Scavenger
Scavenger, Darkwind: Scavenger, or DW:S are all names for the hardcore mode of Darkwind: War on Wheels.
Darkwind:Scavenger - more apocalypse, less country-club
Darkwind:Scavenger is a new game within Darkwind. In DW:Scav, there is no money. Stuff breaks much faster. You will find yourself scrounging up enough food and water to survive, and feeling lucky if you can field a not-too-badly worn pair of machine guns on your car. Life in DW:Scav is short and harsh - it returns Darkwind to its post-apocalyptic roots. More apocalypse, less country-club. To create your Scavenger gang, you must be a Darkwind Subscriber. Open your 'My Gang' page and you will see a button to create your Scavenger gang, which will operate as a separate gang to your regular Darkwind gang. You can switch from your "Normal gang" to your "Scavenger gang" by clicking the switch option.
Basic Rules
- No access to money
- No access to NPC markets or services
- No access to standard DW player markets
- Every player is given two gangs, one for standard mode, and one for scavenger mode.
- Only one gang can be active/selected at a time. If your Scavenger gang is active, your normal gang will not receive weekly training
- PvP is open everywhere, including Somerset
- Gang members do not get weekly training, only field training
- Repairs to vehicles are based on the gang's stocks of the standard Darkwind commodities: Scrap Metal, Car Parts, and Electronic Parts and the skill level of the gang's mechanics
- Repair of 'B' Armor is possible with a skill level 50 Mechanic
Startup
When you sign up for DW:Scav you will find your lockup in Somerset already stocked with some of the basics to keep you going for a little while. A very little while. You get the following:
- 10 x Water Bulk Goods Units
- 10 x Food Bulk Goods Units
- 10 x Cans of Fuel
- 10 x Car Parts Bulk Goods Units
- 10 x Scrap Metal Bulk Goods Units
- 6 x Machine Gun Magazines
Your scav gang starts with 8 losers...erm gang members with a variety of skills. Each gang member requires 0.75 units of food and water every Thursday morning otherwise they will start to become ill, and their Activity Level will reduce. Depending on your Leadership skill you can recruit more gang members from Dexter's, or other taverns in other towns once you get farther afield. Of course this is more mouths to feed!
It doesn't matter where the food and water is located across the towns of Evan, as long as you have enough for the total of your gangers, although this may change.
Town Events
You can enter a town event as usual in DW:Scav. Don't forget to select an event where vehicles are provided or you may find you accidentally signed up with a wreck that you recently looted! There is no fee to enter these events. Scav gangs may find themselves pitted against normal DW gangs as well as NPCs and other scav gangs.
Prizes for the events are listed on the event's web page. It appears that you may be more likely to win particular prizes in different towns.
Vehicle rentals
If you feel ready to hit the highway you can borrow one of 3 cars from your gang Vehicles page: Desert Flame: an entry-level musclecar with car rifle and machine guns. Mutant Marauder: a pickup packing twin Rocket Launchers, and side-mount Machine Guns. Eliminator: a sizeable sedan bristling with machine guns. These vehicles are the best you can expect to get as a scav, they will not be operating on all cylinders! Go get your own if you want better!
Scouting
Scouting or travelling as a scav gang works the same as for normal DW scouts but scavs and normal gangs can not scout together. It is ill advised to scout by yourself in normal DW, this is even more important as a scav gang. The enemies you come accross as a scav gang will also be in various states of repair. Should you successfully defeat your opponent you will be presented with the looting page as usual. You will find that weapons salvaged are not 100%. Don't forget you may have a return encounter, looting vehicles with damaged engines could be risky! Whilst it may be desirable to scout for traders to plunder, bear in mind you may upset the local Civ faction. If the local militia become too upset they may not let you escape into Somerset. This may not seem important but remember with damaged cars looted you may need to escape rather than fight! If travelling to other towns make sure you consider the fuel to get back or carry on you plans out in the wilderness - there may not be any fuel where you are going!
Trading
Trading is key in DW:Scav as it is unlikely that you can get by solo. In the market place you can list your items for trading and add sellers notes, perhaps to say what you are looking for in return. Beware. There is an element of trust with trades. If you give someone the password to "buy" your items on the promise of a password to their goods in the trade its possible they may not. This doesn't happen often as offenders will get a name for themselves and an inability to trade could be catastrophic!