Aside from the nephew and potentially the pet, do others feel it is worth training individual survivors? If yes, I’d love to hear why.
To me it makes sense to train the group for the stat increase, but training people like Kelly or Parker seems like a waste of an action.
If we can choose co-leaders in the next part, I really hope Jaime and Rachel are not going to be our only options.
Thank you! Worked like a charm.
In order for the group to survive and for the MC to survive it seems to me that training the group is a necessity not just a luxury that the MC may or may not want to do. By not taking the time to train your group, I feel like you’re just inviting calamity to befall the group, because their lack of training would make them sloppy and if people lack the proper weapon’s training someone on our side is liable to be killed friendly fire.
Who do you think would make a better or more suitable co-leader as opposed to those 2 in your group and why ?
@black Can you please explain to me what notepad is and how I use it in tandem with the game itself ?
Regarding the group training sessions, do you think they will exist for skills such as Crafting? I can imagine it would be like a knitting/sewing bee or a barn-raising type project (so that people produce while getting hands on experience).
Also, in the current group training sessions, does the nephew get trained in things such as ranged weapons?
Good ideas on a crafting training exercise. I know the nephew gets trained when you teach the group Close-Combat Weapons, so imagine the same thing happens with Ranged Weapons.
I whole-heartedly back training the group in weapons. I do both Ranged and either Close-Combat or Athletics on my playthroughs. My gut tells me we’ll need this group hard if we want to survive. As for individuals/ individualized training in the group, I would want to prioritize a replacement doctor, since Benji’s dead. That and maybe have Rachel teach “advanced apocalyptic survival” to people that responded well to weapons training, maybe starting with Madison, Brody, Tommy, and Bailey. Maybe we might be able to assign group leads to teach people stuff?
I could picture Gina becoming a group lieutenant in lieu of or alongside Jaime and Rachel, since Gina has both an Army and an engineering background. Both tend to teach leadership. She’s willing to go on a scavenging mission and complete a group construction project on the hilltop, so she’s got the skills and will. Her psychological state may be an issue, but she survived Nightfall even after losing her husband, so she seems to be resilient.
Maybe my group’s command structure would look like this:
Group: The Nightfallen
Leader: MC
Lieutenant, Scouting/Security: Rachel
Lieutenant, Human Resources: Jaime
Quartermaster: Nora/Parker
Cook: Reilly
Construction Lead/Chief Engineer: Gina
I could definitely picture Gina having a senior rank among the survivors. She’s got the skills, the heart and the leadership capabilities to lead and do so effectively.
I don’t really feel comfortable with giving Nora any kind of position. It’s nothing against her personally, just that I figured as an elderly person she’d be the first to go in the apocalypse. Then again, Parker isn’t the safest bet when it comes to longevity either-his smoking addiction is already going to shorten his lifespan by quite a bit and his need for insulin shots is something that’ll really be crippling if we don’t find a long term solution for it-but he’s still a better bet than Nora, and definitely more skilled and dedicated to the job.
Reilly as the cook…he’s technically the best, yeah, but I don’t really have a good gut feeling about the guy. He’s too much of a loose cannon-even his own ma agrees-, can’t follow a simple order to save his life. His attitude is gonna screw something up sooner or later, and I’m not willing to deal with something like that for a guy whose skillset, besides his cooking, consist of him just being another gun. I’ll keep him around as a cook for now but if he does something dumb I’m cutting him off first chance I can get. I’m sure I can remedy the vacant position somehow, I’ll cross that bridge if I get to it.
Rachel’s definitely a good choice for scouting and security. Same with Jaime and HR.
I completely agree in finding both Nora and Parker less than optimal quartermasters, in terms of
likely longevity, but the only other initial option was Kelly, and I haven’t tried her as quartermaster yet. I wasn’t sure if she’d be good at it, and subsequent events involving her only increased my doubts. I don’t know if we have an optimal quartermaster in the group yet. Your thoughts?
I appointed both Nora and Reilly to their positions mainly because I figured those two would cause trouble if they didn’t have roles in the group that got them physically and emotionally invested. The last thing I want is for those two to get bored/fed up and steal off into the night with a truckload of supplies. The appointments may be not ideal, but I figured it was the best hand to play of the limited options available.
