is there a version of this, that doesn't need story disabler

Oh okay, that's good to hear!

and by conflict avoidance strats i mean getting a bunch of blocks (better stash some in advance) and moving exclusively through your sealed corridors

I'm pretty sure armor isn't dropped in survival, along with weapons. Even if it is, navigating an environment that's just 1 tier above isn't too hard with conflict avoidance strats