Survival.....harder then if it really happened?

[blkdeath75]

I'm not saying this could happen BUT if it did, it wouldn't be as hard as Survival mode is right now. Pre patch I was able to actually go out and find stuff and build walls, defend myself for when zombies"happened by". Now a days, you're lucky to find a rolling pin for a weapon(where we at? I didn't realize rolling pins were more common then guns and knives in KENTUCKY!). Then when you sleep, zombies magically spawn outside your front door every morning(is my snoring that loud?). And forget even trying to fight off more than 2 at a time(not saying you should be able to but if we're making zombies spawn around the player when he turns his head then we should let him kill more then one at a time).

 

I really do like this game, I do, and I understand you're GOING to die eventually, but in the older version you died from a stupid mistake eventually, now you just die from walking a block in broad daylight. I appreciate the game has to have a degree of difficulty for replay value, but when that difficulty makes me wanna smash my computer because I cant kill 2 leech zombies with a crowbar after only 5-6 days in game just out looking for an axe the ENTIRE TIME......it gets to be frustrating.

 

I don't wanna be the guy stuck in easy mode(first bite i think its called) and I refuse to spawn items in like so many people do(I'm guessing or everyone else is WAY luckier then me). Am I doing something wrong? It seems the only way to survive a week or more is to sit in a corner and hide till you starve to death or run out of water. Zombies gathering in unpopulated areas en masse(railroad yards, open fields in the middle of the woods) seems unlikely, I could see town centers and suburbs, but there are twice as many out in the middle of nowhere.

 

Call it a rant I guess, I'm just not seeing the fun anymore. There's a difference between hard and impossible.

[fluffe9911]

If you want a axe then spawn in wp in the strip of buildings at the bottom end next to the food store is a hardware store you can mostly find around 2 to 3 axes there

[PPanda0421]

I agree. Take it from me - I like a challenge. I've played 7 Days to Die on Insane Mode with Always Run on and believe me that's a challenge and fun. I heard about Project Zomboid and started playing it when Build 32 came out (I love the game, really) don't know about the past zombie behavior but the spawn and the way the zombies act are too much.

 

If I build my base outside of town, why would there be 500+ zombies in town destroying all the doors?

 

Survival mode is not a challenge, just frustrating. If it's frustrating for people me who like challenges, it'll be 'bang-on-your-head-why-am-I-even-playing-this-game' for the casual players. People want to build a base/fort, not spend most of the time running away from and clearing zombies. I've watched a youtuber named 'Nomis Plays'

and in some episodes he does a weekly/monthly purging. He gathers all the zombies with his firearm and lures them out into an open area then sets them fire with well-placed campfires. Why should we even need to do this? The casual player would not even survive this.

 

Yes, I'm aware that you can customize your own game settings...blah, blah, bah, but when most of your players have to use the 'Custom' mode, then your  'Survival'

settings needs tweaking.

 

A little off-topic but I've played with the Hydrocraft mod and I think the developers should collaborate with Hydromancer's and add some of mod's content into Vanilla. It's quite fun!

 

To the OP, use the Lucky trait to find better loot.

[blkdeath75]

I'll have to try lucky, haven't been able to fool around with character builds much yet. 

 

I've got 76 hours into this game but I'm pretty sure only 2-3 of those are post build 32. It just seems impossible like devs have switched to accommodate multiplayer only. I could see ripping into a group of zombies with 4-5 people but solo survival and multiplayer survival need to be 2 different monsters. 

 

 

If you want a axe then spawn in wp in the strip of buildings at the bottom end next to the food store is a hardware store you can mostly find around 2 to 3 axes there

 

Is there a way to pick you actual spawn point in survival? I haven't seen anything? Also, not sure what "wp" is?

[Suomiboi]

I almost never use an axe as a weapon, I find too valuable for that. I have no problem tackling 3 zombies with just a rolling pin, although I prefer frying pans. When there's more than 3, I know to walk, or rather sneak away. Avoiding zombies is easy if you just learn to walk/sneak behind corners as soon as possible, breaking sight and never run except if you're covering distance or in serious shit. And remember to charge your attacks. I also generally try to stay away from anything remotely crowded. I almost never go to WP(West Point) or its center.

 

The sandbox is also another option for you in addition to First bite.

 

I agree. Take it from me - I like a challenge. I've played 7 Days to Die on Insane Mode with Always Run on and believe me that's a challenge and fun. I heard about Project Zomboid and started playing it when Build 32 came out (I love the game, really) don't know about the past zombie behavior but the spawn and the way the zombies act are too much.

 

If I build my base outside of town, why would there be 500+ zombies in town destroying all the doors?

 

Survival mode is not a challenge, just frustrating. If it's frustrating for people me who like challenges, it'll be 'bang-on-your-head-why-am-I-even-playing-this-game' for the casual players. People want to build a base/fort, not spend most of the time running away from and clearing zombies. I've watched a youtuber named 'Nomis Plays'

and in some episodes he does a weekly/monthly purging. He gathers all the zombies with his firearm and lures them out into an open area then sets them fire with well-placed campfires. Why should we even need to do this? The casual player would not even survive this.

 

Yes, I'm aware that you can customize your own game settings...blah, blah, bah, but when most of your players have to use the 'Custom' mode, then your  'Survival'

settings needs tweaking.

 

A little off-topic but I've played with the Hydrocraft mod and I think the developers should collaborate with Hydromancer's and add some of mod's content into Vanilla. It's quite fun!

 

To the OP, use the Lucky trait to find better loot.

I don't understand where you had the idea that the game is made to cater this special, elusive group of people called casual players? Also the "casual" player is not supposed to survive this, you aren't either. This is a permadeath game. There was a post by Lemmy, I think, at one point where he described that they wanted a years survival to be an actual challenge. It hasn't been that after the early days of the game. However people wanting the opposite now, might suggest that we're getting somewhere close to that.

 

Remember, PZ is a "Hardcore Sandbox Zombie Survival Game". It says so in the steam presentation page. For building forts, there's first bite, sandbox, the mapping tools and soon the creative mode. There's plenty of where to choose and not all can be satisfied with the survival settings. Also these additions were made from extensive community testing. Zombie amounts are unrealistic in my opinion too, but I think this is more of a gameplay concession thing.

