PZ Solid Beginner to Intermediate survival guide

A plan to follow, or tweek, that should provide you with a safe fairly maxed out character quite quickly, without 'cheating' or unnecessary grinding.

How to sur-THRIVE!!! The 7 P's.. Proper Planning and Preperation, Prevents a Piss Poor Performance!!!

I should say, much of this info was garnered from the wiki, forums and stuff. you'll excuse me if i dont single EVERY one out, but if you see something of yours, thanks, from everyone.

So, might as well start at the start, Character creation.

Most guides advise going for the construction worker, for the 'thick skinned' perk and almost bonus perk, 'handy'. Getting two perks, free, is handy(do they give you an extra because its the least 'cool'?).
I would advise giving the park ranger some thought, as survival is the main aim of this game NOT KILLING ZOMBIES!!!! since you will rarely have the kit to take on large hordes all the time, you will spend a lot of time picking zed off in ones and twos, therefore you will find MOST combat handy enough after a few deaths..
In the winter however, its cold every night, and having a campfire lit in your custom built 5 story safe 'penthouse' is not wise. Outdoors man perk negates this being an issue. (note:I speak from experience, i accidentally did a Columbus and burned down my first base just before setting out on my 'Great Adventure'. Nothing worse than trying to grab supplies from a burning building.)
As for perks to take, i find Strong a must, the extra carry weight saves soooooo much time. so much loot: )
I also usually take Lucky, cos in these sort of games it pays to be lucky!!! Always!!!
Unlike most people, i dont take athletic, compared to Lucky and Strong, i dont think its worth the huge points. Sprinting can be 'up-skilled' with use, but strength or luck cant..
To off-set these i take Light drinker(like to keep my wits about me anyway), Healthy eater(if planned, food isnt an issue), Short temper and Brooding(cos in reality, i am[and the way i play, they dont affect me at all]).


And so to Start Up. THIS will be how you lived! (note:it's a hard game, you may still feed the worms)

Also, i like to start in Muldraugh, its the area i know best, and knowing your area can be a BBIG help in a panic.

First things first, i am going to assume you have the basics, movement, have killed a zed-head or two in your time, AND HAVE LOOKED AT THE MAP!!!!!!
Some amazing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hero called 'Blind' or something has only taken up the mantle of mapping the whole damned place!!! I usually have three maps open anytime i play. 1/ My base locality. 2/ The route i plan to take, zoomed in so it has start and finnish. 3/ Close zoomed in view of area i'm headed to.


As soon as you are in game your initial goals are; 1/ A Weapon. 2/ A Weapon. 3/ A Friggin WEAPON!!!!

Kitchen knives and Rolling pins are ok in a pinch, and i really like the frying pan, early in the game, it seems to knock zeek down better than most. Baseball bat is a nice find too.
Its a good idea to carry a spare weapon, most of the above degrade pretty quickly, but luckily dont weigh a huge ammount.
If by chance you come accros the crowbar, upgrade to that, it also uses the blunt skill, more thane likely continuing your early path. Heavier, but more durable, my CB has killed a LOT of zeek..

Getting Going

Once armed, and using 'Your Home' as a start up base, its time to strip your initial neigbhourhood clean of all usefull items. These fit into two catagories, For Now/Always, and For The Future.

For Now/Always;
Two Large Hiking Bags(equip one to back, one to secondary[Re-Name. makes it easier to find if you misplace it, or die]). Till you have them, use what you can..
Perrishable Food(use this to survive on till the power goes out[and once your farming-Duh]).
Non-Perrishable Food(start to hoard this stuff sooner rather than later, its your emergency stash!).
Towel(essential for when you've been caught out on a run by the rain. it rains a lot, and i'm Irish-i'd know)
Bowl(used to create salads, one of the best types of food)

For The Future;
Seeds(ALL seeds, pretty soon they'll be your only source of food, but in particular, Cabbage, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Brocoli, in prety much that order. All can be easily put in a bowl for a tasty salad, and any combination gives unhappieness and boredom what-for!!![Cabbage is the fastes to grow, and should be used as the base of pretty much ALL your meals.]).
Water(the water goes out about the same time as the power, every sink and toilet will still have a bit left in the pipes, so its not too bad, if your prepared. Start filling pots and bottles early.)
Sand/Gravel Bags(for carrying dirt)
Garbage Bags(Random, I know. 16 should be plenty, that'll get you 4 Rain Collectors)
Tools(Axe, Saw, Trowel, spade, Hammer, Can Opener[these are the essentials])
Nails(used for ALL construction, so yea, you need em.)
Guns and Ammo(i'll talk about em later, but at the start you wont have enough of the latter to rely on em, good to start stockpiling for a dead cold war tho).

