Important changes from the following outdated guide :

Que sera sera. :) I will endeavor to fix up this guide soon as I can spare the few hours it will take.
Thanks for your patience.

Misc notes / info :

Stats will be explained, in short form, after the Squad Info Section. Pls note: the pre-Alpha Prologue has niether AP nor Movement stat association implemented. That is why No Stats show which increases those important parts of the game yet.
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most common Overlooked Key Commands: :suggested by the 'H' button = Help Info Page
the 'R' button in space = faster Flying
press & hold 'ctrl' to view enemies & for objects to loot / interact
[developer] - Hold down shift while clicking a stack to sell the entire stack. Very fast that way. This works for cargo only.
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Important: 'Skipped Combat Turn' Bug Work-around"
-work arouond: use the "gear" icon on the GUI to end/skip turn

(info from Dev thread) Pressing the space bar can rarely skip a characters following turn in combat. This does not apply to initializing the combat queue, which functions as expected.
WORKAROUND - use the "gear" icon on the GUI instead of the space key. This is on my fix list!

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Character 1 : Shotgun & Salvaging Specialist
Stats: Agility 6, Dex 8, Per 8
Skills: Shotgun 5, Slavaging 5
alternate choices: he's a front line ranged blocker. As such, lowering Salvaging to 4, and getting First Aid 2 would help, but its not necesary because the Pistol Medic, will try and be behind him, so she heals when needed.

Character 2: Pistol & First Aid Specialist. Primary Healer, front line
Stats: Dex 8, Per 8, Int 6
Skills: First Aid 5, Pistol 5
alternate choice: Using a Rifle, instead of a Pistol, so you do not have to go to your Inventory screen and swap in the MedPacks when needed; and then swaping the pistol back in to attack. I use the pistol, due ammo constraints in the early stage. Also, the pistol has a much shorter range than a rifle; and has a very small AP cost per shot, allowing more shots after healing someone.

Character 3: Hacking & Rifle Specialist
Stats: Dex 8, Per 8, Int 6
Skills: Hacking 5, Rifle 5
alternate choice: swap 1 point from Hacking and get 1 in First Aid.

Character 4: First Aid & Rifle Specialist - Secondary Healer, back line
Stats: Dex 8, Per 8, Int 6
Skills: First Aid 5, Rifle 5
alternate choice: swap 1 out of Rifle and get 1 in Explosives. Note: using grenades with only a skill of 1 works fine, but it bounces less with a couple of points. Later, after looting Grenades from crates and loot drops from enemies, save them for Boss encounters. They will dramatically increase the ease of winning those fights; especially Stun Grenades.

note on Mellee Combat:
Replace a few stat points (or spend level up points) on Strength and Agility as well as stats that increase Combat Inititive. And others you feel are good for you.
In my 2 games so far, i did not use very much mellee at all, since i allways had enough ammo for combat. When i did use it, it worked well enough with no points dedicated to it. From reading the forums, other players have said that Pugilism is the stronger choice to pick.
But i ahve NOT tested this yet. I have started testing more mellee focus builds, Pugilism currently is very strong. I also now feel comfortable adding a more detailed mellee build to this guide, now that i've played and tested it in my current 4th game.

Mellee Focus Character:

I replaced the above Char 1 build with this Mellee build.
The above Char 2's build, only change was droping Pistol skill, for Shotgun.

Character 1: Pugilist, Mellee, Heavy Weapon & Salvaging Specialist
Stats: Strength 8, Agility 8, Intelegence 6
Skills: Salvaging 5, One Handed 2, Two Handed 2, Heavy Weapons 3
Weapon Skills: To help learn mellee wpn skills, i put 1 point in 1 Handed, 1 point in 2 Handed, and the remaining 2 points in Heavy Weapons.
The reason i did so, was many loot drops for melee weapons that i saw, needed a skill of 2 to use; and hvy wpns for the same reason, so someone could use them potentially. If you want to focus on melee more, then add 2 points to each mellee skill. Pugilism i left at 1, no points spent, because with a 6 Int it raises itself quickly; change these points, for the style of close combat you want.
note on Level Up points: my first level up, i put all those points into Intellegence, to test if a higher Int does increase the chance to learn individual skill levels faster. But if thats not for you, go Str, Agi, End, and any others that increase Combat Inititive.

I will continue to test this melee build, If you have any tips / comments / suggestions ; I would be
happy to read them.


Contributor : "I realized that having both short range (pistol/shotgun/melee) and a long range (rifles) weapon was valuable due to the drop off of accuracy with range and range limitations of short range weapons. Typically opening with long ranged weapons and shifting to close range weapons once they are trying to eat your face. I will take several shots with an 75% hit chance over a 34% any day of the week.

So even if you specialize in one or another I recommend carrying both. Initial skill levels for 1-4 pistols or rifles seems to come quickly enough so I wouldn't split the points between one or the other."

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Stats : What they do and affect

Strength:
-Melle Dmg
-a Requirement for some Heavy Weapons

Agility:
-Using Melle skills
-Chance to Dodge enemies Melle attacks

Dexterity:
-Dmg bonus all Wpns
-Increased Combat Inititive
-Hacking , Crafting , Repair

Endurance:
-increased Base HP & Armour Class

Charisma:
-better Merchant Prices & Faction Rep
-Increased Combat Inititive
-chance of some Oppertunities

Perception:
-Ranged Dmg Bonus
-increased Maximum range
-Ranged Hit Chance
-increased Chance to Critically hit
-spot hidden things

Intellegence:
-increased Combat Inititive
-increased Speed of learning Skill lvls
-Psychic powers and Abilities

Very Important Skill Choice: Salvaging Skill:

-higher chance of Better Loot found on Stations, Ship, Ruins, and mob drops.
Why do i think this is so important? Because I love things that go BOOM. So finding Grenades, ammo, weapon mods, armour, shields, new weapons, etc really helps. Plus its fun, finding something "shiny" that you can sell for alot to a vendor, like Pristine Mechanical parts.

pls note: Ship / salvaging is not yet implemented. I think; but may be wrong since i did notice better loot drops on board the Dauntless with a higher salvaging skill. Perhaps, the part noy yet implemented is hostile ships, since that is future content.

I have tested the Salvaging Skill now in 4 games now : Salvaging 4 is the minimum I recomend to start with, after tests with 5, i did not notice a large change (increase) in loot in my last 2 games. But i would still start with 5 myself, since I really love anything 'shiny'' especially if it goes 'boom'.

Focus on the starting stats. But branch out into the others that give Combat Inititive, better chance of learning skills (ie: lvl 5 rifle, jas a better chance of becoming lvl 6 through combat with a Higher Int)
Maybe add a little into end for frontline squad members so they can take a bit mroe dmg before needing to be healed. Even a little more dodge Mellee attacks.

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If you notice any errors, etc. Pls tell me. It will be corrected A.S.A.P.
Thank you for reading this. I hope it has helped a little.
Please feel free to leave me any suggestions or feedback if you so wish.