A little help

[Trooper582]

Hello Everybody im new to this game and to steam. Could any of you guys give me any tips to surviving in Project Zomboid ive figured out how to barricade doors and windows just where do you find car keys and other stuffs. If you guys can help I will try to help. Btw I play on laptop so that doesn't really matter I dont think only that I play on the go you know. Anyways I will try to respond to some of you guys tomorrow morning.

[Radiosity]

First, are you playing the beta build? You should be, it's a LOT different to the current public release and it'll be a good idea to learn the new systems right from the start. Go to the game in library, right click > properties > go to the betas tab, opt-in to Build 41 IWBUMS.

Press C to crouch/sneak. The more zombies nearby who aren't aware of you, the better the experience gain you'll get while sneaking. Press Q while crouched to whisper shout, which helps draw zombies away from bigger groups so you can take them out.

Short blunt weapons are common and a good melee choice early on (hammers, frying pans, similar items).

Looting is fairly logical. If you need specific items, look for locations where those things would logically be found. Stuff like nails and tools, look in warehouses. Find a library for books (and houses). For food, supermarkets and kitchens. Garages for generators, car parts, etc. Medical centres for bandages etc. And so on.

Learn how to kite zombie groups. Get their attention (press Q when NOT crouching for a loud shout), get a big group to follow you, then break line of sight by going around a building, or dashing into trees and sneaking back. This lets you temporarily clear areas for looting.

A car is a good idea. Find a screwdriver so you can disassemble electronic items (radios, lamps, etc) and get lv1 Electric. Find a wrench and start removing batteries and other items from cars to get Mechanics lv2. At that point you can hotwire.

Car keys can also be found in the glovebox sometimes, and occasionally you'll find a key on the ground near a car. Get an empty gas can and siphon gas from cars in order to fill up whatever car you can find that's in good condition. Also, engine condition is the most important thing for a car. If the overall condition is low but it has a good engine, it's worth grabbing.

Honestly, there's a ton of aspects to learn, so just get out there and learn by playing :)

[Silamon]

You can also find car keys inside a building near the car sometimes. I have found car keys in cabinets and dressers before.
Also to note on the engines, Engine quality is just as important as engine condition. A good quality engine with low condition can be repaired, a poor quality engine will be bad even if it has good condition though. Lower quality will make the engine run louder and fail to start more often.

[Radiosity]

Originally posted by Silamon:

You can also find car keys inside a building near the car sometimes. I have found car keys in cabinets and dressers before.

I never had much luck with that. In 150 hours I've only ever found keys in a house like that maybe twice. More often find in glovebox :)

[Silamon]

Originally posted by Radiosity:

Originally posted by Silamon:

You can also find car keys inside a building near the car sometimes. I have found car keys in cabinets and dressers before.

I never had much luck with that. In 150 hours I've only ever found keys in a house like that maybe twice. More often find in glovebox :)

I've seen it a few times, enough that I thought it would be worth mentioning. But yeah definitely find the key in the glove box more often than anything.

Oh, and if all the doors are locked on a car and you can't find the key, you can smash the window and get in that way, but like house windows make sure to have something in your hand or you will get wounded.

[J's]

Originally posted by Radiosity:

First, are you playing the beta build? You should be, it's a LOT different to the current public release and it'll be a good idea to learn the new systems right from the start. Go to the game in library, right click > properties > go to the betas tab, opt-in to Build 41 IWBUMS.

Press C to crouch/sneak. The more zombies nearby who aren't aware of you, the better the experience gain you'll get while sneaking. Press Q while crouched to whisper shout, which helps draw zombies away from bigger groups so you can take them out.

Short blunt weapons are common and a good melee choice early on (hammers, frying pans, similar items).

Looting is fairly logical. If you need specific items, look for locations where those things would logically be found. Stuff like nails and tools, look in warehouses. Find a library for books (and houses). For food, supermarkets and kitchens. Garages for generators, car parts, etc. Medical centres for bandages etc. And so on.

Learn how to kite zombie groups. Get their attention (press Q when NOT crouching for a loud shout), get a big group to follow you, then break line of sight by going around a building, or dashing into trees and sneaking back. This lets you temporarily clear areas for looting.

A car is a good idea. Find a screwdriver so you can disassemble electronic items (radios, lamps, etc) and get lv1 Electric. Find a wrench and start removing batteries and other items from cars to get Mechanics lv2. At that point you can hotwire.

Car keys can also be found in the glovebox sometimes, and occasionally you'll find a key on the ground near a car. Get an empty gas can and siphon gas from cars in order to fill up whatever car you can find that's in good condition. Also, engine condition is the most important thing for a car. If the overall condition is low but it has a good engine, it's worth grabbing.

Honestly, there's a ton of aspects to learn, so just get out there and learn by playing :)

What Radiosity said is a decent starting point.

But at some point, if you are getting past the early survival phase, you will be wanting to build some sort of safehouse(s). There are numerous way to go about it to make truly safe house(s), and there is a ton of discussion around this and suitable locations. However, when you reach that point... you'll be waiting for the next updates like the rest of us.

