What items should you keep?

[J1v1n]

Which of the items you find, purchase, or receive should you keep because they might come in handy at a later point in time? 🤓
Let me start out with Tiny Diamonds. With those loot boxes can be purchased in Fleatown that can contain Metaviron (needed to recruit Larry) or other valuable items.

[LXant]

Yes, and you can also sell them to the priest for $700 if you managed to up the price. Otherwise it's still $600, which is 20% more than the cash in option.

The obvious choices are crowbars and lockpicks, as they can't be repaired (aside from that one crowbar).

I also keep all explosives, because sometimes a good throw is better than having to shoot several people one after another. And at some point you'll be outnumbered pretty heavily. Same for tear gas, mustard gas, molotov cocktails, flashbangs etc.

Keep all sniper rifles (M24, M82, Dragunov), the AK-74 (not 47) for it's penetration power, keep the good assault rifles (those that can have good mods, like FN-FAL, G36 for its use of 5.56mm, GALIL), the good machine guns (HK21, MINIMI), good shotguns (AA12), and also a bunch of mortars and RPG-7. Also at least one machete, because you'll need it for loot and the occasional quest.

Armor I'd keep everything that is medium or heavy, preferably with sleeves. Only scrap them when you're 100% sure that you don't need them anymore, i.e. when you replace a vest with a sleeved version. Medium armor is a straight upgrade over light, no drawback. Heavy armor is cumbersome, so use it only with mercs who either have no free move or use a cumbersome weapon that removes their free move. So you might as well use heavy armor.

Keep all night vision equipment, because it removes the aiming penalty in night battles. If you really want to micromanage things, you can also keep a set of helmets for daytime battles.

Gas masks are optional. I like to keep them, if nothing else then because there's no way to replace them easily. And in true rpg fashion, I keep them around "because you never know if you might some day need them".

Medicine is also a given. You can sell it at the hospital, but medicine doesn't take up space, so keep it. Better, getting wounded and then healed by the healing operation has a chance to increase your health. So medicine = chance to improve hp permanently.

Bags of Chien Franks are also valuable, as you can buy various things with them. So don't get rid of them.

Valuables can be sold off, but keep artifacts from excavations (masks, figurines etc.) and also keep the Green Diamond. The former can be given to the museum in exchange for loyalty and free instant militia everywhere in the world. The latter is required for a good game ending and should also be given to Emma at the museum. I mean, it IS the symbol of Grand Chien, the crown jewel, the legendary diamond of a nation that sells diamonds. Selling it off to a private collector for quick cash will lead to disappointment.

Keep all scrap, always. There is a trader who buys scrap for cheap. Don't click on it, ever. Even if you think you have too much scrap (~1k), the moment you start modifying weapons you'll see the pile drained back to 0. At most you should have around 20 mercs, and each one should come with 2 or maybe even 3 weapons for the sake of versatility. That's 40-60 weapons to mod, each one eating at least 100 scrap, if not 200. So we're looking at a demand of a few thousand scrap here. So keep your scrap, you'll need it. Just don't mod the early weapons, it's a waste. Try to get your hands on the advanced stuff and mod that.

Anyway, why so many weapons and armor? At some point money won't be an issue anymore, so you will have more mercs. And at one point in the game there's a drastic increase in enemy difficulty, for which it is good to be prepared. If you want to defend as much of your stuff as possible, you'll want to recruit all free mercs, all 15 AIM mercs and the IMP merc for ~20 people. Since you'll have to stretch them thin across the map, they need to punch well beyond their own weight. And there's nothing like a group kill with the RPG-7, a good mortar shot of mustard gas into a group of enemies or a MINIMI overwatch monster mowing down half a dozen people in one turn. Even if your whole setup is about sneaking and surgical precision, you either give up key assets and risk quest characters get shot/lost and friends get killed, or you prepare to take down a bunch of people with a heavy hand and a ton of explosives.

I think that's about it for now. When I find use for more items, I'll let you know if I think of it.

[D13]

I sold most artifacts not because I needed the money, but because I needed the space 😬

Question:

I found a diamond, and its description says "found in an unspeakable place". I found it in a bag at an otherwise empty beach, so I'm puzzled by the description. Is it a reference to a place I am yet to discover, or am I missing something about that beach?

