Beginners Guide

[Voltigeurs]

Hunger

Become hungry after one day(Lv1 hunger)
Become very hungry after three days(Lv2 hunger)
Start dying of hunger after six days(Lv3 hunger)
Die of hunger after nine days(Lv4 hunger)

The highest your hunger level, the slower your survivor will run and work
Feeding your survivors once every two days is the most efficient way to go

Food

Cooked and Can foods remove one level of hunger
Raws ingredients remove half a level of hunger
Vegetable cannot be cooked by themselves, meaning it's better to build rat cages before building the garden. You should'nt build it before you built at least 2 cages, ideally 3(or more if you feel like it)
Bruno use less water and fuel while cooking, so always cook with him if he's on your team.

Fatigue

Did'nt sleep well(Lv1 Fatigue)
Become tired after one day(Lv2 Fatigue)
Become very tired adter two days(Lv3 Fatigue)
Become dead tired adter three days(Lv4 Fatigue)

The more tired they are, the slower they are.(Stack with hunger)
Survivors only sleep well in bed.

Depression

Happy(Lv-1 Depression) Actually a good thing to have, though i'm not sure what it does
Sad(Lv1 Depression)
Depressed(Lv2 Depression)

Your survivors WILL commit suicide if too depressed, though I have yet to properly test it
Chairs, books, classical music on radio, talking to depressed survivors(Lv2 or above), playing the guitar, helping people, having coffee or cigarettes in stock(automaticly used by some of your survivors) will improve their mood, though it's hard to say by how much.
Survivors dying, killing anyone not in self-defence(checking a private containers turn everyone hostile whether they saw you or not and killing them at this point is not self-defence), stealing and refusing to help your neighbors will degrade it, but again, hard to say by how much

Illness

Slightly ill(Lv1 Illness)
Ill(Lv2 Illness)
Become gravely ill 2 days after Lv2 without medicine(Lv3 Illness)
Become deadly ill 2 days after Lv3 without medicine(Lv4 Illness)
Die the next day without medicine

Slightly ill illness will heal by themselves with enough sleep.
Once properly ill(Lv2 or above), only medicines can heal illness(more efficient combined with sleep), otherwise it will just keep getting worse
Ill survivors move and work slower(Stack with hunger and fatigue)

Wounds

Slightly wounded(Lv1 Wounds)
Wounded(Lv2 Wounds)
Become heavily wounded 2 days after Lv2 without bandage(Lv3 Wounds)
Become deadly wounded 2 days after Lv3 without bandage(Lv4 Wounds)
Die the next day without bandage

Slightly wounded wounds will heal by themselves if you sleep enough.
Once properly wounded(Lv2 or above), only bandages can heal wounds(more efficient combined with sleep), otherwise it will just keep getting worse
Wounded survivors move and work slower(Stack with hunger, fatigue and Illness)

Heat

A non-upgraded stove will warm the shelther by 3 degrees per fuel unit INSIDE it, not by fuel unit used overtime, that means that if it's 0 degrees, you'll need 5 units of fuel inside it at all time
Keep in mind it gets colder in the evenings

Actions

Removing rubble
Without shovel : 3h30
With shovel : 45min

If you got to clean a lots of rubble, you better bring your shovel

Removing baricade :
Without crowbar : 20min
With crowbar : 15min

Barely any difference

Opening locked door :
With lockpick : 10min
With crowbar : 30 min

While using lockpicking is silent and faster, it also cost you a lockpick.
I personally consider the crowbar more cost-efficient since you can use it dozens of time, it slightly speed up baricades removal(though that may be my imagination) and can be use as a rather effective weapons(nothing like a crowbar to the face to greet your neighbors...except maybe a shovel to the face haha)

Raiding

You might get raided at night, to lessen the damage done to your survivors, as well as how much stuff get stolen, you can do a few things :
Have survivors guard at night, the more the better
Have a weapon for every survivors
Fix the walls(Improved workbench)
Reinforce the door(Maxed workbench and all walls fixed)

Trading

Katia can get a lot more of any deal while trading, so trade with her if she's on your team.

Alternate start

Your starting survivors, as well as wether its already winter or not, is heavily influenced by how many days passed in your last saved attempt(read as the last time you did'nt die on the first day). Since the game save at the beginning of every day, you only need to survive a single day to reset it.
To unlock the winter start, you need to survive 10 days.

First few days to do list :

-Clean the shelter of all ressources, this can be done the first day if you're fast enough
-Build a metal workbench
-Build a crowbar, this will allow you to break lock opens in a lot of place an make some decent weapons
-Build beds(up to the numbers of survivors you have minus 1), this will allow your survivor to sleep better, fastening their healing speed, and allow them to sleep in the day so they can salvage or guard at night *Important*
-Build an oven, you'll be able to cook your ingredients this way
-Upgrade the workbench
-Fix the walls for more defence against raiding, there are 3 holes to fix *Important*
-Build two rat cages, ideally 3 *Important*
-Build a stove as soon as temperature begins dropping bellow 15
-Upgrade the oven, so you need to use less fuel while cooking
-Build rain collectors, one is enough if continually supplied with filters(built on the workbench), but two is better

[Caffeine]

Could be cleaned up a bit but good start for an intro guide. Thank you.