Reilly can follow the MC’s orders and does if you earn his trust and respect ,it’s just he doesn’t seem supportive of the players who are altruistic or extremely merciful because he views them as soft and not having what it takes to keep his family alive(which is how the majority of the players act). In my experience, Reilly naturally synergies with the survivors who are pragmatic, ruthless or put the groups interests before random strangers. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t get him to follow your orders, if your leadership style doesn’t operate in the shades of gray or black that he believes will keep him and his mom alive it just requires more work to earn his loyalty and obedience(maybe even a beating if you’re capable).
What makes you think that the 2 of them would cause trouble and not just Reilly ? Nora’s been doing everything her power to bring him to heel, and every time Reilly tells the MC he wants to leave the group with his mom, it’s Nora who has enough sense to point out that it would be stupid of them to try and survive on their own.
I’ve noticed that even if you decide to teach a certain survivor a skill that you view as valuable not every survivor sees it as necessary to their own skill set and will dismiss it. For example, Tommy doesn’t care about learning persuasion in order to avoid conflict, because he wants to kill the Makarovs but he does care about learning intimidation and stealth. So, yes I could see a group training session in crafting but I’m not sure about the number of people taking its value seriously.
If you try mentoring Bailey in the medicine skill she becomes incredibly invested in learning everything she can from you and seems dedicated to ensuring the camp stays healthy. It’s interesting seeing who picks up a new skill better than their fellow survivors despite the categorical differences of their main skill.
In Part 3, it appears that the group will live in a set base rather than as nomads. If there is training in Part 3, a lot more people will take learning Crafting seriously if they want a comfortable place to live, or clothes without holes, bullets, etc. Even in part 2, one could argue that there are no clothing stores or repair facilities, and that intact clothing/shoes is more protective against zombies and other threats.
Thanks for the information on Bailey. It makes sense that she would be interested in Medicine, given that her old college major was equine science and she seems like the shy, but very sweet and caring sort. She might make a good combat medic, given enough time and training.
I suppose I was more worried about Reilly leaving since he’s brought it up more than once, Rachel’s notes his leaving as a possibility, and I was concerned that Nora might change sides, since she is the main reason Reilly’s staying. Plus, I really don’t want the group’s quartermaster leaving.
In any event, I do want to keep Reilly and Nora aboard, to see how they end up and to simply have more hands to carry the burden of group survival. Strength in numbers and such. I find I tend to try to play most of my MCs as polite, kind, and tactful in conversation, but willing to be pragmatic in action. My favorite MC was the type to politely offer Reilly help with caring for his mother, while also perfectly willing to snipe Jude dead at the pharmacy.
Today I uploaded a video to YouTube in which I read through the first few screens of Part 3 and explain the code behind it. For any of you who are interested in this ZESH or and what it takes to code game, please feel free to take a look.
This is just a preview. Part 3 will be out later this year.
If you watched my video posted yesterday (a preview of ZE:SH Part 3), did you feel it was too long? I am thinking of doing shorter videos that stick to specific topics, like how to set up a choice or what it’s like to work with Choice of Games. Thoughts?
Some questions:
Does anyone know to keep Parker from getting shot by the sniper at the pharmacy?
What vehicle should be used at the pharmacy to be able to take two trips back to camp? I keep getting the opinion to only do one trip.
Is there a way to capture Benton and not get Church killed?
Thanks! 
How long is the leap going to be in the next book?
I have answers to two:
The most sure-fire way to avoid Parker getting shot by Jude is for Parker to not go to the pharmacy. I’ve found the best way to convince him to not go to the pharmacy and not leave the group is to give him insulin. Your character can find insulin in the attic safe in the three story house with the light flashing in the window in Part One, or scavenging cars in Part Two with Rachel, Jaime, and Woody with a Scavenging score of at least 65%.
I’ve found the passenger van allows you to take two supply trips at the pharmacy. There are probably other requirements in play.
Ok thank you!
Wait, I just remembered a way to capture Benton without losing people. It requires the Mann’s LAR you can get from Silfer giving you the Skeleton Key, which she will do after the horde fight if you go to the boarded-up home in Part One and have a nice, full conversation with her there.
You’ll probably also need a good Ranged Weapons stat and to have trained your group in Ranged Weapons. You need to have the Mann’s LAR equipped, and should order some fighters to the woods when the Silverthorns show up. There should then be an option, after attacking the Silverthorns first, to use suppressive fire. The fight ended, in my case, with no losses on the group side and Reilly capturing Benton. Hope this helps.
