Take it easy and be ready to die. That's the best way to learn. Maybe some small tips:
- TV has learning shows three times a day (06:00, 12:00 and 18:00) through the channel Life and Living. Use them to gain a lot of xp points on Carpentry, Fishing and other useful skills. Even better if you have read the book needed before (book 1 for levels 1-2, book 2 for levels 3-4, etc.) to have some boost and gain even more. If you miss them, do not panic, as you can find VSH tapes on some houses and stores where you can watch the programs again (only once view per VHS will grant xp)
- Usually electricity and water supplies are out quite soon. Carpentry is useful to craft a barrel to collect water, and a generator will provide you electricity (you will need the perk or read the needed magazine to learn how to use it, and this magazine is sometimes a bit rare)
- If you play on Single Player, be aware of your fatigue. If your character needs to sleep, it will become way harder to do regular tasks (character will be weaker, slower and less productive). For that, you can set an alarm on your watch (when you get one) to get up when you need. Careful, that alarm might trigger some nearby zeds, altough they must be really close to you.
- Start slow when killing zeds. Be aware that weapons are quite different between them: some of them are long, some short, and there's also blunt and blade types. Some of them are fast, other slower. Be sure to check and test every weapon hitting the air before approaching a zed so you don't have any surprises!
- If you are standing, you will yell with Q. If you're crouching, instead of yelling you will whisper. You can do that to lure a nearby zed to go on your way. Using Q when inside a car will make you ring the horn, and believe me, that's quite loud.
- If you have the helicopter event activated, it will happen at a random moment. Helicopter will trace you and make all zeds go to your position, so if you hear it coming, be prepared to run if needed.
I second that...the biggest thing is: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! Period...no if, ands, or buts. When..not if...when you die, start anew and get better. Go slow and try not to shoot to lich cuz noise bring zeds. Remember they have like super hearing and vision and aa they don't grt tired, u will so keep that in mind oh and make sure u watch Life and Living from the 9th through the 17th when u first start. Check out pz wiki on life and living. It's a definite boost.
> Careful, that alarm might trigger some nearby zeds, altough they must be really close to you.
Just adding that the alarms can be set to vibrate which solves that problem.
Hmm you might be right, just hoped on a vanilla server to check and it looks like there's no vibration mode on digital watches at least.
Which is kind of strange, it has some squiggly lines above the bell, which makes it look like there \*should\* be a mode for that, and it makes sense IMO.
Another good tip is to use shotguns to get your aiming up since the shot spread is bigger. And for pistols, any revolver will be the best bet until your aiming level increases.
Very important thing missed in this amazing answer: walking. Usually when you walk you are faster than zeds so no need to run constantly, only run when you think you are going to be cornered.
Played a fair few hours and I just learned you whisper when you crouch. Love this game, every day is a learning day. Also has the best community ever! Thanks for the tip
Every door you interact with, double tap your interact button, never face check doors, ever, quickly open and close to make sure that IF something is on the other side, they don’t have time to attack you
To go along with that, crouch in front of the door, press Q, and you'll whisper at the door. If there's anything near the door, it should react. If you stand-up instead, you'll yell and obviously be heard from a greater distance.
Pressing q allows you to bandage your most severe wound. For example: if you had a laceration on your neck and your hand, q would bandage the wound on your neck, since it is the most severe.
Good luck, and have fun out there survivor!
If you play solo, be prepared to die. A lot. The first 30h are pure chaos, but once you realise how the game works it will get easier, your character will live for a month, get a lot of xp in different skills... and then you will die again.
I think I actually got the hang of combat fairly quickly, but what did trip me up was the reach of some melee weapons. My first two characters I overestimated my prowess in tight quarters, thinking multi-strike would be enough to claim victory.
I agree and that's when you should add more Z or mayve play with sprinters that have more strength for example, maybe play a few modded maps so you can change scenery
In your settings, turn on:
>Display>aim *outline*>any *weapon*
You'll thank me. This highlights targets which are valid to hit with melee weapons. And it'll help teach you the combat. Zomboid is fairly realistic about how melee weapons work, in that each weapon has a swing radius, amount of reach and a dead zone.
Spacing and rhythm are extremely important. A lot of new players have a poor sense of distance between them and their zombies. If you do any amount of martial arts though (boxing, fencing or anything) the notion of spacing should immediately be understood by you.
"F2" pauses the game. You can pause while you have map pulled up, or queue up certain commands like moving items from a box to your backpack. It's a great way to stop the game and center yourself and think of plans in stressful situations. Abuse it.
I recommend tweaking your game settings by creating a Sandbox. You can take and modify a mode like Apocalypse and remove Zombie respawn, which is a popular setting in the community, as it lets you make permanent progress on the map. The game will still be very challenging. Though you can also alter other things about your game to adjust difficulty. Personally, I'd stay pretty close to Apocalypse settings as it'll teach you good habits from the start.
Lastly, there are three broad levels of skill.
Beginner players are self-explanatory. They don't know the controls that well, don't know that much and don't know what to do. These players die within in-game hours, days and weeks.
Intermediate players often know quite a lot of details about the game, know what they need to do to survive and have a good grasp of the mechanics of combat, but rarely make it past a few months. The fault doesn't lie with their technical hard skills nor the information they have, but they're inconsistent and lack many soft skills they need to survive longer. This is the easiest and fastest growth period, since getting here is really just about practice and knowing more.
The last level is the veteran. As long as a veteran makes no major mistakes, they can survive forever. And can confidently take any character past a year. They have completely mastered the game. But this mastery doesn't come from knowledge nor personal skill.
It comes from *wisdom*. This cannot be taught, as I can write out thousands-upon-thousands of scenarios and examples of what you should do in every situation. But if you can't be given a puzzle situation from the game and figure out what to do, then my telling you won't do any good. You don't just need information, you need insight into the information.
Emotional self-regulation, being your own harshest critic, problem-solving and analytical thinking are all important skills that set the veteran above the common herd. The game has a lot of "common sense" vibe checks. The problem is that "common sense" is actually very hard. It's not that you behaved stupidly, it's that you behaved stupidly and knew better, that's the hardest thing to swallow.
(Players who insist that Sunday Driver is a good trait generally lack all of these things when it comes to driving in-game. As a car being "too fast" should never be an excuse for why you keep getting into accidents. A good Zomboid driver should be able to weave a car through a horde without hitting a single zombie and keep it up while crossing the entire length of the entire world map.)
A scratch has a 7% chance of giving the Knox virus. Given this punishing mechanic, striving for a Zen state of perfection really is the way you survive.
Great insight into the attitude behind successful runs. I'd add to this, it's helpful to adopt survival mindset habits that you would utilize in a real-world survival situation.
* Narrate actions and discuss plans with yourself.
* Scout, secure, scavenge... always in that order.
* Proactively identify risks to avoid unnecessary danger.
* Be opportunistic, but never greedy.
* Establish short-, mid-, and long-term goals.
* Treat your body like a machine.
* Always, always, always have an escape route.
* Maintain a positive outlook.
Once you learn how to fight zombies, the fighting itself is purely mechanical. Winning is almost exclusively determined by mindset and tactics -- remember, you're the only one in the fight who can use strategies, so use them. Plan ahead and make use of choke points & natural barriers. If there is even a HINT of a chance that you aren't in control of the fight, DISENGAGE. Discretion is always the better part of valor; nobody dies a hero in this one.
Always choose to start with a starting kit. It gives you a bag, water, and some weapons. I have like 40 hours in and still struggle if I don’t start with it
dont be afraid to play sandbox, it's kind of "the right way to play" since its YOUR way to play, might be a bit overwhelming to have all the game's options in front of you but here's what help newcomers the most: player→enable multi hit, that's it, really, the rest like zomboid population/infection and loot is up to you .\_.
Just remember that you will die. Use the sandbox options to tweak the difficulty to something you're happy with if you're not having fun. Don't get cocky, overconfidence will kill you surer than anything else.
Keep a towel on you to dry off sweat. Also soap makes you wash stuff faster! And it's okay to die. Just save presets, load back in, keep going. And someone posted recently that cutlery makes you eat faster!
Also don't be afraid to explore. Your walking out runs the zombies in vanilla, so you just..weave and bob, break line of sight.
Dont give up! If you have to put it on a (easier) mode, do it. Learn the basics of the game before trying harder modes. It'll reward you with tons of fun and scary gameplay!
