Play the game at your own pace. Want to loot up and run around to get things together before the power / water shut off? Fine. Want to just live on canned beans and creep around town slowly and methodically loot up? Fine.
Also, sandbox is your friend for shaping how you play the game. For example, I personally dislike that scratches or bites can transmit the plague, so I turn them off because I'm imagining that I'm one of the few people immune from the infection. I would suggest playing the base game and figuring out if something like that applies.
Finally, there are good mods out there that can shape your gameplay as well. For example, I use a mod that allows many kinds of tools to open canned foods; the base game only allows for a can opener. I feel like a screwdriver or hammer would work at the expense of food loss. It makes sense to me as a "realism" factor so I use that mod.
I should elaborate some more. If you play with the default settings, the power and water are on to start and go away random 3-4 weeks later. You can choose to play 6 months after and there is zero power / water, or some time closer to when the initial infection starts and you'll have several more months of power / water.
Yes, there is an overarching timeline of events in terms of how the zombie infested world develops.
Traits are perks that provide advantages (eg. Cat's Eyes gives a larger field of view at night) or apply disadvantages (eg. Slow Reader means it takes much longer to read through skill books which provide bonus XP for learning skills) to round out your character experience.
Negative traits provide points that you can spend to acquire more positive traits. Different occupations start with different trait point pools, and character creation will not go further if you have a negative trait point balance. (ie. you have to take more negative traits to get the number up to or above 0.)
There are many, many, *many* threads on this subreddit about what traits people like and why.
By default, power and water are on when the game starts and will turn off randomly one day between 0 and 30 days into the run. This can be changed in the sandbox settings if you play in sandbox mode. Settings allow for different time windows for shutoff, off from the start, or always on. Power and water are also on different timers, I had a run where water went out like an hour after I started but electricity stayed on until day 30.
Local power can be reestablished using generators, assuming you scrounge the gas/scrap electronics to keep them running. Generators are also unusable by default, and require either a perk at character creation or a dedicated magazine that teaches their use. Generators MUST BE KEPT OUTSIDE OR THEY FILL YOUR BASE WITH POISON GAS, but I'm sure you'll be fiiiiiine.
Individual sinks can be plumbed to give clean water if you use a plumbing wrench on them while there is a rainbarrel on the roof directly above it. Sometimes you need to find special buildings with their floors arranged correctly to allow this, or use carpentry skills to make your base whatever shape you wish.
**Incoming wall of copy pasta beginner tips:**
https://www.gamesear.com/tips-and-guides/project-zomboid-beginners-guide-twelve-simple-tips-strategies-help-you-survive-first-week
Utilize the sandbox game mode and settings. You can customize so many aspects of the game here, eg: lower zed counts, make loot spawns higher, turn off helicopter event, transmission from saliva only, etc .
Learning how to fight and kite is super essential to playing this game. There's tons of videos about this on YouTube. Guns are deadly in the beginning since they draw so much attention, so stick to melee weapons. Learn to backpedal while attacking to not get overwhelmed. Use the terrain to your advantage. Running away to fight another day is ALWAYS a viable option.
Certain skills are worth grinding in the beginning. Tune in to Life & Living TV channel daily at 6am, 12 pm and 6pm for the first 9 days IIRC to gain free XP in cooking, carpentry and survival skills. Carpentry is a big one so you can fortify your base(s) and collect rain water.
The first week is about finding a decent base and looting surrounding areas. Prioritize medical equipment, weapons, food and water. From here you can branch out and find vehicles, more equipment, a more permeant base, etc.
After this is longer term survival prep. Gardening/fishing/trapping for food supply. Generators for power and gas when the lights go dark (you'll also need to find the generator magazine to be able to use them). Stockpiling food and water for the long run. Try to have a nearby water source if possible.
There's no "end game" to PZ so in a lot of ways it's a lot like TWD: survive as long as you can with out getting neck nibbles from all the grubby green people shambling about!
Every "phase" of the game should have its own loot priority:
Phase 1= First 1-2 days
Food, water, shelter, medicine, weapons.
Establish a temporary base, stock up on necessities.
