My goal, always, is to finish with the starting characters; if this is also your goal, this is the guide for you.

Beyond the “Another Try” button is a "Chose Your Own Story" section.

It contains sets of characters in pre-made scenarios designed by the game creators. I view these as “challenge” scenarios, and wanted to create a guide to discuss them. I believe these scenarios were designed to force you into some difficult decisions that you might have been able to avoid before; such as: not enough components, not enough wood, not enough medical supplies; others throw snow-block / crime-blocked areas at you, to reduce your income. But me feel is that each scenario has a unique challenge for you. Let's explore those togehter:

This guide will cover both scenario specific, and generic (all scenario) strategies.

Feel free to jump to the scenario specific challenge you are struggling with if you don't want to read about the other strategies ... that's what the table of contents is for. :)

But I also created an advanced strategy section, in addition to the completed scenarios sections. Here, I discuss components and workshop choices, and how they affect the developer challenge scenarios.

You should also know in advance, that I choose a mostly non-combative playmode, and I never, ever, steal ... even from thugs. I have no issues with the other play style choices, I just wanted to note that my solutions were solved with this additional challenge. I feel the developers wanted us to make hard choices, and by making this choice, I feel I met that challenge as best I could for each scenario.

So, in summary, this guide will suggest strategies that will allow you to not only finish with the starting characters, but will do so without the need to kill or steal, and in many cases, will lead to a finish with WELL FED and/or CONTENT characters.

If you are struggling with a specific scenario that I have not detailed, and want some ideas, please feel free to leave a comment, and I'll put some notes up on that scenario.

Anyone can upgrade the crafting workstation. This section is about what you choose to craft, why, and when. Since each scenario is different, there is no "right" answer. Also, since play styles differ, there is still no "right" answer. However, there are several things that were not clear my first few times through that have become painfully evident, and I share these below.

COMPONENTS
Never trade them, ever. Never use them for fuel, ever. In fact, starting from the first trader visit, I will trade for components if I have anything extra to trade for. Also, when the trader says, “Fine, let's trade” … I add a component or two or three until he won't accept it, then back down one component and accept the trade.

WOOD vs FUEL
Fuel stacks 4 in a single slot, wood 2 in a single slot, but still only makes 2 fuel. Bring back the wood you need for projects, but make hatchets, and hack the everlasting heck out of everything you can and bring back fuel for your furnace and stove. Bring your hatchet along when you want to go back for a “few” things, but there’s not enough to fill your inventory. I tend to bring addiction items back last (coffee, cigarettes), and a hatchet allows me to maximize fuel on that trip.

If you have to leave the hatchet there for a day, do so. But it is a good weapon to leave at the house. Don’t forget to bring the wood back to your entrance cache as well, you will more than likely need it later in your scenario.

PARTS
Honestly, except for the two rat traps that I always build … these would be a non-issue. But the traps take 10 parts each, so managing parts so that you can build both rat traps AND upgrade your workstations at the appropriate times is always an early game challenge.

In fact, it is one of the biggest challenges you will face. The more people you have to feed, the earlier you need that second trap. Keep an eye on these, and don’t leave a stack of 3 or 4 when scavenging.

ELECTRIC PARTS
These are early and mid-game necessities, do not trade, and try not to leave behind a stack of 3 or 4. And write down or make a note on where you’ve left 1 or 2 ELECTRIC PARTS, so you can come back for them later if you need them. I hate travelling to a site where I thought I left an ELECTRIC PART, but was wrong. A waste of a night of scavenging.

When you are CONFIDENT you will not need them, then trading them in the late game makes plenty of sense.

Also, I never make the THERMOMETER or HEAT LAMP until I am absolutely going to use it. Too many times I have made it early, and then wanted to go another direction with the ELECTRIC PARTS. Or I couldn’t make the upgrade that day, and it got stolen.

WEAPONS PARTS
A hatchet uses 5 weapons parts and 5 wood. I use 2 hatchets per play through, and sometimes 3. However, I continue to trade for WEAPONS PARTS whenever I can. In fact, I hoard them because I know eventually I will get the upgrade or two on the metal workstation and will want to upgrade weapons and/or armor items – even if I only want to trade these upgraded items later.

