HOW TO SURVIVE and THRIVE - Tips and Feedback from a Founding Player

[OldManRipper]

Howdy, fellow Survivors!

I have played this game since it was launched via Early Access. Came over from Surviving Mars, Sim City, etc. I always play on the hardest settings with catastrophes set to maximum.

Gonna Organize this thread into sections. Tips will be the first section. Feedback after.

TIPS - This is not a walk-through but rather an assumption that you have played the in-game tutorial and are looking for some guidance. My top 10 tips for any Survivor.

1.) LOGISTICS are KING - Pay attention to what each building produces and stores. Workers have to leave their home, go to work, gather the product, process the product, put the product somewhere else, go to the bathroom, eat, and finally go home and <repeat>.
Thus, make sure to create a CENTRALIZED STORAGE comprised of a Stockpile, Food Storage, and a Warehouse. Build all the production buildings around these. If you are building further out (one screen away) because of resource site location build another storage area.

2.) STARTING LINEUP - I choose one Scientist and one Scavenger. After building the main gate use the Scientist to Explore each new sector. If there is a research node get the research. Have the Scavenger follow on and collect anything that is not covered by a Bandit.
2a.) OUTPOSTS - Convert EVERY Specialist that has less than 20 damage into a SETTLER to make an OUTPOST. Placing a Medical Outpost and a Resource Outpost next to each other is a great way to maintain presence in the World Map. Build Scavenger Outposts on Advanced Weapons, Clothing, and Tools to make life easier for your colony.
2b.) DEATH SQUAD - Keep ANY Specialist type that has a natural damage output of 25. You will need between 4 and 6 to efficiently combat the Bandits. Also, use the DEATH SQUAD in your base to clear out all the baddies throughout the map.

3.) TECHNOLOGY - I focus my research on ICE FISHING and the upgraded Hunting to stabilize food in the early game. Basic farming is usually next followed by a defense upgrade for the gate and a base upgrade for the Campsite. Utilize the techs that are gateways to these, like Scout Towers, to find the resources in the map. Upgraded Campsite at max level will FULLY explore the map on its own.
3a.) Focus on Power and Extraction techs after your food is secure. Buildings are really expensive. Tents are cheap. Just make sure to keep about 10 extra space with Tents and you will still have Childbirth. Extractor Techs will allow you to dig up the 6k-10k resources left behind after your early gathering workers have finished.
3b.) Blitz the SCHOOLs technology for other Factions. Build a SCHOOL in every FACTION's base that you meet. You can do this by opening the Diplomatic channel and clicking on the area in the bottom left once you have the correct technologies. A School gets you 10 reputation / day with the faction. Very handy for long-term Federation building.

4.) LIMITS - I give EVERYTHING a limit of 200 except TOOLS, CLOTHING, and WEAPONS. These I limit at 30. Another exception is GROWN FOOD (corn, soybeans, medical herbs, etc.). I set this at 500 due to field quantities being so large.
4a.) Some buildings take up to 600 lumber. Utilize the PAUSE button on the building to keep it from destroying your economy. PAUSE the build when your lumber (or other resource) is depleted. Once that resource recovers UNPAUSE the build and let it continue. Repeat until finished. This will allow your other buildings to maintain function without causing logistical backlogs.

5.) WATER - Eventually you will need a lot of water for different disasters. On hardest difficulty these will sometimes cause mass casualty events for your colony because most water producing buildings are shut down. In my 274 day play-through of this latest iteration I lost between 400-500 colonists to the different events. A good water STORAGE and supply will keep you from having to restart, however. Make sure to have DOUBLE the water you actually need as a constant goal. If you ever go 1 water to 1 demand you will lose.
5a.) The two buildings that never shut down on me were standard WELLS and BORING WELLS (except in the lightning storm disaster). Any water Gatherer or Pump connected to a lake always failed or was not enough.

6.) CLINICS / HOSPITALS - You need to be able to service 10% of your population at a time with these buildings. Roughly, build 5 Clinics before you can get to Hospitals. Build 1 Hospital per 50 Population. People will still die. Fallout storms with 221 Radiated Colonists is just unavoidable. The good news is that at least 50 will survive and you can rebuild. The structures will not be damaged. Bodies disappear off the ground over time and only cause a minor happiness loss. You can flex workers out of medical facilities if you run low on Carriers and are between disasters. Leave one worker per building.

7.) FEDERATION and REPUTATION - Once your FEDERATION is built it CANNOT be expanded. Even if you manage to get additional Societies to the 1000 threshold they will not send an Alliance request. Wait to Federate until you have all Embassies constructed that you wish to have for the full game.
7a.) Trading is a great way to get basic resources. Wood, Plastic, Metal, and Concrete are available. The other societies change what they offer frequently. Check once a day for stuff. I traded for mostly COMPONENTS (yellow plug looking things).

