Multiplayer Roles

[Blaiden80]

Ok - not any type of expert here. Getting ready to play a new game with two grandsons (yes, I am an old fart). They both play, but have different styles and my style is different than theirs.

I am trying to send them thoughts on specialization. This way we each have a role. Below is their personality and my thoughts on skill points. Am I basically on track?

Grandson 1 - The Psycho
Can't seem to stay in one place very long. A good zed killer, but gets in over his head way too many times. As such I thought about using that.
To start:
Pummel Pete
Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Archery
Weapon Smithing
Quality Joe

Then:
Health Nut
Handguns
Treasure Hunter


Grandson 2 - OCD
Figured I'd put him in a position to protect his brother and work on future skills. He can also be the guy who deals with loot and the trader
To start:
Pummel Pete
Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Scavenging
Archery
Quality Joe

Then:
Barter
Construction Tools
Science
Concrete Mixing
Chemistry Station
Steel Smithing


Me - The Parent
I am into planning for the future and making sure we survive - food, shelter, the base etc.
To Start:
Tool Smithing
Pummel Pete
Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Miner 69er

Then:
Quality Joe
Mining Tools
Workbench


Long-ish post, but would love to hear your ideas. All three of us play for enjoyment - that's it.
Thanks in advance.

[Nobody]

You saw Walking death ?

you need two collars, and both need to be bitten

[Blaiden80]

Originally posted by Nobody:

You saw Walking death ?

you need two collars, and both need to be bitten

Wait - I am the anomoly here. These two are teenagers. If you are going to sell anyone short it should be me.
But I have been a gamer since my first 80286. No rookie

[Scooby Doo]

I highly suggest you go to the offical website and look up the True Survival mod for this game. It will fall right into place for your different roles. It is a great co op type mod adds new things as well. Not that the original is not good but this mod was very well done. Warning though it is also not easy either.

Does sound though like you have the game well in hand. Oh and though I am not a grandpa yet I am no spring chicken. I remember the old Atari and Coliecovision consoles all too well. To think Mario Bros use to be State of the Art gaming. LMAO.

[TonyT58]

Howdy, I'm an "Old Fart" like you. This is by far the best survivial game I have ever played and possibly my favorite all time (over 2500 hrs played).

I'm curious, do your grandsons actually put points into the Archery and Scavenging skills? I do not waste points on skills that will rise on there own. Also Pummel Pete is not my favorite as I use a Bone Shiv to start and go up the knife line to eventual machette (best melee weapon in the game). Also skinning with knives will raise knife skill (animals and Z's). So if they start with using knives at the start they won't have to catch up later once your weaponsmith gets to lvl 60 and is able to make machettes.

Also if you are the main base guy (building, repairing, taking care of), I sugesst you be the tool and weapon smither. You keep your grandsons supplied while they go out and bring the parts and other supplies to you. You will be able to keep track of upgrading the weapons and tools better than they can since they will be out hunting. Let them concentrate on the hunting, treasure, stamina (you also) and scavaging skills.

But this is just my opinion. Good Luck to you three, have fun! :-)

[Blaiden80]

Originally posted by TooCool4U:

Howdy,

I'm curious, do your grandsons actually put points into the Archery and Scavenging skills? I do not waste points on skills that will rise on there own. Also Pummel Pete is not my favorite as I use a Bone Shiv to start and go up the knife line to eventual machette (best melee weapon in the game). Also skinning with knives will raise knife skill (animals and Z's). So if they start with using knives at the start they won't have to catch up later once your weaponsmith gets to lvl 60 and is able to make machettes.

Also if you are the main base guy (building, repairing, taking care of), I sugesst you be the tool and weapon smither. You keep your grandsons supplied while they go out and bring the parts and other supplies to you. You will be able to keep track of upgrading the weapons and tools better than they can since they will be out hunting. Let them concentrate on the hunting, treasure, stamina (you also) and scavaging skills.

But this is just my opinion. Good Luck to you three, have fun! :-)

As far as where they put their points, this will likely be my call. That is why I am asking. They will listen to me on this.
I have no problem being the tool/weapon person. Was just trying to share the load with the others, and give thme something to put their points into. I would hate it if one had 200 points mid-game because they didn't have a focus.

These two can tear up Zeds - I just need to control the focus of Mr. Psycho. He dies... a lot.
0200 am - "What's all that noise outside? I'm going to go check it out. What? They are breaking into our base? How did that happen?"
'nuff said. Great kid, but as bullet proof as I was at his age.

