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[Ruuppa]

Ha. Cracked the encryption. Just need to solve a couple more letters.
Spoilers obviously. Still undecided on a couple of letters:

Spoiler

H A R D C O R E ! T H E D E V S L O V E Y O U !
M O N I T O R T H E C A R E T A K E R
T H E C R O W S M I G H T B E N E X T
T H A N K S T O K I C K S T A R T E R B A C K E R S
B E A R A L L I E S U N L O C K E D !

Edit: It could still be horribly wrong if I assumed something badly.

Edit2:

Did you type the code somewhere?

Man, now i want to ride bears

Ah, yeah.

Spoiler

J 4 S F D 0 S 3 ! U J 3 F 3 W T 7 0 W 3 Z 0 V !
N 0 P 1 U 0 S U J 3 D 4 S 3 U 4 M 3 S
U J 3 D S 0 X T N 1 H J U C 3 P 3 Y U
U J 4 P M T U 0 M 1 D M T U 4 S U 3 S C 4 D M 3 S T
C 3 4 S 4 7 7 1 3 T V P 7 0 D M 3 F !

1 = I, 0 = O, 4 = A, 3 = E, 7 = L
U = T, J = H, T = S, S = R, M = K, D = C, F = D, P = N, C = B, V = U, N = M, X = W, Y = X

Might be missing a couple of letters, since I didn't need them to decipher the last few words.

Or did you mean if you can type the code somewhere ingame? I tried writing it in the computer, but that didn't do anything. Tried checking

Spoiler

Monitor the caretaker and The crows might be next

from the archived data items, to see whether they correspond to something, but didn't find anything so far.

 

[Coriolanus]

Did you type the code somewhere?

Man, now i want to ride bears

 

[zkylon]

Thank zombie jesus for anagram-solver.net.

Oh wow, clifford really is a wonderful individual. Don't think i'll give him a single mood boosting item after that. Yeesh.

i still can't solve #17

a bit harder when english is not your first language heh

 

[Reneledarker]

Can you play this game solo from the start or are you always with the school shelter group?

 

[Coriolanus]

Always. If you give them the finger and try to not give a fuck about morale, the game ends after day 30. Violently.

 

[zkylon]

patch is delayed until tomorrow morning since it's gonna be a bit bigger and needed a bit more testing. they're hoping it's the last patch before january since holidays. understandable, i hope they can get this one through with no problems

patch will include (full notes tomorrow):

- including a new autosave feature
- providing the ability to load your own photo at character creation
- providing far more info about weapons and armor on the inventory screen
- addressing issue with status effects not wearing off over time
- resolving a case of save corruption
- improving stability

some good stuff in the patch, i hope there's room in the "stability" part for some multi-level location fixes

 

[bobnowhere]

My stupid question for the day:

How do you swap items between characters in the field? The only way I've found is to use a "container" as an intermediary.

 

[zkylon]

My stupid question for the day:

How do you swap items between characters in the field? The only way I've found is to use a "container" as an intermediary.

right click on one of the other characters until you see the backpack cursor

left click then to access the trade interface

 

[Volodja]

patch is delayed until tomorrow morning since it's gonna be a bit bigger and needed a bit more testing. they're hoping it's the last patch before january since holidays. understandable, i hope they can get this one through with no problems

patch will include (full notes tomorrow):


some good stuff in the patch, i hope there's room in the "stability" part for some multi-level location fixes

I've been waiting for a couple of days to keep playing because I want to head to the Hospital and I'm just not doing such a big 2 floors level with the way the game is right now.

Looking forward to more info on weapons and such on the menus because right now they are pitiful.

 

[zkylon]

patch is up on steam

full changelog:

Added autosaving feature.
Added feature to upload your own image in character creation.
Adjusted duration of status effects and fixed status lock issue.
Provided additional info for melee weapons, ranged weapons, and armor on inventory screen.
Further improved build stability and resolved rare crash cases.
Fixed issue with landmines causing errors with saved games; however, we're sorry to say that older saves with this issue cannot be recovered.
Adjusted dialogues and dialogue triggers in multiple maps.
Polished some levels and building models.
Adjusted loot distribution and balance.
Clarified text on some perks and items.
Optimized pathfinding to interactable objects.
Updated blocking in some areas.
Addressed cases of shelter activity not correctly appearing in the field.
Set flare gun ammo cap to six shots as per original design.
Adjusted “Be It Ever So Humble” Achievement to account for the correct number of upgrades.
Adjusted Elaine’s perk to correctly affect her Melee skill instead of her Medical skill.
Balanced some weapon attacks and stats.
Balanced armor stats.
Expanded size of ‘gather party’ zones in multi-level areas.
Updated data system to properly access the last data item.
Updated job board to properly allow repair tasks in all cases, apply ally skill bonuses on tasks, and reveal car after repair.
Updated ally reactions to killing neutral characters.
Adjusted the rationing penalty on the DRS to only occur in cases of Shelter-wide rationing.
Adjusted noise dampening among floors in multi-floor buildings to improve combat.
Adjusted loot balance on City locations.
Updated combat AP costs so that switching from Inventory to Character screen is a free action.
Addressed cases of Lightning showing incorrect breed portrait.
Polished multiple GUI displays more multiple resolutions.

apparently the quests in the to-do list failing to be crossed bug is gonna remain but it's not much to worry about since the progression part of the quests should be functioning properly

on next patch:

The next patch will be in mid to late January, and it will include a mix of content and fixes. We'll be taking a brief hiatus for the late December holidays in the meantime, although we'll be checking up on things often. We're excited about what's to come in the future, and we hope you are too

content and fixes sounds like my kind of patch

hopefully no more troubles and the devs can get their rest and we can have fun with the game.

i would love it if a few months down the line there's a few patches that helps you speed things up and you go through new playthroughs quickly and explore different styles of playing the game

 

[bobnowhere]

right click on one of the other characters until you see the backpack cursor

left click then to access the trade interface

Thanks mate!

 

[Coriolanus]

Adjusted noise dampening among floors in multi-floor buildings to improve combat.

Imma guess that this translates to "sound no longer travels vertically". Good enough.

Wonder what they did with city loot, exactly.

 

[Metroidvania]

Just started this one up after I finished with finals. Everything seems to be going...slowly. It's a very plodding/methodical pace, which isn't helped by the frequent crashes and clunky interface (Let me just trade on the inventory screen out of combat :/ )

It may have been a mistake to rush for the wooden fence, it wasted a lot of resources I could have spent on a workshop or something.

Some of you all are talking about having 10s of guys, I have 10 total and I'm on day 10, lol. Is there a max # you can have in your travelling party at once?

Also, question:

In the conversation where I

Spoiler

recruited oscar and melina, I had renee with me, and she said that the bites were from a dog, not from the zombies, I think. If that's the case, why is she still chewing through my antibiotics?

 

[Volodja]

Some of you all are talking about having 10s of guys, I have 10 total and I'm on day 10, lol. Is there a max # you can have in your travelling party at once?

You can have at most 4 people in party, MC included.

 

[zkylon]

added a few more reviews

i'm thinking the devs gave out review copies really late cos it's pretty sad how few of them are there

Just started this one up after I finished with finals. Everything seems to be going...slowly. It's a very plodding/methodical pace, which isn't helped by the frequent crashes and clunky interface (Let me just trade on the inventory screen out of combat :/ )

what do you mean trade out of combat?

you can always trade out of combat

It may have been a mistake to rush for the wooden fence, it wasted a lot of resources I could have spent on a workshop or something.

nah, you'll be ok. if you have to give up on loot always throw away extra scredrivers and knives and wrenches and other useless weapons

Some of you all are talking about having 10s of guys, I have 10 total and I'm on day 10, lol. Is there a max # you can have in your travelling party at once?

only 4 on your party, but yeah, i have like 25 people or something

it gets crowded to the point that half your people are sitting around chilling in the rec room lol

Also, question:

In the conversation where I

Spoiler

recruited oscar and melina, I had renee with me, and she said that the bites were from a dog, not from the zombies, I think. If that's the case, why is she still chewing through my antibiotics?

wow didn't know that, that's pretty cool

also sounds like a bug that it didn't register as

Spoiler

not actually infected

.

game unfortunately has a number of bugs like those that will get fixed with time

 

[Volodja]

First of all: Fuck you Grant, fuck you.


