Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- fuss:hobo_tough_life [2019/12/25 02:06] – [Escaping the Walls] office
+++ fuss:hobo_tough_life [2022/10/25 08:15] (current) – [General Income and Surviving the Calamity] office
@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 All credits for this method should be given to the dog since the dog is a physical object that often gets in the way and does not allow the player to move, sometimes trapping the player with no escape! :-)
+====== Starting the Game in Windowed Mode ======
+Create a shortcut to the executable and add the following parameters in the ''Target'' field:
+<code>
+-screen-fullscreen 0 -screen-width 800 -screen-height 600
+</code>
+in order to launch ''Hobo: Tough Life'' in ''800x600'' windowed mode.
+====== General Income and Surviving the Calamity ======
+The game is realistic but not necessarily balanced and it is possible to ensure victory within 5 days of game time. The key element to victory is obtaining three pieces of clothing that, combined with a steady fire, will ensure that the play will win the game.
+Jobs reach a point of ever-diminishing returns where the time and effort expended cannot be recuperated by purchasing the necessary items from the payout. Practically, the player will end up exhausted, hungry from so much running around, stinky since that is constant, while performing a job and the payout for the jobs are insufficient to cover the costs just to break even.
+Speech, begging, stealing and trading is by far more cost-efficient than any job. Just standing around and talking to people can amass a large sum of money and sufficient to cover the cost of the best clothes needed to survive the calamity.
+====== Tips & Tricks ======
+This is a collection of notes about Hobo: Tough Life that can be read either as a guide, tutorial or things to check out for yourself:
+  * Begging is by far at the time of writing the best way to generate income. Jobs tend to have a falloff where it will become tough to break even if personal maintenance is factored in (life regeneration, wet wipes to remove bad odor, etc).
+    * The best jobs, in order:
+      * Digging; perhaps the best job since the requirements are very low and the distance to get to the objective and back is minimal,
+      * Street cleanup; cleaning up streets has the added advantage of being able to talk to people and generate more income on the way. Nevertheless, street cleanup can be potentially dangerous due to the roaming thugs that switch positions periodically. Additionally, picking up the garbage can take some considerable amount of moving about. On the other hand, the picked up garbage is junk that can be kept and reused,
+      * Call center operator; the call center is far away from the city centre but the job has very low requirements such that the player can completely fail the minigames and still cash in on the reward,
+      *  Sewage cleanup; perhaps the worst job since it requires moving around in the sewers, the minigames are difficult to accomplish and the distances traveled can be very large.
+  * The job centre will dish out two jobs at a time. If the player does not like a job type, the job can be kept in the log and after a while the job centre will offer up a second job.
+  * Upgrading for a "better job" at the job centre will result in the player having to deliver pizzas allover the map which is an arduous exercise that is also time-trialed since the pizzas will have to be delivered in useful time before they get cold. Ultimately the pizza delivery "better job" is best avoided given the low rewards and the ever-diminishing returns.
+  * Traditionally, ie: since the game release, the goal of the game has been to survive the calamity. One trick is to save up enough money and keep checking Anatoly's shop, as well as Shrug,  for the following items:
+  * (from Anatoly) Warm Jacket
+  * (from Anatoly) Kickass Pants
+  * (from Shrug) Ushanka
+and as a possible yet rare upgrade, from Shrug at ''4000'' crowns:
+  * (from Shrug) Expedition Jacket
+{{fuss:fuss_hobo_tough_life_expedition_jacket.png}}
+The "Warm Jacket" and the "Kickass Pants" combined and worn by the player should provide enough protection to survive the calamity (with the help of a shelter and a basic fire). It seems that, at the date of writing, these items provide the best protection against the cold in the game.
+  * Only the largest bins contain furniture. Furniture and shelter equipment can be found by (formerly, through burglaries) entering apartment buildings and lockpicking.
+  * The following cures seem to be optimal in terms of availability and cost-efficiency:
+    * Food; hunger can be replenished by crafting and eating ''Grub'' that is available early on in the game. Additionally, ''Grub'' is crafted from a baguette and scrap food that can be found in the garbage. Ultimately, there is no need for any other dish to keep going in the game without a hitch!
+    * Morale; a single ''Playguy'' magazine, available in stores or at the gas station, costing 60 crowns will refill by $100%$. Assuming that the player will generate at least more than 60 crowns per day, it does not make any sense to fix morale with cigarettes that also replenish by very small values,
+    * Stench; bad odor can be removed using wet wipes, costing 10 crowns, that replenish by ''-10'' points at a rate of $1$ point per crown; similarly, ''Soap'' costs 30 crowns and replenishes by ''-40'' points at a slighter better rate of $1.33$ points per crown. It is best to stash up on stacks of ''Soap''. Note that once the odor metric reaches over a certain threshold, stores might refuse to let the player enter resulting in a dead end - this can be fixed by either visiting the charity and taking a bath or through other means yet it is time consuming,
+    * Fatigue; fatigue can be resolved by drinking various beverages (aside from sleeping). It seems that a can of coke is the most effective item to stash up since it carries little to no penalties as well as being cost-effective.
+  * Washing or repairing clothes does not seem to be effective in any way. Washing clothes will diminish the rate at which odor accumulates and repairing clothes will activate the bonuses in case the clothes have any. Nevertheless, special clothes, such as the best clothing items mentioned previously, will still preserve the cold bonus even if they are damaged. Washing and repairing is a time-consuming task that will require a lot of maintenance and will deter the player away from the objective,
+  * At the current time of writing, setting out to complete the quests will result in a dead player. Even though there is some sort of progression to the quests, the quest line is not designed to make the player gradually progress. Instead, each quest line from each NPC can be seen as its own individual self-standing thing separate from the game. In fact, quests will rather consume inventory items and money when NPCs will require either to complete the quest. It is much better to approach any quest further on in the game when the player has attained some sort of sustainability,
+  * Combining the ''Altar'' with the ''Health regeneration'' feature of a hideout is a nice trick to generate a lot of useful items at the cost of a packaged chicken. The procedure is straightforward: during the night time, pray at the altar till most of the health is reduced to a minimum, in doing so, several rewards are granted such as ''Playguy'' magazines, lots of scrap food and special clothing pieces, dark beverages that can be sold for 70 crowns each; when the health reaches a minimum, sleep in order to regenerate and then repeat the procedure every night. The only effective price for doing this is that the altar requires a packaged chicken that costs 150 crowns,
+  * One hideout location is right next to the spawn / starting point for the game however it is the worst place to start a hideout since it is very far away from any important store, the supermarkets and people in general. Plan to start a hideout somewhere in the middle of the town,
+  * The only effective cost for being jailed is spending about a minute of real time trapped. Nevertheless, the jail cell has a toilet and fully upgraded sleeping beds. Jail can be a shortcut for relieving yourself or getting some sleep. In any case, the alternative is to resist arrest and then potentially being killed.
+  * One trick to recover from alcohol addiction is to start talking and leave the interface open and wait. While you are talking to NPCs, the meters are still running but you do not lose health. It takes about $24$ hours for the alcohol addiction to go away. The same trick can be used to survive the calamity without having to bother about meters. Talking to someone stops all negative effects including health drain.