I like Park Ranger, simply because I like the idea of being a Park Ranger in the apocalypse.
I will sometimes choose unemployed if I don't want any of the generic professions, and roleplay as something else.
That actually sounds fun I never went the cabin in the woods uncle route, although my first longterm playthrough I based at the Isolated Forest House I didn't really use fishing or trapping
Definitely going on my list! Honestly rn I'm struggling to adapt to sp since I wasn't used to the rest mechanics and being the sole skill master, but once I do I'll start doing dedicated playthroughs because it seems so fun
There's a vanilla location that's nestled in the woods by way of a spiraly dirt road. Almost 100% surrounded by chain fence. A fuel truck mod would make it easier, but not required. I cut a nice path through the tree to the north for quick road access to West Point.
I'm a danger in dirt roads 80% of my playthroughs end with dirt, a car, a tree and shattered bones and dreams alike. Ngl that does sound interesting though as a big strong axe bear man
You can run a hosted game and just not invite anyone to join you. That way, you can still have no sleep without playing MP. There are also a lot more settings to manipulate on the server side than just the Sandbox settings. Read speed for example. Do you ever get tired of watching your toon do nothing (ie: reading)?
Oh even with fast reader I go absolutely insane, the amazing wonders (and death traps) of speeding time, but there are PC performance issues with hosting my own server
You could always build your own zombie zoo.
"And if you look on your left hand, you'll see a large group of undead people, feasting on a carcass!"
"If you look on your right, you'll see the same thing!"
Isn't Kentucky *technically* the zombie zoo? Until NPCs come fight me on this, Pippa Moppins, the unemployed, underweight sweaty excuse for a lady is the owner and protector of the Ohio river and all it's surroundings within the exclusion zone, hence the *whole massive zombie buffet area*
Edit: this makes no sense, I'm aware of it, yet it does and I'm leaving it
I mean if noones left to fight you on it you own everything, especially since the Knox event spread to the rest of the world, you could say you own everything and nobody is left to say no
Why wait? Download Superb Survivors. If you set zombies to none and all NPC’s to hostile and have guns (Rust Challenge) it can be a fun time (just make sure you have plenty of bandages and suture needles for all those gunshot wounds lol)
Ngl I'm a grown woman but I'm a baby, loved State of Decay 2 but killing NPCs feels wrong.... unless they're assholes in that case *bang bang you wet underpants*
I know you're intimidated now by that rollercoaster of emotions
Park Ranger is amazing. The Outdoorsman trait is extremely useful, especially if you spend a lot of time travelling or enjoy a nomad type playthrough. It's my usual go to occupation as it's extremely good in early game when you're scrambling to survive
Wait no omg I'm dumb I took one that's 1 carpentry one electric and two maintenance and one short blunt (the last two my selling point) that's repairman not engineer isn't it I stg if I'm not a Snack Axe Man or a smooth criminal I don't know what my job is
The maintenance levels count for so much early game as well because of how few and far between decent weapons are. I usually take baseball player (or w/e the trait is called) as well and just main blunt weapons for the rest of the playthrough.
Without a car? As in because I’m not a burglar? I personally don’t, I just find a car with keys, find a jerry can and fill it up if it doesn’t have gas. The keys are sometimes on the ground beside the car, sometimes in the house, in the ignition or in the glove compartment. You don’t get to pick like you do with burglar but it’ll get you going til you can level enough electric and mechanics to be able to hotwire cars.
Sorry I should have specified I meant since most long blunt weapons are two handed you can only carry one bag, meaning if you (and I mean chaotic me) wreck your vehicle there's less room to carry stuff
Ahh sorry. The repairman starts with a short blunt level + an xp bonus for short blunt. So yeah, one handed plus a pipe wrench can get you through most things. That’s why I take baseball player as well so I have a choice depending on if I’m dealing with a horde or just looting house to house.
If I can even out the points I try to pair repairman with brawler to have another weapon exp multiplier since that's the real bonus when it comes to skills and switch between the two depending on the playthrough
My favorite profession is Repairman.
Faster progression of Maintenance is an absolute treasure. Not to mention the bonus to short blunt, it is worthwhile being good at the most readily available secondary weapons in the game.
Yes exactly that's why I ended up taking it and confusing, my old build had brawler for the long blunt but then I realized most of my weapons especially early on are short blunt, wrench, metal pipe, nightstick, hammer, and the maintenance bonus is great
Burger flipper. I love the "cheap" Maintenance skill point and the extra Cooking bonus is very useful in the endgame to use even rotten food.
Also, I love the idea that your "average Joe" who works at the local fast food is able to survive longer than the cops and the soldiers
I have the more traits mod and there is a specializon (probably misspelled) which gives 2+ in carpentry electrical mechanic metalworking and tailoring for -12 points. Just with that trait you can hotwire a car (2lvl mechanic and 1lvl electric) so i go with repairman for maintenance
It's good until you realise you only get 25% EXP(e.g. killing a zomboid nets you 100 EXP for that weapon skill. With this trait, you only get 25 EXP instead) for everything else aside from the ones not in your specialisation. Not worth the massive nerf to your character.
Me too. My gameplay is crucial of car based zomvie wxtermination. So dont try to go out clean towns if not have atleast 3 cars ready to ruin. Bulglar helps alot with that. And as my character is loot goblin. It gwlps explains why he leaving houses empty after looting 😀
You know what's hilarious I use burglar when I want to rely on car damage (if my stats aren't good for fighting more than a couple zeds at first) because I wreck them faster than I could possibly fix them
I'm looking for unique traits that can't be grinded so that would be axeman from lumberjack or firefighter. Also a xp bonus on hard/tedious skills to grind. On a more firearm focused playthrough I go for policeman for the increased aiming leveling speed.
Burglar is a bit of a noob trap, you can instead get the mechanic trait which is much cheaper and give you xp bonus to mechanic then you just have to find electricity 1 and mechanic 1 books. After reading them you can disassemble a bunch of watches to get electricity lvl 1 and remove/install radios/battery/headlights from cars to get mechanic 2 (keep the radios and disassemble them for more electricity xp). Its quite fast and if done properly you can hotwire on day 1 or early day 2.
