Dead State Locations Map and Tips

Overview

A guide to the weapons, armour and allies available in Dead State with a map of the locations and a few hints and tips.

Introduction (and disclaimer)

This guide is written based on my own experience of the game and while it mainly agrees with the Getting Started guide written by AutumnFlame it does contradict it in some areas. I am not saying that my guide is 100% correct or better, in fact I would recommend that if you’re totally new to turn based RPGs that you read AutumnFlame’s guide instead. This guide is written based on the assumption that you’ve already played the game a bit or are familiar with the genre.

If you feel that I’ve missed something obvious, have gotten something wrong, or you know of an area that I’ve not found please let me know via the comments section. This now includes stuff that has been rendered incorrect by an update – please, please let me know if you spot any.

I think it goes without saying but just so everyone is completely clear:

**SPOILER WARNING**

Yes, this guide has some minor spoilers in it.

One last thing: I keep adding sections and it’s starting to get a little unwieldy – you may want to use the index on the right hand side.

Character Stats, Skills and Perks

There are several premade character types that you can select from before starting. I personally always prefer to build my own so this is how the various stats and skills break down:

Stats

4 basic stats in Dead State: Strength, Agility, Vigor and Perception.

Strength: This is a measure of how much you can carry and increases the damage you do with melee weapons.

Agility: This determines how likely you are to evade an attack and determines how many action points (AP) you get.

Vigor: Determines how may hit points (HP) you get.

Perception: Improves initiative in combat, increases the chance to hit targets at a range.

All stats range between 1 and 10. Each starts at 1 and you have 14 points to spend on them, unlike skills there is no sliding scale – 1 point always raises a stat by 1 point.

Those are the obvious stat improvements. The less obvious ones (improved damage, evasion etc) can be found later in this guide as the tables are a little unwieldy.

Skills

There are 8 skills that you character can have. Each skill ranges from 0 – 10 and at level 3, 6 and 10 you get an added bonus. At level 3 and 6 you’ll get a choice of two possible upgrades, once you’ve selected one the other is gone for good.

Melee: Improves your to hit chance (THC) and increases the damage done when using melee weapons.

• Level 3 – Backstab, +15% critical chance when attacking from behind
• Level 3 – Brawler, +5 armour class (AC)
• Level 6 – Barrage, Save up to 4 APs to use next turn
• Level 6 – Quick Reflexes, Reduces AP cost of basic attack by 1 for melee weapons
• Level 10 – Warrior, doubles the critical chance of all melee attacks (thanks to Liro Raeriyo for the tip)

Ranged: Improves your to hit chance (THC) and increases the damage done when using Ranged weapons.

• Level 3 – Vitalshot, +5% crtical chance vs humans
• Level 3 – Headshot, +10% critical chance vs zombies
• Level 6 – Quickdraw, Reduce AP cost by 1 for ranged weapons
• Level 6 – Quick Reload, Reduce AP cost by 2 for reloading
• Level 10 – Sharpshooter, effective range of ranged weapons increased by 50%

Leadership: Gives you a greater range of dialog options when talking to allies as well as improving their effectiveness in combat

• Level 1 – Go, a combat command that means the targeted ally gets to take their turn immediately
• Level 3 – Aim for the head, a combat command that improves party’s chance to hit undead by 25% for 3 rounds
• Level 3 – Don’t panic, a combat command that stops (or removes) panic in an ally for 3 turns
• Level 6 – Get Up, a combat command that revives a knocked out (KO’d – i.e. reduced to 0HP) ally immediately with 10 health.
• Level 6 – Finish Them, increases the party’s critical chance by 50% for three rounds
• Level 10 – Double Time, adds 4AP to all allies’ total for one round

Negotiation: Gives a bonus to shelter morale per day as well as giving you a greater range of dialog options when talking to allies.

• Level 3 – Likeable, +5 morale per day
• Level 3 – Team Effort, reduces shelter upgrade repair times by 25%
• Level 6 – Popular, +10 morale per day (stacks with Likeable)
• Level 6 – Rationing, reduces daily food consumption by 25% without morale penalty
• Level 10 – Unity, all projects take 25% less time

Medical: Increases the damage healed by the medical satchel in combat.

