Best Survivors for Insane + Chaos Moon

[Jaggid Edje]

I keep doing this, but I find the discussion and different opinions on these kinds of questions interesting to read.

Anyway, I'm planning ahead for my next game start, where I am going to try for the achievement for Insane difficulty + Chaos Moon. Wondering what people think would be a good mix of starting survivors, and why?

Obviously also please specify which scenario, seeing as that is a factor in the question (determines starting survivors). I was thinking Trade would be the way to go for that particular achievement. It seemed easier than either of the other 2 scenarios to me.

[Seelander]

Think it depends on scenario.

Scenario
Crashlanding
1. Ken need that extra scrap can not fabricate or buy on this scenario, pickup expeditions for more survivors.
2. Laara speed and farming, good for speed farming and pickup of distance ressources such as carbon in between farming.
3. Vivien cooking and tailor duties your skill crafter (in terms of lvl). will save you a lot of time on the crafting if going for early blue textile armor to avoid having to worry about the cold and heat waves. Secures mobility in all weather conditions.
4. Quinn solid crafter day 1 for fast fuel to get Flamethrowers and good on the construction.

Trade scenario
1. Laara double farming speed to build an economy fast
2. Vicente double farming speed to build an economy fast
3. Rakha/Vivien/Quinn depending on your path you want to take. Rakha offers that faster construction saving a lot of time, Vivien saves time on the tailor duties. Note. the time saved from Rakhas construction can possibly make him stronger as you have a backup solution for getting blue textile armor as it can be bought. Quinn saves his time on the expeditions, but do not have interest in crafting.

Military scenario
Been working on the best team, the below for me seems to be the best combo all based on giving you discount on time.

1. Laara farming, distance ressource and flexible, ressouce gathering using her speed.
2. Rakha Construction double speed.
3. Vivien Tailoring 4 times speed for fast blue textile armor
4. Quinn faster expeditons (a legit alternative to scavanges.
5. Ember as we have 0 combat skill on the current team, her main thing is to level up my survivors getting them to lvl 3 mech min lvl.
6. Krista my hardest choice but been testing with others such as Talas, Carter, she will be the one getting you the fastest from A-B, she will free up 3 others for aggressive scavange, salvage and expetions duties in your early game. Note planning on having her cook on my next test then on to resarch as it seems to give you more free science than just keeping her there. If you run her sleeping schedule in such way she wakes up 4 hours before the rest of the crew (at 00.00) she can cook up for everyone always having food ready for your out of house crew, so basicaly cooking 1 observation and research 2 on your priorities.

Military duties early game

Laara: ressources with in between farming and distance observations.
Rakha: Construction and a little ressource gathering here and there when stocks drop.
Krista: Researchs/Observing close by ressources
Vivien Scavange/salvage
Ember Scavenge/salvage
Quinn: Scavange/salvage and expeditions once fuel situation has stabilized, usually around day 6 ish.

I had my first combat mech on day 18 staying safe the entire time. doing it like this on insane/chaos, could have done it approx 4-5 days faster i think, maybe less but for sure 4 days if gunning directly at it being willing to dismantle ranged weapons etc.

[Jaggid Edje]

Wow, that's a much more thorough answer than I expected from anyone. I especially like how thorough you were for not just listing survivors names, but talking through the reasons 'why' and even the decision factors and trade-offs.
You get a Super Star award for taking the time to type all that. Thank you!

[Seelander]

you are welcome :-)

[Seelander]

btw on the crashscenario ken is for survivor pickups from expeditions as those require combat skill.

[Daynen Drakeson]

I liked Quin at first... but Ken does what he does better, which is primarily getting metal. Quinn can go through expeditions faster than they can appear, leaving you with only the explore option, which gets slower as you use it. This also means you use up fuel faster.
I'd rather slow it down a little but get double the metal from Ken. IMHO, Ken would be a top pick even with a nerf to his metal gains.

I also don't particularly like Vicente. Laara does what he does better and one of his features ONLY works on the trading post. Even then, seeding and harvesting speed are already pretty fast when leveled and Laara has the movespeed. The discount is nice, but there are ways to make more than enough money without it. His real strength is that he's interested in farming and physical, keeping his mood up while he deforests the map or does the planting. Still I'd pass.

