Fallen Earth Comprehensive Guide

Fallen Earth Comprehensive Guide by Red Falcon

Introduction

Like we do in every game, DRLP created an Ultimate guide to the game itself, including all the informations the game doesn’t tell you, in an in-depth, accurate way.
The guide is constantly updated as soon as we discover something: every day something new may be present.
If you want to contribute you are free do to so and we thank you for that.

It’s a good idea to send people in need of help from Help Channel chat to this guide, in order to clear most of their doubts and have an answer to most questions packed in a link.

Learning the Ropes

Once you created your character you’ll be sent to the tutorial.
Remember free players have only one character slot per account, so if you want another character you will have to make another account: this is OK with the game rules.

Setting the Interface

The first thing you might want to do is fixing your User Interface according to your likings; it’s a good idea to put everything in the bottom so that you have a clear view on the surroundings.
This is an example of user interface setup.
Note that non-payers get an annoying “UPGRADE!” button, that luckily can be moved away from the screen (I suggest bottom-right) and become invisible.
The Interface is fully customizable but let’s forget that for now and talk about the basics.
The interface items can be dragged and resized at will.
To drag a piece of the UI simply click mouseover the piece you want to move until you clearly see the borders: at this point click and hold, then drag it wherever you want.
Some UI pieces can also be resized, such as the chat.
If you mouseover the borders or angles the cursors will become a two-ways arrow: then you can freely increase or decrease the size of the UI piece.

Getting Started

After this you might want to familiarize with the controls, these are the most important buttons:

• TAB/Mouse wheel click is used to switch from exploring mode to combat mode and vice versa. Very important as doing some actions require you to be in exploring mode.
• CTRL+Mouse wheel scrolling allows you to scroll through your weapons: you can have six weapons equipped and can dual-wield one-handed weapons.
• If you want to take a screenshot of your character, you can rotate the camera by holding ALT and rotating the visual with right click. CTRL+Q to take screenshots.
• Shift+Click lets you loot everything from a lootable item/enemy.
• Combat hotkeys: “P” sends you in prone position (more accuracy and harder to be hit), “C” sends you in sneaking mode to avoid detection.
• General hotkeys: “I” opens the inventory bag, “G” opens the weapon inventory, “V” opens the skills window and “J” opens the mission window.

Now let’s start the tutorial: beat up the scientist with your fists, use the computer and follow the mission hints.
In this tutorial you will get to know the 6 factions, use the harvesting system and all: remember to check the hints on the top-left side of the screen (you can hide them by clicking the little arrow nearby) in order to learn the ropes.
Once you are done with the tutorial mission you will be asked to choose between 3 cities: a Combat city, most suited for killing action and leveling, a Travel city most suited for marketeers and a Crafting city suited for crafters/harvesters.
The game will teleport you to the city of your choice and it’s a very good idea to continue with the mission line you are given: this will lead you to understand the world, the story and most of all get your first horse.

Post Tutorial Orientation

You’ll most likely be a bit confused at this point, there is a LOT of people around, many NPCs and a general chaos: it’s a starting zone so every new player is there with you, and is most likely as confused as you!
Fear not, let’s get some logic in this chaos.
These are the 3 main things you have to locate and remember the location of:

• The Mission-giving NPCs have a green biohazard symbol over their head: these guys will give you missions that earn you money, experience and Advancement Points (AP). Note that it’s very important to do the missions given by the guy inside the bunker you start from after the tutorial: he will give you a free horse in the end.
• The Auctioneer is the market; you can buy/sell stuff there, and the items you buy are sent to the blue mailbox nearby.
• Profession/Tradeskill Trainers; these guys train you in various professions/arts, if you choose to.
  You can buy books that enable you to harvest various materials worth a lot of blue chips.

It’s a good idea to simply complete the missions while trying to get new weapons from the Auctioneer (check the DPS of the weapon in the tooltip, you should be able to get one with twice the DPS of the starting guns) , and generally start to understand how the game works, getting used to the controls, etc.
Next steps should be getting a decent armor setup, leveling your harvesting skills with the nearby nodes, and get a better horse.
Getting the improved horse costs 5 blues and is fundamental as it uses almost 3 times less food.

Quick Guide

If you do not have time or willpower to read the whole guide, this is a quick help to give you the most knowledge in the least amount of words.

Skills and Weapons

• Thou shalt not spread your stats.
• You can’t really have two or more different weapon trees in this game unless you plan your build properly. In general, only choose either Rifle, Pistol or Melee, or follow my Hybrid builds archetypes.
• Dual-wielded Pistols have by far the most DPS in the game but use more ammo and have no scope.
  Rifles have penalty against melee and average DPS, but long range and high damage per shot.
  Melee deals a lot of damage and doesn’t use ammo but it’s risky as it comes with the obvious range disadvantage.
• It’s a good idea to get a CLEAR idea of your final build before lvl 10, or at least before lvl 20. From lvl 21 it will cost you 500 chips to reset 5 stats, so if you screwed up badly you’ll have to farm a lot just to fix your APs.

Items and Crafting

• You can split items by shift-clicking them.
• You can set an item as “precious” by right clicking it and selecting Precious. You won’t be able to sell it until you right click again and click “Not precious”. Useful for not accidentally selling stuff you want to keep.
• Almost every single item in the game can be crafted, and almost every single item you loot can be used to craft something.
• Many items you harvest, like leathers, cottons, scraps etc, can be sold for high amounts at the Auctioneer. Check their price before you sell them to a merchant.
• Almost every harvesting and crafting ability needs to be learned from a book. Books are sold by profession trainers (i.e. Medicine books are sold by Medicine Trainers) and Tradeskill Merchants.
• Don’t be too hasty in leveling. The slower you level, the more AP you get, the stronger you will be in the end.
• It’s a good idea to raise all of your tradeskill equally, especially the harvesting-related ones. You can skip things like construction and cooking if you want.

