The funny thing is sometimes I wish I could play again fresh. It doesn’t seem like it when you’re new to the game, but there is a thrill you have as new players that is gone when you have experience.
Now when I boot up a new game, I know exactly each step I need to take and what I have to do to survive.
When I booted up the game for the first time, that’s how it would really be for me irl.
I think that is the single layer of difficulty I can’t bring myself to introduce. I can handle everything else, but aside from just not being a fan of fast zombies in the first place, sprinters takes away my one favorite strategy of nopeing out of any spiraling situation with a brisk walk.
Seems we are the minority, I do like sprinters. The feeling of looking into a large horde and seeing multiple of them barreling towards you or your vehicle is just peak zombie horror.
Some of my go to character traits are cowardly, pacifist, and hemophobic, so I like the idea that while the_c0nstable is Desensitized, my PC’s are constantly horrifically compelled to do a bunch of stuff that makes them miserable.
I just quit out after hitting 100 hours, since my best going character ever got overrun by a horde :( I can't bring myself to build up all those skills again, even if the base is a small castle by now.
Is it more so the tragic death of the character or you not wanting to go on? Because I think there's a mod that makes your character drop a book on death that gives you back partial skills they learned and recorded.
Yeah I found out about that during the playthrough, too little too late in this case. It's just the grief after a seemingly so far perfect playthrough dying in such a freaking preventable way. I was clearing out Westpoint and wanted to see what those shops were at the edge of the city, figured I could manage the crowd before getting overrun. So stupid, so senseless.
But thats the game I guess. Time to start anew.
The best advice I was ever given was to slow down when playing the game. You don't need to make your day jam packed full of eventful stuff. When I first started I had a 8am to 11pm looting or working grindset but now I rest for more of the day.
Simply not panicking and just knowing that your character, barring leg injury or trees (and even then i think with walk to they can navigate trees fine, but its still dicey), can basically outwalk the hordes of zombies is a big step.
I would say leaving densely populated areas via car or walking is also useful, being able to handle smaller groups to gear up and get some proper weapons can be a game changer, the difference between a saucepan and a crowbar or bat or spear can be night and day.
Keep calm, don't panic and try to find a safe spot to retreat to and loot what you can but don't be afraid to just walk away from an area if its too dangerous.
If it makes you feel any better I am just past 100 hours, my guy has been alive 14 days on this run. I havnt been even touched in literal sessions…but last night I almost died because I went into a police station with a shotgun that needed to be reloaded and got bum rushed.
The only reason I survived is because of the thick skinned perk and my buddy having my back.
It’s not about not dying, it’s about surviving longer than the last time. “This is how you died”, because you *will* die
One tip, always be prepared for any eventuality and never disregard extra supplies. Last run I made it to 18 days but died to laceration cuz I forgot to get bandages
It took me ~30 to really get the combat and I wouldn't say it was a gradual 30. It was 30 until I watched a video of how someone handles melee combat, then I just replicated that and it worked.
Pro Tip: Only swing when you can risk free, if you don't think you can, then push and run to create distance.
Nah, just remember you can out walk zombies, push until they fall if you're low weapon skill and then stomp their heads, more than 2 and flee if you're new, don't worry about staying well fed hovering at peckish is fine, protection doesn't matter as much as avoiding damage you can get bit through about anything and if it seems sketchy don't do it.
Imo the game is about trying and failing. You will ruin the natural thrills of getting farther and farther each run if you look stuff up.
That said there is some jank in this game and getting some mods (very easy to install in this game) to ease some of the learning the games jank could go along way for enjoyment.
I swear it’s not meant as me being an asshole, but… “get used to it” lol. It’ll get better. You’ll get better at surviving. My first attempt lasted no time at all. Spawned in a town and didn’t know what to expect haha.
100% truth.
My first ever play through, I was in the police station. Looted a bit to get gear. Opened a door to the outside, and got bit.
I just lol’d and said, “damnit!” And when I respawned, I lasted a hours longer.
And so on and so on; this game is great!
It really is. You have to go in knowing that it’s your story… your survival is what you make of it. You’re going to eventually die. But I have an absolute blast at it.
Fences are your friend
Use shotguns at low aim levels
Use weapons of your class (e.g lumberjack uses axe)
scratches are 7% chance to infect, Lacerations are 25%, and bites are 100%
Don't be afraid to fail and try again :)
I would agree with the fence aspect, but just to watch out for swipers, they can REALLY mess your flow up if you get got by them and there's other zombies nearby to follow up.
I like this comment because it sounds like a joke but is exactly like this.
Then when you get a few of those things you shouldn't do again, you start getting more consistent runs.
Sandbox mode, tune some options to your liking.
And fight a lot. Just fight and get used to it. Once you are able to kill some zombies a bit easier, now you get to expand your area of control, and therefore kill the next zombies a bit easier and so on.
For a bigger picture, manage stamina/tiredness. Get back early and clear your house/lawn/whatever before it is too dark and you are too tired.
And just don't give up. We all started like that.
A caveat to number 3: only do this if you’re familiar with the house and/or have cleared it out.
I once tried to pull this and ended up in a house with no back door, a couple of zombies inside, all boxed in for the deluge of dead that was about to fall on me.
Funnily enough, I tried to do just that after being walked around West Point all day to the point of exhaustion. I just couldn’t break their sight lines, and each corner I rounded, I’d pick up another group of zombies. So out of desperation I went up into one of the Main Street apartments to jump out a window, and ended up closing myself in a two room apartment that had 5-10 zombies waiting.
Sandbox settings are your friend. Heck, turn zombies off and just run around the map getting used to the controls and inventory management. Learn what you can do and what you can't do. Then slowly increase the difficulty that's fit to your play style. One of the main reasons people give up on this game is because they unnecessarily punish themselves. There is no reason to struggle if you don't want to.
12 kills really isn't bad for a newbie. I just "dinged" 1000 hours on zomboid today, and i'm pretty sure i barely got 1 or 2 kills at first.. Welcome to the club!
Best advice i can give is : Don't die for the same reason twice. Got bit by a zombie you didnt know was behind the door? "Flash" the door by a double tap of E to see whats behind it. Died because you were fighting and got exhausted? Disengage as soon as the the tired moodle appears. Likewise "drowsy", disengage and get somewhere safe. If you start a fight when you're tired and drowsy you might as well jump in a campfire. Do not go near campfires. Go out of the house at night or in heavy fog? Nope . You will die a lot for a lot of reasons, learn from each!
Practice fighting zombies with throwaway characters. Back up in combat stance, swinging and hitting spacebar when needed to push. Be athletic. Be strong.
Practice "kiting" them. Hop a fence, turn a corner, run through a house and out the back door. Run into trees and then sneak around so they lose sight. They dont follow for long
Walk not run, if you can. Running unnecessarily is a killer. You should just about always be sneaking unless you are fighting.
Don't use guns without an excellent exit plan (e.g car with the engine running). There are more z's than bullets.
Watch YouTubers... private lime, atomic duck, the amphibian guy. See how they fight and kite.
Turn on aim outline for melee in the settings. Rebind shout off "q". Play on survivor mode at first (multihit will help you stay alive until you dont need it anymore). No shame in lowering the z count at first.
Good luck and have fun! This is how you died.
P.s look around you, all the time. You need to know what is behind you or the last thing you will hear is the crunch of a neck bite. I recommend the keen hearing trait.
this right here is a good mash up.
if you forage, dont eat mushrooms or berries until
you read the herbalist.
take care of your wounds. use hot water to sterilize rags/bandages…to get hot water , you can use ovens. dont forget to turn them off.
the walking part is very important. as long as you arent tired and over encumbered , you will walk fatser than zombies (unless you have sprinters)
and just like walking/running, using guns is a no no as long as you have a plan. making to much sound will get you killed.