Krista will DEMOLISH the research tree, full stop. No one else starts with 7 intellect and her genius perk just jumps her ahead even faster from time to time. If you take her, do everything you can to make sure she stays tethered to that research desk. That said, once researching is done, she can't craft, which may make it hard to find things for her to do. If you happen to get her as a temp hire on the trading post though, she's FANTASTIC because she can leapfrog your research and then you can let her go before she drains your bank. Just for giggles, pair her with Daniel and give them both desks. Watch as your research outpaces your ability to build the stuff you unlock.

Samantha is IMHO a little underrated. She starts off with good intellect for research and observation and is interested in construction. Add that 3x modifier for devices and furniture and she can fill your home with benches, racks, shelves, beds, you name it. Once that's done, consider this: solar panels, turbines, batteries, printers, flamethrowers, and turrets all count as devices. Pretty sure mechs count too, so her construction skill will max out in record time. Once your tech is rolling, Samantha can get your heavy defenses up in a hurry.

Nova is a strong pick for lots of teams because she needs so little. She can get by eating pickles and sleeping outside as long as she doesn't freeze or starve to death. You can take relaxation completely out of her schedule, considerably increasing her productive uptime. If you happen to find the sleep training breakthrough, she barely stops working for a nap. Just don't bother pairing her with anyone who offers happiness boosts.

Vivien is renowned for her skill at making synth armor but did you know her cloth bonus also applies to animal fats, bandages, first aid kits...and shortbows? food for thought. Just make sure she's not the last one standing if a fight goes bad; otherwise you WILL have a bad day.

[Seelander]

Originally posted by Daynen Drakeson:

I liked Quin at first... but Ken does what he does better, which is primarily getting metal. Quinn can go through expeditions faster than they can appear, leaving you with only the explore option, which gets slower as you use it. This also means you use up fuel faster.
I'd rather slow it down a little but get double the metal from Ken. IMHO, Ken would be a top pick even with a nerf to his metal gains.

I also don't particularly like Vicente. Laara does what he does better and one of his features ONLY works on the trading post. Even then, seeding and harvesting speed are already pretty fast when leveled and Laara has the movespeed. The discount is nice, but there are ways to make more than enough money without it. His real strength is that he's interested in farming and physical, keeping his mood up while he deforests the map or does the planting. Still I'd pass.

Krista will DEMOLISH the research tree, full stop. No one else starts with 7 intellect and her genius perk just jumps her ahead even faster from time to time. If you take her, do everything you can to make sure she stays tethered to that research desk. That said, once researching is done, she can't craft, which may make it hard to find things for her to do. If you happen to get her as a temp hire on the trading post though, she's FANTASTIC because she can leapfrog your research and then you can let her go before she drains your bank. Just for giggles, pair her with Daniel and give them both desks. Watch as your research outpaces your ability to build the stuff you unlock.

Samantha is IMHO a little underrated. She starts off with good intellect for research and observation and is interested in construction. Add that 3x modifier for devices and furniture and she can fill your home with benches, racks, shelves, beds, you name it. Once that's done, consider this: solar panels, turbines, batteries, printers, flamethrowers, and turrets all count as devices. Pretty sure mechs count too, so her construction skill will max out in record time. Once your tech is rolling, Samantha can get your heavy defenses up in a hurry.

Nova is a strong pick for lots of teams because she needs so little. She can get by eating pickles and sleeping outside as long as she doesn't freeze or starve to death. You can take relaxation completely out of her schedule, considerably increasing her productive uptime. If you happen to find the sleep training breakthrough, she barely stops working for a nap. Just don't bother pairing her with anyone who offers happiness boosts.

Vivien is renowned for her skill at making synth armor but did you know her cloth bonus also applies to animal fats, bandages, first aid kits...and shortbows? food for thought. Just make sure she's not the last one standing if a fight goes bad; otherwise you WILL have a bad day.

Yeah was aware, bandages, animal fat, early bows, clothing in general, sure i forgot something, anything with cloth or fabrics...

