Overview
Ever decide that NS is just a little easy? Well, you seem to have stepped on quite the controversial topic for this game! Anyhow, did you then set every temperature setting in the gamevars file below 10? Did you then die 10 minutes into the game? If so, this might be a slightly (almost-not-at-all) helpful guide for you.
A Few Helpful Skills
Now, if you use the Frostbite mod (AKA Extreme_Settings), you’ll notice that you have 20 skill points, not 15. This is due to how only having 15 would make the game almost impossible to play. Now that just means almost, not completely.
So these are the skills you may want, and the reason why.
Strong (6 points): Use with melee in begining encounter to kill the dogman.
Melee (4 points): Use with strong in begining encounter to kill the dogman (without taking damage).
Trapping (4 points): Use this to get the whole pelt from the dogman, and also to make fires.
Mechanic (3 points): It’s a good idea to take this so you can make vehicles, and thus carry more.
Lockpicking (3 points): Always good to have this, since it adds a large boost to scavenging.
That’s all the points you have, and they’ve been used well.
Getting Started (Begining Encounter)
So you’ve selected your skills, which should include some combination of either strong+trapping, or melee+trapping, with strong+melee+trapping being the best idea.
Start by selecting both melee and strong so that you kill the dogman without taking damage (and a nice tape for later). Now that you’ve murdered the rather large dog, enter the crafting menu so that you can get the hide. Don’t worry about a cutting tool, just use one of the glass shards.
The crafting item area should look like this: Dogman corpse+glass shard+trapping.
When this is done all you have to do is put on the dogman cloak/pelt/large fur sweater.
Basic Survival
Trapping is going to play a large part here.
What you now want to do is go into the forest next to the Gyges, and go back into the crafting menu.
Start by getting a large supply of wood, then make a small fire- which you can stoke into a large one if you’d like. When you’ve done this, scap the patient gown for its cloth.
You should now make a bunch of quality torches, which can be made by putting a stick, cloth, and twigs into the crafting area.
Before you leave the forest, make sure to light one of these torches so that you A) have a heat source, and B) have a light source so you can scavenge better.
Now that you’ve done this, just head on out and scavenge.
Zom Zom’s, ATN & DMC
You should start making your way over to Zom Zom’s as soon as you can.
The main reason to go there is to get the stuff that may be in the locker there, which is usually pretty good stuff.
When you get there, aproach the line, and choose the option you like best.
Now that you’ve secured the items from Zom Zom’s, head over to the ATN.
This has many reasons: Free meal, shop, etc.
What you should think about doing when you get there is shopping. Shopping at the ATN early on in the game has always been a good idea, and in Frostbite it’s the divider between a good run, and a bad run. Remember that you have the melee trait- if you don’t, don’t worry- and that the ATN war club is one of the best melee weapons in the game.
I wouldn’t recommend going near the DMC until you have 4 days worth of food/water. The DMC can be a very harsh place in normal Neo Scavenger due to it’s low amount of scavenging options (actually, the options are there, but the loot chance is very low). You should treat the DMC like the ATN, but without the free meal.
Tracking & Fighting
(Note that you don’t need the tracking skill to track, but the tracking skill- if you want to take it- can help you)
Most people don’t take tracking when they play, but it can be a very good early game trait.
After you’ve gotten to the ATN, find a nice spot to set up your camp that is close by. Use this camp as a storage area for all the stuff you loot, and plunder.
When this is all done, find a nice spot to hide and wait. This may mean going South a bit, since you don’t want to kill ATN members- not this early on, but I usualy stay away from that for the whole game.
Tracking can be a useful skill in Frostbite, mainly due to how it allows you to track your enemy down to any area where they may be putting all of their loot. When you find this stash, kill the person stashing the supplies, take all the stuff they had on them, then take any loot that may have been put on the hex.
End Note
When you start playing this you should make a check-list for supplies.
It should look a bit like this:
1. Do I have good clothing?
2. Do I have enough supplies to make a fire?
3. Do I have atleast 3 bottles of clean water?
4. Do I have atleast 2 days worth of food?
5. Does any of my stuff need to be replaced (below 10% condition)?
Thanks for reading! This was my first guide, and I thought it would be nice to make it for my mod. If you have any suggestions for this guide I would love to hear them. 🙂 Smile for good measure.