Note: the more “guns” your team has, the more bullets they will use in defense of your home. I had 5 guns in the house, and 3 people used 9 bullets to defend the house. I promptly traded 3 guns, and reduced my daily ammunition usage to 3 or 4. Try to keep no more than 2 weapons, unless you are confident with your bullet count.

WATER
This is the most important resource in the game. Without it, you will struggle and fail. Think about it early, and often, and always at least once a day. Since you are playing through scenarios of a known length and difficulty (i.e. you can look up when winter starts, how many days you will have to survive, etc.), I suggest using this research to determine when the second water collector makes sense.

If winter is later, I build two rainwater collectors early and start stocking up on water. You can filter water twice per day per collector. Wait until you have built and upgraded most of the items you want upgraded before building the second one, as your consumption of COMPONENTS will now go way up (12/day or 3 slots). This is why I suggest trading for COMPONENTS even early on in the component section.

Finally, I start the second collector a few days before creating my HERBAL GARDEN or MOONSHINE workshops. This gives me time to stock up on water, and the COMPONENTS necessary to create that water. Note: see the next section for a detailed analysis of the VEGETABLES workstation path vs ALCOHOL workstation path.

BROKEN WEAPONS
They have a value to FRANKO, but it isn’t nearly what it is if they have been repaired. I try to either leave these at the site, or hold onto them in the home, until I can upgrade them, and then use or trade them.

RAW FOOD and VEGETABLES
I like making the food/veggie dinners in great quantities and leaving them sitting on the stove (where they cannot be stolen). A lot of people keep their canned food for emergencies … I eat my canned food first when there is food on the stove … so the canned food cannot be stolen. I was in a fully barricaded home (boarded up and re-enforced door), I was armed with 5 guns (albeit only 3 people in the house), and I used 9 bullets ... they still manage to steal a food and a water. You cannot predict when they will be successful -- so I prefer to eat the canned food first (or trade it).

I will say up front, take whatever path you enjoy the most. I have a preference, as you will see, but I cannot tell a significant difference between the two, and this is a game after all ... so have fun!

My personal goal is to finish the scenario with all people either HUNGRY or WELL FED. You need two rat traps and a vegetable garden to accomplish this (at least, in my 100 hours of playing). So I tend to avoid the MOONSHINE STILL / DISTILLERY route.

Also, trading for food and vegetables is problematic with Franko, he may have what you want, he may not. I have not extensively researched other trading options sufficiently to discount this. However, the randomness of the maps is also another item that makes trade a solution you cannot always count on.

And finally, the VEGETABLE GARDEN route has much fewer input items, making it easier for my game playing style. Hence my tendency for the VEGETABLE GARDEN route.

Having said all of that, the ALCOHOL route has 4 possible options for you to pursue:

• STILL only
  
• STILL + DISTILLERY
  
• STILL + DISTILLERY + HERBAL WORKSHOP
  
• STILL + DISTILLERY + UPGRADED HERBAL WORKSHOP

Depending on the scenario you choose, you can produce trade only goods (MOONSHINE), or all kinds of things you always need in every play through (BANDAGES, MEDICATIONS, and PILLS). And you can create some other things (like cigarettes) that are both good for addictions, and good for trading.

Below are some details for you to consider in deciding your path. In my humble opinion, the more cigarette consumers, the more you want the HERBAL WORKSHOP, and therefore the more you want to consider the ALCOHOL path.





At this point it is obvious there are more PARTS, but fewer COMPONENTS and fewer ELECTRIC PARTS needed vs the VEGETABLE GARDEN.


And at this point, you are asking yourself: do I really want to spend 22 more COMPONENTS and 27 more PARTS (!) vs the VEGETABLE GARDEN route?

Or, another way to look at this is yes, I want the take the above ALCOHOL route, but do I want to spend another 34 COMPONENTS, 16 WOOD, 15 PARTS, and 4 ELECTRIC PARTS to be able to create MEDICATIONS and QUALITY ROLL-UPS? I've never personally said yes. The PARTS alone required mean I have to skip the RAT TRAPS. But MEDICATIONS are the highest valued item (32) besides the Scoped Assault Rifle.

Your cheap rollups are worth 1, a cigarette 2, and your High Quality roll up 3. Honestly not worth the upgrade for those.


Here you have to ask yourself, do I want to spend the extra 12 COMPONENTS, 23 WOOD (which is obviously the more painful part because WOOD only stacks 2 deep in your inventory), and 4 ELECTRIC PARTS ... or go the STILL/DISTILLERY/HERBAL path?

If not, don't bother with the HERBAL GARDEN either, because it is not that useful, because you can trade and scavenge for FERTILIZER and HERBS.


A lot of items, with both large trade values, but also items that you will absolutely use in every scenario. I haven't even bothered to list cigarettes. I feel these are for the most part consumables, based on my above values for trade. But if you have more than 2 people with cigarette addictions, then this is another positive in considering the ALCOHOL and HERBAL WORKSTATION route.


Again, I prefer this route, because I don't have to scavenge and/or trade to keep my people fed. This route also doesn't preclude you from building the Herbal Workshop, and dealing with your cigarette addictions and/or building bandages.

Finally, it is all choice, hopefully the above information will help some what if you want to dig a little deeper into your decision.

In my opinion the hardest scenario. Mostly because of the severe changes you must make to your playing style, and the new 1.3 updates on upgrading workstations. So, without further ado ...

No one comes. Ever.

It is 32 days long.

You are raided every other day from day 1, but the actual crime wave starts later.

You CANNOT stay at home at night – if you do, and the bandits attack, you will always take damage.

Since you are out every night, this means anything left behind will be stolen -- if you are raided that night.

SOLUTION
Carry all of your valuables with you.

Stash them at the location you are looting, and bring back what you need.

THAT’S IT, that is the solution to winning this round.

Do not stay home at night, ever ... no need.

PROBLEMS
Here are the problems with the above solution: with the 1.3 update, Marko cannot carry enough items to fully upgrade either the workshop or the metal workshop in a single trip home. You must count on some sort of luck.

Bring half of the stuff home one day, then the other half the next day, if you were not looted the night before. This is crazy, and frustrating, and will likely fail (costly!), but eventually you will get the upgrade.

SUGGESTIONS
When you get home, immediately sleep. Heck, put your bed by the door, or on the same level.

You will wake up at 10.30 or 11.00 rested and can spend the rest of the day crafting with no stress. And, the person at the door (if someone came that day) will still be there. If you try to do something first, and lose track of time, then you cannot get your 5 hours of sleep. Or, the person may leave at 1.00 or 2.00 (not sure if this applies to the trader, FRANKO -- but why risk it?).

If you miss out on sleep one day, then you will lose the next day’s crafting time because you hae to sleep twice, to catch up.

Many of these people are folks you cannot help because you cannot go with them. You will get sad because of this, and eventually, towards then end of the scenario, you will want to consume alcohol, to help with the depression.

I went the VEGETABLE GARDEN and RAT TRAP route and did not choose the STILL/DISTILLERY solution. I simply saved some ALCOHOL and/or traded for some later in the game to deal with this depression.

Several other folks have suggested that things like chairs and radios make no sense in this scenario … I agree. You are not going to be sitting around reading a book. You will get home, go to bed, wake up and craft stuff until night, then scavenge. Wash, rinse, repeat. I'm not sure the BOARD UPS and RE-ENFORCED DOOR were even helpful. I did those anyway.

I completed this scenario with a HUNGRY (not VERY HUNGRY, but not WELL FED) Marko. Marko was not sad at the finish, but not content, either. I did not kill anyone as I got the supermarket scenario with no drunken soldier, or I would have probably killed him. As always, I stole nothing. 32 days alone is a long time, good luck.

The two worst scavengers with 8 slots only, and almost no combat skills. Most solutions I researched at the point I wrote this said let one or the other die. That’s not my goal. I have accomplished this with them both alive and with no stealing.

Turns out that yes, they take 2 or 3 more trips per site. But they have no addictions, so the trips are much more focused. With one of the two original members staying home every night, you will always be nursing one or the other of them back from the inevitable wounds they recieve protecting the house.

It is 32 days to peace. Winter starts at day 22. You will get one additional assistant at some point in time, but something like day 15 - 17. Find a way to keep them alive until you get help, and you’ll finish the scenario with no deaths or defections.

That sounds simple, and believe it or not, it is that simple. Don’t be afraid to restart a day where you started healthy and ended up severely or lethally wounded … simply restart and get something less life threatening.

I got the supermarket with the drunken soldier, and it took me a second try to kill him with Anton. This was my only kill in the game. But again, don't be afraid to restart.

