I generated a new world since I deleted the old Fair Codexia with same options. I modified starting stats for Absalom a bit, let's see how this configuration does. We begin in the standard shelter.
This is Absalom's character sheet. I bumped his dexterity to improve his performance in melee, and also chose different traits for him - Disease Resistant because cold and influenza are a major pain in the ass to deal with, forcing you to hole up and pass the time somehow until they pass or risk adventuring with serious stat penalties. I took Fast Learner to alleviate skill grind a bit. Forgetful is basically free points since I have skill rust disabled. Glass Jaw reduces head HP by 20%, well worth the extra points (3 I think), Heavy Sleeper I never had issues with. In fact, I had more trouble being woken up by random noise than with being attacked while sleeping. Lightweight means Absalom should abstain from alcohol and other substances. Night Vision is an awesome trait since you do a lot of nighttime raiding and an extra visibility square can mean a LOT. Quick makes you generally quicker, good trait. Robust Genetics will hopefully help us get High Night Vision, possibly other useful mutations without getting too crippled by negative ones. Self-Defense Classes got us Ninjutsu, which is awesome. Trigger Happy for points, I prefer semi-auto weapons anyway. Truth Teller and Ugly have no effect since NPC's are disabled (because they're a buggy mess still). Wool Allergy prevents wearing wool items. I almost never use them anyway.
After grabbing an emergency jacket from a nearby locker, Absalom descends into the shelter cellar. No zeds down here, a couple of items which are useful.
After picking up a few rocks outside, Absalom returns to the shelter and smashes a window. Resultant long string is disassembled into short strings.
Using a heavy stick, short string (both result from breaking a window), and a couple of rocks (one to hammer, another to be hammered at), Absalom crafts a stone knife.
Absalom takes the rest of the junk from the broken window and dumps it next to an active console because it produces light and allows us him craft even in the dark. Sheets get cut up into rags.
Now he needs to bump his fabrication skill to one. Easiest way to do that is to craft these things.
With fabrication of 1 and a heavy stick chopped into skewers, Absalom can now craft a wooden needle.
Small strings are further disassembled into threads.
His wooden needle loaded with thread, Absalom attempts to craft some protection for his freezing bodyparts but his morale has bombed...
Because he craves a smoke. I start to miss the Optimist trait already.
He indulges by eating the can of herring he found in the basement.
And proceeds to craft some hand protection. With no skill in tailoring, his options are a bit limited.
He makes two pairs of hand wraps and a turban. His temperature should start to rise a bit now.
Reinforcing various items for sewing practice, Absalom raises his tailoring to 1 and is able to craft some actual gloves for himself.
It is now midday, Absalom's skill in tailoring is half way to 3 and he's not cold any more. He's starting to feel the thirst though.
After a whole lot more sewing, this is the result. Items in dark green have been reinforced, increasing their armor value and durability. Not much in the way of armor value with these, but it sure beats wearing a towel.
With tailoring at 3, Absalom can finally craft a hoodie (some protection, some storage, warm) and a duster (great storage, some protection, covers the torso, the arms, the legs).
Finally, a backpack is added to his loadout and he's almost ready to venture out of the starting shelter.
Another look at the character sheet. Note how well the Fast Learner trait works: 2 failed attempts to craft a backpack, one successful one, and the backpack reinforced brings his skill up 50%.
After crafting a cudgel for bashing zombie heads in, Absalom heads North East towards a lone house he spotted during the day. I forgot to screenshot the map at the beginning but you'll see it later in this post. He runs into some bats and a dog on his way, nothing to be worried about.
His inventory.
After a fairly long trek through the dark fields, Absalom finally reaches the house and remembers he forgot to craft a makeshift crowbar. Looks like windows will have to be broken, which is noisy and not good.
He checks his map. To the south of him there's a Serving Area Interface. I'm not sure what that actually is. SW is the starting shelter, and SE of that (not shown) is a refugee center which we did not go to since it's bound to be crawling with zeds. We'll get there in due time.
Absalom breaks the bathroom window and enters the house, only to find stairs leading to the basement. This is good news, since house basements can often hold very useful items.
Deciding to check the basement later, he rushes into the kitchen and finds a nice pile of food and drink waiting for him there. He grabs the milk jug and downs one third (thank god I didn't pick Lactose Intolerant), before taking an uncooked burito and a pot outside.
With a pot and a burning heavy stick he cooks himself a meal. Burito can be eaten raw but that would bomb his morale. This is much, much better.
Exploring the rest of the house, Absalom finds evidence an Infinitron passed through recently.
Time to head to the basement. It's a pretty nice one, with two beds complete with blankets and pillows, and metal racks with supplies. Nothing to write home about but in his current position a pretty nice find.
More stuff from the racks. He already picked up a crowbar and some First Aid Kits.
More stuff. The plastic canteen will be useful later on. Entrenching tool... I don't know if we'll be doing any digging soon.
Absalom decides to pile all the stuff he found in the house next to the stairs in the bathroom. Here you can see the loot on the left and his inventory (worn items not shown) on the right.
With not much left to do, Absalom decides to wander about the dark street to the north, hoping to find another house to loot. He finds a car instead. It has some fuel. some battery charge, but the engine has been shot. Since he doesn't have a screwdriver, he can't even attempt to disable the security system (and, with no skill in Mechanics, fail hilariously) and turn on the headlights, in hopes of spotting surrounding buildings, if any.
He decides to retreat to the basement and sleep until the morning. Let's hope the view is nice.
