This Little War of Mine: Guide to the Game

This War of Mine★ 5 · 728 ratings35k views1.2k favorites27 min readby Rando CalrissianUpdated Nov 20, 2017View on Steam ↗

More Information

Some of the information in this guide may not be 100% accurate. If you find something that is wrong, leave a message in the comments and I will correct it.

Starting Out

When starting out, it is important to use your resources appropriately. As soon as you begin, set your survivors to work and loot all the piles of rubble. The first things you should build at your workshop are:

Metal Workshop
One bed
Shovel
Crowbar

This is all you will need to survive the first night. Send someone out to scavenge (With the highest backpack capacity) and get them to grab as much building materials as possible, wood and components. Do not worry so much about parts, or electrical parts, just go for the components and wood. Try to send them to the place that is the least likely to have other people.

On the second day, continue to build up your base. Build a radio, a crude stove, and a second bed if you can. Ignore your survivors if they are hungry. Send your scavenger to sleep for the day, and let your other survivors do the work. Once night falls again, send him back to the same location to loot some more. Get more components and wood, then any parts or electrical parts depending on what you plan to build next.

DO NOT STEAL FROM ANYONE OR KILL PEOPLE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. I would highly recommend avoiding this because it can have a serious effect on the happiness of some survivors. Check the survivors information to see which survivors are least affected by these actions, and to see which survivors will help recover from sadness faster.

After this, continue to build up your base - construct a food trap once you upgrade your workshop, and make a herbal workshop for meds and then a moonshine distillery for trade items in case you cant find any food or meds.

Base Game Survivors

There are 12 survivors currently in the game, each with their own unique attributes - at this point in the game some of these abilities have unknown effects.

Name

Attribute

Description

Personality

Pack Capacity

Anton

Good Mathematician

He is more effective at catching animals in traps. He runs slower than other survivors, and is a worse guard with a lower combat abilitity. He also cannot play the guitar. He is Abstinent, which means he can't drink alcohol to cause happiness.

Anton is less concerned with moral actions, like murder, theft, and helping others. He is likely to steal supplies when leaving the shelter, and is likely to argue or get into fights at night if he's in a bad mood.

Arica

Sneak Quietly

She can kill in one hit with a backstab, and makes less noise when scavenging. She can play guitar well.

Arica is not so concerned with murder or theft, but is concerned with helping others. She is likely to steal supplies when leaving the shelter. She is more likely to get sadder when a party member dies, or if her Smoking addiction isn't satisfied.

Boris

Strong but slow

He is slow when moving, and makes more noise, but has the highest health. He makes the best guard.

He is extremely concerned with moral actions, such as murder, theft, helping others or if a party member dies. If in a bad mood at night he will spend the night thinking or sobbing. He will slowly become sad if his Smoking addiction isn't satisfied.

Bruno

Good Cook

Because of his cooking skills:

He uses less water and suagr to make food and moonshine
He uses less fuel when cooking
He requires half the ingredients to make medications

He is unable to console a depressed character, and cannot play the guitar. He has a low resistance to sickness or wounds

Lacks much of a moral compass, is almost completely unconcerned about murder, theft or helping others. He is very likely to steal supplies when leaving the shelter, and will argue or fight with other is in a bad mood at night. He will slowly become sad if his Smoking addiction is not satisfied.

Cveta

Loves Children

She helps people get better if they are sick or wounded faster. She gets help from neighbours more frequently. She has the worst combat ability and cannot play the guitar.

She is extremely concerned with murder and theft, and with helping others. She rarely steals suppplies when leaving the shelter, and when in a bad mood spents the night thinking or sobbing.

Emilia

Talented Lawyer

She is resistant to depression, and unable to console others. She cannot play the guitar, and is a worse guard than others.

Due to her resistance to depression, she is almost completely unconcerned with murder, theft, helping people, and is selfish when someone dies. He is likely to steal supplies when leaving the shelter, and will slowly become sad if her addiciton is unsatisfied.

