Hi, first time here as a member but have been playing off and on sense before dda. I wanna know some of your favorite builds to start off with.
I normaly start with 10str, 10dex. with quick and tough traits with truthteller, ugly, and forgetful with skill rust off. also with 1 in dodge, melee, mechanicics, and survival.
I’m noob but what I do is:
Strength:9
Dexterity:9
Intelligence:14
Perception:8
Fast Healer
Fast Reader
Light Step
Parkour Expert
Quick
Robust Genetics
Far-Sighted
Forgetful (I have skill rust off too, so I feel like I’m cheating :D)
Insomniac
Near-Sighted
Truth-Teller (No NPC, also feel like cheating in a way)
Ugly (Same)
Profession:
Shower Victim [-1] (A bonus point, if compared to Unemployed)
No skills
#I usually keep changing minor stuff, like putting Android, changing jobs[I haven’t had experience with the newer ones], Bad Traits, and stuff.
If you play with NPCs and skill rust off, the negative traits don’t really do anything, so why not simply add more points for character creation?
Anyway, I usually start with 9 points (replacing Truth Teller/Ugly with 3 extra points), Chain smoker, with Robust Genetics as the only trait and no skills. Str 10 Dex 8 Int 11 Per 11 in stats.
Tend to reroll often, though.
Good point with the option of just giving more points. I’m just lazy. I find starting off with a fighting skill gives me better survival . also 1 in survival allows me to make a nice knife spear.
Here is my build 12 12 12 12 in all stats.
I take night vision, pack mule, and fast healer. For traits I just found a wonderful combo that doesnt really effect me that much (12 points), then I take the Prostitute class (4 free points for a harder start). No points in skills. I learn all my skills through the game.
Yea that sounds solid. My current guy has similar stats but with quick and tough traits. dealing with threats is more hard, i have recently been trying night raids and to my surprise it works better than i thought. but how do i get a makeshift funnel to collect rain water? I (a)pply it then (d)rop a empty bottel below it. but nothing happens.
Str 8, Dex 8, Int 20, Per 7
Good Traits: Fast Learner, Robust Genetics
Bad Traits: Heavy Sleeper, Insomniac, Jittery, Lightweight, Trigger Happy, Truth Teller, Wool Allergy
Profession: Hobo (-4 points, pants, bottle of vodka, matches, pocket knife, strong alcohol addiction)
This build prioritizes intelligence while still leaving the other scores at a decent level for combat and early survival. Of course, early survival is made even more difficult thanks to alcohol withdrawal (which is a nasty combo severe morale drop, depression penalties, common cold/flu, hallucinations, and the Jittery trait above), but if you can get over those first few days you’ll be able to do just about anything.
The amount of water collected depends on the severity of rainfall and the tool used. It takes quite a while to collect water with a makeshift funnel, as in hours or so.
Strength 7
Dexterity 12
Intelligence 13
Perception 12
Fast Learner
Insomniac
Jittery
Meat Intolerance
Optimist
Poor Hearing
Robust Genetics
Truth Teller
Chain Smoker
Dex 12 for +0 melee
Perception 12 for +0 ranged
I like Intelligence, so 13.
Insomniac for messing up the sleep cycle, Meat Intolerance for not eating cooked meat all the time (cooked wild vegetables instead) Truth Teller pretty much for min-maxing… even if I played NPCs on, it’d still be min-maxing trait, I think.
This build is for slow-plays mostly, so no points on skills.
Strength is my dump stat.
I like to hit the Random Character, to try and make myself use new styles I never consider.
Mad Moxi, The Survivor
Str:12
Dex:10
Int:8
Per:8
Traits: Packmule, Quick, Gourmand, Light Eater, Night Vision. Bad Traits: Poor Hearing, Heavy Sleeper, Forgetfull (rust off), ugly, truth teller, glass jaw
All skills learnt in game. usually walk around with a nail bat and beat the living shit out of things. keep my gear in a shopping cart. i later attach an engine to the cart and use it for fun
Just a quick question but why do you all like intel so much? After about 12 or so its becomes worthless with skill rust on it does nearly NOTHING aside from crafting success chance and CBM chance (which can be improved by skill) and at 12 its fine anyways.
13 strength
10 (or 11, not sure) dex
9 int
12 (or 13) perception
Well, for me, I max out intel for exactly those reasons: crafting and CBMs. Really cheeses me off when I lose rare items. Moreover, outside of skill books, the electronics and first aid skills take much too long to raise at very high levels (20+) even with Fast Learner, making the high intel a great time saver for getting nearly flawless CBM installation earlier.
Speaking of books, you forget about faster reading times. Mostly just a convenience when learning from skill books, but a great boon in building morale quickly (and thus, a great technique for faster skill training, exempting just First Aid and Electronics really).
I have several builds, here’s one of my most successful recently.
Martial arts build:
Str 18, Dex 12, Int 5, Per 4 (IntCap skill rust)
Good traits are Quick, Tough, Self Defense (Krav Maga)
Bad traits are Addictive Personality, Heavy Sleeper, Poor Hearing, Smelly, Trigger Happy, Truth Teller, and Ugly (I do have NPCs, but I usually just murder them for their stuff).
Profession is Hobo.
This character can (and will, with 4 perception) step on landmines and survive, the first couple days are pretty bad but once he gets going the 18 Str lets him murder zombie brutes without getting a scratch, he can also drag some of the wrecked cars around if I pull a couple pieces off first, which is really useful.
It’s quite hard to get high skills in anything but unarmed because he learns really slow, but he’s extremely good at murdering hordes of zombies with his bare hands.
With this build I’ve managed to survive a full 72 days, although on average I generally survive about 10 days. I got lucky that time. 
Profession: Chain Smoker
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 12
Intelligence: 8
Perception: 10
Positive Traits: Fleet Footed, Night Vision, Parkour Expert, Quick, And Robust Genetics
Negative Traits: Addictive Personality, Chemical Imbalance, Farsighted, Nearsighted, Trigger Happy, Wool Allergy
This build is designed first and foremost to allow me to move as quickly as possible, letting me stay away from enemies for as long as possible. The main intent of the high strength and dexterity is that it allows me to be accurate with the most powerful bow in the game, although the fact that it allows me to survive melee combat fairly well is a nice perk.