Mounts

• Remember to get the free horse from the missions you get from the guy you see right after the tutorial, in the bunker you start from.
• It’s a good idea to upgrade your horse at one point in the early stages, because improved horse eat A LOT less food. The Improved Riding Horse should be your goal.
• Don’t start the quest to build the ATV (the quad) early: that vehicle eats a lot of fuel and requires tons of materials to craft.
• Horse food can be easily crafted by going north of Embry Crossroads and harvesting vegetables/grain, the crafting horse food with the Nature tradeskill. The book to learn this can be bought from most tradeskill merchants and nature trainers.
• If you can’t find the horse, there the map will show you where he is.
• If your horse is dead, heal it. Go by it and the horse window will appear, click on Heal.
• If you lost your horse, go to a Stable Merchant (can be found near most towns) and tell him to Tow your mount, then tell him to activate it. Ta-da.
• You can rename your mount by right clicking on its name on its status bar.
• You can load stuff on your mount. Useful for when you want to stick around for a long while.

Orientation

• Missions put a red X on your minimap: that is the objective of the mission, follow it to complete the mission.
• You can place Custom Waypoints on your map by right clicking on the point you want to mark; you can even insert coordinates in the waypoint, and it will mark the zone in said coordinates. Alt+P shows the waypoint list.
• Can’t find where an item you want can be found? Our crafting section lists locations with good nodes for most materials.
• Learn the icons on the map. It’s very important to know their meaning in order to find NPCs fast.
• You can auto-run by using Numlock by default (it’s a good idea to switch it to something else tho).

Gameplay

• Are you stuck? Type /unstuck. Problem solved.
• If you shift+click on a lootable item (including enemies and all) you auto-loot everything in it.
• Try to get all pieces of your armor and decent weapons very soon. Stick with air guns until you can craft gunpowder ammo by yourself.
• Most bugs can be resolved by relogging.
• When you buy stuff from the auctioneer, it’s sent to your mail. You can check mail by visiting the blue mailbox in the town.
• Try to do all the missions you can. They give money, exp, items and AP. You can skip crafting/harvesting missions if you want.

Start of Main Guide

STATS

While there is no “class” and characters can be anything, the build system is very deep and you should not waste your stats around.
It’s crucial to follow a template because if you don’t you end up impaired and have to buy expensive respecs or even start over.

Attributes

These have the -main- purpose of raising the cap of specific Skills, along with giving status bonuses.
For example, the Rifle skill is governed 50% by Dexterity and 50% by Perception: this means that by raising either Dex or Per you will raise the maximum cap of the Rifle skill.
Attributes also give some passive bonuses to your character, such as health/stamina regeneration, attack with specific weapons, etc.
NOTE: You need 5 AP to raise an attribute by 1.

Charisma
Increases Gamma and Gamma Regeneration.
Increases the cap for Social, Empathy and Enhancement.
Useful for “social alts”, secondary characters with Max social in order to sell and buy
with 3096 benefit.

Coordination
increases your Stamina and Stamina Regeneration.
Increases the cap for A.Use, Dodge, E. Artist, G.Tactics, Illumination, Melee and Tele.
Mostly only for Melee characters, and some PvP builds.

Dexterity
Increases character’s Reflexes saves.
Increases the cap of Pistol, and Rifle Skills and Reflexes save.
A must for gun users.

Endurance
increases your Health by 4 per point, Health Regeneration and Body save, increases the cap for Armor Use and Patho-Transmission. Very useful stat aimed to give you high survivability.

Intelligence
Increases your Gamma, Gamma Regeneration and Mind save. Increases the cap for First Aid, Group Tactics, Nano, Precision, Thermal. Your Tradeskills’ cap will increase by 2 for each point of Intelligence. Most important skill for crafters, required to have your tradeskills maxed. It’s also good to unlock First Aid skills and Precision skills.

Perception
Increases the cap of your Rifles skill and your ability to see players on radar. Increases the cap of most skills and also tradeskills. A must for pretty much every build.

Strength
Increases your melee abilities, health, and the amount of weight you can carry. Usually only for Melee characters, and some PvP builds.

Willpower
Increases stamina, gamma, and mind saves.
Considered the weakest stat in the game, but needed to cap some skills.

Skills

Skills govern many things, such as combat damage, proficiency with weapons, defense tricks, healing, etc.
Each AP you spend in a skill will raise the skill by one: if you hit the maximum cap of the skills you are looking forward to fill, then it’s time to raise the attribute related to said skills in order to increase this cap and continue to increase your skills.

Armor Use
This skill improves your resistances while wearing armor.
The maximum for resistance is 5096.
The maximum cap for this skill is based on 2596 coordination and 7596 endurance.

Dirty Tricks
This skill unlocks abilities such as snares, poisons and other mostly debuffs. The maximum cap for this skill is based on 5096 Dexterity and 5096 Perception.

Dodge
This skill determines the base value of your Melee and Ranged defense, and partially
negates bonuses other players get on you from Power and Precision skills.
The maximum cap for this skill is based on 5096 coordination and 5096 perception.
Determines the effectiveness, critical chance, weapon selection and special attacks
while using melee weapons.
The maximum cap is based on 5096 perception and 5096 coordination.

Escape Artist
This skill offers an arsenal of skills that aim to increase your ability to escape death,
like speed buffs for a few seconds and snare removals.
It also makes you harder to detect on the tactical map in PvP areas, but it’s strongly
countered by other players’ Perception.
The maximum cap for this skill is based on 5096 Dexterity plus 5096 Coordination.

Group Tactics
This skills gives team buffs which give you and your party increased Precision,
Power, or Gamma/Stamina regeneration.
The maximum cap for this skill is based on 7596 intelligence and 2596 coordination.

First Aid
This skill offers bandages and other tools to remove debuffs and resuscitate. The maximum cap for this skill is based on 7596 intelligence and 2596 perception.

Melee
Determines the effectiveness, critical chance, weapon selection and special attacks
while using melee weapons.
The maximum cap is based on 5096 perception and 5096 coordination.

Pistol
Determines the effectiveness, critical chance, weapon selection and special attacks
with pistols, sawn-off shotguns, zip guns and sub-machine guns.
The maximum cap for this skill is based on 5096 dexterity and 5096 perception.

Power
Your Power skill increases the damage you inflict with Melee, Pistol, and Rifle. The maximum cap for this skill is based on 5096 Strength and 5096 Willpower.

Precision
This skill increases your chance to get a critical hit with Melee, Pistol, and Rifle. Critical chance is capped at 6096, and this skill is countered by Dodge which decreases the critical chance bonus. The maximum cap for this skill is based on 5096 Dexterity and 5096 Intelligence.

