Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning

Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning

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Achievement Guide for Scheming Through the Apocalypse: The Beginning
By Laksya
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Story-Related (unmissables)
- Call to Adventure: unlocked when you leave the apartment.

- First Prospect: to the best of my knowledge you can't miss this one either, it unlocks when the guinea pig agrees to be your... Guinea pig.

- First Loot: unlocked at the first scavenging site as soon as you take an item.

- Master Lock Picker: it sounds like a missable, but you'll have to pick that lock in order to progress the storyline.

- Joined the Guild: I don't think it's possible to fail joining the guild, just follow the story.

- Fool Me Twice: unlocks at the very end of the game, after the credits Larry agrees to switch beds one more time.
Dialog-Related Achievements
Several of these achievements are for killing off characters, while the 'Safety First' achievement requires that you keep everyone alive, so you're going to have to do at least 2 playthroughs if you want the 100%. The game isn't long but you can't speed up the story by fast-forwarding dialogs/scenes, which is frustrating.

- Killed an Animal: At any scavenging site, be a jackass and send your scavenger to his/her death by giving horrible life-threatening advice, usually spurring them on into obvious danger.

- Prevailing Over Tyranny: while driving to the second campsite, you spot a kid on the side of the road, you need to decide to stop and help/rob the kid. During the conversation, don't negotiate, just repeatedly tell him you won't give him anything.*HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT*
Note: this prevents you from getting the 'Out of Candy' achievement in this playthrough.

- Out of Candy: it deals with the same conversation as the 'Prevailing over Tyranny' achievement, and requires you to have an empty inventory when giving in to the kid raccoon's threat request. The last moment you can empty it is when you give their part of the loot to the scavenger just before taking the road. *HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT*

- Ozzy Ozbourne Look: there are three people you need to piss off to get this achievement, the first two are the bulls at the beginning of the game, try to run away when Hank suggests it. The 3rd is the Gambling Cat at the second campsite, you have to let her goad Larry into a tragically unbalanced fight.

- Killed a Few More Animals: after having very consciously let the guinea pig get scratched by the zombie while in the backroom of the "Essential Supplies" store, toss some more oil in the fire by telling him everything's fine and he should just go home to his family. Classy, very classy. *HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT*
note: I don't know if this achievement can be obtained if you take the guy to the drug store instead

- Accidental Recruiter: the one you need to recruit is the Blonde goat girl at the first campsite (forgot her name), there are three things you need to to in order to get this achievement. Number one, when you first meet her tell her you're from the Scavenging Guild. Number two (obviously), keep her alive. Lastly, when you talk to her after the scavenging, tell her the HQ is at Luscious Joe's Hostel. This being the actual location of the guild, you have thus 'accidentally recruited' her to a guild you're not even a part of yet. The achievement will unlock towards the end when you run into her again. *HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT*

- Krista Died: while Krista is scavenging for you, once again behave like an ass and press her to keep going instead of doing the sensible thing. RIP. *HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT*

- Sorry, Wombat: when the mentally-challenged-wombat is scavenging for you, after the two bulls get there, don't try to negotiate and do not tell them about poor Wombie's "condition", they will start pummelling the poor wombat in your stead. *HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT*

- Safety First: keep all of the characters alive. During scavenging expeditions, never push the characters to go look in potentially dangerous places, and pull them out as soon as you can. At the last scavenging session at the wine cellar, lure the zombies away. This achievement pops at the end of the game, when Larry and Hank reach their room.





Gambling-Related Achievements + Professional Scavenger Guide
These have been by far the most infuriating achievements of this game for me, so luck be with you.

I'd recommend tackling these achievements in the same playthrough, you'll have the 3 most difficult/annoying achievements at once ("Winning" is easy to get, it's a 50/50 chance).

- Winning! : win a game of dice, against either character (the dog at the first campsite or the cat at the second).

- Professional Dicer: you have to win all of the dog's loot. There are two basic strategies here, either bet it all and hope you win, which is the fastest option (if you win), or bet little by little, stashing your loot in case you lose several times in a row.

- Vengeance Dicer: as for the previous achievement, you have to win all of the cat's loot, but after having instigated the fight between her and Larry (to do this, just let her goad Larry on).

- Professional Scavenger Guides: as stated in the description, the goal is to accumulate 700p or more in your inventory by the time you reach the guild. This isn't a "first playthrough" achievement, you have to know the characters and the story to better manage your items.

You need to make choices along the story to maximize your profit (e.g. Letting the guinea pig get bitten to get more loot, letting the wombat search everywhere before opening the locker, outright refusing to stop for the kid, etc) and use trading to your advantage (different characters like different objects the most, including the ones you share your loot with. Start by always taking the most valuable items for the guild, and then make sure not to trade away an item that another character will buy at 10x the price 10 minutes later, hence knowing the story/characters a bit beforehand).