[Jaggid Edje]

I started this game yesterday and ended up going with Connor, Emeilin, Krista and Laara. Connor because I want to try to finallly get the Rescue Connor achievement at the same time as these other, difficulty-based ones.

I decided to do it on Desertum, which is why I didn't worry about having a particularly skilled crafter at the start; quickly getting clothes going isn't as big of an issue on that map. A heat source in the early a.m. is about all you need most of the time.

It's going well so far. On early year 2, radars and radio built, just waiting for communications. Thanks in large part to Krista's rapid research and a nearby nest at the very start jump-starting my carbon supply, defenses were set up very quickly.

The seed having the breakthrough for insect meat->fuel probably saved my *** as well, or I may not have been able to keep the flamethrowers fueled that first year.

Unless the difficulty scales a lot more from this point forward just based on time, I think the achievements are in the bag, as I have no reason to increase defenses, buildings, or resource stockpiles further than where they are currently at.

[Seelander]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

Originally posted by Daynen Drakeson:

Vivien is renowned for her skill at making synth armor but did you know her cloth bonus also applies to animal fats, bandages, first aid kits...and shortbows? food for thought. Just make sure she's not the last one standing if a fight goes bad; otherwise you WILL have a bad day.

Oh damn. It totally slipped my mind that she crafts bandages faster!

I started a game on insane with the trading post scenario on Saltu and I was having a rough time figuring out the best 3-(wo)man team. I tried Ken, Vicente, and Krista. We had a very bloody fight with some beetles and Ken and Vicente are over here bleeding out, using what few bandages we had healing themselves, so would Krista craft some bandages for them? Nope! "Well good luck guys, I'm gonna take a nap."

It didn't end well. Let's just say, I'm going to start a new map and replace her. But what's worse -- someone who won't craft or someone who won't heal? If s*** hits the fan, Vivien can't heal herself. I realized how important with 3 people it is that everyone be able to craft in a pinch. Is healing the same?

Though I've used Vivien on the crash landing scenario, and had similar experiences. Everyone's bleeding severely and healing themselves. But, if that IS the case, you go through bandages fast. So she can just be crafting them (at 4x speed, no doubt!) whilst everyone heals themselves and once Ken gets himself all healed up she can go lie down so he can tend to HER wounds. It worked OK, at least. It was never a huge deal she can't heal.

I might try Ken, Vicente, Vivien. Yeah, I know you can "just buy metal", I suppose, but you still need it in the early game. And it IS helping your economy, is it not, if you don't have to buy metal?

I also realize Laara > Vicente and I'd pick her in crash landing of course but I feel like when in Rome...ya know?

Originally posted by tommy_b_schmidt:

1. Ken need that extra scrap can not fabricate or buy on this scenario, pickup expeditions for more survivors.

4. Quinn solid crafter day 1 for fast fuel to get Flamethrowers and good on the construction.

3. Rakha/Vivien/Quinn depending on your path you want to take. Rakha offers that faster construction saving a lot of time, Vivien saves time on the tailor duties. Note. the time saved from Rakhas construction can possibly make him stronger as you have a backup solution for getting blue textile armor as it can be bought. Quinn saves his time on the expeditions, but do not have interest in crafting.

2. Rakha Construction double speed.

4. Quinn faster expeditons (a legit alternative to scavanges.

*all irrelevant parts of your post left out*

I realize this thread is 2 months old, but I always wondered when reading people's opinions online, why would you ever take Quinn over Rakha, especially if you have Ken? Is it the +18 higher happiness he has? That doesn't seem a huge deal to me. TWICE the construction speed of structures, does this not include fences and buildings? That's uber...right?

Quinn is solid, but true there is some overlaps as you really want kenn to do the expeditions. I do not pick after happiness, its not really of an issue i pick for speed in terms of time. But if you want to break it down to quinn and rakha purely without taking ken in to the equation, then i am pretty sure Quinn is the best choise, with ken problably Rakha, isnt bad what ever way you go though, both are strong picks.

[wcbarney]

I always like to nominate my favorite mod survivor: James Holden. He is a combination of the best of Ken and Quin, plus he comes armed already with a laser pistol.

Those who don't like to use mods needn't tell me so; cuz I already know that many folks just prefer the Vanilla game.