The Definitive Beginner's Guide to Project Zomboid

this game is not easy to jump into so i have put together the best beginners tips i've learned for project zomboid before we talk about the fun stuff i want to let you in on a little combat tip uh by default the game only adds an outline to zombies when you're aiming with a gun but to change this you can go into your settings and switch aim outline to any weapon this makes it much easier for you to see which zombie you can hit and which zombies are close enough to end your career with that taken care of let's cover spawn locations in a list of easiest to hardest riverside has a low population with plenty of potential safe houses rosewood has a nice strip of commercial buildings right outside its gated community and that's where you're most likely gonna hole up muldrow has a lot of interesting places to loot but comes at the cost of large hordes all over the place and west point is arguably the hardest place to spawn immediately since the population is ridiculously high here however this is the closest spot to louisville so weigh that as you will listen i'd recommend looking into what the traits actually do and not going by the tool tips given but there are a few cheesy exploits and decent ways to cover up your weaknesses not all negative traits are game ending prone to illness smoker weak stomach slow reader and claustrophobic just to name a few aren't all that bad at all i'd highly recommend taking all of them actually but keep in mind they will change some aspects of how you play the game for a few months if not your entire life span and as the game updates this list may become different or less effective or just outright wrong if you find yourself struggling with combat balancing your carry weight and escaping zombies i'd recommend picking up stout or strong and fit or athletic traits strong and stout affect your carry capacity and strength with strong giving a 140 percent increase to melee damage while fit and athletic affect your fitness level and your endurance allowing you to run like the wind for just a little longer than normal some very good positive traits to prioritize are handy wakeful fast learner and organized i wouldn't really bother with wakeful in multiplayer though maybe just take um fast reader really traits are just mixing and matching until you find a combo that you personally like this is what i run most of the time and this is my meme build alright you got your character you've picked your spawn location now when you spawn in press c you'll start crouching and this will help you sneak by zombies for the most part you're not invisible but for the most part you're good go to the kitchen and look for any starter weapons this would be a kitchen knife meat cleaver if you're lucky a frying pan is good anything is better than nothing but nothing is better than a spoon don't bother with utensils while you're in the kitchen you're going to want to grab food do not go crazy here make sure to only grab enough food for a day or two every house has food in the early days you're not going to run out anytime soon you do not need to spend your first minute preparing for 60 seconds of distance running all you gotta do is grab a couple perishables and one canned food maybe now at least half of your key items list is in the kitchen so you're going to want to look for a can opener and any water container of any sort bottles cups anything you can use at first is great you'll automatically drink from this if it's got water in it now go on to one of the rooms and look for clean clothes to rip into bandages you're going to want a steady supply of these if you took prone to illness because you have to change those bandages out otherwise you're going to get infected speaking of infected let's move on to the bathroom because this is where you're going to find most of the medical supplies if you find any that is more importantly we're looking for painkillers and beta blockers because if you run the build iron you are panicked all the time but you're also going to want to look for antibiotics because if those wounds do get infected from your prone to illness you're gonna want those antibiotics to combat that infection most medical supplies has a low weight so you're gonna be fine just grabbing what you find and keeping it in a bag or in your back pocket or your fanny pack speaking of bags any kind of sack just look for anything you can use to carry more items a garbage bag a backpack anything just don't try to hop a fence with it in your secondary hand or primary for that matter you'll drop it and wonder where it went 10 minutes later bags you can carry on your back are much nicer like a duffel bag a school bag anything you can find but in the early game beggars can't be chooser so yeah even the fanny pack will work if you've got the space to carry more things you should look out for beginner and intermediate books needles and first aid kits scissors thread a screwdriver a saw seed packets and a backup weapon or two odds are you will never find all these things in your first spawn house it's okay if it takes a few days to gather all these items you're not in any peril just because you don't have a pair of scissors on the first day jake so you're probably going to want to leave your spawn house at some point or you'll be assaulted from within your spawn house the number one rule here is to understand your limitations you never want to bite off more than you can chew if you just have a basic weapon you probably don't want to take on more than 2 zombies with a better weapon and some good strength you can probably take on five or six your environment can be used to greatly increase your odds for example if there's a window between you and the zombies this is basically free loot as long as you don't get tired or break your space bar if you can put some doors and walls between you and your immediate threat that'll be enough to stagger them line of sight and sound are very important for luring and escaping zombies they can hear you and they will remember the last place you were at learning the ins and outs of this will let you start playing with the zombie's pathfinding if you're sneaky enough retinaru covers that in great detail and i'll link to his video in the description if you find yourself dying to zombies hiding behind doors you've got three options four if you count chickening out first if your reflexes are quick enough and your game doesn't lag you can just flick the door open and close it again by double pressing e this will give you enough vision to know roughly how many zombies are behind the door and nine times out of ten you'll be fast enough that they can't pass through the door the second option is opening the door from the side this