[Nobody]

Originally posted by Blaiden80:

Originally posted by Nobody:

You saw Walking death ?

you need two collars, and both need to be bitten

Wait - I am the anomoly here. These two are teenagers. If you are going to sell anyone short it should be me.
But I have been a gamer since my first 80286. No rookie

http://www.mtv.com/crop-images/2014/01/28/walkingdead.jpg

[Acarin]

You will definitely need Tool Smithing, Weapon Smithing and Science so that you can get Workbench, Concrete Mixing and Steel Smithing. But if you also concentrate on digging & mining (a LOT) then you should also level up faster than them, thus giving you the points to spend.

[NHLreturns]

quite nice i think old people have something to do they can play games with the kids it's nice

[Blaiden80]

Originally posted by NHL12always:

quite nice i think old people have something to do they can play games with the kids it's nice

LOL - I'll remember that when I get my walker out of the closet tomorrow.
Jeez - I'm only 55 - might be old to some of you, but I am not ready to become a zed quite yet

[systumseng]

Meant to answer this earlier, but a Horde was approaching. :-)

First, a brief note on your plan for specialization. It all comes down to what each likes to do, enjoys, or feels comfortable doing. Easiest way is to just watch what they gravitate to. We'll assume you have them read right, but if the one you think is best attacking zombies just wants to dig, be flexible and re-assign things.

OK, your Psycho sounds like a Scavanger/Zombie Killer. Sounds like they'd be best utilized as the one that goes out, explores the map a bit, maybe raids a couple small buildings, and kills zombies. Maybe even use them to cover the rest of you as you gather materials and buld a base.

I understand your worry about him getting in over his head, but even with thousands of hours in the game, it still happens. Try to give him advice on how to be cautious, but there's no way to protect somebody from all the things the game will throw at them.

Sexual Tyranosaur for sure. Early game (pre-minibikes) it will help with running as they explore.

NEVER put points into Archery! You level that SO fast with head shots, it's a waste of good skill points. (Have him crouch and try for headshots, as crouched shots count as a sneak attack and double damage.) Just walking around a town shooting zombies on the road he can probably level Archery (without spending a single skill point) a half-dozen times a day.

Pummel Pete-I need to preface this by saying that the melee portion of the game's still a little screwy. Zombie's arm reach is about twice what you think it is, and the majority of the time a single hit from a zombie will stun a player....most stuns end in a dead player. Best way to avoid that is to shoot with a bow from distance. Having said that, if you think he has the temperment for using a club, sure, buy a couple levels of Pummel Pete.

You mention weapon smithing. Is the Psycho going to be your group's weapon crafter? If so, great. If not, save his skill points for elsewhere, and let the group's weapon crafter make the Psycho's weapons.

Quality Joe-You can't level this very fast without leveling up the Scavenger skill. For the Psycho, if he's going to go out, explore, and loot things (zombies, garbage bags, book cases, car trunks, houses, boxes, supply drops, etc), then I'd recommend spending as many points as possibly, as early as possible, on SCAVENGING, and as you get the Scavanging level high enough, YES, get at least one, maybe two levels of Quality Joe.

Health Nut-Again, IMO, a waste of skill points. Far better ways to use skill points.

Handguns-or shotguns-or hunting rifles-or sniper rifles: You can't determine this ahead of time because first and foremost, it depends on what you find, what you buy, and whether you found the related skill book. Break it down like this:
-Pistols---put points into OUTLAW
-Shotguns---put points into BOOM STICK
-Hunting or Sniper Rifles---put points into BETTER LEAD THAN DEAD

Treasure Hunter-I'd hold off on this until really late in the game. All this skill does is narrow the area to search for a treasue from a treasure map. You can find them WITHOUT this skill. Also, you may not find many treasure maps.

Two additions for early on:
-You're going to need somebody to hunt for food. He should level the KNIFE GUY skill. This lets him harvest more meat from each animal he finds and kills.
-As a scavanger, he'll be the one most likely using a wrench to take apart cars and electronics. You can have him level BAD MECHANIC to get more items when using a wrench on those things.


OCD-It looks like you gave him the same initial skill set as the psycho. If your plan is for them to work as a team, explore, scavange, etc, then early skills CAN be mostly similar, although you probably want one to focus on the scavanging skills, and the other to focus on the fighting skills.

Barter--NEVER, EVER put points into Barter! Complete waste of your skill points. You can level your Barter skill like crazy in one visit to the trader. The key is to sell items individually (not in one giant stack). For instance, you'll pass small campsites with tents. You can get about 250-500 cloth out of those tents if you hit them with your axe. If you then go to the trader and make 250 transactions where you sell one piece of cloth in each transaction, you'll probably level Barter 10 times.

Construction Tools-Again, this is a skill you can level by DOING. Don't spend points here. You're going to be building a base. Improving any block (wood frame or flagstone) increases the construction skill. Just make him the one that does all of that.


