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[Kaitol]

*npc jacks ride and zooms off into the sunset while you run back to where you marked on your map that your car is and find it missing with a horde right behind you*

[Darkmere]

People play with NPC's?

[Elephant Parade]

-snip-

You forgot Strong Scent and Trigger Happy. Strong Scent isn't that bad, and Trigger Happy is basically free points.

Also, Robust Genetics is pretty much required if you want to mutate, which you do. Fleet-Footed is also pretty amazing.

[Orange Wizard]

Trigger Happy is not good when the only gun you have is an assault rifle and you don't have much ammunition.

[Greiger]

A bit late to this one but, re: the vehicle tracking module:

It sucks power and doesn't do anything you can't already do just by making a Note on the map when you park. I don't think they're worth it, and they're especially not worth bothering with a PDA for.

It actually kinda works well with how I play the game while I'm working.

I tend to be working for 15-20 minutes then waiting for a call for 3-5 minutes on a slow day.  I'm permitted to play games that don't use the network connection when I'm not on a call, (because they'd rather us be at the computer where we can hear and see a call come in instead of focusing on something else for entertainment) so I'm often playing cataclysm on and off over the course of a few hours.  Over that long I can sometimes forget exactly where I parked, and constantly notating the location and clearing old notes is a time consuming hassle that a VTD is a godsend for.

I've actually considered modding in something a person could make with a little electronics skill that can be worn like a watch but also shows VTD's on the map.  But it seems the PDA has a single flag that does everything PDA related and I wouldn't know how to just pull the time and tracking function out of it.

[Gentlefish]

Actually having a good start with classic zombies and sheltered survivor start. Haven't stepped on any landmines or angered any moose yet and I'm up to day 3. Longest lived character in this set of releases

[Silfurdreki]

I just found a military mess kit on my latest character. Unfortunately, it's a bit smashed up by whatever killed the soldier whose body I got it from. Now, it being damaged does not make it any worse, as far as I can tell, but it'd be nice to repair it none the less. I cannot, however, find what tool to use for the repairs. It is made of superalloy and kevlar which made me guess at a soldering iron but it doesn't work. Neither does a basic repair kit.

Does anyone know if it is even possible to repair these and if so, what tool do I need?

[BFEL]

@Silfur: Probably a welder.

@Knife Spears: But don't those tend to get stuck in things and thus possibly rendered unusable for a fight? I recommend blunt weapons because that will never ever ever happen.

[Tawa]

No, knife spears don't get stuck. With minimalist welding tools, you can upgrade to an even deadlier and more durable weapon made out of a locker.

Traits I recommend:
- Quick
- Accomplished Sleeper is good (because your sleeping schedule is just crap at the start)
- I've heard Gourmand is good for making food worth more
- Tough is nice from what I've seen
- NEVER take most of the one-point traits, e.g. Light Step, Weak Scent, Self-Aware, most of them are crap
- Once you get past the noob stage, quit using night vision and enjoy your new shinies

Flaws I recommend:
- If you don't use skill rust, Forgetful
- Assault rifles are generally crap that doesn't save your life well, Trigger Happy is fine
- Ugly, Truth Teller
- NEVER take Junk Food Intolerance, vending machines are a nearly infinite source of food if they're full enough
- NEVER take Schizophrenia, finding antipsychotic drugs is difficult considering the rarity of pharmacies

Skills I recommend:
- Fabrication
- Survival
- Tailoring
- Melee or a weapon skill

Professions I recommend:
- CHEAP/FREE: Survivor, Student, Backpacker, Biker, Lumberjack, most sports professions, Convict
- MEDIUM: Survivalist, Military Recruit, etc.
- EXPENSIVE: Black Belt, this newfangled experimental 'Bionic Prepper', any military profession, Commercial Cyborg
- FREE POINTS: Hobo is fun but it can be difficult to get past the alcohol addiction stage, Shower Victim, Hitchhiker

There you have it.

[Il Palazzo]

If you're going to take negative traits that don't do anything for free points, why not just change initial character point pool? Easier, and less self-bulshitting.

