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Survived war after prioritizing defense

Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby Alan Grant » Wed Nov 19, 2014 9:33 pm

This is my first post on these forums, so let me just say this is a beautifully constructed game with a message that needs to be heard.

On to my point. After 3 or 4 tries I finally survived to the end (war ended on Day 36). It was a very near thing, I only had one character left and he was severely injured, and none of the original survivors in the group made it. I was just playing for time with virtually no supplies left. A few more days and I probably wouldn't have made it to finally see what the end of the game looks like. I was also very happy that I was able to do this without visiting the old couple in the quiet house.

What made a HUGE difference for me was prioritizing defense. As soon as possible I upgraded the workbench so that I could plug the holes in the house. After plugging all three, I also made sure the group always had at least one melee weapon (knife, crowbar, shovel) in the house at night. Later I found a working pistol with five rounds in a locked cabinet in the grocery store basement. I left it at the house as well.

In terms of the defense situation at night, this made a huge difference. I realized that the night time losses, supplies stolen, injuries suffered, were too much. It was completely wiping out any gains I made during the day and creating a constant demand for medical supplies that ate through the group's resources.

After I prioritized defense, the raids would still happen, but 9 times out of 10, no one would be hurt and no supplies stolen. With the worst of the raiding we'd lose some ammunition (through shots fired at bad guys) but that was about it. It allowed me to worry less about gathering bandages and focus on other wants and needs.

Later when I ran out of ammo for the pistol and got very desperate I traded the pistol away. After that one of the raids did cause injury to my one lone survivor.

So...helpful tip.

P.S. In the same game I also discovered that moonshine is worthwhile. Really good trade item, but also for sharing among the survivors. I'm still not fully clear on its impact on them, but I suspect there is a morale benefit. When I first started playing the game I didn't put a lot of stock in the idea of going into the moonshine business, but having moonshine around made a noticeable dent in my ability to trade with the day-time traders for whatever the group needed.
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby BeeKhool » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:06 am

Wow, your strategy is very well explained! Thank you, this will be helpful for a newbie like me :lol:
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby Vagrant » Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:07 am

What I find odd is that the survivors seem to be more effective when using melee weapons for defense. You would think having a shotgun or AK47 would make it easier to defend, just as it does for the NPC's guarding their hideout.
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby Alan Grant » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:52 pm

Vagrant wrote:What I find odd is that the survivors seem to be more effective when using melee weapons for defense. You would think having a shotgun or AK47 would make it easier to defend, just as it does for the NPC's guarding their hideout.


I'm not sure about that. You might be right, but when my group had that pistol and ammo, we did not suffer a single injury or stolen item. We also had at least one melee weapon in the house, if not more than one. The house was raided many times, and sometimes by well armed and very determined dudes (we went through the whole heavy crime period of the game) and we did not lose anything but ammo.

Later when I traded away the ammo-less pistol out of sheer desperation, but retained a knife for one my survivor, we did suffer a raid in which the survivor was injured.

So I do think firearms make a difference. But I am not sure if the distinction between what TYPE of firearm is that broad. It may not make a huge difference whether that firearm is a pistol, shotgun or assault rifle. Or maybe it does, I can only guess. But if I were to replay the game again, my goal would be to get at least 1 working firearm (of any type) and ammo for it for home defense.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that you might be talking about scavenging and getting into fights while scavenging. I do feel like I've won a lot more melee battles than I have gun battles.
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby KarlosCV » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:37 pm

Absolutely.

What I found is that boarding up all holes AND getting the reinforced door in the first week (10 days max) is an absolute must. Otherwise you might as well give up, the bandits will wear you down.

Vagrant wrote:What I find odd is that the survivors seem to be more effective when using melee weapons for defense. You would think having a shotgun or AK47 would make it easier to defend, just as it does for the NPC's guarding their hideout.


Yeah, that's my experience too. I feel it doesn't matter if you defend with guns or melee weapons, the only difference is that defending with guns consumes a lot of ammo. I always store my ammo in a wardrobe and leave only a knife and a hatchet for defense and it works pretty good.

One thing I'd love to know though is - with reinforced door you can supposedly defend from a raid even when your guys are sleeping. But are your chances higher if you place one guy on guard anyway?
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby zero » Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:06 pm

I've been skipping defense but leaving guns at the HQ and "hiding" medicine and other valuables in the cupboards. I've been testing that and it kinda works so far. Not sure if it's an exploit!
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby Alan Grant » Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:52 pm

I've never gotten the option for a reinforced front door. I'm guessing you have to upgrade the workshop twice?

I have only been able to upgrade each of my workshops (including the herbal thing and the tool/weapon maker) once. I never seem to have enough resources to upgrade further. Which is annoying if for no other reason than I'd like to see what the more advanced crafting construction options are.

I'm looking forward to the wiki getting finished, or a more detailed game guide posted somewhere. Primarily for the above reason.
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby suntzu » Fri Nov 21, 2014 5:27 am

it's only selectable after you've patched up the house and upgraded the bench twice. I'm also pretty sure this is broken, since the door upgrade clearly says it should improve defense while your guys are sleeping, and I've noticed that these defenses are completely ineffective unless you put your guys on guard.

sometimes if you look at the overview description of your house it will switch back and forth from "still vulnerable" to "secure" day by day after full upgrades, this is clearly not working as intended.
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby Borys » Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:17 pm

I guess it's fixed. The patch makes those descriptions match reality better. Let us know if you still feel something works not as you'd expect. :)
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Re: Survived war after prioritizing defense

Postby wimspree » Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:54 am

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