I did not upgrade the stove … and I did not acquire Bruno ... and I feel this was a mistake.

I did start the second rain collector early, taking advantage of the longer warm period.

Obviously with Anton’s skills with the traps, get those going early. Don’t forget to get water going early, as well. When you can, get the vegetable garden going. Do not bother with the alcohol route, as it doesn’t help Anton at all (unless you are making bandages) … and for this, just barter a lot, and often, for bandages. Keeping a supply of bandages until the helper showed up turned out to be the key to keeping everyone alive. Getting the food and water started early meant that when the 3rd person arrived (you do not get a 4th), that you will be able to keep everyone from starving to death.

I finished this scenario with everyone well fed. I only killed the drunk soldier at the supermarket. I stole nothing.

No addictions in any of them.

But there are four of them. Starting from day 1.

This means that if you want to finish with all of them (mine were all well fed when the game ended), you will need to make food an initial focus, and keep it as a focus all game long.

The war ends at day 42. Yes, 42 days of feeding 4 people. That, I believe, is the key challenge they were throwing at you.

Start food and water early and focus on it. I upgraded the stove about mid-way in this scenario (that was when the 3 ELECTRIC PARTS were readily available). I should have probably done it earlier. Mid-game will be miserable or impossible without an early food boost. I postponed the board ups in favor of the food/water items.

At night, I left two people on guard and only one sleeping. However, I waited for the 2nd rain collector for quite some time, because my herbal garden was severely delayed. Why? Because the game threw some early challenges at me on reaching SAFE locations. First fighting closed off sites … then snow … for almost a week (or more) the safe locations were unavailable. This was contiguous unavailability -- no gaps that I could sneak into a safer location.

I was literally forced to handle violent scenarios to keep going. As I said before, I have no problems with killing thugs/killers/etc. but I have never stolen any goods, even thugs’ goods … ever. This is in an effort to both play the game the way I want, and to avoid the moral penalties associated with certain actions (apparently stealing from thugs your characters have no issues killing … is somehow deemed wrong … at least in the 1.3 update).

So, to offset my inability to reach safe sites and typical style of non-violence, I choose to free to hostages at the Brothel. I did this during the closed off site scenario where no safe sites were left available (i.e. I choose not to steal, some of those sites were available).

I believe you need to rescue the people on the same day for it to count (so bring a lockpick or a crowbar). If you can get a vest, and over 20 ammo, you should be set. I had a helmet and 20 ammo, which wasn't quite enough ... so there were a few restarts to accommodate this lack of sufficient armor.

Open the door and trade for bullets, if you want. One of the “guests” will leave the site and you will not have to fight him. From about the mid-point in the hallway leading to the trader, you can target and shoot the trader, then back up and get the others as they come running. After releasing the hostages, I did not steal any of the stuff marked “Private” ... even though the thugs were the owners of this stuff, and they were all dead. We do not know if the 1.3 update made this happen on purpose, or if it is a bug. But you do not need to steal this stuff to conclude a successful scenario.

Trading with Franko should ALWAYS include COMPONENTS. You need water for food for 4 people for 42 days. Water needs filters which require COMPONENTS. As I could, I would create 12, 14 or 16 food items per batch and leave it on the stove.

Pavle is your main scavenger and Zlata your backup, each with 12 slots. I always kill the drunken soldier.

Zlata boosts spirits. In fact, she took a depressed Pavle, conversed with him, put him to bed, and the next day he wasn't even sad!

I finished the scenario with the original 4 characters all WELL FED, 2 of them (ZLATA and CVETA) were CONTENT, and Pavle and Anton were not sad at all. No stealing ever, and just the above kills.

I didn't think this grouping would provide such a challenge. It ended well on my first play through, but it was challenging until quite near the end. That was the part that I didn't expect. Hopefully these notes will help you.

Zlata has 12 slots, Emilia 10. So your instict is to send Zlata on scavenging missions. However, Emilia cannot defend. It's almost as if she negotiates a small wound, in return for your food and most of your other valuables.

To make matters worse, I was raided more than 50% of the time BEFORE the crime wave started at day 10 (not sure if the crime wave date is fixed or variable).

And finally, just to make it fun, the first few sites you visit have almost no COMPONENTS. My default behavior is to trade for components, even the first time Franko visits. I'm confident that saved me, because by the time I gathered the components I wanted, it was day 22, the start of winter, and almost all of the sites I wanted to go to were snowed out.