The Early Hump

After about 3-5 days, you should have stripped the area clean, and have some of the basic equipment needed to survive the early stages of the game. My advise, is take your time, and continue to strip the area for another day or two, but either way, when you feel your ready, its time for your first Base Re-Locating.

First Big Move

If you took my advise, and started in Muldraugh, your next Base Location should be the 'Cortman Medical' building, in the mid-western part of town. This building is 1/ Fairly easily cleared(1 or 2 zed inside-possibly..). 2/ Stocked with enough Medical supplies to last you for the first few months, EVEN if you DIDN'T pick up all the stuff your going to find over the next while). 3/ Easily barricaded(not too many downstairs windows and doors) 4/ Good start up location(zeek in 1's, 2's and 3's, not too bad for clearing. Close enough to the Big Urban Warehouse and Small Warehouse[your next stop]). 5/ Its also just a pretty good all-round building design and doesn't need much upgrading. i lived quite happily upstairs for a good 3 weeks(till the afore mentioned flame fest!). The kitchen is upsairs, and theres about 10 storage units up there, with about another 6 downstairs for construction supplies and the like.

First Three Sorties

Well now i suppose it's 'tweeking' time. Ladies choice. In order to get most of the remaining supplies needed, you'll probably need to hit up the warehouses mentioned earlier. it's not too far from Cortmans, and has LOTS of tools, weapons and supplies, but you WILL more than likely spend the night. Anything you still need, supplies-wise, if your still short on some of the essential tools, can more than likely be found at the 'McCoy Logging Corp.'(definately an over-nighter). On the other hand, to progress at any sort of pace, through the skills, you'll need to become a book worm. You COULD just pick em up as you find em on your travels, or you could get pretty much ALL the birds with one stone! There's TWO stores in the Mini-Mall on the southern end of the town, next to the highway, that have pretty much ALL the books. BEWARE, THE HIGHWAY AND CLOSE TO IT IS ZED DEAD CENTRAL!!!!! Its a tough early run, but if you travle light, and you havent invested too much in your character, it can be worth an early risk.

Either way, all three are kind of importent to my whole philosophy. If your with me so far, and took your time at the start, holed up in Cortmans, and went on the three sorties, you should have all you need to set up your first Permanent Base of Operations. Seeds, tools, food, water, construction and medical supplies, basic traveling kit, skill books ALL da shiiiiii! Now you can go to any location you like the look of, be that strategicaly or astheticly, for ease of access or a challenge, and set up a solid STORE-ROOM, FARM, and SAFE-ROOM.

Then, on the 10th day...I built me Gaff!!!

Permanent Base of Operations

Take your time in chosing your new location, a good base takes a lot of time, effort and resources. With that in mind, you'll need trees nearby, and lots, or you'll be lugging lotsa logs... loads.. Also, the place is HUGE, and till vehicles are in, you'll be on foot, meaning a week probably wouldn't get you across the map! Start thinking for the future all the time, one good base in both towns and maybe a small, stop-over spot half-way between the two. Also, a small outpost in both towns wouldnt hurt, you should already have one in the form of Cortmans. Either way, your first base will take a lot of time and trial and error..heres a few tips.

Get...up..quickly.

Build a room, with a floor, four walls and one 'entrance' gap in one wall. Place a stairs and build the second floor. This room should have a window instead of a gap. Use sheet rope from the window(window should be on the southern side, for ease of access). Then knock out the stairs with the Sledge Hammer, head outside, fill the downstairs gap in the wall, climb the Sheet-Rope, fill the floor where the stairs was, and hey presto, your a bed(or chair) and a few crates and shelves from your first truly safe nights sleep. Thank ALL Gods that Zeek don't climb!!!

Go up...more..

Again, up is safe. You'll want a roof for that nice Safe room, and all good things have more than one good use. Add some stairs and lay out your floor/roof/garden. Feel free to expand out a bit, and i like to put a fence around the edge, at three levels up, you can see a good distance, which is handy.

Get Gardening

First thing you need to do is get some Rain Collectors on the go, 4 is plenty. Then use the sand or gravel bag and a spade to transplant dirt up top. plants should be spaced out to prevent a spread of desiese. One space between does me fine and about 12-14 spots allows me to have a bit af a few different crops on different cycles. One bowl and any two or three veg types, and you'll be feding like a vegi-king!