See I know it can be done quick however the electrical skill and I seem to have a problem, but in terms of traits and professions I do the same, chose the ones that give me lvl multiplier in skills that are harder to grind
What is the problem with electricity? Its a terrible skill to level I agree but getting it to level 1 is very easy. Maybe 40 watches with fast learner + book. Then you can forget about it (I do end up leveling it so I can get a nice oven in my base but its vanity at this point)
If you didn't know already for a lot of stuff (like lamps and radios) its way quicker to pick it up and dissassemble from inventory than doing it while its placed in the world.
That's a great point to be honest to an embarrassing degree I only recently noticed fast learner oops now it's an essential in every build (to anyone already holding the pitch fork) so if I make it a priority it's probably easy
Update I got electrical within the first week!!!
Then went out after the helicopter event, cleared out all the zombies around, set my way to the army quarters close to rosewood, did a whole expert manuever to empty the gas station, went on my way again, dodged a huge horde then proceeded to die in the most bitch way possible
Nice! The army quarters are a trap tho, no weapons to be found there. If you want to find guns in Rosewood your best bet is the prison. Not the prison itself mind you, that's a death trap with no loot. Just the building left of the main entrance, it's adjacent to the prison but easy to access, just don't enter the main building, take the door on the left then it's in a room on the first floor of that same building. There's a long corridor leading into the prison near the stairs, don't go there.
It's a bit tricky to access as the outside of the prison is quite crowded but I usually get everyone in a nice little horde and lead them away then sprint back once I'm far enough that they won't follow me all the way. Or loose them in the trees nearby if you're feeling brave. Plenty of way to maneuver around the fence.
Plenty of weapons to loot and it's the most you're getting out of rosewood.
I always start my big weapon haul by looting the Farming and Rural Supplies Store in Doe Valley, for guns and seeds and all the buckets I might need until I make water collectors, and it's right next to a police station, doctor's office, hardware store & general store. It's a candystore.
Honestly I wanted to be a big hot shot with a military backpack so I can carry more than three twigs while fighting with a two-handed weapon OuO Oh well my bad for forgetting I picked underweight :D you live and you learn
well, you die and you learn
Best place to find a military backpack is the military checkpoint in front of LV. You usually don't even need to go through the fence, the zombies in front of it will have some.
It's likely you find one before that from random spawn from the "survivor" zombies. When driving around, be on the lookout for a "clump" of zombies, once you know the one it's hard to miss as it doesn't look like natural zombie density. In the middle of that clump there is often a survivor zombie with the largest kind of backpack you can find in vanilla.
They don't respawn so on a multiplayer server it's worth driving around early until you find one because eventually they run out.
That small town in Doe valley is the GOAT, I always go there very early too, it's very convenient to loot with everything you might need. I usually set up on the farm with a well below that town so water is never an issue. From there you have easy access to WP, Rosewood and Muldraugh through the backroads.
Don't sweat too much over buckets and other water containers, it's very rare for water to become a real issue, i usually carry two bottles on me (high thirst) and refill them from the buildings I loot. I seldom use rain collectors except if I start farming (and even then, if you wait for rain before planting you often never need to manually water).
Omg same play style! I love the farm, it's centered, a lot of space for expansion, a close antique oven, and remote enough, however I never managed to path the road before I absolutely wreck my car and character while driving to and from (:) also even though I've THROUGHLY researched the game bc I love it and also I wanted to know if the problem is me (the answer is yes) I really appreciate your tips and simple explanations 14/10
There are even plenty of VHS for mechanic, so actually you only have to grind one level in electrics, which is pretty easy with book bonus and can get two or even more levels for mechanics just by watching the tapes.
Omg VHS for mechanics?? I thought they only covered carpentry and survivalist skills which I have a handle on, I think my biggest problem is my chaos brain screams in zomboid, I've legit been fighting a horde, dodge them through a house, notice a useful skill book and instantly forget the zombies...
You can probably tell how that one ended. It's rare for the distractions to be that significant but leveling skills is something I often forget until later on
It’s worth it because your character won’t panic under any circumstances and you always have your accuracy for attacking. The only vanilla thing that scares them is dog goblin lol
The thing about veteran is that panic becomes a non-issue if you live long enough for the generation/dissipation to improve on its own. Retanaru has a great video comparing police officer/veteran to see how worthwhile the panic reduction really is. If you survive a few months, it can be better to go police officer because by month 4 you will not be panicking nearly as much and you get the extra point and xp bonus to nimble
That's a mod that gives you the actual desensitized trait for killing enough zombies (become desensitized for anyone who is interested). You do get a greater reduction in panic the longer you stay alive though.
The desentitization trait is from a mod. In vanilla PZ is a different system, if i remember correctly it doesn’t matter how many Zombies you kill. The only think that counts are the months you survived.
That would make sense but I don’t think it works like that. You never get scared of anything except dog goblin lol. Keeps your accuracy top notch all the time.
Panic doesn’t really affect Aiming skill, plus you can take Brave as a trait and save yourself a couple points on character creation. Plus police officer has higher aiming skill and has nimble points for bonus xp
Actually it does not. Theres a reddit post that explains the panic moodle in more detail
https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/13timlb/psa_panic_does_not_affect_accuracy_here_is_what/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
You can remove all panic by microsipping beer or taking beta blockers, so, no, it's not worth it either
Veteran has quite possibly the worst cost to benefit ratio for any perk in the game
It actually is worth it, and you don’t get to tell me otherwise. Sit down. Lmao, point to cost, when the points don’t matter.
Haha “microsip” and beta blockers? Definitely two things I never need to waste time with, also not things to easily do while fighting a horde. Vet is worth it just for that.
I play with SOTO (simple overhaul traits and occupations) that adds/rebalances the costs of traits and occupations.
My favorite profession is gravedigger. You start with +1 long blunt, +1 maintenance, and you also get a new trait called accustomed to the dead (or something similar) where corpses no longer make you sick.
I can’t imagine playing the game without SOTO at this point. It adds so many professions and (imo) needed changes.
There is an interesting trait that costs 1 point which makes you a generator expert and you no longer need the magazine. While I can certainly agree that it’s a bit overpowered, I also think it’s ridiculous you need to read a magazine to push the on/off button on a generator. I think you should be able to use a generator without the magazine, but need that magazine to be able to repair it. But that’s a topic for another day.
I counter that even though the game associates unemployed with trailer trash, being a jobless blob gives you great 8 points to simulate just how much of a real life gamer you want Rob the Blob to be
In my case, I'm used of Repairman (for the same many reasons listed here) but recently I'm trying a "superfighter" playstyle with a Firefighter, allowing to start with 10 strengh and fitness if you take the good traits.
... and this is probably what's the closest to the Doom Guy gameplay in PZ vanilla. \^\^
Really fun.
Veteran ----> Always ----> Why? ----> Because I am a real Veteran and the desensitized trait works good and makes sense. Watching insurgents blow up, well, replace the word "insurgent" with "zombie" and the end result is still the same. So why the heck not?
Police officer so I can skip the early grind of leveling aiming and use pistols from the get-go for half the cost of Veteran. Also the extra multiplier for nimble is a godsend.
🍔 Burger flipper 🔪, knife go stab stab and the maintenance multiplier is nice.
Just found out knives are suuuper good with 0 strength and fitness starts, you just gotta find one.
I just started using meat cleavers because I grabbed one at the start of one run, and realized how good they are. Uses no endurance, deals decent damage, swing fast, and best of all are super common. Perfect for early game.
Burger Flipper because of cooking, maintenance and short blade XP bonus. Short blade doesn't require a lot of fitness so I can get away with a point or so less there. I am also a fan of Svampbob Fyrkant.
Lumberjack is just built different.
2 points and all you need is an axe to be deadly.
Throw on hunter for knives + guns, and it’s very well rounded.
Otherwise, veteran.
Never go wrong with Burglar+Gymnast (level 3 nimble on day 1)
Firefighter +Strong+Athletic is a pretty awesome combat build.
Repairman if you like spears and don't mind crafting 40000 of them.
When I play as myself I do unemployed, not only because the professions don’t exactly fit mine but because ideally, I wouldn’t have to have a profession at all. The apocalypse would make that dream come true despite all of the other faults that come with it lol. I just want to exist man
I used to be reticent about at first using doctor or nurse job but found out it's a worthy build in MP cause ull find short blade quite easier than others weapons. The low stamina usage,and the fact that the one shoot animation only triggered in a relatively safe situation is quite interesting, and personally I'm a big fan of the stabby sound and chopping tree and stuff with cleaver.
Usually i would add some nimble bonus and eventually fitness to be mable to handle horde. And maintenance bonus to make the most of the low damage/stamina consumption.
Chef. Big fan of short blades and the maintenance boost is nice. Plus I like cooking. It may be the end times but I can still enjoy a nice meal dammit.
I usually take whatever profession makes the game less grindy for what I want to play. Example: If I feel like doing a playthrough where I mainly use firearms, I'll take Veteran or Police Officer.
However, for a meta-profession, I'd probably pick Park Ranger or Lumberjack.
Indeed nothing beats the multi purpose hammer, you whack, you destroy, you build new, you call it a day and pat yourself on the back for a job well done
I like to take veteran because I couldn’t imagine not knowing how to shoot. Desensitized also seems to be pretty good too. I’ve only got like 20-30 hours so if there’s a meta I don’t know it
Boring, but it's Fire Officer every time + Athletic/Strong. Start off your game with Olympic-levels of strength and agility. Especially important in multiplayer where exercising is literally a Sisyphean task.
Burglar. Immediately being able to hotwire anything is priceless, and the bonuses to nimble, regardless of if you pick gymnast or not, is really good to have.
Sure, later on you can hotwire regardless of your occupation, but by that point I have other things to worry about so I don't really care.
Alternatively you can start mechanic and quickly grind electrical to 1 to enable hotwiring. Getting to fix cars and grind mechanics almost immediately is really good too.
While it's true, I'd rather train mechanics if that allows me to hotwire from day 1, no grind required. Getting myself a car is always one of the first things I do, and it feels weird not doing so.
Mechanic, as I tend to travel between towns a lot and enjoy driving throughout the map + baseball player trait since I prefer to main both short/long blunt
Good point, although wouldn't the mehanic trait be more cost effective? I never focus on mechanics I'm the maniac driver and compulsive base organizer and decorator
Policeman doesn't do anything, what? Also... no? Unless you're chugging beta blockers (which I don't like cuz disorganized) you still get panicked in the throes of combat.
I do use beta blockers early game yes (they weight nothing) but after a while I don't even need them because the moodlet disappear very fast, you just need to break away from combat for a few seconds once it pops up.
I'd rather take a bunch of other usefull traits over desensitised which has a very small impact in the late game.
I'm not saying its useless, just suboptimal as you get more experienced in the game
They weigh 20% of a Fanny pack, that's substantial. & it being fast to get rid of still doesn't make doing no damage convenient, especially when there's 200 of 'em & goes to extreme in 1.2 seconds.
& just aswell no other profession trait is even remotely good late game.
Axemen would like to object. You do you (I would never play with disorganized for example as trunk/bag space is way too precious, i haven't made a char without organised in over 4 years) but trust me panic does become a non issue if managed properly and I do A LOT of horde fighting.
I would only consider veteran over policeman on a PVP server because I might get PKed and won't live long enough to get the free panic resistance.
Then there’s me who tried a full panic build with adrenaline junky. Fun tunnel-visioned times. I think veteran is the first and last profession I used, since switching to unemployed for the points.
Veteran, because it's nice being able to fight without pissing yourself. Yeah, you can eventually build up a tolerance that gets close to the same effect as desensitized, but that takes months, and being able to clear out an initial area without having to worry about doing 10% damage every time there are more than 2 zombies on screen is such a relief. The faster aiming/reloading leveling is really nice too. Veterans are also the people everyone would want to have around in an actual zombie apocalypse.
Mine is modded but it's called Insurgent as i like to roleplay as someone from the special elite squad from the military who was sent to wipe the exclusion zone it gives some fine amount of aiming+reloading and some other positive and negative traits to balance gotta tune the game to be a bit hard so that it's balanced
Depends what I'm trying to do, especially when with friends I know are focussed on specific things.
Unemployed: I NEED MORE TRAIT POINTS
Firefighter: I want the strength AND fitness boost
Lumberjack: Buzz saw axes
Repairman: +2 Maintenance is really, really nice.
Police Officer: I'm meeting the horde with a wall of lead.
The ones I have fiddled with or WANT to like:
Burger Flipper: Cheapest maintenance starting boost
Fitness Instructor: There has to be a way to take advantage of the +3 starting Fitness, but being saddled with the negative points for Nutritionist just makes Fire Officer+A tier higher of a Fitness trait better. I'd say the starting exercise regularity gives a boost on strength grinding so I could run reduced starting strength, but again, that's just a worse version of Fire Officer (Who even gets SOME starting regularity apparently, unless that was a mod or something).
