Pro Tips For New Players *Spoiler Warning!*

[PintLasher]

I've noticed no difference so far.... Most of the traits seem to be dysfunctional in some way or another for example (I bet you'll find that cowardly supposedly "affects" more than just reloading speed and yet doesn't appear to affect anything else)

[darthdraken]

For me stength and stamina. Then graceful

[F4TAL3FFECT]

Nice guide bro, a question, i gonna buy the game tomorrow after work, these tips still working in the new build?

Don't combine Claustrophobia and Agoraphobia.

[Invader Jim]

Corpse Management Tip

 

I think this will become even more important when there is active zombie migration. When you are killing zombies outside try to consistently do in the same relative place, such as the front yard or the sidewalk. Consistently leave a clear path (sidewalks, one side the the road, ect).  

 

In my current game (8 months and counting) I killed zombies everywhere. Some of the streets are so littered with corpses that I find myself frequently running or walking over them.  This is fine except when a crawler happens to wander in unexpectedly and then lunge at me as I run over it.  It has not happened with the current character but a previous character was bitten while running down a street littered with corpses, thinking the way was completely clear of enemies only to be ambushed by a crawler in the pile.

 

Tip - Always leave a clear path you can take when running so you are 100% sure you are safe from crawlers in a pile what you think are destroyed zombies.

 

I did this tip on my several journeys on the highway between WP and M. It really helped me spot crawlers in the road in areas I thought I had completely cleared and are free of standing zombies.

[PlasticandRage]

I know I'm necro-bumping a bit, but I just discovered something cool and really helpful and wanted to post about it. If you rename your bags differently, you can carry two big hiking bags at once without them getting confused in your inventory and stacking on top of each other, which has made using them on the fly difficult in the past. I've been doing something simple like "Primary Bag" for the one that goes on my back, and "Secondary Bag" for the one that I carry in my off-hand when I'm not using it for something else.

[Sieben]

I know I'm necro-bumping a bit, but I just discovered something cool and really helpful and wanted to post about it. If you rename your bags differently, you can carry two big hiking bags at once without them getting confused in your inventory and stacking on top of each other, which has made using them on the fly difficult in the past. I've been doing something simple like "Primary Bag" for the one that goes on my back, and "Secondary Bag" for the one that I carry in my off-hand when I'm not using it for something else.

 

I put always 1, 2 and 3 before Big Hiking Bag (example: "1 Big Hiking Bag").

[PlasticandRage]

Yeah, that'd definitely do it

[Derek Withers]

I discovered a really cool trick for building yesterday that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere but I could be wrong.

 

 You need to cut your logs into planks and lay them along the path of your wall for example. You need to put enough down to allow for your construction later on. The benefit of doing this is that you can level your carpentry skills without wasting nails and the actual construction goes up in minutes. It seems as long as there are enough planks on the ground you don't have to pick them up from the ground to build with them. So when you click build wall you can keep on laying walls down as fast as your guy can build them providing you have enough nails.

 

In this construction I spent several days in game sawing planks and laying them out but the entire construction went up in less than a day. All my walls started at level 4 as well. If you look in the bottom right you can see unused planks where I put too many down on the floor.

 

 

 

I just went back to an old save to make a quick video to show you what I am talking about.

 

[Sadeyx]

Awesome!  What a great thread, really appreciate the time it must have taken.

 

The only thing I'd say, is that its almost too good!  Rather than being "tips" its more of a comprehensive guide and doesn't leave much for self discovery.

 

I'd recommend putting this into a PDF, supplying a link and calling it a guide, and then just putting some bullet point 'tips' in the OP.

 

For example;  Traits.  Personally, for the new player, I'd just say :  Go with Construction worker + strength, with light drinker, cowardly. With a breif explanation as to why.  Then point to the section on the Guide for more indepth explanations on the whys and what nots for the other traits.

