First steps

What to do first

1. 1

   Finish the tutorial quests

   You start at Dawn's Rest Refugee Camp. Emma gives you these quests one after the other; they teach you to gather, fight, buy and craft.

   1. Walking in Balance (1/4)
      Asks for

      Juniper Berries×3
      Gives

      Wooden StickForaging Mastery+250 XP
   2. Walking in Balance (2/4)
      Asks for

      Mutated Scorpion Sting
      Gives

      Blunt Melee Mastery+250 XPBottle Caps×100
   3. Walking in Balance (3/4)
      Asks for

      Formula: Scorpion Sting Tonic
      Gives

      Insight Points+100 XPBottle Caps×150
   4. Walking in Balance (4/4)
      Asks for

      Scorpion Sting Tonic
      Gives

      Manual: Makeshift PickaxeManual: Makeshift AxeManual: Crude Leather Gloves

   Plan the tutorial step by step

2. 2

   Craft your first tools

   The last tutorial quest gives you the manuals for your first tools. Each tool opens a kind of resource.

   • Makeshift Pickaxe ←

     Stone×2Wooden Stick
     Stone: gathering Debris; Wooden Stick: gathering Debris · loot Wolf Whelp
     Lets you gather

     Iron trace
   • Makeshift Axe ←

     StoneWooden Stick
     Stone: gathering Debris; Wooden Stick: gathering Debris · loot Wolf Whelp
     Lets you gather

     Dead Tree
   • Crude Leather Gloves ←

     Leather×2
     Leather: crafting Cure: Leather · processing Raw Hide
     Lets you gather

     YuccaPinyon Pine TreeCarrot Patch

   No facility or skill needed: craft them anywhere. Debris Juniper Berries Bush need no tool, so you can start right away.

3. 3

   Earn your first caps

   NPC traders pay 20 caps for each Wood, as many as you bring. There is one right where you start. Dead Tree is 30 s away: about 180 an hour, or 3,600 caps an hour, before tool and skill bonuses.

   Every way to earn caps →

4. 4

   Pick your fights

   With the Wooden Stick from the tutorial and no armor, a new character beats Small Scorpion and loses to almost everything else. Small Mutated Rat can go either way. Check an enemy before you track it: a lost fight costs time and health.

   Who a new character can fight →

5. 5

   Train what you use

   There are no levels and no classes: a skill goes up when you use it. Masteries open tier 2 gear at level 4 and tier 3 at level 7. Without a subscription, skills stop at level 4.

   How to get stronger → What each tier asks for Plan how to train a skill

6. 6

   Unlock the post office and the rest

   Some parts of the game only open when you finish a quest chain. The post office is the one to do early: it lets players send items and caps to each other.

   • Post office: sending and receiving items and caps by mail
     Postman (Part 4) 4 quests in order · starts with Eliza at Aniid Kin · needs Writing lv 2 Plan it
   • Choosing what to eat after a fight
     The Last Diner (Part 4) 8 quests in order · starts with Emma at Dawn's Rest Refugee Camp · needs Vitality lv 2 Plan it
   • Virtual Arena
     High Score (Part 3) 3 quests in order · starts with Azra at Aniid Kin Plan it
   • Entering red zones
     Holding Pattern (Part 2) 2 quests in order · starts with Wesley at Frontier · needs Vitality lv 5 Plan it
7. 7

   Put the wiki to work for you

   With an account and a character on the wiki, every page shows what you can already use, craft and gather, and the planner starts from what you have. You can send screenshots of the game instead of typing.

   Set up your character Planner Map

How to earn caps

Caps come from NPC traders and from other players. Quests pay very little.

Selling to NPC traders

NPC traders buy a short, fixed list of things, at the same price in Twin Rocks, Dawn's Rest Refugee Camp, Aniid Kin, Prosperity, Frontier. They take any amount.

Item	NPC pays	How a new character gets it	Caps an hour
Wood	20 caps	gather Dead Tree ✓ you can already Ash Tree needs more skill or a better tool	3,600 caps
Corroded Coin Mechanism	75 caps	hunt Arcade Revenant a new character wins 0%	—
Irradiated Claws	60 caps	hunt Rad Runner a new character wins 0%	—
Chitin Scraps	50 caps	hunt Giant Scorpion a new character wins 0%	—
Dried Ink Pigment	50 caps	hunt Inkbloat a new character wins 0%	—
Pearlescent Nodules	50 caps	hunt Mimic a new character wins 0%	—
Mutated Rat Meat	25 caps	hunt Small Mutated Rat a new character wins 88%	—