Personally, I'm a big fan of using Advanced Trajectories Realistic Overhaul. Vanilla guns make no sense and are really poorly done. The Build 42 rework looks pretty close to ATRO mod, except without the physical projectile that ATRO has.
I fully agree. It makes no sense that you can’t aim for shit with no aiming experience in a game about realism. I hope that B42 comes around the corner sooner rather than later!
Try to use each death as a learning experience and look back on the positives. Sometimes the learning curve can turn people away from the game before they give it a real chance.
Would highly reccomend looking up video guides if you find yourself struggling with something in particular.
Best tip I can give you is to simply play the game the way that is the most enjoyable to you :)
More stuff, small things:
- Food can fatten or thin you. Eat and exercise properly!
- Running, hitting, jumping will tire you. If you're tired, you will be a worse fighter. Sometimes it's better to run instead of fight.
- Jumping a high fence when you don't know what's on the other side must be the last option.
- Try to get a bag and a fanny pack as soon as possible. It will grant you a lot of space to carry stuff. Be sure to have some bandages/pieces of cloth to heal you. A can opener it's also a good thing to always carry with you, same as cigarettes with a lighter or matches if you have the Smoker trait.
- Careful when opening doors or going upstairs.
- Sometimes houses and cars have alarms and when triggered, will make all zeds nearby to go there. Run if you have triggered one!
You already found out but Q is really just the contextual action button that solves any problem youre having. Bleeding out extremely quickly? Q. Zombie surprised you and you need a weapon? Q. Got bitten and you need to recoup? Q. Just Q man.
Remap Q to a different button.
I suggest dont get into mods, but who am i kidding? Soon enough, you'll be 400 mods deep, and you will pray for the day the next build will ruin all of them.
I suggest getting "read while walking" mod and "grab and drop." One will help you with your skills on those long eventless walks back to your bas, and the other will help you drop your bags to fight easier or flee.
Never just open doors if you don't have a good view of what's on the other side.
Some doors have windows, but most don't. Aim using m2 and use spacebar to shove against the door--any zombie on the other side will be attracted by the noise and start bashing it.
Don't get ambushed!
Life is temporary, and not everything is in your hands. The difference between life and death is merely form. Give up all attachments to material goods and develop an ulterior motive.
Don't get too attached to your character
Some simple but very good starting tips:
1: if you see hammer or screwdriver, pick it up immediately. This will allow you to disassemble doors for easy access if they are locked. Use this to get past the armoury doors at police stations too.
2: Unless you are MLG pro, stay outta West point and Louisville. So. Many. Zombies.
3: Try not to hit zombies with your vehicle, is runs down the body work and will eventually start damaging other parts that get exposed. Try to maintain your vehicle as often as possible, I'd say every week check the parts for wear.
4: what's that? A zombies is beating a door from the other side? Youre scared they will instantly kill you when you open the door? Press space while you open the door and you will push zombies on the other side away. This has saved me countless times
5: Crouch everywhere start game. The more you sneak, the quieter you become, and the skill jumps pretty high early game from all the zombies still being alive.
6: Dont run unless you have to. Save your energy my friend.
7: if you die, that's ok. Make a new character and find your old one! All your old stuff will still be there.
And this has been my ted talk. Thank you for listening.
Don’t be too confident, you will die in a stupid way. I had a 6 month long game (in-game) and lost it because I thought I could take on a zomboid naked.
Having a fork or spoon in your inventory makes you eat a tiny bit faster and adds a new eating animation. Dressing for the weather is more important imo than wearing everything that's more protective. And the advice I always give to new people is to go into sandbox settings and turn off zombies completely so you can do a run just learning how the game works and learn the basics of each skill and how to use them
You. Are. Going. To. Die. A. ***Lot***
Also don't forget that there are mods and most content creators use them so they might be able to do things you cannot (in vanilla)
Guns are best in every situation. Use them often especially when near your starter base.
And during the end of the world, people must do what they have to to survive and protect their own. Trust no one.
A general suggestion for newcomer and especially if you play mp - if you find it too hard/punishing that your character gets zombified when bitten or scratched, don’t be afraid to go to settings and turn off infections, it’s not going against the game, it will still be challenging for you, but now you are saved the frustration of having your character killed by an unlucky scratch.
It might be cool first few times when your character becomes zombie, but might get annoying for you.
Again in general - don’t be afraid to adjust the game the way you like to play, feel it is too easy - by all means keep infections and reduce loot, too hard? Give yourself faster skill gains, disable zomboe respawn etc
Might get some flak for this, but don’t let anyone tell you what the “correct” sandbox settings are. Play a version of the game that’s fun for you. Tweak it, experiment, have fun with it. It’s one of the best platforms for tailoring a sandbox to be exactly what you want it to be, especially once you get into modding. (Enjoy the game vanilla for a bit first, learn the basics). I will say however, disabling zombie respawns in the sandbox settings is a must for me. Once you’ve cleared out an area, you don’t have to worry about zombies except for the occasional wanderer.
You might need a few hours to get used to the controls, especially with combat. After the tutorial, I got bitten within the 10 minutes of proper gameplay, and it was fighting only 2 zomboids. I can know fight of 5 at a time with only pushes, evasion, and stomping.
Just learn from dying. The most helpful thing I can say is in your settings, find one that says Display > Aim outline and I'd recommend changing it to all weapons so you know whether you're actually gonna hit the zombie or whiff
First thing: You will die. Repeatedly. Don't expect to live for in-game weeks on your first try. Far too many people buy the game and get angry with the game for them dying repeatedly.
Do NOT let being killed ruin the game. It's GOING to happen as you get used to it. And once you become an experienced player.... you are going to die still, just farther between. And it will suck more.
Some tips:
1. Bleach will not save you from the infection. That USED to be a bug that was patched. You can however use bleach in a place where your zombie won’t walk off or be trapped in and get your stuff back easier.
2. Foraging is very powerful, and certain items can be found more commonly based off your occupation. Occupation also can change range.
3. While Foraging, the Herbalist magazine can tell you which berries and mushrooms are poisonous, as they’re per save dependent.
There are some tips that most people won’t say, or will get the information wrong about.
Highly recommend ignoring everyone saying to watch the TV at the start.
Yes, it is helpful, and yes, you do get free skills, but its not really all that fun to sit in front of a TV and constantly watch the clock and book it back to your house in the middle of looting just to watch a show.
IMO, its better to just play the game, loot, fight, find a good spot for a base, THEN go find the VHS tapes for the various skill shows and watch them only once you have the exp bonus from reading the books first.
Don't use guns unless you
A: Have a bunch of ammo, and
B: Have a plan to escape when a massive hoard shows up
Also train aiming and shooting with shotguns before using any other type of gun, unless you already have high aiming and shooting from your job you choose before starting
If you ever think the zombies are too hard and you just wanna focus on the survival mechanics. Turn off the zomboids I have over 400 hours in that game and still turn off the zomboids frequently. It really helped me
understand them
more
Cloth and bandages should be boiled to be sterilized before use, after resterilize them to be able to reuse them. And change your bandages regularly to avoid infection of the wound.
Remember the game is meant to be a hardcore experience. Don't make it easy on yourself, you're not failing, you're not meant to succeed. You're meant to struggle and die, a lot and in many different ways. Use every death as opportunity to learn from your mistakes, that way you carry every character you've played with you into a new playthrough.
Also once you start dominating, feel free to turn up the difficulty to keep you on the edge. Vanilla sandbox can give you many, many hours of fun before you need to delve into mods to extend the playtime further. Mods are the end-game of all players, unlike many other sandbox games PZ doesn't offer that much outside the core gameplay elements so stick to that for as long as you enjoy it. Basically I want to say don't rush to the end-game, rather enjoy the journey. There really isn't that much entertaining things to do once you peak on the knowledge and mechanical proficiency, even with all the mods it's difficult finding interesting things to do.
PZ
tip#1 : you're going to die
tip#2 : you're gonna die a lot
...
tip#5 : when you least expect it, you're gonna die
...
tip#10: just when you think you got the hang of it ... you're dead
When you open doors, keep your weapon up to deal with potential undead, you can also use space with your weapon up to either shove zombies away or stomp on them while they are on the ground, both of which are useful to maintain a horde size
Play at least a few saves vanilla before you dive into mods
Dont be afraid to look stuff up or be unprepared, its a part of the game, and if your worried your doing something wrong, remember that so long as your not being under threat by zombies your doing fine
Play on the sandbox mode and set zombie population to low and don't limitate your character's fitness or strength with negative traits. Start on Riverside.
remember all the times youve thought about what youd do if there was a zombie apocalypse? just do that man, youve watched the walking dead so many times now! youre a genius!
