My Hardcore Skalitz Start

A list of what I do to start off my Skalitz start in my Hardcore games when I inevitably decide to restart.

Herbalist Simulator: The beginning

**Be careful to avoid the tavern until you have sold what you can to traders as the quest there will damage the town's reputation a little!
*If you do as much as you can (by no means needed), this section takes just shy of 3.5hrs
*Also, throughout you can save scum without using a Saviour Schnapps with exit saves, but you have to die to a guard to do this. This is risky (human error) and SUPER slow, so I use Saviour Schnapps as "checkpoints" and try not to save scum too much.

Spawning:
- I take Haemophilia and Brittle Bones because both can be countered with traits and can either be mitigated/avoided entirely.
-Mother: Strength options x2 - this is for knocking out guards later.
-Grab the pots of food whenever you can for hunger for the free food. (Avoid the tavern!)

"Gameplay":
-Note that the more time in the tutorial prior to getting to the crime portion of the game, the more not stolen food you eat. This isn't a huge deal but technically cuts into the profits, although I don't think it's worth worrying about.
-Sprint around going places as much as you can, it trains vitality. Be careful of overloaded while picking herbs for this reason. You can dump all of the herbs (and anything else for the whole prologue) in the chest that has Teresa's nails in it. We will pick this stuff up later.
-If you spend some time picking flowers before talking to Father, you can get a little rep and speech xp from succeeding in the persuasion. (I pick the royalty option for the best chance)
-Pick all of the flowers in Skalitz. This will get more efficient the higher your level as the "AOE" of picking plants go up. From a little testing I'm pretty sure xp is "per plat" not "per pick" so feel free to not worry about clicking near edges of patches.
-Be aware that there are a lot of herbs in bushes if you are motivated to pick those. Also, I have found a lot of dandelions and nettle completely clipped underground that I happened upon.
-At level 5 either save the perk point for "Botanist" or get "Flower Power". I'm not sure which would affect prices more.
-At level 10, you should pick "Leg Day" perk to get strength as well. By this point you should also have the "Resistance" perk obtained (100 Nettle gathered) for +2 Vitality.
-At level 15, get "Botanist" or "Flower Power", whichever you don't have.
-In total, you can get to level 18 in Herbalism and level 6 in Strength. You should be able to just barely get level 2 in Vitality depending on how much running you did. If not, you likely will before you leave Skalitz. Finally, Main level should be on the verge or barely past 4.
-At this point, dump everything in the chest and drink one of your Saviour Schnapps (1/3)! We would hate to lose 3.5hrs of grinding...

Herbs I picked in Skalitz:
Chamomile - 299
Dandelion - 1.9k
Marigold - 58
Mint - 231
Nettle - 2.4k
Sage - 399
St. John's wort - 65
Thistle - 9
Valerian - 602
Wormwood - 87
There is likely an occasional herb I missed but I really doubt you can reach level 7 in Strength or level 18 in Herbalism with anything more than above.

Recommended Perks:
Main level: Ascetic and Insomniac, unless you want to save points for later. Keep in mind that you get 10 points in the end and a lot of the perks can't be with other perks, so you may as well use the points.
Strength: Clinch Master, Boar, Tight Grip
Herbalism: You can get all the perks at level 20, so any. I'd recommend Horsenip last and Leg Day as soon as you can though.

Merchant Simulator/Questing: The less boring part!

**Be careful to avoid the tavern until you have sold what you can to traders as the quest there will damage town reputation a little!
*This section should take you 20-30 min

Questing:
-Go to the Tavern and get the Deutsch quest done. Agree to go and throw manure for the xp and so Fritz gives you a lock-pick. Heal up at Mother.
-Go fight Kunesh. Land a couple hits then let you beat you down maximize xp. Be careful not to know him out so only hit him 3, maybe 4 times. Make sure you look at the chest in Kunesh's house before going to your lads. Get the lockpicks from Fritz. Also, heal up at Mother again.
-Go to Combat Master Vanyek. Progress to the chain (third portion) then do only 1 hit at a time until the quest times out. Do not chain attacks at all for maximum training. I got 2 sword and 2 warfare from this, as well as another strength and agility level.
-After this, go beat up Kunesh with your goons and see if you can get an unarmed level. (Mother again)
-After this, do a little Herbalist Sim in the Tavern area for some sweet sweet strength xp.

