State of Decay

[Paingod]

I always start with Marcus in Breakdown; he's the man!

I keep wanting a solid mechanic to keep my cars running well. I figure they're the most precious 'long term' commodity I have as I can spawn additional resources of all kinds except cars (unless I get Raul, I suppose, but I don't want to rely on a rolling and keeping a specific hero to get them).

Since I'm also deficient in controls, I don't get to take advantage of the Powerhouse skills - so Marcus is just a Leader for me, and those seem to be a dime a dozen. What I'd love to find is a crew of */Reflex people - leg sweeps and stamina boosting. I really want to make a Ninja/Reflex/Edge character, but Edged weapons strike me as the worst kind of melee, taking too many hits to kill anything.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

I specialize in edged weapons once my fighting level is high enough and I am a remorseless killing machine.

My big beef with Breakdown is that they didn't retain all of the original voices for the returning heroes. It's weird to hear Doc Hansen sounding like a twentysomething douche bag.

[Paingod]

I specialize in edged weapons once my fighting level is high enough and I am a remorseless killing machine.

As a non-specialized character, it seems to be like this:

Edge Weapons: 5-6 quick hits and the nasty is dead. You never knock them down.
Blunt Weapons: 3-4 fast hits and the nasty falls - and is prime for a kill shot.
Heavy weapons: 2-3 moderate hits and the nasty falls - and is prime for a kill shot.

Rarely I see Edged get a headshot for a 1 or 2 hit kill, but so does Blunt and Heavy. Getting a knockdown with Heavy seems to take about as long as getting a knockdown with Blunt, but I can slice and dice something for twice as long and kill it with Edged. The total time to kill may be roughly equal if you factor in the kill shot time, but they're incapacitated while they're on the ground and prone, not so with Edged.

I finally settled on a Breakdown NPC to use - a Butcher(Cook)/Farmer(Gardener) with no flaws that will wield a Fire Axe as a preferred weapon. I also snagged a Reflex/Fitness NPC with no flaws right in the first group I joined. She'll be my Ninja searcher, but will use Blunt over Edged.

[Paingod]

Discovered last night that the best way to 'Off' a useless NPC is to get them into a situation where they are killed, not taking control of them and running them out to their demise.

I had a highly useless survivor - Alcoholic, Lush, Bum Knee and that's it - and was trying to find a good way to get rid of her - but she went missing. It took a long time, but she eventually showed up as needing help - so I ran off and found her. Since she was on the menu anyway I let the horde finish the job.

When she died, there was no "Memorial" scene, no speech, no loss of morale, and no loss of group happiness that I could see. I don't know if it's because she had run away and maybe didn't 'count' as part of my enclave anymore - but my entire group is still mostly "Trusting" and "Confident" as I've been working to keep them feeling good instead of ripping the dead weight out as soon as I identify it.

[Newcastle]

Stupid question time. How do you mod this game? I saw the romero mod and thought it would be neat to add to it. Steam doesn't seem to automagically do it.

Figure i'd start out and try the breakdown aspect of it since that seems to be the most intriguing and what folks seem to be chatting about.

[Unagi]

The Romero mod is a zip file.

The basic instructions for applying it are such:

Place the Main Zip into the "/Game" folder you will see in the folder where SoD was installed.

So, you have that ZIP in that directory.


You right click on it and select "Extract Here"

This would place 2 new zips in your /Game folder... 1 for vanilla Sod called the "Story"... the other for Breakout.

You'd want to Right Click the Breakout one and select "Extract Here".

Now your /Game folder has a TON of other zips in it... A whole bunch of options.... each of them basically being an aspect to the mod - and a few being a bit of a 'Value Meal' selection that is a collection of certain combinations of modded things....

You are supposed to find the ZIPs you want to add, and Right Click those and select "Extract Here".


You should see two new directories in your folder. A /libs and a /scripts -

If so - you should be all done and good to go.


(that's all described in the ReadMe that's found inside the original Zip)

[Paingod]

It gets easier than that once you know how it works.

1. I unpack the zip file wherever I downloaded it.
2. Unpack the Breakdown version inside that.
3. Open Breakdown mods list in a folder.
4. Open a new folder.
5. Navigate to \installdrive\Steam\steamapps\common\State of Decay\Game
6. This folder should have two folders in it, if I have the target right.
7. Look through the Breakdown mods list and open the Zip files, extracting what you want to the Steam folder.