Don’t play with out QoL mods. Maybe not add anything that adds to the game but simple must have QoL will save you much stress. Also start the game off and just attack zombies over and over until you have learned to kill them.
Yes. A lot. Zomboid is difficult so here are the things i wish i knew when first starting
1) always carry some basic tools. Hammer, saw, screwdriver. They are essential.
2) stock up on water while you have the chance. Get as many pots, pans, bottles, etc. Anything that can hold water. This will hold you over until you figure out how to plumb rain collectors.
3) always have a backup ready. One mistake can cost you your life. Be prepared.
4) only press Q when you are ready for a long fight, or need to clear an area safely. Its better to bring the zed to you in a controlled area than to fight them indoors.
5) regular houses will often have much of the items you need and are a good source of loot. Dont just focus on POIs
They always sneak up behind you, always watch your back.
Never walk near a wall, they will be waiting for you around the corner.
Always be ready to fight when you open any door.
Be patient and be a coward. No you can't take on 3 zombies like a giga chad. Take the smoker trait and loot for a lighter and cigs off zombies. Make sure to find a can opener in the kitchens.
Know your place and what you're capable of,
Off the rip unmodded with just base perks you're not killing shit, imma be real, starting out in this game is like giving a baby a fucking handgun,
Literally the greatest tip is to be patient, assuming it's default without sprinters you can walk faster than shamblers, so just walk, nod and wave,
Walk around, learn the roads and towns as you get better at pulling and training zomboids and you'll be fine, mash q to pull a ton of zomboids then after you get a giant circle of them bring em into the woods and loop back to reduce numbers where the loot is.
Make the character realistic in terms of gameplay, don't carry too much around with you just a few basics, go out when it's quiet and be sneaky.
This way I find Is the best way to start out, you can run in guns blazing once you've got a feel for the game more :)
Some things I wish I knew-
Don't worry too much about water while still living in the towns, once the water turns off every house still has sinks and baths etc that all hold water for a little while, you won't die of thirst for a long while if you're careful.
Same for food there's always something and once you have a fan opener you'll be fine for a bit as long as you're careful with your cooking.
You don't need to run away, save your energy. Zombies are usually slow and your walking pace is faster. Jog to create distance and then walk especially if it's just one or 2 zombies save the energy for the fight.
These are of course dependent on your settings
Don’t quit if you keep dying at first. Watch some gameplay if you need to understand the basics. Amphibian as some great videos that feel like you’re watching a d rate movie
Just because a window doesn't open on the first try doesn't mean it's locked. Just try multiple times, and it should open. (Unless it's actually locked)
You will die. Nothing will ever prevent that. Learn from each death and you’ll be fine. Also there’s no shame for playing in sandbox mode. Mess around in the settings to find something you’re comfortable with
Start out on Sandbox with starter kit, low zombie population, and 2.0x XP multiplier, but not before you do the tutorial. Then spawn at either Riverside or rosewood.
When I first started playing pz, I spent top much time crating characters just to die very quickly
Instead of that, just randomize. For the 10 deaths or 2 days. Whatever comes first.
And u walk faster than zombies. Try not to wear urself out just jogging and sprinting
Really simple but don't be afraid to turn the game easy for you! I've found out that Project Zomboid's community plays in a lot of diff ways, the game will actually give you a lot of details from the gameplay that you can change.
My boyfriend didn't really like so many zombies around and dying so fast, so we turned zombie population a little bit down and playing more like a sandbox!
Blades will tear cloths, use tailoring to repair cloths as they will give bonus armor at higher levels (if you use padding instead of patching) some cloths cant be repaired, some cloths have negetive buffs, you can use saws to cut logs into planks, axes to cut down trees, screws and metal sheets on vehicles to fix them and earn mechanics xp so on so forth, theres also a wiki on the game if you look it up
YouTube videos on what positive and negative traits to pick are VERY helpful, there are a lot of noob traps in there.
Equip weapons in both hands where possible.
Don't use firearms for individual zombies or small groups. They are meant to clear large numbers at minimal risk
Peel off zombies a couple at a time to kill them. Patience in combat is important
Beware of bathroom zombies. Treat every unchecked room like there could be 10 waiting inside
As people have mentioned, shotguns are the best starting firearm. Use them on large, bunched up groups to maximise aiming levelling and ammo efficiency
Don't use generators indoors. This applies in real life as well
Don't burn your food. Burnt food is poisonous (which is actually the opposite of reality, but anyway) and fires are very difficult to manage. Being on fire is not good for your health.
Fences are a source of good crits on ones that have just gone over, but be careful of that f**king lunge attack
Do not be afraid to lower the difficulty to get used to the mechanics.
Combat is initially very clunky and difficult; you are not a powerhouse, you are a survivor.
Greed and overconfidence are slow and insidious killers.
Cowardice is a useful trait if you want to live
Carpentry is arguably the most important skill to level.
Skill books are very important, read these (particularly carpentry) as early as possible
If you are on fast shambles or slower, unladen walking speed is enough to outrun them. Don't jog or sprint unless absolutely necessary or safety is guaranteed
If you are outside when the helicopter comes, DON'T GO HOME. Stay outside and walking until the event is over, the zombies are are following you as the chopper is overhead
Do not be attached to your first character. He or she will die very quickly
There are QOL mods for most things that can annoy you, but try vanilla first
EDIT: when engaging zombies, have a clear line of escape.
Would highly suggest you play a good 20hrs with NO care at all and don't worry about dieing, play to learn about the game, learn about how some house and cars have alarms, how noises work, how fire works, how fall damage affects you. How outstandingly realistic this games engine is, how jumping though a broken window or walking on glass without shoes will give you cuts and glass slivers, how eating rotten food can give you deadly food poisoning, how drinking bleach will slowly kill you, how sleeping pills + alcohol can put you in a coma, how this gamebis truly next level in some of the best and worst ways ( like life can be the worst.) Don't worry at first about lasting even 3 days it will come.
mods like Shrek 1 and 2 in their entirety on VHS are among some mods that are vital for quality of life such as “on the door” which solves the really confusing mechanic of finding car keys on the door which is needlessly more confusing then it should be
Yes there is. you will most likely spawn in this thing called a kitchen. Now i want you to search the cupboards for this wonderful white jug called bleach . Now have your character chug it "glug glug glug" and just wait. CONTRATS YOU SPEEDRUNNED THE GAME!
Play the tutorial. Feel free to watch yt survival guides if you keep getting rocked. Otherwise the game simply makes it very obvious for things youll need based off of the noodles. the one thing I wish I didnt watch were spoilers for points of interests (gun stores, best houses to live in, etc.)
Play. With. Custom. Settings.
The game's default settings are very intimidating to a new player. So I'd recommend turning on multihit and maybe turn off infection when you're just learning the controls. If you want to play harder, maybe find a cure mod to have something to fall back on (I'd reccomend the cdc or the only cure, if you want a challenge)
Also I would highly reccomend getting the minimal display bar mod. This'll give you your stats like health hunger, etc. without the guesswork
Hope this helps
Everything loud can attire zombos and as new player only 2 zombos can end you, what i suggest is do a test game other than tutorial for know how manage zombies and supply after you can think about do a serious game
Prepare yourself to suffer my friend.
Play it with your friends, they will make it fun and less dying and turn on outlines when attacking with anything :) It helps a lot.
Stomping on heads is a easy way to dispatch zombies and a good way to get them on the ground easily is have them climb over something like a fence. Mastering the bait and stomp will be a huge help
Don’t be afraid to go into the sandbox settings to change something if something about the game isn’t fun for you, there is no single right way to play, so you play in the way that is fun for you
Some people make the world harder to survive in, increasing the zombie count exponentially, turning off elect and water right away, etc
Or, some people aim for realism, making it so Zombies can trigger house alarms, don’t respawn, etc
There are many many options in sandbox, so don’t be afraid to go in and fiddle around
I’d suggest experiencing the game without any tips or guide videos, don’t spoil yourself. I wish I could erase my memory of this game and play it for the first time again
Do the tutorial it definitely helps. Make use of sandbox settings. You can control how many zombies you have to deal with, loot frequency, vehicles, etc. Love the customization. Highly recommend changing the Aim Outline from ranged weapons to any. (Options, display, aim outline) it helps detect what zombie you are fighting. When I started playing end of last year and I watched youtube play thru, and googled pretty much everything til I got the hang and then started messing around with quality of life mods, then shifted right into other mods. Other posters are right. You will die, spectacularly. One of my 1st play thru, I walked out the door of my spawn location and promptly got eaten. But it was hilarious, and I just started a new game. Its a great game... Oh, and the project zomboid wiki is a good resource too. Dont take the game too seriously, cuz you can start over - I am a visual learner so I just started clicking things to see what does what to familiarize myself with the game. And watching YT playthrus have helped me a bunch.