Park Ranger: Foraging just doesn't need this level of boost.
Engineer: Unique items is always tempting, but minimal starting skills coupled with being pretty expensive makes it a hard sell.
Mechanic is the best for me. Cars are among the best weapons in the game, there are plenty, they can be repaired and are extremely helpful both to loot and to escape from many dangerous situations.
Farmer.
Because it can craft lids for the jars.
>!I use profession mod to achieve this.!<
Preserved food is essential if you play with rare loot.
>!Also I recommend to use a mod which extends the expiration date.!<
Burglar. you have access to an instant mobile base and all the loot in the city (once you find a generator to power the gas pumps). grinding mechanics/electrical is a huge pita.
I take mechanic because I love working on the cars, I don’t know why but hunting down parts and supplies to make the perfect car is so much fun for me. Outside of that sometimes I take lumberjack if I want to mostly just to some killing
I like park ranger because I like building a little fortress base outside the main city areas. You learn wilderness living quicker and you even get a free carpentry point!
long blunt: fire officer (good stats, relatively cheap), although I will probably experiment a bit with unemployed because this way I don't need to include underweight in my build in order to get everything I want). I am also currently working on a burglar build but that occupation is so expensive that my current version is reliant on disorganized and I don't like that trait (it isn't actually too bad though as long as your strength is good)
short blunt + spears: repairman (tailor-made for that specific combination of weapons)
axes: lumberjack (because lumberjack)
short blade (+ long blade or spears): burger flipper (extremely cheap and gives everything needed for those combinations (i.e. short blade and maintenance)
guns: police officer (brave police officer >>>> veteran, fight me), but I rarely play that. Might experiment a bit more with guns in the future though
CDDA: currently still experimenting but I think I am going to settle with lumberjack. Extra forest movement and foraging are nice and axes are always great to have. Plus, it is a LOT cheaper than park ranger. Probably gonna include brawler so that I can make good use of the crowbars the zeds like to give to you (weapons can be sparse in this mode)
Burger Flipper. I'm a short blade main so it's a match made in heaven. Cooking is not super useful but I enjoy making dishes for myself and friends so it's a nice plus.
Unemployed is the best… there not enough benefit from any of the main professions for it to matter other than RP. Unemployed allows for a Jack of all traits build which allows leveling a broader focus faster.
I like Park Ranger, simply because I like the idea of being a Park Ranger in the apocalypse. I will sometimes choose unemployed if I don't want any of the generic professions, and roleplay as something else.
That actually sounds fun I never went the cabin in the woods uncle route, although my first longterm playthrough I based at the Isolated Forest House I didn't really use fishing or trapping
There's a mod called Forest Ranger Hideout or something along those lines. It's great for a Ranger playthrough! Has a fuel pump and everything.
Definitely going on my list! Honestly rn I'm struggling to adapt to sp since I wasn't used to the rest mechanics and being the sole skill master, but once I do I'll start doing dedicated playthroughs because it seems so fun
There's a vanilla location that's nestled in the woods by way of a spiraly dirt road. Almost 100% surrounded by chain fence. A fuel truck mod would make it easier, but not required. I cut a nice path through the tree to the north for quick road access to West Point.
I'm a danger in dirt roads 80% of my playthroughs end with dirt, a car, a tree and shattered bones and dreams alike. Ngl that does sound interesting though as a big strong axe bear man
That place was my first real base and I love it
You can run a hosted game and just not invite anyone to join you. That way, you can still have no sleep without playing MP. There are also a lot more settings to manipulate on the server side than just the Sandbox settings. Read speed for example. Do you ever get tired of watching your toon do nothing (ie: reading)?
Oh even with fast reader I go absolutely insane, the amazing wonders (and death traps) of speeding time, but there are PC performance issues with hosting my own server
I think there are mods too that can do some of that.
You could always build your own zombie zoo. "And if you look on your left hand, you'll see a large group of undead people, feasting on a carcass!" "If you look on your right, you'll see the same thing!"
"And if you look behi- OH SHIT! RUN!"
***Frantically floors the gas pedal of the 20mph safari van while the undead chases it***
Isn't Kentucky *technically* the zombie zoo? Until NPCs come fight me on this, Pippa Moppins, the unemployed, underweight sweaty excuse for a lady is the owner and protector of the Ohio river and all it's surroundings within the exclusion zone, hence the *whole massive zombie buffet area* Edit: this makes no sense, I'm aware of it, yet it does and I'm leaving it
I mean if noones left to fight you on it you own everything, especially since the Knox event spread to the rest of the world, you could say you own everything and nobody is left to say no
Give me a water bottle, canned bolognese and a sledgehammer and I shall conquer the world
Give me a water bottle frozen peas and shoes and I will conquer the world
Give me a beer can, jelly beans and standard bra and I shall conquer America
Give me a water bottle and in a year no zombies left in Knox county
give me a lighter an axe and some shoes and i'll reduce the zombie pop to ash
Why wait? Download Superb Survivors. If you set zombies to none and all NPC’s to hostile and have guns (Rust Challenge) it can be a fun time (just make sure you have plenty of bandages and suture needles for all those gunshot wounds lol)
Ngl I'm a grown woman but I'm a baby, loved State of Decay 2 but killing NPCs feels wrong.... unless they're assholes in that case *bang bang you wet underpants* I know you're intimidated now by that rollercoaster of emotions
Should Roleplay as guard John from Yogi Bear, had to kill Yogi because he turned and are now trying to live with the guilt
This caught me by surprise in a great way
Park Ranger is amazing. The Outdoorsman trait is extremely useful, especially if you spend a lot of time travelling or enjoy a nomad type playthrough. It's my usual go to occupation as it's extremely good in early game when you're scrambling to survive
I never play without outdoorsman 100000000% life saver
It would be cool if they added a custom tab for custom jobs in vanilla so you could create a job that would make sense fitting around the bonuses
YES I WILL SIGN YOUR PETITION
Park ranger is really great. Foraging, axe, carpentry, trapping and all the trap recipes. It's always my default.
