Some newbie questions

[funkmonster7]

1. Where do I buy ammo?

2. Is water that scarce? Is there any way to mitigate my thirst problems?

3. Out of the first 3 books that I get for a reward, which one should I pick first? (Medicine, Gunsmith or Cooking?)

4. I chose sniper rifle start because it is sort of obvious in a game like this. But are the other starts any good?

5. What should I prioritize in my early game?

6. Am I going to die 50x before I gain 1 level?

7. What are modules, and what should I build for what reason(s)?

8. I have a lot of ammo loot from dead bandits. Is my sniper rifle only able to use the ammo listed in its descriptions? Or can it use other ammo too?

9. How do I tell which NPC is bandit, which is hunter, which is Green Army etc? (I recall there is another thread that answers this but I can't find it anymore.)

10. How do I repair my weapons?

[David]

1. Check the bartender, he has multiple tabs for different kinds of stock. There are other vendors in the game you meet later too.

2. Yes, still pretty scarce for me. I have a full tab of hydration drinks but that's because it only took 1 ingame day to realise it was scarce. Buy out the bartender for water & milk everyday at 7am, and don't eat food with negative thirst values. That'll help.

3. Up to you. I heard Cooking books are somewhat rarer, I can't confirm. Gunsmith is probably the most useful. I took Cooking as I plan to max them all out.

4. Yes all starts are good, even the one with pistol. The nozin makant start is probably the easiest and in a way you'll miss out on enjoyment of a difficult start. So it's up to you. I'm thinking about doing a Set 5 pistol only run "for fun".

5. Storage module tier 1, 100%.

6. Depends. I played a long time before I died once. Also you still gain xp and skills even if you died.

7. Base parts, like the storage module & crafting station you start with. If you do the same as me, you could build an ammo producer, forge, infirmary and firing range. In any order. That leaves room for 2 more modules.

8. Nozin uses 7.62x54Rmm ammo only. There are two types and you can loot them but its much rarer because few bandit weapons use it. The good news is you really don't need to carry much ammo with the Nozin anyway. Buy out the bartender, 15 rounds is a good supplement.

9. Bandits have a facemask. Hunters have a visor. Bosses tend to look unique, although Lazar's group blends in a bit better. The rest of people you encounter are mostly friendly and won't shoot first.

10. There is a workshop module that repairs weapons for scraps, or you can buy/craft expensive repair kits, from doctor/your crafting table.

[Mr Deanster]

1. The store has tabs on the right hand side you can get ammo that way.

2. You can buy water daily at the shop it refreshes around midday, You can also combine two dirty waters two a clean one.

3. I went with cooking, you can also buy and find books too.

4. I went class 1, but I bought a pistol with ammo and a head light from the shop to hunt animals with. The first few missions are like hunting animals or whatever, a pistol 1 shots rabbits.

5. Do the quests for money and gear and look at upgrading stuff in your base, You need certain materials to upgrade them, some are not that obvious.

6. Depends, it is a mill shooter of sorts. If you engage smartly and not take on bad odds you can die less. Resources are scarce at the start so don't take too many engagements that outnumber you by 3+. Always be moving they will come to your last location, be the preditor not the prey.

7. Modules are base upgrades, you need this to make ammo food and medicine, take your time looking at these (from the bench) and upgrading them.

8. You should probably have a secondary. You can switch ammo types with the Y key if you have different types of the same sized ammo.

9. Not the best person to ask but I shoot brown uniform soldiers on site they are raiders and always aggressive.

10. Buy or make a weapon repair kit. You can get your armour repaired at the hospital though.

[Janus]

1. All the Vendors have tabs on the right side, one of them is ammo, the bartender is the main ammo guy early on.

2. Kinda, you can combine 2 rotten water into clean water tho, so you can get 2 water a day from the bartender (or just drink rotten water, radiation rn isnt that bad)

3. I have only found medicine books out in the world so far, so maybe the other two

4. Its all fine, you can just kill a bandit and take their weapon, only makes it jam sometimes

5. Follow the quests from tasks

6. Not quite that much, but levels just unlock better gear to buy and theres only 4-5 levels

7. Modules are permanent base upgrades, you only really need stash in my opinion, otherwise ammo is nice, but not really important.

8. You can switch ammo with Y, but it needs to still be the right caliber. You can use 2 large guns however, second slot isnt for a sidearm, so you can get something like an Assault Rifle

9. Green Army is green (they look exactly like they do in the base) anyone else is likely your enemy

10. There is a module i think but otherwise the doctor sells repair kits

[Tseralith]

1. You can buy them from the bartender at the beginning. Check the rightmost section of the trading menu to swap over to ammo.

2. An initial way of managing thirst is to drink both the clean and radiated water, The radiation gets reset when you leave for a zone so that's not an issue. Also the milk if you think you can afford it. Otherwise just try to drink/take whatever you can find when you're looting. Radiation disappears when you extract back to the base anyway.

