Beating the A Really CD DA challenge

A Really CD DA is one of the fixed scenarios on the Challenges screen, listed with the others on game modes. The name reads as "a really seedy day" and borrows from the Really Bad Day start in Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. It has no win screen. You beat it by living.

The Indie Stone confirmed in the 42.20 notes that the challenge returned "with improvements". They did not say what changed. The table shows where each starting detail comes from.

No official post lists these details for 42.22. Read the description on your own Challenges screen before you start.

The start hurts, but the world rules are what keep the run hard after day one. Most of this list comes from the Build 41 wiki, which itself says some values only "appear" to be set that way. One Build 42.20 guide repeats the population, loot and shutoff rows.

You cannot open these in the sandbox menu. To see what each one does in a normal game, check sandbox settings. Instant shutoff means no taps, no fridges and no working stoves, so every drink has to be found or collected.

Build 42 also moved the zombies around. In January 2025 players reported the north farm full of zombies. In March 2025 one player said patch 42.5.1 changed the zombie heat map and made the start much easier (one source).

The house is burning when you gain control. Leave first and treat yourself outside. Guides agree that burns end more runs here than zombies do, and fire spreads through a house fast.

1. Get out. Take the nearest clear exit. Do not climb through a broken window naked, because the glass can cut you again.
2. Grab cloth if it is on your path. Curtains and sheets rip into rags for bandages. Do not cross flames for them. The neighboring houses have curtains too.
3. Break line of sight. You limp and you sneeze, so zombies will follow. Move through trees and around fences. The stealth page explains how they lose you.
4. Kill one lone zombie for clothes and shoes. Players report that the first zombie to reach you often arrives alone. A low fence helps: zombies fall when they cross it and can be stomped. Shoes matter most, because bare feet get cut.

Opinion Do not look for a good weapon yet. Push and stomp, or use the first plank, pipe or stone you see, and keep moving. Combat covers the push and stomp timing.

The groin wound. Open the health panel. The glass has to come out, the hole needs stitching, and until then it needs a bandage to stop the bleeding. Sources disagree on the order. Steam players pull the glass at once and bandage with ripped sheets, and say this reduces the limp. One Build 42.20 guide says to leave the shard in and bandage over it until you have a needle and thread. Either way, bandage within the first minute or two and stitch as soon as you find a needle. Full steps are on first aid.

The cold. The cold does not kill you by itself. It makes you sneeze and cough, and that noise draws zombies. Players report that it clears when you stay warm, dry, fed and rested indoors.

Wet and freezing. You are soaked and naked in winter, so hypothermia starts building at once. Any clothing is better than none, even ragged zombie clothes. The stages are on winter survival.

Drunk. It wears off with time. Do not drink more alcohol to pass the hours, and avoid fights until it fades.

First night. The long-standing route goes north or northeast out of town to an isolated farmhouse in the woods. Players have found sheets, some water and sometimes medical supplies there. A cabin with a wood stove sits further on, near the railroad. Both come from Build 41 guides. In Build 42 the farm can hold a crowd, so circle it and look before you walk in. One Build 42 player takes the clothes from the scarecrow there and leaves again. Sleep indoors with the doors shut and the wound bandaged.

The week.

• Water: taps are dead. Collect rain in pots, or use a well or lake, and boil it. See water.
• Food: fresh food is rotten and shelves are thin. Canned food needs a can opener or a knife. Foraging in the woods fills the gaps. Build 42 farms may also have chickens or sheep.
• Warmth: layer anything you find, stay dry, and choose a shelter with a wood stove or fireplace.
• Base: stay outside town. The center of Muldraugh at Insane population is not lootable in week one.
• Helicopter: players report the helicopter event still happens, around days 6 to 9. Be indoors and far from town.

Opinion Rest for two days once you are stitched and clothed. Healing and clearing the cold are worth more than early loot.

You still build a character. Only the items are stripped, so occupation, traits and starting skills carry over. That is stated in the Build 41 wiki, and Build 42 players describe choosing fitness and strength for the challenge.

Opinion Pick for the first hour, not for month three:

• Fitness and Strength. You have to move while limping and stomp without a weapon. One Build 42 player calls 4 Fitness and 3 Strength enough.
• Outdoorsman, Wakeful, Dexterous, Cat's Eyes. These are the names that keep coming up in player lists.
• Light Eater. It stretches scarce food.
• A woodland occupation. Players say Park Ranger makes moving through trees easier, and most of the escape route is forest.
• Avoid Slow Healer and anything that cuts stamina. Very Underweight is widely called a bad idea here.

Trait costs and effects are on traits and occupations, and full templates on character builds.

• Fire in the first seconds. Staying to loot the burning house, or running through flames.
• Bleeding out. Fleeing with the wound unbandaged.
• Cut feet. Going barefoot too long, which slows you until the crowd catches up.
• Noise. Sneezing near a group, or resting too close to town.
• The farm. Walking into a full farmyard hurt and unarmed, mostly a Build 42 problem.
• Cold nights. Sleeping wet and half dressed in an unheated building.
• Slow starvation. Players who last a month often die of hunger, because loot never improves.
• The helicopter. It drags the town's zombies onto a base that is too close.

Most attempts end within minutes, and experienced players say the start depends partly on luck. The death page explains what happens to the world after you die.