one's nice and simple but i wouldn't recommend it in a tight closed space and third you can just push the door walk up to it get ready to attack and press spacebar just bully it you'll push against the door and if there's any zombies behind it they'll lock onto that sound and start banging the door down the only weapon you should avoid using early on are guns your character isn't good with them unless they are you could be a police officer or i think a veteran also gives a gun skill otherwise guns are pretty much paperweights for a long while now one shot will guarantee you one kill but i'm not sure you want this kill guns just aren't worth using until you've gotten good at the relevant skills now how do you level up those skills well i've got a video on that coming very soon and when it's out it'll be up here next two steps to get you on your way are finding a car and choosing a base finding a good car is a big step you immediately gain a portable safe house and a rolling storage unit odds are you're gonna run into more vehicles than you can drive so i'm gonna recommend you either keep note of where the vehicles you found are or just go ahead and hoard them once you find a good parking spot and some gas you might find the keys around the car on zombies near the car or in the cars themselves but if you'd like to skip keys all together you can gain two skills and mechanics and one skill in electrical to start hot wiring vehicles or choose the burglar profession i can't judge you i do that as fun as it is running over zombies and crashing your vehicle will damage it avoid that at all costs as i said though it is some of the most fun i've had in this game so i understand if you just can't it might be a good idea to have a backup card used just for zombie clearing because it is fun you you cannot deny that this is fun but if you're running into things a lot then maybe you should just reel it back and take sunday driver as a negative trait it's not gonna hurt you that much as far as picking a safe house goes there really isn't any hard and fast rule for it anywhere can be a home just as long as you like the spot you've picked and you think it's viable for the long term give it a shot if you need ideas to keep yourself safe from the undead menace i've got a video detailing how to make your base impenetrable right here i know it's a lot of move and groove but as soon as you have a safe house built you're going to want to start planting vegetables the food in your surrounding area isn't going to last forever and the sooner you can begin harvesting the better try to stagger your crops growth times by a few days to offset one harvest rotting and leaving you with nothing to eat if you need more information on planting vegetables i've got a video right here in the same vein as farming i suggest you pick up one of the two trapping or fishing you can do both but in the early game i would recommend just taking up one if you're strapped for time i'd recommend trapping and if you've gotten lucky and have a lot of time to kill fishing isn't a bad way to spend it i've got videos on both meat gathering methods for you to check out right here it is inevitable that your base is going to need some quality of life improvements and it's not like ikea is going to ship you the frijeten you ordered last week it's up to you to go out and find the furniture you want your base as far as long-term living goes i'd recommend as many water dispensers as you can find they're usually in offices these don't weigh too much but hold a nice amount of water just in case it doesn't rain for a while you can leave these off in the corner you can also pick up some metal drums if you come across them these will hold much more water than rain collectors or water dispensers for that matter stealing a tv is only stealing if your neighbor is still alive in game of course but having a tv in your base is even more helpful now that they've added in vhs tapes for life and living programs having a fridge in a freezer or two is going to take your food storage from helping your harvest last you through the winter it won't to meal planning like a proper two-star chef i'd recommend hitting gas stations for their freezer units and lugging those back to your base asap it is unfortunate but true some safe houses won't come with a bed ready for you you'll have to bring one of your own like i just said ikea is out of the question so i hope you've got a car knowing how to use a generator is one thing but finding a generator is another even if you have no clue how to use it yet i'd recommend picking it up and relocating it to your base as soon as you spot one you can learn how to use it later and besides knowledge is only as powerful as the ability to use it now after you've gotten comfortable and into the swing of things the helicopter event swoops in to stop all of that usually around eight days in and if you're a masochist you can go into your sandbox settings and set it so that it happens more than once sometimes i do this genuinely the event can end your run if you aren't prepared for it so once you hear the helicopter approach you'll want to book it away from your base to avoid it being overrun by zombies if you're caught on the toilet like me you may be able to get out alive but your base is going to belong to zombies until you can clear it out the safest thing to do is to drive around and not stick to one place for too long but if you don't have the gas for that then it's a good idea to have a small base you can quickly fortify until the helicopter and its horde passes or if you're an overachiever you'll already have these mini bases set up from here on out your main goal is to stay alive following this should help you get a feel for the basics of the game but one of the most important mechanics to remember is death you are going to die i felt good the game tells you this is how you died it's not lying to you my guy you don't have to delete your save after you perish because the point of the game is to learn from how you died drop a new character and just don't do that next time you can even challenge your zombie self to a duel and get all your stuff back unless you're on multiplayer of course then you're probably getting picked clean by the next group of survivors that sweeps through or your friends my last tip is this if you feel safe you're not there's always more zombies there's always a mistake and there's always death don't get comfortable don't get confident don't lower your guard just keep harvesting your vegetables and you'll be all right good luck

Channel: Mattsi

Views: 721,934

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Id: adkjfwh1lYQ

Length: 10min 51sec (651 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 06 2022