11 more items, from stronger enemies

Item	NPC pays	How a new character gets it	Caps an hour
Decohered Dust	150 caps	hunt Chrono-Wraith a new character wins 0% Forgotten Witness a new character wins 0% +1	—
Depleted Actuator Coil	150 caps	hunt WARDOG a new character wins 0%	—
Matted Rad-Fur	150 caps	hunt Mutated Bear a new character wins 0%	—
Scorched Ants	150 caps	hunt Fire Ant Colony a new character wins 0% Scrapper Supervisor a new character wins 0%	—
Static-Burned Wing	150 caps	hunt Thunderhead a new character wins 0%	—
Burned Circuit Module	100 caps	hunt Sentinel a new character wins 0% Iron Wolf Breacher a new character wins 0% +1	—
Chrono Residue	100 caps	hunt Temporal Echo a new character wins 0% Scrapper Blaster a new character wins 0% +3	—
Desert Glass	100 caps	containers Anomalous Rock Formation	—
Irradiated Chitin Plate	100 caps	hunt Geiger Wasps a new character wins 0%	—
Prismatic Feather	100 caps	hunt Dust Devil Raven a new character wins 0%	—
Quartz Crystal	25 caps	containers Strange Rock Formation, Valuable Rock Formation	—

Caps an hour counts only the gathering, at the base speed: no travel, no tool or skill bonus. For hunting there is no number because the game does not tell the drop chances.

Selling to other players

The player market exists in Aniid Kin, Twin Rocks, Prosperity, Frontier; you must be there to sell and to buy. Listing costs 3% of the total up front and 10% comes off each sale.

What players bought most in the last 7 days:

Item	Units sold	Typical price	New character
Desert Survivor Stew	384	450 caps	—
High Grade Steel Axe	5	19,000 caps	—
Scrapyard Katana	12	9,000 caps	—
High Grade Steel Pickaxe	4	19,900 caps	—
Smoked Tobacco Jerky	39	1,900 caps	—
Desperado Handgun	13	3,500 caps	—
Sledgehammer	3	15,000 caps	—
Field Notes - Engineering	8	6,000 caps	—
Smoky Inkbloat Wrap	10	5,000 caps	—
Master Board	2	10,000 caps	—

Open the market

Quests

All the quests in the game pay 500 caps together, 250 caps of that in the tutorial: Homework (Part 2)150 caps Walking in Balance (3/4)150 caps Homework100 caps Walking in Balance (2/4)100 caps

How to gather

• Long-press a hex on the map, open the location and press the resource. Your character walks there by itself and keeps working while the game is closed.
• One unit takes 20 s before bonuses. Your mastery and a better tool make it faster, and a better tool can give an extra unit.
• The tool's tier limits the resource's tier: makeshift tools only work tier 0 resources. A few resources need no tool at all.
• 5 actions can wait in the queue after the one you are doing.
• Gathering stops when the inventory is full. Keep a few slots free before you queue a long run.

What a new character can already gather

Resource	Gives	Tool	Nearest to the start
Debris	StoneWooden Stick	no tool	10,1 15 s from the start · 52 spots
Juniper Berries Bush	Juniper Berries	no tool	10,1 15 s from the start · 51 spots
Pre-War Garbage Pile	Pre-War Garbage	no tool	11,1 15 s from the start · 66 spots
Dead Tree	Wood	Makeshift Axe	10,3 30 s from the start · 174 spots
Iron trace	Iron Ore FlakeSulfurZinc	Makeshift Pickaxe	9,1 30 s from the start · 56 spots
Yucca	Yucca Fruit	Crude Leather Gloves	9,1 30 s from the start · 82 spots
Pinyon Pine Tree	Pinyon Pine Nuts	Crude Leather Gloves	13,3 35 s from the start · 61 spots
Pre-War Refuse Pile	Pre-War Refuse	no tool	13,1 35 s from the start · 65 spots
Pre-War Consumables Pile	Pre-War Consumable	no tool	8,4 1 min from the start · 49 spots
Pre-War Metal Pile	Pre-War Metal	no tool	16,2 2 min from the start · 37 spots
Pre-War Clothing Pile	Pre-War Clothes	no tool	17,1 2 min from the start · 38 spots
Carrot Patch	Mutated Carrot	Crude Leather Gloves	4,4 2 min from the start · 52 spots

Every map resource Game guide: actions

How to craft

• A recipe needs four things: the blueprint, the ingredients (in your inventory or in the storage of that place), the right facility at a high enough level, and the skills it asks for.
• You must be standing at the facility: unlike gathering, crafting does not walk there for you.
• Tier 1 blueprints are permanent. Tier 2 and above are used up when you craft.
• Many recipes also ask for a tool in the inventory. The tool is not used up.
• Basic blueprints are sold by NPC traders. Better ones are found, earned or invented from research.