 

Its just that, half the fun of Zomboid (indeed most games) is the journey of discovery. The challenge and subsequence gratification from figuring it out is something I love to do.  But I dont mind a helping hand and like a few hints and tips, so long as they are not too revealing

[Sieben]

Awesome!  What a great thread, really appreciate the time it must have taken.

 

The only thing I'd say, is that its almost too good!  Rather than being "tips" its more of a comprehensive guide and doesn't leave much for self discovery.

 

I'd recommend putting this into a PDF, supplying a link and calling it a guide, and then just putting some bullet point 'tips' in the OP.

 

For example;  Traits.  Personally, for the new player, I'd just say :  Go with Construction worker + strength, with light drinker, cowardly. With a breif explanation as to why.  Then point to the section on the Guide for more indepth explanations on the whys and what nots for the other traits.

 

Its just that, half the fun of Zomboid (indeed most games) is the journey of discovery. The challenge and subsequence gratification from figuring it out is something I love to do.  But I dont mind a helping hand and like a few hints and tips, so long as they are not too revealing

 

At the end it's up to you how you play this game, but I understand your point. I never play with the constructer-class and/or the agora-/claustrophobic-trait for myself, but some traits are really common. These are for me "light drinker", "brooding", "shorttempered", "cowardly", "good eater", "strong" or "stout" and "athletic".

 

"lucky" and "unlucky" is for me just looteffective. You'll never known if the first scratch/ bite will be your end, even with construction worker and lucky-trait, I got zombification in the first time and with another class and unlucky-trait I survived up to 10 scratches. It's just "luck" in the game, no good or bad luck.

 

So he warned also for bladedweapons like knives: the really bad blades are scissors, forks, spoons and the screwdriver, because you won't have the one-hitkill like the butter- and kitchenknife. But I prefer every knife if I have to choose either a low-durability one-hit killer or a slow, heavy and enduranceconsuming blunt weapon like the crowbar (often the blunt weapons are 2-handed and almost useless if equiped 1-handed).

 

So, even if there is "THE UBER BUILD!!111", you have to find your way to play this game and your own style.

[Sadeyx]

At the end it's up to you how you play this game, but I understand your point.

 

 

Thank you for the reply.  I agree totally and hope I didn't come across as argumentative or attempting to diminish the time and effort put into the post. If anything its meant as a compliment and encouragement to continue.

 

I learned a lot myself about traits in fact.  I didn't know any of that about some negatives being useless with no npc's.  That kind of 'tip' though is more a 'beta-only' tip and way to take advantage of the current state of the game. 

 

Now that I do know that, I will find it hard to refrain from using it, even though its clearly not intended As you quite correctly point out though, its up to the individual to make such decisions.

[Falke]

Sup Zombiehunters?

Well, i was pretty surprised this thread is still alive.

 

Have to say i stopped playing shortly after my character stuck (bugged) on the stairs.

Just too frustrating to make no fault, almost cleared whole muldraugh and then get screwed over by such a silly bug.

 

Watched Season 4 of the Walking Dead last two days, and wanted to kill some Zeds after that, so i started a new game.

 

I am in WP now.

Have to say its harder playing panicked now.

Field of view is made drastically smaller and overall you have to be more aware of your surroundings.

Means a lot of 360° turns. But all in all, its seems perfectly playable. You hear when someone is near you, even if you dont see him imediately.

So, be on your toes and ready to react anytime.

 

In my current build i am testing another setup, with the Lucky, Clumsy and Resilent trait.

If wiki is right, lucky is a musthave trait now:

You tend to find rarer objects such as axes and shotguns. Also an increased chance of getting scratched or not getting hit at all to getting bitten.

Wording looks pretty silly, but i think it means, you have less chance to get scratched and bitten.

So, if true, this is awesome.

 

If this goes well, i might change the optimal setup then.

 

To your suggestion Sadeyx:

I wont change the post to pdf. I think thats not really needed. Wasnt planned as a extra big guide in the beginning, but it grew more and more.