Rifle
Determines the effectiveness, critical chance, weapon selection and special
attacks with rifles, crossbows, shotguns and some grenade launchers.
The maximum cap for this skill is based on 5096 dexeritv and 5096 perception.

Social
This skill decreases the cost of items from merchants and increases the value of the items you sell to merchants by up to 3096.
This skill works on a percentage basis: you can get the full 3096 benefit even on a Ivl 10 character.
The maximum cap for this skill is based on 7596 charisma and 2596 perception.

Mutations

Mutations are extra skills that will unlock special ability aimed to damage enemies, heal your team and more.

Alpha Mutations
Basic mutation all characters get, and will level with your character’s level.
Disrupt: Defense debuff that stuns NPCs.
Patch: Healing/ailment-removing ability on long cooldown.
Gird: Toggled ability that raises max health.
Bolster: Toggled ability that raises power and max stamina.

Empathic
Healing mutation; note that it heals others a lot more than it heals you.
Share Life: Resurrects others at the cost of your health.
Benevolence: Direct heal, much weaker if used on self than on others.
Restoration: Healing-over-time, much weaker if used on self than on others.
Preservation: Ailment removal.

Enhancement
Support mutation focused on buffs that increase armor.
Reinforce: Increases armor.
Calibration: Increases the primary armor of all teammates within 30 meters
Ablate: Increases primary, secondary and tertiary armor.
Regenerate: Improves the recovery rate of Health and Stamina.
Resilience: Increases the save ratings of all teammates within 30 meters
Dissolve: Damage-over-time ability.

Illumiliation
Support mutation focused on buffs that regenerate gamma/stamina faster.
Endless Reserves: Raises max gamma and stamina, but lowers max health.
Meditation: This aura raises your team’s stamina and gamma regeneration.

Nano-Manipulation
Healing mutation focused on healing others only.
Reconstruction: Resurrects teammates in a cone-shaped area.
Filtration: Status removal that also restores health.
Vital Osmosis: Team-only heal in a cone-shaped area.
Revitalize: Raises the health regeneration of all allies close to the caster.

Patho-Transmission
Debuffing mutation focused on impairing enemies.
Sapping Sickness: Reduces the speed of those hit by it.
Wracking Pains: Lowers your target’s regeneration.
Debilitating Weakness: Decreases power/weapon skills in an area.

Primal
Physical, melee-oriented mutation.
Primal Vigor: Toggle that lowers your max gamma to raise your max health.
Beast Might: Prepared attack that costs health, but deals extra damage.
Rampage: Raises damage and health for a bit and then leaves you weakened.

Sonic Influence
Damage-focused mutation.
Sonic Lance: Aimed damaging ability
Rending Vibrations: Damage-over-time in a cone-shaped area.
Catastrophic Dissonance: Deals damage to those nearby.

Suppression
Stamina/Gamma negation/stealing mutation.
Denial: Lowers target’s maximum stamina and gamma.
Sap Stamina: Steals some of target’s stamina and adds to your team’s.
Siphon Energy: Steals some of target’s gamma and adds to your team’s.

Telekinesis
Mutation focused around aimed mutation attacks.
Bend Metal: Reduces target’s armor.
Propel: High damage aimed attack with long cooldown.
Always Armed: Low damage aimed attack with short cooldown.

Thermal Control
Mutation focused around aimed mutation attacks.
Cold Snap: Cold damage to aimed enemy.
Hypothermia: Cold damage-over-time to aimed enemy.
Napalm: Fire damage-over-time to aimed enemy.
Molotov Cocktail: Fire damage to aimed enemy.

Tradeskills

Tradeskills allow players to craft items by learning instructions, collecting the appropriate tool kits and components, and spending the required time to make the item.
All Tradeskills are based on 75% intelligence and 25% perception.
Tradeskills are raised through use, up to double the base value of the skill. There are 10 core tradeskills:

Armorcraft
Used to create pieces of armor.

Ballistics
Used to create ranged weapons and ammunition.

Construction
Used to create temporary “Camps” that give a wide range of buffs.

Cooking
Used to create consumable items like food and drinks.

Geology
Allows the player to harvest minerals and refine them.

Medicine
Making first aid kits, anti-venoms, radiation treatments, etc.

Mutagenics
Creates mutation-related injectors and gamma-converters.

Nature
Used to harvest plant life, train Horse mounts, craft poisons, and the refinement of “natural” materials.

Scavenging
Allows for harvesting recyclable materials from junk nodes around the world.

Science
Used to create thrown acids, bombs, refined chemicals, enhanced armors, gas-masks, gunpowder, vehicles and optics such as scopes or equippable goggles.

Weaponry
Used to create melee weapons and harvesting tools.

EFFECTIVE BUILD TEMPLATES

While you can put AP everywhere it’s also true you can only use 1960 of them (1650 +310 bonus AP).
It is then very recommended to build proper build templates.
I and DRLP will test many builds and try to give you the best templates available.

The Assault Crafter’s Build

The Assault Build is focused on maximizing damage, defense and healing ability while also maximizing your crafting ability.
This build will grant you:

• MAX health and mitigation.
• MAX damage and critical chance.
• First Aid heals.
• The panic button escape ability on 20 sec cooldown.
• MAX crafting, MAX carry capacity.

This is the Template
The Buffer Build

This build aims to let you be the team buffer, giving your team-mates the best benfits and retaining max crafting.
This build will grant you:

• GOOD health and MAX mitigation.
• GOOD damage and MAX critical chance.
• ALL heals.
• ALL buffs to strengthen your team and yourself.

Here is the Template.
The Debuff Build

This build is aimed to undermine your opponents by reducing their damaging abilities through debuffs, while having max crafting.
This build will grant you:

• GOOD health and defense.
• MAX damage and critical chance.
• First Aid the heals.
• ALL the damage abilities.
• The panic button escape ability.
• Active skill that removes 56 weapon skill and power to every enemy in 50 meters, making them weak and easier to kill.

