[2023] Viable solo build

You can absolutely play without questing. And any single tree is fully viable in it's own way- It's all about what you want to do most in the game.

Pick the tree that has the weapons you like most first; Do you want to do sledgehammers and shotguns? Go strength. Do you want sniper rifles and spears? pick perception. Like being sneaky, go with agility, etc.

Originally posted by Demien:

Originally posted by Shurenai: You can absolutely play without questing. And any single tree is fully viable in it's own way- It's all about what you want to do most in the game.

Pick the tree that has the weapons you like most first; Do you want to do sledgehammers and shotguns? Go strength. Do you want sniper rifles and spears? pick perception. Like being sneaky, go with agility, etc.

I don't agree. Like Mithrandir said the trader perks are way too OP. And all the benches, vehicles and stuff are also in the INT build. There is no way to play at a decent difficulty and go without it. Of course I'm still talking about solo. It would feel like I'm putting myself a forced handicap...

There is a difference between 'Viability' and 'Effectiveness'.

All five trees individually are absolutely viable. Intelligence specifically is insanely effective because currently it's imbalanced, and horrifically overpowered.

But, Just because you can beat the game with the equivalent of a nuclear bomb doesn't mean you can't still beat the game with rocket launchers and rifles. INT being incredibly overpowered doesn't mean the other 4 trees are Under powered.

To try and put it another way, The other 4 trees represent the intended balance of the game, and INT is well above that threshold.
Perception: 100% power balance
Strength: 100% power balance
Agility: 100% power balance
Fortitude 100% power balance
Intelligence 2349% power balance- Significantly above the rest of the pack, Also known as, "Overpowered" and "Imbalanced".

But the one outlier does not the intended balance of the game make. It's why we use the term 'Overpowered' in the first place.

Originally posted by Demien: Okay, got your point. Maybe it's my problem that always feel I have to take the best path I have in a game. It's hard for me to force myself to do something else and that's one of the reason i don't role play often. Next run I will try to go STR and FORT and nerf myself :D I have no idea how I will find any advanced weapons, vehicle or bench though

Strength and fortitude are pretty powerful in their own rights. And don't stress it- Alot of people have the same min-maxing 'problem', and will look up the single best build and the single best way to make a base and the single best way to do this or that.. It's kinda human nature to seek such efficiency.

After all, Our brain is built to optimize it's energy expenditure- Higher efficiency means Less effort and less energy spent, which means more energy stored for continuing survival. In games even though it's not really any more energy spent, it's still Time you're spending, so your brain is still seeking that highly optimized and perfect path forward- To min-max.

But, The best path isn't always the most interesting. The INT tree and by extension Traders are incredibly overpowered, playing that way even on insane essentially hands you everything on a silver platter- There's never any real challenge to it because you're swimming in dukes to buy food, or weapons, or ammo, or vehicles, or forges; You never really have to 'try', You'll never really fail either because you're swimming in materials and gear so the only thing that can really kill you is overconfidence and biting off more than you can chew.

It can definitely take a bit of mental effort to break that habit and make the choice to do something less efficient, even if that less efficient path is still viable. But the more you make that choice to break the habit, the easier it gets to do so in the future.

Originally posted by daggaz:

Originally posted by Shurenai: ..to try and put it another way, The other 4 trees represent the intended balance of the game, and INT is well above that threshold.
Perception: 100% power balance
Strength: 100% power balance
Agility: 100% power balance
Fortitude 100% power balance
Intelligence 2349% power balance- Significantly above the rest of the pack, Also known as, "Overpowered" and "Imbalanced"...

Lol no.
Perception: 99% noobtrap underpowered
Strength : 500% OP
Agility: balanced except for parkour/fall immunity = broken
Fort: 50% balanced (weapons), 50% noob trap (food environment perks)
Intelligence: completely broken, synergizes with trader which is also broken, result = complete 100% game progression within 2 weeks.

Game balance is in the eye of the beholder, Alot of it comes down to player personality and playstyle, honestly. Sometimes a playstyle for a stat is going to be straight up incompatible with the way someone plays.

You, for example, call perception a noob trap, But a sniper rifle with AP ammo and a straight corridor for zombies to walk through is a nearly unbreakable solution to horde night. On top of that it gets looting bonuses, salvage operation which makes big bank and basically infinite fuel from salvaging cars and other things, and treasure hunter which not only makes it quicker to dig up a treasure chest but magnifies the rewards from it.

Strength is pretty strong to be sure, but does have it's own weaknesses. (fat lot of good all those cooking recipes do you when you can't farm, for example. And pack mule is all but useless.)

In any case, calling everything 100% balanced was just a quick example and a way of pointing out how incomparably overpowered INT is relative to the rest, and the one thing we and pretty much anyone definitely agree on is that INT currently is indescribably overpowered compared to the generally intended gamebalance that can be gleaned by observing the other trees.