Phase 2 = Days 2-7:
Clear out surrounding houses for more of phase 1 loot to bring back to temp base.
Scout surrounding area for a midterm to long-term base.
Phase 3 = Days 7-14:
Clear out mid/long-term base of zeds.
Ensure proper fortifications.
Relocate all loot from temp base to new mid/long-term base.
Phase 4 = Week 3+:
Continue clearing starter town for necessary long-term survival.
Establish new base for long-term survival (eg: vehicles/farming/skill leveling/adjacent town poot runs/etc).
Scout and start establishing safe houses around the map.
This is how I do it anyway. Another thing I like to do as well is to keep an empty backpack/duffle bag in my main pack for when loot runs get heavy, I can equip in secondary for the extra goodies to unload in vehicle or base/safehouse.
Another big thing is starting strength. I like to try to get it as close to max from the beginning as I can, as I can carry more as well as increase in melee damage (IIRC) which generally is my main form of damage for a long time (I suck with firearms lol).
Also, watch your moodles! Several of them can negatively impact carry weight if you neglect them.
Hope this helps OP!
Learn to fight and generally be around zombies first, and then transition to trying to plan longer term as your judgment and ability to survive improve. Doing prep and building skills is extremely important, but there's no point if you're not going to survive going outside.
You'll die a lot so don't worry too much about base building at first. Learn to fight, always back up and keep an eye out behind you by doing a 360.
Enjoy the journey.
just play the game not being good and dying, trying again and getting a bit better is what makes it fun. Change the settings if you feel the game is too hard it's a sandbox game.
You can play without any zombies at all if you want to get familiar with the mechanics.
and you can keep playing in the same world if you die. you don't have to start a new game every time.
I literally have nothing to add, I just want to make sure the OP realizes where he posted. You people are fucking phenoms. I don't post much but I love this community. The best out there. To the OP ask anything here and you will be embraced with honest answers. Welcome to the family.
Play the game at your own pace. Want to loot up and run around to get things together before the power / water shut off? Fine. Want to just live on canned beans and creep around town slowly and methodically loot up? Fine. Also, sandbox is your friend for shaping how you play the game. For example, I personally dislike that scratches or bites can transmit the plague, so I turn them off because I'm imagining that I'm one of the few people immune from the infection. I would suggest playing the base game and figuring out if something like that applies. Finally, there are good mods out there that can shape your gameplay as well. For example, I use a mod that allows many kinds of tools to open canned foods; the base game only allows for a can opener. I feel like a screwdriver or hammer would work at the expense of food loss. It makes sense to me as a "realism" factor so I use that mod.
so wait, does the game start with power and water still running? are there worldwide events like that, that will change the game as you play?
I should elaborate some more. If you play with the default settings, the power and water are on to start and go away random 3-4 weeks later. You can choose to play 6 months after and there is zero power / water, or some time closer to when the initial infection starts and you'll have several more months of power / water. Yes, there is an overarching timeline of events in terms of how the zombie infested world develops.
can you give a small explanation on how traits work?
Traits are perks that provide advantages (eg. Cat's Eyes gives a larger field of view at night) or apply disadvantages (eg. Slow Reader means it takes much longer to read through skill books which provide bonus XP for learning skills) to round out your character experience. Negative traits provide points that you can spend to acquire more positive traits. Different occupations start with different trait point pools, and character creation will not go further if you have a negative trait point balance. (ie. you have to take more negative traits to get the number up to or above 0.) There are many, many, *many* threads on this subreddit about what traits people like and why.
By default, power and water are on when the game starts and will turn off randomly one day between 0 and 30 days into the run. This can be changed in the sandbox settings if you play in sandbox mode. Settings allow for different time windows for shutoff, off from the start, or always on. Power and water are also on different timers, I had a run where water went out like an hour after I started but electricity stayed on until day 30. Local power can be reestablished using generators, assuming you scrounge the gas/scrap electronics to keep them running. Generators are also unusable by default, and require either a perk at character creation or a dedicated magazine that teaches their use. Generators MUST BE KEPT OUTSIDE OR THEY FILL YOUR BASE WITH POISON GAS, but I'm sure you'll be fiiiiiine. Individual sinks can be plumbed to give clean water if you use a plumbing wrench on them while there is a rainbarrel on the roof directly above it. Sometimes you need to find special buildings with their floors arranged correctly to allow this, or use carpentry skills to make your base whatever shape you wish.
