff before it gets too hot to do anything else in the afternoon heat.

In the nearby canyon floor, Pete spots a freshly killed Parasaur. He quickly skins it for it’s hide and takes some of the meat to cook up on a campfire. He doesn’t know why it wasn’t eaten by whatever killed it. So, he quickly crafts up some bolas as well as some spears, a bow, and arrows.

Now armed with some protection, Pete crafts what is called a Spawn Bed, stocks a Go Box with some spare weapons and clothes, and proceeds to craft the items he will need to forge some better tools for his defense.

On his second day in Scorched Earth, Pete has been able to forge his metal tools to replace the primitive stone ones. A Green supply drop lands in the canyon near his camp. Armed with his weapons, Pete heads to it where he finds a spyglass, a set of leather clothes, and a Raptor Saddle. “That’s Good News,” he thinks. It means that the creatures here can be tamed like they were on his last visit.

With the silk from the nearby short plant flowers, Pete is able to craft up the much cooler Desert Cloth. It helps him to resist the afternoon heat.

Later that morning, two raptors have shown up in the canyon so Pete get prepared to go tame the pair. Too late, they get killed when they attack the Ankylos that have also shown up in the canyon. Oh well, they must have been low level. They become easy meat and hide as Pete butchers them before the vultures show up to clean up the rest.

Later that afternoon, Pete spots two female raptors through his spotting scope of which one is a high level. Both are stopped by his Bolas as they get knocked out with a tranc arrow to the head. By the evening of that second day, an additional male raptor is added to the pack along with a high level parasaur for berry harvesting and a Jarboa for weather forecasting. Pete make it back from taming the male raptor just in time to avoid being baked by the afternoon heatwave.

With having obtained some tames, it is now time to expand the construction to include a large pen and barn for their protection. This is going to require a lot of adobe and stone structures. Both are going to require vast amounts of wood, thatch, stone and sand. Pete will need to tame a Doed and Morley to help in gathering those materials.

The Morley is easily obtained early that morning. He take it into the pond so that it can drink it’s fill. It’s super efficient in gathering wood from the small pines and thatch and cactus sap from the tall cactus plants. However, Pete is restricted to mining rocks with the metal pick until he can gather the materials needed to craft the Doed Saddle. Adobe Foundations are made to expand the floor on the sandstone shelf. It isn’t until the morning of Day Three that Pete is able to obtain a Doed Saddle and tame the one that has been hanging around his campsite.

Between the Doed and Morley, the mining of the needed materials has allowed for construction of an 8x12 foundation which includes an overhang corner to the edge of the pond below. Pets has faced some delay in that work thanks to a sandstorm that blows up out of nowhere. A water tap is going to be needed given that working outside in a sandstorm is quite dehydrating along with draining one’s stamina. Thanks to all of that crafting, Pete reaches Level 44 by the morning of Day 4.

On Day 4, Pete is able to complete the construction of the enlarged pen. Adobe is used at the pond section which also encloses the 2x2 hut, while the Villager Workbench is used to construct the lattice walls, then the ceiling. Thanks to the Doed and Morley, the required materials are quickly gathered in the quantities needed. Those hand harvestable pines not only yield a lot of wood when harvested by a Morley, they regenerate quickly.

Mixing the two types of construction can be tricky. It takes four walls of adobe to equal three walls in the castle mod. Even then there is still an uneven match where the two meet. Still, both construction methods are needed as Adobe gives the higher heat insulation while the castle mod works without tying down your character with crafting with the weight of the materials needed. It also saves on engram points as all parts are unlocked. A Morley will fit through the castle gate where an Adobe Behemoth one is needed otherwise. Still, Pete needed to make a porch in the back to provide a level platform for the Morley so that he doesn’t get stuck in the door in the gate. It helps with the raptor pack getting inside smoothly. They have been set up in groups of 2 to follow close and at medium distance. Like from his last visit, the setup with whistle commands allows Pete to have them automatically follow his lead raptor. With that setup, Pete doesn’t have to worry about his other tames getting involved when he has to quickly take them out to deal with any threats that show up such as other low level raptors, wolves, and Hell Pigs. They have been trained to follow the pack leader.

An additional higher level raptor has shown up in the lower canyon. He is taken down with a bola and added to the pack. A male Parasaur is also added to have a mated pair for berry harvesting and alert detection.

On Day 6, Pete has finally reached Level 60. It has been long hours of crafting and gathering to reach that objective. The Doed and Morley have made gathering of stone, sand, wood, and sap so much faster and easier.

That morning, Pete find a strange robotic creature called a Tek Ankylo. Even though it is low level, it will do for efficiently gathering metal ore and flint. Stone plumbing is added to the house from the pond below. A nearby supply drops has supplied the needed items for that project.

One of the blue drops has given Pete an Oil Pump. He place it on one of the raptors, then take the pack up to the hill by the Green Obelisk that has a table rock on it. From his last visit, Pete know that it is a safer spot then the plateau to the Southeast where Thylos, Terror Birds, Hell Pigs, and Thornys hang out. The raptor pack proves useful for clearing out a nest of pesky microraptors before he am able to place the oil pump on the nearby oil seep.

As Pete finally has the pelt and Rare Mushrooms for taming one of the giant Kangeroos, he goes looking for one. Pete find a decent level one stuck in the rocks and knock it out.

Wow! Can these thing jump a long distance or up high cliffs when you charge up their jump meter. That was never observed when his friends Jack and Dundee were riding them. With that ability, good carry weight, excellent harvesting of sap and thatch, and the ability to kick away a predator to a long distance, this Joey is proving to be a worthwhile tame. It’s just too bad that three of them had to be killed to get enough pelt for a saddle.

End of Day 7 Pete reaches Level 75 thanks to using Tammy to collect several Explorer Notes. That event takes place when Pete spot a Fire Wyvern in the area and decide to trap her. It is a long process but Pete is able to successfully tame her.

By using her to collect several Explorer Notes in the area, the both of them are quickly able to get leveled up. She is also a big help in collecting drops of which some are loaded with useful items and other contain just garbage blueprints for common construction items. By using her to kill and harvest some mantas and ankylos, Pete is able to obtain the needed hard to get items to craft the Valerian Reins for her. Equipped, they give Tammy the ability to have increased speed, maneuverability and flying endurance.

By that evening, a Level 36 female raptor gets added to the hunting pack. It only takes two tranc arrows on a crossbow to the head to knock her out.

It has been a long difficult task to get settled in that strange new world, but Pete now has the tools and tames he needs to find the way back to his world.

Or, maybe not.

Oatman has long since been returned to a Ghost Town as the second gold rush has finally ended. The coming of the Great Depression has left everyone broke and struggling to survive. As he was getting too old to make a living prospecting or doing anything else, he had left on a one way trip into the Superstition Mountains to live out his last days. Now, he just might make his camp in Scorched Earth his new retirement home. His tames have become his good friends here. But then, just maybe, Dolly and the rest of his friends might just show up in Scorched Earth. He will go do some exploring in the morning in the hope that they may someday show up to visit him in his new retirement world.