Do Not Despair Survival Guide

*"The guide that will give you the low down on surviving in Pogoren without getting overwhelmed by utter despair. This guide is a good read for new players and best suited for those who have tried the game at least once."*

## Survivors Roster

There **is** such thing as a useless survivor as whilst they all have use depending on the situation and needs of your group of survivor, there are some characters with abilities that are not as useful as others (e.g. morale resistant survivors) or are better done by someone else (good scavengers are useless when you already have Boris/Marko, stealing is stupidly easy because apparently you open doors and fridges without making any noise beyond 1 meter). The most useful survivors are, therefore, the ones who save you materials or directly allow you to get more

Here is a quick breakdown:

* Anton (a.k.a. the Old Ratter)

* 8-slot backpack, can't consume alcohol to reduce sadness, resistance to sadness (useful for crimes), testing confirms he runs slower compared to youth survivors (walk speed unaffected) and isn't as useful at guarding shelter. He's more efficient than other characters and in trapping rats (due to his backstory – hiding in the sewers and catching rats for food – and possibly also because he is good mathematician). This trait is much more useful if you can combine it with Katia's trading boost to sell the rat meat for additional resources.

* Arica (a.k.a. the Pickpocket)

* 10-slot backpack, smoker, almost silent while doing anything while scavenging, can run quietly behind NPCs for swift backstabs. Useful for players who wish to steal without provoking NPCs and neutralizing hostile maps with melee weapons only (Rambo-esque).

* Boris (a.k.a. the Mule)

* 17-slot backpack, smoker, moves slower (about -20%), excellent fighter just shy of Roman (1-2 more hitpoints than all other survivors, deals slightly higher melee damage than everybody else except Roman). Can take out even the most dangerous maps gun ablaze when equipped with helmet & vest. Decent for all situations except for Sniper Alley, Old Town and stealthy infiltrations.

* Bruno (a.k.a. Gordon Ramsay, saves materials when cooking, brewing and medicine manufacturing (?)

* 10-slot backpack, smoker, consumes less water when cooking, less water & sugar when brewing, less filters & firewood when distilling and less materials when manufacturing meds (reason unknown; cooks are not supposed to make meds). Helps a lot in the early game, and becomes game breaker once you get your meds and alcohol industry up and running. Also a decent guard, so he can run the shelter in daytime and guard it at night. **Survivor dream team**

* Cveta

* 8-slot backpack, gains more happiness (content) when helping children's food/medicine request (bonus might affect all present survivors, needs more testing). Also appears to help other survivors heal more rapidly from sickness and wounds (needs more testing).

* Emilia

* 10-slot backpack, drinks coffee, lawyer skill makes her view everything objectively (such as killing thugs or stealing), nevertheless still gets sad if you kill a harmless NPC. Also can use bed even if she's not tired, wounded or sick. Below-par scavenger (small backpack) and one of the poorest guards & fighters. Useless overall, and worse than Cveta in some degree (she drains through coffee supplies while Cveta doesn't).

* Katia

* 12-slot backpack, drinks coffee, always use her when trading with NPCs as she can always talk a better deal than other survivors do. Can literally strip traders off. Also a decent scavenger with her medium-sized backpack. Katia, Bruno along with Marin will make any playthrough much easier. A must-have for divine playstyles (abhors even the most minor of crimes and only survives morally). **Survivor dream team**

* Marin (a.k.a. the Master Artisan)

* 10-slot backpack, drinks coffee, consumes less resources when building, upgrading and crafting EVERYTHING (about 20% discount). A team that includes him can upgrade the bench in D-day (even after forging a Crowbar and Shovel, which is necessary in shelter clearance), patch all shell holes in D+1, rush door upgrade in D+2, and get most basic facilities standing in D+5 (all in the fastest record). Teams that include him can even consider to craft excessive resources into advanced items (e.g. Knives) to sell for a better price, regardless if Katia is present or not.

* Marko (no addiction and large backpack, nothing comes better; a.k.a. the Workhorse)

* 15-slot backpack, no addiction, can carry a lot during scavenging and moves at normal speed (unlike Boris), scavenge loot spots faster (about 20%). At par in all generic combat, guarding and consoling duties, thus can be taken as the ultimate jack-of-all-trades. The only, slight drawback is that he doesn't know how to play guitar.

* Pavle (a.k.a. the Birdman)

* 12-slot backpack, no addiction, moves faster (can be used for running into an occupied building, stealing while being detected and running out without taking damage, *unless they have guns*). Unfortunately, he can't scavenge as well as Marko or Boris and is unable fight as well as Roman, Boris or Arica. Fortunately he is decent as a guard during the night.