 

Btw welcome to the forums Panda!

[Blasted_Taco]

I'm not saying this could happen BUT if it did, it wouldn't be as hard as Survival mode is right now.

 

Oh boy you dont have any idea, you would die the instant you need to scavenge from any minor mistake.

 

Anyway, lets try to help you, the game is doable in SP, is not easy but you can manage to get a month under your pocket with your previous experiences.

 

So lets start up with building a character, since you feel unlocky you should take Lucky and Inconspicuous (makes you seen less by zombies, dunno how).

 

Those two traits makes you be able to get good loot and also might get by without been seen.

 

Here the thing, when you spawn, loot all the house, get everything you can eat and if you can some kind of bag to put all that stuff there (plastic bag, school bag, you get the idea) then exit from the back window/door always, that way you will draw less attention to yourself and loot houses always from the backyard, never stick your head out in the street unless you know you need to move out of that looted place. Weapons you can find in houses are always:

-Hammer

-The almighty Frying Pan

-Butter/Kitchen knifes

-Rolling Pin (i think you have met him before)

 

When you have a weapon like those, never try to take on more than 1 or 2 zombies, but since you say that you encounter groups of 4 or more zombies, well that is when you try to sneak around them, you may draw 1 zombie by mistake, if he follows you all the way to the house you want to enter, kill him.

 

This is the main problem have in this build, they either don't sneak around well (way too close to the group or they try to risk opening a window with a group in the other side) or they take unnecessary risks like killing zombies that are not a threat.

 

Is like you see 2 zombies inside the kitchen of a house you just opened, 1 shambles and the other is a fast shambler, most players will try to kill them and that is when they get scratched, you need to lure them out in the open to kill them, fighting zombies indoors is the worst thing you can do if is more than 1.

 

I should try to make a video of how to survive the first days to get loot or stuff like that since people are really having problems with it, but since i hate doing commentary i will make it with captions and a little spiffo. 

[PPanda0421]

I almost never use an axe as a weapon, I find too valuable for that. I have no problem tackling 3 zombies with just a rolling pin, although I prefer frying pans. When there's more than 3, I know to walk, or rather sneak away. Avoiding zombies is easy if you just learn to walk/sneak behind corners as soon as possible, breaking sight and never run except if you're covering distance or in serious shit. And remember to charge your attacks. I also generally try to stay away from anything remotely crowded. I almost never go to WP(West Point) or its center.

 

The sandbox is also another option for you in addition to First bite.

 

I agree. Take it from me - I like a challenge. I've played 7 Days to Die on Insane Mode with Always Run on and believe me that's a challenge and fun. I heard about Project Zomboid and started playing it when Build 32 came out (I love the game, really) don't know about the past zombie behavior but the spawn and the way the zombies act are too much.

 

If I build my base outside of town, why would there be 500+ zombies in town destroying all the doors?

 

Survival mode is not a challenge, just frustrating. If it's frustrating for people me who like challenges, it'll be 'bang-on-your-head-why-am-I-even-playing-this-game' for the casual players. People want to build a base/fort, not spend most of the time running away from and clearing zombies. I've watched a youtuber named 'Nomis Plays'

and in some episodes he does a weekly/monthly purging. He gathers all the zombies with his firearm and lures them out into an open area then sets them fire with well-placed campfires. Why should we even need to do this? The casual player would not even survive this.

 

Yes, I'm aware that you can customize your own game settings...blah, blah, bah, but when most of your players have to use the 'Custom' mode, then your  'Survival'

settings needs tweaking.

 

A little off-topic but I've played with the Hydrocraft mod and I think the developers should collaborate with Hydromancer's and add some of mod's content into Vanilla. It's quite fun!

 

To the OP, use the Lucky trait to find better loot.

I don't understand where you had the idea that the game is made to cater this special, elusive group of people called casual players? Also the "casual" player is not supposed to survive this, you aren't either. This is a permadeath game. There was a post by Lemmy, I think, at one point where he described that they wanted a years survival to be an actual challenge. It hasn't been that after the early days of the game. However people wanting the opposite now, might suggest that we're getting somewhere close to that.

 

Remember, PZ is a "Hardcore Sandbox Zombie Survival Game". It says so in the steam presentation page. For building forts, there's first bite, sandbox, the mapping tools and soon the creative mode. There's plenty of where to choose and not all can be satisfied with the survival settings. Also these additions were made from extensive community testing. Zombie amounts are unrealistic in my opinion too, but I think this is more of a gameplay concession thing.

 

Btw welcome to the forums Panda!

Suomiboi, I'm thinking that when the developers made this game, they wanted to make a game that would be fun to play and that would result in lots of sales. My definition of a casual player is someone who at the end of a long day (work, school, etc) just wants to relax and roam an apocalyptic world for a few hours. Usually the casual player makes up most of the players.

 

Perhaps they can add a mid-level option - something between first-bite and hardcore survival.

 

Thanks. I don't usually post on forums but I've played this game for over a month now and this is one of the concerns I have. I do want the game to be successful. IMO, if the developers want sales then they should cater to the masses (aka the casual players). Another concern is the lack of maps. Perhaps a future release will add procedurally-generated maps (although very unlikely) like in 7 Days to Die. Yes, I'm aware of the upcoming feature where we can create our own maps....

 

Just my 2 cents.

[lucy the axe]

I'm not saying this could happen BUT if it did, it wouldn't be as hard as Survival mode is right now. Pre patch I was able to actually go out and find stuff and build walls, defend myself for when zombies"happened by". Now a days, you're lucky to find a rolling pin for a weapon(where we at? I didn't realize rolling pins were more common then guns and knives in KENTUCKY!). Then when you sleep, zombies magically spawn outside your front door every morning(is my snoring that loud?). And forget even trying to fight off more than 2 at a time(not saying you should be able to but if we're making zombies spawn around the player when he turns his head then we should let him kill more then one at a time).

