Mod:DUST Survival Simulator/Another Survivor

This page describes a char build for Fallout: DUST, aimed at staying in the Mojave, rather than being focused on escaping it.

Characteristics
This build has a very strong focus on survival by means of quickly maximizing the value provided by food and drink, and being able to sleep off RADs, health and limb damage, while at the same time being an acceptable gun combatant early on with a maximum of Skill Points available for distribution.

It is, however, flimsy, and requires even more attention to inventory management and combat tactics. Also, this build does not rely on chems, booze, Skill books or magazines, so Skill Point distribution does not take these into account.

While aimed at players interested in an extended stay in Fallout: DUST's world, this build also provides a solid base for players following DUST's one and only quest: Escape the Mojave.

You might want to check the Fallout: DUST Hardcore Mode and SPECIAL articles before reading on.

Difficulty
This character is played on Very Hard, with Hardcore Mode enabled. Fist time players probably want to lower the level of potential frustration by lowering the Difficulty to Normal - at least initially.

Mods used
The following mods were used during playing this build:
 * Fallout DUST Tunneler Detection Fix
 * Fallout DUST GRA Ammo Fix
 * Missing Ammo Recipes
 * DUST Pre-Order Fixer

Starting location
You will be able to survive starting at any location DUST provides, but the recommended starting location for your first experience with this build is one of the Shacks, more specifically Shack (7).

Tag Skills

 * Guns
 * Lockpick
 * Survival

Traits

 * Skilled
 * Trigger Discipline

Progression
Monitoring your XP approaching level 2 is essential, since you will need to severely RAD poison yourself in order to gain the Irradiated Beauty perk.

A good strategy is to get the final XP bump from picking a lock in Ghost Town, after you took a long dive into one of the irradiated toilets to bring your RADs to >=800.

You will need food to survive sleeping yourself down to a less detrimental RAD level in one hour intervals. Prepare ahead of time, and keep drinking from toilets between your naps, until you're comfortable with your RAD level. The Survivor can sleep off damage and radiation, can repair gear with almost any other remotely similar gear, can cook any meal, gets the most out of any food and drink, lockpick up to Average difficulty locks and is a pretty good shot.

The only remaining threat, apart from all the ones you can't drink or sleep away now is hunger.

Example load out at level 12
Load out largely depends on 2 factors:
 * Available apparel and weaponry, including considerations about availability of ammunition
 * Balancing defensive and offensive capabilities against available skills and SPECIAL statistics, especially with respect to carry weight

Default Load Out
Total Carry Weight capacity: 85 lbs, 37,5 lbs used, leaving 47.5 lbs for ammunition, aid and other items.
 * Weapons (main + supplemental: 15.5 lbs w/o ammo)
 * Main weapons:
 * 9mm Pistol with Scope and Extended Magazine
 * Marksman Carbine (or the All-American)
 * Supplemental weapons:
 * Makeshift Crossbow with Homemade Crossbow Scope
 * Weathered 10mm Pistol with Extended Mags, Laser Sight and Silencer
 * Apparel (9 lbs)
 * Backpack Medium
 * Hunter's Duster
 * Masked Hood
 * Bedroll Kit (10 lbs.) -- Even without the Roughin It! perk, the Bedroll Kit is useful, as it allows sleeping off negative effects of food or drink, like STR penalties for eating raw Meat anywhere. Provided Survival is high enough to outweigh the starvation increase during sleeping.
 * Crafting Kit (1 lb)
 * Hot Plate (2 lbs)

Critical Chance focused loadout
Due to the changed damage modifiers in DUST; the ability to quickly take out opponents when forced into combat is cruical.

Increasing the chances for a Critical Hit by using apparel and weaponry increasing the Critical Chance Multiplier can help mitigating the rather flimsy and vulnerable nature of this build. Keeping weaponry in excellent shape is crucial, since weapon condition has a large impact on Critical Chance.
 * Lucky for a Critical Chance Multiplier of +2.5
 * Marked Beast Face Helmet for a Critical Chance Multiplier of +2
 * Blackjack Duster for LCK +1
 * Ratslayer for a Critical Chance Multiplier of +5
 * Sniper Rifle for a Critical Chance Multiplier of +2, especially considering its high base damage of 45 and low weight at only 3 lbs with the Sniper Rifle Carbon Fiber Parts.

The formula for the final Critical Chance as per the G.E.C.K. is as follows:
 * $$\mbox{Critical chance} \times \mbox{Weapon Condition}$$

With Critical Chance calculated as:
 * $$LCK \times~(\text{Sum of Critical Chance Multipliers})=\text{Critical chance}$$

But then, there's nothing like the Marksman Carbine with its high damage, and low AP cost (apart from DUSTs All-American, which, while very hard to obtain, is about the most devastating gun the Survivor can hold)