Expeditions

Expeditions are an option in the game that allows a character to go out scavenging for extra resources and goods in the wasteland. You can prepare an expedition in a day and the day after that you may choose a person to leave the vault. The person chosen will take the Gas mask (except for the new DLC or if you dont have one) and use it to prevent getting sick. However, the Gas mask may break, causing the member to become sick after returning most of the time.

Certain conditions influence scavenging like being sick, crazy, hurt, hungry, or thirsty. People have a lower chance to return to the shelter if they have those effects. Also, certain people find better resources overall, with Timmy being the most efficient in gathering resources.

Finding usable items (Like a map for example) Is not possible when you already have a working one. And the part of the Search event where you would normally find that item, wont happen.

Scavenging frequently can get your neighborhood get taken over after you get the text that says someone might have followed you.

A helpful trick in scavenging is that when you Prepare to scavenge. The next day no event at the end will happen, Doesn't matter if you send someone or not. Useful for avoiding raider attacks or other annoying things.

Also, the state of the city will influence if your family returns: (percents are approximations, This is totally different in the new DLC)

Initialy, it is highly radioactive and you will:

• WITH GAS MASK: (better)
• Come back ok 70%
• Come back sick 20%
• Don't come back at all (very rare) 10%
• WITHOUT GAS MASK:
• Come back sick 70%
• Don't come back at all 20%
• Come back ok 10%
• IF ALREADY SICK:
• Come Back Sick 76%
• Not Coming Back 24% (needs Comfirmation)

If your radio will tell you that it isn't radioactive:

• It highly reduces coming back sick or not coming back from sickness
• HOWEVER:
• Raiders come, attack events start occurring, and people come to your door
• Raiders can capture your people WHENEVER ANYONE leaves the shelter
• The government can come for you now.
• The scavenging events may also change.

DLC update

Now, you can choose to give the person you send out any item. It is assumed that the map will help you. Any item may get lost or damaged during the expedition.

When items are taken. These extra results may happen

• (with Padlock) Shortly after we ventured in the wasteland, we found an open safe, half buried in the irradiated ground. It was a bit glowy, but it did contain a supply of water. We decided to secure the box with our padlock and collect bottles on the way back to our shelter. +Water [x2]
• (With Checkers) When we were passing through the ruins of a bar, we ran into a soup vending machine. We couldn't find any spare change, so we decided to pay with checker pieces. It worked! +Soup [x3]
• (With Checkers) We don't have a lot of opportunities for entertainment these days. So when we saw a big, mutated snail next to the road we decided to play with him by throwing checker pieces in the gaping hole that was its mouth. It was fun while it lasted, but eventually the snail got bored and left. Turns out it was sitting on a radio all this time! It's working, we just need to ... clean it up a bit. +Radio.
• (With Bug Spray) When we were walking through a tiny parking lot, we heard a silent growl and movement in a car wreck right next to us. In panic, we decided to use our bug spray in that general direction. Turned out it was just a cat and it ran away unharmed. Inside the wreck we found a map! +Map
• (With Bug Spray) ??? (ambushed by raiders?) + Radio
• (With Bug Spray) At one point during our expedition, we were ambushed by a pack of mutated cockroaches! We managed to scare them away with bug spray. In their nest we found a supply of soup! +Soup [x2]
• (With Ammo) ??? +Random item that you don't have (With the exception of soup and water)
• (With Ammo) While scouting the wasteland, we stumbled upon a ruined pharmacy. Most of the medical supplies were already missing or were damaged during the explosion, but we found an untouched locker in the back of the shop. We decided to blast it open using some gunpowder from our ammunition. It worked! +Medkit
• (With Radio) Exploring the wasteland can be quite exhausting, so we stopped to rest for a bit and turned on our radio, hoping to hear anything else than static. And so we did - we managed to catch a frequency with some lovely songs. Those sweet tunes soon attracted a small group of friendly survivors. They stopped for a while to enjoy the music with us and were kind enough to share their water. They left soon after. +Water [x3]
• (With Radio) While we were away, we tried tuning to different frequencies on our radio, hoping to catch any signal from the army. What we heard instead was a call of distress, coming from an old couple stuck in a building nearby, besieged by mutated cockroaches. We managed to find them and fight off those pesky insects. The couple was really grateful and rewarded us with a first aid kit! +Medkit

Also its recommended to take the Gas mask if you choose to adventure early in game.

Your chances of survival during an expedition can be increased by an radio transmission or by the men with 6 arms Who might visit your shelter.

Events

There are many, many, many scavenging events that can trigger, even saying that you were unsuccessful and that you gathered nothing!

We were hoping this expedition would be successful. Too bad that was not the case. (Worst option)

The docks are quite a distance away from our house, but we knew of a warehouse that had housed an impressive number of goods before the bombing. We considered it a good idea to pay it a visit.