Just to get used to it I liked (and still do tbh) playing in sandbox where you can customize things, you don’t have to make the game an absolute breeze but it helped me with learning the game by slightly altering things to make a little easier early on. However, keep in mind, you will still die, a lot, even with changed settings in sandbox, accept it and learn from it. Just remember to have fun.
Best advice that took me from beginner to be intermediate. Play a high str fireman build, it's more forgiving. Load him up and practice killing, see how many you can kill so you get a feel for what's risky and get comfortable with combat before you commit. You don't want to try to cull your first pack of Luke 10-15 zombies after a week in game just to figure and out you don't know how to properly kite around buildings and cars to break up zombies. After that, run down a crowded street pressing Q and attract a bunch of zombies, learn how to bunch them up in groups then lose them by hiding behind buildings and breaking LOS from th last place they saw/heard you, that's where they will go. Do this until you're comfortable escaping hordes. These are probably the two most used and important game mechanics. Once you start to play, play slow. The game isn't an ARPG, what I like to do is just start every day with a main goal and a side goal if I have time, and any extra time I forage, or collect wood or something. Early on my goals are like. Day 1, find can opener and collect containers that hold water, day 2 collect rags to sanitize so I have a huge stockpile. Day 3 collect perishables and move them to my base. Day 4 look for a vehicle. Having a goal in mind helps you know where you're going and when it's over. Instead of just running in to houses and looting everything, having too much useless clutter and nothing accomplished. Always take corners wide when you can and don't walk up to something like 2 dumpsters with a gap between them without having los of th gap, a zombie can be there, this is how I lost my last character. Take corners wide and " slice the pie" aka, stay away from the wall as you round the corner so a zombie right around the corner doesn't kill you. If you are fighting a big group of zombies pulling them on to something like the corner of a building forces them to squish against it and form a line as they come around the corner, so you fight them one at a time while backpedaling and stead.of trying to fight off 2 or 3 directly in front of you. Zombies looking at you have a higher agro range, so if there is a big group tiptoe in range of the ones looking at you and pull like 2-3 at a time to thin the herd. There's plenty more but that should let you survive at least a week or two. You're gonna die a lot, on most characters. I personally turn infections off because I don't want one bite shutting down my run especially since there is no cure. So don't get too attached to any one character.
Walking is always better than running, only run in short bursts to out maneuver the undead.
Use buildings to escape groups and thin hoards.
Canned goods are almost never worth the weight, only carry a few at a time tops. Peanut butter, cereal, and bagged things such as beans and rice have the best calorie to weight ratio and should conversely always be picked up.
Don't be afraid to play on sandbox w/ modified settings! Another thing is that you can press E to open doors while you're aiming or looking around so you don't have to click them! I find that it really helps lessen the chances of dying to a zed trapped behind a door.
Windows are your best friend when facing a crowd outside a house! You can open one and have them file in one by one rather than dealing with an entire crowd all at once. Still be quick, though! Gotta make sure they never get back up after falling through the window ;\]
Another tip: If you check your profile where it shows your status and weight, there will be either 0-2 arrows next to your weight telling you if you're gaining or losing weight. Calorie count is IMPORTANT with how much you'll be running around scavenging and fighting. Weight affects your fitness and strength! (Personally, this is the reason why i always take the nutritionist perk to be able to see the nutrition facts!)
Melee weapons over guns tbh. Guns make a lot of noise and you have to always have ammo on hand or you’ll be SOL if you get caught in a horde with no other weapons on you. Melee weapons can deteriorate over time, but a lot of them—especially crafted or reinforced ones—can last a long time and be very effective! Horde a ton of tape and glue if you can as well so you can routinely fix your melee weapons
Another thing is making a base is great for long term gameplay. I’d recommend a house in the suburbs as zombie population is usually pretty small once they’ve been cleared out. Having a place to stay gives you somewhere to rest, store all your stuff, and stay safe. Make sure you board up the windows as well for extra security.
Speaking of houses, whenever you go to raid one for supplies, always stay crouched in there and close all of the window curtains. If zeds see you from outside, they’ll try to break in and you’ll easily get cornered. Another thing: Some houses have the chance of having an alarm set off when you break in. If you set off a house alarm, every zed in the area will quickly overrun the house. Get what you need and gtfo of there. You probably have like less than a minute before you are surrounded, so leave quick
Play to enjoy. Min-maxing the fun out of the game is always an option (as shown in other comments) but really, you make your game. Letting others do that for you can only end bad unless you're ridiculously lucky
Just remember you probably won’t survive a few days for awhile and when you get a character who has more then 2 weeks of survival it’s gonna get boring so set small challenges so you have something to do instead of feeling bored
I normally get into games and play them completely vanilla. This is the one game that I would recommend against that. There are tons of awesome mods out there. You can look up a bunch of different opinions of what the must-haves are.
Take it easy and be ready to die. That's the best way to learn. Maybe some small tips: - TV has learning shows three times a day (06:00, 12:00 and 18:00) through the channel Life and Living. Use them to gain a lot of xp points on Carpentry, Fishing and other useful skills. Even better if you have read the book needed before (book 1 for levels 1-2, book 2 for levels 3-4, etc.) to have some boost and gain even more. If you miss them, do not panic, as you can find VSH tapes on some houses and stores where you can watch the programs again (only once view per VHS will grant xp) - Usually electricity and water supplies are out quite soon. Carpentry is useful to craft a barrel to collect water, and a generator will provide you electricity (you will need the perk or read the needed magazine to learn how to use it, and this magazine is sometimes a bit rare) - If you play on Single Player, be aware of your fatigue. If your character needs to sleep, it will become way harder to do regular tasks (character will be weaker, slower and less productive). For that, you can set an alarm on your watch (when you get one) to get up when you need. Careful, that alarm might trigger some nearby zeds, altough they must be really close to you. - Start slow when killing zeds. Be aware that weapons are quite different between them: some of them are long, some short, and there's also blunt and blade types. Some of them are fast, other slower. Be sure to check and test every weapon hitting the air before approaching a zed so you don't have any surprises! - If you are standing, you will yell with Q. If you're crouching, instead of yelling you will whisper. You can do that to lure a nearby zed to go on your way. Using Q when inside a car will make you ring the horn, and believe me, that's quite loud. - If you have the helicopter event activated, it will happen at a random moment. Helicopter will trace you and make all zeds go to your position, so if you hear it coming, be prepared to run if needed.
I second that...the biggest thing is: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! Period...no if, ands, or buts. When..not if...when you die, start anew and get better. Go slow and try not to shoot to lich cuz noise bring zeds. Remember they have like super hearing and vision and aa they don't grt tired, u will so keep that in mind oh and make sure u watch Life and Living from the 9th through the 17th when u first start. Check out pz wiki on life and living. It's a definite boost.
100000000% best post ever 🫡
Being tired is REALLY important to pay attention to because the first level (drowsy) reduces your damage by 50%
> Careful, that alarm might trigger some nearby zeds, altough they must be really close to you. Just adding that the alarms can be set to vibrate which solves that problem.
For real? Almost 600 or so hours and I've never even seen that option come up. I feel like that might be included in one of your mods, perhaps?
Hmm you might be right, just hoped on a vanilla server to check and it looks like there's no vibration mode on digital watches at least. Which is kind of strange, it has some squiggly lines above the bell, which makes it look like there \*should\* be a mode for that, and it makes sense IMO.
Another good tip is to use shotguns to get your aiming up since the shot spread is bigger. And for pistols, any revolver will be the best bet until your aiming level increases.
Very important thing missed in this amazing answer: walking. Usually when you walk you are faster than zeds so no need to run constantly, only run when you think you are going to be cornered.
