Dread Hunger How to crew

Introduction

Picture this: Its the day of the blizzard and the ship hasn't even made it half way, the iceberg hasn't been destroyed, the armoury isn't open, and you're all running around looking for food and wood because you're starving and freezing. Does this sound familiar?

This situation is extremely common not because the Thralls are strategic masterminds, but because the crew often fails to conceptualize what their roles are and what they need to be doing. Dread Hunger is a PvEvP, and most crews fail at the PvE aspects before they even have the chance to master the PvP.

Many a game has ended with the crew crawling around this cabin

The DOs

This is perhaps the most important section of this entire guide. Many of these are among the biggest round winners.

Do work as a group

While pairs are sufficient, they can be risky if the other person is a Thrall. Groups of 3 or more are always preferable. Working as a group is good for the following reasons:

Makes you less vulnerable to animal, cannibal, and Thrall attacks

Makes collection, cooking, and heating more efficient

Ensures all areas are completely looted

Helps to establish trust triangles (squares, pentagons, etc.)

Makes it harder for Thralls to run off without being deduced

Do be cooperative

Being oversuspicious, uncooperative, and unfriendly not only makes the game harder, it makes you seem like a Thrall. It is important not to let frustrations from past games bleed into the new one. Here are some key reasons for cooperation:

It is better to have all crew at 12.5% nourishment than one crew at full and the rest starving

Communication helps establish trust. While you may be good, other crew may not know that

Cooperation helps establish trust. Sharing items is a good way to signal that you are good

Friendly crews work more efficiently, and makes crews more willing to work hard for the team

Cooperating with the crew makes them more likely to cooperate with you in return

Cooperating helps make the uncooperative Thralls more obvious

Being polite makes the crew willing to listen to you and reduces the chance of tilting and griefing.

Do drive the ship properly

Driving the ship properly is essential. Always ensure the following tips are employed:

It is always helpful to have a navigator, even if you see the iceberg, it helps for efficient turns.

Always have someone slow-feeding the boiler to mitigate white-outs and sabotage

Guarding the person driving the ship is important to avoid poisoning/backstabbing

Monitoring the speedometer can detect Thralls who are lagging (<70 is too slow)

Do not let bad drivers captain the ship, being 'new' is never an excuse

Having someone available for quick repairs is essential

Stay close to the shore, crew should never have to swim to the ship

Never stop driving forward, the ship is not a taxi and crew should wait until it stops to board

'Oops' is never an excuse

Do go back to the ship often

The worst thing to do is to sit around in caves or tents. It is always preferable to make it back to the ship before night fall instead of camping out. Visiting the ship often is important for the following reasons:

It is much harder to sabotage the ship with crew aboard

Assembling in one place makes cooperation and grouping easier

Being on the ship allows for quick access to the brig for quick respawns

The ship has superior amenities compared to the camps

The ship is warmer and does not require as much fuel

The ship is the easiest and most effective place to make stew

The ship is more likely to move forward if crew is aboard

The armoury codes are more likely to be entered if crew is aboard

This place will not protect you from cannibals and is not as warm as the ship

Do play the objective

It is important to understand that the goal of the game is to drive the ship to the end, NOT to discover and kill the Thralls. It is possible to win the game with the Thralls still alive and to lose the game with both Thralls dead. The following should always be on your mind:

Always push the ship further. It makes it easier for the crew to return and keeps morale up.

If the ship sinks, you lose. Always repair the ship immediately as it slows down the ship speed and can waste warmth if it takes on water.

If the crew dies, you lose. Always keep the crew fed, equipped, and warm.

Always enter your armoury code. The sooner the better since if you die you may not get the chance. The armoury is crucial to fending off Thrall attacks late game and clearing nitro.

Clear nitro path as early as possible. It is much easier for someone to do nitro if the path is clear

Carry the nitro. This should go without saying, but alas...

It is important to recognize that the post-game score reflects how many of these activities, save for a few, that you completed. If you are constantly scoring Ds and Cs, try doing these activities more.

The magic anti-bear room.

The DON'Ts

This section is also extremely important as it contains several common mistakes that many well-meaning crew members often make.

Do not try and 'kit' yourself.

Trying to feed, arm, and equip yourself in the wilderness is much less efficient than gathering and returning to the ship with supplies. It is bad for the following reasons:

Cooking food solo is very inefficient

Kitting yourself in the wilderness fills your inventory and limits what you can bring back

Picking through chests solo forces you to leave behind valuable resources

Wasting keys on locked boxes prevents you from rescuing imprisoned teammates

This approach wastes time and makes the other crew suspicious of your extended absence

You are extremely vulnerable. You will likely not win a 1v1 against a Thrall after they summon cannibals

Dying to said Thralls with all your loot gives them an extreme advantage

Do not run off and look for weapons.

