Guide: Weapons

Weapons Guide is to assist with Weapon selection for Hunting Animals, Attacking/Defending Against Hunters and Accessing Hunter Bases.

Game Stages

Early game weapons do not need Weapon Parts to create, mid game weapons do, late game weapons include upgrades to weapons.

Early Game

Early game weapons include:

• Steel-head Axe/Pick Axe - used primarily to harvest Ore Nodes and break down hunter base doors. It is not recommended to be used to attack hunters/animals.
• Hunting Bow - Recommended as the first ranged weapon to craft, arrows are easy to obtain and the damage is 35 for arrows.
• M9 Pistol - Can be used to kill hunters with two to three head shots, with a default damage of 18 per bullet, the bow is more useful for hunting.
• Shotgun - This has the highest default damage at 120, although almost no range. Can allow one shot kills for wolves and some hunters early game.
• Rifle - With a default damage of 49 it can single head shot some hunters and two shot wolves.

It is not recommended to upgrade the early game weapons, the upgrades and maintenance costs are the same as the mid game weapons, although the Early Game weapons are weaker. It is recommended instead to craft Mid Game weapons then upgrade those.

Mid Game

Crafting a Recurve Bow or a Revolver as the first Mid Game weapon is ideal, the ammunition for the Recurve Bow is easy to obtain, the Revolver is only 5 weapon parts and if the player has 0.44 ammunition then with head shots on hunters it can assist with getting additional weapon parts.

Mid Game weapons include:

• Revolver - Cheap to craft at only 5 weapon parts, default fire power of 55 is only slightly above the rifle and ammunition is less common to get compared to 7.62 or shotgun shells. Can one shot hunters with a head shot.
• Recurve Bow - Ammunition is very cheap and default damage of 38 makes this an ideal first Mid Game weapon to craft for hunting animals and upgrades.
• Double Barrel Shotgun (DBSG) - This weapon is possibly the best weapon in the game, holding two shells which can be fired in quick succession and each have a default damage of 120, it greatly improves hunting and fighting hunters in close combat.
• Lever Action Rifle (LAR) - This is a better alternative to the rifle, with a default damage of 54 (only 5 higher than the rifle) and one less than the revolver, plus a slower reload speed, it is not ideal to craft this until materials are available to upgrade it.

Note: Use incendiary at range where the animal or hunter will have time for the damage to occur as they run towards the player.

Late Game

When selecting which weapons to upgrade and how much to upgrade, consider the repair costs as well as how important the weapon is. Examples include:

• Recurve Bow - With cheap ammunition this is likely the first weapon to upgrade, when fully upgraded it can do 68 damage allowing 2 shot of most wolves, single head shot of hunters.
• Double Barrel Shotgun - With the high damage, a few upgrades to this allows single shot of quite a few animals and two shot of the others. Upgrading this also makes the slugs far more effective to single shot a hunter with a body shot.
• Lever Action Rifle (LAR) - This weapon becomes quite useful when upgraded to single head shot hunters, body shot hunters with incendiary rounds and to shoot animals causing them to charge and then either finishing them with the LAR or switching to the DBSG.
• Revolver - This is likely the last weapon to upgrade, it has a quick fire rate which is useful, although the ammunition is less available and the quick fire rate allows the player to shoot additional bullets easily.

Hunting Animals

Consider the resources the animal will provide compared to the time, ammunition and repair costs of the weapons

• Chickens - Catching by hand is ideal, if the chicken is likely to run into a hostile animal or hunter then Hunting Bow or Recurve Bow is recommended. Bullets will mangle the chicken.
• Rabbits - Hunting Bow or Recurve Bow is recommended. Bullets will mangle the Rabbit.
• Wolf - Early game Hunting Bow and run or shotgun, mid game Recurve Bow or shotgun, late game Recurve bow (easy two shot) or single shot with LAR/Revolver.
• White Wolf - Early/mid game it is best to avoid them or use the shotgun, late game an upgraded Recurve Bow can two shot them or continue to use a shotgun.
• Black Bear/Grizzly Bear - Early game best avoided, easier to hunt rabbits for cloth and wolves occasionally for liver, mid game a Recurve Bow and run or DBSG works well, late game an upgraded DBSG will single shot most bears.
• Moose - A level 1 has 250HP, these should be avoided early and mid game, cougars offer more sinew at 180HP and chickens can be raised for good meals, late game an upgraded LAR will cause them to charge and an upgraded DBSG will finish them with one shot. Can use a rifle shot then two shots from DBSG mid game if desired.
• Cougar - Early game a Hunting Bow will take about 2 arrows (run away between shots or stand behind a doorway/platform) before using the shotgun or continue to shoot with a bow from a safe space, mid game the DBSG is ideal with two shots and late game some cougars can be single shot with DBSG.
• Bat - Shotgun or DBSG if the bat is flying toward the player (aim below the bat), at range the Rifle, Revolver and LAR will one shot the bat.
• Eagle - Can one shot with Shotgun/DBSG or with upgraded LAR/Revolver.

Attacking/Defending Against Hunters

There are different categories of hunters, with a bonus damage for head shots the more important distinction is the helmet.

• No Helmet - if the player is good with a Recurve Bow then two headshots are sufficient, two or three head shots with the basic pistol will also work. For one shot's consider head shot from Revolver, LAR or Rifle (the slower reload speed makes the LAR less desirable without speed upgrades), the shotgun and DBSG will one shot.
• Helmet - Aim for head shots and use the Revolver, LAR or Rifle (the slower reload speed makes the LAR less desirable without speed upgrades), the shotgun and DBSG will one shot also. When the player has a fully upgraded DBSG, the blue shells will single shot a hunter from a body shot and allows further range.

Variations:

• Inside the fort the hunters will be at close range, this makes the DBSG ideal to use red shells if the player has an excess.
• Ideally save the Revolver ammunition for the deep caves as it has slightly higher damage than the LAR and allows multiple rapid shots.
• A body shot with a fully upgraded LAR or Revolver with incendiary rounds will one shot a hunter if time is allowed for the fire damage to occur.

Accessing Hunter Bases

There are multiple options to access a hunter base, depending on which resource is easier for the player to obtain. Breaking down the door is required to gain entry, a normal door will have 500HP and a fort entry door has 1000HP.

• Scrap Metal / Time - For early game it is possible to use a Steel-head Axe (1 damage per hit) or Pick Axe (2 damage per hit). This will take a long time, note the fort entry door will damage the weapon faster than a normal door.
• Molotov Cocktail - If glass and alcohol are easy to obtain then these will do 216 damage each, ideally two for a normal door and then Pick Axe, a third will also destroy the floor/stairs preventing access.
• Grenade - These will cause 250 block damage each, these can be tricky to throw at doors with stairs and are best used inside the fort.
• Grenade-Tipped Arrows - A default Recurve Bow will only get 200 damage, once fully upgraded it will get 360 damage making it ideal to use 3 for the fort door then Pick Axe the last 20HP. Grenades and Premium arrows as well as Grenade-Tipped Arrows are common loot in the Hunter Bases making these easier to obtain.
• Breaching Charge - Often there are other priorities for circuit boards with crafting, making the Breaching charge expensive and a last option if other methods are not available.