Second of all: I'll be honest, the game is kind of falling apart around me at times.
The quests that aren't responding correctly are starting to be a bit too many, places that shouldn't be hostile suddently became hostile, the subquests not being written in the to do list are leaving me questioning if I have done them or not as well, and there's this consistent feeling like I'm in places where I shouldn't be yet because stuff just goes kinda weirdly and I feel like I'm bruteforcing a lot (like I felt in Hollywood in Wasteland 2) and with the entirety of the shelter being upgraded and me being substantially stronger than what I'm finding anywhere around the game it seems like I can only stay holed in and wait for the new days to give me quests so that I can go somewhere hoping that shit doesn't go sideways somehow.

 

[Metroidvania]

what do you mean trade out of combat?

you can always trade out of combat

Yah, I know. The right click -> backpack seems super weird to me though.

Clunky was also kind of meant to the combat. KO'd bodies not being able to be stepped over is kind of silly.

wow didn't know that, that's pretty cool

also sounds like a bug that it didn't register as not actually infected.

game unfortunately has a number of bugs like those that will get fixed with time

Oh. Well that's shitty. :/

Game is super-fun, though my usual hording of ammo and the like may have to stop now that I'm finding more coyote enforcers with magnums, and more survivalist's with police shotguns. They tore through my melee MC with 16 AC in one turn's salvo, lol.

I also briefly ran into

Spoiler

some crazies with chainsaws, they killed my party before I could issue commands.

Do NPC's get skills over time, similar to how you get skill points from goals a la Bloodlines?

Also, do you ever get more stat points, as opposed to skill points?

 

[zkylon]

Yah, I know. The right click -> backpack seems super weird to me though.

yeah, most interfacing in this game is pretty awkward just like it was in fallout

inventory management so far has been unsatisfactory in all the old school rpgs i've played this year (divinity, wasteland, dead state and shadownrun)

i mean, inventory management is still pretty shit in the witcher 2 and new vegas so it's not like rpgs have really moved forward in that regard but they totally should've

Clunky was also kind of meant to the combat. KO'd bodies not being able to be stepped over is kind of silly.

yeah, combat is kinda not awesome

i think there are some definite heights of like setting up a minefield and throwing a sound emitter thingie at it and watching everyone blow up, or luring zombies into looters, but yeah, it's not very much fun and it's too damn slow

Game is super-fun, though my usual hording of ammo and the like may have to stop now that I'm finding more coyote enforcers with magnums, and more survivalist's with police shotguns. They tore through my melee MC with 16 AC in one turn's salvo, lol.

yeah guns are the real threat in the game, zombies aren't even worth looting after a while

Do NPC's get skills over time, similar to how you get skill points from goals a la Bloodlines?

afaik they gain points as days pass

Also, do you ever get more stat points, as opposed to skill points?

you do

 

[Volodja]

Also, do you ever get more stat points, as opposed to skill points?

Every 20 skills points you get 1 stat point.

 

[Metroidvania]

Man, this game.

Leadership ability for the 50% crit for one turn doesn't seem to be working, and I can't quite tell now (I forgot to check when I activated it) whether or not the negotiation 25% food auto-ration actually happened.

Still, coming back to an area and rolling off crits on army dudes with Vic + the unique crossbow is super satisfying.

Also, where are you supposed to be entering all of these data center things? IIRC, someone mentioned a library, but the library in the school/base has nothing to indicate that I can click further. Is it related to Doug, at all? I had some weird thing happen where I gave him his 10 antibiotics, he woke up, gave his spiel, I said okay, and he just...left, lol. Or is it just time-related?

 

[zkylon]

there's a computer in the desk right next to doug

it's really very poorly indicated now that you mention it

the "mini-game" relating to the data files is pretty fun tho

 

[jesu]

33% off on Steam today.
I'm in two minds.....

 

[zkylon]

what's holding you back?

it's good value in that you'll get a lot of hours of playtime and most of them will be really fun

a good chunk of those hours will be spent fighting the inventory and the game's clunkiness, tho, which may get fixed with patches moving forward

if you can see past the jank the game underneath it is really solid and enjoyable

if you feel like waiting you won't get burned or anything, you'll just be able to buy it cheaper and more stable later

personally i wouldn't put $20 on a pc game i wasn't intending to play right away.

 

[bobnowhere]

there's a computer in the desk right next to doug

it's really very poorly indicated now that you mention it

the "mini-game" relating to the data files is pretty fun tho

Haha, I was wondering where the computer was too. I was also looking in the library. I assumed it was something you had to pick up in the world or a job.

