Trapping Skill

Trapping

Class	Skills
Type	Skill
Skill Group	Survival
Max Level	10
Total XP	32,775
Skill Books	Trapping Skill Books
Best Occupation	Park Ranger (+1)

The Trapping Skill governs catching animals with traps. It raises the chance that a trap catches something and allows better traps to be crafted. It belongs to the Survival group.

Trapping brings in meat quietly and steadily. Traps work while the survivor is away, and caught animals can be butchered for food. Mice, rats, birds, squirrels, rabbits and raccoons all end up in traps. A higher level raises the catch chance of every trap. The Park Ranger starts with a level in it, and the Hiker trait adds one.

How to Level Trapping

Trapping experience comes from collecting animals from traps the character placed. Taking out a live animal gives experience. Removing a dead animal or an animal item from a trap gives experience too.

Bigger animals give more experience. Each animal's size varies a little, but even the smallest catch gives a small amount.

The Exposure Survival show on Life and Living TV gives a large boost, and it also teaches a crate trap recipe. The tape Exposure Survival Episode 6: Trapping gives even more and teaches the wooden box trap. Watching only pays off in the first three levels, unless experience spills over from a level-up.

The Fast Learner trait raises the experience rate to 130 percent. The Slow Learner trait lowers it to 70 percent.

Collecting a catch is the action that counts, rather than building the trap. A line of baited traps, checked often, is therefore the whole training plan. More traps mean more catches, and more catches mean faster levels.

Placing the traps well matters as much as the number. Traps only work inside a valid trapping zone. Forests and their edges hold most of the animals worth catching. Different animals take different baits, so match the bait to the animal wanted.

Bait must be fresh to work. Rotten bait stops attracting animals, so replace it on each visit.

The XP each Trapping level asks for, with the running total from level 0.

Level	XP Needed	Total XP
1	75	75
2	150	225
3	300	525
4	750	1,275
5	1,500	2,775
6	3,000	5,775
7	4,500	10,275
8	6,000	16,275
9	7,500	23,775
10	9,000	32,775

Trapping Level Effects

Each level raises the chance of a catch. The skill adds to both the trap's own catch chance and the quality of the trapping zone. That double effect makes a skilled trapper far more successful.

New traps open at key levels. Level 1 allows the snare trap. Level 2 brings the box trap. Level 3 opens the cage trap.

A few rules apply at every level. Traps only catch while every survivor is more than 80 tiles away in any direction. Small rodents and birds can be caught at any hour. Rabbits, raccoons and squirrels are caught between evening and early morning.

Each trap also has a chance to lose its bait or break each hour. Stronger traps are less likely to do either.

The 80 tile rule shapes how a trap line works. Traps near the base only catch while everyone is away. A good habit is to set traps some distance from home, then return to the base and leave them alone. A row of pickets every ten tiles helps judge the distance without a map.

The skill appears twice in the catch formula. It adds to the trap's own strength and to the zone's value. Each level therefore raises the catch chance more than it first seems.

Trapping Skill Books

The Trapping Skill Books come in five volumes. Each volume speeds up experience for two levels. Trapping I: "Basic Pest Control" covers the first two levels. Trapping V: "The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Psychology" covers the last two. Reading each volume just before its levels gives the most benefit.

The five volumes, the levels each one speeds up, the XP bonus while those levels are trained, and how long each takes to read. Reading times are game time at the default two minutes a page. Sitting down and wearing Reading Glasses each cut the time by a tenth, the Fast Reader trait cuts it by about a third, and Slow Reader adds a third.

Volume	Levels	XP Bonus	Pages	Read Time	Spawn ID
Trapping I: "Basic Pest Control"	1 to 2	x3	220	7 h 20 min	`/additem Base.BookTrapping1`
Trapping II: "Better Trapping, with Dean"	3 to 4	x5	260	8 h 40 min	`/additem Base.BookTrapping2`
Trapping III: "Park Rangers Wildlife Handbook '93"	5 to 6	x8	300	10 h	`/additem Base.BookTrapping3`
Trapping IV: "Research on Rodents and Mammals of Kentucky"	7 to 8	x12	340	11 h 20 min	`/additem Base.BookTrapping4`
Trapping V: "The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Psychology"	9 to 10	x16	380	12 h 40 min	`/additem Base.BookTrapping5`

Set of Trapping Books bundles all five volumes in one item and unpacks into them.

Item	Image	Spawn ID
Set of Trapping Books		`/additem Base.BookTrappingSet`

Trapping Starting Levels

The Park Ranger begins with one level of Trapping and knows all the trap recipes. The Hiker trait adds one level and teaches some of the simpler traps.

A head start means traps work better from the very first night.

The Park Ranger is the natural trapper. Knowing every trap recipe from the start saves a long hunt for magazines. The occupation also brings Foraging, Carving and Knapping levels, which suit a life in the woods.

These occupations and traits start a character with levels in Trapping.

Name	Image	Type	Levels	Points
Hiker		Trait	+1	-5
Park Ranger		Occupation	+1	-4

Trapping Recipes

The snare trap is the first trap to unlock at level 1. The box trap follows at level 2, and the cage trap at level 3. Carpentry also makes some simple traps, such as the crate trap and an early snare.

Magazines teach trapping recipes to anyone who reads them. Small Game Hunting, The Hunter, Wildlife Preserve and Get Stuffed all help.

Every recipe that asks for Trapping or trains it, one tab per level asked.

Level 1Level 2Level 3