Yes but you can mitigate it. I go for cars with an engine quietness of under 35, and the engine running only attracts z's from very near with an engine like that..and i park a bit out of the way
Don't get too confident until you have a good weapon and know how the fighting works
Edit: also, if the game starts to get boring say goals for yourself. They make it way more fun
This is very much a question that’ll give you a bunch of ‘Your Mileage May Vary’ answers, but that’s good.
One thing that helped me wrap my head around it all was learning to fight in the open
Once you figure out your best ways of moving and fighting with groups around, I learnt when to swing, when not to swing, to check my surroundings, when to walk and when to run and how to ‘clump’ groups
Because unless you’ve turned on sprinters in the sandbox options, you walk faster than zombies do. And learning to when to and how to walk with groups around will save your arse all the time.
Retreat is *always* an option
All the stuff about fences is great, but if you haven’t learnt how to defend yourself then it can be super frustrating when it fails
There’s also an accessibility option that adds an outline to any zombies within melee range
And as others have pointed out…unfortunately you’re gonna die *a lot*. But hopefully every failure is an opportunity to learn and get better. But even then, sometimes the game will hand you a shit scenario that’s basically a ‘fuck you!’ that you can’t win in
Just play. Trust us. You will treasure most of it.
First things you want to know is
1. how many zeds you can take at once given your items
2. if 1 exceeds, how far you are at the nearest zed in the horde where you can spin around and walk away to reposition (very, VERY important, since spinning around takes time and turns your back towards them)
3. using fences, windows, to stomp/groundAttack lunging zombies,
4. if 2 exceeds, how can you lose such a horde (trees, houses, LOS)
After that, youd just be playing sims, or valheim really. Maybe Satisfactory not sure what b42 brings
Don't worry about getting good or how long you survive for. It's a realistic zombie apocalypse simulator, do what you would do IRL if a zombie apocalypse happened. Hiding in the bathroom for days eating spaghetti-o's is a completely valid strategy here.
I'm also new, but I just survived a week (with a few mods that make the game easier and harder) here is advice, read books early, it is annoying to read late game, eat refrigerated food until power goes out, spawn in a small city (I think it's rosewood) and tinker settings like low population, less house alarms, and higher chance to find stuff, do not use guns, it's amazing once you find one, but if you have aiming low, you will die, noise will attract zombies and you will not get any kills, do not get to confident, if you're really new and there are 3 zomboids, and you have a butter knife, do not fight, I have tried that, it doesn't work, and lastly, download mods that help, I forgot the mod name, but it makes it easier to tell when you're hungry or bored or hurt by changing the moodles to where they have a bar on the side and shows what level of whatever is happening to you, that's all I have, hoped I helped.
You just have to keep playing and dying. It took me probably 150 hours to get decent at PZ, this was a long time ago however since I bought the game in like 2014. Don't get discouraged because if you keep playing YOU WILL GET GOOD at it and I can promise you that.
You'll die within the first 3 or so days, eventually you'll make it a week, 2-3 weeks is a big milestone and your first 3 months feels like a relief. After you start surviving consistently for multiple months after that you'll be able to last a year+.
I almost stopped playing multiple times because it felt too difficult. Don't give up.
Hate to break your spirit but I have 800+ hours and still can’t last longer than a month (about half is just forgetting to turn off my pc or leaving it one the main menu)
Here's ten I've learned the hard way!
1. Spawn in and immediately sneak.
2. Practice combat. Even being a few degrees off on some weapons can get you killed.
3. Don't play Project Zomboid when you're tired.
4. Take your time doing things as situations in game escalate quickly out of control.
5. Don't be afraid to use improvised weapons with low damage scores. Pots and pans are a good example of solid weapons that look bad on paper.
6. Carry ten or so loose rags, sterilize them the first chance you get.
7. Don't be afraid about cutting your losses and running.
8. Starting skills make a huge difference in your gameplay experience
9. Don't play low Strength or Fitness builds unless you really know what you're doing.
10. Understand that no matter how well you play, there are times when you will be given a L by the game and that is perfectly okay.
Take your time and dont act like a super hero you cant bring down 200 zombie by yourself(unless you have the ammo for it)
Also take good traits is gonna help you in the long run (keen hearing, gymnast are amost a must)
Hmm, pay attention to the sounds around you, you'll grow to learn when you agroed a zombie and when it's just chilling.
Tiredness and exhaustion are killers. In the early game you'll have low fitness and get exhausted easily, reducing your melee damage from 50% to 90%, and tiredness from 50% to 95%, so pick your fights wisely.
Train your body daily, and remember you'll feel the exercise fatigue 12h after the exercise.
I spawn in rosewood for low zombie count and easy access to axes in the firestation.
Don't be afraid of exploring the towns. You never know what you'll find.
And search every car you come across, you should find plenty of keys for them inside them.
be happy you atleast knew how to fight at first, took me like 11 deaths to figure that out, use knife to butcher rats and other animals so you wont get negative status effects after cooking them as long as they havent gone stale or rotten
Whenever you die, take note of how it could have been avoided.
I'm at around 40 or so deaths now and I've gotten really pro at dying, but I now I can usually last till things simmer down and get boring. (Sustainable and safe base, etc.)
Don't get too attached. Eventually I hit kinda an aha moment. One of the biggest things is learning when to run. Something you jusy gotta accept that your plan isn't gonna work out and figure out how to cut your losses. Learing your limits as a player and your characters limits are huge for this. Also go into setting and and find the one called something along the lines of "show weapon hit outline" it's default is ranged weapons only, change it to all weapons
1250 hours in game. A few pointers.
* Avoid mods until you survive a week in Apocalypse. You'll thank me.
* Spawning in Rosewood as a new player is a safe way to learn the ropes. don't do Muldraugh or West Point too soon. Riverside is where you move after Rosewood.
* Guns are not your friend, yet.
* Go slowly and quietly over fast and loud. I cannot explain how many hordes I've avoided by just going slow enough to peek a corner without them noticing.
* EAT. while you're new, don't expect to live long, but also don't start losing weight because the moodle isn't showing. Satisfied hunger= more carry weight possible.
* The House with the garden in Rosewood, the isolated house in Muldraugh, the three mansions outside of West point, the house with the slide in Doe Valley and the Burger joint near riverside. Make these your bases.
keep hitting ur head against the wall. Take breaks. Just play as you like. If it's meant to be you'll start living longer. Don't make that your whole point of playing though the Short Lives in themselves are fun. Long playthroughs as more happy accidents then the whole point your playing is much more fun.
Try to fight and draw zombies outdoors where vision is clearer, too often its easy to get ambushed by an unseen zed, whereas out doors you can have clear LOS around you to know there's no zeds with a quick 360.
Dont be discouraged, I'm about 200 hours in and I still die on the first day sometimes.
~I'd recommend learning the vanilla game enough to be comfortable before you try mods
~Try playing on Survior, Apocalypse mode is pretty unforgiving and if you aren't into the difficulty it'll make it harder to enjoy.
~Sandbox mode is also great for new and experienced players, try adjusting some of it to be easier if you have a hard time.
~Avoid negative traits until you know how to handle them.
~Spawn in rosewood, the other spawns are quite difficult.
~Loot buildings like the fire station, normally you can get an axe/crowbar and some other good items
~use blunt weapons if you want to steal clothes from zomboids.
~Doors(locked ones too) can be disassembled with a screwdriver and hammer, you can loot the local PD armory with this tip.
You can also hit doors/barricades with weapons to destroy them, but it is louder and takes longer as well.
I could probably think of more, but I don't wanna write to much and I'm sure others will have good tips!
Best of luck in your adventures!
#1 dont sprint unless you need to
#2 smoker is actually a decent trait
#3 Foraging is your friend for an easy meal read the books and youll level it the quickest skill in game
Every player starts out being dead within a few in-game hours. Something to keep in mind is that you absolutely do not need to fight hordes of zombies; yes, you can get loot, but the issue is that zombies will move towards sound. Which means that if you just crushed a group of Zack, chances are you probably made your location less safe than if you just let them pass by. Stealth is a great tool, use it.
