Running out of food

[Unecessary Umlauts]

Ok, I've gone through 3-4 sessions and am figuring out how to get started. Last couple times, my biggest problem wass running out of food. I made it to 19 days, but it was really over after day 14 when food rations started to get dangerously low. The two mooches that I invited in weren't interested in going on any expeditions so all they did was make my food run out faster. I did build a stove but never had all the parts for a freezer (or incinerator). I built a tier 2 snare that would trap animals but I guess because I didn't have a freezer I didn't get any food from it. I sent out about 5-6 expeditions but found little food. I broadcast for traders about 5 times and got small amounts of food once in a while but it dwindled away.

So, any tips on keeping my family fed? How often should I be going on expeditions? I figured out that If you build 2 medium water butts you never run out, so that did make expeditions easier.

[FourGreenFields]

Don't take anyone in unless you can support them.

Also, I think that some buildings (like farms) are more likely to yield food.

[Voidmonger]

"I can hold meat in my backpack for twenty days while I'm outside my home, but when I'm at home I have to freeze it before cooking it" :D
Btw you have to get the new recruits loyalty. I usually try to always assign them to do all the house work, I don't know if it actually influences the loyalty rate though.
I suggest you always keep one person broadcasting for traders, try to gather as much "money" items as possible (toys, vynil discs, fuel, relaxants, antibiotics, bench efficiency tools) - you will need backpacks
Improve water output of water filter and get as much water storage as possible - when it's raining and it's going to get full, set up an expedition.
Accept new recruits as soon as you can, then exploring or by radio get new recruits with better stats and dismiss the previous ones.
I guess I was lucky because I picked as part of the starting family a kid "small eater"

[Sigh-Phi-Guy]

the very 1st thing you do when starting a new game, before you do ANYTHING else, is send out an expedition. when they return, immediately send them back out and keep doing this for the duration of the game. if they arent in the shelter, they arent eating/drinking your stores.
by day 3 i have plenty of food.

[Unecessary Umlauts]

Ok, I got a decent setup on day 7. 2 Rooms, the basic anemites, plenty of water, and I finally got the parts for a freezer! I'm stopping here until I have some more ideas on what to do next regarding expeditions. Storage space is running low, and I'm going to need to build more, and some gas masks and backpacks for future expeditions.

But there's nothing left on my map. I've visited about 5-6 locations, and have scanned frequencies a few times but haven't uncovered anything new. I was broadcasting for trade so I could find hinges/motor for the freezer.

So I'm thinking of building a snare (or 2) for food, building up expedition/storage supplies and trying to scan frequencies to find locations (thats how you find new places right? You don't just explore at random?). Can you have more than one person scan at the same time? What about simultaneous scans and broadcasts? Should I start looking for guests now? How do you get their loyalty to go up?

[FourGreenFields]

Originally posted by Unecessary Umlauts:

Storage space is running low

Might be a good idea to check if you have stuff that's useless to you atm - like stuff that needs to be recycled, possibly toys or books (only usefull with bookshelf/toywhatever), or electronics (hardly used without a better workbench).

Originally posted by Unecessary Umlauts:

But there's nothing left on my map. I've visited about 5-6 locations

You can revisit places. There'll be more stuff to be found (although if you visit just 1-2 days after it's not that much).
Also, right-click and drag the map.

Originally posted by Unecessary Umlauts:

(thats how you find new places right? You don't just explore at random?).

No, and no. At least I'm pretty sure there's a limited ammount of places to visit (exception: Persons in need (quests)/trade caravans - those are discovered using the radio), and all of them are marked with a questionmark.

Originally posted by Unecessary Umlauts:

Can you have more than one person scan at the same time? What about simultaneous scans and broadcasts? Should I start looking for guests now? How do you get their loyalty to go up?

No, no, no idea, and let them in your shelter for a while and loyalty will go up automatically (no idea if there's a way to speed that up).


Off-topic: "Umlaute" aren't unnecessary, unless you mean that they're not necessary because they can be replaced with ae ue and oe.

[Big Mad Wolf]

Every question mark is an location on the map. Every location gathers new stuff, while you not visit it. That's the part that makes the game quite easy, because you get a endless supply of stuff. I think those locations get new stuff far to quick.

Also there are locations in different sizes, bigger sizes has a higher chance of more stuff, also every location collects more stuff from specific types.

[Unecessary Umlauts]

Ok I finally got a decent start after checking out a guide here on steam for some tips. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=615760287
That guide definitely helped a lot. The bit about setting up traps after 10 days or whatever is unecessary, I didn't have anyone hostile my shelter until day 54, and he went away without even attempting to break in.