• We always thought canned soup was made in America. Apparently, it's made in another country with a weird name that we didn't recognise. According to the crate's date-stamp, the shipment came after the blast. Hmm... weird. +Soup [x5]
• Water, water, everywhere, and finding empty bottles to store it in was not a problem. The problem was the water we filled them with was kinda salty... +Water [x4]
• The half drowned container in the back was labelled: 'Nothing important'. It was full of ammo. +Ammo

It turned out that calling an ambulance is not an option anymore. We reached the hospital. It's in ruins, but parts of it turned out to e still standing... more or less. We've decided to go through the rubble and make the best of it.

• The canteen had a respectable supply of tomato soup. It looks like this was the only thing they fed their patients. Now we're 100% sure it's healthy! +Soup
• There were plenty of bottles of liquid in one of the wards. Peroxide or not, water is water and beggars can't be choosers. +Water [x2]
• It wasn't hard to find a fully equipped first aid kit. After all it's a hospital. +Medkit
• One of the dead patients had an axe sticking out of his back. According to his chart he was feeling perfectly fine before the atomic blast. We decided he no longer needs that axe. +Axe

Our poor, poor house was completely destroyed above our shelter. It's really sad and devastating. Where will we live after we get out of this mess? Surely fate is not cruel enough to keep pushing us to Dolores's sister in Toronto?!

* The only recognizable furniture in the kids' room were burned desks and Mary Jane's bed. There was a hidden stash under the bed. It was full of soup cans. +Soup [x2]

• The kitchen was a pile of rubble. It took us weeks to find those lovely chairs that matched the floor tiles, now they were nowhere to be found, only a few bottles of water remained scattered in the dirt. +Water [x2]
• ?? +Rifle
• The muddy swamp, which used to be our toilet, is now home to something that remotely resembles a mutated turtle. After exchanging a few pleasantries, it gave us an anti-bug spray and wished us the best of luck. +Bug Spray

The local school is a big building a mile away from our house. Nobody liked that place. The atomic blast didn't change that. Now, without windows and a few walls remaining, it looks even more unpleasant. pleasant or not, it seemed like a good spot to hunt for some useful supplies.

• Everybody adored the lunch lady. She was almost eighty and everything she touched tasted great and smelled of tomato. now we know her secret - Tomato soup cans. +Soup
• The biology class had an aquarium. The fish had died as no one fed them, but the aquarium water could still be drinkable. there was enough for a few bottles. +Water [x2]

• The local Scout team had its own room in the school basement. We found it filled with boxes and boxes of Scout Handbooks. Maybe they were preparing for the apocalypse? Anyways, we just took one. +Boy Scout Handbook
• The geography class was poorly equipped. The only useful thing that we could find was a map of our town. Still better than nothing. +Map
• The PE teacher was a World War II veteran. He kept some of his war trophies and memorabilia in his office at school. This included: grenades, a bazooka, and a fully functional gas mask. +Gas mask

During our expedition we stumbled across a half-ruined wall with some half-burnt painting on it. We quickly realized we found the ruins of our local museum. Normally we would never enter an establishment like that without a ticket, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We jumped over the turnstill without looking back.

• In front of the museum canteen we found a box with some water bottles in it. It was probably left there by some delivery company. That delivery company is probably out of business now. Our guess it was blown out of the market. +Water [x3!]
• We were hoping for some sweets or snacks, but all the museum canteen had to offer was tomato soup. Those poor, poor tourists. +Soup [x?]
• ?? +Gas mask
• ?? +Padlock

We were not alone outside the shelter. At first it, seemed like the creature stalking us was about to get itself a tasty diner. To our relief it turned out to be a friendly monkey! It joined our expedition.

• While we explored one of the streets, our monkey companion ran away, only to came back later carrying a can of food. It couldn't open it itself, but it was happy to share it with us. +Soup [x2] (gives 2 although it says you only get 1)
• At one point during our expedition, the monkey started making weird sounds, and digging in front of us with a stick. A quick investigation revealed a few bottles of water. no one even tried to open them! The same Couldn't be said about those bottles of booze lying next to them. +Water [x1]
• The monkey took us just outside the town to what seemed like a hidden bunker. It contained some medical supplies. +Medkit

When walking aimlessly amongst the ruins, it's not unusual we're drawn to places we knew and loved. Even through we weren't specifically looking for it, we found ourselves in front of our favorite bowling alley.

• Desperate times call for desperate measures, so we weren't surprised to see that someone placed water bottles instead of bowling pins at the end of the lane. We were sorry to ruin their setup, but we really needed that water. +Water [x2]

• The bar didn't have much to offer: some rotten salads, a bunch of burnt peanuts and for some reason, a cowboy hat. We were really happy to find a secret stash of soup cans under some rubble. +Soup
• As soon as we entered, we went towards the shoe locker - no one should walk around on bowling lanes without proper footwear. We found the locker open and empty, but we managed to grab the padlock used to secure it. +Padlock
• The venue had it's own game room, where you could relax after running around with hue heavy balls. most of the games were missing or damaged, but we found a decent checkerboard with almost all the pieces. Guaranteed hours of fun. +Checkers
• The staff room was almost intact and nicely decorated. On top of a beautiful rug stood a table with a radio on it! Such a lucky find. We tried dragging the rig with us to decorate our shelter, but it was too heavy. It's a real shame, a rug like that could really tie the room together. + Radio

We thought the metro station would be a good place to search for undamaged supplies. It turned out someone came up with the same idea - there's a group of people living down there. They use bullets as currency. They're no bandits but they keep to themselves. They told us to have a look around if we wanted to.