Trading: (You can get some decent speech xp with haggling, just don't push too hard)
-Time to go trade. Feel free to feel out bargaining prices if you want although with the amount of herbs I don't think that's necessary. Also don't forget to wash after all that fighting!
-Don't forget to have 30 herbs on you while trading for the +2 charisma bonus - I took Chamomile to differentiate.
- I would take at least 436 Nettle & the Hammer/Nails/Axe for selling the first trip, with 800 Nettle/Dandelions the second/third.
-Dump the charcoal into the chest when restocking after the first trip.

Trades: (Do not sell Marigold! Can be used to level Alchemy!)
-Charcoal-Burner's Helper: Bought 10 Charcoal, sold 252 Nettle and the Hammer/Nails/Axe. +20 Groschen - If you intend to go lockpicking hard chests you don't have to buy the coal though.
-Blacksmith Trader: Sold 200 Nettle. +20 Groschen
-Gen Trader 1: Sold 800 Nettle. +80 Groschen
-Gen Trader 2: Sold 800 Dandelions. +80 Groschen
-Also, you can trade for more saves if you have the extra herbs from earlier!

Gambling:
-If you want to, I would take this moment to play dice and try to clear out the Gambler in front of the tavern now that you have enough money to lose a game or two. He only has 27.2 Groschen though so not a huge deal. It took me a little to clear him out because I forgot how to play upon my return to KCD. +27.2 Groschen

-After all of this make sure you save! (2/3)

Thief Simulator: Getting rich! (sorta)

**I think that the skill levels you get here are more important than the money personally as
*This section can take up to two hours, depending on how good you are at lock-picking (not breaking your lock-picks, save scumming, getting all the locks, etc.) and how much door farming you want to do. (Door farming is unlocking doors and getting villager to pass through, thus locking the door)

For a complete list of locks:
Skalitz lock-picking targets | Steam Guide by dy_moyer | 25Jan24

Recommended Lockpicking Perks:
Level 3 - Repairman (Get back picks to lock-pick more if you break them - but just don't)
Level 6 - Luck of the Drunk (Can pick very hard locks while drunk)
Level 9 - Lasting Lockpicks or Silent Fiddler

Very easy/Easy Locks to start with: (Remember to have herbs on you while trading! Also if you break picks prior to getting Repairman, I would reload.)
-I would loot Deutsch's house then chest and sell - sell your starter clothes and wear the stolen ones for more charisma. Make sure Deutsch just left to get more wood when you go in.
-Parents house pantry (I would REQUIRE this to be picked because it has a unique die and a book)
--While there, I would grab all of the food there to sell as we will be getting plenty of stolen food now to eat! I also would just keep drinking while stealing to level the drinking skill. Also meat, fish, and eggs can be cooked and sold.
-In the general store, you can do a quick walk then crouch into the back room then go up the stairs. Once up there, there are two chests Groschen to rob. You have to do the very easy at the top of the stairs first to get level one before you can do the easy one. I would leave out of the door at the top to unlock it and also minimize risk. Chest dump and sell meat. (You get 2 Artemisia potions from here, super useful if you want to fight Cumans)
-Go to the tavern, and loot the main room once nobody is in there and the doors are closed. Go upstairs and loot the chests up there. Go to the door to the back, and loot/lockpick both back rooms. Chest dump and sell meat. (I also would REQUIRE doing this as you get 4 Saviour Schnapps out of it, so now you should have 7 total saves to work with)
-Jane's house can be half-looted. You have to wait for Jane to sit out front and Berans's back to be turned then you have to sneak up to her door and get inside. The door to the front of the house is bugged for me and I can't lockpick it.
-I would loot the house across from Jane's house for the xp.
-Johanka's house is not worth looting in my opinion, but you can if you so wish - you'd have to KO Johanka. Same with Beran's house and the house SW of the Tavern/Deutsch it seems.

