Lessons Learned

[ShadowDimentio]

They have one of these over on TV Tropes, so I figured I'd go on and make one here. Basically, what are the lessons you've learned in Zomboid? Here's mine.

 

• Being encumbered is a death sentence, even in areas with very sparse zombies.
• The inventory management in this game is an absolute mess, with some items not being useable with unless they're in your absurdly constrictive and small main inventory- it being in a backpack doesn't count.
• Taking damage- any damage- is potentially deadly, as bites occur randomly and are nearly always an instakill for that run.
• Blunt weapons are generally more common than bladed weapons, and should be prioritized in stat allocation in most cases.
• Killing things that are about to kill you always takes priority over being able to make your stew a teensy bit better.
• Nails are precious, boards are not.
• The Random Number Generator is strong in this game, as sometimes you can start a game loaded with a weapon and a good bag as soon as you start, and others you get to run around with your hollowed out rat testicle of an inventory, desperately fending off ever-approaching hordes with a spoon before being held down and devoured.
• Guns are worse than melee weapons in most cases, if only because they're nearly always louder.
• Healing is a very slow process if you aren't willing to spend food to speed it up, but if you had any sense you would've avoided getting hurt is the first place you idiot.
• Food has attached to it a freshness timer that, if it hits zero, causes it to go bad, making it generally not worth your time to eat.
• Nearly everything in this game is nonrenewable, in that if you waste what you have of it, you're never getting it back.
• Rain barrels are precious and should be constructed as soon as you can, with five being a solid number for farming.
• Farming level three lest you start harvesting seeds from mature plants that you harvest, allowing you to grow even more food.
• If you're new and you find something while scavenging, particularly tools, look on the wiki to see if it's important. (I once found a screwdriver while scavenging and passed it over, only to be struck dumb by how badly I needed it later when I wanted to cook some food and couldn't make a fire, resulting in me ultimately dying after trying to go back to get it)
• Running is suicide in nearly all cases, as while it's miles faster than walking, it generates an unholy amount of noise, drawing all the zed from blocks around to the wondrous calls of your delicious jogger thighs.
• If you lose your breath while encumbered, you can't get it back until you take off some of your weight.
• Kiting is key with fighting zed in the event that they don't fall back on their ass after your first whack.
• Read the wiki to learn important things, like the water and electricity shutoff.

 

Alright, I think that's all I've got. You guys turn now!

[American Steel]

A few cavets from personal experience:

• Breaking a window and then jumping through it is a bad idea (massive blood loss kills you).
• Moving through grass taller than your shoe is a good way to get bit.
• Taking a "short cut" through the forest is a good way to get lost or bit.  One will end badly, the other will probably end badly.
• Zombies can sprint!
• Crawling zombies can be a lot more dangerous that walking ones.  Don't assume crawling = weakness.
• Zombies can play dead really well.  Until you stove their head in, assume it will attempt to kill you.  Also, zombies taking a power nap may be crawlers.  See note above.
• Just because you only see one zombie coming out of the wood line, don't assume his herd does not see you in the clearing.
• Bathrooms may be small, but so are sardine cans (and look how many fish they cram in there).  When you open a door into an unknown area, take a step back for a moment.  Three zombies in a bathroom can dispatch a character faster than you can create one in the character generator.
• Look there!  A lone zombie with his back to me.  Just because you can take out a zombie, does not mean you should take out a zombie.  You get about as much xp from barricading/unbarricading a door as you do from caving in a zombies skull.  However, the barricading process will never result in zombification.  Attacking a zombie might.
• Taking a tight turn around a blind corner is a good way to get killed.  Sweep wide and live!

[Raekluder]

• Leaving the stove on while sorting your inventory is a good way to lose all your valuables. And face. And dignity.

Every house is an alarmed deathtrap.

Swinging a axe on a tree that is 3 feet away from a zombie makes no sound. Swing a weapon in the air and all his friends come joining the fun.

Chips and chocolate are your best friends!

Never forget the can-opener. Starving is only semi fun.

The trove is the rares of all items in the game. Find it and you win the game!

Even after 2000 killed zombies and 3 months survived you will still jump in your chair when you get snuck up on by a single Z. Dont forget to scream like a little girl.

Dont do hugs!

[ShadowDimentio]

More!

 

• Just because it isn't on the wiki, doesn't mean it doesn't exist (goddamn salads are barely mentioned on the wiki).
• Just because it's on the wiki, doesn't mean it exists (stupid next update, making things all confusing).
• Walls you make are different from the pre-generated ones in that zombies can and will break them if they feel like it.
• Doors are a potential entryway for zombies, cloth ropes are not.
• Carrots and radishes don't like much water (RAAAAAAIN)
• Potatoes are a really good food.
• In Muldraugh, the closer you are to the nort of the town the better.
• Axes are tools first, and weapons second, even though they're debatebly the best weapons in the game.
• Sledgehammers are bulky as all hell and shouldn't be used unless very direly needed.

[Invader Jim]

• Running is suicide in nearly all cases, as while it's miles faster than walking, it generates an unholy amount of noise, drawing all the zed from blocks around to the wondrous calls of your delicious jogger thighs.

 

I like your list but disagree with this one. I decided to suicide a character (he got bit) so I ran into the middle of downtown West Point (never been there before) . I made it up the 3 story staircase (lots of zombies following close behind) and into the building, shut the door behind him and then decided to poke around a little before dying. Character was in agony and near passing out so I decided to sleep on a couch. Woke up at 1:00 a.m. and symptoms were better. Then I decided a wanted to live. Made my way down, out the front door and then ran north to the river, dodging zombies all along the way.  I think I would have died had I tried to walk to and from that building.

 

My advice is build up your cardio (sprinting) after you clear at least a block or more all around your safehouse. If you are going to run you need to run with a destination that is relatively clear of zombies. Running attracts zombies but they only follow a certain distance. The larger the clear area around my safehouse becomes, the more I run. When I have cleared a more extensive area, I run toward my destination for the day until I encounter the first zombie (time to walk the rest of the way) and I usually run all the way home, taking walking breaks in between sprints as needed. Some day when I do the trek from WP to Muldraugh I bet all that cardio will be a help.

 

On a side note, I tend to completely clear a gradually increasing area around my safehouse. I also clear zombies as I head to a destination. I play at "normal" zombie numbers.

[Demnex]

- Don't be out of shape

- Know how to run

- Always have weapon

- Always watch where you go

- Always have a back-up plan

 

 

 

I love how I would turn a corner of a house and then just see 3 zombies being hurled at me from the darkness. lolol

[ZombieLawnGnome]

 

• Look there!  A lone zombie with his back to me.  Just because you can take out a zombie, does not mean you should take out a zombie.  You get about as much xp from barricading/unbarricading a door as you do from caving in a zombies skull.  However, the barricading process will never result in zombification.  Attacking a zombie might.

 

Ah, but nails are a valuable finite resource. Zombies are renewable. I prefer the green option.