Katia

Bargaining Skills

She gets better deals when trading, and plays the guitar well. She has a low combat ability and makes a slightly worse guard than others

She is concerned with moral actions like murder, theft and helping others. She slowly becomes more upset if her coffee addiction isn't satisfied. She will spend the night think or sobbing if she is in a bad mood, and rarely steals supplies when abandoning the shelter.

Marin

Handyman

His crafting abilities mean he uses around 20% less materials than others when crafting. He cannot play the guitar and makes a worse guard than others.

Less concerned with moral actions. He is likely to steal supplies when leaving the shelter, and slowly gets sadder when his coffee addiction is not satisfied. He will either argue or fight with others at night if in a bad mood.

Marko

Good Scavenger

He scavenges slightly faster than other survivors, and is the best survivor to use for scavenging in unknown locations. He cannot play the guitar.

He is concerned with murder and theft, and with helping others. He will either spend the night thinking or sobbing if in a bad mood. He has no addicitons.

Pavle

Fast Runner

He has the fastest running speed of all the survivors. He plays the guitar well.

He is concerned with murder theft, helping others, and if a party member dies. He will spend the night sobbing or thinking if he's in a bad mood. He rarely steals supplies when abandoning the shelter.

Roman

Trained in Combat

He is the most combat proficient survivor. He is a better guard than others, and has the second highest amount of health. He plays the guitar, but is unable to console a depressed character.

He has a very low concern for murder, theft, and helping others, shows selfishness when people die. He is likely to steal supplies when leaving the shelter, and will slowly get more upset when his Smoking addiction is not satisifed.

Zlata

Bolsters Spirits

She makes others sadness go away significantly faster, and is very good with the guitar. She has a low combat ability.

She is extremely concerned with murder, theft and aiding others, and will rarely steal supplies when abandoning the shelter. She will spend the night sobbing or thinking when in a bad mood.

NOTE: Some of this information may be incorrect.

Which survivors are best?

Every survivor is good at something, although some of these things are currently unknown. This means that every survivor is better suited than others for different scenarios

Combat: Roman, Arica and Pavle are the best survivors for combat-orientated exploration. Both Roman and Arica have 1-hit kill backstabs, making them ideal for stealthy takedowns. Arica is a lot quieter than Roman, but Roman has better combat proficiency overall. Pavle is good because of his running speed. If you get in trouble, he can quickly run out of the area before taking too much damage.
Scavenging: Marko is an obvious choice for scavenging, as is Boris. They have the two highest pack capacities, but Boris is a slow mover. Because of this I would only send Boris to peaceful places. Other survivors such as Pavle, Katia and Zlata have a 12-slot pack, making them other options.
Home Improvement: Bruno and Marin are the two best home-improvers. Usually you will only have one of the two. Bruno helps with food preparation, and is useful for the entire game. Marin however, is not as useful in the endgame. You should normally have built what you need by the mid-game, and so afterwards Marin isnt much help. Zlata is also helpful, because she can boost your other survivors morale better. When you need to start killing and stealing, she is a big help.

Custom Survivors

Name

Ability

Description

Personality

Pack Capacity

Computer Specialist

Knack for Electronics

Can create two heat lamps, thermo regulators, and mixers for the price of one. He has a low combat ability and is a worse guard than others.

Is not very concerned with murder, theft and helping others. He is likely to steal supplies when abandoning the shelter, and will fight or argue with others when upset at night.

Forester

Skilled Woodchopper

Gains more wood and fuel when chopping down furniture. He cannot play the guitar but is a btter guard than others

He is concerned with murder and theft, and helping others. Will spend the night sobbing or thinking if he is in a bad mood

Insurance Agent

Persuasive

Has a slight trading bonus, not as good as Katia. Cannot play the guitar and has a bad combat proficiency.