Harder locks: At this point you should be able to do hard locks and get the actually good loot.
-Start with the blacksmith's house - the one right next to the main gate across from Beran's house. Make sure the Green Dress Villager is out of the house. (This is where I got my first sword)
-After that, the house behind the 3 stalls with the door facing the tavern is the Tailors house. Loot it and reclaim your clothes!
-If you are patient enough, Zbyshek will wander from his house and you can loot it - this is the grocer's house. Now you have your food back!
-Next on the list would be the gen store. Close the door at the bottom then go in the top door you left open earlier and loot it. This will get you 3 more Saviour Schnapps! I personally looted this store in 2 trips to minimize encumbered noise, one top-floor run and one bottom-floor run. There is a villager that goes in/out the top so be careful. You can watch fro her to sit out front.
-Finally, go and loot the top/bottom of the house across the Tavern. The baliff and his buddy drinking can't see if, don't worry.

The very Hard locks: If you want, the best place to door farm is the gen store with aggroing the guards / waiting for the sweeper to pass through. I don't think they are worth it though. The gen store one ifs the gold stash (If you trade for it, it is much faster to get then steal the goods back) and the tavern one is some random things for Bianca.

-In addition to all the random ♥♥♥♥ you have, you should have 540ish Groschen - a nice start! (Not to mention the skills)

Beyond Skalitz

*I didn't do the 'kill everyone and steal everything from their bodies' because I am going for the "King Charming" achievement and I would have to do this perfectly in Hardcore, without getting caught, for this to work. Maybe in the future, I'll make a section on that - probably on my " 'Tis but a scratch" run as min/maxing is most needed in that run. I would and just not get caught but I don't have enough patience for that. If you want to cheese it though, you should have 8 saves from chests you lock-picked.

Before buying the beer and turning in to dad:
-Put anything you want to keep in the chest (Not anything that you want in Talmberg, keep that on you). See my recommended items list for what to bring.
-Go and talk to Bianca now and get the beer
-Go turn in to dad.
-Right before you turn into Teresa, save (3/3) so that if you die during the raid you don't have to go back too far. Note that for beyond Skalitz I'll assume you have the 7 saves from chests as well as the 5 from bianca for my save count, thus it is now 3/15. (Aka feel free to save as much as you need now)
- Get the ♥♥♥♥ outa Skalitz!

Recommended items to bring:
-Trusty companion (The sword, have it for once you lose the Radzigs sword)
-The best "Armor" set you can scrap together (also for charisma in Talmberg) from the stolen clothes from Deutsch and the gen traders.
-The Artemisia potions (2 or 3), marigold decoctions (x5) and Savior Schnapps (all of them)
-Any not-stolen cooked meat for selling
-Hardboiled eggs and Roasted Chicken for selling
-A little stolen food of choice (I like beer or wine as it keeps well. Also you will use this later)
-All lockpicks (and Groschen obv.)
-Bandages (x5)
-10 charcoal for father

Leaving Skalitz:
-Run down to the horses. Make sure to whistle to get the Cumans of Theresa while you're there for the achievement if you don't have it!
-Run around on the horse and find a good place to wack the group of Cumans chasing you. Just ride by them and stab as you go, most of them will bleed out. Make sure to keep moving to avoid arrows! Also, don't forget to use your potions!
-Once it's safe, dismount and loot enemies - loot goblin mode is no longer active! Make sure to save! (4/15) Make sure you grab arrows! Also, I go 50G/lb for pickup req.
-Also be aware that if you get too far, you'll die to a "stray arrow"
-I budget 3 saves for misc. while running around killing Cumans. (7/15)
-Once you are happy (with loot and skill grinding), ride toward Talmberg and trigger the chase scene. Note that anything in the horse will be lost after you return to Skalitz, but you can use it in Talmberg. (I go to Talmberg without body plate, body garment, leg plate, or arm armor as well as no hood/hose as I get new stuff there and "transport" it this way.
-On the horse run portion, just run because you are bleeding and can't stop it. If you try to kill the riders, a bunch of extra people show up and you end up bleeding out.

Cuman gear "hitlist": (everything else will be replaced in Talmberg
-Noble's mail coif
-Dark padded coif
-Bow and arrows
-Cuman riding boots
-Cuman shishak

Talmberg: Getting outfitted!