• We wouldn't pass any opportunity to get some more water, so when we found the toilets, we did not hesitate to fill as many bottles as we could with that murky, irradiated liquid. What a treat! +Water [x2]
• Near the metro entrance we discovered a tomato soup vending machine. Of course we left most of our change in another pair of trousers, but we took whatever we could. +Soup [x2]
• There was a small maintenance are next to ticket booths. We were hoping to find a bit of soap to finally wash ourselves. The only thing we could find there was a can of bug spray. +Bug Spray
• ?? +Ammo
• ?? +Suitcase

Our need for entertainment took us to the local cinema. A portion of the theatre is still standing, including at least one cinema hall. We went in, hoping to scavenge something. Or at least find some film posters.

• When we recognized the sign of the food stand sticking from between the rubble, we were hoping to find some popcorn. There was none. But the tomato soup dispenser was still working... yay... +Soup [x2]
• The cinema had a strict policy of not bringing your own drinks into the movie hall. Seems like somebody broke the rules a little - we found a lot of bottles in the last row of the hall. Some were even full! +Water [x2]
• The only thing left of the ticket booth is a door with a padlock on it. The security here must have been questionable - someone forgot to take the key out. +Padlock
• Under one of the seats we found a deck of cards. It must have been a really boring movie if someone felt they needed to bring a game to the screening. +Cards

We were happy to find that the fire station in our town is at least semi-operationable, even after the apocalypse. It's not really shocking - firefighters are the greatest of heroes, right after marines and ice cream men (the ones with happy tunes in their vans)! Although none of their faces looked familiar, we're sure they're the real deal. They had uniforms, helmets, and everything. They even customized their headwear by drawing a lot of menacing skulls on them. How creative!

• Near the garage we found a few firefighters shooing off giant, mutated cockroaches with a firehose. We joined in on the fun and managed to fill some bottles with water in the process! +3 Water
• ???+Axe
• ???+Soup

Going to the supermarket is not as easy as it used to be. Now that Raiders have taken over the place, and are running plunder operations in the area, it is more difficult than ever. We sensed the numbers left on guard duty were limited, it seemed possible to sneak around them and retrieve some of their loot. It's worth a shot.

• Sneaking through the store shelves provided us with a few soup cans. +4 Soup
• The way was clear to the staff room. Inside we found nothing but a water cooler. Free water for employees, wow! That must have been a dream job. +6 Water
• We found our way to a better part of the store that had a few working radios standing on the shelves. We helped ourselves to one of them. + Radio
• We were in a rush because the raiders might come back any minute. We grabbed a few things at random. One of them turned out to be a bug killing spray. + Bug Spray
• The bandits kept some of their guns in the staff room. The good thing about that? None of the raiders were near it, but we were... + Rifle
• A flashlight on the ground is an easy way to get your neck broken. We learned this the hard way. It's amazing that no one heard all the noise. + Flashlight

Where to go for supplies? What a silly question. To the store of course! We decided that the bombs don't matter that much and our favorite store should still be our number one stop for groceries. We found it, or at least, what was left of it.

• Most of the food on the shelves was outdated and rotten. A lot of eggs were smashed on the floor. Guess what - soup cans don't expire until 2015. Good for us! +4 Soup
• We found a shelf with a big sign that read 'Everything for 0.99$'. The only thing left were bottle of water. Huh, expensive. +4 Water
• There was a restroom in the back. Inside, we found a dead body next to a first aid box. Guess it didn't help. + Medkit
• A gas mask was hanging on the wall. There was a sign next to it that read: 'Is it safe???'. + Gas mask

When we reached our local police station, we were surprised to find it staffed by police officers. That's an admirable call of duty right there! We couldn't say we knew any of them, but they had uniforms and badges, so surely they are the law in this part of the wasteland. It seems like they started writing it down on the wall for everyone to see. The exterior station walls are covered with some inspiring signs, like "New Order" and "The World is Ours!".

• The policemen were quite nervous while we were around. After a short chat, they gave us some food, then told us to go away and never mention what we saw to anyone. + Soup
• Suddenly, the officers started arguing over the subject of taking over the world. It was really strange, they yelled about how they can't assault the firemen without proper firepower. They even threw a rifle out the window, claiming it is useless without any ammunition. We disagreed and took the rifle with us when we were leaving. + Rifle
• An ammunition pack was lying just outside the station. + Ammunition

Who would've thought wooden furniture could be durable! In the ruins of one of the town's buildings we saw a desk and several bookshelves. We soon realized these are the remains of the local public library, so we went between the rubble to investigate.

• Under the librarian's desk we found a lunchbox, and some food in it. We wonder what could have possibly prevented her from eating her lunch. The collapsed ceiling might have taken her appetite away. + Soup
• Under the debris we found some water bottles. They're a bit dusty, but the liquid inside looks clean enough. + Water

If someone has not returned, it may be because:

• They were poorly prepared and got lost.

• They were kidnapped by bandits.