Wouldnt mind to change the topic name for clarification though, and put a "spoiler" warning in it, but unfortunately its not possible for me to edit that.

So what is left as an option, is to give a warning in the beginning.

[rorschach]

Wouldnt mind to change the topic name for clarification though, and put a "spoiler" warning in it, but unfortunately its not possible for me to edit that.

So what is left as an option, is to give a warning in the beginning.

 

If you start to edit the OP, and then click on 'Use Full Editor' you should be able to change the thread's title, edit the tags, etc.

Hope this helps.

[Falke]

Thx. Went with a combination now.

[thiosk]

I have really taken to athletic traits. I was playing lucky exclusively- now, I'm doing a stout/athletic build. Adding lucky to this is not really acceptable to me- I don't like moodles.

Since dropping lucky, I've been scratched and bitten much more, and haven't seen a shotgun since. Considering dropping stout for lucky.

I was wondering- do people prefer the sawn off to the standard? I wnt on a shotgun spree after a scratch, and found the standard gun was fine for dealing with a horde with a leading edge. If massed, then the sawn off seemed like a likely winner.

[PlasticandRage]

I personally think the sawn-off is more effective. I could be wrong, but in my experience with both weapons the undoctored shotgun seems to have slightly more range, while the sawn-off seems to do more damage and have slightly more spread. Fighting groups of zeds I'd think both of the latter traits are going to be preferable.

[Psycho0124]

The .5 reduction in weight is another big benifit of the sawn-off. Main inventory space is always at a premium, especially if you don't go with the 'strong' perk.

[Gibbles]

Has anybody had a good run in the game whilst using a "weak" or "feeble" trait?

 

---

 

A build I like is Night Owl combined with graceful and if possible, athletic. Perfect for the house-hopping nomadic adventurer. Or hypothetically a guy who dedicates himself to doing supply runs with a Big Hiking Bag to aid a team.

[Falke]

Further testing have revealed that Keen Hearing is not a must have trait.

Therefore it is removed from the recommended list.

The normal hearing range is far too good for this to be needed.

Instead i took Lucky in. Resilent too, but i dont know if Clumsy is good as negative trait.

Would need more testing.

Maybe Hard of Hearing is a better negative trait. Would need testing too.

 

The game changed since i last played.

First, there are now lots of little groups running around. This wasnt the case pre 21.

A lot more killing has to be done. I am at 1,5k kills just 3 weeks into the game.

In my first serious attempt i had like 2k after 5 month or so.

 

Second, and i am not sure what to think about it quite yet:

I noticed, that those groups running around often seem to be heading right at me.

I thought that this kind of mechanic was taken out of the game?

When i was setting my 4th safehouse up yesterday i had to go out and kill little groups 7 times one after another.

So, i was in the house putting stuff together, heard some shamblers nearing, went out, killed them, went back in.

Heard some shamblers, went out, and so on and so forth. Everytime i cleared the entire surrounding before getting back in.

Either this was a really odd coincidence, or the old mechanic is back to some degree.

Pretty annoying stuff.

Another thought on this was that it could be connected with the clumsy trait not working as intended.

 

What else changed?

Repair is in. Didnt use it. Will only do for axes i think.

There are too many good blunt weapons in the game, so its not really needed beside that.

 

So, when is the return of the big hordes?

Want to use fireweapons.

[thiosk]

I've been using repair on baseball bats. I must say, I'm appreciative. A stout/athletic build doesn't give me as much leeway to swing crowbars as a strong build does. Wood glue can greatly increase bat longevity, which is great as i was burning them pretty fast. Scotch tape and glue repairs seem useless , but wood glue can restore one third to one half of a bats condition. Duct tape seems ok to add ten or so kills.

I've noticed the movement of small groups and individuals. It seems certain zomboid seem highly inclined to migrate towards meta events. I can set off fifteen handgun rounds and I'll rile up the zombies locally... But a meta event going off in the far distance will send them roaring off in that direction. They get in the trees. When I'm operating in a new locale, the noise I make slowly pulls them out of the woods, so little clusters continuously reappear over rather long timescales.