* Roman (a.k.a. Shoot First Talk Later)

* 10-slot backpack, smoker, proficient in all kinds of combat, i.e. faster aim (attack marker fills up faster, about 20%), higher damage (20% bonus) and better guard (will hardly be wounded or lose defends, even during the crime rampage). Also receives less morale penalty for murders (does not affect other survivors). However, he often beat up other survivors when depressed. A must-have for players who aim to wipe out hardcore maps (e.g. Ruined Villa Deserters Variant, possibly the toughest one in game) guns ablaze.

* Zlata (a.k.a. Zooey Deschanel)

* 12-slot backpack, provides team morale boost cause she is so sweet and cheerful (all survivors revert to normal from sadness faster), better at prep-talking survivors, generates more happiness to all survivors when playing guitar (needs more testing) and happiness is the most expensive thing in war zones unless you get to kill soldiers and bandits (sometimes you don't as scenarios generate randomly, sometimes maps spawns as good guy scenarios). Decently useful for war criminal playstyles (to keep team away from depression, suicides and betrayals), although she apparently cannot twist karma and bring good endings to such players.

## Random Events

* Everyday at 10.00AM (10.10AM the NPC enters the map from the left) the game will load a random event.
* All Random Events can be rerolled by quitting to menu and pressing continue to start the day again.
* Try to open the door and interact with the NPC within a few hours if not they will go off.
* Random Events that take your survivor away for the day has a chance of him/her returning home injured or sick.
* Help from neighbors:

* Awesome neighbors giving you free stuff (eg. some food, a lot of wood, a lot books, etc.). There is no penalty for taking their stuff but they may one day request help from you again in the future so make sure to help them out as it provides happiness to all survivors, bonus happiness if you are helping kids out with Cveta). Denying help to your neighbors when you are able to will cause slight unhappiness to all survivors. (need more testing for when you are not able to)

* Neighbors need help:

* Even awesome neighbors get in trouble sometimes and may request either material help from you (eg. food, medicines) or take one of your survivors away from the rest of the day (returns the next day) to help them out. Note that the survivor talking is the one that will be taken away, so choose the right person to go and best if they have no negative status ailments.

* Looting house/supplies:

* Sometimes there will be a request from an NPC to follow him/her to search abandoned house, loot a rich person's house or steal humanitarian aid supplies or even steal medical supplies aid. Choose wisely as some will give your survivors minor sadness and possible make you an enemy to any rebels on sight or even barred access to hospital as guards attack you on sight (needs more testing).

* Franko the door to door salesman:

* I read many people about how it is not worth to trade with Franko using Katia or not but to me Franko is your savior. He is basically a mule that can carry tons of materials and charge you a fee for it instead of using your survivor a few nights to gather sufficient materials for your home. Always trade with him only what you can spare and also some luxury items that have a high current demand (check out radio section for more details). My recommendation is to always buy as much materials, water and bullets(if you use guns a lot or did not kill the whole Military Outpost) so that you scavengers can focus on more high value items during his/her night out. Do NOT buy bandages, canned food, booze or any medication from Fanko unless you truly need it as he charges extra for these type of items.

* Survivor looking to join:

* A random survivor that might be tired, injured, sick or hungry (or perhaps sad) looking to join your group of survivors. Make sure you have got enough resources to sustain him/her before accepting the request, and only take in valuable survivors. Survivor request event will not happen when you have reached the maximum capacity (4).

* Nothing happens:

* Like it says, nothing happens, continue with your daily chores (normally happens the day after a NPC shows up at your door steps, sometimes lasting 2 or 3 days)

## No survival story is complete without death

* Killing brings about sadness to all your survivors (including those at home).
* The only exemption are killing of the rapist soldier at supermarket, sniper and his soldier buddies at Construction Site and deserting soldiers (these characters reward your survivors with happiness).
* Killing of armed thugs generates a slight amount of sadness (quite harmless, even the thug at the church who killed priest Olek).
* Killing of armed civilian, who is pursuing you (e.g. Bozena in the Semi-Detached House, Emil in the Ruined Villa or Alsekey in the Small Apartment Building) generates sadness to the Scavenger and to the most survivors at home. These civilians won't kill the Scavenger, but will shoot or stab the Scavenger making him/her lethally wounded, and then order him/her to leave.
* Killing of any unarmed person is bad and generates moderate sadness.
* Do NOT kill civilians, if you want them out of your way, you may incapacitate them by attacking them till their hitpoints went low (low damage weapons such as crowbar, pistol, sniper rifle is recommended due to easy damage control), and they will stop attacking and beg for mercy instead. After maiming (or less recommended, killing) guarding civilians (e.g. Bozena, Emil, Alsekey), the unarmed ones will surrender.
* It is absolutely possible for everyone to survive until the end of war without having killed anyone.

