(New Player) How to avoid hordes / attracting lots of Zombies

[GB]

I am new and I am really struggling with not attracting a lot of zombies and its really off putting, is there any tips on how to not attract a zombie / horde every time I leave the starter house with no weapon? pls help im rlly new

[Animalman]

A Gymnastic, Inconspicuous Nurse will let you get much closer to a zombie who is not facing you while sneaking without being noticed.

[Ficelle]

This game relies a lot on player experience...much more than character experience

Knowing where to go from the starter house is something you have to learn

If anything, dont stay around the starter house, most of them are in an horrible position
Try to move toward the limit of the city
There will be less zombies...1, 2 or 3 sides will be mostly safe

Also, you dont have to kill each and every zombie

If a horde is following you, just try to lure it somewhere, break line of sight, use walk / sneak / stop / run / sprint when needed (beware with run / sprint...very noisy...)

Learn to fight unarmed with push / stomp

This map could help you greatly
https://map.projectzomboid.com

[GB]

Originally posted by Ficelle:

This game relies a lot on player experience...much more than character experience

Knowing where to go from the starter house is something you have to learn

If anything, dont stay around the starter house, most of them are in an horrible position
Try to move toward the limit of the city
There will be less zombies...1, 2 or 3 sides will be mostly safe

Also, you dont have to kill each and every zombie

If a horde is following you, just try to lure it somewhere, break line of sight, use walk / sneak / stop / run / sprint when needed (beware with run / sprint...very noisy...)

Learn to fight unarmed with push / stomp

This map could help you greatly
https://map.projectzomboid.com

yeah I seen that you will die alot from videos on youtube etc, so when I load in just head straight for the outskirts of a big town / city area and scavange from there?

[Animalman]

Try to haste your walk - shift or run - only when you see where you want to go to lose the zombies. Until you have found somewhere to lose the zombies you can just casually walk and avoid the incoming zom if the hordes still building. But only use your haste and run only when you have seen an escape opportunity. Such as a place you can break line of sight, or a vehicle key on the floor. And ofc if you already have a huge horde tailing you don’t sneak anymore as it’s a waste of energy. You can recover from being winded while walking normally but not when sneaking.

[GB]

and where do you suggest spawning first for a new player like myself?

[GB]

Originally posted by Animalman:

Try to haste your walk - shift or run - only when you see where you want to go to lose the zombies. Until you have found somewhere to lose the zombies you can just casually walk and avoid the incoming zom if the hordes still building. But only use your haste and run only when you have seen an escape opportunity. Such as a place you can break line of sight, or a vehicle key on the floor.

Thank you, I've been looking for a game like this for a long time, just seems really punishing and a hard learning curve.

[Animalman]

Riverside is easy for beginners the shop and bar, near the petrol station. but West Point is a more valuable map to learn the layout of as its a more densely populated region there’s less movement between places you want to loot and places you can sleep

[derp12332112]

Zombie sense will deteriorate as the game goes on. Obviously there is a limit, but early into the apocalypse zombies are quite proficient at seeing/hearing you. I'm not 100% sure if Smell is even working yet, but just don't go around bleeding everywhere.

Zombies can initially spot you fairly easily even with decent sneak skills, so try to avoid their fronts. Later on, however, and they'll struggle to see you from decently far away, as long as you're relatively low to the ground/hidden.

Hearing is one of the few things they probably doesn't go too far away from these walking corpses. Always try to be as quiet as possible unless you're deliberately getting attention. Avoid glass, breaking stuff, unnecessary swinging/shooting, and running to make sure they don't hear you. Cars, generators, and other mechanical things will also make noise, so be sure to keep check on those.

Their memory will also rapidly deteriorate. They will remember and chase you down for a solid bit if they lose track of you, but later into the game they'll begin to forget in literal seconds. Even early on, it's not hard to lose a crowd of followers by taking a cut through some trees; Just be sure that you don't run into another bunch while you make your way through the woods.

[Ficelle]

I consider Muldraugh as the default city, probably the best balanced one...and my prefered too ,D
Quite some areas inside or very nearby the city are very safe too...like the tavern and the mansions and quite some others too

Riverside is also quite nice...but a bit off center in the world map

Still, every city is playable

[Soul]

i'd look at a map of the gameworld and get a feel for what the layout looks like and an idea of where you might want to go to survive https://map.projectzomboid.com

[Animalman]

Riverside is also quite nice...but a bit off center in the world map

Still, every city is playable

I agree every city playable. I learnt the basic mechanics of the game at riverside once I figured out the directions to go. It’s quite a spaced out area but the high street can sometimes be pretty empty though the shops are not that interesting.

I might revisit riverside for the trailer park as I remember it having a tonne of hairspray and other items the engineer would make use of.

I remember riverside plays well as a burglar. Since car parks are fewer between than they are at Westpoint

You can pull gas from the gas station really easily when approaching from the left. Since the car wash position is great for breaking LOS the gas station layout itself is large and easy to give the run around and fill up.

[ゅmix]

Spawn in Muldraugh, don't sprint/run until its really necessary

[BioFringe]

Start as a Burglar, get a car and make those hordes your ♥♥♥♥♥!

[Metanoia]

If you just want to put even apocalypse on easy mode, pick burglar, grab a car, light a campfire next to a nonburning/nondestructible object, park your car over the fire with your car door facing towards the wall so nothing can reach in and grab you, and honk your horn like crazy for about 15-20 minutes and watch all the zombies in like a 300 tile radius cook themselves outside your car.

then take a leisurely stroll around the nearby area and loot to your hearts content, encountering maybe a dozen zombies in total throughout your entire looting run.

Its cheese, but after dying over and over and over because 3-4 zombies notice you and you alert the entire neighborhood trying to get away, its refreshing to burn them all and establish yourself with some breathing room.

So cook the neighborhood instead. c:

[derp12332112]

Originally posted by Metanoia:

If you just want to put even apocalypse on easy mode, pick burglar, grab a car, light a campfire next to a nonburning/nondestructible object, park your car over the fire with your car door facing towards the wall so nothing can reach in and grab you, and honk your horn like crazy for about 15-20 minutes and watch all the zombies in like a 300 tile radius cook themselves outside your car.

then take a leisurely stroll around the nearby area and loot to your hearts content, encountering maybe a dozen zombies in total throughout your entire looting run.

Its cheese, but after dying over and over and over because 3-4 zombies notice you and you alert the entire neighborhood trying to get away, its refreshing to burn them all and establish yourself with some breathing room.

So cook the neighborhood instead. c:

This no longer works. Zombies crawl under and over cars now.