8.) DOOMSDAY BUNKER - Move on this quest as quickly as you are able. It can turn into a grind if you leave it to the very last. If you are stuck on the quest read the descriptor in the top left corner to make sure you do not need to explore a World Map location or click on something in the colony. Progress HALTS and the bar turns RED multiple times and blocks progress until you do 'the thing'.

9.) OUTHOUSES - Build these at least 10 tiles from anything else. The pollution is real. Relocate them near houses after they can be upgraded to Toilets.

10.) FORESTER - The best friend your colony will have. Make a lush forest for awesome logging and 100% efficiency Hunting. Any patch of green, or yellow, quality soil can be a thick patch of trees in no time. Never run out of wood, firewood, meat, or fiber so long as you keep this in mind.

FEEDBACK section for the Developers and other Veteran Survivors

1.) Game never crashed. Hooray! Had to reload it a few times but only had to create a hard save, exit to main menu, and reload without closing the game.

2.) Nuclear Fallout disaster is just terribad. It wasn't just little Timmy with the cane that died. EVERYONE had a tombstone with their name on it. 221 colonists down to 93. Had Two-Story houses built, to boot.

3,) Might want to increase the output of Electronics a smidge. Only 3 produced at a time and a long production made the end-game structures very grindy.

4.) Never was able to get a Chicken to show up in trade. No bread for me...

5,) Wish the Federation could add Societies that were not included to start.

6,) Best version of this I have seen. Looking forward to 11.3.2022! Big high five!

7.) You nerfed regular Wells into oblivion. I know I posted about how I loved to use them instead of conventional water sources but with the seed I had they were producing only 10 after I upgraded them. Not such a big deal when I build them all over the map but... I had to build them ALL over the map. ;)

8.) Occasionally I got a glitch where someone would be homeless or malnurished until I reloaded the save from the Main Menu.

9.) World Map was extremely dynamic and fun through the whole game. I was still clearing it on day 274. Probably due to my inefficiencies but I learned a few lessons this time through with the new material.

10.) Vehicles are still just pointless. I only use them as a fast way back to base and never build a garage. Suggestion on this would be to maybe add some 'Mad Max' machines that you have to fix up to take on Bandit Convoys on the map? Second suggestion would be to tie them in to the Trade Convoys for a decrease to travel time?

[Huib Bloodstone]

The game works great, had 2 bug at the start of the game, i send it to the devs..

My game is getting harder because of the bandids, they are everywere.

also pandemics are harsh, lost 33% of my colony

keep other colonies happy is hard.

[metalsingh]

@Oldman..

[Eventide]

When I play, which isn't so much lately, I use vehicles all the time. They help you reach unexplored areas farther away faster, by extending movement points for Specialists. They feel incredibly useful, to me.

• What I'd like is a new UI sidebar listing all found vehicles and known resources we could click on, to center the view on that item.

• Arrows pointing at objectives (in colony and on map) should also work as buttons, to center the view on that item.

[OldManRipper]

So, syntax, I kept my Specialist pool at 9 and converted or upgraded the final slot.

I built a MEDICAL OUTPOST and a RESOURCE OUTPOST next to each other on two different districts but sharing the border. Think Kansas City, Kansas / Missouri.

I built these in a circle around my map as I explored. Pretty much ended up with 4 sets. NW, NE, SW, SE. Then 1 or 2 Scavengers with 20 attack power can handle threats while doing all the scavenging and I do not have to support infrastructure for vehicles.

Also, with the Specialists all moving at 7, 8, 9, or higher with the bonus from a society, they are like the Zulu Warriors of North Africa... foot cavalry.

[metalsingh]

Awesome!

[Dallas]

Good list, although #10 i find vehicles very useful and far from pointless. They are a much faster way to get groups of specialists out to support Outposts that are about to be attacked by bandits and vehicles are just a faster and more convenient way of getting anywhere on the world map. I also find there is plenty of fuel to find so manufacturing it is rarely necessary.

[Gunnyshark]

Thank you! Quick question on the vehicles. I found a van on the world map, drove it with a specialist, but then sent him back to the colony and the van disappeared. Are the vehicles not supposed to go back?

[OldManRipper]

Once they arrive in a colony they are stored in your Mechanic Garage whether it is built or not.

To use a vehicle after returning to base you need to be able to repair, fuel, and staff them from your colony.

Sunflowers make Oil. Oil can be refined into Fuel.

[Gunnyshark]

Thank you! Still learning a lot!

[OldManRipper]

Glad to help.