Specially, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the player who contributed to this beginner's guide.
Some part of this guide (including Team Building, About Your Truck, Key Questions and Detailed Data) are quoted from XJWiki by @XJ.Chen. Your contributions have greatly enriched the content and helped make this guide a valuable resource for new players.

Character Creation
Don't stress too much about creating your character. If you prefer, you can just pick one that looks good to you.
There are three negative traits you might want to avoid:
[Troublemaker]: Your character may be kicked out of Bars.
[Stinky]: Your character may be kicked out of Inns.
[Accident-Prone]: Your character may be kicked out of Repair Shops.
If it's your first time playing, we recommend picking the Runner. He's got decent Attack and Fitness, and his middling Speech, Crafting, and Intellect aren't a deal-breaker.
The Ex-Racer trait also adds 10% to your driving speed, making it a great pick for new players.

Team Building
1. What's the best composition for a team?
The higher your Attack (at least 100), the better. If you aim for Intellect 30, Focus 30, Speech 30, and Crafting 40, it should allow you to get through most events you may encounter.
2. What should I consider when upgrading a character's attributes?
When leveling up attributes, the higher an attribute's existing value, the smaller the increase from leveling up.
3. What should I focus on when upgrading my character?
Recommended attributes are Attack, Intellect, Focus, Cooking. When hiring personnel in your city, you should pick characters with high Farming and Husbandry stats.
4. Is there any way to max out a character?
You won't be able to collect enough trait points to max out your character's attributes. The best thing to do is build a team with a variety of skills. When starting out, recruit NPCs who already have high attributes — that way, you can rely on them at the beginning, then upgrade them and make them into specialists in multiple fields later.
5. Any tips on team building?
You shouldn't aim to build a full crew of 4 at the start, as they'll burn through your Food and Water reserves pretty quickly. If you only have enough supplies for 2 truckers, you should prioritize Attack and Intellect to help you get through story events. You don't need to focus too much on Speech, as you have a chance to level it up each time you haggle for goods. Below are recommended characters for each attribute.

About Your Truck

• What do your truck's different attributes mean?

Goods

• Which goods are most important?

a. [Scrap]: The currency of the Dustlands. Any action that involves people or your truck will cost Scrap. The only problem is that it takes up space in your truck: 1 unit of Scrap takes up 1 unit of storage. Since you can start off with a storage limit of 9000, and can only increase it by up to 15,000 through upgrades, it's important not to hold on to too much Scrap.
b. [Fuel]: Without Fuel, your truck is a sitting duck for infected attacks. Make sure you keep an eye on your Fuel supplies while driving—there are plenty of towns in the Dustlands where you can buy some. You should aim to keep at least 1500 Fuel in your truck for safety.
c. [Food]: A trucker crew rides on its stomach. Keep a close eye on your Food supplies when you're out in the Dustlands, and stop by places on the map to buy Food. Keeping about 200 units of Food in your inventory should be enough to keep you going.
d. [Water]: Truckers will drink Water when their Thirst is full, but they don't consume much. Its main use is for cooling your engine. Make sure you have enough Water before entering a Plague Zone—having to stop to cool down your engine could make you a target for infected attacks.
e. [Creds]: You can exchange Scrap for Creds in Bars at an exchange rate of 10:1, and sell Creds for Scrap at a rate of 1 Cred to 9 Scrap. Both transactions require you to pay a handling fee! If your relations with whichever faction controls the city are good, you might get a better rate. It might be more convenient to do that than dealing with Dustland Mutual Bank, as all medium-sized cities have Bars, but there are only two bank branches on the map.