3. That depends. Medicine with associated module lets you craft your own healing items, gunsmith lets you craft ammo, and cooking enhances cooked food. It's a matter of what you feel like you'll want to have access to the most. I.e. do you want to ensure you can always get enough medicine, ammo, or food? Each one obviously requires you to have the initial resources to craft them. Me? I picked Gunsmith since I like knowing I can always get enough ammo. Granted, there's always the specialization option you get at rank five which differs depending on skill.

4. Can't say on that matter. I picked sniper as well, but I guess it mostly depends on whether you prefer to shoot single strong shots or bursts.

5. I've seen others suggest getting a better backpack since that's what limits how much loot you can get. Also to make sure your extraction location is safe before exploring the areas to ensure you won't find unexpected encounters. Buying the purple syringe (for 1000) from the Doctor lets you increase your carry weight by 20 which is extremely useful when you're about to head to the extraction and want to bring as much loot as possible.

6. Not at all! If you're (like me) extremely cautious, use your range and sniping ability to your advantage, count how many enemies are at each outpost, and know when to retreat, you can manage most encounters in the forest. Since enemies can shred you in a second if they know you're there, the best way to manage it is to not let them see you at all. Holding right click to aim beyond what your screen can see is a good idea.

7. Modules are base upgrades for yourself. Which ones to pick highly depends on your preferred playstyle and preference. Want to craft ammo, medicine, and food? Pick and upgrade those modules. Want to heal better when sleeping and level up skills faster? Pick those. Shoot and run better? Pick those. Recycle and repair equipment? Pick those. Random loot or scrap metal/scrap ammo every day? Pick those. How difficult these are to upgrade depends on the module, so be mindful of that.

8. Your sniper is limited to the ammo listed, yes. However, there are generally between two to four different kinds of ammo of that type. These differ between normal, piercing but weaker, stronger but less piercing, and better for silenced weapons. You can either save the other ammo in case you think you might upgrade to a different weapon. Or you can scrap or sell them for extra profit.

9. How to tell from the get go might be challenging, but they're divided into:
-Loners: No armor, whole head visible. Peaceful
-Bandits: Light armor, black balaclawa over their head. Hostile
-Hunters: Medium armor, grey suits with goggles. Hostile when close
-Scientists: Medium(?) armor, yellow and red hazmat suits. Peaceful
-Soldiers: Heavy armor, green suits with red goggles. Peaceful
-Crimson: Heavy armor, red suits with blue goggles. Peaceful

10. You can either buy weapon repair kits of the approriate weapon type from the Doctor, from quest rewards, or find them out in the field. Alternatively you can get the Workshop module and repair the weapons yourself using weapon scraps and metal scraps.

[Recluse Ronin]

To get ahead of the thirst problem. Work on getting a kitchen module up and running, then u can buy dirty water and charcoal and make 1 water each with them. In a few days you'll have a glut of water in storage. Also in forest, make friends with Igor and he'll usually have food and drink for you in his cabin.

As for dying too many times, pick AK or MKM and take it slow. Only kill bandits and wildlife. Run from anything else until you're equipped with recoil heavy mods and AP rounds. You see a hunter? Move away and let him go, they run AP rounds in their kit

Make sure to repair your vest when u get back to bunker

[blackvoid]

Once you can travel to the Makeshift camp, there is a trader there, who sends you to the swamp on a little quest.

After that, this guy sells scrap. So if you are missing a pot or a light bulb, it is easier to go and buy it from him than farm forest and hope RNG happens. It is worth it. Otherwise you will be stuck with quest and project items for like 10 of them at the same time missing one item and running out of storage space.

And by far the easiest start is SKS. Decent damage, can take sniper scope and lasers, also 20 rd mag. Pretty hard hitting and ammo is available on drops.

[Dranzer]

1. The Bartender and the green army guy in the bunker both sell ammo, but in the long run there's also a workshop you can construct that lets you produce whatever ammo you need.

2. Looting will help mitigate your thirst issues. Besides various consumable liquids, some foods (such as canned fish) give you back some thirst too. That said, watch out for the opposite: Bread and crackers make you thirsty, and so does booze. Also, given that rads are pretty trivial to treat (smoking, rad pills, going back to base), you can drink dirty stuff if you really need to.

3. Personal choice. I favor gunsmithing, but medical will let you craft injectors once you get it leveled up. I've found little use for cooking.

4. I've found that a high-ammo secondary can be extremely useful in a pinch, but yeah, precision shots on distant targets is kind of your safest bet.

5. Quest progression, storage expansion, and building up your finances. Tip: Fancy electronics sell for a good amount.

6. Yeah, probably. The level progression is slow, but all it does is unlock more tiers of purchases from the merchants.

7. Modules are workshops in your base. You select what goes where in the main menu, and then you craft the kits and use them to make them appear. Prioritize upgrading your storage, but note: You craft the level 1 kit ONCE, and it gives you some extra tabs, then you craft the level 2 kit ONCE, and it gives you a load more tabs. The storage kits that appear from quest rewards give you a single tab each, and you can consume multiples - they're not the ones you craft. For everything else, I recommend the medicine and ammo crafting areas above all else, but also the repair station - It lets you actually mend weapons without buying horrifically expensive kits from the doctor.

8. You can swap ammo types with Y, but each gun is limited to a specific shape/color combination. The variant ammo types have different black bits on the bullets. A black tip means armor piercing, two black dots on the side means subsonic, and a stripe means hollowpoint. I believe for the ammo type the starting sniper rifle uses, there's an armor-piercing variant.

9. There are four groups that won't kick your ass on sight. The first is green balaclavas with red visors: They're green army. You see them in the forest a lot. The second are the random wanderers that look like the guys who hang around the bar. You see them in small groups in the forest sometimes, one of them will have a guitar out. The third group has red balaclavas with blue visors: They're crimson corp. They don't show up until the industrial sector (and I think the swamp?). Finally, there are the scientists: Yellow hazmat suits.

The main one that might throw you a curve ball is the guys with a light brown/tan balaclava and a blue visor. They're hunters and they will kick your ass. If you see a mask, they're bandits. If you see a sort of black or brown balaclava, also bandits. On rare occasions there are unique NPCs (typically in buildings) you can interact with, but you'll usually know them when you see them.

10. Here's how the repair system works: There are two kinds of repair items: Bottles and Toolboxes. The bottles will repair anything that has over 60% durability (i.e. only slightly damaged), but for more heavily damaged stuff, you need the toolboxes. The doctor sells both bottles and toolboxes. The armor repair items are universal, but there are three kinds of weapon repair items (red, yellow, blue) based on what type of ammo the gun uses. The doctor can also repair your armor directly, but if you want to repair weapons, you either have to purchase the repair items, or build the aforementioned crafting station that lets you use scrap to repair them.

[funkmonster7]

Thank you for the replies, helps a lot.

My next set of questions...

11. What does radiation do? I somehow randomly got bleed stacks on me once my radiation level reached 2/15. Does this have to do with radiation poisoning?

12. Do the crimson corp and the green army fight each other?

13. If I engage in a gunfight against a crimson corp or green soldier, will their nearby allies join the fight against me too?

14. Should I get a flashlight?

15. How should I pass idle time? I keep running out of water and I'm wondering if sleeping will reduce my thirst gain. Or maybe I should just afk and let time tick off (since water replenishes at the bar man every day, and my needs other than fatigue don't increase while at the base/bunker?)?

16. What are the most cost-effective loot to pick up? I tried selling pelts, but boy... They barely pay for anything.

17. If I choose cooking book as my first quest reward, do I need to craft a module to cook?

18. I chose medicine book this time because I didn't know better. How do I craft medicine?

[blackvoid]

11. Yes.
12. Yes. Great loot.
13. Yes. and everybody else from that faction until extraction.
14. No. Get night vision and green laser. Shoot dummies with flashlights.
15. Don't idle. Go get more loot.
16. Crystals, then firearms.
17. Choose gunsmithing. Cooking is not worth it ATM (unless you want it for filtering water and making coffee and tea). Default meat sandwiches are the best.
18. Need infirmary and ingredients. There is no point really ATM, i have full section in storage of dropped meds and injectors.

[funkmonster7]

Thank you for the quick reply. Is there a way to increase radiation resistance, if there is such a thing?

Water and hydration remain to be an issue for me. I have money, water is just scarce. (Or maybe drinking those vodka to satiate hunger wasn't worth the trouble after all.)

Can I cook food to remove their radiation? I get so much raw meat from hunting, but can't eat any of them.

Where do I get night vision goggles?

[Recluse Ronin]

Rad resistance is from better armor, or light blue syringe for temp boost to rad res while in mission

Run two missions a day from 7am to 6 pm. Sleep till 7am to buy water and milk and dirty water to craft 1 clean water. Then go run missions again.

Buy rad pills from the doc

[Lastverse]

I don't do rotten water+charcoal anymore.

I think crafting anti-rad pill is much cheaper. 5 scrap medicine for -0.5 rad*2 vs 5 charcoal for -0.30 rad per bottle, which could cook 5 meat instead.

You'll have ton of scrap medicine but only 10 coal per day in bar and coal is much heavier to loot.

only after 1 skill in medicine and infirmary module if i'm correct.

[pgames-food]

hi for me i chose sniper for range + pistol for close quarters/quick firing
and grab everything i could carry to buy the biggest backpack at the time.

looting is the main way to get roubles, which i then use to buy all the drinks i can whenever they are available. (they might be a bit scarce at the start, but some skills will allow you to make traders have a bit more items in stock).

main source of ammo is to "unload" any ammo from guns that you cant pick up, and build a stockpile at base. (i usually only have to buy ammo for my main gun)

[funkmonster7]

How do you unload ammo?

[David]

Right click a weapon in your inventory or on the ground and select unload. I don't bother to do this with weapons I'm carrying around for later, but for every other weapon its ok. I don't find much use for all the random ammo stacks though.