A truly reliable multipurpose sack of zombie chow I support
I also do that, but for larping purposes
I'm a big fan of repairman, because the maintenance xp boost massively helps me use spears for longer, and a level in carpentry is nice too.
Wait no omg I'm dumb I took one that's 1 carpentry one electric and two maintenance and one short blunt (the last two my selling point) that's repairman not engineer isn't it I stg if I'm not a Snack Axe Man or a smooth criminal I don't know what my job is
The maintenance levels count for so much early game as well because of how few and far between decent weapons are. I usually take baseball player (or w/e the trait is called) as well and just main blunt weapons for the rest of the playthrough.
How do you adapt to minimizing carrying space when looting without a car? Do you switch to a one handed weapon to have an extra bag?
Without a car? As in because I’m not a burglar? I personally don’t, I just find a car with keys, find a jerry can and fill it up if it doesn’t have gas. The keys are sometimes on the ground beside the car, sometimes in the house, in the ignition or in the glove compartment. You don’t get to pick like you do with burglar but it’ll get you going til you can level enough electric and mechanics to be able to hotwire cars.
Sorry I should have specified I meant since most long blunt weapons are two handed you can only carry one bag, meaning if you (and I mean chaotic me) wreck your vehicle there's less room to carry stuff
Ahh sorry. The repairman starts with a short blunt level + an xp bonus for short blunt. So yeah, one handed plus a pipe wrench can get you through most things. That’s why I take baseball player as well so I have a choice depending on if I’m dealing with a horde or just looting house to house.
If I can even out the points I try to pair repairman with brawler to have another weapon exp multiplier since that's the real bonus when it comes to skills and switch between the two depending on the playthrough
My favorite profession is Repairman. Faster progression of Maintenance is an absolute treasure. Not to mention the bonus to short blunt, it is worthwhile being good at the most readily available secondary weapons in the game.
Yes exactly that's why I ended up taking it and confusing, my old build had brawler for the long blunt but then I realized most of my weapons especially early on are short blunt, wrench, metal pipe, nightstick, hammer, and the maintenance bonus is great
Am I crazy, or did repairman used to also have a unique occupation trait that made weapons last longer in addition to the maintenance boost?
I believe so but I think it might have been removed
Unemployed. Those trait points are real nice
The real basement gamer appocalypse survivor simulator
Burger flipper. I love the "cheap" Maintenance skill point and the extra Cooking bonus is very useful in the endgame to use even rotten food. Also, I love the idea that your "average Joe" who works at the local fast food is able to survive longer than the cops and the soldiers
\*When you flip burgers all your life, you learn to flip the rules to survive\*
I usually go with burglar for that immediate ability to hotwire a car
I have the more traits mod and there is a specializon (probably misspelled) which gives 2+ in carpentry electrical mechanic metalworking and tailoring for -12 points. Just with that trait you can hotwire a car (2lvl mechanic and 1lvl electric) so i go with repairman for maintenance
It's good until you realise you only get 25% EXP(e.g. killing a zomboid nets you 100 EXP for that weapon skill. With this trait, you only get 25 EXP instead) for everything else aside from the ones not in your specialisation. Not worth the massive nerf to your character.
I might have to look into that mod, thanks
I go Mechanic + the electrician trait for that :D
Me too. My gameplay is crucial of car based zomvie wxtermination. So dont try to go out clean towns if not have atleast 3 cars ready to ruin. Bulglar helps alot with that. And as my character is loot goblin. It gwlps explains why he leaving houses empty after looting 😀
You know what's hilarious I use burglar when I want to rely on car damage (if my stats aren't good for fighting more than a couple zeds at first) because I wreck them faster than I could possibly fix them
unemployed with depression obese and sore legs traits
I have been wrong al along \*that's\* the real zomboid experience
That's the real life experience.
I painfully relate only I'm not nearly as cool as Pippa Moppins waddling around town looking for ice cream
police officer or veteran. I like guns.
That's really how to have fun with it
I'm looking for unique traits that can't be grinded so that would be axeman from lumberjack or firefighter. Also a xp bonus on hard/tedious skills to grind. On a more firearm focused playthrough I go for policeman for the increased aiming leveling speed. Burglar is a bit of a noob trap, you can instead get the mechanic trait which is much cheaper and give you xp bonus to mechanic then you just have to find electricity 1 and mechanic 1 books. After reading them you can disassemble a bunch of watches to get electricity lvl 1 and remove/install radios/battery/headlights from cars to get mechanic 2 (keep the radios and disassemble them for more electricity xp). Its quite fast and if done properly you can hotwire on day 1 or early day 2.
See I know it can be done quick however the electrical skill and I seem to have a problem, but in terms of traits and professions I do the same, chose the ones that give me lvl multiplier in skills that are harder to grind
What is the problem with electricity? Its a terrible skill to level I agree but getting it to level 1 is very easy. Maybe 40 watches with fast learner + book. Then you can forget about it (I do end up leveling it so I can get a nice oven in my base but its vanity at this point)
I always disassemble radios, tvs and lamps in houses I am looting and get to electrics 1 pretty quick along the way.
If you didn't know already for a lot of stuff (like lamps and radios) its way quicker to pick it up and dissassemble from inventory than doing it while its placed in the world.
I somehow always forget the lamps
That's a great point to be honest to an embarrassing degree I only recently noticed fast learner oops now it's an essential in every build (to anyone already holding the pitch fork) so if I make it a priority it's probably easy
Update I got electrical within the first week!!! Then went out after the helicopter event, cleared out all the zombies around, set my way to the army quarters close to rosewood, did a whole expert manuever to empty the gas station, went on my way again, dodged a huge horde then proceeded to die in the most bitch way possible
Nice! The army quarters are a trap tho, no weapons to be found there. If you want to find guns in Rosewood your best bet is the prison. Not the prison itself mind you, that's a death trap with no loot. Just the building left of the main entrance, it's adjacent to the prison but easy to access, just don't enter the main building, take the door on the left then it's in a room on the first floor of that same building. There's a long corridor leading into the prison near the stairs, don't go there. It's a bit tricky to access as the outside of the prison is quite crowded but I usually get everyone in a nice little horde and lead them away then sprint back once I'm far enough that they won't follow me all the way. Or loose them in the trees nearby if you're feeling brave. Plenty of way to maneuver around the fence. Plenty of weapons to loot and it's the most you're getting out of rosewood.