 

[bonesmccoy]

I finally gave this some time the other day (I backed the original KS for like $15) after my first 15 minutes a few weeks ago.

And... it's actually pretty fun? What the heck?

 

[jesu]

what's holding you back?

it's good value in that you'll get a lot of hours of playtime and most of them will be really fun

a good chunk of those hours will be spent fighting the inventory and the game's clunkiness, tho, which may get fixed with patches moving forward

if you can see past the jank the game underneath it is really solid and enjoyable

if you feel like waiting you won't get burned or anything, you'll just be able to buy it cheaper and more stable later

personally i wouldn't put $20 on a pc game i wasn't intending to play right away.

That's the thing, I might not play it straight away.
I could just wait until it's patched some more.

 

[zkylon]

I finally gave this some time the other day (I backed the original KS for like $15) after my first 15 minutes a few weeks ago.

And... it's actually pretty fun? What the heck?

i've been preaching for people to give dead state a chance for a long while

the game's awesome (if flawed)

That's the thing, I might not play it straight away.
I could just wait until it's patched some more.

if you buy it right now you'll find a worthy game of your money and your time. if you wait a bit the value will obviously only go higher

in any case, i would advice people against buying games they're not intending to play right away

 

[zkylon]

just got through the austin outskirts

holy shit that took forever. took me 9 trips to loot the place and i still left a lot in there (and i'm 10 str and was filling up the car...)

i think i'm pretty endgame now, only places for me to visit/murder are

Spoiler

militia hq/oil refinery

,

Spoiler

the police station

and seeing if there's anything more to do in

Spoiler

the other town

 

[jesu]

i've been preaching for people to give dead state a chance for a long while

the game's awesome (if flawed)


if you buy it right now you'll find a worthy game of your money and your time. if you wait a bit the value will obviously only go higher

in any case, i would advice people against buying games they're not intending to play right away

Bugger it, I got the GOG version, a few quid cheaper than Steam.
I'll get stuck into it on monday.
Bugs be damned!

 

[Miletius]

I'm so late this is almost LTTP, but I've finally got a chance to sit down and play the game, committing to a character and getting into what I think is the 2rd or 3rd week?

Really enjoying it so far. It take a bit to get used to the systems, but now that I have a good grasp on it it's great. It takes getting used to the GENERAL SPOILER

Spoiler

how little direction there really is in the game. Basically by day 3 or 4 you're kind of on your own, just kind of have to pick a direction and start walking

.

 

[zkylon]

I'm so late this is almost LTTP, but I've finally got a chance to sit down and play the game, committing to a character and getting into what I think is the 2rd or 3rd week?

Really enjoying it so far. It take a bit to get used to the systems, but now that I have a good grasp on it it's great. It takes getting used to the GENERAL SPOILER

Spoiler

how little direction there really is in the game. Basically by day 3 or 4 you're kind of on your own, just kind of have to pick a direction and start walking

.

yeah, but that's kind of the awesome part of it. it's very open ended and so the early game problems you might run into may be different than mine (say, you have too many fighters but no mechanics or you find horses quickly or you find morale boosting people early, etc.)

i recommend you don't save scum too much, as managing antibiotics and food and everything is kinda difficult at first, but becomes a lot easier as you go on to the point it's eventually pretty trivial. so if someone on your crew gets bit, it's not the end of the world, you should just prioritize hospitals and pharmacies over grocery stores or whatever until you got enough stock to survive for a while. same if someone dies or kills themselves or leaves the party, it's about writing your own story of what happened and the achievement for recruiting anyone doesn't require you to have everyone alive or in your base.

tiny gameplay spoilers:

Spoiler

there's a bit of a time-limit element to the game, with some possible companions possibly dying if you take too long to reach them. personally, i got really close to the end of the game and still managed to rescue everyone, so i don't think it's too tight, but that may not be your luck. so while you shouldn't go crazy optimizing your time it would be a good idea to be mindful of at least visiting most places and not wasting too much time sleeping at the shelter or moving with a group that can't carry much and so will require multiple travels to get all the loot

 

[Miletius]

yeah, but that's kind of the awesome part of it. it's very open ended and so the early game problems you might run into may be different than mine (say, you have too many fighters but no mechanics or you find horses quickly or you find morale boosting people early, etc.)