Is very little concerned with moral actions, like murder, theft and helping others. Is likely to steal supplies when abandoning the shelter, and will either fight or argue at night if in a bad mood.

Nurse

Medical Training

Is much more efficient at treating wounds and sickness.

UNKNOWN

Pharmacist

Knows much about Meds

Gets a discount when crafting meds. Is a worse guard than others, and cannot play the guitar.

Is less concerned with moral actions, and is likely to steal supplies when abandoning the shelter. Will fight or argue with others if in a bad mood at night.

Photographer

Keen Eye for Detail

Can notice otherwise secret loot piles.

Is concerned with moral actions like murder and theft, and helping others. Will either spend the night crying or thinking if in a bad mood.

Police Officer

Familiar with Guns

Proficient with firearms (As good as Roman). Has a high combat ability, but cannot play the guitar.

Is concerned with murder, theft, and helping others. Rarely steals supplies when leaving the shelter, and will either argue or fight when in a bad mood at night.

Psychologist

Strong Willed

Is resistant to depression, and makes other's sadness go away a lot faster. Cannot play the guitar, but is passable as a guard.

Is extremely concerned with moral actions, like murder, theft, and helping others. Will spend the night crying or thinking if in a bad mood, and will rarely steal supplies when abandoning the shelter.

NOTE: Some of this information may be incorrect.

Scavenging

Scavenging is the only way you will survive. Try and scavenge everynight, unless:

There is an outbreak of crime
You only have one survivor who isnt sick or wounded (slighty sick or slightly wounded is ok)
You only have one survivor who isnt depressed
You have looted all places that arent dangerous and you dont have weapons to search dangerous places.
Your survivors are all very tired or exhausted

It is important to search only certain places, and avoid places unless you are desperate. Stealth is important, unless you want to risk combat. Every place is different, and will require certain tools to fully search them. Also, some places will have soldiers or bandits that will shoot on sight, or places that will require you to steal. Some places are set as designated trade locations. You need to prepare for each location before setting out.

Major Areas:

Supermarket
The supermarket is a fairly good place to scavenge, but can be dangerous. Upon first searching the supermarket, one of two scenarios will occur:

An armed soldier will attempt to rape a young girl
A group of three scavengers will be searching the supermarket

If the soldier is at the supermarket, then you can kill him and obtain an assault rifle and some ammo, and have free access to the supermarkets resources. This requires you to bring a knife. Simply sneak into the front of the supermarket. In the entrance room, peak through the door. The soldier should be facing away from the door towards the girl. Open the door and sneak up behind the soldier. The girl will notice you, but you can sneak up and backstab him. If this does not kill him, just click to attack him again. Switch back to scavenge the free stuff.

If the second scenario happens, and you see the three scavengers, then it is all clear. There is a small chance that the bandits will attack you, but if you are unarmed, then you will be fine. They will scavenge the area for a while, but will not attempt to kill you. You can search the place as you normally do, or if you wish, kill the three of them. One has an assault rifle, and the other two have handguns. They all scavenge on separate floors, so if you backstab them you should be fine.

After first exploring the supermarket and surviving the scenario, you will be free to search the supermarket, but I would wait at least 2 days. The bandits/soldier will not be there when you return, and you will be able to fully loot the place. Make sure to bring a crowbar.

Central Square
Central Square is a marketplace. There is three vendors, one that sells building materials, one that sells food, and one that sells medicine. If you dont have anything to trade, bring a crowbar and loot from the building at the far end. This will require stealth, because if you get caught stealing, they will attempt to kill you and even if you escape, they will remember your face. Bring any jewelry, moonshine, and cigarettes to trade. If you have enough bring some weapons, but only bring one at a time because they may see you as hostile if you bring too many. This will mean you lose the central square as a trade location.