Here is the Template.
The Hybrid Crafter Build

For those who love to get the best from both guns’ worlds, while still being at the top and max crafting.
This build will grant you:

• MAX health and mitigation.
• MAX damage and critical chance.
• First Aid heals.
• The panic button escape ability.
• Ability to use both Rifles and Pistols (and their derivatives, Assault Rifles, Shotguns, SMGs etc).

Here is the Template.
The Melee Gunner’s Hybrid Build

This build sacrifices crafting ability to let you use both guns and melee.
This build will grant you:

• MAX health and defense.
• MAX damage and critical chance.
• First Aid heals.
• Ability to use Rifle or Pistol (one of the two) and Melee.

Here is the Template.

CARTOGRAPHY

Knowing your environment is one of the most important things in the game, and I will provide you with maps where we marked the most important locations, and will continue to update it as we find out more.

Sector 1: Plateau

Sector 2

Sector 3: Kaibab Forest

Sector 4: Deadfall

CRAFTING

In Fallen Earth, crafting is the most common method to obtain items; being in a post-apocalyptic world it’s quite realistic that you gather materials and create items from them rather than find full items.
That being said, it’s not really necessary to be a crafter: there are many ways to make money and buy items other players have crafted at the Actioneer NPC.
I still consider being able to craft ammo quite essential, and considering the ballistic tree is also governed by Perception you aren’t even required to pump INT early.
Note that you don’t need to sit and go afk while crafting like most games.
If you want to craft, there are 3 main schools that you want to check early on, depending on your weapon setup: take Armorcrafting to make yourself armor pieces, and then choose Weaponry if using melee or Ballistics if using ranged weapons.

General Tips 

• Try to always make sure you’re crafting ammo if nothing else if you’re a ranged weapon user.
• You can add upto 20 items to your favourites tab by right clicking any recipe pattern in your lists and selecting.
• The search feature of the filter icon at the top right of the main UI window is very handy.
• Some items can often “Count as” another raw material items; for example Coyote Hide is considered as Ragged Leather as well.

Where to find the books

Most books can be found at the tradeskill’s relative Trainer, or from a Tradeskill Trainer.
More advanced can be directly crafted by yourself, or bought at the actioneer.

Where to find the items you need

Here is a complete list of good nodes for all materials we have found so far.
More will come as we discover good nodes of higher tier mats.

HARVESTING

You will notice you can harvest many things in the game, such as scrap materials, plants, mining nodes, etc.
In order to begin harvesting them you first need the specific harvesting skill, which you mostly learn in the tutorial and from the Trainer NPCs in the starting town.
Note that your skill in harvesting increases by simply doing the task itself: the more you harvest, the more your skill increases.
Moreover, by harvesting you also earn experience and APs.

Salvaging

As a general rule, any item that can be created can also be salvaged to obtain a small amount of materials that were used to create it in the first place.
To salvage an item you need to have the required trade skill kit, but unlike crafting you can’t queue salvages and you must be online to do so.
Taking any form of damage will interrupt the process, and if your bag can’t contain the items obtained you will be emailed with the extra items you weren’t able to carry.
Unlike crafting and harvesting, by salvaging you don’t acquire experience.

WEAPONS

Rifles

Air Rifles
Air Rifles, especially the Snipershot Air Rifle, are great guns for Sector 1 and southern Sector 2.
Most players use these up to Ivl 20, as gunpowder Rifles don’t offer worthy alternatives to the Snipershot up to that point.

Sniper Rifles
Sniper rifles are slow-firing rifles with high damage per shot, excellent range
but low DPS.
When used with Bull’s Eye and Precise Hit they can deal one of highest
single-bullet damages in the game.
They largerly benefit from Power skill.

Battle Rifles
Battle Rifles are all-purposes rifles with a good balance of damage per shot,
DPS, range and firing speed.
They can be used efficiently in any situation, but they aren’t as good
as their specialized counterparts.

Assault Rifles
ARs specialize in DPS, and work well with Precision due to their fast firing speed
which leads to more crits per second.
Their range and the fact you need to land many bullets are the weak point of ARs.

Crossbows
Crossbows feature very high damage per bullets and great range, but low DPS and
quite long reload.
They can deal impressive amounts of damaqe, but they are not as reliable as rifles.

Pistols

Zip Guns
Air Pistols are good in Sector 1 or even southern Sector 2 due to their good damage per shot and cheap ammo, but reaload is usually much slower than other pistols.

Revolvers
Revolvers have big damage per shot and great DPS: their weakness is they only have 12 shots before reloading, and reloading speed is usually slower than others. They are excellent if you have good aim and get great bonuses from both Power and Precision.

Magnums
Magnums are very good pistols because their damage just slightly lower than Revolvers but they have twice the ammo capacity before reloading.

Semi-Automatics
Semi-autos are fast-firing (usually a shot every 0.5) pistols that greatly benefit from Precision due to their ability to deal several criticals per second, along with having a big bullet capacity. On the other hand though, they don’t benefit much from power and their damage per shot is quite low.

Auto-Pistols
Auto-Pistols are similar to semi-autos but they shoot even faster and have even
bigger bullet capacity.
They have even lower damage per shot and will use tons of ammo, though.

Sub-Machine Guns
SMGs have decent range and nice DPS, and are usually used for targeting in PvP.

Sawn-Off
Sawn-offs have only 2 shot per reload and usually very long reload times, but on the bright side they pack a big punch in those 2 shots. People usually use these to finish off an opponent.


Shotguns

Heavy Shotguns
Heavy shotguns usually pack a big bad easily aimed bullet every 2 seconds
and have 6-8 bullets per reload.
They make a good cqc alternative for Rifle users.

Medium Shotguns
A good balance between firepower and firing speed with a slightly bigger diet capacity; a good trade off.

Light Shotguns
Light shotties have lower damage than all snotties (albeit still good) so they will score more crits to make up for the damage loss, and they will usually feature
fast reloading.

Explosives

Rocket Launchers
Launchers deal high area damage to up to 5 enemies in a 5m radius. With high Heavy Weapons skill they also get area snare and a debuff that lowers enemies’ resist to fire and piercing, and lowers their reflex saves as well. Very good on large clusters of enemies and in PvP.

Grenades
Grenades provide a wide variety of area effects, ranging from pure damage to DoTs and snares.
They are not easy to aim but very useful in PvP when starting fights from range, or dealing with big crowds.

