What are your Best / Worst Traits? (b41)

[munizzi]

Hey guys, this week I decided to buy the game after knowing about it for years and I really couldn't be happier about my decision. Anyways, in your opinion what are the best and worst character traits to have? I tend to build my character the same way each time:

Unemployed

Overweight
Slow Reader
Sunday Driver

Cat's Eyes
Wakeful
Dextrous
Inconspicuous
Fast Learner

I choose overweight because I think it's nice to have some pounds to spare just in case the winter comes and I don't have a steady food supply yet. I also don't mind losing stamina a tad bit faster; frankly I don't really notice a difference. Slow reader and sunday driver are traits I find to not be too big of a negative. With slow reader I can always speed up time. I tend to drive on the slow side so sunday driver doesn't really affect me.

Out of the positive traits I use, wakeful is the only sort-of negative trait. I often find myself wanting to sleep through the night since I really only go out in the light, and wakeful prevents me from doing so. Kind of annoying but I have points to spare so I took it.

Cat's eyes is nice for when I do go outside, but not the most necessary trait. Dextrous is really nice to have just to speed things up (but again not necessary.) I've only played so far with characters that have inconspicuous so I can't really imagine not having it at this point. Maybe it doesn't do too much but I won't know until I try playing without it. Finally, fast learner is very nice to have for skill grinding and a must if for long term play-throughs.

I tend to stay away from the traits that just give you a skill level or two but after playing the game for around 30-40 hours I'm beginning to see how these could be a benefit.

So what do you guys use? I'm interested in hearing other player's opinions on the best/worst traits or just your favorite and least favorite in general.

[Kurogo]

Negative traits I always take are: High Thirst, weak stomach, hearty appetite, poor eye sight, and hard of hearing. I found all of these to be easily manageable. Overweight can be dropped by gourging on low-cal salads, so I usually take that too. Finally, slow healer let’s me spend a bit more time tending injuries, which ideally are few and far between, so I take it to gain first aid skill.

Positive traits I almost always take are: organized, stout, graceful, inconspicuous, outdoorsman, and a couple custom traits I made related to farming.

Profession-wise, I usually take Security for the sleep alertness.

[Silamon]

I still think smoker is one of the easiest negative traits to use. Considering how common cigarettes are it is almost hard not to have a few hundred on hand. Only time it could be challenging is early on. I like to start as a mechanic so I can get a good car running more easily.

IMO the worst trait in the game is one I actually took the first time: agoraphobia. It's really fun to have a permanent heartbeat sound effect the whole time you are outside heh.

[DarkAcolyte]

Originally posted by munizzi:

Hey guys, this week I decided to buy the game after knowing about it for years and I really couldn't be happier about my decision. Anyways, in your opinion what are the best and worst character traits to have? I tend to build my character the same way each time:

Unemployed

Overweight
Slow Reader
Sunday Driver

Cat's Eyes
Wakeful
Dextrous
Inconspicuous
Fast Learner

I choose overweight because I think it's nice to have some pounds to spare just in case the winter comes and I don't have a steady food supply yet. I also don't mind losing stamina a tad bit faster; frankly I don't really notice a difference. Slow reader and sunday driver are traits I find to not be too big of a negative. With slow reader I can always speed up time. I tend to drive on the slow side so sunday driver doesn't really affect me.

Out of the positive traits I use, wakeful is the only sort-of negative trait. I often find myself wanting to sleep through the night since I really only go out in the light, and wakeful prevents me from doing so. Kind of annoying but I have points to spare so I took it.

Cat's eyes is nice for when I do go outside, but not the most necessary trait. Dextrous is really nice to have just to speed things up (but again not necessary.) I've only played so far with characters that have inconspicuous so I can't really imagine not having it at this point. Maybe it doesn't do too much but I won't know until I try playing without it. Finally, fast learner is very nice to have for skill grinding and a must if for long term play-throughs.

I tend to stay away from the traits that just give you a skill level or two but after playing the game for around 30-40 hours I'm beginning to see how these could be a benefit.

So what do you guys use? I'm interested in hearing other player's opinions on the best/worst traits or just your favorite and least favorite in general.

FYI, Sunday driver guzzles fuel like crazy for some reason. I would not recommend it if you are planning on a lot of driving just because of how much fuel you'll end up using.

[munizzi]

Originally posted by Kurogo:

Negative traits I always take are: High Thirst, weak stomach, hearty appetite, poor eye sight, and hard of hearing. I found all of these to be easily manageable. Overweight can be dropped by gourging on low-cal salads, so I usually take that too. Finally, slow healer let’s me spend a bit more time tending injuries, which ideally are few and far between, so I take it to gain first aid skill.

