Darkwind - Viewing Topic: Murphy's Survival Guide

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Murphy's Darkwind Survival Guide
(or how I learned to stop worrying and love the grind)
Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on this game, just a diehard fan. This guide is meant to be an illustration of how I do things, not the one True Way or anything. It's a combination of hard experience and methods mentioned elsewhere in the wiki and on discord/Facebook.
You will have to find your own way but here's a starting point.

Part One: Gangers
Gangers are the most important resource you have in Darkwind. More than money, gear, or weapons, your characters are your most valuable commodity because you have to invest time into them.

I keep my gangers sorted and make extensive use of tags for information strings.. For example:
Arthur 'Hard Shell' Sell A1 LG/GUNS/Bal/Sct/Spd/8

Stats I want my stats for the gangers to be 40+ in STR/DEX/SPD, however you can work around some of these. I use a * to denote characters with low stats. Stats DO NOT increase, they degrade over time
I sort by column and if they are in the top four gangers in a particular stat I add that to thier string so I can tell at a glance who my strongest, most dextrous, and fastest gangers are.

Courage: Courage you want 49+ I denote those who are below this with LoC in the string and those with 70+ with HiC. I always pair a low courage character with a HiC or normal (50-69) Courage character to prevent rapid stress demos (they get scared and quit giving up their car). You can raise courage by doing dangerous things with the character, ram cars, making them get out and use ped weapons, letting their ride take damage.
Courage has its own specialisms that are covered elsewhere in the wiki.

Leadership: Other than the gang leader again I sort for Ldr and take the top four and denote LDR in thier string. I try to have one of them in each squad to gain leadership points. When they hit 100, they take Motivator if mainly a Mech or Combat Pysch if they are in another skill field (more on this later)

Skills: To explain the way I sort for skills, I'll have to explain my solo squad set up. I run 3 four car solo squads. When you start you will want to run 3 3 car squads .
I use dedicated crews. As much as possible, the same characters pilot the same vehicles
My squads are Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie.
I sort for Driver first The highest skill driver being A1 (he's driving the heavy in squad Alpha), next is A2 (your medium) and A3 (your chaser/command car). Command car is a seperate deal i'll cover below.
Continue doing this for Guns, Large Guns. Each vehicle should have your best large gunner, gunner, and driver for that vehicle
Then I denote if they have double digits in Mech, Ballistic, Handgun, First Aid or Scout.
SO using our above example 'Hard Sell' is the best large gunner who rides in the heavy in Alpha squad.

Training: I set all of the drivers for each vehicle in each squad to train First Aid, everyone else trains Handguns using the weekly training ($500). I save CHR training for if they are close to a specialism, but you do what works for you.
-Scouts I sort for the four highest skilled scouts and note SCT on their string. They will be rotated into the squads on an as needed basis but i keep four on rotation using scout vehicles and camp running (more below)

Injuries: I immediately hospitalize injured guys and pay the $50 until they are back up at 100%. Running injured gangers makes them less effective and causes stress and they will demo earlier. I note the number of injuries /1 etc.

So to decipher the above string: Hard Shell is the best large gunner and gunner I have, he rides in the A1 (Heavy vehicle in Alpha squad,he has double digits in both Ballistics and Scouting, his best stat is SPD and over the course of time he's suffered 8 injuries.

Part 2: Scouting Group and Solo
So you've got your gangers sorted, you know at a glance who's good at what, who's close to speccing (specialisms: a special ability gained at certain skill levels) , who is in what vehicle.

You join the lobby and there will be talk of scouting. There are guides on scouting in the forums and wiki so I'm not going to repeat that information here just my opinion on how I approach them

Group scouts if I'm joining someone else's scout I ask what I should bring.

Some guidelines I follow for group scouts:
- My group vehicles are a pair of Apaches or a pair of muscle cars (lineshooters or chasers). They are kept in a seperate squad called Group Scout Team.
- 100% equipment, no busted motors, stripped armor or broken guns
- No silly stuff (rammers in a non ram scout, goofy builds, etc etc)
- I always try to call my targets and flag where I'm going
- COMMUNICATE. Talk. The others in the scout cannot read your mind. Ask for the plan.
- Follow the scout leader's orders, even if you think you should do something else. I try to be a good soldier.
- Don't shoot the trader vehicles if possible. That's where your payday is.
- Red the escorts (keep shooting until the crew is dead and the CR is 0.)
- When everything is dead but the runners, everyone in the scout will target them to add stress. I do it too.
- Stay on line until the scout leader turns you loose, the AI targets the closest enemy first so don't suicide charge or dogfight.
- I always split the loot if we pull a lorry or carrier van. Some don't. Ask up front.
- When looting, leave 20 bulk in YOUR cars for each loot driver. You can fill loot cars with loot but if there is a return, you'll want space for your peds.
- When looting, right click on each of your cars and select 'Refuel' and 'Reload'. If your tires are damaged, you will have to grab a good tire from Loot and 'Switch tyres'

Quick side note on loot: You want to hover over the cars and consider where you are. If you are at a Gates of..take all the loot. You will not get a return.
Anywhere else, you have to prioritize the loot. For me, its cars (minimum 50% engine, 50% chassis, no more than 2 destroyed tires), followed by car parts, weapons and ammunition that i can use, then tires (all of the tires because the ones I don't use get melted down for plastic), then ped weapons/fuel/water/food, then scrap metal.
Anything less than 50% you a taking a huge risk on losing your ganger because you will have to bail out if you get a return.