i recommend you don't save scum too much, as managing antibiotics and food and everything is kinda difficult at first, but becomes a lot easier as you go on to the point it's eventually pretty trivial. so if someone on your crew gets bit, it's not the end of the world, you should just prioritize hospitals and pharmacies over grocery stores or whatever until you got enough stock to survive for a while. same if someone dies or kills themselves or leaves the party, it's about writing your own story of what happened and the achievement for recruiting anyone doesn't require you to have everyone alive or in your base.

tiny gameplay spoilers:

Spoiler

there's a bit of a time-limit element to the game, with some possible companions possibly dying if you take too long to reach them. personally, i got really close to the end of the game and still managed to rescue everyone, so i don't think it's too tight, but that may not be your luck. so while you shouldn't go crazy optimizing your time it would be a good idea to be mindful of at least visiting most places and not wasting too much time sleeping at the shelter or moving with a group that can't carry much and so will require multiple travels to get all the loot

So far I haven't found resource management to be such a big deal. But, yesterday (game wise) was the first day where I had a food deficit rather than a surplus thanks to finding RECRUITABLE CHARACTERS

Spoiler

the trio (boy, Japanese girl, and old man) and Oscar and Mileena. That also means I'm going to start needing antibiotics

In regards to fighting, nobody on my crew has been bit yet. Mostly because I've become an expert at MINOR TACTICS SPOILER

Spoiler

sneaking up behind them with the sledgehammer and knocking them flat, then taking one step back so they can't attack. When there are multiple foes, I use the axe or baton and cripple them, which makes zombies not able to attack.

I'm also still actively avoiding most hostile humans, although I can take a few here and there.

 

[zkylon]

yeah you're on the correct mindset

just recommending that save scum thingie since it makes the game less fun to be a super god of having like 8000 food and a billion fuel and not ever worrying about anything

it's expected that come late game those things won't be your main worries but you know, it keeps the game interesting if you don't save scum too much

 

[Miletius]

yeah you're on the correct mindset

just recommending that save scum thingie since it makes the game less fun to be a super god of having like 8000 food and a billion fuel and not ever worrying about anything

it's expected that come late game those things won't be your main worries but you know, it keeps the game interesting if you don't save scum too much

Thanks. Yeah, I'll resist the urge. Although it's funny now that I see what skills are the most beneficial I'm already considering a second run.

 

[zkylon]

Thanks. Yeah, I'll resist the urge. Although it's funny now that I see what skills are the most beneficial I'm already considering a second run.

my broad suggestion is to make your character a fighter (so melee/ranged) and an outdoorsman/woman, since he/she'll have to be on your party anyways. putting points in str to carry more stuff is also a good idea

the other skills are useful and everything but you'll generally just want your mc to be killing and looting shit

 

[Miletius]

my broad suggestion is to make your character a fighter (so melee/ranged) and an outdoorsman/woman, since he/she'll have to be on your party anyways. putting points in str to carry more stuff is also a good idea

the other skills are useful and everything but you'll generally just want your mc to be killing and looting shit

Too late for that, my main is a talker and a mechanic. Has 1 point in melee and a few in ranged. It's working well so far. I have a few fighters as backup.

 

[bonesmccoy]

I haven't played this since December, but I do plan on doing so again soon.

The one major complaint I have is that you're forced to include your character in every scavenging mission. I assume this is to maintain a constant potential fail state, but it feels forced and unnecessary. It would be better if you had to include one of the leadership cabal in each party, and once you ran out of those 4-5 people, you hit the fail state.

 

[zkylon]

Too late for that, my main is a talker and a mechanic. Has 1 point in melee and a few in ranged. It's working well so far. I have a few fighters as backup.

not too late, since you get to actually max out a bunch of skills

talking is not bad, but i didn't find myself using the orders too often (tho they are useful) and you can get a few advantages for having it.

mechanic is kind of bad i think.

I haven't played this since December, but I do plan on doing so again soon.

The one major complaint I have is that you're forced to include your character in every scavenging mission. I assume this is to maintain a constant potential fail state, but it feels forced and unnecessary. It would be better if you had to include one of the leadership cabal in each party, and once you ran out of those 4-5 people, you hit the fail state.

that would've been cool, yeah, but maybe the dialogue should've been rewritten a bunch since if your main character dies then all your relationship status with all the characters (who hates you, who loves you) should be reset to the character that replaces you

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Is there any word on when the next patch will be dropping for Dead State?