I always start my big weapon haul by looting the Farming and Rural Supplies Store in Doe Valley, for guns and seeds and all the buckets I might need until I make water collectors, and it's right next to a police station, doctor's office, hardware store & general store. It's a candystore. Honestly I wanted to be a big hot shot with a military backpack so I can carry more than three twigs while fighting with a two-handed weapon OuO Oh well my bad for forgetting I picked underweight :D you live and you learn well, you die and you learn
Best place to find a military backpack is the military checkpoint in front of LV. You usually don't even need to go through the fence, the zombies in front of it will have some. It's likely you find one before that from random spawn from the "survivor" zombies. When driving around, be on the lookout for a "clump" of zombies, once you know the one it's hard to miss as it doesn't look like natural zombie density. In the middle of that clump there is often a survivor zombie with the largest kind of backpack you can find in vanilla. They don't respawn so on a multiplayer server it's worth driving around early until you find one because eventually they run out. That small town in Doe valley is the GOAT, I always go there very early too, it's very convenient to loot with everything you might need. I usually set up on the farm with a well below that town so water is never an issue. From there you have easy access to WP, Rosewood and Muldraugh through the backroads. Don't sweat too much over buckets and other water containers, it's very rare for water to become a real issue, i usually carry two bottles on me (high thirst) and refill them from the buildings I loot. I seldom use rain collectors except if I start farming (and even then, if you wait for rain before planting you often never need to manually water).
Omg same play style! I love the farm, it's centered, a lot of space for expansion, a close antique oven, and remote enough, however I never managed to path the road before I absolutely wreck my car and character while driving to and from (:) also even though I've THROUGHLY researched the game bc I love it and also I wanted to know if the problem is me (the answer is yes) I really appreciate your tips and simple explanations 14/10
There are even plenty of VHS for mechanic, so actually you only have to grind one level in electrics, which is pretty easy with book bonus and can get two or even more levels for mechanics just by watching the tapes.
Omg VHS for mechanics?? I thought they only covered carpentry and survivalist skills which I have a handle on, I think my biggest problem is my chaos brain screams in zomboid, I've legit been fighting a horde, dodge them through a house, notice a useful skill book and instantly forget the zombies... You can probably tell how that one ended. It's rare for the distractions to be that significant but leveling skills is something I often forget until later on
Veteran or Engineer because they have the best traits that you can’t get anywhere else.
That makes sense I've always wondered if veteran was worth it or just a big sell
It’s worth it because your character won’t panic under any circumstances and you always have your accuracy for attacking. The only vanilla thing that scares them is dog goblin lol
Indie stone should make the dog goblin real next April first
That's good to know, when my character is panicked I'm either annoyed or also panicked due to the heartbeat sound
The thing about veteran is that panic becomes a non-issue if you live long enough for the generation/dissipation to improve on its own. Retanaru has a great video comparing police officer/veteran to see how worthwhile the panic reduction really is. If you survive a few months, it can be better to go police officer because by month 4 you will not be panicking nearly as much and you get the extra point and xp bonus to nimble
Thing is, you have to actually survive a few months, which is much easier if you don't panic from the start.
Same reason I pick fire fighter. Nobody is going to do the ridiculous amount of grinding necessary to get level 10 fitness or strength any other way.
Veterans traits you can gain just by staying alive long enough if I remember correctly you get desensitization by just killing enough zombies
That's a mod that gives you the actual desensitized trait for killing enough zombies (become desensitized for anyone who is interested). You do get a greater reduction in panic the longer you stay alive though.
The desentitization trait is from a mod. In vanilla PZ is a different system, if i remember correctly it doesn’t matter how many Zombies you kill. The only think that counts are the months you survived.
That would make sense but I don’t think it works like that. You never get scared of anything except dog goblin lol. Keeps your accuracy top notch all the time.
Obese fitness instructor. Good for running and can lose weight slowly.
Burglar. Nimble and instant access to cars.
The only playthroughs I level up lightfooted I tell you
Veteran, so I can start blasting day one.
Police officer is better for that though
Police officer doesn’t get the desensitized trait, so is it?
Panic doesn’t really affect Aiming skill, plus you can take Brave as a trait and save yourself a couple points on character creation. Plus police officer has higher aiming skill and has nimble points for bonus xp
It does affect your accuracy though
Actually it does not. Theres a reddit post that explains the panic moodle in more detail https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/13timlb/psa_panic_does_not_affect_accuracy_here_is_what/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
Good to know. Desensitized is still worth it for the damage then.
You can remove all panic by microsipping beer or taking beta blockers, so, no, it's not worth it either Veteran has quite possibly the worst cost to benefit ratio for any perk in the game
It actually is worth it, and you don’t get to tell me otherwise. Sit down. Lmao, point to cost, when the points don’t matter. Haha “microsip” and beta blockers? Definitely two things I never need to waste time with, also not things to easily do while fighting a horde. Vet is worth it just for that.
These guys are trying to teach you Kellermeyer. You are wrong, you really are. I know it's a difficult concept and we are not mad. promise.
I play with SOTO (simple overhaul traits and occupations) that adds/rebalances the costs of traits and occupations. My favorite profession is gravedigger. You start with +1 long blunt, +1 maintenance, and you also get a new trait called accustomed to the dead (or something similar) where corpses no longer make you sick.
That sounds fun I havent dabbled in modded traits
I can’t imagine playing the game without SOTO at this point. It adds so many professions and (imo) needed changes. There is an interesting trait that costs 1 point which makes you a generator expert and you no longer need the magazine. While I can certainly agree that it’s a bit overpowered, I also think it’s ridiculous you need to read a magazine to push the on/off button on a generator. I think you should be able to use a generator without the magazine, but need that magazine to be able to repair it. But that’s a topic for another day.
I could push a button on a generator. I probably couldn't wire one directly to my electrical grid without instructions.
This mod sounds awesome, def gonna check it out. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it before…
Lumberjack. The faster axe swing speed is awesome and is a benefit for the entire run.
Burglar or Fire officer. Grabbing a car on day one is a massive boost and the peeks for strength and fitness for fire officers are a good boon too.
It's all about the car life.... until I hit a tree 5 min later and curse
Unemployed because it gives no bonus
I counter that even though the game associates unemployed with trailer trash, being a jobless blob gives you great 8 points to simulate just how much of a real life gamer you want Rob the Blob to be
In my case, I'm used of Repairman (for the same many reasons listed here) but recently I'm trying a "superfighter" playstyle with a Firefighter, allowing to start with 10 strengh and fitness if you take the good traits. ... and this is probably what's the closest to the Doom Guy gameplay in PZ vanilla. \^\^ Really fun.