The various types of scouts that I've been on
-Whatever goes/Mega/Bring what you want: The scout leader is not particular on what you should bring because there is going to be a bunch of yall and probably vets with high skill gangers. Not always the case. I always try to bring artillery if possible or a couple lineshooters if not.
-Basic Scout: 1-2 cars I will either bring a lineshooter (something that is going to sit in a line and shoot the enemy) or a chaser (going to run after the traders a muscle car is preferable)
-Muscle Scout: A muscle car, 4L or better engine, front guns, Muscle scouting is all about movement and you should read Fifth's guide on it.

I'll discuss my basic solo squad setup. I have a seperate squad I use for group scouts. Ok to get the best use out of your time, here's how I set up to solo. I have 3 squads as previously stated A, B, C. You want at least two so you can roll a second one while your first is coming back in. Its an effiency thing. Also I don't leave empty space in my solo cars. Any empty space is extra ammuntion

When you first start you will want a heavy (Apache or Landrunner) and a medium lineshooter (Mercenary, Moose, Windsor) and a command car (Flash or Vampire or a muscle car). The roles of each

Heavy: This is your linchpin fighting vehicle. This holds your line and trains your gunners IF you cannot afford Apache/Landrunner you can use a second sedan. Front gunned with HMGs x2 or my setup which is HMG/MG.
Since youve sorted your gangers you know who to assign to which gun and you switch them when you reload
3 crew Driver, Large Gunner, Gunner. 4 reloads

Medium: Same setup HMG/MG with 2 gangers and 2 reloads Large Gunner/ Driver (whos training gunner)

Command Car: This is a fast car with a side mount MG to start and 1 reload. I put my gang leader (or squad leader this is why I sort for LDR) and my best Mech in this to gun. When the scout start, Command stays behind cover and plinks at targets of opportunity. If you cannot afford a Flash/Vampire, you can use a Phoenix rigged dual Gatling Guns or GG/MG. You do not fight with the command car directly. The commands entire job is to get your leader their leadership points and your best Mech some gunnery skill. After I gained a ganger with Ballistics, I swapped the MG for a rear mounted Nape Gun for artillery

Quick Side Note on Artillery and Ballistics: If you take a trader van and fix it up, you can have artillery. Be advised you will only (ONLY) use these on group scout where the scout leader agrees. DO NOT SOLO WITH ARTY
There are arguments against ballistics. In my opinion, they are wrong. The reason you use artillery vans is if you position them right (corner facing towards the bulk of the enemy) you can fire 4 rounds per van per turn.
Artillery trains 4 dudes per van, causes stress and will force demos earlier, and is booms and fun
Typical arty van set up is 4xCar Grenade Launchers 2 on the left facing 2 on the rear.
If you are bringing arty, get the van behind cover and park. You do not want to fight directly in a carrier van.
At least 2 reloads for each launcher. Later when you know what you are about, you can change to Paint Guns or Napalm Guns.

Part 3: The Scout
For my solo scouts, I roll 8 towards either the Wabbit Hole or Hog Heaven. If you are not a premium subscriber, you can roll 8 towards Elmsefield and just truce. You want to attack traders, specifically Dune Peddlers or Ironmongers. You can attack other traders BUT you will trash your rep in Somerset and will not be able to escape at the gates.

The scout loads up. Says 'A Squad Solo vs Ironmongers' and if you've done it right it will be Northern Farmlands
If you are new and following this guide, NFL is your home for a while. Trust me when I say you aren't ready for other maps (more tips below on how to prepare for those). You will run NFL and hunt Mongers/Peddlers. That's where you live, that's the grind. There is no easier way to level up your dudes.

You will pop into the event and see your cars. Traders always are in front, which is why you run front guns, You will see a string like 2xPhoenix, 1xPickup. Until you are confident in your ability truce it if they outnumber you. There is no shame in trucing and you aren't losing gangers and gear you can't afford.

Have a seperate tab open to the 'vehicle designs NPCs use' page. You need to be able to identify and prioritize threats. For example all of the pickup builds in Somerset have side gatling or machineguns and they are dangerous with them. Learn the builds. My priority is killing rocket cars first because they have blast damage, can shred your bottom armor. Then pickups. I target the runner with my command car and begin following staying behind cover.

Cover and Positioning; Once you've soloed a few times you will know where the best cover is depending on spawns. I don't ever park in the open. Don't get excited and charge. Stay behind cover and let them come to you.

Keep calm. If a fight isn't going your way, run. Again the reason you have front guns is to keep your rear armor.
If all else fails, give up

Ganger Equipment: Buy 2 rifles and two reloads for each character. You have 48 shots that way.

Preparing for other maps/training your scouts: Remember up top where you noted if a character has double digits in Scouting? You will need scout vehicles. I use voyagers but you can use 4L phoenixes. Set up a travel and just run the maps. Keep cover and positioning in mind. Note where the enemies spawn at. You will figure it out.

If you get curious about down south, take an injured dude or a low stat dude. They are not going to live through this but the information is worth it. Take a phoenix with a 4L, put a rear gun on it and resize the tank for 20 units and just go as far south as you can. Nothing I can tell you can prepare you for it so it's best to see firsthand.

Also if you get guys trapped in Firelight, you CAN fight to get them out. However, most times it is better to just fire them and move on.

Understand that you will only get good by practicing. In the end, DW is less about your ganger skills and more about your players skills. This is just my method for getting there and I hope you get some use out of it.
Thanks for reading-Hati of Murphy's Mercs.

......................... vet wv
Posted Apr 1, 2020, 3:02 pm	Last edited Apr 1, 2020, 8:13 pm by goat starer