I started a game with 5 dodging skill, first I got ballroom dancer profession (+2 dodging) and then I spent 2 points on dodging (+3 dodging)
I started in a pitiful village with 3 houses, so with 0.2 item spawn rate there wasn’t much armour or weapons. So I beat up a bunch of furniture until I got a 2 by 4.
Later, some douchebag npc without any weapons (the best thing I could see on her was motorcycle helmet) tried to tell me to leave before she killed me, but I had a 2 by 4 and I was having none of that. I was terrified of npcs, because almost all of my games ended when an npc walked up to me and shot me in the face (figuratively and literally) so I fought indirectly, putting down splintered woods and lighting them on fire with a lighter (which I ironically acquired from another npc) when she was standing on them.
Then when she threw a fit and started punching a nearby dog which was watching us fight, I saw an opportunity, so I charged her with the 2 by 4 and she didn’t do any damage to me at all, sometimes she hit me, but those times it said “she hit you but did no damage” and most of the time it said I dodged her attacks.
What happened? I assume the npc had high melee and unarmed combat skill because she had no weapons, but is 5 dodging skill really that high? Will it make me invincible in 1v1 melee fights? What about even more dodging skill? 6, 7, 8?
what happened is you assumed she had good melee and unarmed combat. sometimes NPCs just spawn without a weapon, the fact they also had crappy gear means they had a bad roll of the gear dice. 0 unarmed means punches do barely anything.
If she killed the dog quickly perhaps she had good melee skills, but simply because an NPC is unarmed doesn’t mean they have the skills and stats to fight like that. I’ve seen plenty of NPCs spawn with no weapons and miserable stats for hand to hand. Level 5 of a skill is also something about the level of what you’d expect of a reasonably trained professional, if I recall correctly. They can’t measure up to a master, but they can hold their ground pretty well. And skill levels are pretty important.
I would expect a NPC with actual close combat skills/stats and a decent weapon would inflict a lot more pain than that one did. And as far as zombies go, typically it’s their special attacks and pain that make you die, and becoming tired won’t help you, so even normal zeds, if there are enough of them, will be able to take you out, in no small part due to their special grab attack and the limited number of dodges you get per turn. Acid or electricity zombies are, as usual, extremely dangerous.
But do try and befriend unarmed NPC’s. One of the rare few that I spawned with had a whooping 8 unarmed and helped me destroy everything once he taught me everything.
5 is better than you can train to against most zombies, so it’s pretty decent… at least against zombies, which can barely hit the broad side of a barn from the inside. It will help some against migos, but they will still put the hurt on you. The nastier zombies (like the Feral Predator) will still hit you, too.
Hulks (and I’m assuming both brutes, the nightstalker, and the wrestler) can still smash you silly. Even with 13 dodge (maybe around 9 when you take into account encumbrance) my survivor can still be sent flying. Also corrosives will still acid your survivor up, and yeah definitely the predator. I think the zombie snapper can be accurate as well. And bio-operators.
Yeah, this. NPCs are random as crap. I have had wandering NPC spawns turned off since 2014 or so. Because I got tired of getting shot in the face by some asshole.
OP:
[bad joke] Sounds like your character is ready to start a Dance, Dance Revolution in the Zombie Apocalypse.[/bad joke]
No szara, she only landed 1 measly punch on the dog for 2 damage, which was hilarious.
So far, I understand 5 dodging is not overpowered but still very good. I set up a base in a farm, so I don’t meet many zombies, just mooses, dogs, wolves, and for some reason a lot of rattlesnakes. And yes, end transmission, I’ll be ready to start a dance, dance revolution in the zombie apocalypse when I set up a ballroom. The problem is, no npcs want to dance with me
Oh well then for sure she had pretty bad melee and it’s not surprising you beat her down with ease.
Good melee NPCs can be nightmarish. I ran into a slave fighter not too long ago with a baseball bat and she absolutely slaughtered me and my halligan bar.