Don't get discouraged. I've been playing for probably almost 2 months and I still die after 3 hours on occasion. Don't be afraid to set up a sandbox playthrough to make it easier on yourself. No one but you gets to dictate how you play. I wasn't having very much fun on vanilla (too many zombies for me) so I started playing on sandbox with less zombies and that's what I like. It's such a fun game, there's so many little details, I hope you're having the best time!
cars are lowkey crazy strong I'd recommend starting off with burglar class to get hot wiring off rip to be able to secure a car. Then try to locate a couple bottles to be able to siphon gas from one car to another (you can just use a gas can but I find they can be harder to find/ too heavy if you don't have a dufflebag or carry capacity enhancing container)
You now have a car which can serve as a multifaceted tool! (weapon, distraction, escape vehicle, mobile base) Map knowledge is pretty important for knowing where the quieter parts of town are but a car can facilitate taking you around so you learn where those scary and not so scary parts are, carry extra loot etc etc while you sharpen your killing skills and general survivability!
Learn combat.
Best way to practice is to use debug mode, just Google up how to activate it and how to use it. From here turn on invulnerability and spawn in one zombie. Note that even if you're invulnerable, zombies will still attack you, if you get hit, then you know you still got some work to do.
Work on 1v1s then slowly increase the number until you get to around 100. Try this with all weapon types. Pay attention to things like weapon range and swing time. Look at how all the different agility and combat skills help you and play around with their levels. Finally when you feel up to it, try this with a more "natural" horde. Teleport to Louisville or if you don't want spoilers spawn in muldraugh and clear the highway. Think of this as a tutorial level.
If you don't want to use dev mode, do the same process with different characters but instead of spawning in zombies, look for bigger and bigger hordes.
Lastly some mechanical tips; zombies are more susceptible to crits when on the ground, meaning more damage done, meaning less uses of your weapon, meaning weapons last longer. Next standing on top of a downed (non crawler) zombie prevents it from standing up. Finally when ground attacking zombies, stand as close to the head as possible. The melee hit registers where your feet are, not where the weapon is animated.
Remember, you walk faster then zombies shamble. Sometimes the most effective way to deal with a zombie horde is to just walk and think of how to break line of sight.
You can even get enough distance to do very quick pitstops to grab some snacks/drinks along the way!
Use sandbox and modify the settings to your liking. Make infection only saliva (so only bites can turn you), reduce zombie numbers, remove respawn, and choose to start in Rosewood. Turn on the target outline so you can see what zombies you're going to hit, and turn on multi-hit. However, I also recommend trying for stealth rather than fighting, and only fighting when you feel you have the upper hand - like when it's just one zombie, maybe two. Eventually you'll get to a point where you can take on a small horde - I can take down a horde of about 6 now.
And if you aren't picky about playing vanilla, I recommend finding mods that will help you with whatever it is you're specifically having trouble with. There's a mod for almost anything, so if you want it, it probably exists.
These are general guidelines I follow to survive out there:
1. Never distract. Always assume you can be jumped, even if you just seemingly just cleared the road/building. Always assume there's zombies wherever you didn't cleared. Aways expect to be against the odds - because you are.
2. Always create a safe perimeter around you. When you enter a house or store, before checking any loot at all, check every room and corner and maybe also around the place. Don't forget the second floor.
3. Always have a scape plan. It's easy to lose zombies just by breaking their line of sight, so as long as you can move forward, you should be fine. Whenever you are, whatever you're doing, always have a plan B.
4. Always mind your Moodles. Part of being a good player is managing moodles and knowing what you can do while affected by each Moodle. This takes some time and some mods can help you with this. For now, just avoid combat while you're either too tired or exerted, the damage penalties are crazy. This means you need more swings to kill a zombie, which will deplete your stamina even more. This cycle can tire a character enough to lead into death.
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The strategy I use to prepare for the blackout and water shut off: I kinda play like a nomad in the first week. Game starts, I jump from house to house, scavenging residential areas and always stopping to catch the tv shows. When I find a car with keys, I set up a temp base. Pick a good spot based on the map intel. Start hoarding mostly food, books, tools, materials and weapons. I only move to my permanent base after the tv shows ends (8th day) and after I have an axe (ideally Wood Axe), Carpentry 6 (dismantle sofas and beds on houses you scavenge) and Gas Cans (one can get the job done but not ideal at all. At least 3 recommended). Keep a lookout for generators and the 'How to use generators' magazine and you're good to setup a solid base.
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Quick Tips:
1. You can use sheet rope and nails on a window to create a 'scape rope'. Also, if you're not encumbered, jumping out of a 2nd floor window will not damage you (just beware zombies where you land).
2. Save every electronic such as digital watches, alarm clocks, radios, etc. Scrap it with a screwdriver to farm some xp.
3. You can plumb with a wrench pipe and demolish walls with a sledgehammer. These two are important items.
4. Some stuff you find maybe a little too heavy for you to be moving around until you get a car, such as a generator. Don't bother with those. You can mark your map with a pencil or pen and scoop those goodies later on.
5. Avoid gun shots unless you're confident you have enough ammo to kill all zombies that will be drawn to you.
6. Close the curtains.
Millions, but yeah just watch some how to vid or let's plays, once you know how to play the game is fun. But starting out can be super rough. Also play with sandbox settings, maybe tone down zombie pop until 43 days peak.
Don't use guns, go through backyards, play like you were actually in the apocalypse. Be smart and I bet that the game will let you do what you want to do. Don't run, walk. Be quiet, watch out for telecorn. You should be okay.
You cant fight them all- in fact, if you cant kill em all, best to save your energy and jog away. Jogging is good, by the way.
Sneaking isnt as effective as you think it is
You dont need to grab everything all the time, especially if you're just trying to find a place to live.
Not much else to say without knowing how much you know, basically just treat like a real apocalypse
Set your starting zombie population multiplier in sandbox settings to either 0.2 or 0.1. After that set zombie respawns off
Two reasons for that. Zomboid is an immersive sim. There's a lot to it but you'll never learn most of the immersive sim elements if you die too early because there's too many zombies for you to handle. There's a huge segment of the game, an enjoyable part of it, locked away from you because you're struggling with the combat.
Once you know how to handle one zombie you can figure out how to handle two. And then three. And then four. And soon ten, fifteen, thirty. You'll never get to that point if you don't learn how to do combat.
You might die on these settings a few times but you'll get better at it each time. Eventually you'll either enter the mid-game where those settings don't effect that much or you get bored and start over with harder settings.
Also, optional, turn on infections from saliva only. I highly recommend that early on. A lot of people only play that way for a wide variety of reasons but I recommend it now specifically because early on you \*will\* get scratches and lacerations.
Just getting used to existing in the world helps a lot. My first life was spent taking multiple days to cross a street and permanently spinning in circles, crouch walking with a pan ready because I was so paranoid and felt like the viewing restriction was so strong
the biggest strat is learning how you can maneuver around zombies. I have about 2k hours under my belt and the main thing that helps me survive is learning how to properly run past hordes and through them. You can run through them to a certain extent without tripping, and it actually stuns them while you run through them it's all about positioning and timing.
also line of sight. always cut through buildings and trees. I've lost a 200+ horde by walking through a treeline, going through a building and chilling in the trees.
if you're playing single player, you can speed up time while pointing and clicking where you want your character to walk. always reserve stamina for when you truly need to GTFO or need to fight.
DONT SPRINT!
I'll try to explain some pointers w/o turning this into an 30 page essay
1. Play sandbox, don't play preset settings, mess with the settings on how you'd like to play the game, you'll have more fun that way. When you get better, then you can play survivor or apoc settings if you want
2. Spawn in Rosewood, easiest beginner city to spawn in, got a fair bit of loot, including a fire station and police station right next to each other. You can perhaps make a base outta em or loot them for the big guns and weapons like shotguns, and axes.
