[quote=“LoneTophat, post:5838, topic:42”]Would a melee weapon reduce my combat effectiveness, if focusing on unarmed? I’m avoiding firearms like the plague because of how loud they are.
How much does arm encumbrance effect unarmed characters?
Any other great tips?[/quote]
Unarmed and weapon skills can work together quite well. Some rare weapons combine them - look out for punch daggers, they’re amazing for characters built for unarmed. I recommend getting unarmed to 5 to anyone who wants to fight hulks in melee, even if using weapons. Brawling’s Power Hit (“sends x reeling”) works with weapons.
Firearms are good as backup weapons. When a zombear starts tearing your face off, you whip out a pistol and survive instead of dying. Or you get ambushed by a shocker and you have no wood/plastic weapon on your person. Try to always have a strong loaded pistol in your inventory.
Arm encumbrance only affects ranged attacks. If you’re going full melee, there’s no reason not to wear 2 bindles, 2 briefcases and 2 shopping bags at once.
A great tip that makes early character much more survivable: avoid fighting the first day, instead find an “unprotected” house, tear down the sheets from the windows, cut them up and grind tailoring. Grind it until you can make hoodies - reinforced hoodies make great early game armor, storage AND clothing (warmth). You can make a wooden needle at lvl 1 fabrication and load it from threads made by disassembling strings from window (don’t disassemble rags, it takes an hour per rag).
At lvl 3 you can make hoodies, trenchcoats and cargo shorts. You can get 47 storage with 0 encumbrance. If you find a messenger bag and a tool belt that’s +20+8, for a total of 75 storage with 0 encumbrance and a passable armor on torso.
