Mod:DUST Survival Simulator/Gameplay

A list of gameplay topics

Content
Category:DUST Survival Simulator gameplay

Character Builds
Category:DUST Survival Simulator character builds

The Basics
Dehydration and starvation rates are now greatly increased. At the same time, available food and water have been greatly diminished in number. Gathering sufficient food and water will now be a struggle. (Hint: Don't go to bed thirsty. You will die.)
 * Don't Starve

Humans (including the player) are now much more susceptible to wounds due to me increasing the damage multiplier on each body part. You may initially curse me when you first get torn apart by a Tunneler, but you'll thank me when you realize how little ammo you'll have to shoot with. It is suggested that you use Normal difficulty for DUST.
 * Don't Get Shot

Murdering people, eating human flesh, and taking hardcore drugs will not do wonders for your mental health. If you're not careful, you could just go insane. Insane individuals lose 3 Charisma and Intelligence and suffer from debilitating hallucinations and lapses in memory- often waking up somewhere with no memory of how they got there. On the other hand, insane players also have access to unique perks, so it's not all bad. Be aware, though- once you go insane, you never go back.
 * Don't Go Insane

DUST is hard. Really hard. You're probably gonna die a few times. Strategy is incredibly important if you want to survive. You can't just run into battle and rely on your compass to tell you who to kill. You'll need to scope out each situation as it arrives. Craft, crouch, and don't be obsessed with winning every battle.
 * Don't Cry

Atmosphere
The atmosphere of the Mojave has been completely redone. Nearly all weather has either been replaced with that of the Divide or edited to have a dusty/polluted feel. All healthy looking desert plants have been replaced with dead counterparts. Oh, and Lake Mead is drained. Actually the entire Colorado River is drained. It's a Tunneler-infested Labyrinth now.

Common Enemies
Tribals are among the most common human enemies you'll encounter. These scattered bands tends to lack firepower, using instead a plethora of melee and throwing weapons.
 * Tribals

Cannibals too lack when it comes to high-quality weaponry. Their arsenal is made up mostly of home-made firearms, hacking blades, and explosives. Cannibals usually aren't seen wandering the wastes and are most often encountered in the ruins of old settlements. Be careful though- these monsters tend to make up for their crappy weaponry in sheer numbers.
 * Cannibals

Survivors are people like you. Some are good, some are bad. Most Survivors will shoot on sight, just as you will probably will. Some will stand their ground, only attacking if you invade their personal space. A rare few will actually be willing to trade with you. Survivors are, for the most part, a mixed bag. Some will have extremely high-quality weaponry while others will have crap. Some live in groups, some live alone.
 * Survivors

The NCR are the last major faction to survive. While Caesars Legion, The Great Khans, the Powder Gangers, and many other factions dissolved into innumerable bands of tribals and survivors, the NCR managed to keep hold of a few strongholds. Over the past 20 years, the NCR have learned not to trust the average wastelander, due to their tendency to be cannibalistic madmen. Be careful, the NCR have access to high quality weaponry and often shoot on sight.
 * NCR

As predicted by Ulysses in Lonesome Road, the Tunnelers of the Divide have migrated over the past 20 years. Few Bighorners or other herbivorous creatures remain due to the hunger of the Tunnelers. Geckos are gone too, because I hate their stupid eyes. I mean, er, because the Tunnelers ate them. Tunnelers are fast, strong, and all over the place. They will kill you.
 * Tunnelers

These mysterious survivors live only in the radioactive ruins of Vegas. Mutation has given them the ability to quickly heal when exposed to radiation.
 * Cloud Victims

Weapons and Apparel
The variety of weapons and apparel have been greatly increased. Fight with dozens of new homemade weapons and armor as well as repurposed Unique and DLC items scattered throughout enemy leveled lists. I've also thrown some weapon modifications into the leveled lists since they can't be bought anymore. These are very rare, though. Most weapons and apparel you come across will be in terrible condition. Be aware though- your carry weight has been drastically reduced, so you won't be able to carry around an arsenal with you at all times. One or two guns, maybe a melee too if you've got light armor. Wearing no armor at all (just regular clothing) actually has an advantage now, since it weighs so little.

Scarcity
Ammo is very rare. Most ammo you find will be junk rounds. Food and water is very rare. And before you get any ideas, no you can't just drink out of one of the many faucets of New Vegas. Plumbing doesn't work in the apocalypse (what? shocking!). You can still drink the brown sludge in the bottom of toilets, though. If you so choose, you can eliminate hunger as a threat by turning cannibal. Cannibalism is treated as an addiction, however, and will result in some penalties. Meds and other loot are also very rare.

Ammo

 * Scarce, junk rounds predominant (generally +50% wear, -25% damage).
 * Always loot guns from opponents for the ammo in the leftover magazine.
 * Some new craftable ammo

Armor

 * Damage to Armor % increase (35% to 70%)
 * Almost all armor from Fallout: New Vegas available (some renamed)
 * Changes to health, weight, DT and effects of armor
 * New armor added
 * No Power Armor training available

Crafting

 * Portable Workbench
 * New recipes
 * Modified recipes (e.g. Weapon Repair Kit)

Environment

 * NPC ticks on compass disabled
 * Fast-travel disabled
 * Cell respawn time lowered to 24. (Leaving an area of the game for more than 24 game-time hours will respawn all NPCs, creatures, container contents and other objects marked to do so).
 * Karma replaced by Sanity

Hardcore and SPECIAL

 * Carry weight decrease (20 + 5 * STR)
 * HP lowered (95 + (5 * END) + (5 * level))
 * Food and Drink scarce. Many changes: irradiation increased, Food gives HP, booze can hydrate, ...
 * Almost no harvestable crops
 * Hardcore needs tickers up: FOD +1/6s, H20 +1/5s, SLP +1/10s (1 hour nap = SLP -150)
 * Timescale change to 15

Leveling / Perks / Traits

 * Perk every level, most perks changed
 * Slowed XP gain (no quests), doubled XP req'd per level
 * Most Traits changed

Player and NPC damage

 * Player/NPC Torso damage is multiplied by 5, legs are multiplied by 2.5, arms are multiplied by 3x, head is multiplied by 10x (Verified on GECK)
 * Damage to Ghouls is multiplied by 0.01, with damage to their heads being multiplied by 30
 * Dogs torso damage multiplied by 5, head multiplied by 10, limbs by 2
 * Nightstalkers torso damage multiplied by 4, limbs and head multiplied by 2
 * Spore Carriers torso damage multiplied by 2, head multiplied by 4
 * Tunneler head damage is multiplied by 4, torso is multiplied by 2
 * Leg damage from falling tripled

Quests

 * Almost all quest triggers in the game were removed with exception of the Escape The Mojave quest
 * Remaining quests can be considered to be an oversight, and will have no influence on the new main quest

Vendors and other NPCs

 * DUST vastly reduces the number of vendors, and those left are non-essential, do not respawn and do not regenerate health.
 * Almost all friendly NPCs were removed, turned hostile or changed beyond recognition

Visual changes

 * Climate of the Wastelands was changed to the red/orange Divide climate
 * Zion is now largely covered in greenish fog
 * Nights can be pitch black

Weapons

 * Weapon wear rate increase (0.2 to 0.5)
 * Spread is a function of condition now, Skill has a much bigger influence on spread
 * Almost all weapons from Fallout: New Vegas available (some renamed)
 * Some have changed spread, health, weight, damage and STR
 * Skill requirements adjusted
 * New weapons added, some craftable
 * Lootable weapon modifications