Science, Concrete Mixing, Steel Smithing, Chemistry Station: Some of these will take a LONG time to get. As an example, getting Science 7 (which you need to build a Chem Station) takes upwards of 60 skill points (that's 10 levels!) and you need to be at least level 60 before you can even spend the points to unlock Chem Station. If OCD is going to get all of these skills in any reasonable time, he's going to need to either kill about 1000 zombies, or dig a LOT! (Digging is actually the best and fastest way to level up and get skill points. If you have a secure base, you all should be digging all night long. In a good night of digging you can level at least a couple times.)


You - The Parent
If you're into planning for the future and making sure you survive - food, shelter, the base etc, then assume you're going to be the digger, not the fighter, maybe not the hunter, as those skills take away points from your shelter/base building skills.

You won't need Pummel Pete if you're working on the base.

Tool Smithing-As soon as possible!
Sexual Tyrannosaurus-As often as you can!
Miner 69er-VERY FIRST SKILL YOU BUY, level every chance you get!

Dig every chance you get.

Quality Joe-Absolutely no need for this, let your Scavanging Psycho handle this.
Mining Tools-You will level this like crazy digging and chopping trees---do NOT EVER waste points on Mining Tools. If you dig all night the first night you're in the game, you will likely get 10 levels of Mining Tools. Why waste a point there?

Workbench-Yes---as soon as you can. Make sure your Scavanger is out getting you Mechanical Parts for when you want to create your workbench.

In conjunction with Mining Tools and Workbench, you need to get a Forge as soon as you can. For that you will need 20 pieces of leather (or 20 animal skins that you can convert to leather). You should try to get the forge by your second day, as iron tools are WORLDS better than stone tools. 20 animal skins is approximately two deer plus one pig.


Looking at what you want to do, I think you may want to take over all the SCIENCE stuff from OCD, and free him up to put his points more into the fighting or scavaning skills....maybe let him be the Armor Crafter, and buy a couple levels of that since you'll be doing the Science, Concrete, etc.

I could go on, but I think my novel is longer than what you wrote. Be happy to answer questions....most important when specializing is let people gravitate to what they like to do.

As far as skills go,....aside from the Scavenger skill, NEVER spend on the 1-point skills. Save every skill point for the skills that require 3+ points to unlock each level. Those are the ones you can't get without purchase.

And yes, having fun comes first. Good luck!

[NHLreturns]

you know what i will say the new system forces you to level up everything because you can't really rush one particular section

but in my opinion the main roles include

scavenger/nomad ... obviously search for goods and manage items / trader stuff
(so obviously you want loot related ♥♥♥♥ plus fighting ability)

the builder... possibly miner harvester too kinda the same area
(in charge of forge related things etc)

i dont really know a specific role for fighting but it can involve gun smithing
(the person in charge of doling out weapons to everybody)


i mean typically you would just dole out positions and they would understand what perks benefit their roles etc...

[Blaiden80]

Originally posted by systumseng:

Meant to answer this earlier, but a Horde was approaching. :-)

First, a brief note on your plan for specialization. It all comes down to what each likes to do, enjoys, or feels comfortable doing. Easiest way is to just watch what they gravitate to. We'll assume you have them read right, but if the one you think is best attacking zombies just wants to dig, be flexible and re-assign things.

OK, your Psycho sounds like a Scavanger/Zombie Killer. Sounds like they'd be best utilized as the one that goes out, explores the map a bit, maybe raids a couple small buildings, and kills zombies. Maybe even use them to cover the rest of you as you gather materials and buld a base.

I understand your worry about him getting in over his head, but even with thousands of hours in the game, it still happens. Try to give him advice on how to be cautious, but there's no way to protect somebody from all the things the game will throw at them.

Sexual Tyranosaur for sure. Early game (pre-minibikes) it will help with running as they explore.

NEVER put points into Archery! You level that SO fast with head shots, it's a waste of good skill points. (Have him crouch and try for headshots, as crouched shots count as a sneak attack and double damage.) Just walking around a town shooting zombies on the road he can probably level Archery (without spending a single skill point) a half-dozen times a day.

Pummel Pete-I need to preface this by saying that the melee portion of the game's still a little screwy. Zombie's arm reach is about twice what you think it is, and the majority of the time a single hit from a zombie will stun a player....most stuns end in a dead player. Best way to avoid that is to shoot with a bow from distance. Having said that, if you think he has the temperment for using a club, sure, buy a couple levels of Pummel Pete.

You mention weapon smithing. Is the Psycho going to be your group's weapon crafter? If so, great. If not, save his skill points for elsewhere, and let the group's weapon crafter make the Psycho's weapons.