Your first recipe

Stone×2Wooden Stick

Makeshift Pickaxe

No facility30 s+2 XP

To get any item, ask the planner: it draws the whole path — what to gather, buy, craft and train, where and in which order.

Planner Facilities of each settlement Game guide: crafting

Who a new character can fight

You never attack an enemy directly: you order Track & Engage and the fight runs by itself, even with the game closed. You need more than half your health to start.

Enemy	HP	A new character wins	Nearest to the start	Drops that NPCs buy
Small Scorpion	20	100%	10,1 15 s from the start · 6 spots	—
Small Mutated Rat	30	88%	9,1 30 s from the start · 150 spots	Mutated Rat Meat25 caps
Inkbloat	50	0%	7,0 1 min from the start · 118 spots	Dried Ink Pigment50 caps
Giant Scorpion	55	0%	8,0 50 s from the start · 152 spots	Chitin Scraps50 caps
Mimic	60	0%	17,5 2 min from the start · 86 spots	Pearlescent Nodules50 caps
Wolf Whelp	60	0%	17,4 2 min from the start · 53 spots	—
Rad Runner	70	0%	15,8 2 min from the start · 63 spots	Irradiated Claws60 caps
Wolf Bruiser	80	0%	8,8 2 min from the start · 20 spots	—
Arcade Revenant	85	0%	17,2 2 min from the start · 21 spots	Corroded Coin Mechanism75 caps
Wolf Enforcer	90	0%	26,4 4 min from the start · 6 spots	—
Wolf Gunner	115	0%	9,9 2 min from the start · 7 spots	—
Dust Devil Raven	160	0%	29,1 6 min from the start · 110 spots	Prismatic Feather100 caps

200 simulated fights each, with the Wooden Stick from the tutorial, no armor, no medication and every skill at level 1. With better gear the numbers change: test yours in the battle simulator.

Battle simulator Plan a hunt: the gear to win Game guide: fights

How to get stronger

No weapon or armor is the best in every fight. The developer balances the game that way on purpose and adjusts it in almost every update, so getting stronger is not about one perfect build: raise what always helps, keep more than one answer for different enemies and check each enemy before you go. The numbers on this page are recalculated whenever the game changes.

What always helps

• Vitality gives 10 health per level and goes up with every enemy you defeat, whatever you fight with: from 60 health at level 1 to 150 at level 10.
• Each use of a Mysterious Shrine adds 1 to your maximum health, up to 25 times.
• A mastery only grows with its own class of weapon or armor. It opens tier 2 at level 4 and tier 3 at level 7, and on the way to the last level adds +4 to hit and +3 damage (weapons) or +3 armor and +3 defense (armor).
• Armor mastery bonuses only count when the three pieces are of the same class.
• Each class also has a specialisation with perks. It earns experience in 25% of the times the mastery does, so perks come from sticking with a class.
• If a fight ends with less than 75% of your health, your character eats up to five foods from the inventory. Medications on the belt heal during the fight.

The loop

1. Wear a full armor set of one class and pick one weapon class: every fight raises both masteries and Vitality.
2. Hunt only what you beat nine times out of ten and sell what drops to NPC traders.
3. Cook food from what you gather and hunt, so you can chain fights without waiting to heal.
4. When a mastery reaches level 4, move that class up to tier 2; at level 7, to tier 3. Craft the gear or buy it: the planner compares both.
5. Check each new enemy in the battle simulator before you go: the best gear changes from one enemy to the next.

