Fallout Shelter - Gaming survival mode

This guide outlines the things you need to know going into survival mode.
Maybe you like it hardcore, are a control freak, like inflicting misery on little computer people, or maybe just wanted the achievements.
Or, if like me, all of these! :)

This is a two-minute warning

Events happen more frequently in Survival mode. It can be pretty relentless if you get multiple Deathclaw attacks back to back.
One of my early survival mode vaults was wiped out that way, as I wasn't up to scratch with weapons or stimpack production.

Here's an example of 20 minutes play at 45 dwellers: -
02:20 - Raider attack
03:35 - Bottle and Cappy visit
04:09 - Radroaches
07:09 - Raider attack
10:41 - Raider attack
12:57 - Feral ghoul attack
14:42 - Molerats
16:35 - Raider attack
17:23 - Room fire
19:45 - Deathclaw attack

There are longer breaks in events, that's just an example of it being hectic.


Here's the hazards and triggers you need to know to get started.

• Starter hazards: Fires and radroaches
  Radroaches aren't much of a threat. Fires in survival mode are particularly fatal when a room is upgraded and understaffed, or has low level dwellers.
  
  
• 16 dwellers : Raiders
  Raiders are the stock attackers of the game. Initially not well armed or damaging, they can still put a dent in your resources and stimpack stockpile.
  Number and strength scales based on caps, junk, population, etc.
  
  
• 21 dwellers : Molerats
  Not the biggest pest, but they do eat power quickly in high numbers.
  
  
• 36 dwellers : Deathclaws
  Yep. After you get 36 walking snacks...er...dwellers, Deathclaws start attacking on a regular basis. Strength scales based on population.
  
  
• 41 dwellers : Feral ghouls
  Weak compared to Deathclaws, but the radiation damage adds up on back to back attacks.
  
  
• 51 dwellers : Radscorpions
  ...and there we have it. The most annoying of any of the hazard events pops in after 50. Inflicts radiation damage, moves between random rooms, and can be particularly tough.
  Pinning helps because they move so randomly, and unless they helpfully move to a full production room, the key is to dump as many well-armed dwellers in the same room as quickly as possible.

General increases
Starting at 100k caps and/or lots of rare junk? Bigger and badder raider parties.
Higher level rooms - more damaging hazards, tougher enemies
Bigger rooms: Longer lasting fires, and increase in mob numbers.

Survival & general tips

You probably know this, but from the top: -

• Things don't truly kick off until 16 dwellers and 1000+ caps for regular Raiders. Make sure you have levelled all the frontline defensive dwellers - 15+ is good - and have a stock of stimpaks. I use Power rooms so they have STR gear and all wield 6+ DMG weapons (see killbox)
  
• Dweller HPs: Starting and radio-recruited dwellers start at level 5, but low levelling on low END stats mean lots of missing HPs.
  IMO, it is worth re-generating the dweller pool from level 1's, trained to max. It means better survival and using less healing resources.
  If you want to be really l33tist, you can repeat this process when you get legendary "Heavy Wasteland Gear" that bears the +7 END stat - put it on fully trained dwellers each time you level them, or send them into the Wasteland.
  
• Never upgrade the vault door. You want the hazard event done; Everything just breaks in anyway.
  
• Develop a frontline killbox to deal with the incoming mobs quickly.
  
• Stimpak and radaway production: Making a stockpile of stimpaks early on is king, but you will also require regular radaway production after about 30 dwellers, for the regular journeys into the wasteland, and after that for ghoul/radscorpion incidents.
  
• Early on especially - Keep all rooms at level 1 to keep hazard events low strength. Aim to keep level 1 rooms all over for this reason. Your level 1 trainees *will* die to a radscorpion attack in an upgraded room.
  
• Fully staffed rooms are needed to effectively deal with events. Don't build a 3 block room until you can staff a 3 block room.
  
• Use firebreaks - hazards don't spread diagonally or across gaps.
  
• Ensure your first couple of rooms are staffed with the highest dwellers and best guns for deathclaws. You are going to want rare weapons across the board, at least.
  
• Until radscorpions, it is safe to build unstaffed storage and sleeping quarters gapped/diagonally away from production rooms, and just ignore those events.
  
• When you hit high dweller numbers and can afford to staff all rooms, organise empty rooms so travel time is minimised if you have to drag and drop.
  
• Pin it: Having a single dweller in the [store|living|overseer] room to pin the event is super useful, allowing you to drop in support without the risk of spread.
  
• Bottle and Cappy are your best starting support asset. For starting caps and nuka cola, its worth doing as soon as you can. Note that I lost a level 24 full HP (but low END) dweller on the boss's special attack at the final mission, but won in the end.
  
• Starting out and unpacking your lunch, rare/legendary weapons are more useful than dwellers. Except those that come with decent weapons, obvs.
  
• After incidents, check your dwellers list for damage. It can add up fast.

To defend your vault effectively, you need a killbox for invading forces. Mine goes like this: -
______|ENTRY-LFT-PWRPWRPWR-PWRPWR
## ########-LFT-PWRPWRPWR-LFT-PWRPWR
WTRWTRWTR-LFT-FODFODFOD-LFT-FODWTR

Power rooms are always fully staffed, with max END/STR and highest level dwellers wielding the best weapons, and any spare pets that do +dmg.
Early on, assuming L30+ dwellers, stimpak production to cover it all is about 4-8 every 5 minutes.

My "top" setup is all L50s in the entrance and first PWR room, all wearing X01 power armour and wielding Dragon's Maw. Deathclaws are the only thing that make it to the first Power room, then die. Stimpacks are only needed to heal the entrance and sometimes top up the power room.


That's all folks. Good luck unboxing those lunches.

[Lakeside-in-shade]

Not in survival mode.

[FeteFatale]

" Here's an example of 20 minutes play at 45 dwellers: -
...
19:45 - Deathclaw attack "

Deathclaws don't appear until vault population reaches 60