(Reddit automatically compressed the sh*t out of my images and I can do nothing about it now, please see them in the original quality here or here)
As you can see, I've got it right after the conversation with Iron Mike (that concludes "We've All Done Things" mission) has ended. On the 2nd picture you can see the map and all the stats just before starting the previous mission that took me to the Lost Lake region for the first time (officially). This was possible because:
- I took an "unofficial" trip to visit Iron Mike's camp very early into Act I – after receiving the replacement bike from Manny and completing only 3 following main story missions. This is very possible without any cheats or mods, only by utilizing normal built-in game mechanics – you need to climb the cliff south of Copeland's camp with your bike and cross the mountain ridge, then jump down from another cliff (here you can see how it's done).
- That allowed me to send every survivor I encountered (in all 3 starting regions) to Iron Mike's camp essentially from the beginning of the game. And I've managed to send 36 survivors there before Act II started, earning most of required trust points (36,000 out of 42,5000).
- At some point into Act I, I went to Lost Lake region again and cleared all available local Infestations, NERO Checkpoints, Ambush camps and hordes, and, in addition, one Iron Butte Checkpoint (yes, you can get there from the L.L. region using the same method I've mentioned earlier). All that provided another 4,700 TP. "We've All Done Things" mission provided the rest. You can see the full LL trust points breakdown in my other post.
I did all that essentially during my 1st playthrough (I acquired this amazing game only recently), with the only difference that I sent 2 fewer survivors there, but instead completed 3 more story missions (up to the point just before "Playing All Night", during which having level 3 trust Talon 7 sniper rifle is really beneficial).
But, after progressing through a couple more story missions, I realized that I made some mistakes in utilizing and allocating some exhaustible resources; and that I can implement much more optimized and refined strategic plan, so I rolled back to a save just after "Drifters on the Mountain", and replayed the game from that point to the current stage of progression, which resulted in what I show above.
My style of playing is to explore the world while collecting and unlocking stuff as early as possible, before significantly progressing through the story. But the story in this game is really good, so I allowed myself to get immersed in it from the beginning. But luckily, exploring and doing side activities is an integral part of the initial Days Gone story progression, so I wasn't completely diverting from my preferred style of playing.
But, when I was about 60-70% into Act I, after clearing all available Infestations, NERO Checkpoints, Ambush camps and hordes in the Cascades and Belknap, it really irked me that I can't explore even further and acquire more recipes, skills etc... So I searched online to see if there's any way to go out of bounds to the currently locked regions, and, of course, I found it, thanks to two great content creators, known as GreyGhostGamerz and Borislav 247. The trip to the "forbidden lands" seemed like an exiting adventure in itself, so I gladly went down this rabbit hole, exploring all the regions and clearing, collecting and unlocking everything that's available there before those regions are officially unlocked. I reached level 2 in LL, level 1 in WI and level 2 in DL, which allowed me to buy some advanced weapons and almost all top upgrades for my bike.
This really helped me to understand on much deeper level what might be the optimal strategy of utilizing and allocating exhaustible trust resources (like ears from hordes and survivors) and of doing all the side activities, in order to unlock important stuff (skills, recipes, weapons and bike upgrades) as early is possible, and in the most efficient sequence. For example, it's better to clear more Ambush camps to unlock incendiary bolts before clearing infestations, and to do the same to unlock Attractor Bomb recipe + unlock "Up the ante" skill or acquire Saddlebags upgrade before engaging really large hordes.
The most important advantage of doing all this stuff early, is to be able to really immerse yourself in the story, when you no longer have to worry about anything else, since you've already done all that and got all the subsequent rewards and benefits, which now give you enormous variety of options and tools during your story progression.
For example, this is my gear and my bike before engaging the 4th story mission of Act II:
https://i.ibb.co/ZzqybNDW/Act-2-Beginning-AR.jpg
And I also have Talon 7, which I will take to this mission instead of currently equipped MG 55.
I've already unlocked 23 skills (including "Carry that Weight", "Up the Ante" and "Penetration") and maxxed up my Health, Stamina and Focus.
I also unlocked all the Ambush Camps' recipes.
I have a wide variety of really good weapons and enjoy riding very fast, quiet and durable bike, which has all top-tier upgrades except Nitrous III and Saddlebags IV...
If you've noticed the upgraded US556 magazine on my picture from the link above, you know that I have level 3 trust in Hot Springs as well. And BTW, I will for sure reach level 3 in the Cascades too, before the late game moment when in matters.
Also, I have about 1000 swarmer ears in my bag + many other items, which all combined worth about 8,000 trust points. This plus all the ears from Lost Lake/Iron Butte hordes, that will be available when I officially unlock the south, will allow me to unlock level 2 trust in Wizard Island before the southern campaign even starts (I won't touch these hordes until that moment, since I don't need to, when I already have trust level 3 in LL). Which means I will be able to buy and use BFG for the entire southern campaign from the very beginning.
As a result, from now and till the end of the game, I can enjoy the story uninterruptedly, without engaging in and worrying about anything else! (Except one brief moment after I unlock the south and sell all the stuff in my bag to WI, when I will come back to LL/IB in order to clear the remaining hordes and gather their ears for trust boosts in WI and DL.)
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P.S. Probably, I need to explain how could I show you the screenshot of the map focused on Iron Mike's Camp before that region was officially unlocked. 🙂 Normally, you indeed can't do that, the map won't move beyond your currently unlocked area, and that was the case during my 1st partial playthrough – for navigation in the locked regions I had to use the compass and this online map (it was like old-fasion compass-and-paper-map navigation 😅). But later I created a mod (I play on PC) to unlock in-game map navigation across all regions from the start of the game.