Colonel Ducky
Member
- Messages
- 32
I heard Kinggath field a question about a SS2 permadeath run in one of his SS2 streams and talk about how hard it would be, especially When There's Smoke, so I decided to give it a shot. It wasn't that hard, but it absolutely required some forethought and planning. I never could have done it without a plan. The challenge was in figuring out how to be prepared.
Ok, first of all, let me say with this being my fourth SS2 playthrough, I've been using the mod for a while, and man has it gotten wildly more bug free and stable. Great freakin' job on that.
Only one complaint of significance, and even that has an easy solution. If you're producing resources at a higher rate than you're using them and at a different proportion than you're using them, and you have a resource storage cap, you are mathematically guaranteed to run out of certain resources when other resources eat up all your space. You absolutely NEED Sim Settlements 2 Excess Resource Manager by cbrgamer3 so you can throw away your eight bazillion tons of wood and steel that prevent you from accumulating acid and fertilizer (for instance). This should really be included functionality in SS2, but no biggie, there's a solution.
Ok, and some praise for a feature I never hear anybody mention but I think is spectacular. If you talk to the settler manning your caravan plot, you can choose to fast travel to other settlements in your caravan network. This is perfect for survival players that want the challenge of no fast travel but without the meaningless hike between two close-ish cleared settlements for the hundredth time. Walking between Sanctuary and Starlight, for instance, presents zero challenge once the path is cleared, and no fast travel is more an annoyance than a hardcore feature at that point. Caravan fast travel is an excellent game balance compromise for survival players. I don't know why I never hear about this feature.
Ok, some gameplay tips for 31 components, survival, no vats, permadeath...
Hoard food so you can spend a few days just sleeping and eating in brand new settlements. Giving a new settlement the time to upgrade a few plots to level 2 before moving on will dramatically reduce your need to to revisit them in the future. Also, in the early game, don't be afraid to preplan your plots before you have the settlers to fill them. Jake's workshop in Concord has more than enough ASAMs to get several settlements started before you have the resources to build on the plots or the settlers to operate. It doesn't cost anything to place the plot and let it build later if you don't have the resources yet, and you won't have to come back later, just let the newcomers fill out your preplanned plots.
Spam Industrial plots. No really. I can't overstate. Spam industrial plots. I ran with 2 or 3 of each production plot in EVERY settlement. This strategy almost requires a charisma build if you want the settlers to man all those plots. It sadly also requires hardware that can laugh at settlement build limits. You're gonna need to ignore settlement build limits to have every settlement fleshed out with a 20 ish compliment of settlers and all their needs met.
Memorize the components needed for building a caravan and a comms plot so you can immediately connect to your network and attract settlers. A bit of no brainer here.
stop here to avoid spoilers
Turrets, turrets, turrets. SS2 martial plots fulfill the stat requirement just fine, but aren't actually useful in fending off the gunner attacks after rescuing Jake. I don't need to tell anybody how to build a defensible settlement, just that you still need to do so instead of relying on martial plots.
Rush to Science 2 for the power armor targeting hud upgrade. This is less a SS2 tip and more just a survival no vats permadeath tip. If you don't have vats to find enemies, making them glow is hugely helpful. And fight at night. Your enemies now glow, night is your friend. On that same note, bring a companion to When There's Smoke. Lone Wanderer is great, but having one more body in addition to Jake and Aiden to draw fire so you can spot the enemy from the elevated wooden shack and snipe is very helpful.
If you take Gun Nut, Armorer, and Sneak 3 or 4 before taking GNN, you should have no problem with that fight so long as you approach the initial assault patiently and wear power armor. Your forces can tie up the enemy forces just fine on their own. Just sit back and provide long range support until it's safe to advance.
Ok, first of all, let me say with this being my fourth SS2 playthrough, I've been using the mod for a while, and man has it gotten wildly more bug free and stable. Great freakin' job on that.
Only one complaint of significance, and even that has an easy solution. If you're producing resources at a higher rate than you're using them and at a different proportion than you're using them, and you have a resource storage cap, you are mathematically guaranteed to run out of certain resources when other resources eat up all your space. You absolutely NEED Sim Settlements 2 Excess Resource Manager by cbrgamer3 so you can throw away your eight bazillion tons of wood and steel that prevent you from accumulating acid and fertilizer (for instance). This should really be included functionality in SS2, but no biggie, there's a solution.
Ok, and some praise for a feature I never hear anybody mention but I think is spectacular. If you talk to the settler manning your caravan plot, you can choose to fast travel to other settlements in your caravan network. This is perfect for survival players that want the challenge of no fast travel but without the meaningless hike between two close-ish cleared settlements for the hundredth time. Walking between Sanctuary and Starlight, for instance, presents zero challenge once the path is cleared, and no fast travel is more an annoyance than a hardcore feature at that point. Caravan fast travel is an excellent game balance compromise for survival players. I don't know why I never hear about this feature.
Ok, some gameplay tips for 31 components, survival, no vats, permadeath...
Hoard food so you can spend a few days just sleeping and eating in brand new settlements. Giving a new settlement the time to upgrade a few plots to level 2 before moving on will dramatically reduce your need to to revisit them in the future. Also, in the early game, don't be afraid to preplan your plots before you have the settlers to fill them. Jake's workshop in Concord has more than enough ASAMs to get several settlements started before you have the resources to build on the plots or the settlers to operate. It doesn't cost anything to place the plot and let it build later if you don't have the resources yet, and you won't have to come back later, just let the newcomers fill out your preplanned plots.
Spam Industrial plots. No really. I can't overstate. Spam industrial plots. I ran with 2 or 3 of each production plot in EVERY settlement. This strategy almost requires a charisma build if you want the settlers to man all those plots. It sadly also requires hardware that can laugh at settlement build limits. You're gonna need to ignore settlement build limits to have every settlement fleshed out with a 20 ish compliment of settlers and all their needs met.
Memorize the components needed for building a caravan and a comms plot so you can immediately connect to your network and attract settlers. A bit of no brainer here.
stop here to avoid spoilers
Turrets, turrets, turrets. SS2 martial plots fulfill the stat requirement just fine, but aren't actually useful in fending off the gunner attacks after rescuing Jake. I don't need to tell anybody how to build a defensible settlement, just that you still need to do so instead of relying on martial plots.
Rush to Science 2 for the power armor targeting hud upgrade. This is less a SS2 tip and more just a survival no vats permadeath tip. If you don't have vats to find enemies, making them glow is hugely helpful. And fight at night. Your enemies now glow, night is your friend. On that same note, bring a companion to When There's Smoke. Lone Wanderer is great, but having one more body in addition to Jake and Aiden to draw fire so you can spot the enemy from the elevated wooden shack and snipe is very helpful.
If you take Gun Nut, Armorer, and Sneak 3 or 4 before taking GNN, you should have no problem with that fight so long as you approach the initial assault patiently and wear power armor. Your forces can tie up the enemy forces just fine on their own. Just sit back and provide long range support until it's safe to advance.
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