## Emotions

* There are 5 levels of emotions: content (happy!), normal (blank as it shows nothing), sad, depression, broken.
* Always try to keep your survivors normal or content as they are less prone to sickness and get better faster from sickness or injuries.
* Feed your survivors addictions whenever possible (every odd day worked well for me, that is, day 3, day 5, day 7, and on...).
* Making your survivors go cold-turkey from their addictions will cause them to be stuck in sad state which can easily slip into depression.
* Books help with happiness by a little and for every 10 books you have, it increases (needs more testing).
* Happiness can be increased with some solid night sleep, feeding them their addiction (coffee/smoke), some booze (always keep some moonshine around, better to trade off pure alcohol as it is worth more than drinking unless that is all you have), music from guitar/radio and helping neighbors or NPCs.
* When your survivors become sad which isn't that bad yet, just stop doing anymore actions that will further cause sadness among your survivors.
* If you continue with acts that will cause unhappiness like stealing, random killing, getting raided without guards, your survivors might fall into depression or get broken. Depressed survivors will not do actions properly when asked to and broken survivors do not function at all.
* Once a survivor becomes depressed, you can select another survivor that isn't depressed and a speech bubble action will appear above the depressed survivor (best of all Zlata), clicking on it will cause the 2 survivors to talk for a few hours as he/she tries to comfort the depressed survivor.
* There is a chance that the depressed survivor will or will not get happier (from depressed to sad).
* If situation does not improve, the survivor will become broken and by then, the character will probably die or leave in a few days.

## Weapons & Protective Gears

* You can only equip 1 melee weapon, 1 ranged weapon or 1 melee and ranged weapon at a time, but you can always bring more than one in your pack.
* Always remember to bring bullets along with firearms.
* You can backstab/ambush with firearms only, which will turn turn the attack into a butt ram/pistol whip (actual damage of such attacks are unknown and pending for test).
* You will be equipped with the weapon with most damage , you can toggle to a different weapon by clicking on backpack (for instance changing from hatchet to knife for more silent kill, or from scoped assault rifle to shotgun for closer range. The chosen weapons can return to default weapons after scavenging, however..
* If you are carrying multiple weapons, it will be sorted by its damage/effectiveness (as per the order below, excluding helmet and military vest).

Melee:
* Crowbar - Used to bust locks. Can instakill in ambushes
* Shovel - good for cleaning rubble, acceptable for killing, instant kill unarmored NPC with backstab/sneak attack.
* Knife - trusty knife for killing any target, can instantly killed armored NPC with backstab/sneak attack with Roman (eventually, Boris and Arica are best melee fighters after Roman).
* Axe - good for making wood and fuel, acceptable for killing, instant kill unarmored NPC with backstab/sneak attack.

Firearms:
* Pistol - not worth wasting your bullet with a pistol, better to trade it off with NPC for more bullets for other guns.
* Shotgun - top choice for close quarter combat, never needing more than 2 bullets to finish off any target (1 for most).
* Assault rifle - good firearm for medium- to long-ranged engages.
* Scoped rifle - good long ranged rifle that can be used to pick off targets from a distance. Fires quietly from cover spots.
* Helmet - slightly reduces bullet and melee damage.
* Military vest - greatly reduces bullet and melee damage (combine with helmet and you can have a chance to reduce some incoming damage to 0).

## Things to do (based on my several successful survivals)

* Identify your survivors pros and addictions (set who will scavenge, guard and sleep)
* My rule of thumb is to always feed survivors 1 meal on alternate days starting from day 3 (5, 7, 9, etc.) and when they are sick, wounded, depressed or worse. You can feed them daily if you have plenty of food, to keep them from getting any unhappiness due to being hungry.
* Day 1: Collect all items in your house that isn't locked.

* Build a bed, rain water collector and a filter (if you didn't find any).
* Any sick/injured should be sleeping in bed if you start with 3 survivors or more (if 2, you need to work).
* Clear any rubble until the day ends.
* Priority for the first night will be food, meds (if you need it) followed by materials (coffee, herbs, leaves are not priority for now, come back another day for them).