• Level 3 – Paramedic, extra 5HP healed each time the healing skill is used
• Level 3 – Herbalist, produce 2 bandages a day
• Level 6 – Combat Medic, reduces the heal action to 2AP (rather than 4)
• Level 6 – Chief of Operations, increases the healing rate at the shelter to 50% if there is doctor or nurse on duty
• Level 10 – Expert Physician, +10HP to all allies

Science: Primarily a crafting skill. Also adds a chance to poison to melee attacks (passive).

• Level 3 – Immunity, -50% chance to be poisoned
• Level 3 – Inventor, 1 gallon of fuel per day
• Level 6 – Chemist, Lab projects cost 50% less
• Level 6 – Pharmacist, Doubled antibiotic production
• Level 10 – Bomberman, +50% damage with thrown weapons

Survival: Improves speed on the world map, how much food is harvested on the world map and gives you a chance to avoid random encounters.

• Level 3 – Survey, increases survey area on world map by 50% (means you don’t have to be so close to a location to discover it)
• Level 3 – Forager, increases maximum harvesting amount by 25%
• Level 6 – Trailblazer, increases movement on the world map by 50%
• Level 6 – Expert Gardener, shelter gardens produce extra 50% food per day
• Level 10 – Animal Magnetisim, in combat a dog will spawn and fight on your side

Mechanical: Primarily a crafting skill. Increases the speed at which certain upgrades are built and is also the basis for the lockpicking ability.

• Level 3 – Architect, shelter upgrades take 10% less time
• Level 3 – Efficiency, shelter upgrades require 10% less parts
• Level 6 – Solar power, generator requires 50% less fuel per day (2 gallons rather than 4)
• Level 6 – Grease Monkey, cars require 50% less fuel when travelling
• Level 10 – Impenetrable, increases fence HP to 500

Cheers to C for the Medical, Melee, Ranged, Leadership, Mechanical and Science level 10 perk descriptions.

You get 15 skill points to put into your new character at the start. Unlike stats there is a sliding scale to how much each level costs (see the Levelling Up section for more info).

Leveling Up and Goals

Dead State doesnt have the traditional EXP system that you may be used to. Instead you gain points that you can put into your skills by completing goals. Some goals are unique one offs (e.g. Repair the Fence) while some are repeatable (e.g. collect 150 food, collect 200 luxury items etc).

All skills range from 0-10 and as you reach the higher levels the cost for increasing them also goes up. For skill level 1-2 it will cost you one point a piece, two for 3-4, three for 5-7, four for 8, five for 9 and 6 for level 10. To completely level up a skill it will cost you 30 points which translates as 30 unique goals or 1500 antibiotics found.

Before you leave the school, search it throughly. Check out all the lockers on the ground and first floors (first and second floors for our American cousins), all the snack machines, the car parked out back, and a box in the basement. Remember to rotate the camera to be sure you get all the lockers.

Repeating Goals

There are 5 basic repeating goals. Each time one is fulfilled you get a skill point and the counter is reset. They are:

• 10 Antibiotics
• 150 Food
• 25 fuel
• 200 Luxury items
• 100 Parts
• Decode 10 data items

Luxury items have a “value” associated with them – this tells you how much they will count towards the goal. Food is measured on a per item basis so while a 10lb bag of rice might get you a lot of rations it only counts as one item towards the goal. Fuel is measured by the .5 of a gallon (i.e. 12.5 gallons = skill point), antibiotics and parts have a one to one ratio.

Unique Goals

These goals don’t repeat. Once you achieve them you get the skill point and they’re added to the list of completed goals. They are:

• Repair the fence – Get the basic fence to 31 HP before day 3 (you lose if you don’t complete this goal)
• Build a shelter upgrade – needs to be a new one, repairing the fridge or fence doesn’t count
• Build 3 shelter upgrades – this is total, so includes the upgrade in the previous goal
• Build 6 shelter upgrades
• Build 10 shelter upgrades
• Build 13 shelter upgrades
• Explore 5 new locations
• Explore 15 new locations
• Explore 30 new locations
• Explore 40 new locations
• Explore 65 new locations
• Find enough food to survive for a week – find 200 pounds of food
• Find enough luxuries to make the shelter more comfortable – find 500 luxury items
• Find 100 pounds of fresh food – oddly enough this can include food marked as “undesireable” such as the dead rat and edible insects. You must stock them and take the morale penalty for them to count towards the goal.