[J1v1n]

Thank you for the detailed information on items to keep @LXant. Most common things are known to me but I didn't know the facts about the artifacts, the Green Diamond, and I still haven't had a chance to buy anything with the Chien Franks because I have started over a few times and haven't progressed too far into the game. What can be bought with those "money bags"? 🧐

[LXant]

@D13 I haven't found any use for gems beyond the tiny diamonds and the unique green diamond. For now it's safe to sell.

@J1v1n You can buy a red wig for a quest in Port Cacao with it, some scrap at the same shop, you can also trade it in for masks at the poacher camp to give to Emma, if you already sold off various artifacts. You need it to raise your loyalty there, so you can bring peace to the junkyard and have them fight for you later on.

[Jaywalker]

6 hours ago, LXant said:

Medium armor is a straight upgrade over light, no drawback.

That's not entirely true, but also based on the perks you use.

[LXant]

2 hours ago, Jaywalker said:

That's not entirely true, but also based on the perks you use.

Perk-wise the game doesn't make a difference between light armor and medium armor. Perks only know two states: light/no armor and heavy armor.

If you look at the armor types, you'll see that some are explicitly cumbersome, and that is something that only applies to heavy armor:

I use Mouse with a not cumbersome weapon and the unique Deathsquad Armor. It's heavy, but doesn't have the "Cumbersome" attribute. She gets her 5 or 6 tiles free move without any problems. So it really comes down to if the piece of armor or one of your weapons is cumbersome or not.

[Skaldy]

10 hours ago, LXant said:

Keep all night vision equipment, because it removes the aiming penalty in night battles. If you really want to micromanage things, you can also keep a set of helmets for daytime battles.

it doesnt remove the penalty, it lowers it.

[sandman25dcsss]

Well, technically the game differentiates medium armor by it not being light/heavy. So we have armor for light perks, armor for heavy perks and armor for neither of the percs. 

[LXant]

1 hour ago, sandman25dcsss said:

Well, technically the game differentiates medium armor by it not being light/heavy. So we have armor for light perks, armor for heavy perks and armor for neither of the percs. 

Technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.

My point was that medium armor doesn't remove existing free movement, so there's no inherent advantage in using light over medium. It only becomes an issue if you have the perk that specifically gives you free movement when wearing no/light armor. But that is on you then, like taking a perk for heavy weapons and then only using a machete or something.

[sandman25dcsss]

5 minutes ago, LXant said:

Technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.

My point was that medium armor doesn't remove existing free movement, so there's no inherent advantage in using light over medium. It only becomes an issue if you have the perk that specifically gives you free movement when wearing no/light armor. But that is on you then, like taking a perk for heavy weapons and then only using a machete or something.

It works the opposite way, there is an intrinsic advantage in using medium armor, it gives better defence than light one. Heavier armor gives even higher defence, but comes with some penalty. Many games work this way.

Edited July 24, 2023 by sandman25dcsss

[Jaywalker]

Honestly, if you start the fight in the thick of things you don't need to reach the next target, you just need to shoot them, which negates most of the cost of heavy armor.

Hell, other than missing out on the camo vest, you can sneak in it unimpeded, based purely on agility and perks. My first run had my IMP be a heavy stealth guy with a shotgun and a pistol for mobility.

[sandman25dcsss]

4 minutes ago, Jaywalker said:

Honestly, if you start the fight in the thick of things you don't need to reach the next target, you just need to shoot them, which negates most of the cost of heavy armor.

Hell, other than missing out on the camo vest, you can sneak in it unimpeded, based purely on agility and perks. My first run had my IMP be a heavy stealth guy with a shotgun and a pistol for mobility.

So you attacked with shortgun in stealth mode, right?

[LXant]

14 minutes ago, Jaywalker said:

other than missing out on the camo vest

I'll leave this one here, so you know there's more than just the light camo vest:

Edited July 24, 2023 by LXant

[Jaywalker]

27 minutes ago, LXant said:

I'll leave this one here, so you know there's more than just the light camo vest:

See people complain about the replay value, but I have never seen this item! Even when enemies started dropping PSG1s instead of M24s.