Most of these are files that go into "lib" and "scripts" folders that weren't there before.

Removing the mods is as easy as deleting the "lib" and "scripts" folders (or moving them elsewhere prior to deletion and testing the game without them if you're paranoid about it).

I can't say how well the game functions if you close it out and swap around mods without restarting a fresh game. I imagine it won't care too much since just about everything spawns on the fly, but some things - like having too many Outposts - could probably cause issues.

I can say that while the extra ammo is wonderful (while it lasts), extra Enclaves is a burden. Even the "Lite" version spawned something like 8 of them around my home base - that's 8 houses I can't search and 8 places that may want help, but maybe also 8 places to find the perfect survivors for my group...? I think that when I'm ready to move to a "new" town, I'm going to yank this mod out and just keep the Slow zombies with no specials.

I have to admit that the More Zombies was too much for me. The first house I stopped at, it wasn't infested - but it was like a clown car that just poured zombies out at me - probably 15-20 of them before I was done and could even entertain the idea of going through the front door. I'd drive down the road and the fields were full of the wretches - very Romero-esque, but hard on the weapon durability and ammo supplies. I didn't want to think what it would look like at higher levels of difficulty when the game adds its own multiplier.

[Newcastle]

Much appreciated on the instruction. I got to the downloaded and moved the zips on to a new folder on my desktop ( for holding and back up purposes), then when I saw a bunch of zips still within those folders grew a little concerned.

[Unagi]

I have to admit that the More Zombies was too much for me. The first house I stopped at, it wasn't infested - but it was like a clown car that just poured zombies out at me - probably 15-20 of them before I was done and could even entertain the idea of going through the front door.

Yeah, I removed the 'More Zombies' too... certainly a good deal was because it was a little overwhelming - but also - I thought it was really odd to have a small cabin that was just LOADED with zombies. It eroded any feeling that I was in a zombie movie/apocalypse. I need the numbers to make a little sense or it's too arcade feeling.

[Unagi]

Just found a small jar of medicine called... Tussin

[Paingod]

Of all the medicines I find in the game, that one does make me chuckle too.

I think I discovered what the "Lite" Romero mods do - they don't affect the amount of ammo or Enclaves - like I hoped - but they seem to reduce the number of zombies overall. I spent the entire night last night and didn't see a single Horde, but did clear a few infestations - and there only seemed to be about half as many zombies wandering the world as there should have been.

So a "NoSpecialExtraAmmoMoreEnclavesLite" mod removes all special zombies, starts you with 100 ammo for your gun and a large backpack, spawns about 9 Enclaves in your world, and gives a few of those Enclaves hundreds of rounds of ammo you can buy - but cuts the number of zombies in half from normal levels and seems to remove hordes entirely. I didn't mean to break my game like that.

As another 'aside' - even keeping people happy doesn't stop them from Running Away. I've been working hard to keep things sane in my base and had just about everyone "Relaxed" or "Trusting" or the like - and then suddenly I had two runaways. They didn't go from happy to neutral to sad to freaked out - they just up and left without warning. Confused am I.

[Unagi]

Hey man, maybe just sometimes it's not all about You.

[Paingod]

Hey man, maybe just sometimes it's not all about You.

I could accept that if there was an easy way to get them back to a normal state after running away. As it is, having a mood of "Ran Away" seems to either be permanent or very difficult to remove - so you can't tell how happy they are.

[Unagi]

Ah, I see. I didn't realize the result of that event. I assumed the survivor just 'took off' and was no longer to be found. I didn't realize they actually stayed as a member of your team and just have the 'history' (in effect) of 'Ran Away'.


I have a Resource question. (which will reveal how slow and how many restarts I've had, as this would likely be learned as a result of playing)

When I go to some house and open a chest, and lets say it has a Medicine Resource in it...
My options are to Leave It (not sure if that option is Directly Tied to -> Making it an Outpost) , Call in folks to return it to my camp, Rucksack it myself, or break it open and turn it into actual Medicine objects right then and there.

So, my question is basically this: Are these Resources 'respawning', when I leave them as "Resource Points"? Or does it just translate into an amount of jarred medicine in an inventory. In effect; Why would I leave a Resource in a house, and NOT move it to my main base?

