Red Talon Contractors are special survivors you can recruit by playing Daybreak.
Recruitment[]
Red Talon Contractors can be called in through your radio. Open it up, then choose Daybreak. Here you'll see two options to call in Contractors - one is being Red Talon Daybreak Operator and the other one is Red Talon Soldier. They are identical in everything except in their appearance (default outfit). Calling them in costs 2750 Prestige each. Prestige can be earned through the Daybreak gamemode.
Before you would recruit them, you can examine them with the 'Learn about Survivor' option. You're only able to see their skills, however it gives away crucial information about them, allowing you to predict some of their traits even. They also have access to exclusive Quirk Skills which is also visible when examining them. If you don't like them or already have someone with a given Quirk Skill and don't need a duplicate, you can refuse the recruitment. Doing so will refund your 2750 Prestige you spent on calling them in.
You can find information about predicting the Contractor's traits below.
Notes:
- If you have 10 or more survivors in your community you can't recruit Contractors (they'll always refuse your request).
- In case you're below 10 members but still get your calls refused check your map - having too many enclaves around can cause this issue. Getting rid of a few enclaves usually resolves it. Completing your pending missions can also help.
Skills[]
RT Soldiers' Outfit
Red Talon Contractors have a unique set of Core Skill specializations:
These 4 specializations are combinations of all the specializations for the corresponding skill, making Red Talon Contractors the best survivors in the game (skill-wise at least).
As mentioned before, they'll also come with special Quirk Skills. There are 10 of these skills available.
| Name | Provided Knowledge | Other benefit(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Combat Medicine |
| |
| Demolitions | +2 Max Item Stack | |
| Firearms Maintenance | -25% Gun Durability Loss (Community) | |
| Foraging | Knowledge of Gardening |
|
| Fortifications |
| |
| Gut Packing | -30% Food Consumed Overall | |
| Hacking | +1 Outpost Limit at Command Center (Maximum 1) | |
| Infrastructure |
| |
| Logistics |
| |
| Mobile Operations |
|
Traits[]
RT Daybreak Operators' Outfit
Red Talon Contractors have their own pool of unique Traits which are only available for them. They will always have four traits when you recruit them. It is possible to predict what they will be based on their shown skills when inspecting them through the "Learn About Survivor" option.
The first trait provides certain bonuses for the Contractor. It is randomly picked from the following 4 traits:
| First Traits | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Effect(s) | Clue for prediction |
| Consul Officer | +50% Standing Rewards | High-level Tactics |
| Dead Zone Runner | +10 Light Carrying Capacity | High-level Prowess |
| Diehard Veteran |
|
High-Level Heroism |
| Vigil Guard |
|
High-level Warfighting |
The second trait provides both bonuses and debuffs, and determines the quirk skill the Contractor will have. It is randomly picked from the following 10 traits:
| Second Traits | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Benefit(s) | Disadvantage(s) | Provided Quirk Skill |
| Combat Medic | +15 Max Meds Storage |
|
Combat Medicine |
| Comms Engineer | +15 Max Food Storage |
|
Hacking |
| Cooked for the Squad | +15 Max Food Storage |
|
Gut Packing |
| Demolitionist |
|
|
Demolitions |
| Facilities Engineer |
|
|
Infrastructure |
| Firearms Enthusiast | +15 Max Ammo Storage |
|
Firearms Maintenance |
| Forager | +15 Max Food Storage |
|
Foraging |
| From an Armored Unit | +15 Max Fuel Storage |
|
Mobile Operations |
| Quartermaster |
|
+2 Beds Used | Logistics |
| Worked as a Pioneer | +15 Max Materials Storage |
|
Fortifications |
The third trait will most likely provide certain bonuses for the Contractor as well, however it can be a negative trait too. It is randomly picked from the following 12 traits:
| Third Traits | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Benefit(s) | Disadvantage | Clue for prediction |
| Boot Camp Survivor | +20 Max Health | Low-level Prowess | |
| Cadet Instructor | +50% Cardio Experience Rate | Low-level Prowess | |
| Combat Ready | +50% Fighting Experience Rate | Low-level Heroism | |
| Designated Grunt | -10% Standing Rewards | Only 1 skill is specialized | |
| Drew Desk Duty | +25% Fatigue Severity | Only 1 skill is specialized | |
| Former Squad Leader | +10% Standing Rewards | Low-level Tactics | |
| Front Line Experience | -40% Fatigue Severity | Low-level Heroism | |
| Golden Eagle Marksman | +20 Max Stamina | Low-level Warfighting | |
| Officer Material |
|
Low-level Tactics | |
| Practices at the Range | +50% Shooting Experience Rate | Low-level Warfighting | |
| Skipped Boot Camp | +25% Injury Severity | Only 1 skill is specialized | |
| Trained off the Grid | +50% Food Consumed Per Day | Only 1 skill is specialized | |
The fourth trait is always Red Talon Contractor for all Contractors, which provides a -66% Standing Rewards debuff.