It is possible to completly upgrade your character by clearing the repeating goals a lot. I found that harvesting and fishing (with Nathan and Troy once you get them) can help buff your character quite quickly.

Combat Basics

There are two basic types of enemy in Dead State Early access: Zombies and Humans.

How you tackle them and even what weapons you use will differ between the two but there are some basic rules that apply to both:

1 – Attack from behind

You get a little indicator when you put your cursor over a target telling you what your current To Hit Chance (THC) is. If you’re attacking from directly in front of the target it will be significantly more rubbish than if you attack from behind. Attacking from the side gives you a 10% bonus over a front square assault (from directly behind the bonus is 20%), so if you have any spare APs use them wisely and flank the buggers.

2 – Select your weapon and make sure it’s loaded before battle

Seems obvious, I know, but surprisingly easy to miss. Especially when you’ve just finished combat but another bad guy starts a new session while your shotgun has no shells (and a 6AP reload time…). Trick is simple, use the space bar and start a new combat session the second the old one stops, this way you can reload or change weapon for free without having to worry about wandering mobs. If you have more than one character that needs this then (before you end the turn/combat) position your mouse over their portrait, end combat, click, then press space. Rinse and repeat

3 – Use the right weapon for the right bad guy

I’ll expand on this one below but basically: blunt kills zombies, sharp or bullet kills humans. You take on a zombie with a kitchen knife, you’ll regret it… If in doubt – check the weapon description, it will tell you it’s percentage effectiveness vs zombies.

4 – The bad guys will just stand around unless you provoke them

Noise or standing REALLY CLOSE (or fairly close if in their line of sight) will attract both humans and zombies. Other than that, you’re golden. Use this time to equip the right weapons for the enemy you can see. I personally spent most of my time loaded for zombie but switched to human killing weapons as required.

5 – Killing bad guys gets you no experience

However taking the stuff you get off their corpses can. It’s always worth bumping off everything on the map assuming you have enough well equiped people to do so safely (or you’re save scumming – whatever works). Roughly half of the zombies have at least one goodie on them, humans always do.

6 – Bashing open doors or firing guns will get you a lot of company, fast

There often isn’t an alternative and you have to make a racket. Remember: if you do then you may think combat is over but there could be a couple of zombies just about to wander around the corner. This can be mitigated if you…

7 – Clear the open areas before entering buildings

Regardless of how unthreatening or far away a zombie may be, if you can safely do so – kill it. Can save you a nasty surprise later when you’re in a tight fight in a building.

8 – Sneak attacks are for the birds

You can try to slowly walk up behind a bad guy and start combat but my advice is to simply rush them from either the side or behind. If you hit space the second you enter the square next to them you will have the initiative and (with the right weapons and crew) take them out before they can respond. More effective against zombies than humans but works on both. Due to point 4 (see above) you can usually then end combat and pull the same trick on a zombie stood only a few tiles away and work your way through a small horde without them ever getting an attack in.

9 – Two handed weapons can attack diagonally, one handed weapons can’t

One handed weapons can only attack the squares directly in front, behind or to the left/right. When you have 4 characters this can make for an awkward battle. This makes two handed weapons invaluable despite the AP cost to change hands as you have more options to attack and can take advantage of point 1 more easily (see above)

10 – Weapons have multiple attack modes

You can get through pretty much evey battle early on by just using the basic attack. However if you right click you can select from a range of possible attack modes (usually for more APs) that can be worth while. One thing to remember: no special attack is worth 2 basic attacks (except the “Wild Swing” attack with the pipe wrench and its ilk – thanks mikerainbow11 for the heads up). Usually a special attack is only useful if you have a couple of APs to burn (but don’t have enough for a second attack).

