Dead Age 2 – Useful Tips and Tricks

Here you can find some tips for gameplay.

Survival and Combat Tips

All credit goes to Wolf!

Introduction

Dead Age 2 is a strategy rpg with many different gameplay elements. I have played the early access three times and figured out a good starting build. This game can be hard and unforgiving and I just want to let you know about what I’ve learned. I played on normal difficulty.

General Tips

• Time management is of the greatest importance. You have a week until the first zombie attack, then another event which results in game over on day 27. Plan ahead and make sure to spend nights doing quests and scavenging resources as well.
• Don’t take on too many timed quests at the same time as the map is very big.
• Save money. Don’t buy weapons. You can find or craft better ones. Only buy the specialized armor when you can afford it and still have about 50-100 dollars. Money can be used to fast travel the map through the subway or ferry. It is also useful to bribe people with if you need it.
• Complete the initial story missions they give you. Build the garden, outfitter, hunting post, and whatever else Trish and Jack tell you to do. This will usually give a small exp boost and some money.
• Get good armor before you get good weapons.
• If you lose a party member (permadeath) you might as well start over. It’s a slippery slope and the game is unforgiving. You can’t catch up when you fall behind.
• Don’t kill members of other factions without a very good reason. Reputation is important for a successful playthrough.

Character Generation and Leveling

• Go either shotgun or pistol for ranged skills. Work your way up to either the burst skill (shotgun) or headshot skill (pistol).
• Also make sure you have 1 melee skill as backup. Nerve strike for bludgeon weapons is a very effective.
• Hunting and engineer skills are useful but your companions can cover these.
• Alertness or survival are very useful for traversing the map. Make sure to level up one of these and have another party member cover the other.

Party Members

Make sure you choose early on who you want as base builders and who you want to accompany you on quests.

• Tessa starts out with hunting and rifle skills. The small dog is useful for tanking and I recommend that you continue to level her hunting skills until she unlocks the tiger. In a long battle she can then summon two animals to tank for you. Also give her a backup melee skill.
• Lance is a party member I only used in the beginning because I needed him to guard the base. He has a nice skill set which offers you engineering, bludgeon, and shotguns. Keep him in the party until you get Isa or Fernando.
• Sarah is the stay at home base maintainer. Level up her biology and handiness.
• Fernando is proficient with pistols and blades and will be descent throughout the game. I made him my survival specialist which helps in the intimidation and hunting events.
• Isa replaced Lance as she has engineer skills and pistols which for me was more cost efficient. She comes later in the game and already has some good armor.

Combat Tips

• Take your time in the beginning of the encounter to read through the enemy skill set. Some have annoying abilities which stun or summon more enemies. Prioritize targets.
• Focus fire the enemy types that will either die quickly or deal a lot of dmg. For human enemies that is usually a grenadier or gunman, and for zombies you should try to take out the weaker ones first.
• You need a frontliner. Either an animal or a party member.
• When you have one enemy left it might be worth to just melee him. Conserve ammo for the big battles.
• Don’t use the assault rifle. The ammo is rare and expensive and quite honestly it’s quite weak. In my experience the enemy tend to deflect a lot of the dmg.

Event Tips

• Don’t help civilians that are sick or have been kidnapped unless it is a quest. This will usually lead to an ambush or a reputation drop with one the factions.
• In my experience the RNG seems to be pretty forgiving if you have over 75% chance to succeed. Don’t unlock cars or threaten if you don’t think you can handle a fight.
• Mining can be very dangerous early game with little reward. The metal is only used for late game anyway.
• Make sure to have a party member with high alertness and one with high survival as you travel. This will help with the skill checks.

Base Tips

• Get the garden fast. Upgrade it and it will solve your water problems for the rest of your game.
• Make sure to continue to upgrade your defenses. The game will let you know when you need to start posting guards.
• The forge, smith, outfitter, and doctor are all useful. If you’re in abundance of resources try to rank the forge and outfitter up to rank 2. This will allow creation of better weapons and armor which you will need for the mid game. By the end of the early access you won’t need tier 3 weapons or armor yet.
• Don’t upgrade the beds or the radio station. Waste of materials.
• Keep an eye on your ammo usage. If you need ammo, have your best survivalist make some. Focus on shotgun or pistol ammo.

Day 1-3

• Tutorial. Don’t pay the smugglers.

Day 4

• Go to Freedom City East (independent outpost) on the first day. It’s not far and no matter which characters you start off with, this should be doable. This will allow you to complete a quest quickly and get you some other quests lines. (Mary’s and Bill’s quest)
• If you can, explore the vicinity of the independent outpost for resources and exp.
• If you started with Tessa, she wants you to go to the military outpost in Freedom City West which is a good idea if you have the time and strength to do so.
• At night build the garden and if you have the materials, the outfitter as well.

Day 5

• You should make way to the smuggler outpost. If the rng is merciful you can pick up Steven’s stash on your way. Make sure to scavenge resources on the way. You might also be able to do Sarah’s quest as well.
• Once there do what the quests require and do the first arena match.
• Night: Try to do either Mary’s or Lance’s quest.

Keep doing the main quests as they pop up and don’t forget to upgrade your defenses. Make sure that you’re able to have two guards when the horde arrives. It also helps to thin it out if you’re able. Jack will help you with the first horde.

After that you need to build your reputation with the different factions. Do side missions and make sure to spend your time well. The subway will open up which allows you to save a considerable amount of time so use it well.

At one point in the game you are required to go to the Military HQ. Before you do this, make sure you have completed the prison and mine quest.