MacSupreMe

This really seems like something that should be in the suggestions... It's really a sound idea and would really provide a damn good reason to go down the electrician path.

This makes a lot of sense.

Artillery.

I'm going to second this one, this is the ideal newbie Safehouse. You also have access to wood without the need for cutting down trees to start working on the coveted carpentry skill.

It's relatively old news, but could be kinda funny if done correctly... When UndeadLabs updated Their State of Decay game they found an bunch of penises throughout the gameworld. Now it may screw with the game rating for PZ but it would be kinda funny to go into an house somewhere on the map and find the "Penis House" may have it so you can only see it if using a light source like a flashlight.. If someone doesn't know about it... http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/state-of-decay-game-developer-finds-ridiculous-amount-of-hidden-penises-in-backgrounds-10105561.html It's fairly cheeky but it would be a good salute to another developer that are in the Zombie Survival game industry. Hell you could make an acheivement out of it.

Get out of town as soon as possible, typically I hit the large warehouse and head to the McCoy Logging Co buildings. The centre one is a pretty good spot, losts of exits in the event things go south, HOARDS OF LOOT. Keep quiet, only run if you need to. Sneaking is paramount to your success. Don't go out of your way to get stuff, keep it simple in the beginning, don't look for fights with Zed, try your best to avoid them and risks. Once you've established yourself outside of town and have a decent weapon you can start making runs into town. As you accumulate resources take half your survival gear, weapons, canned goods, water etc and put it in bag and stash it somewhere "relatively" close to where your shacked up. Find the supplies for a TENT You DO NOT need one safehouse, having multiple places to hideout is paramount. It doesn't matter what you build or where you build it, just get that carpentry skill up. Same thing with farming, just do it. Find an open spot in the woods and build, farm, set traps etc. The woods are the best place to be, forage you'll find berries eventually (FYI for some reason there are some places in the deep forest you can't forage, Devs should probably check into that). Survey and clear a house before entering and looting. Don't just walk into a house, walk around the entire house to ensure that there are not zed on the outside, If there are Zed, they will bang on the doors and attract more. Clear them out on the outside if its managable (5 max if your not buffed). Look in all the windows before entering, make sure theres an exit strategy. Enter house and CLEAR BEFORE LOOTING! Check all the rooms before you start looting stuff. You need to secure the house before you turn your back to open space. Rinse and repeat for all buildings. If there are too many Zeds, don't risk it. I only use guns when I've been bit and I'm going Kamikaze. Shooting off guns will not solve any of your problems, they'll only make things worse. You are not going to be able to kill all the Zed, the more you shoot, the more there will be. If you are going to shoot, then ensure you are in the absolute opposite direction of your safehouse(s). Guns should only really be used to draw zed away from something, but again, that sets you in their sites. Make sure your Athletics and sneaking are high if you absolutely must shoot off a gun. The Axe is your absolute Best friend, Treat it good. Maintain it, keep it in tip top shape. Eat and cook your fresh food now, save all the canned foods, chips etc. PZ is a game of patience, if you rush, you're dead. If you get complacent you're dead. There is a whole lot more of advice but I believe this covers the basics.

I'd like to direct you to this link, basic strategies for the mall. Its been cleared by a couple of us. Just remember move slow... Room by room, secure an area inside the mall, stairs are death traps, draw them to you. Guns are loud, sneak, sneak, sneak. http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/8876-clearing-the-mall/

Good job! Looks like a work of art! Now you just gotta move out all the bodies, wait for the update and have the biggest zombie corpse bonfire of all time! Hopefully the devs will release marshmallows with the update!

Take a look at my pics on page 1, there is a pretty good method to retaking the mall, just takes a lot of patience. Try and lead a few at a time and secure the areasw you've cleared. there are some woods a short distance from the mall. Utilize that and you good to go for wood. Guns in the mall are just a REALLY REALLY bad idea. Hand to Hand combat is the way to go. You sohuldn't have a problem finding glue, duct tape etc once you get into the storage areas, then its just a matter of taking things slow and easy.

Yeah we cleared the whole thing thinking they would be somewhere. We ended up finding about 2 or 3 total, but It was pretty packed out in the parking lot. We also had zombie density set to high in the server settings if that changes anything. No idea, Might want to bring it up to the devs. I'd just consider it damn lucky. The mall is the perfect place to make a base once its cleared. Lots of Supplies, and plenty of room.

Little surprised, did you go in? What I've experienced is the zeds all bunch up in the different stores.

I'm not sure what happened to Zed, I think it may have been the helicopter but they've completely abandoned the north west section of the mall. I'm taking over and securing small sections as I move along. All the zeds outside seemed to have taken off to the northeast at some point in time, allowing me a pretty clear walk to the trees. What started off as an incredibly hard going plan has become relatively easy.

Slowly but surely taking over... I've noticed too that there are a lot of Zeds in this place stuck in walls. There is so much in this place when it comes to design. You'll have walls put up for show that essentially make mini rooms with no entrence or exit that the zeds have spawned in.

I have yet to be breached from the outside but there were quite a few from within. I've secured my entire corner and I'm currently moving the bodies outside (LOVING THE MOVE CORPSE FEATURE). The great thing is there are two beds on the second floor of the corner. I've put up some walls to keep zed from getting in. I'll probably be expanding out into the main mall area soon. Starting with the top floor and will work my way down. I think my best bet will be to secure to the stairs then build walls around them so I can completely clear a floor without zed making their way back up. There are enough supplies in this place to last a long time. I'll only need to traverse outside to get dirt. Then I can start farming on the roof. I've gone through about 5 characters now... For some reason though I have yet to find their bodies. I'm starting to wonder if the game isn't saving them.

Just like Dawn of the dead (1978), putting up walls in my little area that I have retaken. Just need to mud and paint it and no zed will be the wiser.