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What is the best way (or closest) to experience all the skills/abilities etc?


uncleseano

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For me, getting the best experience is always a gamble. I'm gonna try a new build which consists of the herbalist trait, because you get access to a lot of poultices and stuff, things that you can make with the mortar and pestle that you wouldn't be able to build without the herbalist trait. Literally everything else you can access with recipe magazines and by just doing them. At least I think. I definitely think that investing in fast reader is worth the effort because even with high custom experience multipliers, the game can seem tedious in regard to leveling up skills. 

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Honestly I found that there wasn't much advantage to a couple points in any skill to start.  The first two levels go ridiculously fast if you have read the skill book.  

 

I chose based on 'extras' my dude is a veteran because I started playing and every single bathroom I went in to... two zombies would come out of nowhere, panic me and then I was screwed.  I liked the vet option because it's probably most accurate description of what I actually am lol.  My guy never panics but is always anxious and sleeps like shit.  The sleeping has gotten better, but there's just no beating walking into anywhere seeing a horde and just going 'meh. Who wants to get bashed in the skull first.'  Doesn't matter if I'm surrounded or in the dark or whatever... calm, cool and extra bashy.  Everything else was easy enough to grind.  I just make endless bowls of food and refrigerate for cooking, climb through broken windows for first aid, barricade everything for carpentry, dismantle all electronics for electrical, dismantle all toilets and baths for metalworking, run everywhere carrying too much for strength and sprinting, always sneak when zombies are around, and climb over every fence you see nimble or whatever.  Even with two in aiming from being a vet... my guy still sucked pretty hard but I would just isolate pockets of zombies and then blast away.

 

pretty easy to do all of those things when you're alive because you didn't freak out every time a zombie appeared.  The engineer profession was tempting but I'm not so much a lay traps kind of guy and besides there's a simple mod that teaches you the various trap recipes... which is reasonable to me.  

 

I would honestly never never pick anything else because not panicking is useful always through an entire playthrough.  Everything else I can grind.=D

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51 minutes ago, PapayaKing said:

For me, getting the best experience is always a gamble. I'm gonna try a new build which consists of the herbalist trait, because you get access to a lot of poultices and stuff, things that you can make with the mortar and pestle that you wouldn't be able to build without the herbalist trait. Literally everything else you can access with recipe magazines and by just doing them. At least I think. I definitely think that investing in fast reader is worth the effort because even with high custom experience multipliers, the game can seem tedious in regard to leveling up skills. 

You don't need to spend +4 points on trait, just find magazine..

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Great info all around. I would never think about picking a vet etc as I reckoned that leveling shooting was probably the easiest.

 

I've never seen a doctor/herbalist magazine though.

 

Also aren't there certain perks that only come if you select that profession. Like you can see all the details about a car only with the mechanic profession and not of you pick anything else.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Basha said:

I chose based on 'extras' my dude is a veteran (...)

 

I would honestly never never pick anything else because not panicking is useful always through an entire playthrough.  Everything else I can grind.=D

 

I started a game with a veteran a few days ago and I find this profession to be one of the best, even if I almost don't use guns.

I mostly kill by pushing and stomping.

 

Desensitized trait is just awesome. Would recommend.

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15 minutes ago, Geras said:

 

I started a game with a veteran a few days ago and I find this profession to be one of the best, even if I almost don't use guns.

I mostly kill by pushing and stomping.

 

Desensitized trait is just awesome. Would recommend.

 

.... But can you do mechanics, electronics, herbalist, bomb making, tapping etc?

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7 hours ago, DramaSetter said:

You don't need to spend +4 points on trait, just find magazine..

I just looked up the list of magazines and I had no idea that there was a herbalist magazine. I've played 70-somethin hours on steam and hundreds on a torrented version back in the day, so I find it quite weird that I haven't ever seen it. Will keep my eyes open  though. 

 

2 hours ago, uncleseano said:

That's all I need to hear so. I'll try the Vet start so

I think I'll do the same. I usually choose carpenter though because getting through the beginning grind of those levels can be tedious. 

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I'm not convinced about the Vet class. From my sleuthing you build up a resistance to panic over time plus Beta BLockers are a cheap and cheerful fix in the meantime

 

Besides that the -8 skill point penalty is kinda beefy

 

If what the guys are saying is true about being able to use every skills/ability with magazines then maybe something like the unemployed is the best for a jack of all trades as you'll have the most points to slap were you want it

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14 hours ago, uncleseano said:

I'm not convinced about the Vet class. From my sleuthing you build up a resistance to panic over time plus Beta BLockers are a cheap and cheerful fix in the meantime

 

Besides that the -8 skill point penalty is kinda beefy

 

If what the guys are saying is true about being able to use every skills/ability with magazines then maybe something like the unemployed is the best for a jack of all trades as you'll have the most points to slap were you want it

You still can't craft pipe and other kind of bombs without mods/profession.