Apparently I was an idiot who couldn't figure out that the map would scroll in and out and you can zoom. I'm better now. Thanks for the tip that you can re-visit place though, the map still seemed kind of small given that everyone keeps saying "send out expeditions constantly".

I've been asking everyone I encounter to trade, and if they go hostile I will run. Havent been forced to fight yet. Is there any point to getting in fights? My equipment is pretty garbage and I don't think I can beat anyone. It usually gives you the option to loot whether you fight, trade, or avoid the encounter. Do you gret more loot if you kill people?

Do I need gas masks every time, or can I run around the wasteland until I get radiation sickness, then just take anti-rads? I'm having trouble coming up with enough plastic to keep gas masks going, but a couple people have died from radiation poisoning so far...

Is there a way to remove lights? I was trying to get every room lit up until I started getting messages that it was "wasteful". I shut most of them off but can't remove them.

The dog died pretty early on (week 1 I think). It took me a few trips to figure out how to send him on the expeditions, and during the pre-freezer food crisis he starved to death because I forgot to send him on an expedition. Once I got a freezer, I put up 3-4 snares and never ran out of food, akthough I only had 2 med water butts for the longest time because I was using most of my plastic to make gas masks. Water ran low sometimes between rains, plus I figured it was a great trade item because it replenished, then got a little too happy trading water away and nearly died. One of the kids died day 27, and I put her in the incinerator since it used less resources than a grave. Wife died around day 48 or so. The husband only got 5 trauma from the "desperate meat" though heh.

I finally got the tier 3 workbench upgrade around day 50. I immediately built 2 tier 3 backpacks for expeditions. I'm trying to keep 2 teams out or at least rotate them and let them rest and get cleaned up between trups. Tiredness, hunger, etc, affect expeditions, right?

[Big Mad Wolf]

If you fight, the killer get stat improvement and you can loot their bodies. The killer gets also traumatized, but that was never really a big deal. But the loot was most the time not really much, often skipped looting because of not having space.

At start I had rubber problems too, so I send them out to visit 15-20 locations at once. I had to leave a lot stuff behind and focus on the important stuff, but that way I managed to find enough gas masks so that at the end I had a stock of 10 to 20. But guess that could also be, because my looters had really high perception by that time.

They tell you that light can be a waste, but there isn't really need to bother about. Light hardly takes any electricity, at least it felt as if all bunker full of light still used only about 0.1 for them. Other machines used up far more electricity in that case. I kept the lights on, because dark rooms feel kind of creepy, even if your people don't care.

The dog is a bad ass fighter and also improves perception, he seems to be the most op pet, so to lose him is kind of tough.

I don't know, if those stress things affect looting, but it surely helps to get rid of trauma you perhaps got from fighting. Also sometimes I just did not have the water to send them out immediately.

[Unecessary Umlauts]

Originally posted by FourGreenFields:

Off-topic: "Umlaute" aren't unnecessary, unless you mean that they're not necessary because they can be replaced with ae ue and oe.

My name is poking fun at bands that put two dots above some of the letters in their name because they think it looks cool, but the umlauts are actually a pronounciation mark, and the bands don't pronounce it differently. So the umlauts are unnecessary :)

And thanks for the tips guys! This game is not that difficult once you get past the initial setup and figure out what to do. It's just a bit steep of a learning curve to start. I actually wish it was more challenging in some ways...

[Big Mad Wolf]

The start is pretty tough, but afterwards it gets very repetitive and tiresome sadly, you don't have the right tools to handle 10-15 survivors efficiently

[Dr Benway]

The family is very hungry by day 21 (one died & was harvested) and until I can make a stove the critter & human meat is off limits. I send people out to forage and find some food now and then but it never appears in the pantry or the cooler. Question: do hungry survivors eat what they find before they make it back to the shelter? If so, I will send them in exile.

[Big Mad Wolf]

Survivors don't eat will on scavenge hunt, they will want to eat after they return. Food cans go into the pantry if there is space, meat goes into the freezer. Do you still get the other stuff your people are collecting?

[Dr Benway]

Yes. And there's room in the pantry & freezer for food. It's not in my storage boxes either. Maybe the cat's been nicking it!

[Pawnstar]

Check my guide, might help a lot if you are really out of options. Remember that my guide does not represent the one and only way to beat this game.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=615542015

[finn]

i had the same problem and this really helped thanks guys :D