 

I really do like this game, I do, and I understand you're GOING to die eventually, but in the older version you died from a stupid mistake eventually, now you just die from walking a block in broad daylight. I appreciate the game has to have a degree of difficulty for replay value, but when that difficulty makes me wanna smash my computer because I cant kill 2 leech zombies with a crowbar after only 5-6 days in game just out looking for an axe the ENTIRE TIME......it gets to be frustrating.

 

I don't wanna be the guy stuck in easy mode(first bite i think its called) and I refuse to spawn items in like so many people do(I'm guessing or everyone else is WAY luckier then me). Am I doing something wrong? It seems the only way to survive a week or more is to sit in a corner and hide till you starve to death or run out of water. Zombies gathering in unpopulated areas en masse(railroad yards, open fields in the middle of the woods) seems unlikely, I could see town centers and suburbs, but there are twice as many out in the middle of nowhere.

 

Call it a rant I guess, I'm just not seeing the fun anymore. There's a difference between hard and impossible.

Don't try to live in the city. Run to isolated areas as soon as you can. This is the most helpful thing for me. Once I accepted I'm not a city-survivor, my average survival has increased from 3 days to 4 months. It doesn't mean the towns and cities will be inaccessible to you though. Once you get a couple of points in maintenance/accuracy you can make regular looting runs into town (start from outskirts).

 

 

I almost never use an axe as a weapon, I find too valuable for that. I have no problem tackling 3 zombies with just a rolling pin, although I prefer frying pans. When there's more than 3, I know to walk, or rather sneak away. Avoiding zombies is easy if you just learn to walk/sneak behind corners as soon as possible, breaking sight and never run except if you're covering distance or in serious shit. And remember to charge your attacks. I also generally try to stay away from anything remotely crowded. I almost never go to WP(West Point) or its center.

 

The sandbox is also another option for you in addition to First bite.

 

I agree. Take it from me - I like a challenge. I've played 7 Days to Die on Insane Mode with Always Run on and believe me that's a challenge and fun. I heard about Project Zomboid and started playing it when Build 32 came out (I love the game, really) don't know about the past zombie behavior but the spawn and the way the zombies act are too much.

 

If I build my base outside of town, why would there be 500+ zombies in town destroying all the doors?

 

Survival mode is not a challenge, just frustrating. If it's frustrating for people me who like challenges, it'll be 'bang-on-your-head-why-am-I-even-playing-this-game' for the casual players. People want to build a base/fort, not spend most of the time running away from and clearing zombies. I've watched a youtuber named 'Nomis Plays'

and in some episodes he does a weekly/monthly purging. He gathers all the zombies with his firearm and lures them out into an open area then sets them fire with well-placed campfires. Why should we even need to do this? The casual player would not even survive this.

 

Yes, I'm aware that you can customize your own game settings...blah, blah, bah, but when most of your players have to use the 'Custom' mode, then your  'Survival'

settings needs tweaking.

 

A little off-topic but I've played with the Hydrocraft mod and I think the developers should collaborate with Hydromancer's and add some of mod's content into Vanilla. It's quite fun!

 

To the OP, use the Lucky trait to find better loot.

I don't understand where you had the idea that the game is made to cater this special, elusive group of people called casual players? Also the "casual" player is not supposed to survive this, you aren't either. This is a permadeath game. There was a post by Lemmy, I think, at one point where he described that they wanted a years survival to be an actual challenge. It hasn't been that after the early days of the game. However people wanting the opposite now, might suggest that we're getting somewhere close to that.

 

Remember, PZ is a "Hardcore Sandbox Zombie Survival Game". It says so in the steam presentation page. For building forts, there's first bite, sandbox, the mapping tools and soon the creative mode. There's plenty of where to choose and not all can be satisfied with the survival settings. Also these additions were made from extensive community testing. Zombie amounts are unrealistic in my opinion too, but I think this is more of a gameplay concession thing.

 

Btw welcome to the forums Panda!

Suomiboi, I'm thinking that when the developers made this game, they wanted to make a game that would be fun to play and that would result in lots of sales. My definition of a casual player is someone who at the end of a long day (work, school, etc) just wants to relax and roam an apocalyptic world for a few hours. Usually the casual player makes up most of the players.

 

Perhaps they can add a mid-level option - something between first-bite and hardcore survival.

 

Thanks. I don't usually post on forums but I've played this game for over a month now and this is one of the concerns I have. I do want the game to be successful. IMO, if the developers want sales then they should cater to the masses (aka the casual players). Another concern is the lack of maps. Perhaps a future release will add procedurally-generated maps (although very unlikely) like in 7 Days to Die. Yes, I'm aware of the upcoming feature where we can create our own maps....

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Hi. I'm a "casual" and I want to say it's possible to survive long in this game in Survival with no mods or cheating. You just need to adjust your thinking. Learn to pick fights, run away, accept your weaknesses, adjust your strategy.

 

If you find zombies too much in the towns, run away to the quieter areas like McCoy. Build 32 is a hard start so it's better to gather some food and basics then move someplace safe to train up. Just a couple points in accuracy and maintenance will help you deal with zombies. Plus, it's easier to focus on a single task when you're not worrying about food or water or a safe place to run to all at the same time.

 

Don't let it get to you when people say "lol noob. u cant build safehouse in town? ur a noob!" Won't you rather be a live noob than a dead "badass" being gnawed on by three zombies in a trailer park bathroom?

 

That being said, sometimes I also wonder when will the Survival Mode tweaking end. I feel like the feedback is mostly coming from vets of the game who are obviously playing this game for too long and find everything too easy. So naturally, the tweaks for Survival is about making the game more challenging to them. It's probably easy to adapt to these updates if you play everytime there's a new build. But it's a difficult task for someone new to dive into the game. And it seems it gets difficult-er and difficult-er every update.

 

Then again maybe it's the hardcore mode already, and we just weren't aware.

[Blasted_Taco]

 

Snip V 2,0

SnipO

Snip

Suomiboi, I'm thinking that when the developers made this game, they wanted to make a game that would be fun to play and that would result in lots of sales. My definition of a casual player is someone who at the end of a long day (work, school, etc) just wants to relax and roam an apocalyptic world for a few hours. Usually the casual player makes up most of the players.