Hospital
The hospital is a good location, because it offers two services:

Trade with the doctor on the second floor behind a desk. He will give a lot in exchange for medicine, so bring any spar herbal meds you have because they are a lot more dodgy than standard pills. He doesnt have much, but usually can give you some building materials. Do not try and get food or meds form him.
There is a doctor on the second or third floor (she moves around). She can heal you if you are wounded or worse with bandages, or she will give you pills if you are sick or worse. However, unless you are desperate it is still inadvisable to send out someone who is sick or wound.

Brothel
The brothel is another trade location, but it is a lot more dangerous. The brothel will trade some food, but mostly other materials. If you are feeling brave, bring a weapon (knife or assault rifle, preferably both) and some sawblades and a crowbar, and sneak in the top. There is good resources, like a lot of food and meds if you get in without getting seen. There is 3-4 armed men with firearms guarding the place, so make sure to be either very quiet and blitz them with your AR and kill them quickly.

Sniper Junction
Sniper junction is dangerous because the middle of the map is covered by a sniper. Make sure to search the place with someone who can run fast. The map is pretty much the same as central square. In the centre of the map behind a statue is a man. If you make it all the way across the map, and clear a path through the sewers, you can follow the man back to his home in the apartment block, and he will give you five diamonds. Continue to search the place - you will need to bring some sawblades - or just fill up on building materials at the entrance to the map and in the sewers.

Construction Site
The construction one of the most dangerous places in the map. Soldiers spawn in on the third floor and will ambush you if you arent careful . In this location, you can get the scoped rifle, which has the longest range of all weapons. The location is dangerous, but if you manage to avoid the two snipers, then you will be fine to search the place. On the first visit, simply dont get sighted by the snipers, and scavenge what you can. Then on your next visit, the location is clear and you can search however you like. But you in order to obtain the scoped rifle you must take out the snipers.

Military Outpost
Despite being a good trade location, the military outpost is stll dangerous. When preparing to go there, plan for one of two things:

Trade: bring any cigarettes and alcohol (Moonshine or Pure alcohol), as well as anything else you dont need. After trading dont hang around. The soldiers might decide they want their stuff back and kill you for it.
Assault: Bring a vest and a knife. A gun is not necessary. To capture the base, first sneak up behind the guard in the watchtower. If he turns around, leave, because the you will need a gun, or just attack him anyway. If he is facing away, backstab, take his gun and progress through the base . Capturing the base is the most profitable, as you can get heaps of food and meds, as well whatever weapons the dead soldiers had.

Quiet House
The quiet house has no building materials, just food, meds and some parts. Do not go here unless:

You have no food left
Your people are sick and you need medicine
You have Zlata (she is better at cheering people up)
You have enough luxuries to keep your survivors happy

The quiet house is home to an elderly couple. They wont attack you or try to stop you other than begging you not to take their medicine. The man has some medicine on him and the woman has some diamonds if you feel like killing them. Other than that, there is plenty of food in the fridge and some meds upstairs. This place is only worth one trip however.

Visitors

There are a number of different types of visitor that will come to your house during the day.

Recruitment

At around day 7 or 8, someone will come to your door. This is the only way to recruit other survivors. Another random character will knock on your door and ask to join your group. It is not always best to say yes. If you dont think you will enough food, then dont let them in. In most cases it is best if you do let them in, because it allows you to have another guard at night during an outbreak of crime, or someone else to search if you want to give some other survivors a rest.

There are can be more recruitment chances, but the first is around day 7 or 8. It is important to choose carefully whether or not you allow a survivor to join your group. If you dont need the extra person, or you dont think you will have enough food or medicine to survive, then decline his offer. There may be more recruitment chances later on in the game, so dont worry too much. It may however be a good idea to recruit them if there is an outbreak of crime. If it is snowing, try not to recruit them as it will require more fuel to keep everyone warm, and this could make you other survivors sick.

Franko the Trader

Franko will come to your door every few days and offer to trade with you. He overprices everything, meaning it is not worth trading with him unless you are desperate, or you have Katia. He always has some canned food and bandages, and some building materials. This is a good opportunity to dump some excess firearms, as taking too many to a trade location will make them turn hostile. Unfortunately, you cannot kill Franko and take his goods. If it is snowing, he will not accept snow.