My tip is to sprint along the tree lines once you've cleared a zone.

[Dryke]

Further testing have revealed that Keen Hearing is not a must have trait.

Therefore it is removed from the recommended list.

The normal hearing range is far too good for this to be needed.

Instead i took Lucky in. Resilent too, but i dont know if Clumsy is good as negative trait.

Would need more testing.

Maybe Hard of Hearing is a better negative trait. Would need testing too.

 

The game changed since i last played.

First, there are now lots of little groups running around. This wasnt the case pre 21.

A lot more killing has to be done. I am at 1,5k kills just 3 weeks into the game.

In my first serious attempt i had like 2k after 5 month or so.

 

Second, and i am not sure what to think about it quite yet:

I noticed, that those groups running around often seem to be heading right at me.

I thought that this kind of mechanic was taken out of the game?

When i was setting my 4th safehouse up yesterday i had to go out and kill little groups 7 times one after another.

So, i was in the house putting stuff together, heard some shamblers nearing, went out, killed them, went back in.

Heard some shamblers, went out, and so on and so forth. Everytime i cleared the entire surrounding before getting back in.

Either this was a really odd coincidence, or the old mechanic is back to some degree.

Pretty annoying stuff.

Another thought on this was that it could be connected with the clumsy trait not working as intended.

 

What else changed?

Repair is in. Didnt use it. Will only do for axes i think.

There are too many good blunt weapons in the game, so its not really needed beside that.

 

So, when is the return of the big hordes?

Want to use fireweapons.

I didn't see too many large hordes pre-23; maybe a couple where I had some exciting time with my fire axe and sawed off shotgun while I cleared Muldraugh.  Post-23, however...I ran out of nails and since Muldraugh was cleared I headed down the road to the trailer park along the road to West Point, thinking I would set up a safehouse there as a midway point before going to West point to scavenge.  Just in that trailer park so far I have had two major horde battles and I suspect there is at least a third battle waiting; the hordes have been much larger and more aggressive (more fast zombies and much more determined to follow me, etc).  In all I would say hordes big enough to make fire weapons practical are already here.

[Falke]

I am eagerly awaiting them.

 

I thought there will be big hordes in WP, but only saw the usual groups up to +/- 20.

But i am still north of town now. Maybe i will see a lot more in downtown.

 

@thiosk:

With Lucky i find lots of baseball bats. I have like 12 or so now, just from the north of WP.

 

Do you use the Clumsy trait?

I noticed that too, but i am not sure, what lurks them out.

Are they heading towards me in connection to real noises made/metaevents,

or is there some other sort of "playermagnet"-mechanic we had in earlier versions of the game.

If the letter is the case, that would kind of p*** me off. :-/

[Falke]

Updated the weapon section after some extensive testing:

 

.) Blunt weapons are your friend. Durable, and with higher Skill fast in killing.

Hammers are the best in slot weapon for in house action.

They are by far the best for close range combat,

with their ability to knockback without "loading" the weapon long, easy knockdown and fast killing.

They never exhaust you character cause the hammer is a light weapon.

If you dont have any then use frying pans.

Dont try to use any heavy weapon (golf clubs, baseball bats, crowbars, etc.), they exhaust you pretty fast.

 

.) Never ever use blade-weapons, except axes,

cause they have no knowdown! Knockdown is key in controlling the combat.

The axe is the best in slot weapon for outdoor melee-combat. It can oneshot enemys.

In close range combat, you dont have a chance, if many opponents are there,

cause you cant "reload" the weapon that fast and its weak and without knockback with the normal swings.

So take my advice serious to change to hammers for in indoor combat.

You can kill Zeds at safe range, without risking anything.

Beware though, that the axe, like any heavy weapon, can drain you pretty fast and make you exhausted.

In this state, you get tired very fast.

So if your char has the first or second stage of tiredness, you should abort combat, or change to a lighter weapon.