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On 2018-04-20 at 12:29 PM, Geras said:

 

I started a game with a veteran a few days ago and I find this profession to be one of the best, even if I almost don't use guns.

I mostly kill by pushing and stomping.

 

Desensitized trait is just awesome. Would recommend.

I didn't fire a gun until I had cleared WP, the trailer park, train yards and Muldraugh and the warehouses to the west.  I got to March Ridge and there were so many zombies it was taking about a day to clear 100-200 square meters then running back and sleeping in the guard house.  So I went and grabbed bags and bags of ammo and levelled ranged skills to like 7 in a couple days murdering everything in sight.

 

i am hella axe bro.  Although I just crossed level 8 and now my timing is all messed up because every hit staggers them for like 5 seconds and they can't be hit again until they recover... whereas before I could smack em and then charge in to hit them just as they recovered.

 

i use the outdoorsman trait, cat eyes, and the reduced zombie awareness of me... basically I just go sprinting around bashing them in the skull one hit murdering them if it's from behind.  I don't sneak in houses much anymore... I just run full speed into a room and get ready to party.  My toon doesn't care at all.  

 

As a vet I've seen a lot of games come up with some pretty cliche and or hokey 'traits' for me.  This game is the first one that not only makes sense... but is psychologically accurate and clearly well thought out.  I even remember the day i actually realized I was now officially an emotional potato when it came to traumatic shit.  We were on patrol and after some stuff we came across something that should have made me freak out but I was just like 'huh.' And then I thought to myself 'uh oh.  That should be way more alarming.' 

 

I could see panic easing off... but if it's anything like depression... it will always be around and if you're winded... just looking for a place to hide out for a minute... carrying too much... and then a zombie jumps out of nowhere at full shamble in a closed space... and you panic... you're done.

 

also I've found you have to take about half a bottle of anything to get results now.  Also you will forget to take them if you are under a lot of zombie pressure.  As soon as you panic you need about twice as many swings.  At lower levels of melee, fitness, strength... those extra swings are enough to allow those other two zombies to get in range from the other room where they were doing nothing until their friends jumped you and started making noise.

 

now it's 4 on 1.

 

and you're panicked.

 

if it doesn't help you run, sneak or bash... then it's not worth it.

 

Also any trait that adds +1 to a skill is a hard pass.  With outdoorsman and cats eyes... I am running around in the middle of the night kicking in doors and disappearing into the thunder storm.  I've never been sick and I just wear pants and a vest.  Choose stuff that alters the playing field... everything else you can learn or grind.

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1 hour ago, Basha said:

also I've found you have to take about half a bottle of anything to get results now.  Also you will forget to take them if you are under a lot of zombie pressure.  As soon as you panic you need about twice as many swings.  At lower levels of melee, fitness, strength... those extra swings are enough to allow those other two zombies to get in range from the other room where they were doing nothing until their friends jumped you and started making noise.

 

now it's 4 on 1.

 

and you're panicked.

 

Exactly this. Carrying beta blockers and taking them before each bigger fight a few pills at a time is just not effective.

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Not to be contradictory, and I completely agree with prioritising panic management movement skills in the early game, but the default 'rare' loot spawn settings can make key recipes hard to come by.

I can usually find the recipe books for the mildew/flies cures, (entire) herbalist trait, random metalworking/engineer stuff, make/fix fishing rod, how to use generators, and salvage/fishing trap, and often in that order.

The vehicle manual (vehicle and tool spawning in general) seems to swing wildly from place to place.  Hopefully this will be balanced soon, but vehicle manuals and hunting mags in particular seem to be very rare indeed.

 

As far as building skills from zero:

  • Carpentry is straightforward until level 5, then it slows
  • Cooking, farming, and fishing tend to level depending on your game; the recipes are handy but not worth the starting points IMO.  Hemophobic and weak stomach are obvious choices for SP
  • Electrical is an strange one; you don't need to be a licensed electrician to move a fridge anymore, and the generator recipe is available, but leveling electrical depends on radio and device spawn and can be very slow (ie hotwire ability)
  • Most things mechanical need balancing IMO.  Finding the tools can be tough (I found 6 sledgehammers to my 1 jack and tyre pump in my last game), the recipe manuals aren't common, the skill levels required are a little random at present, and the brutal success probabilities usually result in your new part being in worse condition than the one removed (even with mechanic profession/trait)
  • Trapping is worth considering.  If you start the game without any trapping skill, the only way to gain XP without finding recipes is multiple mouse traps and several jars of peanut butter.  If you can't find multiple mouse traps and several jars of peanut butter, you're basically restricted to fishing, foraging, and long drives in unreliable vehicles
  • It's a slow and difficult process to level lightfooted and sneaking if you start with 'clumsy' or 'conspicuous'
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Ok thanks everyone. I went down the unemployed route. Stacked a ton of 'easy' negatives (even smoker which made the start very interesting as none spawned) and picked Brave among others like strong etc

 

Got really lucky with recipe magazines, I just need The generator one.

 

 

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