This isn't a walk-through or strategy. It is a list of basic facts I learned which changed the way I played the game.
- While scavenging, the top left of the screen has buttons to change between combat and scavenger mode.
- Hatchet can be used to chop furniture items into fuel and wood, there are multiple pieces of furniture in Our Shelter and several other locations such as the Quiet House or the Shelled Cottage.
- More locations become available as you visit more locations, re-visiting the same location will not cause any new locations to become available.
- Metal Workshop is not strictly required. Tools/Weapons are not even technically required, but can be bartered or stolen from the Garage or City Hospital as an alternative to crafting them.1
- Survivors who eat a meal when not hungry become Wellfed, which helps with morale and they do not become hungry for 2 days.
- Placement of items in Our Shelter does not have any affect on the survivors (ie: Simple Heater on the top floor are as effective as Simple Heater on any other floor, or room.) So, it is recommended to strategically position items requiring the least amount of effort from the Survivors. A bed near the door allows a wounded survivor to limp quickly to the door and back to bed when required.
- Some Thoughts found in Our Things lists all the available ways of maintaining/improving a survivors morale, in a journal style of writing.
1 Some would suggest building a Metal Workshop first, which is good advice for a universal style. However, the items used in building and upgrading a Metal Workshop is much higher than bartering for the tools required.
Theft and/or Murder is the fastest and/or cheapest method for obtaining tools/weapons but requires an on-the-fly strategy depending on available Locations and items availability.
Bruno (Good Cook) and Katia (Bargaining Skills) crafting and bartering Pure Alcohol is the next cheapest method for obtaining Tools/weapons.