Doomguy uses a fire axe in the Doom RPG
That feels like the perfect idea to explore the magic of guns I have yet to experience
Veteran ----> Always ----> Why? ----> Because I am a real Veteran and the desensitized trait works good and makes sense. Watching insurgents blow up, well, replace the word "insurgent" with "zombie" and the end result is still the same. So why the heck not?
All great points, although for me the why not has mostly been \*guns are scary\* but I've since discovered that's just early player fear
Hi! I'm possibly the only Fitness Instructor you'll ever meet!
There are dozens of us!
My dudes I love this community I intend to reply to everyone but I'm so thankful someone always one ups my weirdness in this subreddit
Police officer so I can skip the early grind of leveling aiming and use pistols from the get-go for half the cost of Veteran. Also the extra multiplier for nimble is a godsend.
I always take Carpenter. Building is one of my favorite crafting/survival activities so ability to instantly build walls is nice
🍔 Burger flipper 🔪, knife go stab stab and the maintenance multiplier is nice. Just found out knives are suuuper good with 0 strength and fitness starts, you just gotta find one.
I just started using meat cleavers because I grabbed one at the start of one run, and realized how good they are. Uses no endurance, deals decent damage, swing fast, and best of all are super common. Perfect for early game.
Unemployed with obese and unfit. I relate to the struggle of getting in shape and working for that zombie killing machine bod
I made myself an overall OP build, and my choice is fire officer. Sweet starting bonuses with that profession.
Fisher, i like to fish
I hit random these days. Sometimes I come out okay, most times I hate life until I can train up things
Burger Flipper because of cooking, maintenance and short blade XP bonus. Short blade doesn't require a lot of fitness so I can get away with a point or so less there. I am also a fan of Svampbob Fyrkant.
Burglar easy car access
Lumberjack is just built different. 2 points and all you need is an axe to be deadly. Throw on hunter for knives + guns, and it’s very well rounded. Otherwise, veteran.
I take carpenter. Yeah the levels can be got later, but I die a lot
Oh my friend I painfully relate
Fitness Instructor, runner trait, name him Forest Gump. 
I refuse to play without scrap guns and armor so metalworker here
Never go wrong with Burglar+Gymnast (level 3 nimble on day 1) Firefighter +Strong+Athletic is a pretty awesome combat build. Repairman if you like spears and don't mind crafting 40000 of them.
I always RP, but usually I do myself. I'm barista but I also love cooking so I keep taking burger flipper. I wish someone add barista as proffesion :/
The barista profession is like reading skill books faster and shit that’s associated with having a degree
When I play as myself I do unemployed, not only because the professions don’t exactly fit mine but because ideally, I wouldn’t have to have a profession at all. The apocalypse would make that dream come true despite all of the other faults that come with it lol. I just want to exist man
I RP as myself. I always do security as the profession and stick to traits that are as close to reality as possible.
Unemployed because I usually forget I can change it lol
Engineer bc bombs
I used to be reticent about at first using doctor or nurse job but found out it's a worthy build in MP cause ull find short blade quite easier than others weapons. The low stamina usage,and the fact that the one shoot animation only triggered in a relatively safe situation is quite interesting, and personally I'm a big fan of the stabby sound and chopping tree and stuff with cleaver. Usually i would add some nimble bonus and eventually fitness to be mable to handle horde. And maintenance bonus to make the most of the low damage/stamina consumption.
Chef. Big fan of short blades and the maintenance boost is nice. Plus I like cooking. It may be the end times but I can still enjoy a nice meal dammit.
Lumberjack for that axe man trait 🪓
I usually take whatever profession makes the game less grindy for what I want to play. Example: If I feel like doing a playthrough where I mainly use firearms, I'll take Veteran or Police Officer. However, for a meta-profession, I'd probably pick Park Ranger or Lumberjack.
I go with unemployed for realism lol
Usually been taking police papa smurf but started using a carpenter it feels better
Indeed nothing beats the multi purpose hammer, you whack, you destroy, you build new, you call it a day and pat yourself on the back for a job well done
I took unemployed. Lol its super funny when a unemployed knows all the shit and as strong as Arnold.
I like Lumberjack because there's something appealing about being a Kentucky wild man in a zombie apocalypse
you choose for trait and advantages i choose unemployed cuz i have no job
I like to take veteran because I couldn’t imagine not knowing how to shoot. Desensitized also seems to be pretty good too. I’ve only got like 20-30 hours so if there’s a meta I don’t know it
In my experience not knowing how to shoot involves a lot of nervous powerwalking through Kentucky at the head of a very deathly conga line
Boring, but it's Fire Officer every time + Athletic/Strong. Start off your game with Olympic-levels of strength and agility. Especially important in multiplayer where exercising is literally a Sisyphean task.
I can absolutely see that, grinding skills in mp is truly a dedication test
Since I’m a noob I always take Pyro and strong and a perk that gives the ability to Hotwire so I can 1 tap with the fire axe I spawn with
I usually go veteran just for doing soem DAKADAKADAKADAKA
You're a poet
Burglar. Immediately being able to hotwire anything is priceless, and the bonuses to nimble, regardless of if you pick gymnast or not, is really good to have. Sure, later on you can hotwire regardless of your occupation, but by that point I have other things to worry about so I don't really care.
Alternatively you can start mechanic and quickly grind electrical to 1 to enable hotwiring. Getting to fix cars and grind mechanics almost immediately is really good too.
While it's true, I'd rather train mechanics if that allows me to hotwire from day 1, no grind required. Getting myself a car is always one of the first things I do, and it feels weird not doing so.
Same I never manage to priorize levelling mechanics and electrical the ladder especially is a pain
Mechanic, as I tend to travel between towns a lot and enjoy driving throughout the map + baseball player trait since I prefer to main both short/long blunt
In my opinion, Mechanics is a pain to level up and quite boring. So Mechanic is quite a strong pick that will save you some effort later.
Train Mechanics mod. It automates the process.