MAKING MONEY

Looting
Killing enemies rewards loot; human enemies will usually have food, alcohol, scraps of most materials.
This is good but also bad.
The good: You get fast money from the loots and exp from killing.
The bad: You need ammo and/or healing items.

Doing Missions
There are TONS of missions around: most give you exp, AP and money.
Simply follow the red X and the instructions.
The good: Good money, exp and other things without wasting too much ammo/consumables.
The bad: Missions require you to move around quite a bit, so you gotta love wandering and completing tasks.

Harvesting
If you manage to get involved into this, it’s an extremely good way of making money.
Anything ranging from mining material to plants is worth a lot in the auction house and can even be sold for good money to merchs.
The good: LOTS of cash.
The bad: Rare mats to make real money are usually in PvP zones.

Crafting
Crafting stuff earns even more money than selling the materials, and furthermore you can craft stuff for yourself so you don’t need to buy it.
The good: Lots of money and self-sufficience.
The bad: Takes time and dedication.

LEVELING

I personally don’t recommend “grinding”, aka skipping all content just to get levels, because you lose all the lore, APs, interesting missions and faction warfare.
But if you still want to do so, here are some good spots.

Level 1-5
Just kill the Blade Dancers/Gully Dogs near your starting town.

Level 5-10
Coordinates: East of Coppermine.
Nearby Town: Coppermine.
Mobs: Judges.
Drops: Variety of Tier 1 mats.
Requirements: Starter weapon can work, but I recommend a Snipershot Air Rifle.

In Coppermine Town, load up on ammo, 1-2 ballistic repair kits and bandages.
It’s a good idea to stay in the entrance of the last cave where Judge Miners spawn, as enemies will have a lot of walking to do to get to you.
Try to score headshots and use Disrupt for easier and faster killing.

Level 10-15
Coordinates: North of Trumbull, inside power plant.
Nearby Town: Trumbull
Mobs: Mutants.
Drops: Tier 1 stuff.
Requirements: Snipershot Air Rifle or early gunpowder guns.

In Trumbull, load up on ammo, 1-2 ballistic repair kits and bandages.
There is a merchant in the entrance of the Plant so you’ll get to sell stuff.
On top of that, there are repeatable missions that require you to kill mutants, adding up to your exp and money.
The slow zombies are the best, but watch out for the female zombies as they hit hard.
You can go deeper and try the bosses if you want, you can farm them for several blues gain.
Try to score headshots and use Disrupt for easier and faster killing.

Level 15-22
Coordinates: Cog camp north of Blaine.
Nearby Town: Blaine.
Mobs: Cogs (north of blaine)
Drops: Variety of Tier 2 mats
Requirements: Scoped Rimfire Magnum Rifle or other early gunpowder guns. Scoped TempestTech recommended.

In Blaine, load up on ammo, 1-2 ballistic repair kits and bandages.
All Cogs are all melee and not so fast, and they respawn quite fast.
Try to score headshots and use Disrupt for easier and faster killing.

Level 22-30
Coordinates: 6107912 5671315.
Nearby Town: Diesel Town.
Mobs: Rats, Cockroaches.
Drops: Weak Biologic Chemical, Tainted Protein.
Requirements: Level 15-20 Rifle or above.

Stock up on ammo, 1-2 ballistic repair kits and bandages.
Rats here are pretty easy, they should go down in 1 hit with most rifles.
You need 45 geology to harvest them; in case you can’t harvest them, when you have killed them all simply close the game and restart to make them spawn.
The zone also got nodes of Mender Ferns and Weeping Cacti, you can harvest them if you want.

Level 30-45
Coordinates: 6522172 5142145.
Nearby Town: Trader’s Flat
Mobs: Rats.
Drops: Weak Biologic Chemical, Tainted Protein.
Requirements: Level 30 Rifle or above.

Stock up on ammo, 1-2 ballistic repair kits and bandages.
Rats here are pretty tough, but they should go down in 3 hit with snipers/shotguns.
The zone hosts a good amount of scavenge nodes, if you are interested.

MISSIONS

Missions are a way to get not only exp and money but also bonus AP (very important), items and more.
Note that doing a missions may unlock another one in another place, so you generally don’t want to skip missions.
Assuming you do all missions you come by, you can most likely get to lvl 55 without grinding, or grinding very very little.

Missions by Level

A main problem I had in FE was the lack of pointers in regards of where to go to find missions of your level.
This is a list of level-based missions so you know where to go at a given level to find missions.

Levels 1-5
Clinton Farm
Midway
Boneclaw
South Burb
North Burb
Mumford
Terance
Zanesville
Depot 66

Level 5-15
Odenville 4-8
Oilville 4-8
Embry Crossroads 4-8
Linewood 7-10
Kingman 7-10
Upper Plateau
Coppermine 10-13
Mobray/Pinkston 12-14
Pass Chris 10-13
Watchtower 10-13
Trailer Park 13-15
Trumbull 13-15
Spider Hill 13-15
The Oasis 13-15

Level 15-20
Sunshine Corners 15-20
The Gallows 15-20
Post 23 15-20
Picus Ridge 15-20
Thorne’s Bluff 15-20
Fracture 15-20
Credit Bend 15-20
Haven 15-20

Level 20-30
New Flagstaff 20-30
Tinkersdam 20-25
Barret Manor 20-25
Devon Township 21-25
Burnside 25-30
Windfarm 25-30
The Dump 25-30
Blaine 25-30
Little camp east of Blaine 25-30
White Crow East of Blaine 25-30
Hollister Point 25-30
Kristo’s Rest 28-30

Level 30 – 35
Dieseltown 30-35
Docuer’s Court 30-35
Quarantine 30-35
Waste Farm 30-40

Level 35 – 40
Chemtown 35-40
Banker’s Hole 35-40
Warhall 35-40
Black Hill 35-40
St. Sebastians 35-40
Gaia 35-40
Haietta 35-40
Fender Gate 35-40
Papermill 35-40
Trader’s Flat 35-40

Level 40 – 45
The Repository 40-45
Tannerfield 40-45
Blackridge 40-45
Brigg’s Point 43-45
Park City 45-50

Level 40 – 50
Deadfall Point 45-50
Wasted Wood 45-50
Pitchblende 45-50
Rothium Ridge 46-50
Los Alamos 47-50

AP Missions

These missions are -extremely- important.
There are a total of 310 bonus AP points you can get in Fallen Earth; some players will tell you “don’t pay attention to it, you get random AP over time”, but they won’t tell you that random AP is very slow to build up, which means you can reach lvl 55 with 200-250 less AP than you should.
At that point you’ll have to either wait for random APs (good luck!) or do these AP missions.
I personally think it’s better to do every sector’s AP missions before going to the next one, so you don’t have to worry about it later; though make sure you have a fast mount, possibly a bike, when you decide to do these.
It makes the whole a lot faster.