Welcome to Self-Sustainability

All this can be achieved in about a month of game time, fairly easily, depending on combat experience with the game and combat style. You will now have started to get some skill points too, for your character. Carpentry from building your base, cooking from making salads, and farming from...farming! One item you will need lots of is planks of wood, which is good, because its an amazing way to get 'General EXP' and hence skill points. Spend a day chopping trees, sleep, then spend the next day sawing logs. you should have gone up a fair bit in carpentry, and got a fair few skill points to spend as soon as you can. You did remember to read the apropriate book didnt you? At this stage, your character should be pretty bad-ass around the house, and you yourself should know the area pretty well from random little trips you'll go on for bits and bobs.Start to really strip the area clean of resources, expanding your area of influence, hitting up all the best spots for non-perrishables, construction supplies, and weapons and ammo.

Onward

Once youve stripped the town bare, just like the locust, its time to move rince and repeat. At this stage, to keep mouthing on would be pointless. By now, you should know what works, and what doesen't. Whats safe, and whats worth the risk. I do have a few remaining pointers.

Try, try and try, to travle light. At walking pace, your faster than Zeek. NOT if your over-burdened!

Learn to love the crowbar. Good damage. Good durability. Good knockdown. Medium weight.

Be a bit brazen. Got a long way to go? Peg it through Zeek and loose the crowd in some trees.

Fire can burn your house and all your possessions. It can, however, burn Zed dead. A well placed campfire can cause havok among the horde.

Dont eat berries, some are poisonous.

More than 3? Leave zem be! Unless you have a shot gun and about a hundred shells, plan on using fire, or have a death wish, dont engage hordes directly. Instead, lure them off to safe areas in ones and twos. Dead Zed.

I'm a fair bit into the game, and have never used a tent. They MAY be handy, but you can usually find somewhere to hole up for the night. I do however try to only sleep in buildings or houses without smashed windows. Close them all, curtains too. Put up sheet curtains if you can.. At least you'll hear the windows break in the night as you sleep if a stray wanders in.Haven't been attacked in my sleep yet, but that may be luck, or a hich sneak skill..

This is how you died

The reason i'm writing this, instead of playing project zomboid right now, is cos my bad-ass maxed out character died today. My fault. Was carrying too much. tried to whip out the shotty...
R.I.P. Carlo. One small slip, and one more dead-head.. Stay smart out there, and dont get cocky, and always think ahead. I'll try add some more bits as i think of em, and feel free to let me know if it helped, or you want me to add something. I hope this saves one or two rage quits.

Tip For the Afterlife

When you die, you die. And in reality a little too, if im honest. But just like those crummy funeral adds preying on the old and terminally ill like to say, 'Be prepared for death, and dont leave a burden for those you leave behind.' Namely, your next character. If you can, get to safety, and stash your stuff somewhere easy to find, or even back at your base if you can make it. If you can't(and thats understandable), it may be wise to give up trying to escape, and use your last few seconds to drop everything you have on you. I have found my corpse with a second character, but only once out of two occasions, so... As for your base, chests, plants(if your quick), and all the loot...looted, that all remains the same. as does the situation with the power and water.Yes, ALL your skill points are gone, but with a well stocked book case, you should be beast again in about two weeks: )

Later's,
and again, thanks to those who wrote guides i read,


Sean

A.K.A ; Bloodydeadman84
Deff2U
The Big Man
The Sign of the Times

Move to a new town, build a tower base, sur-thrive![sort of: )]

Create new Character, head to first base, read, farm, cook and saw logs and planks. Head out again..

Tower-t completed at last..

[Iron Dice]

Lot of good suggestions for a rookie like me to keep in mind. I plan on contemplating these points as I die a lot for the forseeable future. Thanks!

[Fast2pizza]

good guide... might need to update it, but it is alright, but new peeps won't understand most of whats said here sadly...

[Dreven]

you can break the walls of it with a sledgehammer to break in

[JuanTheSoloGuy]

how can i get in to gun store if is closed ? -.-

[TKs-Dreff]

she's out of date these days, so fire avvay: )

[Pinkelf [Ryshai]]

Light drinker, brooding, and short temper aren't available choices anymore

[hexterc6696]

a craft guide on how to make all thing that can be made

[hexterc6696]

how to cut tree, and get plank

[TKs-Dreff]

you want some sort of combat guide? i could add that in, have just been taking a short break from PZ, allowing a few updates to come out..

[hexterc6696]

how do i fight ?