Meanwhile, hone your skills. See what works best for you to get food and water (and fuel) past electricity and water shutdown.

[Trooper582]

Alright so I have bought the game on November 4th, thank you so much for the cars ideas amd I have been pressing control for sneaking so thank you guys I have set up a house but Im going to start a new playthrough because current one has zombies popping up in my base im going to set the setting up in custom mode.

[Nebgama]

All though it may seem like a good idea at the time, don't attack packs of zeds with the car it will destroy your vehicle pretty quick in b41 no one has time for that unless you don't care about the car and are using specifically for this purpose.

In b40 you can monster truck zeds all day if you go slow and he car will be right for ages.

[Radiosity]

Originally posted by Nebgama:

All though it may seem like a good idea at the time, don't attack packs of zeds with the car it will destroy your vehicle pretty quick in b41 no one has time for that unless you don't care about the car and are using specifically for this purpose.

In b40 you can monster truck zeds all day if you go slow and he car will be right for ages.

There's also the fact that one of the last couple of patches altered how car damage to zeds works. It's no longer as easy to just run into them and kill a bunch at low speed. Speed impacts how much damage you do, and increases exponentially the faster you go.

Also worth noting that it's now possible to repair your car hood now, so it's not the end of the world if you knock a few zeds down by mistake.

[Silamon]

I had an interesting experience with the car last night. I was driving on a lawn to get around a group of zombies and brushed against a tree at maybe 10mph, the car flipped over and then righted itself somehow. Did pretty heavy damage to the windshield and hood, I was more surprised that the car was capable of flipping over at 10mph

[Lucifer]

All depends on what traits and profession you select, for the most part. Play style changes based on them.

Good general tips would be focusing on using blunt weapons at the start since they are more likely to build maintenance skill (crowbar is the best for this as it only has a 1 in 70 chance of losing durability when fighting - next would be the pipe wrench, lead pipe, metal bar, club hammers, and wooden mallets... metal pipe isn’t worth using as a weapon if you’re an engineer since it’s an ingredient for pipe bombs but fine for other professions since that recipe can’t be learned).

[Radiosity]

Originally posted by Silamon:

I had an interesting experience with the car last night. I was driving on a lawn to get around a group of zombies and brushed against a tree at maybe 10mph, the car flipped over and then righted itself somehow. Did pretty heavy damage to the windshield and hood, I was more surprised that the car was capable of flipping over at 10mph

lol, yeah, the physics is a bit wonky, I've noticed that as well. It's really easy to flip a car even at low speed.

Originally posted by Lucifer:

Good general tips would be focusing on using blunt weapons at the start since they are more likely to build maintenance skill

Not only this, but blunt weapons also don't ruin clothes that you might want to grab from the corpse. Especially good stuff like the fireman outfit.

[Silamon]

Originally posted by Radiosity:

lol, yeah, the physics is a bit wonky, I've noticed that as well. It's really easy to flip a car even at low speed.

Since it didn't do any permanent damage I was more amused than annoyed but I would have been pretty ticked off if it had not flipped back onto its wheels just as easily. Definitely glad I found out about the wonky car physics in a way that did not total my only functional car.

[Lucifer]

Originally posted by Silamon:

I had an interesting experience with the car last night. I was driving on a lawn to get around a group of zombies and brushed against a tree at maybe 10mph, the car flipped over and then righted itself somehow. Did pretty heavy damage to the windshield and hood, I was more surprised that the car was capable of flipping over at 10mph

Wait until you see the apocalypse videos I recorded today (might not be uploaded until Friday)... I wanted to title it “How not to drive” because I had some horrible car experiences. The worst was when I sideswiped a tree, was launched into the air and did at least five 360s before landing.

[Radiosity]

Originally posted by Lucifer:

Originally posted by Silamon:

I had an interesting experience with the car last night. I was driving on a lawn to get around a group of zombies and brushed against a tree at maybe 10mph, the car flipped over and then righted itself somehow. Did pretty heavy damage to the windshield and hood, I was more surprised that the car was capable of flipping over at 10mph

Wait until you see the apocalypse videos I recorded today (might not be uploaded until Friday)... I wanted to title it “How not to drive” because I had some horrible car experiences. The worst was when I sideswiped a tree, was launched into the air and did at least five 360s before landing.

Cromumlent Archer is a terrible PZ driver, but even he hasn't hit that level of bad, lol.

[Lucifer]

Originally posted by Radiosity:

Originally posted by Lucifer:

Wait until you see the apocalypse videos I recorded today (might not be uploaded until Friday)... I wanted to title it “How not to drive” because I had some horrible car experiences. The worst was when I sideswiped a tree, was launched into the air and did at least five 360s before landing.

Cromumlent Archer is a terrible PZ driver, but even he hasn't hit that level of bad, lol.

Here's the clip:

https://youtu.be/CgryjMV1098