NOTE: Some missions are only unlocked after you do certain other missions.
So if you go to a NPC and he’s got nothing to say, it’s probably due to that.
Check back to him after doing other missions and it might have unlocked.

Sector 1 AP Missions

Boneclaw

Scraw (3995395, 3217545): “Scraw’s Regular Rounds” -> Shaman Blue-Eye: “Scraw’s Regular Rounds” 2 AP
Warchief Jannix Boneclaw (3991983, 3235658): “Jannix’s Raider Bounty” -> “War Away From Home” 2 AP
– > Scrum: “Descent” -> Claw of Redhand: “Over a Dead Body” 1 AP

Clinton F.A.R.M.

Harry Abingdon (3963766,3392627): “Courage in the Field” -> ??? -> Tess Bramby: “Trash Canyon” -> “In The Mine”
– > Clinton Farm Medic: “Courage, Deep Down” -> “Courage in the Breach ->
– > Harry Abingdon: “Back Into the Mine” -> “Time to Get Paid” 1 AP

Sam Clinton (3969586,3386865): “Sam’s Sanction” 1 AP

Dr. Delia Clinton (3973956,3390812): “A Semester Enrollment” -> Tess Bramby: “CFARMAT” -> “Welcome to Gross Anatomy” -> “You Vomit, You Fail”
– > Dr. Hugh Clinton: “Gray’s Anatomy” -> “Setting Up Practice” -> “Bethesda”-> “Scorpion Bites” -> “Next Term”
– > Laurie Clinton: “Welcome to Residency” -> “Pharmo FARM” -> “Attending” 2 AP

Garren Bramby (3958384,3386413): “Dangerous Job” -> Corpse: “Hazard Duty” -> Seager Bramby: “Anti-Venom” -> “Why’d It Have to be Snakes?” -> “Let Her Know” 1 AP

Coppermine

Jessica Wiss (4290403,3862473): “Worst of Times” -> “Coppermine Waystation” -> “Wolves of the Superfund” 1 AP

Clairissa Cross (4283929,3862960): “Marching Orders” -> Bert Coford: “Into the Nest” 1 AP

Quartermaster Weston (4292144,3855866): “Assembly Line Production” 1 AP

Angie Sharpe (4290673,3863405): “Dead Man’s Run”
[Kill Him] Angie Sharpe: “Man on the Run” 1 AP
or [Let Him Live] Angie Sharpe: “Let There Be Mercy” 1 AP

Depot 66

Terence Bonadventure (4406670,3495367): Which play you choose determines the following mission, one of either:
– > Suki Oonishi (4409500,3492100): “The Play’s The Thing”->”Closet Drama”->Experimental Improv 1 AP -> Francine’s Black Hood Agent: “Dramatis Personae”-> Suki Oonishi: “Act Three” 1 AP
– > No-Toes Cranston (4407600,3487900): “Patron of the Arts” 1 AP “The Curtain Falls” 1 AP

Bing Tangelo (4409976,3494173): “Malibu Dream House” 2 AP

Embry Crossroads

(only one of these two, depending on decisions you make)
“Pops” Stephens (4248939,3226687): “Smuggler’s Payback” 2 AP (Requires completion of the Mumford Jaggd questline.)
Sergeant Benson (4255201, 3229337): gives a 2 AP quest “Vengful Weapons” after completeing Mumford Jaggd questline.

Doctor Elizabeth Watson (4258818,3215317): “Lost Sibling” 1 AP

Flynn Neville (4257003,3230692): “The Embry Job” 2 AP

Elroy Killian (4251496,3223756): “Ascend the Staircase” -> Randy Melbourne “Closing the Book” 2 AP

Krissy Fincher (4252642,3215372): “Yours to Mine” -> “Find the Ore” (reward of Mine Lead) -> “Yours to Mine” [1 AP + Mine Silver] (requires Ragin Fincher’s missions in the South Burb quarry)

Master Archivist Augusta Brown (4241459,3222820): “The Archive Coalition” ->
– > Archivist Chet Perkins: “The Plateau Omnibus” 5 AP
– > Archivist Tam Nguyen: “Plateau Combat Collection” 1 AP
– > Archivist Tam Nguyen: “Plateau Research Collection” 1 AP
– > Archivist Tam Nguyen: “Plateau Support Collection” 1 AP

Linewood

Jocelyn Arimonte (4324788,3586677): “Viva! Lost Vega” -> “Vega’s Wedding” 1 AP

Jason Dugan (4324122,3582583): “Binoculars” -> “Binoggles” 1 AP

Colin Meebs (4329386,3585262): “Something In There” -> Grigor: “Not Soldiers, Creatures” -> “Not Creatures, Soldiers” 1 AP

Midway

Marcia Huro (3895211,3186981): “Preventive Medicine” -> Richard Linder: “Field of Battle” -> … -> “Advance Warning” -> Marcia Huro: “Pharmacy After The Fall” 1 AP

Joseph Peters (3895224,3191891): “Found Trouble” -> Ted Cutter: “The Great Machine, part 2” 2 AP

Pala Gears (3914689,3192690): “Midway Dilemma” [~]
[Option 1] Thomas Kelle ()r: “Midway’s New Masters” -> Thomas Keller: “Midway’s New Masters” (two crafting missions) -> Thomas Keller: “Off the Street” -> Mish Browning: “Antiseptic, Anesthetic” -> Wounded Traveler: “First Aid or Torture?” -> Fire Pit: “That Burning Sensation” -> Wounded Traveler: “Midway to Legitimacy -> Kill Mother Board, Five-Finger Land Deals -> Thomas Keller, Midway to Victory -> Jenny Dunn, Quick and Dirty 2 AP
[Option 2] Nicky Burns (): “Rightful Masters” … -> Jim Rothery: “Nasty, Brutish, and Short” 2 AP