Charity

On the rare occasion, some people will come to your door and give you some items for free. These can include food or alcohol. You can still decline the offer, but there is no benefits from doing so.

Asking for Help

Sometimes people will come to your home and ask for your help with a variety of situations. Agreeing to help will mean you lose that survivor until the next morning, but you are rewarded with a morale boost and in some cases a reward. For declining, your survivors wull lose some morale. A few examples of these situations are:

Militia are hunting a thief. If you agree to rat out your neighbour, you will be heavily rewarded, but lose morale.
Some children will ask for medication for their mother. If you say yes, you will get a morale boost and trigger a second request a few days later. This time they will ask for some canned food. Again, this will result in a morale boost, but no other rewards.
A woman need help protecting her home from some shady looking men. Accepting will reward you will a morale boost and some ammunition.
There are more scenarios that are not listed...

It is possible to avoid any daily visits by ending that day before around 11am. The visits usually happen at around midday, but you can choose to not answer the door.

Survival Tactics

Efficient Scavenging

This is a tactic that helps you make the most of your scavenging runs. When you first get to a location, search everything you can that isn't private property, except for the lootable pile closest to the entrance of the map. Fill up your pack with everything you can, and dump it into the first pile. Keep doing this until you have searched everything and moved it into the first pile. Then, if you want to, steal whatever you can without being noticed and put it into that pile as well. This means that instead of checking each pile whenever you get there, you only have to look in the first pile.

With this method, you wont waste scavenging runs bringing back 2 components, or half a stack of wood. By efficiently scavenging, you make the most out of each run, and you get a better idea of what is left in each location. Then on your next visit bring whatever tools you need to pick any locks or dig through rubble, and completely clean out the location. This helps especially if some areas are blocked off due to fighting or snow.

Food Conservation

It is important to conserve food as much as possible. One tip for this is to only feed your survivors one the second day that they are very hungry. This moves them back into the hungry category, leaving you another 3 days until they are almost starving again. This has very little affect on their movement, and conserves as much food as possible. Also, cook as much food as possible on each set of cooking you do. This is because, especially early game, bandits cannot loot the food if it's cooked, but will steal the raw meat and water needed to cook it.

Self Sufficiency:
It is a lot of help being self-sufficient in regards to food. If you make sure to use your resources responsibly, it isnt hard to do. Simply make sure you have at least 2 small animal traps, and a garden very quickly. As you get into the late game, it becomes hard to find food on your scavenging runs, so it is important to become self-sufficient as quickly as possible.

Early-game you should try to grab a fair amount of fertilizer. Maybe one stack or two if you can find enough for a full stack. Fertilizer is used in small animal traps - one fertilizer for two raw food, and to get vegetables and herbs in your garden. You can even convert raw food into fertilizer, meaning that you can eventually have an infinite amount of food. Make sure you leave your door closed when your traps are active. Anton can shorten the time it takes for your traps to produce food.

Combat

Combat is what can heavily affect your scavenging. Only try to attack enemies if you can backstab them, and only do this with a knife, and using Roman or Arica, or the Police Officer as they are the only survivors that have a 100% chance of killing with a backstab. If you do not have a knife or firearm with you, do not engage any enemies, unless you use the ladder technique.

The ladder technique only works in some scenarios. If you are up against one enemy and he has a gun, whereas you are only armed with a shovel or crowbar, you can kill him or scare enough so he wont attack without getting wounded. Simply make him alert to your presence, then make him follow you to a ladder. Climb up the ladder before he shoots you. It is safer to just run back and forth at the top of the ladder to get his attention. As he climbs up the ladder, simply knock him back down. After a few knocks he will give up, and you can choose to kill him or spare him. This technique only works in a few locations, and only if there is one enemy.