 

[zkylon]

Is there any word on when the next patch will be dropping for Dead State?

i think they said late january/early february?

most if not all of the gamebreaking bugs are kinda fixed, tho tbh there's a lot that could be done to improve the game's usability, which i'm guessing they're focusing on since there aren't too many urgent issues

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

i think they said late january/early february?

most if not all of the gamebreaking bugs are kinda fixed, tho tbh there's a lot that could be done to improve the game's usability, which i'm guessing they're focusing on since there aren't too many urgent issues

Cool! I already have the game but I'll hold off until the next patch, just to be on the safe side. I really like the impressions I've read so far.

 

[Miletius]

The first leadership perk

Spoiler

GO!

has been incredibly useful for me, as it allows my bruisers to get extra time before the enemy can react.

 

[zkylon]

Cool! I already have the game but I'll hold off until the next patch, just to be on the safe side. I really like the impressions I've read so far.

not a bad idea, there are more patches coming for sure. more than anything, i'm hoping doublebear will make a couple tweaks to make the interface a bit smoother and combat maybe faster so i can do multiple playthroughs

The first leadership perk

Spoiler

GO!

has been incredibly useful for me, as it allows my bruisers to get extra time before the enemy can react.

yea most leadership perks are very useful but rarely needed

 

[TheBear]

Can this game be played without a keyboard?
I played Shadowfall on my couch with just a mouse and it worked ok, just curious.

 

[zkylon]

Can this game be played without a keyboard?
I played Shadowfall on my couch with just a mouse and it worked ok, just curious.

yes, but i wouldn't recommend it

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Patch #5 and a demo are coming some time this week!

Hi everyone! We see you're eager to get an update on our status, and we're more than happy to provide.

Since we've been working concurrently on several things, it's taken us a little bit longer to finish any specific item - but the good news is that we'll be releasing both Patch #5 and the public demo next week!

The upcoming patch is more fix-focused than feature-focused, but you'll see a couple nice polish features in the mix as well. We'll give you the full rundown in next week's changelog, though

Hang in there, Patch #5 is coming soon!

 

[zkylon]

dead state patch 5 + demo is out

copy pasta changelog:

Changelog 1.0.0.195

Added loading screen images and tips.
Added Nothing Gold trait to allies unable to have a mood higher than Content.
Added current in-game date, day number, and time to the Job Board.
Added current in-game date to the Shelter overview screen.
Added game day number on the Daily Results Screen.
Added low morale warning dialogue.
Adjusted dog attacks to cover diagonal spaces as well.
Adjusted combat balance on some weapons.
Tweaked some dialogue content.
Adjusted triggering times for some dialogues.
Changed item description text on several items for clarity.
Improved job board ally list tooltips for certain task types.
Fixed issue causing the car trunk to be accessible from horses.
Fixed an issue preventing certain ally traits from creating additional daily items.
Fixed an issue preventing the "Hacker" achievement from unlocking.
Fixed issues with the To-Do list not correctly clearing completed location-related items.
Fixed an issue causing unexpected morale losses if allies were killed during certain plot events.
Fixed issue with allies re-appearing after death in some cases.
Fixed an issue preventing certain morale and mood changing events from firing.

seems like a pretty decent patch, the date info is much appreciated

 

[JumpJeff84]

I just downloaded the demo for this and played if for 30 minutes. I actually really like it so far.

Question: are there EXP points in this game? How do you level up?

 

[Corpekata]

I just downloaded the demo for this and played if for 30 minutes. I actually really like it so far.

Question: are there EXP points in this game? How do you level up?

You level up via doing goals. Some are story based, some are repeated (like collect so many rations of food). Nothing for killing so no need to engage enemies unless they are guarding stuff you want.

Basically, scavenge, upgrade, recruit, help out those recruits, etc.

 

[zkylon]

You level up via doing goals. Some are story based, some are repeated (like collect so many rations of food). Nothing for killing so no need to engage enemies unless they are guarding stuff you want.

Basically, scavenge, upgrade, recruit, help out those recruits, etc.

to add to this, other survivors level up and distribute their points automatically

you can alter a bit their upgrade paths through dialogue in specific events but for the most part they'll just do their own thing