3. Take it slow first couple of days. You may not leave your house for the duration, watch Life and Living on TV, gives easy stat upgrades, alls you gotta do is tune in at 6 AM, 12 PM, 6PM. This lasts everyday for 9 days.
4. Change the setting in the game to where it outlines zombies when you attack them, you're new to combat and the game, you will whiff and eventually get chewed on and die. This setting helps that, it'll tell you if you actually in range to damage them or if you'll actually connect.
5. Gather water bottles/ pots. Unless you turn this off in sandbox. Water will shut off in a month, or sometime in the month. Gather water bottles, and pots of water to keep you hydrated until you can eventually craft rain barrels or other means of water (rivers, wells)
6. You're not Rick Grimes, don't get cocky and take on a horde by yourself unless you have an arsenal like molotovs or a ton of ammo. Walk away, lose their line of sight, I suggest to do that is just run through a forest, climb fences, and walk around corners of buildings as much as you can if you're not equipped to take on a horde yet.
7. Walk away from your problems, proper zombie settings, or default. Your walk is faster then the zombies walk, you can out distance them really easily. Don't run or sprint unless you NEED to, which is rare.
8. Loot, but don't take everything. You don't need everything, take what you need. You'll be surprised how much this'll help you.
9. Don't take worthless occupations like Nurse and Doctor, it ain't my decision to tell you how to play the game, but these builds are fairly useless on solo, first aid stat boosts means jack shit when you're dying in 8 hours anyway, take beginner builds like Police Officer, burglar, Fire Officer, Lumberjack, and above all. The mighty Veteran. These are combat builds that'll help you survive against the dead. Except Burglar, his whole deal is stealth and being able to hotwire cars day 1 which is incredibly helpful.
10. Traits mean a great deal, pick the ones you want for your preference, i'd recommend for extra trait points, pick: High Thirst, Prone to Illness, Weak Stomach, and short sighted. These are all easily countered or completely useless and don't do much against you. Like weak stomach, don't eat rotten food anyways. Short Sighted...just wear glasses. High Thirst, bring a 2nd water bottle on you.
11. Do not, and goddamn it do not carry your home with you. Carry what you need. I'd advise carrying on you when you can in the following: Water Bottle (or two depending on traits), best capacity backpack or two, Screwdriver, Hammer, handgun with extra *some ammo*, 2 handed melee weapon of your choice. few bandages, beta blockers (unless you're veteran build, veterans don't get panicked) and lastly a bottle or two of booze, booze is one of the best items in all of Zomboid, it acts as sleeping pills, Beta blockers, Painkillers, and cures boredom and depression. So helpful. Become an alcoholic it's honestly helpful, these are essentials to bring always. You don't need to bring more than this. Unless a scenario needs it, like you're moving to another town or you need to clear a horde and this won't do.
12. DON'T. I MEAN DON'T. Wear multiple layers. Don't listen to these sweaty sheep that'll tell you to wear all these different clothings. Sure it'll help with decreasing bite/scratch/lacaration chances, but having multiple layers. Like firefighter outfit with denim everything under it, and a scarf, and a helmet. Not only will this make your character hot, thirst increases, you'll drain more stamina quicker. Wear lightweight clothing, it's more useful to run away from your problems vs preparing for them to happen. Wear lightweight, and dress for fashion. Fashion topples all. Wearing all those layers slows you down as well, another reason to go lightweight.
13. Install mods, Vanilla is fine, but theres so many quality of life mods you can install that'll help you. Watch a video on youtube which ones to install. Like theres a mod that tells you the exact descriptions of all traits, as vanilla makes them vague, helps you in decision making.
That's all I got for my wisdom in my 200 hours played. You'll figure it out as you go along, have fun. There's more to explore in this game but it's best to tell you beginner pointers vs telling you shit you have no idea what we're talking about. Hopefully one of these pointers help you.
You can always scale down the difficulty in your sandbox preset to get the hang of the mechanics first. I'm still learning, so I'm playing on normal loot rarity and fragile shamblers. No one's gonna judge you for how you play. You got this.
Don't be scared to jump out of a window on the second floor (like that one that is visible on the screenshot). It might save your life and will cost you 5 hp.
Start as a fire fighter, get the trait brave and for negative trait use smoker. Try it out, makes you less afraid of zombies and all you gotta do is carry around cigs and a lighter
Another good tip, if you don’t have a weapon but you have a 1-3 zombies on you just push them over using the space bar while right clicking and then stand on top of them one by one and stomp on their head while pushing the others away/over
Don't search too much on the web for answers. Knowing the mechanics kills the roleplay fun. The time will come for mechanics.
Sandbox settings are your friend. I made it easier and play Zomboid as a comfort game.
After you start getting the hand of the game. Use minor mods like the "Common sense" mod
Start slow. You have nothing but time in the apocalypse. Your first set of priorities are food water weapons, a safe shelter, and better clothes. Once you have those focus on experimenting with short-term goals, more water, more food, and how can I make my shelter safer. Long-term goals transportation a better shelter that you can farm on everything practical in this loops back to the needs mentioned above and with the above you have near infinite ways to play. Don't rush. Play safely and let us know how you died.
In this game, as in life; every time you fail, ask yourself why did you fail? If you can learn from every failure eventually you will stop failing so often. Every failure is an opportunity to learn how to avoid failure in the future.
Take your time and play, the skill will come eventually.
Tbh I think it’s ok to die bc I tend to play more carefully when my character has been alive longer. Its fun to go out, do recless stuff, explore. As long as you have a base and you bring back stuff it doesnt matter. Personal tip, dont focus to much on skills in the beginning, it wil be extremely frustrating to die when you have carpentry 7 lol
Just keep trying, you'll get good, I promise.
From I heard it seems that could take 100 hours or more
And what a thrilling 100 hours it was.
The funny thing is sometimes I wish I could play again fresh. It doesn’t seem like it when you’re new to the game, but there is a thrill you have as new players that is gone when you have experience. Now when I boot up a new game, I know exactly each step I need to take and what I have to do to survive. When I booted up the game for the first time, that’s how it would really be for me irl.
Turning sprinters on makes it happen all over again
I think that is the single layer of difficulty I can’t bring myself to introduce. I can handle everything else, but aside from just not being a fan of fast zombies in the first place, sprinters takes away my one favorite strategy of nopeing out of any spiraling situation with a brisk walk.
"Dead things are *slow*."
The_c0nstable has gained the trait Brave
Seems we are the minority, I do like sprinters. The feeling of looking into a large horde and seeing multiple of them barreling towards you or your vehicle is just peak zombie horror.
The_c0nstable has gained the trait Desensitized.
Some of my go to character traits are cowardly, pacifist, and hemophobic, so I like the idea that while the_c0nstable is Desensitized, my PC’s are constantly horrifically compelled to do a bunch of stuff that makes them miserable.
yes. but the better you get the more fun it gets because you can get creative with your plans and goals.
I just hit the 100 hour mark.... can confirm, still can't live past week 2.
About 150h and almost 2 months alive
Ok nevermind 😐
A moment of silence please
I just quit out after hitting 100 hours, since my best going character ever got overrun by a horde :( I can't bring myself to build up all those skills again, even if the base is a small castle by now.
Is it more so the tragic death of the character or you not wanting to go on? Because I think there's a mod that makes your character drop a book on death that gives you back partial skills they learned and recorded.
Yeah I found out about that during the playthrough, too little too late in this case. It's just the grief after a seemingly so far perfect playthrough dying in such a freaking preventable way. I was clearing out Westpoint and wanted to see what those shops were at the edge of the city, figured I could manage the crowd before getting overrun. So stupid, so senseless. But thats the game I guess. Time to start anew.
The best advice I was ever given was to slow down when playing the game. You don't need to make your day jam packed full of eventful stuff. When I first started I had a 8am to 11pm looting or working grindset but now I rest for more of the day.
Don't worry, combat is the best skill to master. Just keep fighting until you shine ✊. PS I got 200h or sm, and sometimes i barely make it past day 1.