Here is the portion of each loot you're able to get at most throughout the game (thanks to FordGT90Concept and Fly for these values!):
- 67% with Zombie Carl
- 70% with the Bulls
- 20% with Gerbil (maybe higher? To be confirmed.)
- 40% with Krista (some previous conversation selections might be required: not walking, resource, useful, resource collecting place, weirdos x2, from the guild, we don't like to brag, fly through, safe with us)
- 80% with Wombat
- 30% Fox (becomes 20% which is the best you can do)

You also need to use gambling (I'm not happy about it either), but I'm not sure if you need all of Dog's and Cat's inventories or not. Yeah, told ya this one was a pain! Which is why I recommend (again) that you do this achievement at the same time as the Vengeance/Professional Dicer achievements.


Note: I've personally failed to see anything other than blind chance when it comes to that game (at the exception of knowing when to hold the dice back), but I've read that you should never hold back with the dog (unless you're already at 9-10), but play it safe with the cat (I have seen no definite proof that this in fact works). There are also vast and complicated theories for winning efficiently but honestly they weren't much help and I ended up wasting time.
The way I got those pretty pretty achievements is (wait for it): went all in from the get-go. Every item, all of 'em! With a little luck, on the 3rd time I restarted the game I won both games, and the last achievement. It might not be the smartest method but hell if it isn't the quickest ^^ .
Notes and tips
- You can replay dialogs by going back to the menu and choosing "continue" before the game saves. However, this doesn't affect your inventory (if you lose all of your loot at a dice game, loading back does not bring your items back).

- The nature of objects doesn't matter for the story, which items you pick depends solely on its value points (both the guild's and the "other's" for efficient trading, the values change from character to character).

- Before the 2nd camp, you have a choice between telling Krista to run or go get help for her. If she runs she barely makes it back to the minibus and you get the agreed-upon loot. If you go "get help" (and let her die), you will encounter a very friendly Capybara who will go rescue-scavenging for 15-20% (pick the smallest share for him and just say "yes.", he'll agree). However, there is a little less loot I believe so it should come out the same.

- When you send Wombat off scavenging and Zombie Carl is in the locker, don't let Wombat open the locker: instead he will keep scavenging and find more loot.




*** So that's it, I hope this helps achievement hunters and OCD-prone people alike, and don't hesitate to point out mistakes, or suggest additional details or tips.
~cheers!~
17 Comments
FordGT90Concept 20 Apr, 2024 @ 11:37pm 
20% is definitely the max for Gerbil. He won't take 35% or 30% and the only other choice is 20% before he forces 10%.
Sly BluePaw 29 Nov, 2023 @ 1:36pm 
And fool me twice is missable, by the way... first playthrough, didn't get it... messed up in the dialog.
Sven_Q45 29 Jul, 2023 @ 7:21am 
Btw you CAN skip dialog. With "n".
Sven_Q45 29 Jul, 2023 @ 6:30am 
When do you get the Master Lock Picker? Not at the first one I hope.
jkpopper 6 Mar, 2023 @ 8:24pm 
I've won everytime by holding one die.
Laksya  [author] 19 Sep, 2021 @ 5:53am 
Great! Thanks, I'll update the guide right away
Fly 17 Sep, 2021 @ 8:04am 
- 70% with the Bulls
- 40% with Krista (negotiable) - some previous conversation selections might be required (not walking, resource, useful, resource collecting place, weirdos x2, from the guild, we don't like to brag, fly through, safe with us)
Laksya  [author] 26 Jul, 2021 @ 5:12pm 
Oh that actually answers a question I had! I wondered if the location had an influence on how the events "go down", and so it does :) I think it's the only instance in the game where the nature of the objects matter
lionhart 25 Jul, 2021 @ 4:09pm 
The first time Krista refused was when I took her to the "Essential Supplies" store rather than the drug store. She was not impressed by scavenging toilet paper and diapers and she refused to go into the dark aisle where the zombie was lurking.

I just tried it again by taking her to the drug store instead. This time, she went down into the dark basement and was chased by the zombie. I told her to make a run for it, and she actually escaped from the zombie and got back to the van okay. So I have no idea how to get her killed. Maybe it is random chance whether she escapes or not if you tell her to run?

Laksya  [author] 25 Jul, 2021 @ 2:14am 
Yep, you need 2 playthroughs, but I felt like it was obvious enough not to warrant a mention (I do say that you need to keep Krista alive), since well if she dies she can't get to the guild lol :happycthulhu:

Huh I never got that (even though I completed the game a BUNCH of times), I've had her die or not but never just run away :/ Can't help you there mate, my bad :devilskiss: