Low-Tech Survival Skills

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by fritzbc

Now, I’m curious; What skills would you take? What are absolutely necessary, what could you need but not require? What could you forgo and what will you ignore entirely? Why? How long do you think you could realistically survive? If you’d like, you can also ask further questions about my little “Scenario”.

My choice is probably Navigation and locally appropriate social and job skills - I want [out] of this damn wilderness and back into whatever passes for civilization around here as soon as possible. People survive much, much better in groups.

If I'm stuck with the wilderness, well:
Survival for whatever the environment is around here is obvious for water purification, foraging, shelter and fire starting, and covers snares too, which are handy.
Sling is an easy to make weapon that can use found ammunition, so it's probably a better option than Bow for taking small game. I wouldn't mess with Tracking; hunting large animals you need to search for probably isn't worth the effort required for an individual.
Housekeeping/TL2 is actually a pretty good choice for the long term, not just for the cooking and clothing repair but for the absolutely critical long term meal planning and food preservation people don't do so much anymore but which you will need if you want to survive the winter.
Machinist/TL0 (aka "Flintknapping") is a nice skill to have for genuinely alone in the wilderness scenarios - it's not just about stone tools, but covers other materials too. If you are sticking with that Bow consider a point in Armoury [missile weapons]/TL0 - that gives you a shot at making functional replacement arrows.
Gardening isn't a bad choice for a long term food supply.
Basketry is a craft people underestimate a lot. It's pretty nice for alone in the wilderness cases since it works with lots of common raw materials and few or no tools. Containers are vital for collecting stuff, and you can probably take more water produce with basket traps than you would with Fishing.
Leatherworking maybe - you're going to need replacement clothing and shoes eventually and are not going to be doing the entire cloth production chain on your own.
For a [group] Physician/TL5 and Pharmacy (Herbal)/TL5 would be really nice, but it's actually pretty hard to treat yourself when you are sick or badly injured, so it might not be worth the points for a single person.

I assume you picked Carpentry with an eye to building a long term shelter. That's not a terrible idea, but you will need a pretty substantial toolkit to get much use out of it. If you're here with a few friends and a wagonload of supplies, then sure, alone with just your axe, maybe not so much. The Basketry (for thatching and wattle and daub) might be a good option here too.
Note BTW GURPS seems to have settled on Forestry rather than PS (Lumberjack) for its tree-cutting skill. And no isn't all that hard to construct wooden buildings (or wooden anything else) without nails - usually with better results; nails are the compromise option when fast and low skill required are major considerations.

[acrosome]

Originally Posted by fritzbc

For me? I’d take Carpentry, Fishing, Gardening, Weather Sense, Cooking (iirc you need it to preserve food), Survival (Woodlands and Plains), and most likely Axe and Bow. I’m eager to see your responses.

Do you start with equipment appropriate to your skills, or do you have to make them?

Because if you have to make them then Machinist/TL0 might be needed just to start. And then, yes, Carpentry, or even better Armoury (Missile Weapons). Slings are damned easy to make. I have made them out of jute cord. But you need Survival to make cordage. Trapping is also the most energy efficient way to get protein, and I think that Survival covers trapping, but if not then Traps. But if you have Armoury then go for a Bow instead of a sling- they are better, though they take more work to make. Probably Axe, yes. You can use it with a one-handed club, too. Knives are probably more useful than an ax, but you don't actually need Knife skill for survival uses of a knife. Throwing Stick might be handy. First Aid (or something that defaults to it like Physician) is a must, no matter what. Then Navigation or Area Knowledge, obviously, to get back home.

But if you get to start with equipment then you don't need much more than Guns (Shotgun)/TL8 and Survival/TL8. The latter would probably come with a GPS. :)

Edit-- I see now that you mean for long-term survival, and it seems to be implied that you do not start with equipment. In fact, you might be plopped down naked. I'll also assume that you are dropped into unfamiliar surroundings so that Area Knowledge is not available.

• Survival
• Carpentry, to make better shelter/equipment than with Survival
• Traps, if not covered by Survival
• Machinist/TL0
• First Aid
• Herbalist
• Housekeeping
• Axe
• Thrown Weapon (Stick)
• Spear, for dangerous fauna
• Navigation (Land)
• Gardening
• Leatherworking
• PS (Tanner) if not covered by Leatherworking

I sort of favor minimizing, so that what skills I do have can have more points in them. For instance I thought about Bow, but trapping is so much more efficient that I'd rather dump more points into that, whether it be Survival or Traps. I still might add it and Armoury (Missile Weapons) if the location seemed conducive. But Axe and Thrown Weapon (Stick) can use the same weapon, and the stick is easily always at hand for taking transient opportunities, like a foolhardy bunny.

Of course, I'm also tempted to just put all 60 points into Survival, since almost anything else I might need could arguably default from it, especially if Survival covers trapping. Survival-25 has to be pretty awesome.

[Flowergarden]

Originally Posted by acrosome

[*] Traps, if not covered by Survival[*] PS (Tanner) if not covered by Leatherworking

Small traps are coverd by survival, big one are covered by traps (low tech companion 3)
Tanner isn't covered but defaults to leatherworking -3