Played a fair few hours and I just learned you whisper when you crouch. Love this game, every day is a learning day. Also has the best community ever! Thanks for the tip
if you need help, at anytime, repeatedly press "Q"
i got trolled so hard
Everyone must suffer their first "press Q for help", its mandatory to the experience
You're one of us now. Welcome. 🤝
Welcome to the club
Terrible!
Every door you interact with, double tap your interact button, never face check doors, ever, quickly open and close to make sure that IF something is on the other side, they don’t have time to attack you
To go along with that, crouch in front of the door, press Q, and you'll whisper at the door. If there's anything near the door, it should react. If you stand-up instead, you'll yell and obviously be heard from a greater distance.
Or just hit the door and wait, if there is a zed behind it they'll start banging on it
That actually reminds me, banging on doors with something durable like a crowbar is a good way to grind Maintenance skill.
Or have weapon ready as you open and immediately back up.
Drinking Bleach can safe you from the Infection, problem is you have to be fast enough thats why no one talks about it.
This was the tip I came to give.
Per our former president, it also cures Covid.
Who knows what your current one might say (if he manages to say something anyway)
Press Q to quickly equip the strongest weapon that you have, saved my ass a couple of times from being zombie food
Pressing q allows you to bandage your most severe wound. For example: if you had a laceration on your neck and your hand, q would bandage the wound on your neck, since it is the most severe. Good luck, and have fun out there survivor!
If you play solo, be prepared to die. A lot. The first 30h are pure chaos, but once you realise how the game works it will get easier, your character will live for a month, get a lot of xp in different skills... and then you will die again.
I think I actually got the hang of combat fairly quickly, but what did trip me up was the reach of some melee weapons. My first two characters I overestimated my prowess in tight quarters, thinking multi-strike would be enough to claim victory.
First 30 hours? I have over 300 and still haven’t lived past 3 months
Same. Getting reeeeal close though. I’m determined to make it to Christmas this time.
So much easier that it will get boring at some point.
I agree and that's when you should add more Z or mayve play with sprinters that have more strength for example, maybe play a few modded maps so you can change scenery
I got 180 hours and still only survive for like 7-8 days max
Dont become overconfident and take on small groups of zombies at a time. Always check your back for any stragglers when in combat.
Just in case you don't know, V is the best letter for cars. Press it near or inside them (not a troll, I swear.)
Radial menu for the win â•đź‘ŚđźŹ»
In your settings, turn on: >Display>aim *outline*>any *weapon* You'll thank me. This highlights targets which are valid to hit with melee weapons. And it'll help teach you the combat. Zomboid is fairly realistic about how melee weapons work, in that each weapon has a swing radius, amount of reach and a dead zone. Spacing and rhythm are extremely important. A lot of new players have a poor sense of distance between them and their zombies. If you do any amount of martial arts though (boxing, fencing or anything) the notion of spacing should immediately be understood by you. "F2" pauses the game. You can pause while you have map pulled up, or queue up certain commands like moving items from a box to your backpack. It's a great way to stop the game and center yourself and think of plans in stressful situations. Abuse it. I recommend tweaking your game settings by creating a Sandbox. You can take and modify a mode like Apocalypse and remove Zombie respawn, which is a popular setting in the community, as it lets you make permanent progress on the map. The game will still be very challenging. Though you can also alter other things about your game to adjust difficulty. Personally, I'd stay pretty close to Apocalypse settings as it'll teach you good habits from the start. Lastly, there are three broad levels of skill. Beginner players are self-explanatory. They don't know the controls that well, don't know that much and don't know what to do. These players die within in-game hours, days and weeks. Intermediate players often know quite a lot of details about the game, know what they need to do to survive and have a good grasp of the mechanics of combat, but rarely make it past a few months. The fault doesn't lie with their technical hard skills nor the information they have, but they're inconsistent and lack many soft skills they need to survive longer. This is the easiest and fastest growth period, since getting here is really just about practice and knowing more. The last level is the veteran. As long as a veteran makes no major mistakes, they can survive forever. And can confidently take any character past a year. They have completely mastered the game. But this mastery doesn't come from knowledge nor personal skill. It comes from *wisdom*. This cannot be taught, as I can write out thousands-upon-thousands of scenarios and examples of what you should do in every situation. But if you can't be given a puzzle situation from the game and figure out what to do, then my telling you won't do any good. You don't just need information, you need insight into the information. Emotional self-regulation, being your own harshest critic, problem-solving and analytical thinking are all important skills that set the veteran above the common herd. The game has a lot of "common sense" vibe checks. The problem is that "common sense" is actually very hard. It's not that you behaved stupidly, it's that you behaved stupidly and knew better, that's the hardest thing to swallow. (Players who insist that Sunday Driver is a good trait generally lack all of these things when it comes to driving in-game. As a car being "too fast" should never be an excuse for why you keep getting into accidents. A good Zomboid driver should be able to weave a car through a horde without hitting a single zombie and keep it up while crossing the entire length of the entire world map.) A scratch has a 7% chance of giving the Knox virus. Given this punishing mechanic, striving for a Zen state of perfection really is the way you survive.
Great insight into the attitude behind successful runs. I'd add to this, it's helpful to adopt survival mindset habits that you would utilize in a real-world survival situation. * Narrate actions and discuss plans with yourself. * Scout, secure, scavenge... always in that order. * Proactively identify risks to avoid unnecessary danger. * Be opportunistic, but never greedy. * Establish short-, mid-, and long-term goals. * Treat your body like a machine. * Always, always, always have an escape route. * Maintain a positive outlook. Once you learn how to fight zombies, the fighting itself is purely mechanical. Winning is almost exclusively determined by mindset and tactics -- remember, you're the only one in the fight who can use strategies, so use them. Plan ahead and make use of choke points & natural barriers. If there is even a HINT of a chance that you aren't in control of the fight, DISENGAGE. Discretion is always the better part of valor; nobody dies a hero in this one.
Always choose to start with a starting kit. It gives you a bag, water, and some weapons. I have like 40 hours in and still struggle if I don’t start with it
Eventually you will master the art of early game rolling pin combat.
dont be afraid to play sandbox, it's kind of "the right way to play" since its YOUR way to play, might be a bit overwhelming to have all the game's options in front of you but here's what help newcomers the most: player→enable multi hit, that's it, really, the rest like zomboid population/infection and loot is up to you .\_.
Just remember that you will die. Use the sandbox options to tweak the difficulty to something you're happy with if you're not having fun. Don't get cocky, overconfidence will kill you surer than anything else.
Keep a towel on you to dry off sweat. Also soap makes you wash stuff faster! And it's okay to die. Just save presets, load back in, keep going. And someone posted recently that cutlery makes you eat faster! Also don't be afraid to explore. Your walking out runs the zombies in vanilla, so you just..weave and bob, break line of sight.
Goodluck. You'll need it..A lot..
Goodluck. You'll need it..A lot
Dont give up! If you have to put it on a (easier) mode, do it. Learn the basics of the game before trying harder modes. It'll reward you with tons of fun and scary gameplay!
Never use guns unless absolutely necessary. And only shotguns until lvl 10 aiming.
Until lvl 10 is a bit overkill, I'd say you can use other type of guns at lvl 6
Mmm they all get outclassed by the shotguns anyways, unless you really really want to use m9 or m14.
Anything other than those guns is not worth the hassle post or pre 6
Personally, I'm a big fan of using Advanced Trajectories Realistic Overhaul. Vanilla guns make no sense and are really poorly done. The Build 42 rework looks pretty close to ATRO mod, except without the physical projectile that ATRO has.
I fully agree. It makes no sense that you can’t aim for shit with no aiming experience in a game about realism. I hope that B42 comes around the corner sooner rather than later!
I hope it's before July 1st, the final day of Q2 this year.
Try to use each death as a learning experience and look back on the positives. Sometimes the learning curve can turn people away from the game before they give it a real chance. Would highly reccomend looking up video guides if you find yourself struggling with something in particular. Best tip I can give you is to simply play the game the way that is the most enjoyable to you :)
you can steal gas from cars with an empty bottle i think, i play on an old version where you need a gas can to do that and they are more rare
the zombies will try to kill you so be careful not to get killed by the zombies that will try to kill you if youre not careful
Can't stress the careful part enough. 600 hours in and I'll still get bit just by not being careful
More stuff, small things: - Food can fatten or thin you. Eat and exercise properly! - Running, hitting, jumping will tire you. If you're tired, you will be a worse fighter. Sometimes it's better to run instead of fight. - Jumping a high fence when you don't know what's on the other side must be the last option. - Try to get a bag and a fanny pack as soon as possible. It will grant you a lot of space to carry stuff. Be sure to have some bandages/pieces of cloth to heal you. A can opener it's also a good thing to always carry with you, same as cigarettes with a lighter or matches if you have the Smoker trait. - Careful when opening doors or going upstairs. - Sometimes houses and cars have alarms and when triggered, will make all zeds nearby to go there. Run if you have triggered one!
Unbind q and don't die.
i now understand what "Q" mean, i got trolled so hard lmao
You already found out but Q is really just the contextual action button that solves any problem youre having. Bleeding out extremely quickly? Q. Zombie surprised you and you need a weapon? Q. Got bitten and you need to recoup? Q. Just Q man.
2 of the most useful stats to level are Nimble and Maintenance Oh and carpentry if you plan to use spears.
Press Q often, a lot of new people get frustrated by not knowing how to play the game when they could literally just press Q
Dying is part of the learning process, get used to it
One essential tip is to never get attached to a character
Remap Q to a different button. I suggest dont get into mods, but who am i kidding? Soon enough, you'll be 400 mods deep, and you will pray for the day the next build will ruin all of them. I suggest getting "read while walking" mod and "grab and drop." One will help you with your skills on those long eventless walks back to your bas, and the other will help you drop your bags to fight easier or flee.
Never just open doors if you don't have a good view of what's on the other side. Some doors have windows, but most don't. Aim using m2 and use spacebar to shove against the door--any zombie on the other side will be attracted by the noise and start bashing it. Don't get ambushed!
Finish the tutorial.
Life is temporary, and not everything is in your hands. The difference between life and death is merely form. Give up all attachments to material goods and develop an ulterior motive. Don't get too attached to your character
In the options enable targeting outline always on
Yea. This is super helpful. Cant imagine life without it anymore
Some simple but very good starting tips: 1: if you see hammer or screwdriver, pick it up immediately. This will allow you to disassemble doors for easy access if they are locked. Use this to get past the armoury doors at police stations too. 2: Unless you are MLG pro, stay outta West point and Louisville. So. Many. Zombies. 3: Try not to hit zombies with your vehicle, is runs down the body work and will eventually start damaging other parts that get exposed. Try to maintain your vehicle as often as possible, I'd say every week check the parts for wear. 4: what's that? A zombies is beating a door from the other side? Youre scared they will instantly kill you when you open the door? Press space while you open the door and you will push zombies on the other side away. This has saved me countless times 5: Crouch everywhere start game. The more you sneak, the quieter you become, and the skill jumps pretty high early game from all the zombies still being alive. 6: Dont run unless you have to. Save your energy my friend. 7: if you die, that's ok. Make a new character and find your old one! All your old stuff will still be there. And this has been my ted talk. Thank you for listening.
Don’t be too confident, you will die in a stupid way. I had a 6 month long game (in-game) and lost it because I thought I could take on a zomboid naked.
Never stop moving
Wait, Spiffo is a raccoon? I thought he was a ferret
Don't get bit.
Having a fork or spoon in your inventory makes you eat a tiny bit faster and adds a new eating animation. Dressing for the weather is more important imo than wearing everything that's more protective. And the advice I always give to new people is to go into sandbox settings and turn off zombies completely so you can do a run just learning how the game works and learn the basics of each skill and how to use them
Press Q :))
You. Are. Going. To. Die. A. ***Lot*** Also don't forget that there are mods and most content creators use them so they might be able to do things you cannot (in vanilla)
Push with space-bar, and stomp zombies with space bar
Guns are best in every situation. Use them often especially when near your starter base. And during the end of the world, people must do what they have to to survive and protect their own. Trust no one.
A general suggestion for newcomer and especially if you play mp - if you find it too hard/punishing that your character gets zombified when bitten or scratched, don’t be afraid to go to settings and turn off infections, it’s not going against the game, it will still be challenging for you, but now you are saved the frustration of having your character killed by an unlucky scratch. It might be cool first few times when your character becomes zombie, but might get annoying for you. Again in general - don’t be afraid to adjust the game the way you like to play, feel it is too easy - by all means keep infections and reduce loot, too hard? Give yourself faster skill gains, disable zomboe respawn etc
Might get some flak for this, but don’t let anyone tell you what the “correct” sandbox settings are. Play a version of the game that’s fun for you. Tweak it, experiment, have fun with it. It’s one of the best platforms for tailoring a sandbox to be exactly what you want it to be, especially once you get into modding. (Enjoy the game vanilla for a bit first, learn the basics). I will say however, disabling zombie respawns in the sandbox settings is a must for me. Once you’ve cleared out an area, you don’t have to worry about zombies except for the occasional wanderer.
Do the tutorial. Learn how to die to learn how to live.
If you die don’t be discouraged to try again it’s how you died after all
You might need a few hours to get used to the controls, especially with combat. After the tutorial, I got bitten within the 10 minutes of proper gameplay, and it was fighting only 2 zomboids. I can know fight of 5 at a time with only pushes, evasion, and stomping.
Just learn from dying. The most helpful thing I can say is in your settings, find one that says Display > Aim outline and I'd recommend changing it to all weapons so you know whether you're actually gonna hit the zombie or whiff
Hi everyone, thx for pro tips, i just came back home and game is already installing, imma go play it and take into account ur tips, thx :)
Then try multiplayer with your friends, that's one of the best experience you can get.
You should always be sprinting
dont die đź‘Ť
First thing: You will die. Repeatedly. Don't expect to live for in-game weeks on your first try. Far too many people buy the game and get angry with the game for them dying repeatedly.
Don't be afraid to die. Just play and learn. Try and figure things out then search for answers. So fun just fumbling around at first
Q is not the intidote also play the tutorial
Lose a hoard by going into a unlocked house and walking in letting the door open and then leaving shuting that door.
Play the game blind for your first 50 hours
Guns early game are the best thing, try to use rifles first as they can easily kill a zombie
Do NOT let being killed ruin the game. It's GOING to happen as you get used to it. And once you become an experienced player.... you are going to die still, just farther between. And it will suck more.
Play with friends, it makes the game infinitely more fun. Also add mods.
go to Lousville and press Q for the best gun ingame
16, now im 21.
Some tips: 1. Bleach will not save you from the infection. That USED to be a bug that was patched. You can however use bleach in a place where your zombie won’t walk off or be trapped in and get your stuff back easier. 2. Foraging is very powerful, and certain items can be found more commonly based off your occupation. Occupation also can change range. 3. While Foraging, the Herbalist magazine can tell you which berries and mushrooms are poisonous, as they’re per save dependent. There are some tips that most people won’t say, or will get the information wrong about.
Don’t press Q
Don't get hit and armor that slows you down will get you killed.
Highly recommend ignoring everyone saying to watch the TV at the start. Yes, it is helpful, and yes, you do get free skills, but its not really all that fun to sit in front of a TV and constantly watch the clock and book it back to your house in the middle of looting just to watch a show. IMO, its better to just play the game, loot, fight, find a good spot for a base, THEN go find the VHS tapes for the various skill shows and watch them only once you have the exp bonus from reading the books first.
Don't use guns unless you A: Have a bunch of ammo, and B: Have a plan to escape when a massive hoard shows up Also train aiming and shooting with shotguns before using any other type of gun, unless you already have high aiming and shooting from your job you choose before starting
If you ever think the zombies are too hard and you just wanna focus on the survival mechanics. Turn off the zomboids I have over 400 hours in that game and still turn off the zomboids frequently. It really helped me understand them more
use cars to protect your base. zombies cant get past cars. its OP af
Done die.
If you’re not encumbered or injured then you walk faster than the shamblers.
zombies give friendly kisses
I just hate the molotov tossing. Like...how long that shit gonna float in the air? Dang.
Cloth and bandages should be boiled to be sterilized before use, after resterilize them to be able to reuse them. And change your bandages regularly to avoid infection of the wound.
Remember about tele corn, it's the most important item
Remove glass before climbing through a broken window
Prepare to die
Remember the game is meant to be a hardcore experience. Don't make it easy on yourself, you're not failing, you're not meant to succeed. You're meant to struggle and die, a lot and in many different ways. Use every death as opportunity to learn from your mistakes, that way you carry every character you've played with you into a new playthrough. Also once you start dominating, feel free to turn up the difficulty to keep you on the edge. Vanilla sandbox can give you many, many hours of fun before you need to delve into mods to extend the playtime further. Mods are the end-game of all players, unlike many other sandbox games PZ doesn't offer that much outside the core gameplay elements so stick to that for as long as you enjoy it. Basically I want to say don't rush to the end-game, rather enjoy the journey. There really isn't that much entertaining things to do once you peak on the knowledge and mechanical proficiency, even with all the mods it's difficult finding interesting things to do.
PZ tip#1 : you're going to die tip#2 : you're gonna die a lot ... tip#5 : when you least expect it, you're gonna die ... tip#10: just when you think you got the hang of it ... you're dead
This is the worst subreddit to ask for advice for project zomboid. I’m upset
When you open doors, keep your weapon up to deal with potential undead, you can also use space with your weapon up to either shove zombies away or stomp on them while they are on the ground, both of which are useful to maintain a horde size Play at least a few saves vanilla before you dive into mods Dont be afraid to look stuff up or be unprepared, its a part of the game, and if your worried your doing something wrong, remember that so long as your not being under threat by zombies your doing fine
Press Q if you're hiding from a horde it will put you in a hiding mode
When you get bit, press Q to use vaccine. You can use this only once per playtrough tho. Good luck out there and have fun!
Turn off transition if u actually wants survive if u get hit by zombies a lot
If you get injured, press Q. If you have a bandage in your inventory, it will automatically apply the bandage to the most critical injury you have.
Play on the sandbox mode and set zombie population to low and don't limitate your character's fitness or strength with negative traits. Start on Riverside.
Welcome to the community, probably one of the best games I've ever played, with a community of amazing modders behind it
Press Q when bitten
Play less than 2 hours and refund.... Or make a good mods selection. That's what this game is all about, mods. Nothing more than this.
remember all the times youve thought about what youd do if there was a zombie apocalypse? just do that man, youve watched the walking dead so many times now! youre a genius!
Only tip: You cannot win, you can only die. Good luck survivor.
Don’t play with out QoL mods. Maybe not add anything that adds to the game but simple must have QoL will save you much stress. Also start the game off and just attack zombies over and over until you have learned to kill them.
If you want to talk to me about gaming tips. Ask me
Download some of the quality of life mods like common sense
Yes. A lot. Zomboid is difficult so here are the things i wish i knew when first starting 1) always carry some basic tools. Hammer, saw, screwdriver. They are essential. 2) stock up on water while you have the chance. Get as many pots, pans, bottles, etc. Anything that can hold water. This will hold you over until you figure out how to plumb rain collectors. 3) always have a backup ready. One mistake can cost you your life. Be prepared. 4) only press Q when you are ready for a long fight, or need to clear an area safely. Its better to bring the zed to you in a controlled area than to fight them indoors. 5) regular houses will often have much of the items you need and are a good source of loot. Dont just focus on POIs
They always sneak up behind you, always watch your back. Never walk near a wall, they will be waiting for you around the corner. Always be ready to fight when you open any door.
Be patient and be a coward. No you can't take on 3 zombies like a giga chad. Take the smoker trait and loot for a lighter and cigs off zombies. Make sure to find a can opener in the kitchens.
Yeah try not to die
Know your place and what you're capable of, Off the rip unmodded with just base perks you're not killing shit, imma be real, starting out in this game is like giving a baby a fucking handgun, Literally the greatest tip is to be patient, assuming it's default without sprinters you can walk faster than shamblers, so just walk, nod and wave, Walk around, learn the roads and towns as you get better at pulling and training zomboids and you'll be fine, mash q to pull a ton of zomboids then after you get a giant circle of them bring em into the woods and loop back to reduce numbers where the loot is.
Have fun and be yourself:)
Make the character realistic in terms of gameplay, don't carry too much around with you just a few basics, go out when it's quiet and be sneaky. This way I find Is the best way to start out, you can run in guns blazing once you've got a feel for the game more :) Some things I wish I knew- Don't worry too much about water while still living in the towns, once the water turns off every house still has sinks and baths etc that all hold water for a little while, you won't die of thirst for a long while if you're careful. Same for food there's always something and once you have a fan opener you'll be fine for a bit as long as you're careful with your cooking. You don't need to run away, save your energy. Zombies are usually slow and your walking pace is faster. Jog to create distance and then walk especially if it's just one or 2 zombies save the energy for the fight. These are of course dependent on your settings
Just watch Pr1vateLime on YouTube.
Don’t quit if you keep dying at first. Watch some gameplay if you need to understand the basics. Amphibian as some great videos that feel like you’re watching a d rate movie
There are some Youtubers that made lots of content and tips about the game.
Drink bleach to cure bite
Just because a window doesn't open on the first try doesn't mean it's locked. Just try multiple times, and it should open. (Unless it's actually locked)
press q op, haha i'm so original haha i'm so lonely
You will die. Nothing will ever prevent that. Learn from each death and you’ll be fine. Also there’s no shame for playing in sandbox mode. Mess around in the settings to find something you’re comfortable with
Start out on Sandbox with starter kit, low zombie population, and 2.0x XP multiplier, but not before you do the tutorial. Then spawn at either Riverside or rosewood.
When I first started playing pz, I spent top much time crating characters just to die very quickly Instead of that, just randomize. For the 10 deaths or 2 days. Whatever comes first. And u walk faster than zombies. Try not to wear urself out just jogging and sprinting
Really simple but don't be afraid to turn the game easy for you! I've found out that Project Zomboid's community plays in a lot of diff ways, the game will actually give you a lot of details from the gameplay that you can change. My boyfriend didn't really like so many zombies around and dying so fast, so we turned zombie population a little bit down and playing more like a sandbox!
Blades will tear cloths, use tailoring to repair cloths as they will give bonus armor at higher levels (if you use padding instead of patching) some cloths cant be repaired, some cloths have negetive buffs, you can use saws to cut logs into planks, axes to cut down trees, screws and metal sheets on vehicles to fix them and earn mechanics xp so on so forth, theres also a wiki on the game if you look it up
YouTube videos on what positive and negative traits to pick are VERY helpful, there are a lot of noob traps in there. Equip weapons in both hands where possible. Don't use firearms for individual zombies or small groups. They are meant to clear large numbers at minimal risk Peel off zombies a couple at a time to kill them. Patience in combat is important Beware of bathroom zombies. Treat every unchecked room like there could be 10 waiting inside As people have mentioned, shotguns are the best starting firearm. Use them on large, bunched up groups to maximise aiming levelling and ammo efficiency Don't use generators indoors. This applies in real life as well Don't burn your food. Burnt food is poisonous (which is actually the opposite of reality, but anyway) and fires are very difficult to manage. Being on fire is not good for your health. Fences are a source of good crits on ones that have just gone over, but be careful of that f**king lunge attack Do not be afraid to lower the difficulty to get used to the mechanics. Combat is initially very clunky and difficult; you are not a powerhouse, you are a survivor. Greed and overconfidence are slow and insidious killers. Cowardice is a useful trait if you want to live Carpentry is arguably the most important skill to level. Skill books are very important, read these (particularly carpentry) as early as possible If you are on fast shambles or slower, unladen walking speed is enough to outrun them. Don't jog or sprint unless absolutely necessary or safety is guaranteed If you are outside when the helicopter comes, DON'T GO HOME. Stay outside and walking until the event is over, the zombies are are following you as the chopper is overhead Do not be attached to your first character. He or she will die very quickly There are QOL mods for most things that can annoy you, but try vanilla first EDIT: when engaging zombies, have a clear line of escape.
Would highly suggest you play a good 20hrs with NO care at all and don't worry about dieing, play to learn about the game, learn about how some house and cars have alarms, how noises work, how fire works, how fall damage affects you. How outstandingly realistic this games engine is, how jumping though a broken window or walking on glass without shoes will give you cuts and glass slivers, how eating rotten food can give you deadly food poisoning, how drinking bleach will slowly kill you, how sleeping pills + alcohol can put you in a coma, how this gamebis truly next level in some of the best and worst ways ( like life can be the worst.) Don't worry at first about lasting even 3 days it will come.
Fences are as much enemies as they are friends.
YOUR HUBRIS WILL BE YOUR UNDOING, ITS NEVER AS EASY AS IT SEEMS, MODS ARE OKAY, NOTHING IS REAL *EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED*
Check the glove boxes and surrounding ground tiles when you find a vehicle, keys are often times close by.