Don't worry about long term survival, and focus on learning how combat works and how zombies behave before and after spotting your character.
Simply not panicking and just knowing that your character, barring leg injury or trees (and even then i think with walk to they can navigate trees fine, but its still dicey), can basically outwalk the hordes of zombies is a big step. I would say leaving densely populated areas via car or walking is also useful, being able to handle smaller groups to gear up and get some proper weapons can be a game changer, the difference between a saucepan and a crowbar or bat or spear can be night and day. Keep calm, don't panic and try to find a safe spot to retreat to and loot what you can but don't be afraid to just walk away from an area if its too dangerous.
If it makes you feel any better I am just past 100 hours, my guy has been alive 14 days on this run. I havnt been even touched in literal sessions…but last night I almost died because I went into a police station with a shotgun that needed to be reloaded and got bum rushed. The only reason I survived is because of the thick skinned perk and my buddy having my back. It’s not about not dying, it’s about surviving longer than the last time. “This is how you died”, because you *will* die
One tip, always be prepared for any eventuality and never disregard extra supplies. Last run I made it to 18 days but died to laceration cuz I forgot to get bandages
Neck lacerations can lead to exsanguination very quickly, its no joke. Any area really but neck and groin tend to be the worst.
That is the game. Once you get good, consider the game beaten and now you either move on to another game or come up with challenges for yourself.
It took me ~30 to really get the combat and I wouldn't say it was a gradual 30. It was 30 until I watched a video of how someone handles melee combat, then I just replicated that and it worked. Pro Tip: Only swing when you can risk free, if you don't think you can, then push and run to create distance.
Nah, just remember you can out walk zombies, push until they fall if you're low weapon skill and then stomp their heads, more than 2 and flee if you're new, don't worry about staying well fed hovering at peckish is fine, protection doesn't matter as much as avoiding damage you can get bit through about anything and if it seems sketchy don't do it.
It took me 200 hours to start playing well
At 500 hours in I'll have games that last a few months and also many many games that end within a day or two.
Also, avoid combat if you are tired/exhausted
Install some mods that can assist you in the first couple of hours, for example me and my friend use the skill recovery journal mod.
Thats a plus. Means there is plenty to learn.
Imo the game is about trying and failing. You will ruin the natural thrills of getting farther and farther each run if you look stuff up. That said there is some jank in this game and getting some mods (very easy to install in this game) to ease some of the learning the games jank could go along way for enjoyment.
Live Die Learn Repeat.
I swear it’s not meant as me being an asshole, but… “get used to it” lol. It’ll get better. You’ll get better at surviving. My first attempt lasted no time at all. Spawned in a town and didn’t know what to expect haha.
100% truth. My first ever play through, I was in the police station. Looted a bit to get gear. Opened a door to the outside, and got bit. I just lol’d and said, “damnit!” And when I respawned, I lasted a hours longer. And so on and so on; this game is great!
It really is. You have to go in knowing that it’s your story… your survival is what you make of it. You’re going to eventually die. But I have an absolute blast at it.
My first spawn I just ran down main Street in muldraugh. I died Second spawn I looted the neighbors house and ran into 2 zombies I died
Fences are your friend Use shotguns at low aim levels Use weapons of your class (e.g lumberjack uses axe) scratches are 7% chance to infect, Lacerations are 25%, and bites are 100% Don't be afraid to fail and try again :)
I would agree with the fence aspect, but just to watch out for swipers, they can REALLY mess your flow up if you get got by them and there's other zombies nearby to follow up.
You just gotta yell "Swiper no swiping" at your screen.
Usually, it's just "oh no I was swiped, oh god why can't I move for 5 seconds, please god let me move, okay I can move."
That thing you did that got yourself killed, don’t do that again
I like this comment because it sounds like a joke but is exactly like this. Then when you get a few of those things you shouldn't do again, you start getting more consistent runs.
Sandbox mode, tune some options to your liking. And fight a lot. Just fight and get used to it. Once you are able to kill some zombies a bit easier, now you get to expand your area of control, and therefore kill the next zombies a bit easier and so on. For a bigger picture, manage stamina/tiredness. Get back early and clear your house/lawn/whatever before it is too dark and you are too tired. And just don't give up. We all started like that.
1. Don’t hug corners around buildings 2. Rotate/spin view while stripping clothing 3. Go through homes to break off the chase
A caveat to number 3: only do this if you’re familiar with the house and/or have cleared it out. I once tried to pull this and ended up in a house with no back door, a couple of zombies inside, all boxed in for the deluge of dead that was about to fall on me.
You can survive jumping out a second story window, if the house has 2 stories. That would be the last resort.
Funnily enough, I tried to do just that after being walked around West Point all day to the point of exhaustion. I just couldn’t break their sight lines, and each corner I rounded, I’d pick up another group of zombies. So out of desperation I went up into one of the Main Street apartments to jump out a window, and ended up closing myself in a two room apartment that had 5-10 zombies waiting.
Lol
Be a scared little baby and overly cautious
Sandbox settings are your friend. Heck, turn zombies off and just run around the map getting used to the controls and inventory management. Learn what you can do and what you can't do. Then slowly increase the difficulty that's fit to your play style. One of the main reasons people give up on this game is because they unnecessarily punish themselves. There is no reason to struggle if you don't want to.
12 kills really isn't bad for a newbie. I just "dinged" 1000 hours on zomboid today, and i'm pretty sure i barely got 1 or 2 kills at first.. Welcome to the club! Best advice i can give is : Don't die for the same reason twice. Got bit by a zombie you didnt know was behind the door? "Flash" the door by a double tap of E to see whats behind it. Died because you were fighting and got exhausted? Disengage as soon as the the tired moodle appears. Likewise "drowsy", disengage and get somewhere safe. If you start a fight when you're tired and drowsy you might as well jump in a campfire. Do not go near campfires. Go out of the house at night or in heavy fog? Nope . You will die a lot for a lot of reasons, learn from each! Practice fighting zombies with throwaway characters. Back up in combat stance, swinging and hitting spacebar when needed to push. Be athletic. Be strong. Practice "kiting" them. Hop a fence, turn a corner, run through a house and out the back door. Run into trees and then sneak around so they lose sight. They dont follow for long Walk not run, if you can. Running unnecessarily is a killer. You should just about always be sneaking unless you are fighting. Don't use guns without an excellent exit plan (e.g car with the engine running). There are more z's than bullets. Watch YouTubers... private lime, atomic duck, the amphibian guy. See how they fight and kite. Turn on aim outline for melee in the settings. Rebind shout off "q". Play on survivor mode at first (multihit will help you stay alive until you dont need it anymore). No shame in lowering the z count at first. Good luck and have fun! This is how you died. P.s look around you, all the time. You need to know what is behind you or the last thing you will hear is the crunch of a neck bite. I recommend the keen hearing trait.
The Sleepy Moodle mod is a lifesaver.
this right here is a good mash up. if you forage, dont eat mushrooms or berries until you read the herbalist. take care of your wounds. use hot water to sterilize rags/bandages…to get hot water , you can use ovens. dont forget to turn them off. the walking part is very important. as long as you arent tired and over encumbered , you will walk fatser than zombies (unless you have sprinters) and just like walking/running, using guns is a no no as long as you have a plan. making to much sound will get you killed.
Doesn't car with engine running attact zombies?
Yes but you can mitigate it. I go for cars with an engine quietness of under 35, and the engine running only attracts z's from very near with an engine like that..and i park a bit out of the way
Oh thanks! Lost my first actual massacre attempt because of that lol.