 

Perhaps they can add a mid-level option - something between first-bite and hardcore survival.

 

Thanks. I don't usually post on forums but I've played this game for over a month now and this is one of the concerns I have. I do want the game to be successful. IMO, if the developers want sales then they should cater to the masses (aka the casual players). Another concern is the lack of maps. Perhaps a future release will add procedurally-generated maps (although very unlikely) like in 7 Days to Die. Yes, I'm aware of the upcoming feature where we can create our own maps....

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

I think you got it all wrong.

 

" I do want the game to be successful. IMO, if the developers want sales then they should cater to the masses (aka the casual players)" Oh boy, that explains why is selling and why it stands out of the other THOUSANDS of zombie games cater to the casual players.

 

Giving my 2 cents, Project Zomboid fills that gap of Rouge Like (NOT A ACTUAL ROUGE LIKE, DONT EVER QUOTE ME ON THIS) and a good survival pre and post apocalyptic game, this kind of games really has a nich community that gets bigger and bigger thought time. 

 

Casuals literally have TONS of zombie games to chose from, PZ is a few of the real survival zombie games.

 

And don't tell me people don't like harsh games with difficulty, games like Dont Starve, The Long Dark, Neo Scavenger and other survival game that have permadeath do have a place in the market.

 

Each game has a difficulty curve you need to learn, each of those games dont hold your hand (aka casual games) and they make you feel great when you survive in them.

 

Maybe Project Zomboid is not the game for you, from the first time you start the game you get the screen saying "This is how you died", the game is suppose to be harsh, surviving itself is a task that you need to endure.

 

The devs themselves said so, they are going to ramp up the difficulty even more, they want the game to be brutal yet fair to play, they did cater to casuals once, if you have played "First Bite" the game was like that or even easier to play.

Most older members of the community felt betrayed by this, because they bought the game thinking it was going to be like the tech demo levels of difficulty, but it ended up begin "Farming Simultator with 2 zombies outside: The game".

 

You cant tell the devs to cater to casuals, they did once and realize this and put the game back on track, why do you think that "First bite" even exists? 

 

Quote directly from one of the main devs:

Survival times of a month or two will be squeezed into a week or two. Survival times of a year will be squeezed into being a few of months tops. If we do our job properly, surviving a year in post 30 zomboid in single player Survival mode should be achievement only a handful of players should ever accomplish, and everyone in the community should know their names and speak of them in hushed reverential tones. Youtube videos of their survival achievements should be studied by future generations for tips, for they are surely gods amongst Zomboid players. Back in the day a PZ player by the name of Adric The Great cracked a year in Zomboid, and this blew people's minds. It was a thing of legend. Someone doing that these days would probably barely raise an eyebrow amongst the more experienced players, except perhaps to wonder how they didn't get bored. Survival mode is meant to be hard. It's meant to be REALLY hard. Every day you don't get eaten or starve to death should be a blessing. Escaping the horde should be an unending challenge and you should rarely feel safe. That's the genesis of Zomboid, and we lost our way over the years to try and be inviting to new people. So now we provided the beginner mode to give those newer people a helping hand, as well as sandbox with (ultimately more) presets to allow anyone of any skill level to play the game at any level of difficulty or amount of pressure they desire. 

The whole reason for this is is to free us of the shackles of trying not to alienate those looking for a more casual less brutal experience, but at the same time giving us the power to really drive up the brutal hardcore difficulty that is Zomboid's heritage for all those who supported us in the early days and have found the game has been watered down and compromised and no longer offers any challenge to them. As early supporters they deserve more than that.

 

Also "Perhaps they can add a mid-level option - something between first-bite and hardcore survival."

 

You can make it yourself, is called Sandbox, sorry if i come up sounding harsh but really, Project Zomboid in Survival mode maybe is not the right mode for you right now, try to practice in Sandbox and eventually you will get good enough to survive a week in survival.

[Swagger]

I play survival mode, I take the unemployed, obese and weak and I don't find it that hard to survive.  In this build i found my survival rate when up when I started to utilise the space bar stamp function, its so OP and generally played a bit more cautiously.  I definitely die more in this build (mainly my fault) and I think it has some problems with too many zombies in the first few days (mainly from a RP point of view) but I wouldn't say it was very hard once you get the hang of it, but since we are playing the game with missing features I don't think it matters too much.  I just had to play the first few days a bit different to how I previously did.

[PPanda0421]

 

 

Snip V 2,0

SnipO

Snip

Suomiboi, I'm thinking that when the developers made this game, they wanted to make a game that would be fun to play and that would result in lots of sales. My definition of a casual player is someone who at the end of a long day (work, school, etc) just wants to relax and roam an apocalyptic world for a few hours. Usually the casual player makes up most of the players.

 

Perhaps they can add a mid-level option - something between first-bite and hardcore survival.

 

Thanks. I don't usually post on forums but I've played this game for over a month now and this is one of the concerns I have. I do want the game to be successful. IMO, if the developers want sales then they should cater to the masses (aka the casual players). Another concern is the lack of maps. Perhaps a future release will add procedurally-generated maps (although very unlikely) like in 7 Days to Die. Yes, I'm aware of the upcoming feature where we can create our own maps....

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

I think you got it all wrong.

 

" I do want the game to be successful. IMO, if the developers want sales then they should cater to the masses (aka the casual players)" Oh boy, that explains why is selling and why it stands out of the other THOUSANDS of zombie games cater to the casual players.

 

Giving my 2 cents, Project Zomboid fills that gap of Rouge Like (NOT A ACTUAL ROUGE LIKE, DONT EVER QUOTE ME ON THIS) and a good survival pre and post apocalyptic game, this kind of games really has a nich community that gets bigger and bigger thought time. 

 

Casuals literally have TONS of zombie games to chose from, PZ is a few of the real survival zombie games.

 

And don't tell me people don't like harsh games with difficulty, games like Dont Starve, The Long Dark, Neo Scavenger and other survival game that have permadeath do have a place in the market.

 

Each game has a difficulty curve you need to learn, each of those games dont hold your hand (aka casual games) and they make you feel great when you survive in them.

