Best way to start playing 7 days to die?

[Skinny long john]

Peace,

i bought the game a few weeks ago but realy never got into it
how shoud i start to survive in my first days?
what difficult?
and shoud i build myself a house in the first day or search for other houses and kill all the zombs arround there so the area is clear?
or
build inside a cave and survive in there?
and shoud i start with navez map or the random gen?

[AgentSmith]

Start with Navezgane. It's easier to play Random once you get the basics down. Give me a minute and I'll post my "beginners guide"

SoulChaserJ's Survival Horror Guide: 7 Days to Die - The Beginner's Handbook

Day 1:
You've just blinked yourself into existence in an impossible scenario.. You're standing on a road, a few things in your pockets, a car ahead of you with what looks like a dead body hanging out of it. A cooler and a few bags strewn about. You check the rotting car, cooler and bags. You come away with a candy tin, several feathers and a bit of mouldy bread. 'Guess I'd better start punching trees', you say to yourself.

No matter how you interpret your joining the '7 Days to Die' universe, your task remains the same. Survive. For me there are several easy steps to increase your odds.

Tip 1: Loot everything but take only what you need
Tip 2: Crouch often and take stealth seriously
Tip 3: Never craft one of anything
Tip 4: Dogs are sneaky. Avoid them

Now those were a few general items that will help you on your way. Now let's jump back in time to when the universe shat you out on that lonely(except for zombies) road.
The first thing you should do is loot the car, cooler, body, and bags/trash you can immediately see. Something could be useful but likely not. Now that you've gotten a handful of mouldy food and some pain killers, find a dead shrub and start punching. From this shrub you should be able to gather a stick. Now find some tall grass or weeds(any plant that doesn't allow you to collect it without punching) and start punching. From this material you can craft plant fibre. Last but not least, find a rock and you guessed it...pick it up(seriously who punches a rock). Now go into your inventory screen("i" for the kb/m club) and in your crafting menu scroll to the bottom. There you'll find the "resources" section. Select "sharp stone" and drag a rock onto the crafting grid, then click craft. You can now drag your sharp stone back into your inventory and head back up to the "Tools" section of the crafting menu. Under tools you'll find "Stone Axe". Drag the necessary items into the crafting grid and drop them with a right click. Then click "Craft". Once your 5 second wait is over, drag your new stone axe into the #1 slot.

Congratulations, you now have the most basic tool that isn't your fists. You have a certain number of set recipes in your crafting window. Keep an eye out for new books with new recipes.

If you've followed Tip #3, you'll have crafted 2 Stone axes. Depending on where you spawned, you should have about a 5 minute walk(real time) to the nearest shelter. Don't go there. Explore the game. Cut down some trees, gather some pretty flowers. Figure out how to put water in a jar. Smash a boulder into little rocks. Try to catch a bunny. Figure out how to take down a walker without getting hurt. Do any of those things but do not seek shelter yet. See the problem with shelter in this game is that zombies like it more than you do. Going near any buildings is potentially hazardous as the undead are probably camping there at least 6 deep(depending on difficulty setting). "But SoulChaser, I can handle a few zombies. I have a gun". I'm sure you can but unless you're prepared to defend that shelter from a few waves of zombies and if they get inside...

Remember these two rules:
1) Zombies are attracted to noise. So the sound of a gun draws more in.

2) Zombies by day..kill away. Zombies at night..run fasterand hit harder. So unless you have a gun, sledgehammer or hunting knife, avoid being around Zed's in the dark.

Wow, you've lasted a few hours longer than I did my first run though. Hmm what to do, what to do.. Oh I know, why don't you take a trip to one of the military camps. While you're there keep an eye on the ground for little round black boxes. Those are land mines. Great for defending land against zombies, bad for stepping on. Or maybe you'd like to finally start that base you've been thinking about. In any case I wish you the best of luck.Hopefully you've grasped the concepts of survival and the many different ways you can succeed at it.

[Spanton]

@SoulChaserJ...well written ;)

[ENDex]

Yes, very well written. I'll shorten it.

1) Watch a YouTube video where some dude plays through be beginning.
2) Play your own SP game on easiest settings with zombies.
3) Learn until you feel comfortable.
4) Get in MP.

[Nicou]

A few other things I would add...

The crossbow is also very easy to make early on and works great for taking down zombies at a distance without attracting a horde like a gun will. Just keep collecting small stones and feathers.

Second, you'll want to find a house or someplace with a bed or sleeping bag. If you pick one of these up and place it, you will be able to respawn on or near it instead of miles away. I play with the "drop everything on death" option and need to find my pack if I'm killed.

Third, read the Wiki. You'll need stuff like clay for forging molds. The Wiki has lots of advice on where to find things.

Last, beware the 7 day hordes. It's usually easier to draw them away from your base (they will destroy it).

[Skinny long john]

ah alright did everything now and was able to build a tiny base to survive the first night , it standed pretty well against the first horde , but well my door got destroyed 2 times even that i've upgraded it 2 times right now on day 2 i am just trying to look for loot like food and something to drink and thinking about the 2nd night and how to survive it because it will be harder i guess and the problem is i dont know the map of navezgame and dont want to spoil myself by looking on it so i kinda have to figure out where i am and where all the loot is

[AgentSmith]

Originally posted by zay'tsev:

ah alright did everything now and was able to build a tiny base to survive the first night , it standed pretty well against the first horde , but well my door got destroyed 2 times even that i've upgraded it 2 times right now on day 2 i am just trying to look for loot like food and something to drink and thinking about the 2nd night and how to survive it because it will be harder i guess and the problem is i dont know the map of navezgame and dont want to spoil myself by looking on it so i kinda have to figure out where i am and where all the loot is

Most of us started on Navezgane so we got used to everything being where it is. It helps to play that map and figure out what you need to survive. On most of my games now I roost over water and go into the hub city to loot every few days. I also like stealing materials from buildings(concrete especially).

[Marbur]

Take a look into the guides for the game for more help:

Guides