Winter started at day 22 and ended about day 28, but was quickly very cold.

In my other play throughs where another survivor shows up, it is a random characer. Arica showed up. She is of little use unless you want a sneaker attacking/stealing approach, and I do not.

Apparantly I had a brain malfunction and forgot to restart the game before moving onto the next day ... and ended up stuck with her. She was a good fall back to Zlata when I needed. And in the depth of winter, I sent Arica to the church (thug scenario) and backstabbed the thug in the main church. No other killing, absolutely no stealing.

I'd say my biggest challenges, and mistakes, included not boarding up faster. It took me forever to make a hatchet, and I should have just stopped stressing about it and waited until winter, when I would really need it, and when I would have had the supplies for it.

I did not upgrade my stove, which turned out to be another big mistake (since Bruno didn't show up at my door).

I did upgrade both furnaces, as the winter was wearing on pretty cold, quickly, and my normal 1 upgraded furnace and 1 not upgraded furnace approach was having troubles starting the second day of winter with keeping the place warm.

I kept Emilia in coffee and Arica in cigarretes (Herbal Workshop).

I went the VEGETABLE GARDEN route, which eventually paid for itself, as I was able to finish the game with all three characters well fed. Making Zlata and Arica well fed netting a CONTENT rating as well. Emilia doesn't seem affected by mood so much, and I never saw her content.

I helped everyone, and only had the one negative with killing the thug in the church, so I am fairly confident there is nothing I could have done to make Emilia content. Zlata played the guitar every day for the last 3 days, this didn't help her either.

I have seen notes of 42 days ... my play through was 46 days.

This scenario was one of the hardest to date, even worse than Marko solo.

I started and finished with a complete lack of COMPONENTS. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that this was a developer's challenge. After the first 3 sites, each site with 3 COMPONENTS or less, I realized that this was the challenge I would be faced with -- in addition to Roman, who, after missing one cigarette, will fight with anyone in the home. Send him scavenging if you run out of cigarettes.

This scenario also loaded me up with 5 characters to keep alive and well. My prediliction for not saying no ... meant not rejecting the next survivor ... but that meant I needed to feed all of them. Also, I require a finish with the original characters, and everyone WELL FED.

With 5 characters, 45 days long, and little to no COMPONENTS to be scavenged ... that ended up being the scenario you have to work through.

To make it worse, the scenario threw unprofessional negative twists (or maybe a bug). In other players' versions, the scenario ended at day 42 ... mine ended at day 46. At day 44, with all 5 players well fed, and with Pavle and Katia well fed AND content, with a decent temperature 75 with no furnaces the game loaded the next day and said Pavle had frozen to death. REALLY?!?! I restarted, obviously, but the game was clearly trying, on purpose, to throw challenges at me on the final days.

My first extra character was Pavle, who I would have gladly let go if I had known Bruno and Katia would be the next two. I know I could have gotten a different character by restarting, but I didn't feel like it.

In any case, the key to survival was to trade with Franko for every component he had, plus the other things I needed ... in that order.

I went for alcohol production vs vegetables for the trading advantage. I think this was a positive choice, given my need to trade, but if I play this again, I will go the vegetable route and see if I cannot feed them better.

Trading at central square and the St. mary's church were also both keys to meeting mid-game needs.

My normal "no killing" version of the game did not work. My normal "do not steal" version of the game did not work -- although I only stole from the thugs in the warehouse. I killed the people in the warehouse, and then I "stole" their stuff. It did not affect my survivors' mood ... but it is a departure from my normal "win". This is why I consider this scenario the hardest I have played, since, so far, all others I have accomplished with NO STEALING and only killing the drunken soldier in the supermarket. However, I did end up with 5 well fed survivors, at least two of which were content.

I have yet to find another scenario as challenging as these. Whenever Bruno or Marin start, life seems just a little easier. I try to take advantage of their skills and build components that they can excel at. Bruno cooking and MOONSHINE/DISTILLERY benefits, and Marin, just building things in general.

If you have a specific scenario that you cannot seem to complete with the original characters, let me know, I'd be happy to run through it (or run through it again, as my memory isn't the greatest) and update this guide with some notes.

Thanks for checking out this guide.

I hope you are enjoying this game as much as I am!