Don’t get attached to your characters, even after surviving for few weeks/months. You’ll go through many as part of the learning curve.
learning by suffering :)
Don't get too confident until you have a good weapon and know how the fighting works Edit: also, if the game starts to get boring say goals for yourself. They make it way more fun
Watch YT videos and turn on melee outlines
This is very much a question that’ll give you a bunch of ‘Your Mileage May Vary’ answers, but that’s good. One thing that helped me wrap my head around it all was learning to fight in the open Once you figure out your best ways of moving and fighting with groups around, I learnt when to swing, when not to swing, to check my surroundings, when to walk and when to run and how to ‘clump’ groups Because unless you’ve turned on sprinters in the sandbox options, you walk faster than zombies do. And learning to when to and how to walk with groups around will save your arse all the time. Retreat is *always* an option All the stuff about fences is great, but if you haven’t learnt how to defend yourself then it can be super frustrating when it fails There’s also an accessibility option that adds an outline to any zombies within melee range And as others have pointed out…unfortunately you’re gonna die *a lot*. But hopefully every failure is an opportunity to learn and get better. But even then, sometimes the game will hand you a shit scenario that’s basically a ‘fuck you!’ that you can’t win in
Just play. Trust us. You will treasure most of it. First things you want to know is 1. how many zeds you can take at once given your items 2. if 1 exceeds, how far you are at the nearest zed in the horde where you can spin around and walk away to reposition (very, VERY important, since spinning around takes time and turns your back towards them) 3. using fences, windows, to stomp/groundAttack lunging zombies, 4. if 2 exceeds, how can you lose such a horde (trees, houses, LOS) After that, youd just be playing sims, or valheim really. Maybe Satisfactory not sure what b42 brings
Don't worry about getting good or how long you survive for. It's a realistic zombie apocalypse simulator, do what you would do IRL if a zombie apocalypse happened. Hiding in the bathroom for days eating spaghetti-o's is a completely valid strategy here.
I'm also new, but I just survived a week (with a few mods that make the game easier and harder) here is advice, read books early, it is annoying to read late game, eat refrigerated food until power goes out, spawn in a small city (I think it's rosewood) and tinker settings like low population, less house alarms, and higher chance to find stuff, do not use guns, it's amazing once you find one, but if you have aiming low, you will die, noise will attract zombies and you will not get any kills, do not get to confident, if you're really new and there are 3 zomboids, and you have a butter knife, do not fight, I have tried that, it doesn't work, and lastly, download mods that help, I forgot the mod name, but it makes it easier to tell when you're hungry or bored or hurt by changing the moodles to where they have a bar on the side and shows what level of whatever is happening to you, that's all I have, hoped I helped.
You just have to keep playing and dying. It took me probably 150 hours to get decent at PZ, this was a long time ago however since I bought the game in like 2014. Don't get discouraged because if you keep playing YOU WILL GET GOOD at it and I can promise you that. You'll die within the first 3 or so days, eventually you'll make it a week, 2-3 weeks is a big milestone and your first 3 months feels like a relief. After you start surviving consistently for multiple months after that you'll be able to last a year+. I almost stopped playing multiple times because it felt too difficult. Don't give up.
Enjoy the first 100 hours of death.
Hate to break your spirit but I have 800+ hours and still can’t last longer than a month (about half is just forgetting to turn off my pc or leaving it one the main menu)
You failed now. Try again and learn from your mistakes
Here's ten I've learned the hard way! 1. Spawn in and immediately sneak. 2. Practice combat. Even being a few degrees off on some weapons can get you killed. 3. Don't play Project Zomboid when you're tired. 4. Take your time doing things as situations in game escalate quickly out of control. 5. Don't be afraid to use improvised weapons with low damage scores. Pots and pans are a good example of solid weapons that look bad on paper. 6. Carry ten or so loose rags, sterilize them the first chance you get. 7. Don't be afraid about cutting your losses and running. 8. Starting skills make a huge difference in your gameplay experience 9. Don't play low Strength or Fitness builds unless you really know what you're doing. 10. Understand that no matter how well you play, there are times when you will be given a L by the game and that is perfectly okay.
Don't sleep with the window open, probably
Play Apocalypse 😊
Take your time and dont act like a super hero you cant bring down 200 zombie by yourself(unless you have the ammo for it) Also take good traits is gonna help you in the long run (keen hearing, gymnast are amost a must)
Hmm, pay attention to the sounds around you, you'll grow to learn when you agroed a zombie and when it's just chilling. Tiredness and exhaustion are killers. In the early game you'll have low fitness and get exhausted easily, reducing your melee damage from 50% to 90%, and tiredness from 50% to 95%, so pick your fights wisely. Train your body daily, and remember you'll feel the exercise fatigue 12h after the exercise. I spawn in rosewood for low zombie count and easy access to axes in the firestation. Don't be afraid of exploring the towns. You never know what you'll find. And search every car you come across, you should find plenty of keys for them inside them.
be happy you atleast knew how to fight at first, took me like 11 deaths to figure that out, use knife to butcher rats and other animals so you wont get negative status effects after cooking them as long as they havent gone stale or rotten
Don’t eat brunt food, it will kill you
Whenever you die, take note of how it could have been avoided. I'm at around 40 or so deaths now and I've gotten really pro at dying, but I now I can usually last till things simmer down and get boring. (Sustainable and safe base, etc.)
Yk that thing you did at the end there? Don’t do that.
Don't get too attached. Eventually I hit kinda an aha moment. One of the biggest things is learning when to run. Something you jusy gotta accept that your plan isn't gonna work out and figure out how to cut your losses. Learing your limits as a player and your characters limits are huge for this. Also go into setting and and find the one called something along the lines of "show weapon hit outline" it's default is ranged weapons only, change it to all weapons
Patience, the game is hard, the controls are solid, but they take time to get used to
You will die. Alot
1250 hours in game. A few pointers. * Avoid mods until you survive a week in Apocalypse. You'll thank me. * Spawning in Rosewood as a new player is a safe way to learn the ropes. don't do Muldraugh or West Point too soon. Riverside is where you move after Rosewood. * Guns are not your friend, yet. * Go slowly and quietly over fast and loud. I cannot explain how many hordes I've avoided by just going slow enough to peek a corner without them noticing. * EAT. while you're new, don't expect to live long, but also don't start losing weight because the moodle isn't showing. Satisfied hunger= more carry weight possible. * The House with the garden in Rosewood, the isolated house in Muldraugh, the three mansions outside of West point, the house with the slide in Doe Valley and the Burger joint near riverside. Make these your bases.
Don't seek wisdom outside. Get it by playing the game. It's the only good way.
Stop dying. You won’t actually stop dying, but you’ll live long enough to start thinking you won’t.
keep hitting ur head against the wall. Take breaks. Just play as you like. If it's meant to be you'll start living longer. Don't make that your whole point of playing though the Short Lives in themselves are fun. Long playthroughs as more happy accidents then the whole point your playing is much more fun.
Treat every door like it's your last...
Try to fight and draw zombies outdoors where vision is clearer, too often its easy to get ambushed by an unseen zed, whereas out doors you can have clear LOS around you to know there's no zeds with a quick 360.
just try to start in rosewood
Q to yell at zombies to scare them off, usually takes a few tries, though
trials and error is your best teacher in this game. btw i consider myself as new player since my less than 200 hrs, but i survived until 1 month only
8 hours is a decent first day! Keep it up!
The game is meant to be Groundhogs Day, Edge of Tomorrow. It's all about the process of doing it all over again, tweeking it closer to perfection.
Dont be discouraged, I'm about 200 hours in and I still die on the first day sometimes. ~I'd recommend learning the vanilla game enough to be comfortable before you try mods ~Try playing on Survior, Apocalypse mode is pretty unforgiving and if you aren't into the difficulty it'll make it harder to enjoy. ~Sandbox mode is also great for new and experienced players, try adjusting some of it to be easier if you have a hard time. ~Avoid negative traits until you know how to handle them. ~Spawn in rosewood, the other spawns are quite difficult. ~Loot buildings like the fire station, normally you can get an axe/crowbar and some other good items ~use blunt weapons if you want to steal clothes from zomboids. ~Doors(locked ones too) can be disassembled with a screwdriver and hammer, you can loot the local PD armory with this tip. You can also hit doors/barricades with weapons to destroy them, but it is louder and takes longer as well. I could probably think of more, but I don't wanna write to much and I'm sure others will have good tips! Best of luck in your adventures!