Other than that, try to avoid combat, as it will usually end in your survivor being wounded or depressed. Roman is barely affected by depression, especially when killing soldiers, so when raiding the military outpost and other military areas, he is recommended.

Keeping Up the Morale

Morale can have a devastating effect on your survivors. Their level of depression effects what they can do and how efficient they are at doing.
Content:
This means that your survivors are, to some degree, happy. If they are content, they are basically slightly less effected by other sources of depression.
Neutral:
Standard level of morale. They react to most situations by becoming sad, but other than that have no other effects. Their efficiency at completing tasks is not affected at all.
Sad:
This is expected, as you are in the middle of a war zone. If your survivors are sad, they dont lose any efficiency, but make sure you keep an eye on them if anything bad happens, like you kill another scavenger or refuse to help someone. This could make them depressed.
Depressed:
If you survivors are depressed, try to limit their activities. Make sure you have someone talk to them, Zlata if possible, or use a guitar. When they are depressed, they will occasionally stop doing a task, saying something along the lines of "Whats the point of all this...", and stop working. This means that they will have to restart the task, which can waste time, especially when you are scavenging at night. Depressed survivors are also likely to become broken, if something bad happens or in some cases if they simply go on a scavenging run.
Broken:
If you have a survivor who is broken, they are pretty much useless for a day. They cannot go scavenging or guard you house at night, and they cant do any work during the day. If a survivor is broken for too long, then he will eventually leave your group.

To combat low levels of morale, make sure you have a supply of coffee and cigarettes to keep people with addictions happy. Make sure to have your survivors talk to each other as soon as they get depressed. Get a guitar to keep people happy, and leave the radio set on a music station. If your survivors get depressed, restrain yourself from robbing people. It is better to have your survivors very hungry than broken.

The Long Haul

Different scenarios will come into effect as you continue to survive.

Winter

Make sure you have at least one heater that is fully upgraded by day 25. If you check your radio, a few days prior the weather channel will warn you that it will get cold. This could easily kill you off if you arent careful. Temperatures in your house will drop to -1 degrees without sufficient heating. Make sure you have a radio built so you will be prewarned for the winter, but it generally starts to snow around day 25. Start saving up wood and other fuel resources at least a week prior. Winter will last around 10-15 days, but it could cripple your entire team for the rest of the game.

The hatchet is a must have tool for the winter. You can use it to break up bits of furniture to get wood and fuel. This means that if you are in the winter, and you cant find any wood on your scavenging hunts, you can bring your hatchet and hack up any furniture. It also means that if you are desperate, you can break up furniture in your house (beds, chairs, etc.) to get fuel so you can survive.

Winter Starts
In some games you will get a winter start. This is usually compensated by Marin, the Handyman, who will help you get the most out of your building materials. This means that you can still have some crafting stations set up before the winter ends.

Outbreak of Crime

An outbreak of crime is very bad. During this time, you are much more likely to be raided. This means you should have at least two people on guard each night, and in some cases not even go out. It is usually every second night you are raided, so plan your scavenging hunts carefully. Make sure you have enough weapons for each of your survivors at home, so you dont end up with half your group severely wounded.

Increase in Fighting

At some periods the fighting between the rebels and the army will increase. This will not affect your home or when you are scavenging, but will result in some areas being blocked off. You will be unable to search these locations until the fighting dies down again, usually between 10 and 15 days. Make sure you scavenge carefully, because if too many good locations get blocked off you will run out of food. Make sure you scavenge efficiently and save up any trade items so you wont get taken by surprise. The radio will alert you when this happens, but you wont be given any time to prepare.

End Game

The game finishes at around day 40. If you have a radio, they will anounce that International Intervention will soon occur, or something along those lines. This means you have nearly survived the game. After the game finishes, you learn what happens to your survivors after the war. There is not much you can do to prepare for this, as there is no total score tallied up, the end simply comes. Game Over, you win.