Characters

• What should I pay attention to when it comes to my characters?

a. [Fatigue]: Characters will gain Fatigue while driving. When it reaches the limit, they won't be able to do anything. You can reduce Fatigue through the following methods:
Resting: After stopping your truck, you can rest, reducing a small amount of Fatigue, or you can set up camp and sleep, reducing a large amount of Fatigue.
Drinking Coffee: Reduces Fatigue, but it's expensive.
Inns: Better than sleeping out in the Dustlands, but they're not free—you'll have to pay in either Scrap or Clout.
There are other ways to reduce Fatigue, but they're for you to find out...
b. [Stress]: Stress comes from various sources, but primarily from driving and from encountering enemies out in the Dustlands. When a character reaches maximum Stress, they'll have a breakdown, with potentially disastrous consequences. Here are some ways you can reduce Stress:
Enjoying the View: On clear days, you can watch the sunrise at 6am, the sunset at 6pm, or appreciate the moon at 8pm. The only thing that enjoying the view costs you is time.
Getting Frisky: You can get frisky with NPCs at Bars. Your characters might also become companions, allowing them to hook up when you set up camp out in the Dustlands.
Getting Drunk: You can get drunk at Bars or out on the road. It's not recommended, as Drunk characters can't drive or fight.
Partying: You can throw parties after setting up camp. Parties consume Fuel and Food.
Interactions: Characters with good relations can console each other to reduce Stress. It may have unintended effects, and may lower one character's opinion of the other, but it's useful in a pinch.
There are other ways to reduce Stress too, but they're for you to find out...


Combat

• How should I approach combat?

If you have guns and Ammo, you can launch ranged attacks at enemies to weaken them, then launch melee attacks when they're up close. If possible, it's best to kill enemies using only ranged attacks, as going toe-to-toe carries a risk of injury or infection, as well as increasing Fatigue.

• How do I get hold of melee/ranged weapons?

a. You can craft weapons yourself using materials you've found in abandoned ruins.
b. Alternatively, you can buy them from arms dealers in cities. However, not every city has an arms dealer.

• What equipment should I use?

The Trapper Hat and Tactical Wear, which increase Fitness, can actually be a better choice than armor, which increases your Defense. This is because your chance of getting Infected reduces with each point of Fitness. Once you have more than 6 points in Fitness, you won't get Infected. Meanwhile, being Wounded can be easily remedied with a Medkit.

• How do I deal with enemies who are too strong for me?

a. You can plot your truck's route to avoid boss areas on the map. If you encounter enemies, you can use Fuel to put down an oil slick and prevent them from chasing you, or throw some meat in their direction to distract them.
b. Avoid fighting at night. Your ranged attack accuracy is reduced by half.
c. Craft projectiles on the crafting tab, then throw them at enemies once they're in range to deal massive damage.

Survival

• What should I watch out for while playing?

It's game over when your Fuel reaches 0, so buy some at every opportunity.

• What do I do if I'm out of Water?

You can buy Water in settlements, or produce it in your own cities. When it's raining, you can stop your truck to collect rainwater, or draw it from swamps and rivers, but any water collected will be Wastewater. You can turn Wastewater into clean Water using Fuel after you've set up camp, or you can install a Rain Harvester in your truck, allowing you to obtain clean Water when collecting rainwater.

• How do I prevent characters from becoming Wounded or Infected in combat?

Characters with a Fitness of 6 or higher will not become Infected (certain equipment will increase Fitness). If you choose to tell the Girl the truth during her story mission, your Fitness will increase by 1. Her antibodies prevent her from becoming Infected.

• How do I cook?

When you set up camp in the Dustlands, the Cooking button will appear on the left-hand side. You can also cook within your own cities without fear of the infected hordes coming along to ruin your cookout.

• How do I craft equipment and Parts, or install Parts on my truck? What do I do if there aren't enough slots on my truck?

Press the [Craft] button in the bottom-right to enter the crafting tab, and the [Parts] button to enter the Parts tab. On the Parts tab, press [Add Slot] on the top left to add a new slot to your truck.


Mechanics

• Why do prices and item stocks change in the Store?

The Dustlands economy is sensitive to the rules of supply and demand. If you want to make a profit, you'll have to move goods from one place to another, and conduct your transactions carefully.

• My save was overwritten by another save. How do I make sure new saves don't overwrite the old ones?

Autosaves and quicksaves are stored together by default, so starting a new game can overwrite old saves. Some cities have a Library; if you save your game there, you can create a new save file.

• A task-specific character has disappeared?

It's best to keep some space in your truck for task-specific characters to join your crew. If a character can't enter your truck, you'll find them at the nearest city with a Bar. They won't hang around forever, so you should pick them up as soon as possible.