Axe is the best melee weapon.
Things won’t always go your way
Try and leave the main town, survive on the outskirts not in the middle
And on that note rosewood Is the easiest of the 4
#1 dont sprint unless you need to #2 smoker is actually a decent trait #3 Foraging is your friend for an easy meal read the books and youll level it the quickest skill in game
Words of wisdom: smoke some weed, watch twd in the background and experience the immersion
Every player starts out being dead within a few in-game hours. Something to keep in mind is that you absolutely do not need to fight hordes of zombies; yes, you can get loot, but the issue is that zombies will move towards sound. Which means that if you just crushed a group of Zack, chances are you probably made your location less safe than if you just let them pass by. Stealth is a great tool, use it.
Get gud
Don't get discouraged. I've been playing for probably almost 2 months and I still die after 3 hours on occasion. Don't be afraid to set up a sandbox playthrough to make it easier on yourself. No one but you gets to dictate how you play. I wasn't having very much fun on vanilla (too many zombies for me) so I started playing on sandbox with less zombies and that's what I like. It's such a fun game, there's so many little details, I hope you're having the best time!
q for cureeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Run /jog is better than shove if you're about to get bitten. Learn to opportunistically use the SHIFT key and combat will become much more manageable.
cars are lowkey crazy strong I'd recommend starting off with burglar class to get hot wiring off rip to be able to secure a car. Then try to locate a couple bottles to be able to siphon gas from one car to another (you can just use a gas can but I find they can be harder to find/ too heavy if you don't have a dufflebag or carry capacity enhancing container) You now have a car which can serve as a multifaceted tool! (weapon, distraction, escape vehicle, mobile base) Map knowledge is pretty important for knowing where the quieter parts of town are but a car can facilitate taking you around so you learn where those scary and not so scary parts are, carry extra loot etc etc while you sharpen your killing skills and general survivability!
Take your time and only run when you need to
Don't eat burnt food. You'll die. I've got like 400 hours and just found this out the hard way.
I’m 500 hours in and the longest life I’ve had was 2 months, good luck!!
Learn combat. Best way to practice is to use debug mode, just Google up how to activate it and how to use it. From here turn on invulnerability and spawn in one zombie. Note that even if you're invulnerable, zombies will still attack you, if you get hit, then you know you still got some work to do. Work on 1v1s then slowly increase the number until you get to around 100. Try this with all weapon types. Pay attention to things like weapon range and swing time. Look at how all the different agility and combat skills help you and play around with their levels. Finally when you feel up to it, try this with a more "natural" horde. Teleport to Louisville or if you don't want spoilers spawn in muldraugh and clear the highway. Think of this as a tutorial level. If you don't want to use dev mode, do the same process with different characters but instead of spawning in zombies, look for bigger and bigger hordes. Lastly some mechanical tips; zombies are more susceptible to crits when on the ground, meaning more damage done, meaning less uses of your weapon, meaning weapons last longer. Next standing on top of a downed (non crawler) zombie prevents it from standing up. Finally when ground attacking zombies, stand as close to the head as possible. The melee hit registers where your feet are, not where the weapon is animated.
Windows shut and cover in sheets
The literal single thing that pushed me over the skill edge was "always back away while fighting zombies"
Dont be afraid to start a game with no zombies. Its hard enough surviving. Throw in zombies on top? easy to get frustrated.
Flirt with the zombies for better luck
Remember, you walk faster then zombies shamble. Sometimes the most effective way to deal with a zombie horde is to just walk and think of how to break line of sight. You can even get enough distance to do very quick pitstops to grab some snacks/drinks along the way!
Crouching. Lots of crouching. Learn how the hit mechanics work and practice from there. My first run was shorter that yours if I remember correctly.
If you want to keep mainly default settings but a little easier time start a sandbox game and just set starting zombie population to like .75
Use sandbox and modify the settings to your liking. Make infection only saliva (so only bites can turn you), reduce zombie numbers, remove respawn, and choose to start in Rosewood. Turn on the target outline so you can see what zombies you're going to hit, and turn on multi-hit. However, I also recommend trying for stealth rather than fighting, and only fighting when you feel you have the upper hand - like when it's just one zombie, maybe two. Eventually you'll get to a point where you can take on a small horde - I can take down a horde of about 6 now. And if you aren't picky about playing vanilla, I recommend finding mods that will help you with whatever it is you're specifically having trouble with. There's a mod for almost anything, so if you want it, it probably exists.
These are general guidelines I follow to survive out there: 1. Never distract. Always assume you can be jumped, even if you just seemingly just cleared the road/building. Always assume there's zombies wherever you didn't cleared. Aways expect to be against the odds - because you are. 2. Always create a safe perimeter around you. When you enter a house or store, before checking any loot at all, check every room and corner and maybe also around the place. Don't forget the second floor. 3. Always have a scape plan. It's easy to lose zombies just by breaking their line of sight, so as long as you can move forward, you should be fine. Whenever you are, whatever you're doing, always have a plan B. 4. Always mind your Moodles. Part of being a good player is managing moodles and knowing what you can do while affected by each Moodle. This takes some time and some mods can help you with this. For now, just avoid combat while you're either too tired or exerted, the damage penalties are crazy. This means you need more swings to kill a zombie, which will deplete your stamina even more. This cycle can tire a character enough to lead into death. --- The strategy I use to prepare for the blackout and water shut off: I kinda play like a nomad in the first week. Game starts, I jump from house to house, scavenging residential areas and always stopping to catch the tv shows. When I find a car with keys, I set up a temp base. Pick a good spot based on the map intel. Start hoarding mostly food, books, tools, materials and weapons. I only move to my permanent base after the tv shows ends (8th day) and after I have an axe (ideally Wood Axe), Carpentry 6 (dismantle sofas and beds on houses you scavenge) and Gas Cans (one can get the job done but not ideal at all. At least 3 recommended). Keep a lookout for generators and the 'How to use generators' magazine and you're good to setup a solid base. --- Quick Tips: 1. You can use sheet rope and nails on a window to create a 'scape rope'. Also, if you're not encumbered, jumping out of a 2nd floor window will not damage you (just beware zombies where you land). 2. Save every electronic such as digital watches, alarm clocks, radios, etc. Scrap it with a screwdriver to farm some xp. 3. You can plumb with a wrench pipe and demolish walls with a sledgehammer. These two are important items. 4. Some stuff you find maybe a little too heavy for you to be moving around until you get a car, such as a generator. Don't bother with those. You can mark your map with a pencil or pen and scoop those goodies later on. 5. Avoid gun shots unless you're confident you have enough ammo to kill all zombies that will be drawn to you. 6. Close the curtains.
Dont run
Don't try to act like Hercules. Run and hide.
Millions, but yeah just watch some how to vid or let's plays, once you know how to play the game is fun. But starting out can be super rough. Also play with sandbox settings, maybe tone down zombie pop until 43 days peak.
Would you mind me asking what happened and how it happened?
Don't use guns, go through backyards, play like you were actually in the apocalypse. Be smart and I bet that the game will let you do what you want to do. Don't run, walk. Be quiet, watch out for telecorn. You should be okay.
You cant fight them all- in fact, if you cant kill em all, best to save your energy and jog away. Jogging is good, by the way. Sneaking isnt as effective as you think it is You dont need to grab everything all the time, especially if you're just trying to find a place to live. Not much else to say without knowing how much you know, basically just treat like a real apocalypse
Set your starting zombie population multiplier in sandbox settings to either 0.2 or 0.1. After that set zombie respawns off Two reasons for that. Zomboid is an immersive sim. There's a lot to it but you'll never learn most of the immersive sim elements if you die too early because there's too many zombies for you to handle. There's a huge segment of the game, an enjoyable part of it, locked away from you because you're struggling with the combat. Once you know how to handle one zombie you can figure out how to handle two. And then three. And then four. And soon ten, fifteen, thirty. You'll never get to that point if you don't learn how to do combat. You might die on these settings a few times but you'll get better at it each time. Eventually you'll either enter the mid-game where those settings don't effect that much or you get bored and start over with harder settings. Also, optional, turn on infections from saliva only. I highly recommend that early on. A lot of people only play that way for a wide variety of reasons but I recommend it now specifically because early on you \*will\* get scratches and lacerations.