So keeping all that in mind, onto the differences:

Combat vs Zombies

Your average zombie doesn’t change much through the game. I have noticed that they tend to start out “wounded” in the inital areas, making them easier to kill, but as you get to the areas further away the zombies require a bit more damage and can be found wearing armour (keep an eye out for the Plants vs Zombies easter egg of the zombie in full football armour and helmet). Regardless, 3 blows should be enough to put any ex-corpse down for good assuming that you obey the following rules:

1- Baseball Bats

These are the zombie killing weapon of choice for most characters. Able to attack diagonally as well as only cosing 4APs to swing they also do more damage than any just about any other weapon against Zed (see the notes on the pipe wrench and sledgehammer below). You can usually kill a zombie in two blows from just about any character. Worth noting, DO NOT use the special effect attacks against zombies, stick to the basic. Zombies don’t get dizzy and push will very occasionally knock a zombie over but much more likely will simply push it back a square with no damage.

2- Pipe Wrench Trauma

Thanks to MikeRainbow11 for this tip: The pipe wrench (using the Wild Swing special attack which guarantees a critical hit) can one shot kill most zombies assuming the character wielding it has at least 6 strength. My main character had 6 strength and 0 melee and was hitting for between 65-110 damage. To balance this you take a -30% THC penalty – Using Max or Anita and attacking from the rear square can balance that out nicely.

3- (I want to be your) Sledgehammer

Thanks to 1stReaper for this tip: The sledgehammer (using the Wild Swing special attack) can also one shot kill zombies and many humans. Does a staggering amount of damage but it requires 8AP for the attack so it’s hard to use effectively. Its other special attack “Knockdown” has a very high chance of causing the prone status and only costs 7AP, admittedly it does less damage than the standard attack but it can prevent a human from being able to retaliate and a knocked down baddie is an almost guaranteed hit for your other characters.

4 – No guns

Shotguns kill zombies in the films. Not so much in Dead State. You will get better results with the baseball bat with the added advantages of not wasting ammo or attracting a horde.

5 – Attack in force

Even if your THC is 95% you may still miss the vital swing to kill the zombie. Unless you’re save scumming then having two other characters who can rush in and get in a swing a piece is a major advantage

Combat vs Humans

Humans are much more dangerous individually than zombies but tend to come in much smaller groups. It is possible to make a noise and get the humans and zombies to fight each other but this can often go badly wrong. Ideally I would always recommend killing all the zombies first and then tackling the humans. Zombie killing should be all but silent, human killing will nearly always involve guns (be it your’s or their’s). So on that note:

1 – OPEN FIRE!

Guns are by far and away the most effective weapon vs humans. As they tend to have guns themselves I would suggest that unless you have no other choice you go in all guns blazing. The sawn off shotgun is an early game changer as it can nearly kill Looters, Survivalists and most Coyotees with one shot but remember it uses both barrels in one go meaning that you will eat ammo as well as having a long reload to look forward to.

2 – Maybe Lara Croft was onto something…

If you have time (and the equipment) have a gun in each hand when attacking humans. The biggest killer in a Dead State gun fight is the amount of time it takes to reload anything other than the 9mm pistol. Having to effectively skip a round and stand still while you reload the shotgun will give the opposition plenty of time to unload their guns into you.

3 – If all else fails, break out the pointy sticks

No bullets? Oh dear. In that case the final fall back option is bladed weapons. This is not recommended against anyone who is wearing anything better armoured than a hoodie. If you’re trying to kill a guy in football armour and helmet with a kitchen knife you won’t get very far. The baseball bat “Stagger” attack can come in useful against human opponents (dizzy opponents have a major penalty to hit you) but this is only really useful if you have other well armed characters.

4 – FINISH HIM!!!

So you’ve pumped the bad guys full of lead and now they lie bleeding to death on the floor. If a zombie attacks them in this state then you will have 2 zombies to deal with. A freshly turned zombie has full health as well as the armour advantages it died with, plus any weapons it was carrying will be lost. Play it safe, brain them while they’re down.

Combat Formulas

This section has been ripped straight from the manual (can be found in the Dead State program directory (C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonDead StateManual if you have a 64bit OS). It’s useful info so I’ve included it here.

Melee To-Hit Chart

Basically the higher your melee skill the more likely you are to hit. The higher the target’s agility the more likely you are to miss.

Melee Damage Modifers

All weapons have a strength requirement. Strength has no impact on your chance to hit (THC), only on the damage done if you do hit. So a strength 1 charcater has the same chance to hit with a sledgehammer as a strength 6 one however the strength 1 character will only do 50% of the damage.

Weapons – Alternative Attack Modes

(This info is available in the manual but I’ve copied it here for ease of use)

Most weapons have an alternative attack mode. This can be accessed by right clicking on a weapon when in an area and left clicking the mode you wish to use.

All alternative attacks take extra APs to perform, how much more depends on the weapon used. Most alts cause damage as well as the effects but usually for a different amount to a standard attack. Check the damage stat after you’ve changed modes to see the impact (pardon the pun).

Bash: 100% chance to knockback (move target 1 square away), 50% chance to also cause “Prone” status

Break: Guarantees a critical hit but the weapon is destroyed

Burst: 3 shot attack from an automatic weapon

Cripple: 75% chance to casue “Arm Sprain” status

Critical Strike: 100% chance of causing a critical hit

Flurry: 3 attacks but at -30% THC per attack

Fortify: Double your defense until next turn

Hamstring: 75% chance of causing “Leg Sprain” status

Knockdown: 100% chance of causing the “Prone” status

Push: 100% chance to knock the target back (move them 1 square away)

Roast: 100% chance of critical hit and 100% chance to cause “Immolate” effect but breaks the weapon

Slash: Guitarist from Guns n Roses, also has 100% chance to cause the “Bleeding” effect

Skullcrusher: 100% chance of critical hit but breaks the weapon. Only works on the undead

Stagger: 100% chance of causing the “Dizzy” effect. Usless against the undead

Wild Swing: You make my heart sing… Ahem, sorry. Anyway – personal fave as it gives 100% chance of critical hit but at a 30% THC penalty. Pipewrenchtastic!

Weapons – Blunt Melee

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Weapons – Sharp Melee

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Weapons – Ranged

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Armour

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Allies

I’ve compiled a list of the other characters that I’ve found and managed to get to join my shelter. Please note that their stats are the ones they had when I first found them, as time goes by their skills will improve naturally. I’m not sure if it’s linked to how many goals you complete or the amount of tasks you assign them but their primary skills (e.g. medical for Renee and Michiru, ranged for Joel) will slowy but surely increase. I’ve listed what skills I’ve seen increase in the “Skill +” field.

I’ve grouped the allies by how they’re found. Some allies are listed as “Sub-Leaders”, this means that when you reach a crisis point at the shelter (e.g. the water system is faulty) they will have an opinion and influence a portion of the population in that direction. Buttering up sub-leaders (either by fulfilling their requests or outright bribing them) will get them to agree with you more readilly or at least have the status “I disagree but I respect your decision”. Either means that more of the shelter will back your choice leading to a shelter morale boost and an improvement in everyone’s indivdual morale.

Again, as always, if you know of something I’ve missed or gotten wrong please let me know via the comments section.

(I apologise for the awful layout of the tables, there is only so much you can do with Steam Guides)

Initial Allies

Allies Who Find You

Allies Encountered Randomly

Some allies are found in random locations. I’ve included the day I ran into them in the table, check out the link in the “Locations” section for a rough idea of the areas you’re likely to find them.

Allies at Fixed Locations (Part 1)

In this section I’ve described roughly where they can be found. There is a link in the Locations section which has an annotated map showing the precise location of all fixed location allies.

Allies at Fixed Locations (Part 2)

In this section I’ve described roughly where they can be found. There is a link in the Locations section which has an annotated map showing the precise location of all fixed location allies.

Miscellaneous Tips, Tricks and Exploits

This is a short(ish) list of the tips, tricks and exploits I’ve found during my playthroughs. If you see any that you think are just plain wrong or have any you’d like me to add then please let me know via the comments section.

Sweep

You need items to level up so make sure to hit that Z key and make sure you empty out everything you can find. Containers only show up when you’re close so be sure to walk around the entire level. One small mercy is that your characters can see through walls in the smaller buildings, you don’t need to actually be in the room or even line of sight to a coantainer to be able to see it.

Check the treeline

Plants can now sometimes be harvested in level – i.e. they can be containers. Be sure to sweep trees, bushes and plants when checking out a level as you may miss quite a lot of food otherwise.

