I prefer six points but a much bigger cap on the max points at character generation.
I use 28 points, as I like to set up a character who has a range of skills and traits; both positive and negative.
My usual stats are 8, 12, 14, 12. So carrying a lot of gear around is, at first, a great problem for me.
I also play purely biological characters, never bothering with bionics… 
The defaults are fine for me. After i learned the game a bit, i found that a 8/8/8/8 (maybe use a 9 somewhere) char is pretty survivable, so more pts just make my game easier, shorter and less fun.
I’m a fairly new player (finally started playing this game a few weeks ago, this game is amazing) and I just use the default. One reason I love games like this is the challenge, and if you start with a godlike character it kind of diminishes the challenge, eh? Unless you do the “challenge” starts - and I’ve flirted with those but I’m not seasoned enough to handle them yet. But to each his own. One of the may great things about this game is the many different ways you can play it - options are good.
I’m on my 2nd (and current) real play thru (well, 2nd that didn’t end early due to dying miserably - there have been MANY of those) and I’m over a year in. I started with 6 + 1 for the poor college student start, 12 in negative traits. I don’t start with skills - just solid attributes and some positive traits - a solid base for long term growth.
Different strokes for different folks - I don’t feel a need to jump start into the game (with skills) since some of the most fun for me in the game is the early build up - trying to find books - surviving. And if you start with no skills you can have some pretty tight atts and nice positive traits.
My 1st “real” run ended about 30 days in via learning curve when I electrohacked a military bunker and got one shot by the turret inside - whoops. Did similar to my current game but didn’t start as poor student.
My first game I did .4 zombie spawn but otherwise started the same type of character - played that til about 30 days and decided I knew enough to play with normal spawn but it took me several tries to get rolling as the difference between .4 and 1.0 is huge. With .4 you can just waltz into town after spawning and loot away…
My characters tend to be more of the 12 8 12 10 variety - melee heavy but I usually dink with bows/guns as well. No starting skills. Max negative traits. Several positive traits. I’m probably going to move away from mutation though since I have horrible luck with it even with the trait. I have a pile of sweet bionics but I’ve yet to install them in any of my games yet (working on reducing fail chance for the beefier ones in my current game) - and having control over how you “mutate” seems preferable. I could go with more str and int with those 3 pts gladly (ditching the mutation trait).
Dexterity is very important for melee chars.
Not only does it increase your hit chance it also
increases your dodge.
decrease dmg taken from beeing flung by hulks/brutes
know that +hit chance also oincreases critical chance.
A critical hit can stun the enemy.
I’ve always gone with 6 points since it was the default. When I first started playing I thought “Well, if it’s the default that must be the way the game was meant to be played.” and now I’ve just gotten used to it. My characters generally work out fine too, I don’t see why you’d need more unless you use a disadvantageous starting scenario.
^ This is basically my stance on it. 6 is the default, so I’ve never bothered trying to mess with it.
We’re past 200 data points, the chart should now update on its own to show the latest data: click here
So 60% strong for the default. I encourage those playing with the default to check out a character done with e.g. 32 points (and vice-versa, but I assume everybody tried a default 6 points char at least once).
And everyone should do a 1000-point character once, just for the hell of it. XP
I’m wondering if your results are skewed because 22-50 is such a huge area, which inevitably incorporates players like me who use 28 points. Perhaps it would have been better to have had an 11-30 group, or something along those lines.
Just a thought…
I keep the six default points and then set negative and positive trait points to 30. The stats through skills mod is useful for preserving points for more positive traits.
Hmm… So I’m odd in that I max them out to 1000?
I guess that my experiences in this game are not representative of anyone else. Cool.
[quote=“jaked122, post:32, topic:10425”]Hmm… So I’m odd in that I max them out to 1000?
I guess that my experiences in this game are not representative of anyone else. Cool.[/quote]
I did that once. Fun times.
How else am I supposed to get all the skills I could ever need? Play through the game? No. Of course not.
I need to see how obscenely broken a 1000-point game would be with stats through skills…
How about you debug your stats up to 1000 instead and see how that goes?
How about you debug your stats up to 1000 instead and see how that goes?[/quote]
I did a modded mutation for +9001 strength once. It was entertaining.