 

Maybe Project Zomboid is not the game for you, from the first time you start the game you get the screen saying "This is how you died", the game is suppose to be harsh, surviving itself is a task that you need to endure.

 

The devs themselves said so, they are going to ramp up the difficulty even more, they want the game to be brutal yet fair to play, they did cater to casuals once, if you have played "First Bite" the game was like that or even easier to play.

Most older members of the community felt betrayed by this, because they bought the game thinking it was going to be like the tech demo levels of difficulty, but it ended up begin "Farming Simultator with 2 zombies outside: The game".

 

You cant tell the devs to cater to casuals, they did once and realize this and put the game back on track, why do you think that "First bite" even exists? 

 

Quote directly from one of the main devs:

Survival times of a month or two will be squeezed into a week or two. Survival times of a year will be squeezed into being a few of months tops. If we do our job properly, surviving a year in post 30 zomboid in single player Survival mode should be achievement only a handful of players should ever accomplish, and everyone in the community should know their names and speak of them in hushed reverential tones. Youtube videos of their survival achievements should be studied by future generations for tips, for they are surely gods amongst Zomboid players. Back in the day a PZ player by the name of Adric The Great cracked a year in Zomboid, and this blew people's minds. It was a thing of legend. Someone doing that these days would probably barely raise an eyebrow amongst the more experienced players, except perhaps to wonder how they didn't get bored. Survival mode is meant to be hard. It's meant to be REALLY hard. Every day you don't get eaten or starve to death should be a blessing. Escaping the horde should be an unending challenge and you should rarely feel safe. That's the genesis of Zomboid, and we lost our way over the years to try and be inviting to new people. So now we provided the beginner mode to give those newer people a helping hand, as well as sandbox with (ultimately more) presets to allow anyone of any skill level to play the game at any level of difficulty or amount of pressure they desire. 

The whole reason for this is is to free us of the shackles of trying not to alienate those looking for a more casual less brutal experience, but at the same time giving us the power to really drive up the brutal hardcore difficulty that is Zomboid's heritage for all those who supported us in the early days and have found the game has been watered down and compromised and no longer offers any challenge to them. As early supporters they deserve more than that.

 

Also "Perhaps they can add a mid-level option - something between first-bite and hardcore survival."

 

You can make it yourself, is called Sandbox, sorry if i come up sounding harsh but really, Project Zomboid in Survival mode maybe is not the right mode for you right now, try to practice in Sandbox and eventually you will get good enough to survive a week in survival.

 

To Lucy and Blasted, umm guys I think you all got the wrong idea. I'm doing fine in survival (I'm pretty sure I'm at Nomis Plays level). Check out my Lets Play on youtube with the channel name the same as my user name here. I just started a new game but in previous games  I'm lasting from 1 month to 1+ years. Also, I only play with mods because it adds more content. After a while in vanilla you can only do so much. Anyways, you should be helping the original poster who is having problems surviving in the game. I was just complaining about the current system in that it needs tweaks to survive in the long run against all the other zombie games out there. I said it gets frustrating (maybe I should used 'annoying') but it doesn't mean I can't handle them.

 

Let me ask you guys this, in survival mode after 1 or 2 months how do you deal with the 100s of zombies in town destroying all the doors? Or do you just leave them be? I clear (most of) them out. Then a few days later they respawn (or migrate there) and I do the same thing - rinse and repeat. Does that sound fun to you?

[Blasted_Taco]

Oh sorry i though you were the OP, but it seems wierd to me that you want PZ to be like the other zombie games, PZ is unique in the sense that you feel the depression, hopeless and the difficulty of the game, most zombie games that appeals to casuals don't do that (looking at you DayZ with no zombies and the tons of early access games.)

 

As for:

"Let me ask you guys this, in survival mode after 1 or 2 months how do you deal with the 100s of zombies in town destroying all the doors? Or do you just leave them be? I clear (most of) them out. Then a few days later they respawn (or migrate there) and I do the same thing - rinse and repeat. Does that sound fun to you?"

 

You mean zombie managment? Yeah kinda.

 

How do i deal with them? Well just i dont, if they are not near my base, i wont mess with them, simple as that, why would i care of the town if they are destroying all the doors? By month 1 i might have all the tools to start getting my base safer.

 

However if they do start getting near my base? Take a gun, whatever gun you have with ammo, go 2 blocks down to where the horde is and shot once, move slowly towards the forest/very open field that is far from your base, shot a few times to keep drawing all the zombies away and lose them in the forest trees, is very simple.

 

And now i don't have to worry about opening a window to get to a store, as i can just walk inside the store and loot quickly whatever supplies i can need.

 

Each time i see my supplies are running low, a day before i go looting i do that, you can always find pistol and so ammo to do so.

You kinda just need to adapt a bit to what the game throws at you, waking up to a horde infront of your base? Well that is a different story but the same strategy works, or just leave your base and go to your backup safehouse (always do this).

[PPanda0421]

Oh sorry i though you were the OP, but it seems wierd to me that you want PZ to be like the other zombie games, PZ is unique in the sense that you feel the depression, hopeless and the difficulty of the game, most zombie games that appeals to casuals don't do that (looking at you DayZ with no zombies and the tons of early access games.)

 

As for:

"Let me ask you guys this, in survival mode after 1 or 2 months how do you deal with the 100s of zombies in town destroying all the doors? Or do you just leave them be? I clear (most of) them out. Then a few days later they respawn (or migrate there) and I do the same thing - rinse and repeat. Does that sound fun to you?"

 

You mean zombie managment? Yeah kinda.

 

How do i deal with them? Well just i dont, if they are not near my base, i wont mess with them, simple as that, why would i care of the town if they are destroying all the doors? By month 1 i might have all the tools to start getting my base safer.

 

However if they do start getting near my base? Take a gun, whatever gun you have with ammo, go 2 blocks down to where the horde is and shot once, move slowly towards the forest/very open field that is far from your base, shot a few times to keep drawing all the zombies away and lose them in the forest trees, is very simple.

 

And now i don't have to worry about opening a window to get to a store, as i can just walk inside the store and loot quickly whatever supplies i can need.