* Day 2: Make another bed if you have more than 2 survivors (number of beds equal number of survivors -1 unless you have wood surplus).
* Day 3: Make a stove, upgrade your workshop.
* Day 4: Make a trap to get meat, make metal workshop, make crowbar if possible and open all locked containers at home.
* Day 5: Make radio.
* Day 6: Make another trap.
* Day 10: Make heater if radio says getting colder, upgrade stove (can be earlier if materials available).
* Day 15: Make herb farm if sufficient materials.
* Day 16: Upgrade workshop.
* Day 17: Upgrade herb farm and start farming.
* Day 20: Make sure workshop, heater, stove, metal workshop are fully upgraded (exception for metal workshop as final upgrade only grants defensive luxuries which are not required).
* Day 23: Reinforced door should be up by now if not sooner.
* Day 30: Game should be ending in a few days for some types of playthrough. If not, just hang in for 2 more weeks to end (most playthroughs don't last after 40 or 45 days).
* Armchair, moonshine still, guitar and herbal workshop are all luxury items which you can easily win the game without, but nice to have if you have the materials to make and upkeep them (except guitar & armchair).
* Everything else in between is purely up to you and the situation you are facing.

## Tips & Tricks (and some abuse)

* Do NOT empty all the cabinets/drawers in your home. Rare items such as electrical parts, and high value items such as meds, bandages, food, and even fuel can be left until needed for use, especially until you're certain your shelter can be properly guarded at night.
* Always leave one unwanted item (eg. 1x water) out in the open. This is because when you get raided, there is a higher chance for your survivors at home to get injured or sick if no items are stolen by the raiders/looters. I suspect this is an internal game mechanism that must balance item lost to survivors taking a penalty ratio (like giving items to raiders so they don't harm you and getting harm if you don't give the raiders anything) ATTENTION: THIS EXPLOIT NO LONGER WORKS AT GAME NEWEST VERSION! ( YOU CANNOT STORE ITEMS IN HOUSE TO PROTECT THEM FROM RAIDING)
* Do NOT leave anything that is expensive or of high value out in the open as it can be stolen (even with people guarding) during the night as raiders/looters will steal anything under the sun including materials, food, weapons including guns, even snow... If you are not using the stash trick, have your scavenger take some of the extra valuable items with him/her as you scavenge at night.
* Fear not if you take too much damage, die or make a mistake while scavenging during the night. You can Alt-F4 (or force shutdown the game in anyway) before the night ends or screen fades and press continue in the menu to start the day and night again. Do note that you will have to redo what you did during the day again... this will result in all random events to reload again. *Alternativelly:* You can back up your save file (find in C:/User/UserName/AppData/Roaming/11bitstudios) before going to attack Military Outpost etc.
* You always start the day early in the morning when pressing continue from menu and each time you start the day, the game rolls the outcome of the night such as getting raided, who got injured/sick or even what got stolen. You can go back to the menu and press continue if you want to reroll the outcome but you are limited to about 2 or 3 outcomes only. Choose whichever is more favorable to you.
* Sadness is everywhere during war but thankfully there is plenty of hidden happiness in Pogoren. To get some happiness for all your survivors, you can donate medicines (trade 1 medicine item while receiving nothing) to the hospital doctor, help your neighbors, help the hungry homeless (give 1x any food and 1x diamond and pure alcohol and happiness), kill rapist soldier at supermarket, kill snipers at construction site, free captives at brothel, free prisoner at hotel and more (After surviving several playthroughs, I am sure there is more to discover).
* Do NOT give up if your survivors start to die. As long as you have the basic needs, the surviving survivors addiction available and booze, they will pull through. Let them feast and drink then sleep the sadness away with a couple of nights of solid sleep. Less survivors also mean less food/fuel consumption which can be good in certain situations. Depending on your playthrough, you will always get new survivors joining you either on day 7. day 14 and so on. Hang in there, hope shines brighten when it is dark!
* Run near an NPC (then hide in the shadows if available to hide or backstab) to attract them to that location as it is a great way to break them away from their current position or patrol path.
* During winter, try to put at least 4+ fuel in the heater (upgraded heater would most efficient) to keep the temperature around 10+. This is especially important if you have any survivor that is slightly sick or worse as they might die instantly over night by freezing to death. (Heater position and number of heaters does not seem to matter as it is purely reliant on the amount of fuel being burnt at any point of time.)
* Always make water whenever possible (except during winter as it cost more), at least once a day when start the morning. This is because components are aplenty in Pogoren and does not fluctuate in price. Whereas water keeps you alive and prices can go up making it more valuable. On a normal day 4x water gets you 6x or more components which is already worth it.
* Do NOT give in to the survivors addiction. Feed them their addictions every 3 days (2 days if a lot of sadness is lingering around your home). It is also sufficient to just provide smokers with 1 smoke each time instead of 3 (if you have 3 smokers, they will each use 1 cigarette automatically if you have 3; coffee drinker only needs 1 coffee each time) and seems to generate the same amount of happiness to them.
* Who needs the Internet when you got a working radio! Make sure to listen to the radio every few days and if possible, always tune it to the classical station when you start the morning to keep everyone a little happier. News from the radio helps keep you informed such as violent raids (put more guards up), getting colder leading to snow (gives you time to make sure your heater and fuel is ready), peacekeeping force incoming (playthrough ending in 2 weeks or a few days), etc.