Positive traits I almost always take are: organized, stout, graceful, inconspicuous, outdoorsman, and a couple custom traits I made related to farming.

Profession-wise, I usually take Security for the sleep alertness.

I played high thirst and high appetite once since I always seem to have an excess of food. Might try it again. I never thought of taking slow healer and I totally get the reasoning for taking it too.

Originally posted by Silamon:

I still think smoker is one of the easiest negative traits to use. Considering how common cigarettes are it is almost hard not to have a few hundred on hand. Only time it could be challenging is early on. I like to start as a mechanic so I can get a good car running more easily.

IMO the worst trait in the game is one I actually took the first time: agoraphobia. It's really fun to have a permanent heartbeat sound effect the whole time you are outside heh.

Smoker is also one of my favorites because of how easy it is to deal with and you get a good number of points for taking it.

I just died in my longest play-through so far (13 days) so this is the build I'm taking on my new character:

Carpenter

Obese (op trait)
Slow Healer
Sleepyhead
Smoker
Slow Reader
Sunday Driver
Weak Stomach (never eat rotten food, so might as well)

Cat's Eyes
Dextrous
Inconspicuous
Lucky
Fast Learner
Stout
Thick Skinned

[Silamon]

All these folks taking sunday driver, I can't stand that trait heh. I like to use cars too much.

[munizzi]

Originally posted by Charlie019:

Originally posted by munizzi:

Hey guys, this week I decided to buy the game after knowing about it for years and I really couldn't be happier about my decision. Anyways, in your opinion what are the best and worst character traits to have? I tend to build my character the same way each time:

Unemployed

Overweight
Slow Reader
Sunday Driver

Cat's Eyes
Wakeful
Dextrous
Inconspicuous
Fast Learner

I choose overweight because I think it's nice to have some pounds to spare just in case the winter comes and I don't have a steady food supply yet. I also don't mind losing stamina a tad bit faster; frankly I don't really notice a difference. Slow reader and sunday driver are traits I find to not be too big of a negative. With slow reader I can always speed up time. I tend to drive on the slow side so sunday driver doesn't really affect me.

Out of the positive traits I use, wakeful is the only sort-of negative trait. I often find myself wanting to sleep through the night since I really only go out in the light, and wakeful prevents me from doing so. Kind of annoying but I have points to spare so I took it.

Cat's eyes is nice for when I do go outside, but not the most necessary trait. Dextrous is really nice to have just to speed things up (but again not necessary.) I've only played so far with characters that have inconspicuous so I can't really imagine not having it at this point. Maybe it doesn't do too much but I won't know until I try playing without it. Finally, fast learner is very nice to have for skill grinding and a must if for long term play-throughs.

I tend to stay away from the traits that just give you a skill level or two but after playing the game for around 30-40 hours I'm beginning to see how these could be a benefit.

So what do you guys use? I'm interested in hearing other player's opinions on the best/worst traits or just your favorite and least favorite in general.

FYI, Sunday driver guzzles fuel like crazy for some reason. I would not recommend it if you are planning on a lot of driving just because of how much fuel you'll end up using.

I've only drived with the sunday driver trait so I'm kind of accustomed to the fuel efficiency. I was on a road trip for about 20 minutes straight and the car took around half the tank. This is manageable for me.

[Silamon]

Hmm. I think I am going to start a new game

I have not played in quite a while, seems the traits have changed somewhat.

Here is what I am starting with:

Asthmatic (this one actually kinda sucks but I like to roleplay a bit, this one makes sense to me with smoker)
Hemophobic (I usually try to keep clothes clean anyway and its not like its going to hurt much that I can't heal others since... no multiplayer still)
Smoker (already mentioned this one)

Amateur mechanic (I really enjoy fixing the cars up, this makes it so I can do that much earlier in a save.)
Fast Learner (probably obvious)
Hunter: Mainly for faster fire arm training but trapping might come in handy too.

[Gotgo]

Fire Officer

High Thirst
Overweight
Slow Healer
Prone to Illness
Smoker
Slow Reader

Cat's Eyes
Dexterous
Wakeful
Inconspicuous
Lucky
Fast Leaner
Handy

This is my goto for any long run I do. I have different builds I mess around with depending on what I want to do or RP as. Fire Officer is quite underrated IMO. You get a lot for how much it costs. The first 4 positives I find hard to live without and are the staple of pretty much every build I do.

[DivineEvil]

Engineer

High Thirst
Underweight
Slow Healer
Smoker

Organized
Fast Learner
Unconspicuous
Dextrous

Thats my best selection for now. For all other perks, I don't really see a negative perk worth taking for a positive perk(s).

[Nebgama]

Imo in build 40 you could take a lot of negatives pretty much all of them except for Sunday driver and any that slow transfer item speed or learning and read negs because they suck. In 41 though i feel like less is more ans we really don't want to hamper our progress.

