Utterly Mad

Damn you Forrest, you just reminded me of the fun times I had as a barbarian, in the wilderness, with item spawns turned to the minimum. Doing anything required getting a rock, and I couldn't get one until I smashed down a lab wall. This was back before boulders, as well as when lab walls could easily be smashed with 20-odd strength and a battle axe.

Yeah. I started off as a hobo, and with the item spawns so low withdrawal would be a death wish, so my existence basically became hunting down NPCs, talking with them to find out if they had any booze with them on the trading menu, then killing them in any way possible to secure another bottle of liquor.

Eventually, I found cannabis plants in a basement, and began growing it outside of my gas station base, supplemented with bone meal from passing animals, in order to trade with any other random NPCs for their alcohol. Finally got the resources to buy a double barreled pipe shotgun off a passerby, then spent the rest of my time securing ammo in any way possible.

Honestly, it's really made average Cata seem easy to me, which is probably why I can still play it when so many have abandoned it. I spent ten days looking for anything valuable enough to buy shotgun primers, hulls, and copper jewelry off NPCs in order to make twenty five freakin' rounds of makeshift shot.