Between the marine, the captain, and the armoury, there is no need to look for weapons. You are not the enforcer.

While it may seem helpful, collecting weapons can have the following adverse effects:

Makes the crew more suspicious of you

Encourages the rest of the crew to arm themselves instead of collecting

Wastes valuable collection time

Gives Thralls more available weapons to loot if you happen to die

Wastes keys as most weapons are found in locked boxes

You should never need to open these as a non-Thrall

Do not try and solo.

Running solo is never a good look. Unless you return with a significant amount of food or coal, the crew will be extremely suspicious if you take an extended leave by yourself. Being a solo player has a variety of downsides:

It makes you seem like a Thrall

It makes you a suspect, which makes it harder for the crew to deduce the actual Thralls

You are extremely vulnerable to cannibals, Thralls, and animals

You do not build trust with any other crew members, making it hard to trust you

You do not gain any insight into other crew members, making it hard to discern the Thralls yourself

Do not hoard.

It doesn't matter if you have a musket, 10 ammunition, a stack of cooked meat, and every tool if you don't have anyone else alive. Hoarding is bad for a variety of reasons:

If you do not feed a hungry crew member, they will simply continue to beg until someone else does

If you do not help equip trustworthy crew, they will be inefficient teammates

It is better to have two crew with 3 shots each than one with 6

Do not do nothing.

While this may seem silly, it is important to consider the following:

Make plans to cook, craft, debrief during the night, do not waste this time.

Constantly ask yourself the following: "What am I doing right now, is it helping us win?"

Ask the other crew what needs to be done and how you can help. This will also build trust

Idleness begets idleness. Sitting around will make the other crew less likely to want to work

Being too silly makes you suspicious and makes it harder to tell who the Thralls are

Bad Crew

There is zero difference between a Thrall and bad crew. Both will waste your time, burn your resources, and prevent the ship from moving forward. Both must die.

It is important not to waste your time considering whether they are actually a Thrall. If they are bad they are bad, regardless of their role. This will help you focus on identifying problematic behaviours rather than trying to guess the identity of the crew member committing them.

Step 1. Identify

You must first identify the bad crew. Here are some key tells:

Rude, uncooperative, or silent

Refuses to announce any tasks they've done or plan to do

Spends days away from ship with nothing to show for it

Constantly bungling or wasting time

Draws absurd conclusions

Hasn't participated in completing any objectives (see: Do's)

Says they've done something they haven't (i.e: "I was getting coal" but has none)

Does not effectively help when fighting wolves or cannibals

Is silly, a troll, or griefing

If the crew member in question satisfies even 2 of the above grounds, they are a bad crew member. Unfortunately, the penalty for this is death.

Step 2. Build a Case

Building a case against a bad crew member is crucial. It is important to not only identify the characteristics of a bad crew early, but announce them.

If the chef isn't driving straight, announce it to everybody. If the engineer hasn't brought back any coal, announce it to everybody. It is important to begin signalling to the crew that this particular member is bad and must be punished.

Don't give too many warnings as Thralls will push your patience as far as possible before running off anyways. A single warning followed by an ultimatum is sufficient.

Step 3. Deliver an Ultimatum

This is the last chance for you to correct a bad crew member before you take drastic measures. A good ultimatum is immediate and whose failure to perform signals a clear grounds for execution to the rest of the crew.

A good ultimatum is as follows:

You're no longer allowed to drive the ship

Stay away from the stove while I'm cooking

Leave the boiler room

Drop the [item] you just took now

Go and clear those wolves

These ultimatums are good because they make it clear to the rest of the crew the undesirable actions the bad crew member is doing, and gives you a clear excuse to kill them on the spot should they breach the terms.

A bad ultimatum is as follows:

Go and bring back coal by tomorrow

If you kill one more person you're done for

Go and do nitro or else

These are bad ultimatums as they give bad crew an excuse for bad behaviours, are overly lenient, or are not actions you want to entrust to a bad crew member.

Step 4. Deliver a Sentence

There is only one available penalty for dereliction of duty, and it is death. This is how you carry out an effective sentence:

Ambush the bad crew member while they are driving, crafting, locked in a room with you

Announce to the crew that you are killing them for x reason once they are close to being downed or are downed

Kill them as quickly as possible. Thralls or other bad crew may attempt to stop you

Reiterate why you killed them and what you are about to do to help the team

You should continually reiterate why you killed them and why it was justified. Instruct dissenters to get back to work and to focus on the objective.