Mowbray

Stanford Wells (4442392,4040374): “The Low Road” 1 AP

Rachel Tan: “The Message” -> Allisa Bryant (Pinkston): “Death Sentence 2” 2 AP

Mumford

Ida Rios (4192565,3060216): “Soothing the Pain” 1 AP

Simmons (4203366,3065463): “Revenge and Recovery” 1 AP

Mag Thurber (4205623,3066832): “Piece of the Piemaker” -> … -> Krista Thurber: “Like Mother, Like Daughter” -> Mag Thurber: “Humble Pie” -> Krista Thurber: “Humble Pie” 1 AP

Jaggd (4193810,3057449)
[Report him to the Sheriff] “Reporting In” -> Sheriff Amy Dennis: “Resisting Arrest”” -> “Deadly Force” -> “Gathering Evidence” -> … -> “A Good Collar” 1 AP
[Help Jaggd][/color] “A Jagged Cut -> “Slice and Dice” 1 AP

Ballsy Frank (4203475,3049456): “A Bit of a Pickle” [~]
– > Mercury Reynolds to Tish Simmons: “Once and For All” 1 AP
or – > Jon Dawkins: “Containment” -> “Green Works” -> “Tracking the Prey” -> “Natural Selection” -> “Lets Get This Over With” 1 AP

Needle Eye

Tammy Stone (4317704,3759023): “A Fungus Among Us” 1 AP

Jimbo McClellan (4311289,3742740): “Local Anesthesia” -> Fred Cassidy: “Refugee’s of Old Kingman”, “Taking Refuge”, “Reassurance” -> Denver McBride: “Refuge Wrath: Guts and Glory” -> Fred Cassidy 1 AP

Anna Marcum (4291781,3730280): “Harsh Words” -> Shalista Clark: “An Bad Situation” -> Benita Kesner “Situation Normal: All Fouled Up” -> Shalista Clark “An Explosive Situation” 1 AP

North Burb

Brother Eric Kelly (4392969,3263593): “Not Exactly Sterile” (2 crafting quests) 1 AP

Dan Hamilton (4392716,3262977): “To Make an Omlette” -> Meridith Rice: “To Make an Omlette” -> Brother Eric Kelly: “To Make an Omlette” 1 AP

Brother Paul Kelly (4386715,3247700), Containing the Contagion -> Enzo Giovanni (Embry Crossroads), Escalating the Issue 1 AP
(Pre-req’s Dan Hamilton: “To Make an Omelette” + Hya Milton: “Pack of Liars” + Theresa Miller: “Supply Run” -> “Unknown Affliction”)

Chavez Herrera (4387744,3249022): “Wrapped in Wool” -> Sister Kenyon (North Burb) to Enzo Giovanni (Embry Crossroads): “Favored Son” 1 AP

Laungon Smith (4396136,3266480) to Enzo Giovanni: “Laying the Hammer Down” 1 AP

Oasis

Kelly Stillman (4460409,4690708): “Crawling With ‘Em” -> “Wilder Game” -> “Wildest Game” -> “Turning the Page” -> “Make a Stand” 1 AP

Junior Bank Officer Cotton (4459783,4690813): “Fill the Coffers” [2 AP + Valued Account Toaster]

Odenville

Eagle Eye Tom: “On the Order Scorpions” -> “The Nest” 1 AP

Nurse Karen Wheeler: “Bandage Aid” -> Sylvia Anderson/Caravan Guard: “Don’t Sleep ’till Odenville” 1 AP

Sylvia Anderson: “Odenville Chamber of Commerce” -> “Salvager Summit” 1 AP

Daphne McKlusky: “Mining Our Business” -> Ty Chef: “Mine Over Monster” -> ??? -> “Do You Mine?” -> Daphne McKlusky: “Almost Lost His Mine” -> ??? -> Tom Skittle: “Killer Clones” 1 AP

Daphne MCKlusky: “Demanding Supply” (get 2 hatchets, most easily done after doing the Riders quests) -> Aaron Edgars (at the mine): “Mostly Come Out at Night” -> ??? -> “Picking Up The Pieces” 1 AP

Oilville

Johann Gruber: “???” -> Ryan Upton: “Internal Combustion” 2 AP

Hans Grettner: “???” -> Reggie Baptiste: “A Crankshaft of My Own” 2 AP

Peyton Cleary: “Education and Catastrophy” -> Magadhi Chandra … -> Lifenet Terminal: “Education and Catastrophy” -> Pat Haskins -> One -> you have to visit Dee Benzer in Terence(Memory Chips), Lonnie Duece in Depot 66 (High-grade CPU) and Walt Paver in Linewood (GlobalTech Access Code)then go back to One 1 AP

Rafael Lopez: “A House Divided” -> Slammer Winstead (Depot 66) -> Akio Saito (Depot 66, but turns in at Oilville again): “A House Divided” 1 AP
– > Fern Alistair: “Apocalyptic Vacation” starts the mission chain that gets you the Engines 1 Knowledge (ATV Quest line)NO AP

Old Kingman

Zee Taylor: “Zee Axes” -> “???” -> “Rider’s Escort Division” 1 AP

Jim Conrad: “Clipped Wing” -> “Wing and a Prayer” -> “On the Wing” -> Gunther Olman: “On the Wing” -> ??? ->
– > Ronnie Johnston (): “Snake Charmer” -> “Snake Bite” (Team) 1 AP
– > Thomas Bergman (): “???” -> “Holy Ground” 1 AP
– > Ed Grady (): “Reluctant Resister” -> Gunther Olman: “Resistance Exercise” -> Ed Grady: “Sibling Rivalry” -> Stavros: “Carbon Copy” 1 AP

Forscythe: “Casta Gaunt Must Die” (Level 15 Master) 1 AP

Archie Walters: “Town Under Siege” (in Linewood) -> Sam Chandler: “Edge on Kingman” -> Shalista Clark “White Crow Observers” -> Sam Chandler “Gateway to Kingman Prison” -> Billy Benjamin: “Billy’s Sister” ->Sam Chandler: “Blocking Lifenet” -> Jinny Rivera: “Blocking Lifenet” -> Lifenet System: “Blocking Lifenet” -> Jinny Rivera 1 AP