Quality Joe-You can't level this very fast without leveling up the Scavenger skill. For the Psycho, if he's going to go out, explore, and loot things (zombies, garbage bags, book cases, car trunks, houses, boxes, supply drops, etc), then I'd recommend spending as many points as possibly, as early as possible, on SCAVENGING, and as you get the Scavanging level high enough, YES, get at least one, maybe two levels of Quality Joe.

Health Nut-Again, IMO, a waste of skill points. Far better ways to use skill points.

Handguns-or shotguns-or hunting rifles-or sniper rifles: You can't determine this ahead of time because first and foremost, it depends on what you find, what you buy, and whether you found the related skill book. Break it down like this:
-Pistols---put points into OUTLAW
-Shotguns---put points into BOOM STICK
-Hunting or Sniper Rifles---put points into BETTER LEAD THAN DEAD

Treasure Hunter-I'd hold off on this until really late in the game. All this skill does is narrow the area to search for a treasue from a treasure map. You can find them WITHOUT this skill. Also, you may not find many treasure maps.

Two additions for early on:
-You're going to need somebody to hunt for food. He should level the KNIFE GUY skill. This lets him harvest more meat from each animal he finds and kills.
-As a scavanger, he'll be the one most likely using a wrench to take apart cars and electronics. You can have him level BAD MECHANIC to get more items when using a wrench on those things.


OCD-It looks like you gave him the same initial skill set as the psycho. If your plan is for them to work as a team, explore, scavange, etc, then early skills CAN be mostly similar, although you probably want one to focus on the scavanging skills, and the other to focus on the fighting skills.

Barter--NEVER, EVER put points into Barter! Complete waste of your skill points. You can level your Barter skill like crazy in one visit to the trader. The key is to sell items individually (not in one giant stack). For instance, you'll pass small campsites with tents. You can get about 250-500 cloth out of those tents if you hit them with your axe. If you then go to the trader and make 250 transactions where you sell one piece of cloth in each transaction, you'll probably level Barter 10 times.

Construction Tools-Again, this is a skill you can level by DOING. Don't spend points here. You're going to be building a base. Improving any block (wood frame or flagstone) increases the construction skill. Just make him the one that does all of that.


Science, Concrete Mixing, Steel Smithing, Chemistry Station: Some of these will take a LONG time to get. As an example, getting Science 7 (which you need to build a Chem Station) takes upwards of 60 skill points (that's 10 levels!) and you need to be at least level 60 before you can even spend the points to unlock Chem Station. If OCD is going to get all of these skills in any reasonable time, he's going to need to either kill about 1000 zombies, or dig a LOT! (Digging is actually the best and fastest way to level up and get skill points. If you have a secure base, you all should be digging all night long. In a good night of digging you can level at least a couple times.)


You - The Parent
If you're into planning for the future and making sure you survive - food, shelter, the base etc, then assume you're going to be the digger, not the fighter, maybe not the hunter, as those skills take away points from your shelter/base building skills.

You won't need Pummel Pete if you're working on the base.

Tool Smithing-As soon as possible!
Sexual Tyrannosaurus-As often as you can!
Miner 69er-VERY FIRST SKILL YOU BUY, level every chance you get!

Dig every chance you get.

Quality Joe-Absolutely no need for this, let your Scavanging Psycho handle this.
Mining Tools-You will level this like crazy digging and chopping trees---do NOT EVER waste points on Mining Tools. If you dig all night the first night you're in the game, you will likely get 10 levels of Mining Tools. Why waste a point there?

Workbench-Yes---as soon as you can. Make sure your Scavanger is out getting you Mechanical Parts for when you want to create your workbench.

In conjunction with Mining Tools and Workbench, you need to get a Forge as soon as you can. For that you will need 20 pieces of leather (or 20 animal skins that you can convert to leather). You should try to get the forge by your second day, as iron tools are WORLDS better than stone tools. 20 animal skins is approximately two deer plus one pig.


Looking at what you want to do, I think you may want to take over all the SCIENCE stuff from OCD, and free him up to put his points more into the fighting or scavaning skills....maybe let him be the Armor Crafter, and buy a couple levels of that since you'll be doing the Science, Concrete, etc.

I could go on, but I think my novel is longer than what you wrote. Be happy to answer questions....most important when specializing is let people gravitate to what they like to do.

As far as skills go,....aside from the Scavenger skill, NEVER spend on the 1-point skills. Save every skill point for the skills that require 3+ points to unlock each level. Those are the ones you can't get without purchase.

And yes, having fun comes first. Good luck!

This was a great read. I appreciate the fact that you not only corrected my thoughts but put logical reasoning behind your arguments. This is what I was hoping to see.
But again, as usual there were a lot of great posts to my situation. The three of us started last night, and other than being blown up twice by landmines, the Phycho is behaving as expected. No focus, but a bunch of loot.
Thanks again all. Great game.