Note: Though the Contractors initially come with 4 Traits when you recruit them, they can also reveal an additional trait about themselves when you have them as followers. Since the current HUD can only show 4 Traits maximum, the revealed trait will push out one of their original four (most likely the Red Talon Contractor trait), however it doesn't mean its effects are gone. Though you won't be able to see the trait anymore, the bonuses/debuffs will still apply to your Contractor.
Predicting Traits[]
To summarize the clues from the tables above: When you examine a Contractor with 'Learn About Survivor' before recruiting them, they'll always have one or two of their 4 core skills specialized. This is what will help you to predict/narrow down what traits they might have after recruiting them. It also matters which specialization has the higher and lower level.
The first traits provide the specialization with the higher level.
- High-level Prowess is given by Dead Zone Runner
- High-level Tactics is given by Consul Officer
- High-level Heroism is given by Diehard Veteran
- High-level Warfighting is given by Vigil Guard
The third traits provide the specialization with the lower level.
- Low-level Prowess is given by Boot Camp Survivor or Cadet Instructor
- Low-level Tactics is given by Former Squad Leader or Officer Material
- Low-level Heroism is given by Combat Ready or Front Line Experience
- Low-level Warfighting is given by Golden Eagle Marksman or Practices at the Range
If only one of their core skills is specialized, they'll either have Designated Grunt, Drew Desk Duty, Skipped Boot Camp, or Trained off the Grid as their third trait. All of these are negative traits, so you may not want to recruit them.
Since their Quirk Skill is also visible, their second trait is pretty obvious. You can use the tables above to see which Quirk Skill is provided by which second trait.
Hero Bonuses[]
The Contractors also have their own exclusive Hero Bonuses. All of these Hero Bonuses are provided by their second traits. They are as follows:
| Hero Bonus | Provided bonus | Associated Quirk Skill / Second Trait |
|---|---|---|
| Barn Raisings | +3 Labor | Fortifications / Worked as a Pioneer |
| Collecting Brass | +2 Ammo Per Day | Firearms Maintenance / Firearms Enthusiast |
| Compact Ordnance | +1 Max Consumable Stack | Demolitions / Demolitionist |
| Field Medicine | +20 Max Health | Combat Medicine / Combat Medic |
| Foraging Program | -20% Food Consumed Overall | Foraging / Forager |
| Kitchen Patrol | +150 Infection Resistance | Gut Packing / Cooked for the Squad |
| Noise Discipline | -3 Zombie Threat | Logistics / Quartermaster |
| Reinforced Chassis | +50% Vehicle Endurance | Mobile Operations / From an Armored Unit |
| Satellite Radios | -20% Most Radio Cooldowns | Hacking / Comms Engineer |
| Water Conservation | +20 Max Stamina | Infrastructure / Facilities Engineer |
Note: Since Update 27 four Hero Bonuses were made indefinitely unavailable as an experimental change. They were provided by the first traits.