Food and medication to keep fighting

Item	Heals	Ingredients and how a new character gets them	Facility	New character
Mesa Trailmix	+25	Yucca Fruit×2 Yucca ✓ you can already gather it Pinyon Pine Nuts×2 Pinyon Pine Tree ✓ you can already gather it	Kitchen lv 1	✓ you can already make it
Scorpion Sting Tonic	+10	Juniper Berries×3 Juniper Berries Bush ✓ you can already gather it Mutated Scorpion Sting Small Scorpion ✓ a new character wins 100%	Kitchen lv 1	✓ you can already make it
Desert Survivor Stew	+50	Prickly Pear Cactus Pad×2 Prickly Pear Cactus needs more skill or a better tool Mutated Rat Meat Small Mutated Rat a new character wins 88%	Kitchen lv 1	—
Juniper Wrap	+30	Juniper Berries×4 Juniper Berries Bush ✓ you can already gather it Cloth Scraps×2 Bloodied Rags Wolf Whelp a new character wins 0%	Lab lv 1	—
Rotgut	+30	Water×2 ✓ sold by NPC traders Mesquite Pods×4 Mesquite Tree needs more skill or a better tool Juniper Berries×4 Juniper Berries Bush ✓ you can already gather it	Kitchen lv 1	—
Aloe Wrap	+15	Aloe Vera Leaves×3 Aloe Vera Plant needs more skill or a better tool Cotton Fibers×2 crafted Antiseptic Powder	Lab lv 1	—
Forager's Pemmican	+15	Mutated Carrot×4 Carrot Patch ✓ you can already gather it Pinyon Pine Nuts×2 Pinyon Pine Tree ✓ you can already gather it Aloe Vera Leaves×2 Aloe Vera Plant needs more skill or a better tool	Kitchen lv 1	—
Smoky Inkbloat Wrap	+15	Mesquite Pods×2 Mesquite Tree needs more skill or a better tool Inkbloat Tentacle Inkbloat a new character wins 0%	Kitchen lv 1	—

Tier 1 food and medication that has a recipe, first what a new character can already make.

What wins the most fights today

Every weapon class with every armor class, at each stage, against the common enemies of that tier: 60 simulated fights per matchup, with the rules of the battle simulator. A stage is a level: weapon mastery, armor mastery and Vitality at that level, with the gear of the tier it unlocks and the specialisation perks you would have by then. No medications, no buffs.

What each stage can handle

New gear does not make you ready for that tier at once: right after a tier unlocks, even the best pair loses to most of its enemies. The levels after that are what close the gap.

Weapon classes: enemies of the tier beaten at each stage

Each class with the armor that suits it best at that stage. Shots per fight is ammunition you have to make or buy; melee uses none.

Armor classes: enemies of the tier beaten at each stage

Each class with the weapon that suits it best at that stage. Armor mastery only counts with the three pieces of the same class.

These are the generalists of the moment, not the right answer to every enemy: a class that looks weak here can be the best one against a single enemy, and a perk can change the picture (heavy armor, for example, is balanced around the specialisation perk that turns half of the critical hits into normal ones).

Against each enemy the answer changes

Each armor class resists one damage type more than the others, and each enemy hits with one type. This is how many common enemies use each type:

Battle simulator Plan a hunt: the gear to win Combat numbers Best gear against each enemy

The basics, in the game's own words

The guide that comes with the game, section by section. The text is the game’s, so it stays in English.

• WorldThe wasteland is a grid of hexagonal locations. Each one has a terrain type, a safety level, and whatever happens to be standing on it: resource nodes, hostile NPCs, friendly characters and other players.
• ActionsActions are orders you give your character. Once an action is given you don't need to be present for it to finish - it runs while the app is closed.
• FightsFights are one against one, turn based, and resolved by the server. A turn passes every ten seconds. You can watch it live or close the game and read the log later.
• Combat statsEverything below is decided from the gear you had equipped when the fight started.
• Skills and XPSkills are what your character is actually good at. They gate the gear you can use and the recipes you can attempt, and they quietly decide most fights.
• ItemsTypes of items
• BuffsBuffs are temporary states. Most come from something you ate, drank or injected; a few come from places out in the wasteland.
• Crafting & InventionCrafting is where the good gear comes from. Nothing you find in the wasteland matches what you can build once you have the recipe, the skill and a workshop to do it in.
• PVPHunting other players is possible, deliberate, and expensive. There is no way to do it by accident and no way to do it quietly.
• ArenaThe Virtual Arena is player against player without the risk. You upload a copy of your character at a Virtual Arena building, and from then on that copy is matched against other players' copies on a fixed cycle, whether or not…
• ElitesElites are the hardest fights in the game. They are not wandering the map waiting to be found - you summon them, and you get exactly one attempt.
• QuestsQuests are given by named NPCs in settlements and camps. Press their portrait on the Location screen to talk to them.
• Factions & ReputationThe factions
• TradingCaps are the currency of the wasteland. You earn them from quests, tasks, NPC traders and other players, and you spend them on almost everything.
• Points of InterestThings turn up out in the wasteland that were not there yesterday: a camp, a wreck, a well, a shrine, a purple haze that should not be standing still.