And then, that sorta opens up (or may touch upon) another question. Just in general (on a given instance of a map) - are these Resources totally finite, or do they respawn at all...
And, like - when I bring in a rucksack of medicine to my base - does that result in more medice than if I cracked it open right there (perhaps there are no 'set amounts', so it's hard to say).



And then one last comment/question - My goodness, I am having a Hell of a time finding construction material.

[Lordnine]

A Just in general (on a given instance of a map) - are these Resources totally finite, or do they respawn at all...

And then one last comment/question - My goodness, I am having a Hell of a time finding construction material.

I’m pretty sure resources are finite UNLESS you convert a building to an outpost, in which case they generate a small amount that is auto harvested. As far as I could tell only certain buildings generated goods though, I never got good at figuring out which was which.

Construction material is best found in unfinished structures and warehouses. There are two sites pretty close to the church but after that expect to go quite a ways to find any.

[Paingod]

Construction Materials are the single most valuable resource in the game, IMO. Everything else is used daily, but these are consumed constantly and in large quantities while building up a base.

An outpost generates 3 of the resources indicated on the map, and uses 1 material to maintain it. This also means that a construction outpost generates 3 materials and uses 1 to maintain, giving a net of 2 materials. If the outpost has no materials, it generates 1 Ammo per day and still costs 1 material to maintain (a poor trade).

You can sort of control what materials are available in an outpost by looting the whole thing and then clearing out any unwanted resource types. Any resource left (at least 1 of that type) is what that Outpost generates, and the game decides what's there alphabetically. Ammo > Food > Fuel > Materials > Medical ... so if you find a warehouse with 2 Fuel and 1 Materials, you can loot the 2 Fuels and it suddenly becomes a Materials outpost option - and after you create the outpost you can loot the remaining stock and it stays an outpost for that type.

Materials do not respawn and everything is finite - cars included - however - you can get things to spawn using Radio commands. If you press "Tab" to open your team menu and go to the base, you can click on the Radio room - and see there a number of different options. You can call to find survivors and all the different resources. Survivors take 20 minutes and seems to have about a 50/50 shot, but others take 10 minutes and have a really good chance of spawning resources. I've gotten previously emptied buildings to spawn materials for me when I needed them and was having a hard time finding them. In the storyline there's an NPC that gives you a radio command to spawn cars - and you can get the same NPC(Hero) in Breakdown if you meet certain criteria.

I try to build a lot of Construction Materials outposts, but I also want Outposts to guard my home base - a conundrum, except down by the Warehouse where there are a lot of these kinds of buildings and a lot of chances at getting building supplies.

[Unagi]

OK, thanks for the tips. I need to try and get that all figure out.

(I've never built an Oupost)

[Newcastle]

So a few more questions.

1. These missions that pop up how quickly do i have to deal with them?

- Seeing a lot of infestations what happens if i dont clear those out will that create a problem? What's the point of clearing those out right away?

- Am still just starting out and i have all these missions popping up and such and then i get negative hits by not doing them. Should I do the missions or just explore (since thats what i want to do right now).

2. How exactly does fame work and influence

3. Can zombies see if you have a flashlight on?

4. Can i install other mods within a breakdown game? i think i can, from reading the read me file from the Romero mod, but just wanting to make sure. I see there are exceptions for the enclave and one other mod.

5. How do i get the friendship levels up and increase the moods? I assume that's how i am able to switch between more characters.

6. If i have 8 beds in the place and have 9 people do people just take turns sleeping? I seem to have 2 bedrooms, one inside that has 8 and then another outside that has 8 also. But i kind of want to get rid of the one outside so i can build a gym or something like that

- is there a limit on people you can have in your base?

7. Is it worthwhile to increase the storage spots?

8. Any particular base compound things i should absolutely build or avoid?

I built one outpost so far away thats clear across the map. Figured it would be a great place for a safe spot. However, am seeing folks are using em for defense. I also made the mistake of totally clearing out the house so now i dont think any resources will spawn. Its simply a safe spot to stash stuff when i am clearing out that part of town.