• If you assign a Drunk character a job, why won't they sober up?

When characters are assigned a job, their status is "frozen", so their stats and status won't change.

• Dust storms send my engine temperature soaring, and blizzards send it plummeting. What should I do?

Crafting and installing Parts like Dust Filters and Engine Insulators will reduce the effects of weather on your engine.

• How do I get rid of the Infected trait after being bitten?

There is no way to remove the Infected trait except for editing your save file.

• How do you calculate the effect that being overloaded has on your Speed?

Your Max Speed decreases the more you exceed your Max Load. Once you are at double your Max Load, your Horsepower will be reduced to 0.


Other Questions

• When you set up a stall to sell equipment, how is the price determined? What effect does an item's quality have on its price?

Your stall will sell equipment at 1/5 of its original price, regardless of whether it is Advanced or Legendary. However, having high-quality equipment does increase your chance of a sale. Generally speaking, there are better ways to make money out in the Dustlands than hawking your own equipment.

• The delivery tasks offered in Bars are to faraway destinations. Does this have anything to do with how much Fuel you have?

The amount of Fuel you have doesn't determine the distance of a task, but your truck's level does. When you upgrade your truck at the Repair Shop, the maximum distance of tasks will increase. It's better to make deliveries on the way to your destination—there's no need to go out of your way to complete a delivery task.

• In Haggard Plains (Map 1), what effect does the Mysterious Object from the Order of the Sapphire Star task have?

When you install the Mysterious Object on your truck, Infection will not rise when you are in areas with Infection of 10 or lower.

• Whenever there are more than three members in my crew, there's always some sort of drama between them. What can I do about it?

a. Having characters with the Faithful or Monogamist trait will help you avoid love triangle situations.
b. You can also try building a crew where no one will be attracted to each other—for example, a female character with the Homosexual trait and three straight men.

*Players who prefer to explore on their own may skip this part.

• Characters

Crew Attributes

When you encounter in-game events, the outcome will usually be determined by your Crew Attributes, which are in turn determined by your truckers' individual attributes. Different skills are determined in different ways. Some are determined by the sum total of your truckers' attributes, some are determined by the largest value, and some are determined as an average. This means that it's important to understand how Crew Attributes are calculated, the importance of each attribute, and how they can be upgraded. "Total" or "average" attributes can be upgraded as you please, but for "largest value" attributes, you should focus on a specific character for upgrades. Below is a table summarizing each attribute.

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• Goods

Goods


Stores
The table below shows goods that can be purchased from Stores. Goods in a city are restocked once every 7 days. Prices and amounts are for reference only; in-game prices and amounts are influenced by random factors.
When a good is scarce in a city, its lowest price will be the value in the "Low Price" column and its highest price will be the value in the "Highest Price" column. Otherwise, its lowest price will be the value in the "Lowest Price" column and its highest price will be the value in the "High Price" column.
A scarce good will reach its maximum price when its stock reaches the value in the "Low Stock" column; otherwise, it will reach its maximum price when its stock reaches the value in the "Lowest Stock" column. A good's price is always affected by the amount stocked.


Materials
1. Materials are used to craft Parts and equipment.
2. Materials are mainly found in the various Plague Zones on the map. These areas carry a risk of being attacked. Different locations will yield different types and amounts of materials.
3. You can also trade for materials with NPCs at the Bar, or buy them directly from Junk Dealers (although Junk Dealers do not trade in Pig Iron). You may also find Junk Dealers in Plague Zones.

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• Truck

Parts
"Required" column refers to the Intellect or Crafting attribute required to craft a particular item

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• Combat

Weapons
* "Required" column refers to the Intellect or Crafting attribute required to craft a particular item

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• Your Cities

Buildings

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• Factions

Faction Details
1. Being on good terms with a faction will make entering their cities or trading with them easier—for example, you will not have to pay to set up a stall.
2. Most NPCs belong to a faction. If you are on bad terms with their faction, interactions with them will be more difficult.
3. Each faction will grant you certain benefits when you join them.
Faction effects are as follows: