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Project Zomboid Survival Guide (Complete)


Tyken132

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Ok, I thought about this for a while and decided to instill all of my total knowledge to the newer, unexperienced, and/or the unknowledgeable players in the field. So lets get started!

 

Building a Character - To Build a Better Survivor

I'm sure many of you newer players go to make a new character and your first thought is along the line of "Wtf is this? Wtf does that even do?" Well, I'm here to clear things up a bit for you.

 

To start, lets talk about professions. That is the "job" you had before the Zeds hit the fan. Each profession gives you a passive trait that helps you out and doesn't cost anything, so as it stands you should never pick "Unemployeed". I'll be linking to a more detailed guide on the hows and whys but if you want a brief TL;DR, Park Ranger and Contruction Worker are debatably the best classes at the moment.

 

Next, I'm sure you're wondering about traits. These are aspects you can add to a character, both possitive and negitive. Secondly, I'm sure you're wondering what green and red means, as well as the little number next to the traits. Well, red traits will give you negitive qualitys to your character but give you points to spend on positive traits. This might all sound a bit confusing but its a way to balance out your character. Next, we have the green traits which will give you positive qualites to your character, but requires points to be spent on them. Of course, the only way to get points to buy good traits is to take a few bad traits in return.

 

Lastly, I'll give you a brief TL;DR of the "best" traits. For positive we have: Strong, Lucky, Graceful, Athletic. The best negitive traits to take to buy some of those are: Brooding, Short Tempered, Light Drinker, Cowardly, and Hard of Hearing.

 

If you would like a more indepth explaination of what all these traits do, and would like to make an informed decision on your own, view my trait guide here.

 

Looting - Trash vs Treasure

I'm sure many of you newcomers often wonder, "Do I really need this..?" So I made this little section to give you a good idea of what kind of loot is high priority and what you can throw away.

 

Bags!

Anything listed as a "container" will give you increased carry capacity by reducing the weight of the items placed inside.

In order, the best bags are: Big Hiking Bag, Normal Hiking Bag, Duffle Bag, and Backpack. All of which can be worn on your back, or in one of your hands. You only need one bag but its a good idea to carry a second with you on looting runs. However, keep in mind that you can only use a weapon in one hand if you carry the other bag in the second. (Reducing damage of 2 handed weapons.

 

Skill Books

Any type of book that mentions it increases the exp of a skill (cooking, fishing, farming, carpentry) Not only does it make leveling your skills much easier but it gives you more level exp as well! Make sure to collect each level of book, as well.

Beginner(1), Intermediate(2), Advanced(3), Expert(4), Master(5)

 

Farming Equipment

Seed packets, to start. Collect atleast one of each (Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrot, Radish, Strawberry, Tomato, Potato) You can loot more later, but you should only need of each to start a basic farm. Towel (x1), Used to till the soil before planting. Watering can, you could just use bottles but watering cans hold more water. Getting a few makes watering larger farms easier. Gardening Spray Can (x2), You need these to get rid of diseases, I like to have 2 so each is dedicated to a seperate cure. (Pests/Mildew) Spade/Sand Bag, These allow you to gather and place dirt, incase you want to make a farm somewhere without dirt, normally.

 

Construction Materials

Nails, Very Important! Grab them, always. Hammer/saw, You only need one of each but you don't need to grab one till you're ready to start building and they're fairly common. Sledge Hammer, Allows you to break almost anything and get into places you normally can't. (Closed storage units, for one) Also allows you to break crates to get to the ones you normaly wouldn't beable to reach. Very important and fairly rare. Garbage Bags, Essential for making rain barrenls and not dying of thirst once the water shuts off.

 

Food/Water

To start? A water bottle. You can dump most bottles and fill them up with water and most sinks. (Whisky, pop, romulade. Also mugs in a pinch) You only need one to start but its a good idea to stock pile a few for when the water shuts off. You can also fill various other containers to stock pile water for later. As for food, anything that won't rot is a good idea to stock pile. Do -not- eat it unless you run out of options. Till the power goes out, there should be plenty of food you can eat inside of fridges. A list of foods that won't go bad can be found here.

 

Fishing

Fishing rod, can be craft or found, essential for fishing. Bait, Worms, Tackle, Bait fish. Used to catch fish with.Fish Nets, Can be found or made with twine/Wire. Used to catch bait fish. Misc: Twine, fishing line, nails, paper clips. Used in making or repairing the fishing rods. A full, detailed guide on fishing can be found here.

 

Miscellaneous

Milk Package, Used to make the mildew cure for plants. Cigarettes, used to make the pest cure for plants. Drugs!, Remember kids, if a stranger offers you drugs, say thank you. Drugs are expensive. Kidding aside, here is a list off all the drugs and what they do. Tent/Campfire Kit, Tents let you sleep anywhere, campfires let you cook anywhere. Lighter/Matches, useful if you need to start a fire, fast. Sheets, cover windows so zombies can't see you. Flashlight/Batteries, Used to see better in the dark, can also be used to make lamp posts. Can Opener, Used to cure zombie plague. Also good for opening cans. Mouse Traps, Sort of rare but handy for catching some low grade food early on. Can't be made as far as I know. Others, There are plenty of other useful items I didn't mention here on the wiki, I just wanted to list the most important items.

 

Weapons - Bashing Brains and You

I'm sure one of your first thoughts while trying to survive your first night may be "How the hell do I stop a zombie from taking a bite out of me?" Well I'm glad you asked, Timmy. There are quiet a few weapons in the game and we're going to go over a brief summary of which are the best and why!

 

Melee Weapons - Smash, Cut, Stab, Bash, Destroy!

Frying Pan - This is one of the most common weapons you'll likely find on your first night. They're very common and can be found in most kitchens. They're very durable and do decent damage for their size. A staple for early survival.

Crow Bar - A bit of a step up from the frying pan but a bit more uncommon.

Pool Cue - A surprisingly decent weapon. Not great on damage but amazing on speed and easy on the arms to use. Problem is they break as easily as you'd expect.

Wooden Planks - A great weapon to use in a pinch, just break down a door and you have a make-shift weapon! Add some nails to it for some extra damage. Problem is? They break -fast-

Baseball Bat - One of the best earily game weapons. Two handed, too! So you can really bring the pain. You can also add some nails for a bit of extra, nasty damage. Problem is that it doesn't have the greatest durablity and you'll find yourself needing to carry a back up weapon, or keep up with repairs.

Hammer - Much better than a frying pan, not entirely too uncommon and light! A Great back-up weapon and useful for later when you need to build.

Sledge Hammer - Its more of a tool than a weapon, try to avoid using it if possible. You'll get one good swing out of it -maybe- kill a zombie, then have to way for your exhaustion to go away.

Fire Axe - By far the best melee weapon in the game. Easily break down doors, cut down trees for wood, bash in a few skulls, and will last you for a good, long while. Main problem is they're considered rare, so chances of you getting one soon, is rare.

 

Useless Melee - You're going to kill them...With that?

These are possible weapons but should never be used, prior to a last resort.
Golf Club - Worse than a pool cue in almost every way,

Butter Knife/Spoon/Fork/Pen/Pencil/Scissors - They're just as effect as you might imagen.

Kitchen Knife - Actually not a "Useless" weapon, but its a blade. The main problem with blades is they're very risky to use because you have to get up close to use them.

Screwdriver - One step below a Kitchen Knife but with the same problem of being too "Stabby"

Rolling Pin - Not entirely useless, its a decent weapon if you need to use it but frying pans are a bit more common and much better.

 

Ranged Weapons - Out with a Bang, Then a whimper.

Before I explain -anything- else, kepe in mind that gunfire draws zombies towards you, which can be a horrible disadvantage..or a clever way to move zombies where you want them.

Pistol - a decent little hand gun. Not amazing but it has its uses. Generally very quick/easy to fire and even easier to reload. Ammo is also fairly common.

Shotgun - Fan favorite, also great for newbies (even better in v28+), this beauty will allow you to take out up to 5 zombies at a time with one shell! Great for clearing out an area of zombies. Problem is that its slow as hell to reload and the gun itself is quiet rare. Not to mention the ammo isn't overly common, either. I also believe this beauty has been nerfed slightly in v28+

Sawed Off Shotgun - Shorter range, larger spread, Less durability, potential to kill up to 6 zombies instead of 5. Personally I don't think its worth it, as it doesn't always kill the zombies it hits.

Varimint/Hunting Rifle - Meant to be long range killing weapons. Not much information is out right now on them as this guide has been writen at the pre-release of v28.

 

Surviving - Home Sweet Home

Now, before you pick a spot to make into your home, there's a few things you need to know.

First, Location! Now keep in mind that if you build in the middle of town, you're gonna have a bit of a zombie problem. If you build too far away, you'll have no where to loot and the game will get boring rather quickly. Idealy, you'll want somewhere inbetween.

Secondly, Elevation. You need somewhere with a second floor. The reason you would need that is that you could eventually destroy the stairs and simply use sheet ropes to get down. Zombies can't use sheet ropes, get where i'm going with this? 100% safe while in home.

Third, Wood. You're gonna need plenty to both decorate with and to build with, so you want to be a close to some nearby trees..and i'm not talking about just a few, either. The more tree's the better, though as long as you're willing to cart back tons of wood, any place is fine.

 

Food/Water

Now that you have a nice, somewhat safe area to begin your life after the apocalypse, its time to figure out how to take care of yourself so things like hunger won't kill ya.

Water - This is going to be your prime concern, as once the pumps go out, you won't be left with anything to drink. You main concern should be building water barrels, 1 should be more than enough till you start farming. as it holds 4 bottles of water. You're going to need carpentry level 2, 4 trash bags, 4 planks, 4 nails to build these things. Don't worry, there's a skill section below that might help ya out a bit.