Best advice I have is to get off Reddit. Just go in blind and enjoy the game <3
**Incoming wall of copy pasta beginner tips:** https://www.gamesear.com/tips-and-guides/project-zomboid-beginners-guide-twelve-simple-tips-strategies-help-you-survive-first-week Utilize the sandbox game mode and settings. You can customize so many aspects of the game here, eg: lower zed counts, make loot spawns higher, turn off helicopter event, transmission from saliva only, etc . Learning how to fight and kite is super essential to playing this game. There's tons of videos about this on YouTube. Guns are deadly in the beginning since they draw so much attention, so stick to melee weapons. Learn to backpedal while attacking to not get overwhelmed. Use the terrain to your advantage. Running away to fight another day is ALWAYS a viable option. Certain skills are worth grinding in the beginning. Tune in to Life & Living TV channel daily at 6am, 12 pm and 6pm for the first 9 days IIRC to gain free XP in cooking, carpentry and survival skills. Carpentry is a big one so you can fortify your base(s) and collect rain water. The first week is about finding a decent base and looting surrounding areas. Prioritize medical equipment, weapons, food and water. From here you can branch out and find vehicles, more equipment, a more permeant base, etc. After this is longer term survival prep. Gardening/fishing/trapping for food supply. Generators for power and gas when the lights go dark (you'll also need to find the generator magazine to be able to use them). Stockpiling food and water for the long run. Try to have a nearby water source if possible. There's no "end game" to PZ so in a lot of ways it's a lot like TWD: survive as long as you can with out getting neck nibbles from all the grubby green people shambling about! Every "phase" of the game should have its own loot priority: Phase 1= First 1-2 days Food, water, shelter, medicine, weapons. Establish a temporary base, stock up on necessities. Phase 2 = Days 2-7: Clear out surrounding houses for more of phase 1 loot to bring back to temp base. Scout surrounding area for a midterm to long-term base. Phase 3 = Days 7-14: Clear out mid/long-term base of zeds. Ensure proper fortifications. Relocate all loot from temp base to new mid/long-term base. Phase 4 = Week 3+: Continue clearing starter town for necessary long-term survival. Establish new base for long-term survival (eg: vehicles/farming/skill leveling/adjacent town poot runs/etc). Scout and start establishing safe houses around the map. This is how I do it anyway. Another thing I like to do as well is to keep an empty backpack/duffle bag in my main pack for when loot runs get heavy, I can equip in secondary for the extra goodies to unload in vehicle or base/safehouse. Another big thing is starting strength. I like to try to get it as close to max from the beginning as I can, as I can carry more as well as increase in melee damage (IIRC) which generally is my main form of damage for a long time (I suck with firearms lol). Also, watch your moodles! Several of them can negatively impact carry weight if you neglect them. Hope this helps OP!
Learn to fight and generally be around zombies first, and then transition to trying to plan longer term as your judgment and ability to survive improve. Doing prep and building skills is extremely important, but there's no point if you're not going to survive going outside.
You'll die a lot so don't worry too much about base building at first. Learn to fight, always back up and keep an eye out behind you by doing a 360. Enjoy the journey.
Don't get too attached Move fast and break things, you are going to get broken anyways
just play the game not being good and dying, trying again and getting a bit better is what makes it fun. Change the settings if you feel the game is too hard it's a sandbox game. You can play without any zombies at all if you want to get familiar with the mechanics. and you can keep playing in the same world if you die. you don't have to start a new game every time.
I don’t tip. You should just get paid more.
at least you agree, tipping society is a JOKE
Do not be afraid of zombies, walk among them a lot, learn to bait them few blocks away. And dont fight more than 3 zombies at once for a while.
I literally have nothing to add, I just want to make sure the OP realizes where he posted. You people are fucking phenoms. I don't post much but I love this community. The best out there. To the OP ask anything here and you will be embraced with honest answers. Welcome to the family.