Dustland Human Resource
Let’s talk about making your character in Dustland. Don’t worry too much about it. If you want, just pick one that looks cool to you. But there are three bad traits you might want to avoid: Troublemaker, Stinky, and Accident-Prone. They can get you kicked out of places like bars, inns, and repair shops. If you’re new to the game, try picking the Runner. He’s got good Attack and Fitness, and his Speech, Crafting, and Intellect are okay. Plus, his Ex-Racer trait makes him drive 10% faster, which is great for beginners.
When building your team, aim for high Attack, at least 100. Try to get Intellect, Focus, and Speech to 30, and Crafting to 40. That should help you handle most events you run into. When leveling up, remember that the higher an attribute already is, the less it will increase. Focus on upgrading Attack, Intellect, Focus, and Cooking. When hiring people in your city, choose ones with high Farming and Husbandry stats.
You won’t be able to max out a single character’s attributes, so it’s best to have a team with different skills. Early on, recruit NPCs with high attributes so you can rely on them at first, then upgrade them later to specialize in multiple areas. Don’t try to build a full crew of 4 right away, as they’ll use up your Food and Water quickly. If you only have supplies for 2 truckers, prioritize Attack and Intellect to get through story events. You can level up Speech by haggling for goods, so don’t worry about it too much.
Dustland Survival Science
Your truck has different attributes that affect how it performs. Goods are important items you’ll need in the game. Scrap is the main currency, but it takes up space in your truck. Fuel is needed to keep your truck moving and avoid attacks. Food is important for your crew, so make sure to buy some when you can. Water is mainly used for cooling your engine, especially in Plague Zones. Creds can be exchanged for Scrap in Bars, but there’s a handling fee.
Pay attention to Fatigue and Stress for your characters.
Fatigue:
- Characters get tired while driving
- Reduce Fatigue by resting, drinking coffee, or staying at inns
- There are other ways to reduce Fatigue too
Stress:
- Comes from driving and meeting enemies
- Reduce Stress by enjoying views, hooking up with NPCs, drinking, partying, or talking with other characters
- There are more ways to reduce Stress
Combat:
- Use guns to attack from far away, then fight up close
- Try to defeat enemies without getting too close
- Get weapons by making them or buying from dealers in cities
- Trapper Hat and Tactical Wear can be better than armor
- Avoid strong enemies by planning your route
- Don’t fight at night if possible
- Use things like oil slicks or meat to distract enemies
- Make and throw projectiles to deal big damage
Key Questions
Survival:
- Always make sure you have enough Fuel, or it’s game over.
- You can buy Water in settlements or make it in your cities. You can also collect rainwater or get it from swamps and rivers, but it will be Wastewater. You can clean Wastewater with Fuel after setting up camp, or use a Rain Harvester in your truck to get clean Water from rain.
- Characters with Fitness of 6 or higher won’t get Infected. Some equipment can increase Fitness. If you tell the Girl the truth in her story mission, your Fitness goes up by 1 and her antibodies stop her from getting Infected.
- You can cook when you set up camp in the Dustlands or in your own cities.
- Press the [Craft] button to make equipment and Parts, and the [Parts] button to install them on your truck. Press [Add Slot] to add more slots to your truck.
Mechanics:
- Prices and items in the Store change based on supply and demand. To make money, move goods from one place to another and be careful with your buying and selling.
- Autosaves and quicksaves can overwrite old saves when you start a new game. Save at a Library in some cities to make a new save file.
- If you don’t have space in your truck for task-specific characters, they’ll wait at the nearest city with a Bar, but not forever.
- Drunk characters won’t sober up if you give them a job because their status gets “frozen”.
- Craft and install Dust Filters and Engine Insulators to reduce how much the weather affects your engine.
- You can’t get rid of the Infected trait after being bitten, except by editing your save file.
- The more you go over your Max Load, the slower your Max Speed will be. At double your Max Load, your Horsepower drops to 0.
Other Questions:
- Your stall sells equipment at 1/5 of the original price, no matter the quality. Better quality does increase the chance of a sale, but there are better ways to make money.
- The distance of delivery tasks from Bars depends on your truck’s level, not your Fuel. Upgrade your truck at the Repair Shop to get longer tasks. It’s better to do deliveries on the way to where you’re already going.
- Installing the Mysterious Object from the Order of the Sapphire Star task in Haggard Plains (Map 1) stops Infection from rising in areas with Infection of 10 or lower.
- To avoid drama with more than three crew members, have characters with the Faithful or Monogamist trait, or make a crew where no one will be attracted to each other, like a female character with the Homosexual trait and three straight men.
I appreciate your time and hope this little tutorial was helpful.
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