## True Pogoren Survival Stories

Story 1.
It was a Start with Winter playthrough with Marin, Boris and Emilia. It is hard to start with Winter around as the temperature is low and you fall sick easily. With food and fuel as a priority, it was not an easy task for Boris even with his 17 backpack slots. Couple with the cold weather, constant raids did not help either as what little I have left is easily stolen away without a weapon. It was a tough first week but food and fuel became sufficient and a knife was made to try keep the household safe. But the knife was not meant to be as even it was stolen by 8 after never ending raids. To top things off, Emilia's slight sickness festered into a full fledged sickness with Boris and Marin joining in with slight sickness. The cold was getting to all my survivors. With sufficient supplies, I tried to sleep off their lingering sickness with 2 days of staying home. To my shock, Emilia froze to death on Day 10 even with the temperature at 6... as sadness piled on from her death, Boris started to fall sick too. It was not looking good with supplies starting to drop, so I sent Marin out to scavenge which Boris rested. It would only get worse as Marin returns home to find a frozen Boris. Apparently, additional fuel to keep the heat up around 8 degrees was not sufficient. The toll on Marin was immense as he watched his two survivors die to the coldness, he slips into depression. I busted out all the supplies for him, keeping him fed daily with canned food and coffee. By day 13, it did not seem to work still but a familiar voice at the door brought hope. It was Franko and he had with him a nice bottle of moonshine which I traded what little of the meds and meat I have to get the moonshine. Marin hit the hay after drowning his sorrows in a bottle of moonshine. To my amazement, he pulled through and by day 14, he was no longer depressed. To top things off, there was a knock on the door and it was Marko... Well the rest is history as more survivors joining the group and the game ending at about day 32 with 4 survivors including Marin. It was a hard game which I thought Marin would surely die since he was depressed and alone with no one to talk to in the dead of winter but miracles happen and he pulled through. There is always hope and make sure to play based on situation such as knowing who should rest and scavenge when needed and what to trade for during hard times.
There is so much more to discover in this game and I hope they come out with more content.

Story 2.
Start in summer, it's not hard for Marko, Bruno and Pavle to gathering and build up things. Beds, mechanic workshop, stove, trap and we have enough wood to fill holes of the shelter. Therefore, lots of raid but we did not lose our supplies. Things goes on and when Boris comes, I have a little feelings that we will make it. In a hunger for material, Boris got killed by unwarned soldiers in the warehouse. Marko decided to take a revenge, 3 asshole soldiers were killed and we took to the shelter weapons and armor. The next nights, fully equipped, Marko goes for the City Hospital. A man shot and Marko killed him in return, to my sudden, Marko could not run away and got shot into his head. Bruno and Pavle were upset but luckily, Katia came bringing little hope. Too much dead and we do not want anymore to die out there but food was tight and people kept getting hurt hunting for foods. Things got worse when the winter came and we kept getting stolen. I think sleeping in bed all night may recover those people in sick and wound. Robbed again, Katia had to go out find woods or all will die frozen. Arrive the next morning, Katia broken finding 2 corpse. It was day 30 when I desepately tried any thing to help her but nothing worked. You know how hopeless it feels when a survivor knocking the door asking to join but lonely Katia could not even get up to open the door. The next day, Katia could get up but she was so sick and lethally wounded that she could not eat anything. The survivor came the previous day did not come back, maybe she already frozen somewhere outside. Day 32, wounded, sick and in-depression Katia killed herself. The radio said that peacemakers were coming but Katia just could not bear it anymore.
FUCK THE WAR

Well done 11Bit! & thanks for reading this guide