[Paingod]

(I've never built an Oupost)

When you search every container in a building and clear the area of zombies, you get a radio option (Alt button on the keyboard, not sure about controllers) to "Establish Outpost" for 50 Influence. Outposts will nuke Hordes that wander into their area of effect, but ignore single zombies - so they're good to have on streets, where Hordes wander - and good to use as protection for your base to stop Horde incursions.

So a few more questions.

1. I think it's about 15 minutes. Infestations are like a plague - they tend to spread to nearby buildings and spawn Hordes that will wander towards your base periodically. Leaving them to fester creates more opportunities for rewards, and you can wait until you get a mission to clear them vs. doing it right away for more benefit. The negative hits for missing missions is pretty minimal - I tend to simply ignore anything I don't want to deal with and let it lapse - it hardly has any effect except the moral ding.

2. Fame is like your cap for Influence, but it's a soft cap. When you have more influence than fame, the influence slowly trickles away until it's at the cap - but I mean SLOWLY - as in it's hardly worth worrying about. I've got a Fame of about 350 in Breakdown right now, but Influence is around 1400.

3. Lily says they can, but I've never seen them respond to light - just noise. I've snuck up on zombies with the flashlight trained on them and they didn't respond. One of the Romero mods adds the ability for flashlights to draw more zombies, but I don't use that.

4. I haven't tried, but I imagine that any layering of mods can cause problems. Even within the Romero mod, one file will overwrite another and you may end up with some strange hybrid that doesn't work right or isn't quite what you wanted.

5. Friendship is increased by specifically helping that character - they'll periodically need assitance with a mission, need to be rescued, etc... and these all build Friendship. It's better to have your Leaders do these missions as they get a bonus to Friendship rewards based on their Leadership skill. Leadership is developed by fighting with another NPC at your side.

6. They sleep in shifts. 8 beds should be enough for a large group - I've got 8 beds for 15 survivors right now and am not noticing any ill effects. You can disassemble and/or upgrade any non-built in facility and create something else there. I've never had more than 17 survivors - which seemed like a lot. The more survivors, the more resources you consume regularly. It only takes 12 survivors to occupy the largest bases in the game. Smaller groups can be easier to manage, but have fewer bases available to them to move into - though there's no apparent rule that says you can't move in with 12 and then accidentally lose 6 of them. I haven't done it, but I have trimmed down to 10 after moving in and didn't see anything bad going on because of it.

7. It's probably better to move to a larger base, which will offer more storage, facilities, and parking by default. I like the Savini House as a mid-level because it has a lot of good Outpost points around it and a built-in Library. I like the Warehouse for end-game because it has a lot of build options and 4 parking spaces.

8. I only avoid building redundant facilities in my bases. I do prioritize a Workshop to keep equipment repaired, and then upgrade it to a Mechanic's Shop to keep my cars repaired (but this requires a NPC with "Construction" as a skill). Everything else is as desired.

9. Outposts work as defense only in that they destroy Hordes for you automatically and reset after 60 seconds so they can do it again. I've also made use of them as waystations across the map so I could loot containers and drop the goodies into the storage bins at the Outpost - but I discontinued that since they don't accept Rucksacks and I don't want to simply avoid picking those up. My new tactic is to use the Sports Car for most legwork because it's fast and easy to control, unless it's a rescue/assist mission and then I break out a Modern Pickup. I've stopped using any other vehicles, except as a means to accumulate more Sports Cars and Modern Pickups. I cycle these in and out of the parking spaces in order to keep them repaired, but keep a full stable of as many as I feel like bringing home (Until the Community Joyrides start, then getting more is pointless).

[Newcastle]

Thanks for the answers paingod. I really need to build the friendships and try to get a few more survivors AND try to find more construction materials, or heck a better place to live.

Are the maps random? Or the same? And then can i make a compound out of any building i find? When would be best to switch?

Also i keep getting a notice for the RV, but havent really gone to it yet. Maybe at some point I will.

[Paingod]

It's really nice to have other survivors to swap out to in the event that they get injured, sick, or tired. You can't force friendships, but have to wait for them to develop through missions. It doesn't take too long, though... also, each group of Survivors you collect, there will always be at least one of them by default that's your friend. I think it's whichever you talk to and get them to join you - and you can talk to all of them and see a couple of their skills before getting them in your group. I've passed on groups that were all frat boys and morons before. No point in taking them if I'd just weed them out.