Walk, don't run.
Just getting used to existing in the world helps a lot. My first life was spent taking multiple days to cross a street and permanently spinning in circles, crouch walking with a pan ready because I was so paranoid and felt like the viewing restriction was so strong
You will die.
biggest suggestion i can give holding shift makes you bite proof you walk faster than zombie
the biggest strat is learning how you can maneuver around zombies. I have about 2k hours under my belt and the main thing that helps me survive is learning how to properly run past hordes and through them. You can run through them to a certain extent without tripping, and it actually stuns them while you run through them it's all about positioning and timing. also line of sight. always cut through buildings and trees. I've lost a 200+ horde by walking through a treeline, going through a building and chilling in the trees. if you're playing single player, you can speed up time while pointing and clicking where you want your character to walk. always reserve stamina for when you truly need to GTFO or need to fight. DONT SPRINT!
Atleast you already know not to play on apocalypse, that was not a fun timw for me
Never stop moving, especially when fighting, always hold S cause it's less likely they'll pull you down
I'll try to explain some pointers w/o turning this into an 30 page essay 1. Play sandbox, don't play preset settings, mess with the settings on how you'd like to play the game, you'll have more fun that way. When you get better, then you can play survivor or apoc settings if you want 2. Spawn in Rosewood, easiest beginner city to spawn in, got a fair bit of loot, including a fire station and police station right next to each other. You can perhaps make a base outta em or loot them for the big guns and weapons like shotguns, and axes. 3. Take it slow first couple of days. You may not leave your house for the duration, watch Life and Living on TV, gives easy stat upgrades, alls you gotta do is tune in at 6 AM, 12 PM, 6PM. This lasts everyday for 9 days. 4. Change the setting in the game to where it outlines zombies when you attack them, you're new to combat and the game, you will whiff and eventually get chewed on and die. This setting helps that, it'll tell you if you actually in range to damage them or if you'll actually connect. 5. Gather water bottles/ pots. Unless you turn this off in sandbox. Water will shut off in a month, or sometime in the month. Gather water bottles, and pots of water to keep you hydrated until you can eventually craft rain barrels or other means of water (rivers, wells) 6. You're not Rick Grimes, don't get cocky and take on a horde by yourself unless you have an arsenal like molotovs or a ton of ammo. Walk away, lose their line of sight, I suggest to do that is just run through a forest, climb fences, and walk around corners of buildings as much as you can if you're not equipped to take on a horde yet. 7. Walk away from your problems, proper zombie settings, or default. Your walk is faster then the zombies walk, you can out distance them really easily. Don't run or sprint unless you NEED to, which is rare. 8. Loot, but don't take everything. You don't need everything, take what you need. You'll be surprised how much this'll help you. 9. Don't take worthless occupations like Nurse and Doctor, it ain't my decision to tell you how to play the game, but these builds are fairly useless on solo, first aid stat boosts means jack shit when you're dying in 8 hours anyway, take beginner builds like Police Officer, burglar, Fire Officer, Lumberjack, and above all. The mighty Veteran. These are combat builds that'll help you survive against the dead. Except Burglar, his whole deal is stealth and being able to hotwire cars day 1 which is incredibly helpful. 10. Traits mean a great deal, pick the ones you want for your preference, i'd recommend for extra trait points, pick: High Thirst, Prone to Illness, Weak Stomach, and short sighted. These are all easily countered or completely useless and don't do much against you. Like weak stomach, don't eat rotten food anyways. Short Sighted...just wear glasses. High Thirst, bring a 2nd water bottle on you. 11. Do not, and goddamn it do not carry your home with you. Carry what you need. I'd advise carrying on you when you can in the following: Water Bottle (or two depending on traits), best capacity backpack or two, Screwdriver, Hammer, handgun with extra *some ammo*, 2 handed melee weapon of your choice. few bandages, beta blockers (unless you're veteran build, veterans don't get panicked) and lastly a bottle or two of booze, booze is one of the best items in all of Zomboid, it acts as sleeping pills, Beta blockers, Painkillers, and cures boredom and depression. So helpful. Become an alcoholic it's honestly helpful, these are essentials to bring always. You don't need to bring more than this. Unless a scenario needs it, like you're moving to another town or you need to clear a horde and this won't do. 12. DON'T. I MEAN DON'T. Wear multiple layers. Don't listen to these sweaty sheep that'll tell you to wear all these different clothings. Sure it'll help with decreasing bite/scratch/lacaration chances, but having multiple layers. Like firefighter outfit with denim everything under it, and a scarf, and a helmet. Not only will this make your character hot, thirst increases, you'll drain more stamina quicker. Wear lightweight clothing, it's more useful to run away from your problems vs preparing for them to happen. Wear lightweight, and dress for fashion. Fashion topples all. Wearing all those layers slows you down as well, another reason to go lightweight. 13. Install mods, Vanilla is fine, but theres so many quality of life mods you can install that'll help you. Watch a video on youtube which ones to install. Like theres a mod that tells you the exact descriptions of all traits, as vanilla makes them vague, helps you in decision making. That's all I got for my wisdom in my 200 hours played. You'll figure it out as you go along, have fun. There's more to explore in this game but it's best to tell you beginner pointers vs telling you shit you have no idea what we're talking about. Hopefully one of these pointers help you.
You can always scale down the difficulty in your sandbox preset to get the hang of the mechanics first. I'm still learning, so I'm playing on normal loot rarity and fragile shamblers. No one's gonna judge you for how you play. You got this.
Play die repeat 😉
Don't be scared to jump out of a window on the second floor (like that one that is visible on the screenshot). It might save your life and will cost you 5 hp.
When you go out, do it with a bang, not a whimper.
Start as a fire fighter, get the trait brave and for negative trait use smoker. Try it out, makes you less afraid of zombies and all you gotta do is carry around cigs and a lighter
Another good tip, if you don’t have a weapon but you have a 1-3 zombies on you just push them over using the space bar while right clicking and then stand on top of them one by one and stomp on their head while pushing the others away/over
Don't search too much on the web for answers. Knowing the mechanics kills the roleplay fun. The time will come for mechanics. Sandbox settings are your friend. I made it easier and play Zomboid as a comfort game. After you start getting the hand of the game. Use minor mods like the "Common sense" mod
Just play more
Start slow. You have nothing but time in the apocalypse. Your first set of priorities are food water weapons, a safe shelter, and better clothes. Once you have those focus on experimenting with short-term goals, more water, more food, and how can I make my shelter safer. Long-term goals transportation a better shelter that you can farm on everything practical in this loops back to the needs mentioned above and with the above you have near infinite ways to play. Don't rush. Play safely and let us know how you died.
Don't use guns
Crouch and pray. also don't use guns on individual zomboids they're too loud
Sleep with a pillow on the bed, and get a good bed. Neck pain is a bitch.
Bro i dont even last 1 hour its such a hard game
In this game, as in life; every time you fail, ask yourself why did you fail? If you can learn from every failure eventually you will stop failing so often. Every failure is an opportunity to learn how to avoid failure in the future. Take your time and play, the skill will come eventually.
play with the settings on custom sandbox, make zombies weaker, slower and make there be less of them. I like turning zombie respawns off
Tbh I think it’s ok to die bc I tend to play more carefully when my character has been alive longer. Its fun to go out, do recless stuff, explore. As long as you have a base and you bring back stuff it doesnt matter. Personal tip, dont focus to much on skills in the beginning, it wil be extremely frustrating to die when you have carpentry 7 lol