I know you're tired, but... :
-Once you spawn in, save (8/15) thenfollow the quest until you go to bed.
-Once you are woke up you can loot the castle if you want with all the guards out on the battlements. Make sure to watch for a couple stray villagers that are ging to bed.
-On the second floor there is a Milanese cuirass. In the Chaimberlains chest you can take his quartered combat jupon - that's my "best in slot" choice if I'm doing stealth or want extra prot.
-If you brought booze (like I recommended), drink it and get drunk. With the luck of the drunk perk you can now pick very hard locks. Go to the top of the stairs, and start looting.
-Lady Talmberg's room (1st): Nobleman's boots - super valuable! Black pourpoint - (better for stealth than anything else at this point)
-Sir Divish's room (2nd): Brigantine Legs and old pauldrons! Also, tight black pants (best in the game in slot IMO) and Sir Radzig's hood, which I run all game besides stealth times.
-Remember that now everything can be gotten again later so you should only take what you can use right now (plus the nobles boots)
-After this onto the battlements. If you don't have the stats for the bow you got from the cumans, go get one you have stats for from the lowest level of the gatehouse.
-Once you've done all the lockpicking/looting you want/can (note this will be easier later on) talk to Sir Robard. Follow the quest.

The next day:
-Sell extra food and any Cuman loot you have on your person to the Trader in the bailey.
-Save proggo (9/15)
-After that, continue the quest. If you can't get the guard to let you out with your horse, then just jump off the Bailey Bridge.
-Run over to the local inn and (if you want) buy yourself a bed. congrats, now you have a free save point while you are in Talmberg! If you want you can now run around Talmberg and loot and save scum while some (not all) villagers are in the castle. (Note this only works as 1 free save in the prologue) There is also now your actual storage chest.
-Dump anything needed after you are done in Talmberg and go to Skalitz.

The Return: The last stretch!

Rovna Spawn:
-Here, I would do a quick loot of the bodies for the occasional Groschen if you think it's worth it.
-Note that there is a locked easy chest in one of the sheds in Rovna that you can loot, but nothing good. Someone will be here after the Prologue, so this is the time to loot it.
-After that and before going to Skalitz, save again(10/15)
-On the way to Skalitz I would fight every bandit I could for the xp. They have trash loot but they make good training.
-When you get to Skalitz, there is a bandit camp in the complex south of town if you want to take that on for some good loot. If you do, save before (11/15) I bow/stealth this part as much as possible. I haven't ever completed it though due to how many there are (wheres my horse when I need it?)
-After you give up on that, go to the Northern gate of Skalitz.
-Inside, there's not much loot however make sure you grab another save from Bianca (now its out of 16) and the "large" stash from the Butcher.
-After you get the shovel, save (12/16), then grab as much as you can from the chest. Yes, save before the chest. TAKE NOT OF THE WEIGHT NUMBER YOU ARE CARRYING!
-Bury parents and lose the battle to runt.
-Once you wake up in the Rattay Mill, check your chest weight you have and MAKE SURE ALL THE WEIGHT WAS CARRIED OVER (plus a little that was stored from Talmberg). If it's not, reload and try again until it does.

Final notes:
-Congrats on the strong start to the game! I would first work on selling the stuff I can (namely the food before it rots), then I would learn to read then learn potion recipes. Grind out level 10 with Marigold decoction, then auto brew to 20 with the MASSIVE stockpile we have from Skalitz. You should then have essentially an infinite money glitch / profession, and feel free to complete the rest of the game at your leisure!

References

Min-maxing in Skalitz and early game | Reddit Post by One_Paleontologist59 | 25Jan24

How to Start Well + Tips and Tricks | Lockpicking in Skalitz | Kingdom Come Part 1 | Youtube Video by Ande Gaming | 25Jan24
-Mostly comments from the video above, not really the video itself.
--HurriShane00 comment
--0SnakeDoctor comment
--user-vp8mu5fj7o comment

How to Kill Everyone* in the Skalitz Tutorial! | Steam Guide by Aaron G | 25Jan24

Best start at Skalitz, Tutorial (NO MODS or cheats) | Steam Guide by Sir Palotti | 25Jan24

Skalitz lock-picking targets | Steam Guide by dy_moyer | 25Jan24

[Coconuts]

Nice one!
I am actually using it on normal difficulty since I only played the game once briefly before.

I am still picking flowers at this point and got some Vitality XP from running and jumping, and strength from Leg Day.

What about Vitality Perks, what would you recommend?

[Erizamanu]

Yes it works for "Tis but a scratch"

[Gunthler]

Will this guide work for the "Tis but a scratch" Achievement?

[VArmorV]

Impressive