And assault rifles are awesome. Nothing like killing a whole roomfull of enemies with a single burst from your IAR. And if you play a fragile character, making sure you kill that turret that's just popped up or an angry NPC in one action is the difference between life and death.

[BFEL]

I would like to suggest the home mechanic profession as a recommended cheap one. It starts with a wrench, which can be either extremely common or completely impossible to obtain, depending on your worldgen.

[chaoticag]

If you're going to take negative traits that don't do anything for free points, why not just change initial character point pool? Easier, and less self-bulshitting.

Well, in my case, taking extra points would just lead to me taking those negative traits again.

[Arcvasti]

KNIFE SPEARS DO get stuck, but having a strength of 11+ means that you just pull it out again and resume face stabbing. Plus they block, have decent damage and to-hit bonuses. KNIFE SPEARS are awesome. That's really all there is to say on the matter.

I would like to suggest the home mechanic profession as a recommended cheap one. It starts with a wrench, which can be either extremely common or completely impossible to obtain, depending on your worldgen.

Never thought I would say this, but wrenches aren't that hard to find. There's usually at least one of them in a Science Lab, and those are everywhere. And the lab doesn't even contain that many dangerous enemies[turrets are easily avoidable with night vision/light amp goggles]. Mechanic is definitely a good profession though, 1 point for Mechanics skill book AND a decent useful tool is a pretty good deal.

I finally got myself a full suit of basic power armor, with hauling frame. I can't power it for extended periods of time, but I HAVE it.

[gimlet]

Wow, I never eat junk food even when I don't take the allergy, I don't like the -health and I always leave huge piles of rotting meat anywhere I go anyway.  For me those are all free points, except I never take Meat, Fruit or Vegetable allergy, with just those you can survive pretty easily early game or years later.   Hmm I always develop Archery, so that might have a little to do with the ease of getting meat, if I didn't have unlimited free ammo it might be a little harder.

Agree on Shower Victim and especially Hitchhiker, although my new fav is Failed Cyborg for the extra point.  The fail events are mostly only annoying and you can rip out the bad bionics within a couple of weeks.  And whee, free bionic power and ethanol burner

A few other tips I didn't see mentioned:
- Watch your pain!  As it goes up you slow down.  Slow = death in combat.  So learn to manage it with painkillers, or grab some food and water and go sleep it off, or at least read or craft while it goes down.
- Fill up on perishable food/drinks as you're going past them - you'll find WAY more than you can carry and it's just gonna spoil anyway, so top off thirst with that fruit juice and eat those sandwiches.
- Watch your mood/Focus.  If your Focus is low you will learn very very slowly - it's a waste doing 50 hard dangerous fights against zombies or tedious crafting and only learning a few % skills when the same activities done with higher Focus would earn you multiple skill levels.  Yea a lot of times it's unavoidable, but keep your eyes out for morale boosters like mp3 players, drink a sip of tasty booze a few times a day.  Later when you're hunkered down reading boring morale-sapping textbooks, space that out with reading some novels or magazines.

Also I like the new start Scenarios, my current fav for minmaxing is Infected.  Yea you start with an infected body part and have to be aggressive looking for disinfectant/First Aid kits (and a little lucky to get 'em to work), but hey 4 more build points to help you do it.
For beginners Sheltered looks decent although it's really only +2 BP 'cause you can't take the +BP professions.

[Silfurdreki]

@Silfur: Probably a welder.

Nope, doesn't work. Welders can repair the same things as the soldering iron: metal, plastic and kevlar.

Also, I was mistaken as to what the mess kit was made of, it's not superalloy and kevlar but rather superalloy and ceramics.

Edit:

Never thought I would say this, but wrenches aren't that hard to find. There's usually at least one of them in a Science Lab, and those are everywhere. And the lab doesn't even contain that many dangerous enemies[turrets are easily avoidable with night vision/light amp goggles].

Raiding a lab early is a bit more difficult in the newer experimentals compared to 0.A, from what I've read. Just something to take into account