There's only the one map currently, but I think I've read that there's a DLC with a new map in the works. When you switch maps via RV, it just resets the map you're on - fresh inventory possibilities with stronger characters.

There are only a few fixed "base" options, and are declared "Potential Home Site" when you survey an area. You'll also know it when you go in and there are no resources to find, but the building doesn't get an "X" through it on the map once it's cleared. To move to one, you need to clear it out and use the Radio Command (Alt button) to "Relocate Home Base" - it'll require a certain amount of resources and a number of survivors to do it. This was one of those lessons the story line walks you through, but Breakdown doesn't provide a clue.

The RV is a base 'facility' and is only used to evacuate a few people to the next instance of the map. It can and will wait until you're ready.

You may have figured it out by now, too, but the game "plays on" while you're out. Time gradually slows down further and further, but you'll come back to find people sick that weren't sick, missions cleared and new ones there, and resources on the map scavenged as they support themselves. This has so far only been annoying when I wanted to move into a new base, but was worried that my survivors would pick the surrounding area clean before I could build Outposts out of those buildings - so I had to wait until I had a good block of time to move in and set up my new Outposts. Used to be that Survivors were randomly killed too, while you were out, but someone somewhere thankfully thought that was a bit too harsh.

[Kelric]

Not going back to reading four pages yet, but does anyone else have issues with the camera? I just started the game and couldn't deal with it past the 'sneaking past the three zombies to teach you the crouch command' at the very beginning. I've dropped my mouse sensitivity all the way down but the camera is still very finicky and swings around constantly. My eyes started freaking out when I first tried to crouch and walk through a bush. I think I would love this game if I could actually play it....

Should I be waiting to play until I get a controller, or is there a mod that deals with camera aspects or what?

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

A controller is quite helpful, especially an XBox type controller, as the right stick controls the camera well.

[Paingod]

...does anyone else have issues with the camera?

My only issues are around the sudden changes that sometimes happen when I drive at high speeds and turn corners, but I've learned to cope with that. The 3rd person perspective also does some funky things in close quarters - like a building - and is amplified when you're using a gun and trying to aim as you walk through doorways - but again, it hasn't gotten me killed or more than mildly frustrated me.

The camera works to stay behind your character at all times unless you swing it around by yourself - and then as soon as you stop, it tries to swing around behind again.

I would have thought the camera is best behaved at the beginning of the game when you're out in the woods and there's nothing to impede it's rotation/freedom.

I use a keyboard & mouse, and the default settings have worked for me. Do you have a high resolution mouse or something that might introduce a speed issue at the hardware/driver level?

I'm getting close to moving on to a 'new' area in my current game. My survivors are well established and the few I know I want are well trained and getting better. I found my Ninja as well - I'm working on his Wits as a last thing before moving, but he's a Cosplayer/Comic Book Nerd/Reflexes that doesn't add any base value in terms of facilities, but I really liked him and want to keep him. Reflexes seems pretty rare - I get about 6 Powerhouse characters to 1 Reflex character. He'll be my scout and scavenger, while others only get sprung from the base to keep their morale up when it drops.

[Paingod]

Is it possible to break Breakdown?

I couldn't recall seeing a single Horde since I started (I liked the missions to eliminate them) so last night I uninstalled all of my mods, which should reset Specials spawning and everything else. I was seeing faster zombies, but no runners. I didn't see a single Special all night. I didn't see a single Horde, either, but did encounter a couple Infestations.

Am I seeing it wrong, or is Breakdown's first stage just really easy? I hadn't tried it without the Romero Mod pieces - Slow Zombies, No Specials - so I can't say if what I'm experiencing is normal.

Is it because I've cleaned out almost every house in the map? Tonight I'm going to move on, but I wanted to see if I had done some kind of damage to my Breakdown game or if what I'm seeing is normal.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

The first few levels are pretty easy. Try starting out on the highest level that you have reached.

[Paingod]

Okay - so it's the game setting, not my mods. Good to know.

The Storyline hits you with Hordes pretty early and Specials come in after a while one at a time. By the end, you never know when you're going to bump into a Fat Bastard or Bloater. I once had a mission to hunt down an Army zombie, one of the few "hunt" missions I'd take, and I found him - right next to a Bastard. My assistant for that mission almost got ripped in half twice. I was not prepared to turn a corner and find that one there. By the end, about half the zombies were sprinters, too, not just fast shamblers...