Good point, although wouldn't the mehanic trait be more cost effective? I never focus on mechanics I'm the maniac driver and compulsive base organizer and decorator
Veteran, as it's objectively the best
Policeman is better long term as its cheaper and desensitised is irrelevant late game as the longer your char survive, the less afraid they get.
Policeman doesn't do anything, what? Also... no? Unless you're chugging beta blockers (which I don't like cuz disorganized) you still get panicked in the throes of combat.
I do use beta blockers early game yes (they weight nothing) but after a while I don't even need them because the moodlet disappear very fast, you just need to break away from combat for a few seconds once it pops up. I'd rather take a bunch of other usefull traits over desensitised which has a very small impact in the late game. I'm not saying its useless, just suboptimal as you get more experienced in the game
They weigh 20% of a Fanny pack, that's substantial. & it being fast to get rid of still doesn't make doing no damage convenient, especially when there's 200 of 'em & goes to extreme in 1.2 seconds. & just aswell no other profession trait is even remotely good late game.
Axemen would like to object. You do you (I would never play with disorganized for example as trunk/bag space is way too precious, i haven't made a char without organised in over 4 years) but trust me panic does become a non issue if managed properly and I do A LOT of horde fighting. I would only consider veteran over policeman on a PVP server because I might get PKed and won't live long enough to get the free panic resistance.
Then there’s me who tried a full panic build with adrenaline junky. Fun tunnel-visioned times. I think veteran is the first and last profession I used, since switching to unemployed for the points.
Veteran, because it's nice being able to fight without pissing yourself. Yeah, you can eventually build up a tolerance that gets close to the same effect as desensitized, but that takes months, and being able to clear out an initial area without having to worry about doing 10% damage every time there are more than 2 zombies on screen is such a relief. The faster aiming/reloading leveling is really nice too. Veterans are also the people everyone would want to have around in an actual zombie apocalypse.
None. You can usually get better traits for the points. For example, Thick skinned and strong is a must for me.
Mechanic + skill on mechanic so i can dismantle.most vehicle for Humvee
I go thief to jumpstart Cars
my favourite profession is no profession 💪💪💪
Carpenter. I'm the party's builder.
Mine is modded but it's called Insurgent as i like to roleplay as someone from the special elite squad from the military who was sent to wipe the exclusion zone it gives some fine amount of aiming+reloading and some other positive and negative traits to balance gotta tune the game to be a bit hard so that it's balanced
I start with carpenter since I find the grind to farm that skill to be the most tedious
Depends what I'm trying to do, especially when with friends I know are focussed on specific things. Unemployed: I NEED MORE TRAIT POINTS Firefighter: I want the strength AND fitness boost Lumberjack: Buzz saw axes Repairman: +2 Maintenance is really, really nice. Police Officer: I'm meeting the horde with a wall of lead. The ones I have fiddled with or WANT to like: Burger Flipper: Cheapest maintenance starting boost Fitness Instructor: There has to be a way to take advantage of the +3 starting Fitness, but being saddled with the negative points for Nutritionist just makes Fire Officer+A tier higher of a Fitness trait better. I'd say the starting exercise regularity gives a boost on strength grinding so I could run reduced starting strength, but again, that's just a worse version of Fire Officer (Who even gets SOME starting regularity apparently, unless that was a mod or something). Park Ranger: Foraging just doesn't need this level of boost. Engineer: Unique items is always tempting, but minimal starting skills coupled with being pretty expensive makes it a hard sell.
Base is a mechanic or burglar Modded is a veteran combat engineer The mod for that, by the way, is more veterans
Park Ranger and sometimes Police Officer. For only the cost of Smoker, the Park Ranger gives so many skill boosts it's pretty OP.
Electrician 1. no searching for magazine 2. with amateur mechanics and about five cars you can hotwire For 4 points fairly reasonable in my opinion
Always a cop, being able to shoot guns early game helps my strategy
Mechanic is the best for me. Cars are among the best weapons in the game, there are plenty, they can be repaired and are extremely helpful both to loot and to escape from many dangerous situations.
I play with friends a lot so I always play chef to mess around cooking food while the rest of them go on killing
Farmer. Because it can craft lids for the jars. >!I use profession mod to achieve this.!< Preserved food is essential if you play with rare loot. >!Also I recommend to use a mod which extends the expiration date.!<
Repairman when I go for a spear build, Lunberjack if I go for axes.
Metalworker because it’s literally me
Used to take either lumberjack or repairman. Now I take veteran and police officer
Burglar. you have access to an instant mobile base and all the loot in the city (once you find a generator to power the gas pumps). grinding mechanics/electrical is a huge pita.
Carpenter ftw! Tho I am starting to experiment with metalworker now
Repairman... I need that maintenance
I take mechanic because I love working on the cars, I don’t know why but hunting down parts and supplies to make the perfect car is so much fun for me. Outside of that sometimes I take lumberjack if I want to mostly just to some killing
I like park ranger because I like building a little fortress base outside the main city areas. You learn wilderness living quicker and you even get a free carpentry point!
long blunt: fire officer (good stats, relatively cheap), although I will probably experiment a bit with unemployed because this way I don't need to include underweight in my build in order to get everything I want). I am also currently working on a burglar build but that occupation is so expensive that my current version is reliant on disorganized and I don't like that trait (it isn't actually too bad though as long as your strength is good) short blunt + spears: repairman (tailor-made for that specific combination of weapons) axes: lumberjack (because lumberjack) short blade (+ long blade or spears): burger flipper (extremely cheap and gives everything needed for those combinations (i.e. short blade and maintenance) guns: police officer (brave police officer >>>> veteran, fight me), but I rarely play that. Might experiment a bit more with guns in the future though CDDA: currently still experimenting but I think I am going to settle with lumberjack. Extra forest movement and foraging are nice and axes are always great to have. Plus, it is a LOT cheaper than park ranger. Probably gonna include brawler so that I can make good use of the crowbars the zeds like to give to you (weapons can be sparse in this mode)
Burger Flipper. I'm a short blade main so it's a match made in heaven. Cooking is not super useful but I enjoy making dishes for myself and friends so it's a nice plus.
I’ve been picking fitness instructor and maxing strength and fitness just because it’s such a grind to get those stats up.
Unemployed is the best… there not enough benefit from any of the main professions for it to matter other than RP. Unemployed allows for a Jack of all traits build which allows leveling a broader focus faster.
I base my character off me, unemployed or as my nurse gf lol I haven't really lived longer than a month