Tarzan calls his Zombie friends

Noise is generally a bad thing in Dead state. You’ll be happily exchanging gunfire with a bunch of looters or Coyotes and then a walking cadaver will rock up, attack you, knock you over and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Bit like an overweight Labrador that thinks you have some choccy on you and are holding out on him. But I digress…

Noise can be your friend once an area has been cleared. When noise hits the amber levels (about 60-120db) zombies will start to spawn at the exits (and on open edges of the maps in certain locations). This may sound bad but zombies equal prizes! (most of the time) Think of them like walking, rotting pinatas that are hungry for your brains. Also instead of having candy they’re filled with bullets, arrows, parts and the occasion tin of spam derivative. OK so maybe not the best analogy but it’s late and I may have had a beer, sue me.

What I’m getting at here (in the most round about way possible) is that if you intentionally make noise by bashing open every door in the area after you’ve cleared it out (I would recommend that you use your lowest damage meleer to do the door bashing) you can spawn anywhere up to 15 zombies and nearly all of them will have something useful on them. Word to the wise – zombies of a certain description always have the same things on them so you can ignore the ones labled “dead cop”, “male corpse”, “female corpse”, “suit corpse” and “putrid woman” as they never have anything. The others all do e.g. “Dead Sheriff” (9mm rounds), “Gross Man” (3 parts and a kitchen knife) and “Stumbling Man” (antibiotics – this is why the doctor tells you that you should always complete the course). Whack them with a stick until the goodies drop out (see, it wasn’t that bad an analogy).

You can check if there are any zombies left in an area by pressing space to start combat. Zombies always show up in the combat order regardless of where they are on the map, if you see a picture of one then there is still at least one left to find.

Update: Some areas now have indestructable doors (e.g. The pharmacy in Downtown San Saba and the building at the Truck Stop where you find Mark Corbeau and friends). You can bash away at these to your heart’s content and spawn as many zombies as you want. It’s not the fastest way to get stuff I grant you but it can be used to fill up your inventory if you’re passing on the way back from a disapointing scavenging run. I would suggest that do don’t go too crazy, I got a wee bit carried away and spawned about 15 of them in one go. It made for an awkward and quite damaging fight 🙂

Get cooking

The science lab is a useful way to get skill points in Dead State. It takes someone with science skill 5 and mechanical skill 3 to build it so unless you’re willing to go get Melina Guzman on day 1 and wait until about day 24 for her to skill up sufficiently you’ll need to create a suitable character and build it yourself. Once you have, all you need are two parts, 5 rotten fruit and someone with a sci skill of at least 5 and get them making antibiotics. It takes 120/(Number of Workers) to make one batch (e.g. if you have 3 workers making them it’ll take 120/3 or 40 hours). 10 antibiotics in a batch (or 20 if you have the level 6 Science Skill “Pharmacist”), you need 50 for a skill point.

Stock undesirable food

The morale penalty in negligible, the food and the progress towards a goal more than outweigh it.

It pays to pay attention to what the opposition is wearing

If the baddies are armoured up to the eyeballs then you may have to change tactics. The heavy sledgehammer really comes into its own when you’re up against guys in full riot gear as well as a riot shield. Knock em down, then use the Wild Swing until they’re dead. If you find that your bullets are having no effect I would strongly suggest that you use this tactic.

Fire has no effect if you stand still?!?

If you knock someone over and they miss their turn then any DoT effects that they may be suffering from (fire, bleed, poison) won’t actually damage them until their turn comes up again. Generally speaking the three DoTs are nice to have but are hardly worth going out of your way to cause.

Location Map

Map of the locations I’ve been able to find:

Areas can be automatically found either by being told by a another survivor, being told about it by a non-ally NPC, or hearing about it on the radio. Other areas can be found by basically tripping over them while on the large map.

Harvestable areas (other than the fishing lakes) appear at random and disappear after you harvest them. Worth mentioning, you will need to have enough spare capacity to carry the stuff which can range from 3 pounds to 25 per area. If you are unable to carry all the food some will be wasted, there’s no going back. The picture tells you what you’re going to get, if it’s the edible insects icon then it will be several pounds of undesirable food.

It helps to have a high survival skill, as harvestable areas (other than fishing lakes) pop up more frequently if you do. According to the manual the highest single survival skill in your party counts.