Katia & The Garage ...

[ploppy]

I have completed this game with 3 different starting groups, two of them with Katia.

Katia has a special relationship with the Garage. She can trade with the Garage son, slip round the back & pilfer the lockers underneath. It is even fairly easy to sneak into the old guy’s bedroom & rip off his two herbal meds from the first mattress. However, I have learned to NOT bleed the Garage dry, rather leave a healthy amount of stock (take what I need only) so it may “recharge” over the next couple of turns.

By visiting the garage every 3rd to 4th turn with Katia, I have found that their stocks are, "recharged". Particularly in the late game, they have tons of materials to trade. It really becomes a case of "managing" the Garage for my own benefit ...

Trading at the garage also affords the added bonus of boosting morale. I can literally rip off stuff from underneath, trade it back to the son, then go home & give myself a pat on the back for helping out the poor folk at the Garage! It seems that a morale hit is only suffered on the 1st time I rip off the stores in the Garage (or anywhere for that matter). This may be an issue for the developers to address. Logically, if I steal private property, at any time (whether I have been there before, or not), there should be a morale penalty.

Also, the Garage may afford items like saws & hatchets in the early game ...

IMHO playing with Katia is too easy, her trading skills are over powered. My survivors have never missed a meal in her presence.

BTW, when the son at the Garage becomes hostile (if you f@#k with him too much), he sports a very foul mouth!

Something along the lines of > "I'll kill you b1tch!" ... "Come out you c%^t!" < ... LOL !!!!!!

[kauach]

We're looking into this issue...

[Deetchy]

I usually try to avoid the Garage until the other locations are bled out of food or raw material. Its too easy to get into the back and nab all his stuff. He doesnt even complain when you go onto his roof, i would have thought he would have told me to go away if he saw me do it. I always wondered why the hidey-hole in front of Matey was present if it served no practical purpose; even if he sees you stealing, he almost always has a direct line-of-sight anhd wouldn't fall for the trick!

[Joker]

Originally posted by Lord Flasheart:

QUOTE: "... then you are on a storyline with low difficulty anyways" ...

Really ... I never noticed any difficulty settings in the options.

He's referring to the difficulties built into the storyline you get. The progression of the phases (crime, winter, etc.,) and the areas available, for instance. And if the garage is available it makes things a lot easier even without cheesing things, especially with Katia.

I've never tried to steal from the garage because it's such a good place to trade. I only learned that you could steal their stuff and trade it to them and get morale on the forum. You're free to do it, of course, but it's obviously an oversight and it would make the game trivial.

So do it if you want, but being snotty about defending a cheeseball tactic is a bit odd.

[Tephros83]

Originally posted by Gladius:

What you describe is a gamebreaking exploit that can make the game pointless and boring from day 2 on. If you have access to the garage location over a longer timespan, then you are on a storyline with low difficulty anyways. Meh, why would I want to rob "Matey" and his sick father? They pay a fortune for meds and this makes a garage storyline playthrough a walk in the park.

Seems like a waste to spend a scavenging night trading. I do almost all of my trading with Franko (towards the end I'm clearing his inventory of all wood, components, parts, water, and sugar) and I don't know what people mean when they say he charges too much. It was the people at the Brothel who weren't worth trading with.. And I typically kill the garage people early on (especially if I start in a crime wave, I need their gun) and spend 3 subsequent nights emptying their very rich house.

[WaywardPython]

No, the Brothel traders are hopeless; that place is only good for a killing spree (with no loss to morale, just the opposite if you free the hostages). I've never killed the people at the Garage, there just seems to be no need - trading terms are pretty generous and I don't want to take a morale hit. Also it just feels wrong generally...

[Basic]

In the Brothel, if you kill everyone /but/ the trader, his stock cupboard (opposite hostages) refills over the course of a few days. Note you need a 2nd sawblade to get to the cupboard

You can even loot all locations by luring the trader away from his post.

I do enjoy the locations where I get a ton of resources and weapons

[MaebeKnot]

I always kill the people at the Brothel if I have the gear and need. I usually only bother with the garage if I need to trade for basic building supplies that I can't get else where.