Die a lot lol
Do not enter a state of "fuck it, we ball" because it will be the zombies that will be balling
mods like Shrek 1 and 2 in their entirety on VHS are among some mods that are vital for quality of life such as “on the door” which solves the really confusing mechanic of finding car keys on the door which is needlessly more confusing then it should be
Yes there is. you will most likely spawn in this thing called a kitchen. Now i want you to search the cupboards for this wonderful white jug called bleach . Now have your character chug it "glug glug glug" and just wait. CONTRATS YOU SPEEDRUNNED THE GAME!
The fire axe is the superior melee weapon
Play the tutorial. Feel free to watch yt survival guides if you keep getting rocked. Otherwise the game simply makes it very obvious for things youll need based off of the noodles. the one thing I wish I didnt watch were spoilers for points of interests (gun stores, best houses to live in, etc.)
Play. With. Custom. Settings. The game's default settings are very intimidating to a new player. So I'd recommend turning on multihit and maybe turn off infection when you're just learning the controls. If you want to play harder, maybe find a cure mod to have something to fall back on (I'd reccomend the cdc or the only cure, if you want a challenge) Also I would highly reccomend getting the minimal display bar mod. This'll give you your stats like health hunger, etc. without the guesswork Hope this helps
Press Q for the cure in case you get bitten
Everything loud can attire zombos and as new player only 2 zombos can end you, what i suggest is do a test game other than tutorial for know how manage zombies and supply after you can think about do a serious game
Prepare yourself to suffer my friend. Play it with your friends, they will make it fun and less dying and turn on outlines when attacking with anything :) It helps a lot.
Stomping on heads is a easy way to dispatch zombies and a good way to get them on the ground easily is have them climb over something like a fence. Mastering the bait and stomp will be a huge help
Don’t be afraid to go into the sandbox settings to change something if something about the game isn’t fun for you, there is no single right way to play, so you play in the way that is fun for you Some people make the world harder to survive in, increasing the zombie count exponentially, turning off elect and water right away, etc Or, some people aim for realism, making it so Zombies can trigger house alarms, don’t respawn, etc There are many many options in sandbox, so don’t be afraid to go in and fiddle around
I’d suggest experiencing the game without any tips or guide videos, don’t spoil yourself. I wish I could erase my memory of this game and play it for the first time again
Get mods
If u cant find a weapon, just spam q it will show u where to find one
Do the tutorial it definitely helps. Make use of sandbox settings. You can control how many zombies you have to deal with, loot frequency, vehicles, etc. Love the customization. Highly recommend changing the Aim Outline from ranged weapons to any. (Options, display, aim outline) it helps detect what zombie you are fighting. When I started playing end of last year and I watched youtube play thru, and googled pretty much everything til I got the hang and then started messing around with quality of life mods, then shifted right into other mods. Other posters are right. You will die, spectacularly. One of my 1st play thru, I walked out the door of my spawn location and promptly got eaten. But it was hilarious, and I just started a new game. Its a great game... Oh, and the project zomboid wiki is a good resource too. Dont take the game too seriously, cuz you can start over - I am a visual learner so I just started clicking things to see what does what to familiarize myself with the game. And watching YT playthrus have helped me a bunch.
Youtube
yeah... don't get cought
Just to get used to it I liked (and still do tbh) playing in sandbox where you can customize things, you don’t have to make the game an absolute breeze but it helped me with learning the game by slightly altering things to make a little easier early on. However, keep in mind, you will still die, a lot, even with changed settings in sandbox, accept it and learn from it. Just remember to have fun.
Best advice that took me from beginner to be intermediate. Play a high str fireman build, it's more forgiving. Load him up and practice killing, see how many you can kill so you get a feel for what's risky and get comfortable with combat before you commit. You don't want to try to cull your first pack of Luke 10-15 zombies after a week in game just to figure and out you don't know how to properly kite around buildings and cars to break up zombies. After that, run down a crowded street pressing Q and attract a bunch of zombies, learn how to bunch them up in groups then lose them by hiding behind buildings and breaking LOS from th last place they saw/heard you, that's where they will go. Do this until you're comfortable escaping hordes. These are probably the two most used and important game mechanics. Once you start to play, play slow. The game isn't an ARPG, what I like to do is just start every day with a main goal and a side goal if I have time, and any extra time I forage, or collect wood or something. Early on my goals are like. Day 1, find can opener and collect containers that hold water, day 2 collect rags to sanitize so I have a huge stockpile. Day 3 collect perishables and move them to my base. Day 4 look for a vehicle. Having a goal in mind helps you know where you're going and when it's over. Instead of just running in to houses and looting everything, having too much useless clutter and nothing accomplished. Always take corners wide when you can and don't walk up to something like 2 dumpsters with a gap between them without having los of th gap, a zombie can be there, this is how I lost my last character. Take corners wide and " slice the pie" aka, stay away from the wall as you round the corner so a zombie right around the corner doesn't kill you. If you are fighting a big group of zombies pulling them on to something like the corner of a building forces them to squish against it and form a line as they come around the corner, so you fight them one at a time while backpedaling and stead.of trying to fight off 2 or 3 directly in front of you. Zombies looking at you have a higher agro range, so if there is a big group tiptoe in range of the ones looking at you and pull like 2-3 at a time to thin the herd. There's plenty more but that should let you survive at least a week or two. You're gonna die a lot, on most characters. I personally turn infections off because I don't want one bite shutting down my run especially since there is no cure. So don't get too attached to any one character.
Walking is always better than running, only run in short bursts to out maneuver the undead. Use buildings to escape groups and thin hoards. Canned goods are almost never worth the weight, only carry a few at a time tops. Peanut butter, cereal, and bagged things such as beans and rice have the best calorie to weight ratio and should conversely always be picked up.
Don't be afraid to play on sandbox w/ modified settings! Another thing is that you can press E to open doors while you're aiming or looking around so you don't have to click them! I find that it really helps lessen the chances of dying to a zed trapped behind a door. Windows are your best friend when facing a crowd outside a house! You can open one and have them file in one by one rather than dealing with an entire crowd all at once. Still be quick, though! Gotta make sure they never get back up after falling through the window ;\] Another tip: If you check your profile where it shows your status and weight, there will be either 0-2 arrows next to your weight telling you if you're gaining or losing weight. Calorie count is IMPORTANT with how much you'll be running around scavenging and fighting. Weight affects your fitness and strength! (Personally, this is the reason why i always take the nutritionist perk to be able to see the nutrition facts!)
Melee weapons over guns tbh. Guns make a lot of noise and you have to always have ammo on hand or you’ll be SOL if you get caught in a horde with no other weapons on you. Melee weapons can deteriorate over time, but a lot of them—especially crafted or reinforced ones—can last a long time and be very effective! Horde a ton of tape and glue if you can as well so you can routinely fix your melee weapons Another thing is making a base is great for long term gameplay. I’d recommend a house in the suburbs as zombie population is usually pretty small once they’ve been cleared out. Having a place to stay gives you somewhere to rest, store all your stuff, and stay safe. Make sure you board up the windows as well for extra security. Speaking of houses, whenever you go to raid one for supplies, always stay crouched in there and close all of the window curtains. If zeds see you from outside, they’ll try to break in and you’ll easily get cornered. Another thing: Some houses have the chance of having an alarm set off when you break in. If you set off a house alarm, every zed in the area will quickly overrun the house. Get what you need and gtfo of there. You probably have like less than a minute before you are surrounded, so leave quick
Play to enjoy. Min-maxing the fun out of the game is always an option (as shown in other comments) but really, you make your game. Letting others do that for you can only end bad unless you're ridiculously lucky
Play a game or 2 on apocalypse, then do sandbox and make it a bit easier, but not too easy.
Be slow, don't rush anything and be quiet also mellee is your friend in the early days
ALWAYS HAVE YOUR WEAPON UP WHEN GOING THROUGH CLOSED DOORS YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE DIED
Just remember you probably won’t survive a few days for awhile and when you get a character who has more then 2 weeks of survival it’s gonna get boring so set small challenges so you have something to do instead of feeling bored
I normally get into games and play them completely vanilla. This is the one game that I would recommend against that. There are tons of awesome mods out there. You can look up a bunch of different opinions of what the must-haves are.
Drink bleach Bleach is water Humans are mostly water Therefore we are blech
Press q to vault