 

Each time i see my supplies are running low, a day before i go looting i do that, you can always find pistol and so ammo to do so.

You kinda just need to adapt a bit to what the game throws at you, waking up to a horde infront of your base? Well that is a different story but the same strategy works, or just leave your base and go to your backup safehouse (always do this).

NP. I wanted the game to be more casual friendly so that it will get more sales. More sales = more money for the company. More money = more content for everyone . We (anyone outside of the company) don't know the sales numbers so we don't know if the developer's current strategy is working. Some of us are just giving our input. Whether they accept it is up to them.

 

I usually build my base outside of town so I don't get overrun by zombies. By 2 weeks to a month I already have all the supplies I need myself. However I like to loot all the houses/buildings to get extra loot. Feels great when you have 15 frying pans, 20 pots, 10 kettles, etc. Hehe that's just the hoarder in me .

 

Yes, I've tried shooting a firearm to get their attention and luring them away from areas I want to explore. I've also tried the alarm clock and timer. I guess that is considered one strategy to deal with hordes. That strategy of luring them is into the woods seems more effective as I think there is a limit to how many zombies spawn in an area whereas killing them spawns more zombies.

 

I think there is still an issue with zombies breaking down doors when you're not in the area. Doesn't seem right when you're passing by a section of the map only to return it later and find all the doors are broken. Easy access for you yes, but also easy access for them to get to you.

 

I don't have a 'backup' house but what I do is barricade several 2 story buildings in the city. I then put sheet ropes on the 2nd floor in that building for easy access/get-away in case I'm stuck in the city at nightime. I also leave some extra food/water in those buildings. Just a tip to the newbies out there...

[NATOguns]

The should just add a 3th or a 4th mode depanding how you look at it.

 

- First Bite (the easiest setting)

- Custom (You know... custom)

- Survival (the true game mode)

- Survival Light (Same as survival but with less zombies)

[Yolan]

Nearly six weeks into regular survival mode now. Just finished the double wall (log exterior, regular wall interior) around my deep-forest shack by the south-east end of the river. Little farm is providing more food than I can eat, and about 30 kilos of non-perishable food stocked for when it starts to get cold. Now I'm just planning some relatively safe raids for a few supplies (nails, books, fishing rod etc.) on locations that are on the outskirts of the big towns or in rural areas. I have no need or desire to get very close to the suburbs at the moment. When I get my carpentry up to six I'll add some stairs and a second floor, with a walkway around the wall with plenty of ropes leading down. I have a crate with an emergency stash at the bend in the river to the west in case I need to get out quick if a horde does find me.

 

I did just get my first spawn of zombies outside my shack (a bunch of four), but I think this was more that they were rotated there when I went out of the cell as it is a pre-existing building as opposed to them having wandered over all that distance. Still, glad to have the wall.

 

Not sure if I'll have any problem living quite a while so long as I don't get bored and do something stupid. And I won't be eating worms/bait etc. which I think is a bit exploitative. 

 

The way I see it, if it was an actual zombie apocalypse situation you would be staying the hell out of suburbs as well. It makes sense that I need to be out in the wilderness in order to be relatively safe. Going forward, I think project Z just needs some fine tuning done with the hunger system/cooking/farming etc. so that survival is not too trivial. This may help force people to raid for food more often, or for longer while getting larger scale farms/hunting running, and hence take more risks.

[lucy the axe]

Anyways, you should be helping the original poster who is having problems surviving in the game. I was just complaining about the current system in that it needs tweaks to survive in the long run against all the other zombie games out there. I said it gets frustrating (maybe I should used 'annoying') but it doesn't mean I can't handle them.

 

Let me ask you guys this, in survival mode after 1 or 2 months how do you deal with the 100s of zombies in town destroying all the doors? Or do you just leave them be? I clear (most of) them out. Then a few days later they respawn (or migrate there) and I do the same thing - rinse and repeat. Does that sound fun to you?

 

Read my post again. I did quote OP and gave him some survival tips before I (mistakenly) gave you help too. Also, this:

 

That being said, sometimes I also wonder when will the Survival Mode tweaking end. I feel like the feedback is mostly coming from vets of the game who are obviously playing this game for too long and find everything too easy. So naturally, the tweaks for Survival is about making the game more challenging to them. It's probably easy to adapt to these updates if you play everytime there's a new build. But it's a difficult task for someone new to dive into the game. And it seems it gets difficult-er and difficult-er every update.

 

Then again maybe it's the hardcore mode already, and we just weren't aware.

Which was answered by Taco quoting the devs:

Survival times of a month or two will be squeezed into a week or two. Survival times of a year will be squeezed into being a few of months tops. If we do our job properly, surviving a year in post 30 zomboid in single player Survival mode should be achievement only a handful of players should ever accomplish, and everyone in the community should know their names and speak of them in hushed reverential tones. Youtube videos of their survival achievements should be studied by future generations for tips, for they are surely gods amongst Zomboid players. Back in the day a PZ player by the name of Adric The Great cracked a year in Zomboid, and this blew people's minds. It was a thing of legend. Someone doing that these days would probably barely raise an eyebrow amongst the more experienced players, except perhaps to wonder how they didn't get bored. Survival mode is meant to be hard. It's meant to be REALLY hard. Every day you don't get eaten or starve to death should be a blessing. Escaping the horde should be an unending challenge and you should rarely feel safe. That's the genesis of Zomboid, and we lost our way over the years to try and be inviting to new people. So now we provided the beginner mode to give those newer people a helping hand, as well as sandbox with (ultimately more) presets to allow anyone of any skill level to play the game at any level of difficulty or amount of pressure they desire. 

The whole reason for this is is to free us of the shackles of trying not to alienate those looking for a more casual less brutal experience, but at the same time giving us the power to really drive up the brutal hardcore difficulty that is Zomboid's heritage for all those who supported us in the early days and have found the game has been watered down and compromised and no longer offers any challenge to them. As early supporters they deserve more than that.

 

Now I understand the direction for Survival mode.