I feel it is good to have a fit based player without to many downsides.

Park ranger:

Negatives:
Very Underweight
Thin Skinned
High Thirst
Slow Healer
Hemophobic
Hearty Appetite
Pacifist
Weak Stomach

Positives:
Fast Reader
Graceful
Inconspicuous
Resilient
Fast Learner
Fit
Organized
Strong

Needs to be a strong hitter and can run a lot whitout getting exhausted. I feel this is key if you want to make it out of that endless rinse repeat death spiral. Chocolate chubbie cookie who smokes ain't going to cut the mustard he need to be a Zimbabwean track sprinter.

Hearty Appetite and High Thirst are my only micro management factors because food and water is easiest to find.
Smoker is dicey and can reck your character easily if you cannot find smokes. Plus it goes off frequently like water and food do so its annoying to manage.


Fast learner because you are lacking if you don't. Fit and strong gotta get that radius clear of trash and mobs so you need the endurance.
Much of the early game needs to be spent on clearing your perimeter so you can sleep well at night or run away if you need to take flight. Cannot afford to be weak and tired after fighting 5 zombies or a days work etc especially early on.

All i am doing in the first week is clearing the zombies around my starter house while i look for supplies while keeping an eye out for any vehicles.
The main focus is clearing all the zombies out from you view radius x 1.5 times the area of your starter house. You should be stocking up and hopefully get a vehicle packed and ready for either the chopper event to happen or you are now ready to branch out and find a base location which ever one comes first.

While you wait for this time You need the area clear so you can rest well at night with no disruptions.
Maybe even a rest day every three or four days where i stay close to or at home and tidy up things ready to move when i need to. This does not always go to plan and sometimes i need to shift location due to alarms but generally for me it works.

[Nebgama]

Originally posted by munizzi:

I've only drived with the sunday driver trait so I'm kind of accustomed to the fuel efficiency. I was on a road trip for about 20 minutes straight and the car took around half the tank. This is manageable for me.

That's pretty bad not going to lie. A full tank is going to last at least one in game week maybe more when you don't take this trait. Depending on car/setup of car plus mileage etc. Plus its slow and noisier.

[Silamon]

Well after a day of playing again it is now official.

I'm still too bad at the game to survive more than a week lol.

[Tenko Kuu.]

I make my character like this.

Unemployed.

Cons:
Obese (Easy to lose weight, especially paired with Light Eater)
Thin-Skinned (Don't get hit)
Slow Healer (Light Eater lets you stay stuffed for faster healing)
Prone to Illness
Weak Stomach
Slow Reader

Pros:
Cat's Eyes (Night is not scary anymore)
Dextrous
Outdoorsman
Wakeful
Light Eater (Makes controlling weight super easy)
Lucky
Fast Learner
Keen Hearing
Low Thirst (I see this as me saving inventory space on water)
Organized


Full Long-Term Build... take these extra on top of above only if you expect to not die.
Weak, Unfit and then add whatever you want really. I usually take Handy (for maintenance bonus), Brave, Inconspicous or Eagle Eyed.

[munizzi]

Originally posted by Tenko Kuu.:

I make my character like this.

Unemployed.

Cons:
Obese (Easy to lose weight, especially paired with Light Eater)
Thin-Skinned (Don't get hit)
Slow Healer (Light Eater lets you stay stuffed for faster healing)
Prone to Illness
Weak Stomach
Slow Reader

Pros:
Cat's Eyes (Night is not scary anymore)
Dextrous
Outdoorsman
Wakeful
Light Eater (Makes controlling weight super easy)
Lucky
Fast Learner
Keen Hearing
Low Thirst (I see this as me saving inventory space on water)
Organized


Full Long-Term Build... take these extra on top of above only if you expect to not die.
Weak, Unfit and then add whatever you want really. I usually take Handy (for maintenance bonus), Brave, Inconspicous or Eagle Eyed.

Obese is such an underrated trait to take. Took it on my current character and I honestly forget that I have it at all because the downsides are pretty unnoticeable.

[munizzi]

Originally posted by Tamm:

Why do you guys pick op traits ? Isn't it boring to play ?

Cats eyes remove flashlights totally.
Lucky perk - tons of loot
Fast learner - 10 lvl carpentry in 3 weeks, weapons 2shot zombies next week
Outdoorsman - wetness and rain gets ignored
Organized - lets fit a car hud into a school backpack

I agree it can be a bit boring if everything is too easy. It's all about finding a balance of positive/negative traits dependent on your own skill and comfort with the game. Everyone likes to play the game different and the sandbox mechanics and options to customize the game to fit your play style is one thing that makes this game so great.