All Stranded: Alien Dawn players start with four survivors, but it is possible to get four more survivors for a total maximum of eight. Having more survivors is highly beneficial for the success of your campaign, as together they will increase the chances of your survival.
Our guide will provide you with tips on how to get more survivors in Stranded: Alien Dawn. Although you may encounter them randomly in the wild, you’ll meet them guaranteed by following our guide.
Unlock a Hot Air Balloon
The only way that can guarantee you an encounter with more survivors in Stranded: Alien Dawn is through Expedition, which can be performed only after unlocking a Hot Air Balloon.
It can be unlocked once you research and produce Liquid Fuel, which can be done in the following way.
Research Oil Extraction
Liquid Fuel consists of Vegetable Oil, which can be obtained once you unlock Oil Extraction in the Research Menu.
Oil Extraction unlocks automatically once you obtain Grain, which can be observed and harvested by following our guide right here.
When you have some Grain produced on your farm, you can start producing Vegetable Oil by following these steps:
- Craft an Oil Press (10 Wood).
- Insert 20 Grain into the Oil Press.
- Produce 10 Vegetable Oil.
The whole process will take up to six in-game hours.
Research Fuel Mixing
The production of Vegetable Oil will unlock the Fuel Mixing tab in the Research menu, which can be used for crafting Liquid Fuel with the help of the following recipe:
- 10 Vegetable Oil.
This recipe can be prepared at the Workbench, and it will produce 10 Liquid Fuel within six in-game hours.
Research Long Distance Travel
Finally, you can unlock a Hot Air Balloon at the “Long Distance Travel” tab in the Research menu.
In order to craft Hot Air Balloon you need to open the “Science” menu and use the following recipe:
- 20 Sticks.
- 10 Metal Alloys.
- 50 Cloth / Leather.
You will also need to add 30 Liquid Fuel to the completed Hot Air Balloon for it to function.
Start Expedition for Survivors
After constructing a Hot Air Balloon players can finally begin the process of Expedition by selecting one of your survivors, who will take the trip.
Be sure to give this survivor an armor or at least warm clothes, as the entire Expedition takes about two in-game hours in potentially very cold and dangerous environments.
Here are the most essential tips on finding new survivors while traveling in the Hot Air Balloon:
- Watch out for signal flairs and head in that direction. There is a big chance that a survivor might need a help.
- Watch out for ascending smoke, which is a possible indication of a survivor sitting next to a campfire.
- Restart your save game, if you’ve found nothing but corpses. The RNG may change once you reload the game.
Note that you can collect no more than four extra survivors during your Expeditions for a total of eight survivors within any campaign.
Keep Your Survivors Happy
Another way of increasing the chances of you encountering new survivors is to increase the overall level of happiness of your current survivors.
There are many ways how you can improve the happiness of your survivors besides satisfying their basic needs for food, water, clothes, and place to sleep.
Here are the main ones you should definitely consider:
- The Size of Rooms. Be sure to construct rooms in your huts larger than 3×3 blocks. For example, a 3×3 room grants only +3 Happiness, while room of 3×4 grants +9, and so on.
- Dartboard. Games make survivors happy, and the best game to make is Dartboard, which can be found in the “Furniture” menu. Here is the crafting recipe:
- 10 Wood.
- 5 Metal Alloys.
- 5 Cloth / Leather.
- Music Instruments. Another consideration is any music instrument, the best of which is probably Didgeridoo. It can be found in the “Furniture” menu, as well. The crafting recipe is the following:
- 5 Wood.
- 5 Metal Alloys.
- Wine. Craft some Barrels and collect Bushfruits to make Wine, which provides similar benefits to games and instruments.
- 100 Bushfruits = 5 Wine.
That’s all you need to know on how to get more survivors in Stranded: Alien Dawn, check out our other guide on how to get grain in Stranded: Alien Dawn.