Farming - One of the most reliable and best options for you, as well as most mobile as you can make a farm, anywhere. Now to get started, you need a towel, some seeds, garden sprayer, and a watering can/bottle. You may also need a shovel and empty sand bag if you want to place a farm inside or ontop of a roof. To start, you're going to make to make sure there are 2 space in between each plant. This prevents disease from spreading from one plant to another. It my take up some extra space but you hardly need a large farm. Next? Stagger your crops, meaning don't plant them all at once. The reason for this is so you can have fresh food every few days, instead of all at once every few weeks. Crops with higher growth time should be staggered more, crops like caggages with low growth can be staggered every day. Also, keep in mind to check your crops every so often and treat the diseases with your garden spray cans, the devil fungus can't be cured right now so just dig up your crops and replant them. Oh, one last tip. don't harvest your crops right away, wait till they're "seed bearing" so you get some seeds back. Lastly, here is a bit more indepth guide, if you need it.

Fishing - This is an amazing way to get food, and plenty of it. Problem is you have to be close to a water source in order to fish at all. Meaning that if you're in Muldraugh, you're out of luck. It can be a bit of a hassel to set up, though. A few things you may need are a fishing rod, or a stick, twine, and paper clip to make one. Some kind of bait: Worms, Bait fish, Fishing Tackle, and some twine/fishing line, as well as some nails/paper clips to repair your rod if it breaks. Fishing itself is pretty straight forward, right click on the water and click "fishing". This guide may answer any other questions you have.

Trapping - I personally haven't done enough with trapping to give a detailed explaination on it so I will refer to this guide. However, it is great for supplimenting your current food source and requires little upkeep.

Scavaging - I recommend doing this, even if you already have a steady supply of food, as this will allow you to have emergancy back-up food, incase anything ever happens to your current food source. Only loot food that won't go bad, though.

 

Skills - What they do and how to raise 'um

Sprinting - Allows you to run faster with each skill point. Unfortunately, the only way to level it is by sprinting, which can be a bit tedious. Best leveled naturally.

Nimble - Increases your speed when: Sneaking, Climbing fences, Climbing through windows. Leveled up by doing any three of those.

Light Foot - The ability to run or walk near zombies more quietly. Leveled up by walking or running near zombies.

Sneaky - Decreases the chance of you being heard near a zombie when sneaking. To level this up you must be near a zombie that doesn't know you're there, and sneak around him a bit.

 

Blunt - Decreases Stamina used when attacking, increases max damage, Faster Swing. Leveled by hitting things with blunt objects.

Blade - Decreases Stamina used when attacking, increases max damage, Faster Swing. Leveled by hitting things with sharp objects.

Aiming - Increases chance to hit your target. (Possibly more in v28) Best leveled with a shotgun and a hoard of walkers.

Reloading - Reload your guns faster. Best leveled with pistols (Shoot once, reload, repeat)

 

Carpentry - Higher levels unlock more building options, stronger/better crafted items, walls with less/no holes for zombies to see through, faster barricades. Sawing logs will give you "free exp" but its a bit slow and tedious. Best leveled by barricading a window with 1 plank, then unbarricading it. This method wastes nails but if you have a surplus then it really is fastest.

Cooking - Higher skills give better boosts to hunger, bordem, and unhappiness reduction. Also allows the ability to cook rotten foods at higher level. Best leveled with fishing by cooking your catches. If not able, crafting soup and salads from farming is your best bet.

Farming - Higher levels give more information on your crops when inspecting them, as well as giving a higher boost to starting plant health. Can only be leveled by harvesting full grown crops. Slower crops take longer to grow but provide more exp.

Fishing - Higher chance of catching bigger fish, lower chance of catching junk, lower chance of your line breaking. Leveled by fishing, nothing special.

Survivalism - Allows you build better traps. Leveled by sucessfully trapping animals. No skill books, unfortunately.

 

Tips and Tricks - Because "why not"?

1. Water bottle emtpy but the pumps have already shut down? All water sources have atleast one bottles work of water in the tap.

2. After you knock a zombie down, you can bash it with your weapon untill it dies.

3. Want to take out a horde but don't have a lot of ammo? Try lighting a camp fire and use your gun to draw them towards it. They'll catch on fire and spread it quickly to other zombies, killing most off them. Warning: Do not do near structures you care about.

4. Building locked up tight? You can wedge a window open by holding E while next to it.

5. Building with no doors or windows to break into? try using a sledge hammer to knock out a wall. This works great with storage units.

6. Don't drink bleach, no matter what your friends say.

7. Worried that zombies might be in a room? Hit the door with your weapon a few times. If you don't hear anything knocking back, chances that its empty are good.

8. Loud noises draw zombies so think twice before using that gun or breaking that window, and get the hell out if an alarm goes off.

9. Set-up more than one safe house. Its a great idea for traveling around town to have a safe place to sleep, or store some loot.

10. Always watch your food as you cook it. Burnt food tastes horrbile and you could cause a fire.

 

Feel free to post any other tips or suggestions and i'll add them to the list.

 

This guide is currently a work in progress, I will be adding more when I have the time untill it's complete. Feel free to correct any mistakes I may of made or offer suggestions on what I can add or change to make this guide better.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ha! We all start off as newbs, You should have seen me..Hell, only recently have I become really good. Then again I had to do a lot of research and dig through many guides before I could even survive more than a week. The power lasted longer than I did.

 

Either way, I'm glad this guide has been helping people. Just remember to keep asking questions.

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