Casualties: Unknown Traders Guide: Reputation, Trading, and Combat

Finding shelter inside a Life Pod can instantly turn a doomed expedition around, but knowing how to interact with Casualties: Unknown traders is what truly determines your long-term survival. Stumbling through the wasteland with shattered bones and severed arteries leaves little room for error when greeting another survivor. Because Casualties: Unknown traders can either patch your wounds for free or slice off a limb in cold blood, understanding their behavioral systems is paramount.

In Casualties: Unknown, survivors resting inside environmental pods double as merchants and potential combatants. Every transaction, conversation, and sudden movement shifts your standing with them. This comprehensive guide covers everything from base reputation rolls and bartering tiers to threat probabilities and lethal combat encounters.

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Survivor Archetypes: Expie, Milky, and Dune

Not every merchant you stumble upon shares the same temperament or physical durability. Survivors currently belong to three distinct species: Experiment (Expie), Milky, and Dune. Each species possesses distinct base hit points, specific loot tables, and radically different interaction mechanics.

While exploring abandoned installations and outposts, players frequently compare notes on survivor distributions across community hubs like the Steam Community, noting how a merchant's race drastically shifts pod utility.

Inventory Generation Rules

When a trader spawns inside a pod, their inventory is procedurally generated. The game rolls an initial value between 2 and 8 items. For Dune traders, this total item count is multiplied by 0.66 and rounded, making their offerings noticeably sparser. Items are pulled from eight loot categories: medical, food, water, tools, drugs, containers, utilities, and custom items.

Milky traders are exceptional military assets. Whenever a Milky generates, the game automatically assigns them one random firearm (Pistol, Rifle, or Shotgun) alongside two corresponding ammunition items (Small magazine, Rifle magazine, or Box of 12-Gauge).

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Initial Reputation Math and First Impressions

When you enter a Life Pod, your relationship with the merchant is not set in stone. Your initial standing with Casualties: Unknown traders is calculated dynamically through a multi-step formula that evaluates your physical appearance, health conditions, and held equipment.

Base Roll (75 to 135) + Attribute & Status Modifiers = Starting Reputation

The game starts with a random integer between 75 and 135. Afterward, strict sequential modifiers adjust this number.

First Meeting Dialogue and Medical Sympathy

Upon meeting you, the survivor reacts according to your final calculated score:

• High Reputation (>125): Warm, welcoming greeting.
• Medium Reputation (75–125): Neutral or cautious greeting.
• Low Reputation (<75): Cold, dismissive, or openly irritated comment.

There is one critical humanitarian exception coded into Casualties: Unknown traders. If you enter the pod while bleeding—including internal bleeding with a total bleed rate over 0.0015 L/m—the trader takes pity on you. They will add an extra dressing to their inventory under the Indifferent tier and permit you to claim any dressing-type medical supply completely free of charge.

Be warned: breaking any light fixture within a 6x20 block zone centered below the ceiling bulb will infuriate the inhabitant, immediately inflicting a -40 reputation penalty.

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Trading Mechanics and Price Scaling

Right-clicking a friendly trader brings up the bartering interface. Available goods are sorted into three distinct psychological preference tiers that dictate costs and social outcomes.

Attempting to purchase an item when you do not possess enough exchange value insults the merchant, reducing reputation by -2.

Reputation-Based Price Scaling

Prices do not stay static. As you build trust, an internal animation curve (valueMultiplierCurve) lowers prices across the board. Conversely, low reputation doubles prices.

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Social Actions: Haggling, Biting, Hugging, and Rest

Beyond basic exchange, players can select unique actions when engaging with Casualties: Unknown traders. These options can accelerate reputation gains or trigger immediate violence.

1. Haggle (Expie and Milky)

Haggling rolls a random integer between $-25$ and $+25$, divided by your cumulative haggle attempts on that NPC. For example, your second haggle rolls between $-12.5$ and $+12.5$. For the first seven attempts, positive results grant $+2.5$ Intelligence XP. The statistical net value of haggling is exactly zero, making it a high-risk gamble if your reputation is hovering near dangerous hostility thresholds.

2. Friendly Bite (Dune Only)

Dune merchants do not haggle; they demand flesh. Choosing Friendly Bite allows the Dune to bite a random limb (excluding head, thorax, and abdomen).

• Physical Damage: $-25$ to $-40$ muscle health, $-12$ to $-20$ skin health, $+37$ to $+55$ pain, and $0.09$ to $0.18$ L/m bleeding.
• Player Buffs: $+40$ Adrenaline.
• Economic Payout: $+20$ to $+28$ Reputation and $+6$ to $+11$ barter value.

3. Hugging

You can attempt a hug for a one-time boost of $+5$ reputation and $+2.5$ mood. However, you must meet strict reputation thresholds: 100 for Expie, 115 for Milky, and 150 for Dune. If your dirtiness exceeds 50% or you fail the threshold, the trader knocks you flat into a ragdoll state, stripping $-8$ reputation and $-2.5$ mood. If your post-penalty reputation drops below 30, they turn hostile immediately. Notably, successfully hugging a Dune provides zero mechanical benefit.

4. Resting

Selecting "Rest" allows you to nap alongside the merchant. This forces a "Good" quality sleep regardless of surface material. Waking up with over 45% energy grants a repeatable +8 reputation bonus, provided your standing is above 30.

5. Threaten

Threatening a merchant is an all-or-nothing maneuver. It immediately inflicts -5 mood, +5 trauma, and slashes current reputation by 70%.

Note: Success requires that your reputation remains above 30 after the 70% deduction (meaning an initial reputation >100 is mandatory).

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Hostility, Combat Stats, and Death Penalties

Mistreating Casualties: Unknown traders quickly turns Life Pods into slaughterhouses. Hostility functions on an escalating percentage scale:

• 0% Hostility: Normal state (unless holding a gun upon first meeting, which sets hostility to 50%).
• Reputation Below 30: The merchant gains $+5%$ hostility per second while you remain within 12 tiles. Verbal warnings trigger at 30% and 55%.
• 100% Hostility: The merchant engages in active combat.

Hostile traders swing at targets within 8 tiles, attacking on a 0.28 to 1.28 second cooldown. Their melee reach is 6.5 tiles, striking random limbs.

Consequences of Slaying Merchants

Friendly traders never retaliate against unprovoked gunshots or explosives until hostility is triggered. Once a survivor's health drops below 200, they collapse into a corpse.

Executing a merchant provides immediate loot: every item in their inventory has an independent 66% drop chance. Ammunition containers roll random bullet counts, though community reports confirm drops almost never yield maximum capacity.

However, taking a life carries psychological fallout. Your character receives +60 resilience XP but suffers a crushing -10 mood penalty alongside visible weeping animations.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find Casualties: Unknown traders?

Casualties: Unknown traders spawn resting inside Life Pods scattered across maps and outposts. They act as safe zones where players can access environmental controls, sleep safely, and trade supplies.

What should I do before talking to a trader for the first time?

Holster any weapons held in your main hand to avoid the $-20$ reputation and $+50%$ hostility penalty. Clean yourself if dirtiness is over 50%, and bandage active bleeds unless you intentionally want to claim their free emergency dressing.

Can you kill Casualties: Unknown traders for free loot?

Yes. Aggressive traders can be fought normally, while peaceful traders can be killed using guns or explosives. Each inventory item has a 66% chance to drop, but your character will suffer a permanent $-10$ mood drop and immediate psychological trauma.

Why won't a Dune trader accept my hug or haggle?

Dune merchants feature unique cultural mechanics. They replace standard haggling with "Friendly Bite," demanding your blood and muscle tissue in exchange for trade credits. Hugging a Dune requires 150 reputation and yields zero positive bonuses even when successful.