I understand that by default the Breakdown higher levels are hard - I suppose I thought the early ones might pose some kind of minimal challenge.

I need to move to a new town and up my difficulty. I pulled out my mods and have left the game "to sit" until tonight to see if it respawns Hordes correctly. Even on the first difficulty level, I'm supposed to be seeing those.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

It's generally a good idea to start a new game when installing or uninstalling a mod. Otherwise, the game will work, but zombie spawns can be a little wonky.

[Paingod]

Last night I moved into the next stage of Breakdown for the first time.

I had my 6 characters carefully picked out - trained up in Shooting and Fighting with some skill in Cardio and Wits across the board. I had every profession covered except research and some overlapped. My Ninja was 7's across the board except for a 6 in Cardio.

Since I didn't know what to expect, I even went so far as to load their inventories up with my best guns and gobs of ammo and they all had Large backpacks. Each also had two of my best melee weapons on them. All in all, I spent 2,000 or so Influence getting them outfitted for the move.

I tapped the "RV" button on the base menu and it told me to pick my team, so I tapped the RV button again and was moved to a new map... with the one guy I had selected, who was the least useful and least equipped of the 6 I was outfitting.

Apparently after you push the RV button once, you're supposed to close the menu - it doesn't close for you - and then talk to the people you want to bring. I had no idea. The menu stayed up and on the RV screen, inviting me to push it again.

So days of careful Survivor planning and acquisition and purging dead weight to collect more potentials and training them - flushed down the can. I was sorely tempted to start over so I could at least get one good 'flawless' survivor with two skills easily, but figured I'd come across all variations eventually and should just get over it.

The plus side was that the very first NPC I found was Ed Jones - a Hero - a Nimble guy with no drawbacks. He immediately replaced my Ninja, though I'll miss my Comic Book/Cosplay Ninja with no flaws. You enable him by simply getting to Level 2, but it was nice to have a character worth keeping again.

I also finally see Hordes, and plenty of them, in Level 2 of Breakdown... and a restored number of zombies. Level 1 must be like "Baby's First Apocalypse" mode. My final score for Level 1 was around 5,300.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Yeah, the first time you select the RV option (after all of the repairs), you then select your passengers. For me, I press the Y button, but I don't know the keyboard equivalent. If the person is home, they are put on the RV, if they are away, they check in, and you go find them and tell them to get on the RV. You can only select 5 people aside from yourself and Lily. After all 5 are selected, you select the RV option again.

[Paingod]

How long does it take a sick person to develop a fatal condition?

I've decided that before I try and work up an A team again, I need to get the "Killed a dying team member" achievement out of the way so I don't need to do it later when I have a ton of people I like. Medical facilities had always been a #2 priority for me and sickness was hardly ever a problem - now I'm deliberately avoiding the medical facilities and intentionally stringing along sick people. Fully half my survivors are sick right now... which is a bummer, as one of them is a new A Team member (Reflexes/Fitness with no drawbacks). I'm just waiting for the "You need to kill someone" mission so I can build my medical facility.

I'm also a little disappointed that all the achievement progress is lost between stages of Breakdown (completed achievements stick around). I had 300 out of 400 car door kills and 9 out of 11 facilities built - and had to start over on both. Thankfully, research carries over so I didn't lose that as well - and I'll never need to retain a "Research" NPC to move it along.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Yeah, I plan out when I complete my achievements very carefully; I think I went through 5 cars doing that car door achievement, and that's with a mod removing all damage relating to running over the zombies. I just kept flipping the damned things as I rode around in circles through the fields.

As for the "dying member" achievement, that is the only one I haven't completed, as I tend to build my medical facility as soon as I move to my permanent base. It hasn't been a big priority for me, as I don't really care for the NPC that is unlocked. If you want to achieve it without endangering anybody from your A-team, switch to a different profile and complete it in a different game. It will still unlock the NPC in your profile.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

So I actually ended up killing Marcus because he was too sick. Poor Marcus is a death magnet in my games. Other heroes can go strong for 10 or more rounds, but Marcus has terrible luck. He's my favorite hero, but now I pick Jacob, as he's always the hardest one for me to find for some reason.