 

I agree with PPanda though. There has to be an "Official" normal mode. I see too much scoffing here in forums and YT comments at people who play toned down Sandbox and First Bite. There has to be a mode with fixed settings that users can help to compare their achievement with others. A mode that says "I'm not a badass at this game but I'm fairly okay, not a noob either."

[agreubill]

There has to be an "Official" normal mode.

 

It isn't "Beginner" mode ?

 

 

 

A mode that says "I'm not a badass at this game but I'm fairly okay, not a noob either."

 

It isn't the default settings of Sandbox mode (quite everything is set at "Normal" and look like the closest thing of a "Normal" mode) ? 

 

 

 

Now I understand the direction for Survival mode.

 

I didnt know the citation from Taco, but thks for quoting him. Thks to him and the devs to make the Survival difficulty like it is. The point of Survival is (trying) to be challenging, at the risk and cost of making you angry or dispointed. And, as a fact, it could be challenging, dispointing, etc. if you start with it too early... Survival mode learns you, the hard way, the habits, training, cautions, behavior, etc. you need to apply to survive the Apocalypse...

 

There's also the ultra-hard mode that starts in "8 month after Apocalypse...", probably implemented cuz "Survival" isn't challenging enough for some players...  So, let's assume "Survival" isn't that hard after all...

[Yolan]

The above direction is very cool, and I do hope they stick with it. For it to work though I guess farming, foraging, hunting, hunger etc. are all going to need tweaking. Maybe even then it still won't be that hard to live for a year if you have experience given how large the map is. Perhaps by making seed spawns much rarer, and re-seeding require a high level of farming skill would help.

[lucy the axe]

There has to be an "Official" normal mode.

It isn't "Beginner" mode ?

 

A mode that says "I'm not a badass at this game but I'm fairly okay, not a noob either."

It isn't the default settings of Sandbox mode (quite everything is set at "Normal" and look like the closest thing of a "Normal" mode) ? 

 

 

Now I understand the direction for Survival mode.

I didnt know the citation from Taco, but thks for quoting him. Thks to him and the devs to make the Survival difficulty like it is. The point of Survival is (trying) to be challenging, at the risk and cost of making you angry or dispointed. And, as a fact, it could be challenging, dispointing, etc. if you start with it too early... Survival mode learns you, the hard way, the habits, training, cautions, behavior, etc. you need to apply to survive the Apocalypse...

 

There's also the ultra-hard mode that starts in "8 month after Apocalypse...", probably implemented cuz "Survival" isn't challenging enough for some players...  So, let's assume "Survival" isn't that hard after all...

 

It isn't Beginner mode, I think. Because when you go here and say "Hey, I survived a year in Beginner mode" people will say LOL do Survival mode and come back here, noob. Which I imagine wouldn't be the usual attitude if the player said "Hey I survived a year in <normal game mode>."

 

It's not Sandbox either because the same thing happens. If you come here to talk about your accomplishment in a toned down Sandbox, people will say LOL do default Survival settings, then we'll talk.

 

That's why I had the impression that Survival mode was the "Normal" mode and that's what I've been playing. That's what people are making benchmarks on.  But it turns out, based on Taco's quote, that Survival Mode is only meant for hardcore Zomboid players and/or loyal fans.

 

Take note I am doing fairly okay in Survival (even better than old players coming from build 31, it seems) so I'm not complaining from POV of person who can't do it. Just curious about what the normal mode should be for other players.

[agreubill]

Well, the Sandbow default IS set on Normal for everything, so, yes, it looks like the "Normal" mode of difficulty and close the gap btw "Beginner" and "Survival" i think.

 

And i agree with you ; any gloating about Beginner or "Normal" will make anyone laugh or at least consider the statement with amusement...

Anyway, beat some month or weeks on standard Sandbox set stay still an accomplishment for someone coming from Beginner. But not really for anyone experienced.

 

Survival (or 8 Month) are the benchmark for accomplishment... Hopefully, any true measure of accomplishment must be based on some decree of difficulty and not on any sort of "normal" (another word that means base/medium/standard/mediocre) settings.

 

On the other hand, you can argue on a difficulty based on the wrong factors ! But that's another debate.

[Blasted_Taco]

 

There has to be an "Official" normal mode.

It isn't "Beginner" mode ?

 

A mode that says "I'm not a badass at this game but I'm fairly okay, not a noob either."

It isn't the default settings of Sandbox mode (quite everything is set at "Normal" and look like the closest thing of a "Normal" mode) ? 

 

 

Now I understand the direction for Survival mode.

I didnt know the citation from Taco, but thks for quoting him. Thks to him and the devs to make the Survival difficulty like it is. The point of Survival is (trying) to be challenging, at the risk and cost of making you angry or dispointed. And, as a fact, it could be challenging, dispointing, etc. if you start with it too early... Survival mode learns you, the hard way, the habits, training, cautions, behavior, etc. you need to apply to survive the Apocalypse...

 

There's also the ultra-hard mode that starts in "8 month after Apocalypse...", probably implemented cuz "Survival" isn't challenging enough for some players...  So, let's assume "Survival" isn't that hard after all...

 

It isn't Beginner mode, I think. Because when you go here and say "Hey, I survived a year in Beginner mode" people will say LOL do Survival mode and come back here, noob. Which I imagine wouldn't be the usual attitude if the player said "Hey I survived a year in <normal game mode>."

 

It's not Sandbox either because the same thing happens. If you come here to talk about your accomplishment in a toned down Sandbox, people will say LOL do default Survival settings, then we'll talk.

 

That's why I had the impression that Survival mode was the "Normal" mode and that's what I've been playing. That's what people are making benchmarks on.  But it turns out, based on Taco's quote, that Survival Mode is only meant for hardcore Zomboid players and/or loyal fans.

 

Take note I am doing fairly okay in Survival (even better than old players coming from build 31, it seems) so I'm not complaining from POV of person who can't do it. Just curious about what the normal mode should be for other players.

 

 

That is the entire point of survival tho.

 

To be able to tell "Ha! I survived 3 months!" and some other guy coming "So far i am still alive 5 months! Beat that!", Survival is the "normal mode" to call it, because is what the devs intent to be the real "Zomboid" experience, so of course people are going benchmark their accomplishments there.

