TimothyGander
Level 5 Valued Member
More to the point, no one has mentioned yet the most important thing: groups. Being a sole badass survivor seems like a fantasy to me. A group that has a clear leadership, internal loyalty and an ability to act as a cohesive whole will usually win over dispersed, solitary people, even if the latter possess superior skills, capabilities, or tools. If you expect an apocalypse, better become part of such a group. Ideally it would be composed of people interested in physical fitness, nutrition, combat and survival skills etc., with matching political beliefs, but ANY social net where people know and rely on you and you know and rely on them is better than nothing.
If a post-apocalypse town consists of 100 old women who used to meet several times a week in a knitting circle and 100 solitary preppers who have stockpiled enormous amount of ammo and canned food, each have USSTs over 300 and press 60 kg kettlebells for reps, the grandmas are going to take over if only they keep their knitting needles reasonably sharp. In fact, you could make it 1000 or 10000 preppers - as long as they don't know or trust each other, they are going to lose.
If a post-apocalypse town consists of 100 old women who used to meet several times a week in a knitting circle and 100 solitary preppers who have stockpiled enormous amount of ammo and canned food, each have USSTs over 300 and press 60 kg kettlebells for reps, the grandmas are going to take over if only they keep their knitting needles reasonably sharp. In fact, you could make it 1000 or 10000 preppers - as long as they don't know or trust each other, they are going to lose.