On another subject, one of the biggest parts of this game that I love is the music. It is just perfect, one minute hauntingly melancholy, the next, loud and thumping quasi-dubstep. The soundtrack is for sale on iTunes, and I may actually plunk down the cash, as I would place this soundtrack in my top five of game scores.

[Paingod]

How long do you usually wait before you start a new 'round' in Breakdown? I tend to wait until there's nothing left to practice Wits on and then move, but spend a lot of time in between trying to find a really good character or two.

Last night I found what might be the best Ninja character. He's a Cop with no flaws, Reflexes, and Leadership. That's two roles in one - two dissimilar roles that work well together as I might be out scavenging when the call comes in to help some survivors. Leadership increases friendship faster, so he's damn near perfect.

I also have to admit that Edged weapons are better than I thought - but really compliment a Reflexes character. I can start the fight with an insta-kill easily (Decapitation skill), leg sweep to knock down three more, and then kill them before they can get up.

I had a grisly bug last night - I had lead a useless person out to stop them consuming useful oxygen and they fell victim to a Horde. I was sitting in my truck watching this in the rear view and backed up over the Horde as soon as they ripped him apart. I killed them all in one shot... and was surprised to see the victim get up and run to the truck and get in... !?!? ... I got out and he got out - and his torso was torn in half, but stuck back together - a giant bloody gouge just above his belt and below his ribs with exposed gore all the way around - I could see his spine in his back. I had to kill him a second time to get rid of him.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

I'm pretty much the same as you in regards to when I move on, though I also try to get the cardio up to max also. I'm glad I haven't experienced that glitch yet, though I don't tend to kill off people too much, I just take the survivors who have a hero in their group.

[Paingod]

I try and keep my group around 10-12 if I can, so when I pick up a couple Enclaves I end up with a lot of spare people that simply consume resources and/or bring down the group. I mostly eliminate people with bad attitudes - Sleaze, Jerk, Autocrats, Drunks - and leave the rest. I don't want to try and feed 30 people in order to find the 5 I'm bringing into the next level.

I had a few good ones picked out from Level 1, but lost them all when I moved because I didn't know how to actually select them. Now I've had to start over, but haven't found all the professions yet despite adding and removing a lot of people. I'm still missing a "good" mechanic and a farmer of any kind. My Cook is awesome (Shotgun Specialist Powerhouse/Butcher), so he's definitely going.

If I'm limited to 5 people + Lily, I'll have my Edged Ninja/Leader, Powerhouse/Cook, Mechanic, Reflex/Fitness, and a Farmer. The Chemist is "meh" to me as I don't care for grenades/firebombs since the aiming is wonky (I miss my throw half the time), and Researchers are pointless as it carries over stage to stage. I suppose I'd replace the Leader for a Medic as my Ninja doesn't specifically need to be a Leader and a good medic seems really hard to find.

I imagine that when I get to a point where I've got a solid core group, I'll use them extensively and pick up other survivors in a map "for filler" so I've got disposable tag-a-long fighters, but stop bothering to round up a lot of people to sift through.

[Lassr]

I usually move on when I get bored in a location but I'm to the point where I have moved and set up base at every location on the map. I hope they create a new map soon.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

I've started challenging myself by not building a certain improvement each level. I'm on 26, and I haven't built a workshop. Next time it will be an infirmary, and so on. As for home locations, I alternate between five different places (Savini house, the farm in the middle of the map with the barn across from it, Snyder's Trucking, Fairgrounds, and the red house in Spencer's Mill). The other ones are too small for my needs, though maybe I'll use one when I want a bigger challenge.

[Paingod]

How do I get that last smidgen of Friendship with someone?

My chosen "Reflexes/Leader" that will replace my Leader leader is at about 98% Friendship. He didn't get that last bit on the last map, and so far on the new one he hasn't either. He spends all day out of the house and on his own in the world as far as I can tell - he's always "Away from home" but hasn't "Run Away". I've sent him home a number of times, hoping to reset him.

I'm going to try enabling Special zombies and see if he instigates a special Hunt, which might top him off.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

I've noticed the same thing with other enclaves. At the beginning of Breakdown, I generally only had to help the survivors two-three times to max their trust. Now, the trust meter gets stuck just before max, and I end up having to do tons of missions for them.