This probably goes without saying but pay attention to the descriptions of places and what people are saying. They sometimes hint to maybe items to bring and scenarios that may improve your odds of survival.

[Ice_King]

There seems to also be a "Content" mood level above the lv0 (neutral) level as well.

[andersonm]

Good work!

However, 100% sure that I had a Wounded character (became wounded either in a looter attack or in the help neighbors quest) recover fully from lying in bed. I put him in bed and it said the same (recovering) message as with slight wounds, and after staying in bed all day only getting out to eat, he turned Slight after about 5 days. Definitely no more than 7.

[wraith]

Nice Beginners guide.

Personally i think you should insert upgrading the metal workshop and rushing an axe (skipping the knife/pistole) after building the beds. With that handy tool you're holding an incredible melee weapon and you aren't pressed to "waste" that much backpackspace during your earlygame scavenge runs for wood.
Just my 2 cents.

[Voltigeurs]

Update : Bruno(the Good Cook) use less water and fuel while cooking(3 water instead of 5 and 1 fuel instead of 2 with the first oven)
Katia can get much MUCH better deal while trading, keep it in mind when the trader come knocking on your door.

[meryn]

don't forget to build an axe at start of winter, you can also chop unused furniture to get a lot of firewood and wood.

also try to get slot intesive materials like wood or materials due the trader. regarding to the playstyle sell alcohol or weapons :D

[FreedomFighter]

The hunger level have "Well Fed" level. Just want you to add it. I don't know if being "Well Fed" will give you a bonus or not.

[lostthought]

I've had survivors heal from wounded status, but they can't be allowed to go scavenging, no harm can come to them during the night, and they have to sleep all day. It still seems like a one in four chance though.

[c_none]

@"Build two rat cages, ideally 3 *Important* "

You can't build more than 2 cages.

[WaywardPython]

Wounded survivors should be able to recover with bed rest alone, as long as they're not hungry, cold or tired. GIve them the first spare food available and keep the heater cranked up to the max in winter. I haven't tested this on a severly wounded survivor, however.

[Cotton McBoots]

My 7 Pillars of Wisdom

1) Always take a saw, lock pick, crowbar, and shovel the first night when possible.
2) Known cautious/danger areas use I’d use Arica. Her stealth is the best for this for dangerous places. Remember to shut the doors behind you.
3) Clear all locks, bars, barricades, debris the first night.
4) Clear each location entirely before moving on to next. That means using the axe to make firewood of the place too.
5) Cache everything best you can near the exit points. You can start one by dropping an item from your bag. Prioritize the caches. It’s better to return to the shelter with items in bulk from specialty locations. Food is nice, but unless people are starving its best to bring back stuff that will improve the shelter first. Then you can return later for food, medicine, sugar, gun powder, etc. Meaning DO NOT keep all your stuff at the shelter. It's a target for well armed raiders. You want to appear to be poor.
6) Know when to say NO. I never gave out medical supplies. Elderly people looking for shelter got sent away. You do not want some sick/wounded ‘eater’ with no abilities.
7) Do not snitch. ;)

[SpaceCat]

Very nice, and thank you.

I am wrong about this. Did it change with the update? -->[My quibble is that I have watched the clock (many times) and it takes 2 hours to remove a pile of rubble without a shovel.]

On the hatchet debate, I tend to favor boarding up the house against looters over the hatchet. My thought is that once I've chopped up the house stuff, the hatchet is not so useful. Although I admit to using it to get wood during snow periods. Not a clear-cut call to me.

[WaywardPython]

I agree. I don't always clear the shelter on the first day. It takes too long without a shovel (2 hours is the correct figure), and you don't need that much stuff right at the start. You're only asking to have it stolen if you take it too soon.

As for the hatchet vs board-up I don't really have a strong feeling. The best use of the hatchet is chopping for firewood, and you'd want that on a winter start. I'm still not sure how much benefit the board-up is (the reinforced door is another matter, that definitely makes a big difference).

[NLPrometheus]

It is good to see all these tips. I bought this game in the sale, and i think it is a really good game even though i have just less than 2 hours in the game. Still on my first playthrough, but i don't know what to prioritize yet. I managed to steal some food from an old couple, but i can't seem to get enough materials to make all the workbenches. It seems i always need the components for something else. I guess it just takes some experience.

[WaywardPython]

The game is a constant back-and-forth between using materials and needing more materials. It just took me about 20 days to upgrade the herbal workshop because I was always using the materials for something more important. But I got there in the end, so now I can start making meds for trade.