Step 5. Rinse and Repeat

A bad crew member is always better off dead than alive. Even if they are not the Thrall, eliminating them will make it easier to deduce the true Thralls and you will not have to waste time feeding, warming, and policing them, nor will you have to continue to correct their 'mistakes'.

Do not feel bad killing a crew member. It is important for bad crew to learn that their actions make them seem like a Thrall.

Do not accept excuses, bad behaviour must be punished decisively

Class-Specific Tips

It is crucial that you play your class' specific role. Crew who do not play their class properly are squandering the class-specific benefits and are creating deficiencies that other crew will have to fill.

These tips are not exhaustive, and it is important to be flexible in situations where a specific crew member is not playing their role properly or they are a Thrall. If you notice a job is not being done, communicate this with the team and take steps to fill the gap.

Captain

The captain is the ships pilot and guardian. Their sabre is for enforcement and protecting the ship from sabotage, and their tea tides them over for longer if used in conjunction with the ship survival bonus. Here are some tips:

Stay on the ship as much as possible

Always pilot the ship if possible

If you need help navigating or are nervous about hitting an iceberg, announce it

Do not allow people to loiter on the ship, send them out for coal/food

Keep a mental list of who went where and who did what

Ensure the crew are entering their armoury codes

Chaplain

The chaplain is a versatile character, but is often suspect due to their ability to farm bones and use keys for nefarious purposes. Here are some tips;

Don't be afraid to dig up graves, they have valuable loot

Do not waste your keys on locked boxes

Save your key for dead crew

Interrogate dead crew on why they died, who killed them, and what they plan to do next

Use looting bonus to collect trinkets, bring them back to ship and offer them to crew (i.e Laudanum for the doctor, gunpowder for the marine)

Can also collect coal and food

Cook

The cook is not the most powerful character, but can easily establish their trust and help the ship immensely. Here are some tips:

Collect 10 meat as quickly as possible, ask crew to leave the carcasses alone

Return to ship by first nightfall to begin making stew

Ensure nobody tampers with your stew while you make it

Take the stew from the stove and throw it on the table, making it harder to tamper with

Hold some stew in reserve for crew who are out collecting

Reward efficient crew with stew for their efforts. Reinforces good behaviour

Try and make a second batch of stew

Doctor

The doctor is an extremely suspect character, and as such, should work to establish their innocence clearly. Here are some tips:

Collect herbs for antidote, and communicate this purpose clearly

Announce to the crew that you have antidotes ready if the stew is poisoned

Ask crew members if they need healing, especially after animal/cannibal attacks

Collect coal and food, but avoid doing so by yourself

Do not hover near people, especially with your syringe out

Engineer

The engineer is an extremely efficient coal collector, and identifying a bad engineer is very easy. Here are some tips:

Collect coal immediately using your barrel

Bring back 4-5 coal as quickly as possible to move the ship further on the first day

Help slow-feed the boiler whenever the ship is moving

Use your repair boost to repair the ship

Collect wood and store it throughout the ship in case of leaks

Hunter

Probably the most powerful class, you will have the most leeway in terms of suspicion, but will have to make sure you can justify your extended absences. Here are some tips:

Help the chef collect meat for the stew

Collect scrap to accumulate more bear traps

Stock up on arrows to deal with the polar bears

Clear animal packs, especially on the nitro path

Explain what you plan to do before leaving

Royal Marine

The Royal marine is the enforcer on the ship. You are more likely to be correcting bad behaviours and dealing with Thralls, but you must first earn the crews' trust. Here are some tips:

Make sure you have a follow-up weapon for your pistol

Question the crew as to what they plan to do and what they've done

Carry out the 'bad crew' procedure

Help clear nitro path

Patrol hiding spots for effigies

Remain near the ship to build your trust and authority

Collect food, wood, and coal

Navigator

The Navigator is a very flexible role, and if played properly, can be extremely helpful. Here are some tips:

Use your spyglass to observe the crew and look for suspicious actions

Use your increased movement speed to carry the nitro while a crew uses your lamp to warm you

Patrol hiding spots for effigies

Ferry crafting materials back to the ship

Collect wood, food, and coal

General Tips

With the tips above in mind, here is some general advice for putting this information into practice:

Communication is key. Always explain what you're doing and ask what others are doing

Take initiative. If something isn't being done, speak up. Don't assume the crew will self-regulate

Trust your instincts, if you see someone do something suspect don't second guess yourself

Do not concern yourself with whether someone is a Thrall or not, only if they are 'good' or 'bad'

Being new is not an excuse. It is the responsibility of the new player to let that be known before they elect to drive and crash the ship

Never give up. The most satisfying wins are the ones that you really have to work for

Stay positive. Making mistakes is part of the game and it is meant to be confusing

Losing is fun!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2671077610

How to crew