 

However Sandbox and First Bite gives you the tools to go into Survival, so new people can practice there to get the ropes and mechanics of the game down and then give it a try.

 

And then we have 8 months after the apocalypse which i suppose is the "Hardcore" mode of the game because holy fuck it is hard to survive there. 

[lucy the axe]

 

And then we have 8 months after the apocalypse which i suppose is the "Hardcore" mode of the game because holy fuck it is hard to survive there.

LOL true! I was kinda bored with my Survival file so I tried 8 months out. I died in 4 hours. Gonna try again though because research says 98% of people who play PZ are masochists.

[adelt]

I'll have to try lucky, haven't been able to fool around with character builds much yet. 

 

I've got 76 hours into this game but I'm pretty sure only 2-3 of those are post build 32. It just seems impossible like devs have switched to accommodate multiplayer only. I could see ripping into a group of zombies with 4-5 people but solo survival and multiplayer survival need to be 2 different monsters. 

 

 

If you want a axe then spawn in wp in the strip of buildings at the bottom end next to the food store is a hardware store you can mostly find around 2 to 3 axes there

 

Is there a way to pick you actual spawn point in survival? I haven't seen anything? Also, not sure what "wp" is?

wp= west point

[Albie]

I feel that the game is easier than if it happened IRL. I know that just reading books would not make my carpentry skills immaculate, that would require a lot of patience and practice. I also know that one man would not be able to erect log walls alone at that speed.

To address the survival tweaks, I enjoy the new difficulty each tweak brings, but I do understand it will put new people off. But that's what first bite was for. It does seem that the game favors a nomadic playstyle with the past few updates.

[bobchaos]

Survival is meant to be hard, but here's a few tips that help make my average characters last a few weeks and occasionally months in SP:

 

1: use combat built characters: I make sure I have strong or stout, thick skin and at least 1 point in a melee accuracy skill. The reason for this is that combat is by far the deadliest thing in PZ and is also somewhat unavoidable. With my usual build I can take on groups of up to 12 zombies with a hammer without taking hits (assuming I got space to fight), 20+ with a baseball bat if it doesn't break and they're not all fast shamblers. At accuracy 3+ with decent strength you can legitimately expect to 1-hit-kill the occasional zombie.

 

2: Avoid all combat when possible! Just because you've got a combat build don't mean you should be picking fights. You'll end up killing zombies all kinds whether you like it or not, so minimize the amount of combat you get into when you can. Sneak whenever possible, and if a lone zombie spots you make sure you drag him somewhere safe before you kill him. If your sneaking skill doesn't reach lvl 1 by the end of week 1 you're most likely doing something wrong. Worth noting: Proper stealth mechanics are in the works, should make everything much easier when we can peak around corners and hide behind fences.

 

3: practice fighting hordes: Start another game, make a combat character, spawn yourself a nice selection of weapon and go to murder some large groups of Zeds. You'll likely get eaten, but it will help you gauge how many Zeds you can safely handle with various weapons, moodles and situations. Same applies to sneaking btw, understanding the zombie's hearing and sight range is important.

 

4: break combat and run (if possible) as soon as you get the exhaustion moodle: Even moderate exhaustion will seriously impair your ability to fight off zombies. Manage your exhaustion level carefully or get used to being zombie food o.O Sleepiness also seems to affect your combat abilities somewhat less brutally.

 

5: Run away at walking speed: Most Zeds can't even keep up with you when you walk, so don't sprint you'll attract more zombies AND get more tired. Walk away calmly and if any fast shamblers are keeping up with you drag em somewhere safe and out of sight before you kill them. An occasional tap on the sprint key will keep you ahead of them without making you exhausted.

 

6: as stated by a lot of people, stay out of the cities. I do all my riskiest looting in the first month, after which I don't even bother approaching houses if I see more than a handful of zombies unless I'm really desperate for some piece of gear.

 

7: planning and scouting: before you leave the safety of your base, plan your route. Use the online PZ map if you have to. Plan for alternate routes to your target, and alternate targets altogether should your planned target be overwhelmed by zombies. Video games have conditioned us to think there's always a way to achieve your objective, but not in PZ. Sometimes your objective is actually impossible to achieve, so come back later when it's safer. Plan multiple retreat routes and avoid locations without multiple exits. Scout your target before going inside, make sure there's not a horde in the backyard before you break in through the front. Also plan for emergency shelters: know where the 2 story buildings are in your target area and preferably have them sheet roped/barricaded and stocked with food/water prior to your run. If you're forced to fight a large group and are left exhausted it will be safer to go sleep it off in a nearby safehouse than to try to head back to base.

 

8: Forcing mass zombie migration: Don't do it! A lot of people like to use firearms to lure Zeds away, but with the new migration mechanics it just means they'll come streaming back into your target area while you're looting, potentially closing your retreat routes. If you really want to do it, use sound generators so that you can lure zombies away WHILE you're looting. Zombies don't stay away from their cells for very long now.

 

9: Hide during zombie migration events: When I hear gunshots or wailing or whatever, I find the nearest 2 story building and hide for a few hours. When the helicopter shows up, I usually lock myself indoors for the entire day (good time to start reading your skillbooks!) Same for house alarms: when it rings, GTFO and run before the zeds get to your location, then find a 2 story and hide upstairs for a few hours.

 

10: Setup alternate escape routes whenever possible: Sheet ropes are your friend. Downtown WP for instance has a lot of zombies but also a lot of 2 story buildings, so whenever I manage to get inside a 2 story I drop sheet ropes from windows on every side of it. Eventually I build sky bridges linking all the 2nd floors and smash all the stairs. This way if I get in trouble pretty much any direction I run in has a handy sheet rope to climb away from trouble.

 

Almost forgot, beta blockers are an absolute must for fighting large groups of zombies. I said i can take on groups of 20+, but only with beta blockers otherwise you won't be able to hit them in the head :/

 

Success in this game is mostly about risk management. If you're inside a building and you can hear zombies outside the door, it don't mean you should rush your looting, it means it's time to GTFO and come back later to finish!