Pass Chris

Serena Nova: “Murphy’s Law” 1 AP

Roger Scarborough: “Friends in Need” 1 AP

Tommy Smalls: “Method’s Madness” (involves several missions) -> Jacob Method -> … -> 2 AP

Pinkston

Stanley Finn: “Gone Astray From the Flock” 2 AP

Allisa Bryant: “Offense is the Best Defense -> “Finishing The Job” = 1 AP

Mink Pearl: “???” -> Solomon Trout: “Judgement Day” 2 AP

Rest Stop

Computer Terminal: “You’re Dying” 1 AP

Graham 442: “Rottermined” 1 AP

South Burb

Noah Wright: “The Bears and the Bees” 1 AP

Paul Jacobson: “Rats in the Refuse” 1 AP “Into the Rat’s Refuse” 1 AP

Calvin Fincher: “Mine!” -> Marianne Fincher, “Go See The Boss” (her husband Ragin)
– > Ragin Fincher: all of his missions (unlocks Krissy Fincher, “Yours to Mine” in Embry Crossroads)

Melinda Jacobson: “Is the Grass Greener” -> Ranger Samuel Dorsey: “Back to The Ranger” 1 AP
– > Ranger Samuel Dorsey: “Razortongue’s Demise” 1 AP -> Raisin Delmatti (Mumford): “Chance to Return” 1 AP

Spider Hill

Blake Parson: “Snail Gas”
– > Lou-Ellen Ramsey: “Spider Hill Horror” -> David Ramsey: -> “Caught in the Web” -> “Grim Task” -> “The Broodmothers” ->
– > David Ramsey: “Power Surge” -> Brian Hammond: “Power Surge” -> Brian Hammond: “Into The Hive” 1 AP

Access Card 2991R (4678853, 4179020) 1 AP

Terance

Nicholas Hart: “Makings of a Beast” 1 AP

Franklin Grimes: (outside infected lifenet) “The truth lies within”-> Tetrax “The Devil you know”->”Apound of Flesh”->”Code of Honor”->”A crucial announcement”-> Franklin Grimes (get radio battery)-> Radio –finish mission, 2 AP

Trumbull (Unlocks New Flagstaff AP missions)

Graham846: “Hardware Scramble” -> Computer Terminal: “You’re Still Dying” 1 AP

Brother Keenan Orelsby
[Option 1] Seeker Paula Fasthorse: “Hide Your Light” 1 AP
[Option 2] Boss Marcosi: “Travel Light” 1 AP

Ranger Izzy Travis (): “Pandora’s Box” -> ??? -> Ranger Izzy Travis: “Pandora’s Box” 1 AP

Scourge: “Rage Against the Machine” -> Marked Steve: “Rage Against the Machine” ->
– > Marked Steve: “The Power Switch” (optional, just takes you to the terminal)
– > Main Power: “Entering the Codes” 1 AP -> “Lost Power” (ends at Scourge)

Bearer Kexin Tenshi: “Cry Wolf” -> Slade Vicious: “Cry Wolf” -> Bearer Texin Kenshi: “Town Crier” -> (You are sent to Tenshi by Cat Tanner from Pass Chris)(Britt Kanjorsky at New Flagstaff, which eventually leads to an AP quest ending the White Crow plotline)

Trailer Park

Thelma Jo Wheeler: “Inside Man” -> Sly Renard -> Loris Phelps -> Charok -> Sergeant Waits -> Eugene Poindexter -> Ophelia Stone -> Thelma Jo Wheeler -> Slowpoke -> Sawbones McGee -> Thelma Jo Wheeler 2 AP

Melissa Day Bell: “By Its Cover” 1 AP

Intercom (5027451,4116467): “Identity Crisis” -> Lifenet Terminal: “Identity Crisis” 1 AP

Alexander Hamilton Van Kirk “An Acquaintance In Need” -> Melissa Day Bell “If It Weren’t For Bad Luck” -> Alexander Hamilton Van Kirk “Flowers For Alexander” ->
At this point there are 2 paths to take:
[Help Cooper]Alexander Hamilton Van Kirk “Honest Work For Honest Pay” -> Jerry Cooper “Honest Work For Honest Pay” -> Casey Dean Bossel “Honest Work For Honest Pay” -> Casey Dean Bossel “Honest Work For Honest Pay” -> Elnora Sue Swift “A Job Well Done” -> Casey Dean Bossel “Letter of Referral” -> Boss Marcosi 1 AP
[Help Van Kirk]Alexander Hamilton Van Kirk “Rock and a Hardcase” -> “When the Chips are down” 1 AP

Watchtower

Hilda Marcos (): “The Watchtower Code” (this is the end of the Sector 1 Church of the Gear arcs, and isn’t strictly necessary to start the next quest, but sends you to the silo, east of Watchtower).
– > NORSEC Computer Terminal (High Point Bunker): “Voice From the Dark” (Boss) 1 AP (PITA to find, 4653421, 3939600)

Captain Reynolds: “Word From Command” (3 missions, 1 in the mine) -> “Checking In” 2 AP

Tommy Newton: “Early Bird” -> “Careful Where You Poke” -> “Another Opinion” -> Diary: “Paging Dr. Corman” -> Tommy Newton: “In Plain Sight” -> Corporal Tagamonte: “The Vivisectionist” (**Kill a Master**) 2 AP

Zanesville

Adam Hawk: “You Reap What You Sow” 1 AP

Sgt. Baskins: “Point Blank Slate” -> PFC Graylark: “Point Blank Slate” -> PFC Slotnick 1 AP ->
– > PFC Wolczak: “Point Blank Slate” -> PFC Christoff -> Verrio: “Point Blank Slate” [1 AP after defeating boss + Zanesville Enforcer Special at turnin]

Cal Thosian: “Fell the Angels” -> Enrique Guzman -> Cal Thosian -> Enrique Guzman -> Cal Thosian -> Louis May: “Fell the Angels” [1 AP + Zanesville Defender Vest Manual]